Thank You, Night by Dan McCauley; illustrated by Jo Loring-Fisher 

Beautiful and restful, perfect for before bedtime. 

Thank You, Night is a lovely new children’s picture book by author Dan McCauley and artist Jo Loring-Fisher, and it would be the perfect wind down at the end of the day. At the close of the day, a young boy is unable to slip away from the thoughts and feelings of his day. But as he takes his customary evening walk with his father, the calm, loveliness of the night and his awareness of the natural world around him eases his mind and body to finally welcome sleep. The illustrations are captivating in their colors and execution, drawing your imagination in with the soothing text that accompanies them. I loved the gentle descriptions of the breeze tapping the boy on the shoulder and the muted background images that completed each scene. I recommend THANK YOU, NIGHT for young listeners and their older readers. 

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy via Netgalley.

For more information or to pre-order/purchase, click HERE!

Fresh Grown: Essential Guide to Use, Store, + Make the Most of Your Vegetables

by

Andrea Kristin

This gorgeously illustrated guide will teach new cooks and inspire those more experienced to expand the uses of vegetables in their menus.

Fresh Grown by author Andrea Kristin is a new how-to guide for making the most of your hard-earned vegetables, whether you’re growing your own or perusing the produce section of your local grocery store. I think I love everything about this book, from its gorgeous photos (coffee table quality presentation), informative content, and even its well-organized and clean page design. I foresee giving this book to a number of family members for Christmas in a couple of months. 

The book focuses on a large variety of vegetables and explains what parts are edible and how they are normally prepared, how to store them for maximum freshness before cooking, and how to keep excess amounts useful long-term. Methods include freezing, canning, dehydrating, fermenting, and pickling. I particularly liked how the author grouped the vegetables by the part of the plant that is going to be harvested for consumption: roots, stems, leaves, bulbs, flowers, fruits, and seeds. For example, peas are found in the “Seeds” section. (And yes, while some can be categorized in more than one way, they are discussed under their most prevalent part.) Several less popular vegetables (at least here in my region) are included, so if you have ever wondered what a fava bean was, you’ll find your answer here. (Go ahead, uncork a nice chianti now.) 

I recommend FRESH GROWN to, as the author put it so well, “the veggie lover + veggie curious and anyone wanting to explore the world of fresh grown.” 

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy from the author through Goddess Fish Promotions Book Tours.

Lost Sisters

Ryder Nguyen Mystery, #1

by

David Marshall Hunt

Lost Sisters has an intriguing plot with an engaging main character, but a confusing timeline prevents it from really shining. 

Ryder Nguyen, the adopted daughter of Gulf shore shrimpers, had been mesmerized by the exploits of John D. MacDonald’s famed Florida sleuth, Travis McGee, her entire adolescence. Her obsession ultimately led to a college major in criminal justice while continuing to crew on her family’s shrimp boats during her off time. Finding her soulmate in fellow Travis McGee fan and adjunct professor USAF Captain Slater Jackson, they fell in love and together formed their own private investigations firm, Slater & Ryder. 

A major cold case comes their way through one of Slater’s fellow pilots, Captain Tracy Billings, the great-granddaughter of one of the wealthiest men in Florida. Eight years earlier, her younger sister, Augusta, had gone missing from their massive and well-protected Florida estate, but the case had quickly gone cold when nary a trace of the ten-year-old was ever uncovered. 

Ryder, too, has unanswered questions about her own past. Abandoned on the steps of a community medical facility in Thailand, the only clue to her identity was a locket with a picture of a young girl and an infant inside. As tragedy strikes closer to home, Ryder can only forge ahead with the Billings cold case and try to seek out any information she can about her unknown origins. 

Lost Sisters is the first book in author David Marshall Hunt's new mystery series featuring fledgling private investigator Ryder Nguyen, the half-American and half (presumably) Vietnamese adopted daughter of a Gulf Coast shrimping family. With its intriguing premise of reopening a cold-case kidnapping of a Florida millionaire's great-granddaughter paired with Ryder's look into her own murky origins, the book has great promise as a thrilling debut for the series. However, a confusing timeline, repetitive exposition, and a tendency to toss in people, items, and events before some necessary preamble hampers its success. Still, I enjoyed the story and was satisfied with what I read, even though I had to work for it. 

Besides the premise, I found Ryder's narrative engaging; I was interested in her as a character and hoped for her success. Her hazy origins were intriguing, and her ultimate push to find the woman she thought might be an older sister compelled me to keep turning pages. I absolutely enjoyed reading about the Nguyen family's backstory and shrimping business. I could easily read an entire book devoted to just their lives, livelihood, and their experiences dealing with lessening their environmental footprint and putting up with ill-informed critics. I liked the story of Ryder's tugboat home/office; however, there are continuity issues with her possession of it. Initially, the owner tells her there'll be no rent and discusses and agrees to a name change for the ship to Ryder's Quest. Yet later, she complains that her landlord is increasing the rent and refers to her home as "Tugboat." Similarly, there are some inconsistencies with when she actually meets Tracy. 

The references to John D. MacDonald and his famous "salvage consultant," Travis McGee, were fun, and I liked how the author used the influence her love of the series had on Ryder's future, such as her career choice, ethical considerations, and surprising connection it will create with her future husband. Slater is in the novel for only a brief period, and while I like the idea of Ryder having this ill-fated romance and its long-term ramifications, their relationship builds, taking up quite a bit of time early on, but too quickly becomes an afterthought. Yes, there is an obvious reason Slater is no longer in the story; however, it's almost as if he was never there, except for a certain complication. 

I think the story would benefit from a little cleanup and reworking of the timelines, but I will be following this author so I can purchase the next book in the series. I wasn't ready to say goodbye to Ryder or what looks like might become her motley collection of employees and contacts. I recommend LOST SISTERS to mystery readers looking for a fresh and unique new private eye series. 

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

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.