Tuesday, May 13, 2025

Sea Change by Susan Fletcher

Sea Change by Susan Fletcher

This is a coming of age story in the age of genetic manipulation.  Turtle was born differently by illegal genetic manipulation by her parents.   She is part of a community of different young people who have been  abandoned by their parents. The story deals with her attempted reintegration with her family.

Turtle meets Kai in a diving accident when both are scavenging.  The scene is set in a future where global warming is inundating low islands and coastlines.  Turtle has many longings, some for family and some for love.

You meet her friends and frenemies. Some are born differently, and some are normal.  The parental urge to provide their children a step above the competition leads to illegal genetic manipulations and some sad results.

The book has some romance but nothing graphic so it is suitable for younger readers.

I enjoyed it and recommend it.

This is an interesting look at our future. 


Buy Here
 

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases if you click on a purchasing link below.#CommissionsEarned

Friday, May 9, 2025

Fleet Landing by Wendy Gee



First of all, Fleet Landing is a neighborhood.  It sounds like a military thing but it is about firefighters, criminal urbanization, greed, street gangs, racism, and injustice.

Sydney Quinn, an on-air, intrepid television reporter, finds an unexpected ally in ATF Agent Cooper Bellamy. Together, Coop and Sydney tackle the incessant fires in Fleet Landing, only to discover that layers of deceit and corruption are fueling the fires.

There is plenty of action and some romance in this book.

I enjoyed it. 

Buy it here!

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases if you click on a purchasing link below.#CommissionsEarned

Friday, May 2, 2025

The Face of Greed by James L'Etoile #1



This mystery remains a mystery throughout the story.  That may seem to be self-evident, but many mysteries are easily solvable well before the conclusion of the story. Emily and Javier are assigned a murder that, at first, seemed explainable.  As the investigation continued, the complexity ballooned.

A major, behind-the-scenes, financial influencer is found dead, and the political wagons are circling.  The victim’s socialite wife, with a serious attitude, calls upon her bosom buddy, the mayor, to circumvent the investigation. 

Emily and Javier chase down the leads and discover perfidy, treachery, and serial infidelity.  

The book has loads of action and is an exciting read.


I recommend it. 


This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases if you click on a purchasing link below.#CommissionsEarned

Thursday, April 10, 2025

The Boundaries We Cross by Brad Parks



  


This book hit home.  Any educator lives in dread of false accusations.  This holds particularly true when dealing with kids from troubled environments, regardless of income status.  Mr. Bliss is accused of inappropriate contact with a fictional, prestigious prep school student. 

The perils in trying to defend oneself when faced with wealthy, status-conscious, reputation-mongering parents are clearly defined.  Mr. Bliss’s personal relationships take a nosedive. Colleagues shun him on unfounded accusations, and due process does not exist. 

Then murder, addiction and unscrupulous police actions add spice to the mix.

Parks did a great job in crafting a tale that was emotionally hard to read due to the tension, loneliness, and anxiety of the protagonist. 

I recommend the book. 

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases if you click on a purchasing link below.#CommissionsEarned

Friday, March 21, 2025

Spotlight on the Bayrose Files by Diane Wald



 

BOSTON, MA – In Diane Wald’s sharp and tender novella, “The Bayrose Files” (May 27, 2025), ambitious young journalist Violet Maris goes undercover at a prestigious writers’ colony in 1980s Provincetown. Determined to secure a coveted residency, she fakes her talent, using her friend’s stories to gain admission. Her intention: to write a captivating exposé based on her experiences. However, Violet's promising start at the colony takes a dark turn when tragedy strikes—her friend, the true author of the stories, succumbs to AIDS. This loss plunges Violet into turmoil, compounded by the weight of the terrible secret she carries. Compelled to confess, she confides in a member of the colony's board with whom she has become romantically involved. The revelation of her deception leaves Violet grappling with disgrace and searching for a path toward redemption and reconciliation—with herself and those she has inadvertently hurt.

 

A short but powerful and provocative read, “The Bayrose Files” explores art, morality and identity with humor and a gentle heart.

