John Staughton, Senior Reviewer

A colorful and creative A-Z guide to flowers, Alphabet of Flowers by Gloria D. Gonsalves is a children’s book that can be appreciated by anyone unfamiliar with our floral friends. The brief statements following each alphabetical bloom contain simple and interesting facts, though some entries are more intriguing than others. Particularly impressive are the crayoned flowers and descriptions beginning with more rare letters, such as X and Q. Though the concept of the book is simple, the images are easy to duplicate for aspiring artists, and getting to know the names and spellings of flowers is an important skill for […]

A steamy South American thriller, At All Costs by Geoffrey Robinson is a fast-paced read with conspiracies and betrayal aplenty. Kelly and Danny are hunting for different things – the scoop on a dangerous story and intel for his shadowy superiors, respectively – but their missions inevitably tangle in a chaotic mess of smuggling, murder, and international manipulation. While the writing is sometimes rushed and could afford to slow down, the plot moves quickly, the tension is visceral and realistic, and the complexity of the story’s villains helps this novel stand out from other international thrillers.

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A high-stakes extraction thriller with a compelling, freshly haunted hero at the helm, No Sanctuary by Camden Mays is the third gripping installment of the Cole Cameron Thriller series. After returning to the scene of his most recent trauma, it isn’t long before Cole is meeting with Mossad agents, infiltrating hostile territory, dealing out death, and pushing his own limits, both physically and psychologically. Reading like a behind-the-scenes scoop on espionage fieldwork, this is a captivating burst of fiction, penned with the tension of a noir drama, and the fast-paced payoffs of modern revenge thrillers.

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A probing novel with a touch of the paranormal, Where the River Runs Deep by Lynne Handy is a stunning story of violent truths clashing with long-hidden hate, exposing the scarred soul of America, both past and present. Maria is a striking protagonist, blending her deep belief in people, a love of poetry, and a freshly damaged heart. As she digs into the mysteries hidden in the death of her brilliant student, and the lost-in-time town she’s temporarily calling home, Maria finds far more visceral terrors on the outer banks of North Carolina. Handy has a quick and unpredictable style […]