#BookReview: Saltwater Sweethearts by Christina Benjamin

Seldom Saccharine Sweet. This is the book in this trilogy about (in part) three brothers from a small Southern town where this eldest of three brothers from a small (ish) Southern town *really* started identifying with these boys. Particularly since I left my own hometown 15 years ago this summer and only rarely go back, almost always to spend time with my family there. Which is what Cole is doing here – coming back to town for his sister’s wedding. And Cole’s mom? Much moreso than in Book 1 (Palmetto Passion), here she sounds so much like my own mother I could actually hear my mother’s voice when she was speaking. Granted, my family doesn’t have any *towns* named after us, but there is a (small) lake north of Atlanta that bears my mom’s family’s name (and the road the lake is on to boot :D)

All of which to say, this book *really* felt like home in ways that few books have ever quite evoked. And yes, I know, people from other areas of the country/ world won’t get quite the same effect (even though the location of this book is a few hundred miles away from my own home region, to be clear :D), but even then – it *does* provide a pretty solid view of what family life is like for at least some in the region. 🙂

Benjamin always does solid work creating mostly quick-read romances (and this one clocks in at just 180 ish pages) with heart, and this one is no different. And at this point, I’m *really* looking forward to Book 3, since at this point we know so very little about that particular brother. Oh, and if you liked the movie Sweet Home Alabama with Reese Witherspoon… well, this reader found this book to have at least some strong similarities with that tale. Which is a very good thing for this reader, since he very much enjoys that movie. 🙂 With this noted, this book is very much recommended.

This review of Saltwater Sweetheart by Christina Benjamin was originally written on February 6, 2021.

#BookReview: Take A Chance On Me by Beth Moran

Not What You Expected, But What You Need. As is often my norm when getting ready to write reviews, I had a look through the existing ones first. And so many were so critical of this book claiming it was effectively a bait and switch and had too many characters.

Now, I’m a man that can have and has had a dozen different books going, and can easily track what is happening in all of them. I’ve compared my (Autistic) mind to an AEGIS threat detection and tracking system before – able to track *far* more things than most can even readily know is happening. I also happen to be the child of two people who each have more siblings than our lead female does here, so again, I’m used to large families and tracking everything. But yes, if your mind is smaller in scale and can’t cope with a dozen ish important characters… you’re going to struggle with this tale. For me, this was actually fairly normal and I thought the dynamics were very solidly portrayed, with no characters feeling unduly flat, other than perhaps the children that were only in a scene or two. (And even then, within those scenes the children in question felt quite alive.)

As to the “bait and switch” of “claiming to be a romance” and actually presenting a “women’s fiction”… The timing for me was actually quite interesting, as in a prominent multi-author book group on Facebook, one of the founding authors asked *just yesterday* what kind of endings people preferred. Of 416 responses across 8 options, with multiple selections allowed per voter, over 2/3 of the respondents to this particular (18 hr old at the time of this writing) poll responded with some form of “surprise me (174) / give me something to think about (75) / messy endings are fine (17) / pull lots of threads together (15)”. So at least in this particular group of readers, I honestly think most of them would be along the lines of how I personally felt about this: I personally thought it was a wonderful tale of life, love, and other mysteries. (Kudos if you get that reference, you’re awesome! :D) YES, if you are an RWA purist, this book will NOT fit all of the RWA rules for “romance”. If you argue (as I do) that Nicholas Sparks writes romances that are often *far* more emotional and loving than many RWA-pure romances and thus should be considered romances themselves… you’ll be fine here. (Though note: This is NOT a tragedy ala Sparks, but that is as close as I get to revealing anything here.) Further, examining the description and even genres listed by the publisher on Amazon, I find no evidence of them claiming this is a romance novel. Instead, the marketing tagline is that you will get a “life-affirming and uplifting tale of love, family, friendship, and risking it all for happiness”.

