White debuts with an emphatic if clumsy testament to the faith that helped her beat cancer. Seven years old when her older sister was diagnosed with cancer (which she survived), White grew up plagued by fears of death and struggled with overeating. Further heartache followed in her teens when her mother died. White describes being diagnosed with stage four Hodgkin’s lymphoma when she was 18; the seemingly endless, crushing rounds of radiation that followed; and the love from friends and family that sustained her until she went into remission after a year and a half of treatment—only to be told at age 28 that the cancer had returned. From there, White recounts how she developed congestive heart failure and chronic lung and kidney disease at 38, and received a heart and kidney transplant at 47. The author’s passionate ode to her unshakable faith in “God’s grace and mercy” inspires, but the book’s strengths are obscured by awkward writing that tends toward platitudes and often contradicts itself (“Although Sheila and I had an ambivalent relationship due to me ‘taking her place as the baby of the family,’ we were also best friends, and I did not want any harm to come to her”). Still, readers will find it hard to forget White’s incredible life story. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 07/26/2024 | Details & Permalink

Journalist Cherin debuts with the tender story of a radio-sponsored treasure hunt in Southern California. In 1981, a floundering pop radio station hatches a weeklong campaign to drum up ratings by burying $50,000 and offering one clue per day about the treasure’s whereabouts. Among the competitors are Sally Lang, a single mother and bank teller, who hopes to replace the money she’s been stealing at work to make ends meet; aging motorcycle racer Danny Baker, who eyes the cash as his path toward retirement; and Holocaust survivor and synagogue janitor Augie Kloptman, who faces unemployment and eviction when his temple announces plans to move. Augie later teams up with Jason Schneidman, a 13-year-old congregant adrift in the wake of his parents’ divorce, who plans to use his share of the money to impress girls. As Sally worries her theft will be discovered in an upcoming audit, Danny dreams of opening a motorcycle shop, and Jason warms to the lonely Augie, Cherin strikes a balance between frothy entertainment and thoughtful examination of his character’s fears, desires, and need for connection. Readers will be rooting for everyone to win in this impressive tale. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 07/19/2024 | Details & Permalink

Pepper (Karaoke Chemistry) shines in this equally steamy and heartfelt contemporary, the first of her Guided to Love series. After Devon’s firefighter husband, Jason, dies in the line of duty, she bolts from their tiny hometown of Talladega, Ala., reasoning that “staying in one place and opening my heart only brought heartache.” Five years later, now in her 30s, she’s headed home because her late grandmother’s will stipulates that her beautiful historical home will go to Devon only if she resides there for six months. Otherwise, it will be donated to her grandmother’s archnemesis on the town historical society. Devon doesn’t know it, but her grandmother is trying to give fate a nudge, pushing Devon into the arms of local paramedic Aaron Joseph. Aaron’s had a crush on Devon forever, but he and his two firefighter brothers are hometown boys all the way, and Devon is most likely going to run again when the six months are up. Pepper does a fine job of portraying the complex emotions of a widow falling for a new man, and Aaron proves a similarly nuanced and vulnerable hero, having been abandoned by his mother and a string of girlfriends. Romance readers looking for sweet stories of love after loss will be hooked. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 07/19/2024 | Details & Permalink

Archer shines in her breezy 11th mystery for undercover casino operative Davis Way Cole (after Double Wide), which takes place over the course of a single day. Recently, Davis’s job working security for the Bellissimo—her husband’s Biloxi, Miss., casino—has taken a backseat to managing her mischievous twins, Bexley and Quinn. Davis’s action-packed Friday begins with the girls bringing birth control pills and a live rabbit to show-and-tell, pushing them closer to expulsion from their ritzy private preschool. Then, at the casino, multiple guests come down with sudden, persistent hiccups around the same time that someone drugs the surveillance team and manipulates the security camera feeds. Harried, Davis sets out to determine whether it’s the work of the Bellissimo’s mob-controlled neighbor casino, the Bling-Bling—and if so, what their motive might be. Archer supplements her amusing, original plot with wry humor and colorful characters, most notably Davis’s casino security colleague, Fantasy. Carl Hiaasen fans will lap up the effortless blend of comedy and crime. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 07/05/2024 | Details & Permalink

In this humorous romp from Engling (Visions of Anna), a striving Chicago theater director empties his nest egg and borrows money from friends to stage an avant-garde production of William Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus. Thirty-year-old Dwayne Finnegan hopes the show will be his breakout, but it proves to be ill-fated from the start. First, Dwayne’s longtime collaborator and coproducer pulls out, after deciding to put his money toward financing a career shift in Los Angeles. Dwayne then turns to two friends, McDonald’s marketing executive Chaz and psychoanalyst Aleister, to raise cash. Added to the mix is eccentric self-appointed managing director Ingrid and a dangerous rehearsal space with many exposed live wires. The play puts a strain on Dwayne’s marriage to Angela, especially after Chaz, who’s married to Angela’s friend, carries on a poorly hidden affair with one of the actors. When the actor playing Lavinia confesses that the play’s rape scene has triggered the trauma of her own rape, Dwayne calls in Aleister for help, a jarring episode Engling fails to set the stage for amid the running gags. He’s better at poking fun at the theater world, as when Ingrid is exposed for plagiarizing another production. This zany send-up has its moments. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 07/05/2024 | Details & Permalink

