Goddess of the Flowers: One Girl’s Journey

by

Stefanie Auerbach Stolinsky

The shocking, eye-opening story of a young girl’s desperate run from a powerful Mexican cartel leader.

Gorgeous Xochitl (pronounced “so-she”) Gonzalez is a fifteen-year-old street waif in rural Mexico who is seized with her mother by cartel leader Carlos Morales to be his “queen” at his massive hacienda. 

Life becomes a dream of wealth, gold, expensive cars, bag loads of cash, and jewelry. And all she has to do is “train” new girls to the tricks of the trade. How to please the men they will be sold to across the Rio Grande and into the U.S. Not realizing these girls will also be sneaking drugs and other contraband into the States, Xochitl entices them into the life of fantasy that a gang girl can have riches in America. 

During a trafficking exchange, Xochitl witnesses the brutal murder of a 13-year-old; she realizes the same thing will happen to her. She escapes with two girls, a stash of coke, and a gun. 

She tells Carlos she is pregnant with his child and thus starts one of the most astounding chases in storytelling. Aided by the U.S. Government, incarcerated in a detention hall, and bailed out by a brothel madam, she agrees to trade her son for the release of girls primed for slavery, emerging triumphant.

Goddess of the Flowers by Stefanie Auerbach Stolinsky is a riveting tale of one girl’s harrowing escape from the hands of a vicious drug lord, drug smuggling, human trafficking, international corruption, and the unbelievable amounts of money involved. Her story is shocking and eye-opening, not only in its life-threatening brutality and non-stop danger but for the sheer reach of the cartel’s power and influence. However, even the cartel is no match for her resilience, determination, and inextinguishable hope for a better life for herself and her unborn child. 

Xochitl (meaning “Goddess of the Flowers”) is just days shy of her sixteenth birthday when cartel leader Carlos Morales, who keeps her as his sexual plaything, coldly murders a thirteen-year-old girl who is in their mansion headquarters to be trained to perform sexually for her buyer across the border in the U.S. She’s known all along that she’s just a cog in the horrific sex human smuggling machine and her usefulness to Carlos, too, would soon reach its expiration date as she aged. But Xochitl had connected with the younger girl when she’d arrived that day, and her ruthless execution galvanized Xochitl into action to get herself and two more of the new girls out of the cartel compound and to safety across the river. 

Xochitl had been aware that Carlos had a network of connections in the U.S., but it wasn’t until she made her desperate run for freedom that she realized just how far and wide his reach really extended. He has eyes and ears everywhere she turns, and she constantly feels she’s still easily within his grasp and that he is just toying with her before snatching her back up. Xochitl quickly finds out she can trust no one and with good reason. Even the ‘good’ guys have agendas where she is just a pawn and an expendable one at that. There’s no respite for this poor girl: no real moments free from fear or pain. Still, she perseveres. 

The story unfolds from Xochitl’s point of view, and the author gives her a voice, attitudes, and emotions that feel starkly authentic. The narrative is, at times, stream-of-consciousness, and the language and actions are raw, desperate, and uncensored. Characters are brutalized, and many die. The picture that is painted is shocking and grim, yet throughout it all, Xochitl continually taps into inner sources of strength, replenished by hope. The style of narrative may not be to everyone’s taste; the events are often too brutal for comfortable reading. However, I was mesmerized by her story and rooted for Xochitl to find freedom and justice, compelled to see the story through to its resolution. 

I recommend GODDESS OF THE FLOWERS to readers of gritty and dark crime thrillers.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy from Reedsy Discovery.

The Sky King

Skyriders, #2

by

Polly Holyoke

Exciting aerial action, magnificent winged horses, and a relatable young heroine!

The Sky King is the second book in the middle-grade fantasy adventure series, Skyriders, by author Polly Holyoke, and it is a wonderful follow-up to the debut novel. With exciting aerial action, magnificent winged skysteeds, and a relatable young heroine, this new adventure had me glued to its pages and completely invested in the outcome. 

Young Kiesandra “Kie” Torsun and her skysteed partner, N’Rah, have returned to their duties in the mail service after Prekalt’s victory over the Foul Ones. Still, rumors of rogue chimerae attacking isolated villages and fellow couriers prove all too true. As the Nexara, the physical link between humans and skysteeds, Kie is conflicted over her desire to safeguard her people and the danger to the skysteeds, whose involvement would be necessary to defeat the evil beasts. After a misstep in her relationship with N’Rah, she realizes she must convince humans and skysteeds alike that they must work together as equal partners for success. I could feel the love and respect between Kie and N’Rah throughout the story, and her relationship with the quirky N’Poda involved all my emotions.