I would argue that the tagline given is *exactly* the book we ultimately get, and thus any claims of being led to expect one thing and being given something else (aka “bait and switch”) are ultimately baseless and indeed utterly absurd.

For me, this book was a very solid, very fun tale with aspects not seen in many other places, including struggles with childlessness, fostering, different takes on what it means to be married/ have a happy marriage, and even, yes, its central premise and ultimate resolution thereof. For me, this was a book that completely worked from top to bottom, and enough that I personally will be on the look for future books from this author. Which means that, of course, this book is very much recommended.

This review of Take A Chance On Me by Beth Moran was originally written on February 4, 2021.

#BookReview: Identity In Action by Perry L Glanzer

Not So Excellent, But Enhances The Discussion Anyway. Up front, this book had its cool moments in that it quoted from a decently wide range of pop culture for its opening chapter quotes and even at times inside the discussion itself – you don’t usually see that in a book clearly designed for the Christian Living market. But it also lost its first star because of rampant prooftexting, a practice wherein Christian authors cite seemingly random Bible verses out of context in “proof” of their claims – and a practice which I have declared absolute war on, with my automatic star deduction being my primary review-based weapon.

The other star was lost here because this book had a potentially profound premise… that it absolutely squandered in gearing its discussion only to conservative Evangelical American Christian interests and language. Within that particular subculture, this book will likely be absolutely beloved and possibly one of those destined to be handed to new high school graduates heading to college as graduation presents every year – which can be a sales bonanza, as you’re easily talking hundreds of thousands, maybe even lowish millions, of copies every year.

But this book, with its premise of looking at Identity Politics from a new and seemingly enlightening angle, could have been *so much more*. It had the potential to be one of those books that I can take into *any* political space and urge people to read it and consider its points and make a truly persuasive case no matter the reader’s own individual politics or religious beliefs, but instead Glanzer chose to focus on what he knows and lives. Which again, isn’t an *overly* bad thing.

I can still take this into many realms and use it to talk to the moderates within them, the ones who can see past the conservative American Evangelical Christian culture this book was designed for to see the larger points Glanzer is making. And this is exactly why the book doesn’t lose any *more* stars – because once you get beyond the trappings of that particular culture, the overall points here are strong enough to deserve consideration in a much wider arena.

And ultimately, that is the saddest part of this text for this reader, that so many other readers who *could* be enlightened by it *won’t* be, specifically because of the approach entailed to discussing its overall thesis. Still, this book is recommended.

This review of Identity In Action by Perry L Glanzer was originally written on February 2, 2021.

#BookReview: CyberWar by Matthew Mather

Action Packed Finale. This book picks up moments after the ending of Book 2 (CyberSpace), and therefore you *really* need to read at minimum that book before reading this one. (Reading Book 1, CyberStorm, isn’t *as* imperative, as most of what you need to know from that book is explained in CyberSpace – but you should absolutely read that book as well anyway. :D)

That noted, this really is an action packed finale, with levels of action similar to Matthew Reilly or Jeremy Robinson’s craziest stories – which is high praise indeed, as I’ve rarely seen any other author even approach that level of insanity. Indeed, this book feels a lot like riding the Kraken rollercoaster at SeaWorld Orlando – absolutely insane, your mind is never really sure what the hell is going on or what is coming next. It misses the overall sense of dread that CyberStorm invoked, and it largely even misses the overall sense of scale that CyberSpace at least attempted to invoke. But what you *do* get here is an intensely personal tale that manages to balance the personal and the larger impact a bit better than either of the two previous books. Several shocking revelations, a few solid points about real-world politics (though absolutely in service of the particular story being told here, rather than being preachy), and a bit of a mind bending finish that is explained in the extended epilogues. (Though nowhere *near* as extended as The Return Of The King from Lord of the Rings, where it feels like half the dang tale is epilogue. This is more 3 ish chapter epilogue rather than short coda most books do there.) Ultimately a fun and satisfying read if you’ve made it this far, and thus very much recommended.

