3volve by Josefina Gutierrez
3volve by Josefina Gutierrez is the spirited and engaging New Adult novel about Cristal Escobedo, an almost-dysfunctional twenty-two-year-old who has to grow up very fast taking care of her two younger brothers. She’s also got this problem of falling for her best friend. Though 3volve is part of a series, it works well as a standalone novel.
A self-described “mess,” Cristal is a highly entertaining character. Her voice is at once loose and driven, and brazen in her opinions about herself, and everyone else around her. She’s vulnerable without being weak, and never pathetic. She doesn’t magically become adept overnight […]
Heart Break by MK Moskwik is a fun and spirited tech-driven mystery with a likable central character, Isabel Swift, an engaging protagonist for a new series. Swift is an up and coming police officer and human lie detector who dreams of making detective. Her mentor, Ben, dies mysteriously and Swift learns there may be a connection with his death and her latest case about stolen technology. She’s paired with a surly data scientist who’s making her job more difficult. When other cops are found murdered, Swift has only 48 hours to connect the dots, solve her mentor’s death, and make […]
Apple of My I: The Four Practices of Self-Love: Tools for Authentic Living in a Chaotic World is a self-help book to help people live a healthier life, both mentally and physically. The latter is the most important part of the book’s premise, as Maros’ emphasis is on looking to the body’s signals to understand the workings of the mind. If you hate yourself, your body will suffer. If you hate your body, the reverse will happen. Only when the two facets of a person are in alignment will a person fully realize their potential.
The Age of Amy: Behind the Fun Zone is the fourth novel in the “Age of Amy” series by Bruce Edwards. The Amy books put Amy, a rebellious and precocious teenager, into some fantastical scenarios. In the first book, she comes toe to toe with a farm animal that can manipulate time and space. Behind the Fun Zone is more sci-fi than fantasy, and puts Amy against a creepy new technology called the Jimmie, which implants cell phone technology into your head. Amy, who’s already averse to technology, is having none of it, and her aversion to the Jimmie is […]
Conversations and Adventures by Simone Diston is a spirited and engaging collection of true-to-life stories about meeting different people in a city and starting conversations out of the blue. Everyone she meets on her travels is asking big questions about life, with obstacles in their lives to overcome. Together they reach new insights into big questions about the human condition, such as equality or identity, and smaller issues as well, such as dating.
Murphy Drummer is bad luck personified. As Murphy’s Law states: anything bad that can happen will happen. This is Murphy’s lifelong mantra. After a lifetime of causing havoc wherever he goes, he becomes the ultimate agoraphobe and locks himself inside so he can’t cause any more damage. Keeping himself busy with a multitude of hobbies, Murphy becomes the “Hobby Guy” with a devoted following. Eventually, Murphy has to leave the safety of his cocoon and comes in contact with his polar opposite: Joy Daley, who is touched by lady luck wherever she goes, and who might just change Murphy’s luck […]
ReLovenship (TM) Look Within to Love Again!: A Workbook to Attract “The One” and Much More in Your Life! by husband and wife duo Mario P. Cloutier and Diane Sawaya Cloutier is a how-to guide for securing a long-term relationship in a country with a 50% divorce rate. What exactly does ReLovenship mean? It’s the concept that you must love yourself before you’re ever a good mate for someone else. Far from this being an emphasis on narcissism or arrogance, ReLovenship is more of a spiritual concept in which people need to forgive themselves and open up to their better […]