 The action sequences of the skyriders and skysteeds battling the chimerae and vultiren were exciting with edge-of-your-seat suspense. I also enjoyed Kie’s growing awareness of the magic available to her and look forward to this aspect expanding in future books. 

The author’s writing style is engaging, and the storyline is suitable for a wide age range of readers, although younger children may be bothered by the monsters and off-page losses of skyriders and skysteeds in battle. This series would make a great read-aloud for the family, classroom, or after-school programming. While this is the second book in the series, new readers can easily pick up on the overall story. 

I recommend THE SKY KING to middle-grade and older readers of fantasy and adventure stories.

Draw a Hard Line (E.J. Kane Mystery, #2) by Micheal E. Jimerson 

Legendary former Texas Ranger E.J. Kane returns in this exciting tale of revenge and betrayal. 

Draw a Hard Line is the second exciting book in author Micheal E. Jimerson’s immersive, action-filled E.J. Kane Mystery series, which launched in 2022 with its stellar debut, White Gold. All its memorable characters return as E.J. and his ex-wife, attorney Rebecca Johnson, confront an old adversary when new evidence threatens to overturn the conviction of the murderous head of a dangerous white supremacist paramilitary group. 

A little time has passed since the events of book one, and E.J. and Rebecca have both struggled with their efforts to help their daughter overcome her drug habit. Sharla has played her parents one against the other for years, and she now leans into her past successes with all the cunning of the addict she is. Readers learn so much more about the family: the death of the oldest child, son Konnor, in Afghanistan and its life-altering impact on E.J., Rebecca, and Sharla. While Rebecca blames E.J. for their son’s death, E.J. goes one further, blaming himself and God. He struggles with the erosion of his relationship with the Lord, obviously hurting and wanting to re-establish his former faith, just as he tries to understand and repair the uneasy and awkward relationship with Rebecca, whom he still loves. 

The author introduces a truly evil villain in the character of G.H. Burton, the incarcerated-for-life (they thought) former leader of the Aryan Triangle. Through the storyline’s court proceedings, I was surprised to learn that DNA is not the be-all or end-all that television, films, and crime fiction portray. Complicating the case is the shadow of E.J.’s tarnished reputation and the vitriol of his former Texas Rangers supervisor, Lt. Col Craig Fenton, and the machinations of treacherous Sheriff Benjamin Berryhill. B.B.’s storyline caused mixed emotions for E.J. and me. The man is a heinous individual, but his son and wife are wonderful people, and he holds the keys E.J. needs to reset his life. 

The plot moves quickly, and the author deftly manages many moving parts. Not only are there E.J.’s personal family struggles and the Burton debacle and sideshow, but E.J.’s old friend, Rex Ashe, is slowly succumbing to the ravages of Alzheimer’s. In addition, E.J. is experiencing his own health worries. I could almost feel every misstep and jolt to his knee as he physically tried to do what needed doing. E.J.’s and Cooper’s terrifying flight through the Big Thicket and the eleventh-hour confrontation with Conrad Beams were as edge-of-your-seat as they come. 

I enjoyed the East Texas setting established in book one, especially the Big Thicket action sequences where you could almost feel the humidity, marshy mud, and mosquitoes. However, the story isn’t as location-specific as before, and readers new to the series may only get a general sense that the action is occurring somewhere in rural Texas. . Admittedly, this is just a 'me' issue; the setting descriptions are absolutely vivid. 

I recommend DRAW A HARD LINE to mystery readers who enjoy character-driven stories, courtroom drama, and heart-pounding thrills.

See my review of WHITE GOLD, the first book in the E.J. Kane Mystery series, HERE! 

Forager (Forager, #1)

by

Peter R. Stone 

A brilliant Australia-set post-apocalyptic tale for YA! 