This review of CyberWar by Matthew Mather was originally written on February 2, 2021.

Featured New Release Of The Week: Until We Are Lost by Leslie Archer

This week we’re looking at a (mostly) delightfully dark tale that has some extremely disturbing elements. This week we’re looking at Until We Are Lost by Leslie Archer.

Unfortunately as I write this post in late August 2020, I’m still beset by my “writer’s block” on these reviews, so once again I leave you with the Goodreads review:

Disturbing, Dark, (Mostly) Delicious Drama. Ok, I gotta put this up front: This book has both rape *and* child molestation “on screen”. It works within the story being told, but if you can’t handle those two issues for whatever reason, this book isn’t for you.

Those two things – both fairly deep in the book, with the child molestation around the 75% mark – aside, this was truly a solid, if dark, twisted drama that presents as one thing and then winds up with something completely different. One of the darkest books I’ve read in the past few years, but again, within the story being told, the darkness works well. If you’re looking for a light and fluffy beach read… this ain’t it. If you’re looking for more of a “snowed in, want something that can absolutely consume me for a while” read (ala a deep winter read, when this book will be releasing in Feb 2021)… this is near perfect for that. Overall an excellent tale, with the caveats noted at the top of this review. Very much recommended.

#BookReview: Spirit of The Violinists by Maddie Evans

Solid Romance That Does What It Must. With this particular book seemingly bringing the story of the Castleton String Quartet to a close, there were certain events that those following this series knew had to come to pass – and when they did, it was utterly heartbreaking. And yet Evans manages to wrap a solid romance around this and even give a Mr. Holland’s Opus finale level sendoff to the series to boot. And since that is one of my favorite musical moments in film *ever*… that is high praise and is a style that is always appreciated by this reader. 🙂 Very much recommended.

This Review of Spirit Of The Violinists by Maddie Evans was originally written on February 1, 2021.

#BookReview: Driven by Alex Davies

[UPDATE January 6, 2021]
I originally wrote the below post around Easter 2020 or so. At the time, this book was supposed to release in June 2020. Then, thanks to COVID, it got pushed to January 5, 2021. Where it was still going to be a Featured New Release post. Then I came in to actually publish that post and found out that the book’s release had been pushed back *again* to February 1, 2021. Where I already had another book ready for that week’s Featured New Release slot. So now I present a bit more verbose “standard” review than normal, thanks to this particular history.

I also want to note that in the intervening time, I’ve considered this book more and more – and I believe I’ve actually created a plan that can fully automate global logistics from the factory all the way to the retail shelf and/ or delivery to the end user’s location. But I don’t have the mechanical engineering background to allow me to build the physical machines to pull this off. However, I *am* a professional programmer, and I would love to work in this space solving that particular problem. So if anyone that is actually working in this field sees this review and is willing to at least talk to me about my ideas… you can find my contact information in the About page above. 😀

And now on to the original writeup 😀
[/UPDATE]

As I note below in the Goodreads/ Amazon review, I happen to be a professional software developer in “real” life, and I’ve been in the field since 2007 – right around when the effort Davies chronicles here was switching from a DARPA pipe dream to serious efforts driven by some of the biggest corporations on the planet – Google, Ford, and GM among them. I’ve personally built a few systems to automate some business processes, and as of this writing (Easter 2020) am actively involved in automating some systems related to credit card processing. So nothing anywhere near as complex as creating an autonomous car, but enough to have a degree of insight most other book reviewers won’t have.

Honestly, I can’t speak highly enough of this book. With so many nonfiction books, there is almost always some quibble or another, some minute chink that makes it only “very good” rather than damn near transcendental. This book, a debut, has no such chink. It is a stunning 8k portrait of the entire field, from its roots all the way through its current challenges that will be barely six months old at the time of initial publication. If you want to see where the push for self driving cars began, where it currently is, and where the major players hope to take it, reading this book will provide all of that information and provide it in absolute clarity for any reader, no matter their level of technical knowledge.