 

About the author…

DIANE WALD is a poet and novelist who grew up in New Jersey, but lived most of her life in


Massachusetts. She has an MFA from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She has worked as a library assistant, periodical circulation manager, English professor, academic dean, and in-house writer for a national animal welfare organization. Her novella “Gillyflower” was published in 2019 and won first place awards from the Next Generation Indie Book Awards and American Book Fest, among other accolades. “My Famous Brain,” her second novel, won first place in Visionary Fiction from the New York City Big Books Awards, first place in Visionary Fiction, New Adult Fiction, and Speculative Fiction from the Firebird Book Awards, and was a bronze winner in the Foreword INDIES Awards. Diane has also published more than 250 poems in literary magazines. She is the recipient of a two-year fellowship in poetry from the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown and has been awarded the Grolier Poetry Prize, The Denny Award, The Open Voice Award, and the Anne Halley Award. She also received a state grant from the Massachusetts Council on the Arts. She has published four print chapbooks and won the Green Lake Chapbook Award. Her new novel, “The Bayrose Files,” is forthcoming in May 2025 from Regal House Publishing. Learn more at www.dianewald.org.

 

Follow Diane Wald on social media:

Facebook: @sleeperina | Twitter: @sleeperina | Instagram: @dianewaldwriter

An Interview with

Diane Wald



  1. What inspired you to write “The Bayrose Files”? Did you spend time at a writers colony like the one Violet goes to?

I was in my twenties when I was accepted for a poetry fellowship at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown (FAWC) in 1973, and that was renewed for a second year. The Bayrose Files is based on my experiences there – although it is totally fiction. The protagonist is a fiction writer, not a poet, and she cheated to obtain her residency. The story is set in the 1980s, which allowed me to explore the topic of AIDS in those days.



2.            Provincetown is an interesting setting. What drew you to that place?

My parents packed up me and my younger brother and drove us almost every summer from our home in New Jersey to one of the towns on the outer Cape for a week or two, and every year one day was dedicated to visiting Provincetown. I not only got to know the place; I fell in love, and visited as often as I could when I grew up. Provincetown as a setting allowed me to explore a wide array of lifestyles, ages, careers, art forms, and beliefs in order to enhance my book’s themes of personal ethics, creativity, love, and friendship. I often think of the setting as a character in my book.



3.            A unique subplot is that Violet can sense items by their varying temperatures as a “thermopath.” What does this signify for you?

I’m not sure if “thermopath” is actually a word or if one of my blurbists coined it, but it does describe this interesting talent of Violet’s. I like to include extrasensory concepts in my work, and have done so in my previous two novels. In The Bayrose Files, Violet is forced to pay attention to these temperature clues all through her various experiences and misadventures as a sort of grounding device. By the end of the book she’s paying a great deal of attention to them.



4.            You are also an award-winning poet. Does your poetry influence your approach to writing fiction?

I was terrified of showing my fiction to anyone for many years, although I started writing it in my forties. I didn’t resurrect the idea of publishing it until a few years ago. I do think my poetry influences my prose writing because I always work with a piece from the word to the phrase to the sentence to the paragraph. I want all the words to be the best ones I can come up with, and that’s a lot like writing poetry. Imagery is tremendously important to me as well, and making sure the imagery repeats and transforms itself and creates a sensory whole. What I love about fiction is adding dialogue to the mix.



5.            Since retirement, you’ve been writing more than ever. Do you find you have more inspiration, more time to focus, or both? What is your writing process like?

Since I retired four years ago, I’ve published four books:  a volume of poetry, two novels, and now this book. Plus, I’ve placed quite a few poems, stories, and memoir pieces in the last few years as well. Some of that is just luck; some of it is having more time. I have a lovely room to write in and the calmness that develops over time when you don’t have to worry about all the vicissitudes of your day job. My last day job, as an in-house writer for a large organization, was especially stressful, although I don’t regret it because my duties included writing every day. That keeps your writing muscles strong.



6.            What’s next for you?

I’ve put together a “collected/selected” poetry manuscript that’s searching for a publisher. A few people have said they’d love to see a sequel to The Bayrose Files, so I’m thinking about that. I’m also playing around with ideas gleaned from my years as a dean in an art college, or my years working in animal welfare; I think either of those could provide an abundance of odd and interesting characters and situations, just as the art colony does in The Bayrose Files.


This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases if you click on a purchasing link below.#CommissionsEarned