World War III decimated Earth and society; the surviving members of the human race clustered together in settlements on the Australian continent in the former state of Victoria. Eighteen-year-old Ethan Jones has grown up in one of these city-settlements, Newhome, on the outskirts of what is left of Melbourne. He leads a successful team of 5 friends that forage for metals and other useful items amongst its ruins. Ethan, however, has a secret. Ethan is a mutant with enhanced hearing and echolocation abilities that would earn him a death sentence if the powers-that-be found out. 

The success of this team (far outstripping that of the other forager teams) attracts the attention of the “Custodians”: the militaristic overseers of the city and the guardians of the status quo. Under the pretext of protecting Ethan’s team from the horrific marauders known as the “Skels” that haunt the Melbourne ruins, a team of Custodians accompany them out of the city for a day of foraging. 

While working, the two teams must come to the rescue of a trading party from the distant city-settlement of Hamamachi that the Skels have attacked. The party’s only survivors are Counsillor Okada and his young female translator, Nanako. For Ethan, life as he knows it is fixing to change forever - again. 

The author has given us a fully developed, post-apocalyptic world and populated it with great characters. The plot is imaginative, and I was immediately absorbed in the story. The society of Newhome, highly structured with rigid and unforgiving laws and traditions, sets the stage for the variety of characters and their hopeless lives (although the ambitious can aspire to entry into the privileged and mysterious part of the city known as “North Gate.”) 

The mix of actually existing items like the Custodians’ Bushmaster vehicles and Austeyr assault rifles add a touch of our present to Ethan’s reality, and I found that fun. I also liked that the characters used actual Melbourne streets and place names on the foraging trips. I imagine that if the reader actually lived in Melbourne, that would be pretty cool. 

The action was tense and tight and held a number of twists that I never saw coming. As I read, I did not want to put the book down, respect the clock, and get on with what needed doing (sleep, work, etc.) in my day-to-day. I just needed to read “one more chapter.” Bravo to the author for a great start to his trilogy.

Neon Off Snow

by

Nick McCarthy

Good start to this unique Japanese detective series set in Osaka Prefecture.

Neon Off Snow is a new detective novel by Nick McCarthy that introduces readers to former Osaka Prefecture Police detective-turned-private eye Jon Nabeta. As a contracted consulting detective to the OPP, Nabeta is drawn into the murder of a fifteen-year-old yakuza princess that mimics the details of his most high-profile case from back when he was still with the police, the Osaka Kid Killer. With the lawyers of the convicted killer, the OPP’s former police commissioner, out to prove this new murder exonerates their client, Nabeta and his colleagues scramble to find the copycat killer and avert a war among the local yakuza families. 

Jon Nabeta is not your ordinary detective. The product of two half-American, half-Japanese parents, he looks a little different from his coworkers, and some people have a problem with that. He compensates by being the best at what he does: solving difficult crimes. Soon after his success in solving the Osaka Kid Killer case, he left the police service to go into private practice, but the reasons are not revealed until almost the end of the novel. Somewhere north of 30, Jon has had a problem relationship-wise with commitment, but his current girlfriend, Rian, has him rethinking his future life path. 

The plot follows Jon as he works the few clues discovered with the victim. There is so little to go on, Jon dives into his vast pool of contacts, informants, and information brokers for even the barest whisper of why the daughter of the powerful yakuza boss, Mamoru Usei, was murdered. The meetings with these shadowy, sometimes dangerous, underground figures yield meager suggestions for follow-up, and each scene is a perfectly developed, self-contained gem fraught with tension and atmosphere. The story is complex, with events from the past continuing to play a role in the present. 

I immensely enjoyed the close-up view of Japanese law enforcement processes, structure, and attitudes, and the plot depended quite a bit on lax protocol in evidence handling, non-existent building security, and lack of communication among investigative staff. There were a few continuity issues that were bothersome enough to require me to backtrack and reread previous scenes to try to make sense of the aspects of the story (i.e., the murder victim is naked when discovered but clothed when the body gets to the morgue.) Also, a pet peeve for me is that Nabeta is described multiple times as an unnaturally skilled deductive thinker/detective, yet he fails to connect pieces of evidence he wrongly removes from crime scenes until much later. Still, he is an engaging character, a dogged, persistent investigator with an amazing array of useful contacts and interesting informants. 

With its unique Osaka setting, insider’s/semi-official police point of view, and cinematic interview scenes and action sequences, I recommend NEON OFF SNOW to readers of traditional mysteries and police procedurals. 

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy from Reedsy Discovery.