From the looks at DARPA and its original impetus for attempting to find a solution to this problem to the ongoing profiles of so many of the early pioneers – up to and including the August 2019 arrest of one of them for matters related to this tale – this book gives the complete picture and doesn’t seem to pull any punches in doing so. It highlights so many of the various technical challenges from sensing to actual mechanical issues to even high level philosophical arguments about how best to proceed, and explains each in such a way that most anyone can understand the basics of the issues.

So stop reading this review and go buy the dang book already. 😉

As always, the Goodreads/ Amazon review:
Continue reading “#BookReview: Driven by Alex Davies”

#BookReview: Truly Like Lightning by David Duchovny

Nothing Technically Wrong, Readers May Hate It Anyway. This is one of those books by a master storyteller that is at once too cerebral *and* too cliche. It is overall a good story, but there is so much to *not* like here. From the hard core leftist politics that get pretty damn preachy (including several anti-Trump diatribes blaming him for all the ills that have been present in this country since its Founding) to … other events of a personal nature that get too close to spoilery territory to reveal. And yet there is nothing technically wrong here. The story is well edited, it flows well within its frame, it is reasonably researched (and then flung out to left field, X-Files style – though not to a scifi level), the characters are reasonable within the boundaries described in the book (though in real life many of their actions would leave an observer scratching their heads). Ultimately there is enough here to warrant reading the story – and enough here that no matter your politics, you’re probably going to want to throw it down in disgust. And yet there is no objective “this is bad” thing to hang removal of so much as a single star on. And thus, this book is recommended.

This review of Truly Like Lightning by David Duchovny was originally written on January 26, 2021.

Featured New Release Of The Week: This Is The Voice by John Colapinto

This week we’re looking at an amazing examination of the science of the human voice. This week we’re looking at This Is The Voice by John Colapinto.

Phenomenal Discussion, Perhaps Marred by Blatant Political Preferences In The Closing Chapters. This was a truly phenomenal discussion of all things related to the human voice: its physiology, evolutionary development, and impact on all areas of human life. However, the ultimate “taste” of the book will likely be more based on whether the reader agrees with the author’s fawning over former US President Barack Obama and blatant disregard of current US President Donald Trump. Even in these sections of the book, however, where Colapinto is discussing the actual voices of the two men and how they are created and perceived, the book continues its phenomenal look at an oft-overlooked topic. The “YMMV” bit is more concerned with where the author steps away from a strict analysis of the voice and instead veers into editorializing over which man is preferred and why. Still, ultimately a well written and researched book, and very much recommended.

#BlogTour: We Could Be Heroes by Mike Chen

For this blog tour, we’re looking at a solid Book 1 of a potential new superhero fiction series. For this blog tour, we’re looking at We Could Be Heroes by Mike Chen.

This is a book that feels very much at home with the kind of superhero world the CW’s Arrowverse has built out – and indeed this world could fit in right alongside that renowned universe.

Here’s what I had to say about it on Goodreads:

My First Foray Into Superhero Books. As much as I’ve read scifi for literally decades, this is actually my first foray into the actual superhero fiction genre. Yes, I’ve read a few comic books in my day and am a big fan of most of the major franchises, but this was my very first superhero fiction novel. And y’all, I found it quite compelling – even as a 38 yo married male reading about two people closer to that Young Adult / New Adult category. While the Arrowverse inspirations for this project were quite clear in so *very* many areas, Chen still managed to create an intriguing and interesting story that could plausibly hold its own against any of those shows – and maybe even be better than some of them. This book definitely feels like a Book 1 for a potential new series, and this reader for one would be down for that. Very much recommended.

Below the jump, we have an excerpt from Chapter 3 of the book along with all of the relevant information from the publisher. 🙂
Continue reading “#BlogTour: We Could Be Heroes by Mike Chen”