Review: The Last April by Belinda Kroll
Split-second decisions have life-changing consequences in The Last April, a gripping and thought-provoking work of YA historical fiction by Belinda Kroll.
It’s April, 1865 and in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War, fifteen-year-old Gretchen Miller is in the garden of her family farm in rural Ohio when she’s startled by a Confederate soldier who falls in a dead faint literally steps from her feet. As Gretchen reaches his side, the feverish soldier mutters about his escape from Camp Chase, a training barrack/Confederate prison outside of Columbus. Realizing that the young soldier will die without her help, Gretchen reluctantly […]
Pro athletes, stolen millions and murder make for an irresistible cocktail in Santa Fe Mojo, the first murder mystery in the Vincent Malone series by Ted Clifton.
The Serpent and The Wolf opens to a rather amusing bait and switch. When the reader thinks they are in a distant Viking land, a bloody battlefield in full swing, the director yells ‘Cut!’ and the modern world of the story takes shape. The opening sets the tone for the rest of the novel: a sometimes-slapstick mixing together of worlds and genres.