In Driscoll’s pulse-pounding third thriller featuring Gemma Capello (after Shot Caller), the NYPD hostage negotiator tackles a case that hits uncomfortably close to home. When Gemma was 10 years old, she and her mother were taken hostage by armed robbers during a trip to the bank, and her mother was killed. On the 25th anniversary of her mother’s death, Gemma calls her father in hopes of distracting him from his grief, but her efforts are interrupted by news of a shooting at Brooklyn’s South Greenfield High School, which her nephew attends. Though she’s off-duty, Gemma rushes to the scene. She and the SWAT team easily apprehend the first shooter, but a second gunman manages to take a classroom hostage, forcing Gemma to figure out what, exactly, the teenager wants without setting him off. Over the course of her negotiations—which Driscoll illustrates with breathtaking panache, taking readers through the school room by room and floor by floor at Gemma’s side—Gemma connects the current shooting to the years-old death of a South Greenfield student. Driscoll approaches the potentially lurid material with admirable sensitivity, and maintains suspense throughout. Readers will clamor for the next installment. Agent: Nicole Resciniti, Seymour Agency. (May)

This review has been updated with new bibliographic information.

Reviewed on 06/28/2024 | Details & Permalink

Marie (Stolen Goods) sparkles in her The Love Match series launch. Aspiring jewelry designer Emily Ann Peters goes viral after her mother appears in the audience of a morning show holding a sign reading “Emily Ann needs a man!” The resulting hoopla lands Emily a starring spot on the new season of The Love Match, one of TV’s most popular shows. When she arrives on set, she comes face-to-face with her first love, Jake, who’s now a producer on the show. He disappeared from her life seven years earlier during a pregnancy scare, leaving Emily heartbroken. Though Jake, the son of a teen mother, feared holding Emily back, he’s never gotten over her either. But Emily is supposed to be finding love with a contestant, not a staff member. Marie brings in a lot of reality show-inspired fun, with over-the-top dates, suitors both good and bad, and plenty of drama. There are also some shocking twists, including the real details behind Emily’s purported pregnancy. Readers will binge this like it’s a new season of The Bachelorette. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 06/28/2024 | Details & Permalink

In this chilling if overwrought dystopian novel from debut author Gagliastro, a gerontocracy engages in human trafficking and sexual slavery. The story takes place in an alternate reality Philadelphia, where Dime Gagliastra, the 26-year-old gender-fluid narrator, has survived the recent Ameriqueerocide, in which all queer people were targeted for killing, by passing as masculine. Declared a Minor along with everyone under the age of 35, he’s held captive by an Elder, a member of the ruling class who forces Dime to have sex with him. The Elder’s hypocrisy is but one example of Gagliastro’s incisive satire of homophobia. When Dime, who grew up poor and financed his education by spending time with older men in return for their financial support, considers how the role of sugar daddy has morphed into something much more sinister under the gerontocracy, it’s clear Gagliastro is satirizing “sugaring” as well. When Dime’s Elder dies, he’s auctioned to another Elder, a retired NBA player who seems gentle at first but turns out to be cruel. The plot ramps up after Dime meets a fellow Minor, and she lets him in on a rebellion plot. Gagliastro’s depictions of sexual violence can feel gratuitous, but Dime’s thoughtful narration of his experiences with sugaring are revelatory. This provocative novel is not for the faint of heart. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 06/28/2024 | Details & Permalink

Rose (the Alchemy Empire series) serves up an intriguing variation on Holmes and Watson in this promising series launch. Dr. Siân Watson, who in 1878 became the first woman to get her medical degree from the University of London, disguised herself as a man to serve with the British Army in Afghanistan. After being wounded in combat, she returns to London, where she takes a room with a stranger named Sherrington Hope—which turns out to be the male alias for female private investigator Sherlyn Holmes. When police inspector Lestrade taps Sherlyn to assist in solving a string of murders, Sîan offers to help. Soon, the two women come to suspect that a decades-old German gang that once prowled the streets of London has reemerged, and that they’re responsible for the killings of three cabbies across the city. The women’s sleuthing puts them in hot water with corrupt officials, and soon they’re fighting for their lives. In the midst of everything, Sîan develops romantic feelings for her brilliant roommate and colleague. That tension (“Holmes was... the sun burning away the foggy gloom my life had become”), plus a truly nerve-shredding mystery, set this apart from standard-issue Holmes retreads. Fans of Laurie R. King’s Marry Russell series should check this out. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 06/14/2024 | Details & Permalink

Collins’s clever third mystery featuring Taylor Browning (after Looking Glass Editor) finds the New Mexico book editor investigating a pair of missing persons cases. Taylor, a member of the Santa Fe Wine and Crime book club, is disturbed when the group’s president, Anita Juárez, fails to make a scheduled appearance. When Anita proves unreachable, another member of the club alerts the police. Authorities discover Anita’s abandoned car, with her purse and phone inside, on a county route known as the Devil’s Road, which is notorious as the site of several other mysterious disappearances. While Taylor works with authorities to locate Anita, another local goes missing: restaurateur Gerald Barker, who is famous for his use of the rare and potent Mayan death pepper. Meanwhile, Taylor deals with a difficult author who insists an unprecedented kill fee clause be added to his contract, paying him handsomely if publication falls through. Collins gives herself a lot to juggle, but for the most part, she pulls it off, and she brings her subplots together with a satisfying finale. It’s ideal for poolside reading. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 06/14/2024 | Details & Permalink