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#BookReview: Meet Me In Italy by Brenda Novak

Solid Women’s Fiction/ Romance Blend. This is one of those tales the genre blends between women’s fiction and technically satisfying all known RWA/RNA “romance genre” requirements… while being around habanero spicy to boot, at least in once instance. (Others are closer to jalapeno or even milder, though still stronger than a warm glass of milk.)

Told from a few different characters’ perspectives and thus allowing them all to feel fully fleshed out, one weakness here is that many characters outside these specific perspective characters often feel… not as fully fleshed out. Indeed, at least a few are “I need a character in this role” thin – but for the most part they’re also barely relevant to the story at hand, so it does make at least a degree of sense that they aren’t as strongly written. Particularly given the length of the tale even with these “less fully fleshed out” characters – giving them more to do and making them feel more fully alive the way our main characters do could easily have added a few dozen pages to this already decently chunky tale, particularly given its type.

Overall this is exactly one of those safe *enough* women’s fiction / romance blends that while it may have a thing or two here or there that may begin to step on some toes, for most readers this really will go down about as easily as a cool bottle of Coca Cola on a hot summer day – which is exactly what it was designed to do, clearly. It is that exact kind of not-quite-bland-yet-also-not-too-memorable tale that is almost explicitly designed to appeal to as many readers as possible, and I have exactly zero doubt that it will do exactly that. If you’re looking for a safe *enough* read over the summer, one that transports you to an exotic location – again visiting Italy’s Amalfi Coast, as Sarah Penner’s The Amalfi Curse did last summer and a few others have done over the years – and tickles the brain *enough* and warms the heart *enough* while also providing *enough*… “excitement”… for other regions of the body that it will quite clearly play well with the summer “beach read” / “vacation read” set, which this is clearly intended for.

One thing that makes this a touch more interesting to read after its release (due to life issues arising just before its release, despite having had it as an Advance Review Copy for nearly four months prior to release) is Novak’s public announcement about her own real life shortly after the publication of this book and how that seems to inform various aspects of this tale.

There is also a decent amount of social commentary about various topics, specifically the publishing industry as well as a few others, but other than perhaps the publishing industry “inside baseball”, none of it ever really comes across as preachy. Again, this is where the brain is tickled a bit while never going so far as to produce real agitation, at least for most readers.

Ultimately this is a book that will likely do everything it set out to do – a perfectly safe, flavorful enough, summer/ vacation/ beach read that will play well with the women’s fiction/ romance set generally while being perhaps a bit spicier than the Hallmarkie crowd specifically would prefer.

Very much recommended.

This review of Meet Me In Italy by Brenda Novak was originally written on May 11, 2026.

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#BookReview: American Rambler by Isaac Fitzgerald

Solid Travelogue/Memoir Needs Documentation To Be Solid As History. This is one of those books where read as a travelogue/ memoir from a 40 ish yr old dude who has lived a life few of us can really imagine (though far too many can imagine quite well, at least in some experiences discussed herein), it really works quite well. Fitzgerald found an esoteric thing connected (ish) to his home area and childhood and uses that in midlife as a way to both connect with people he otherwise would never have met and to examine his own life, and in these aspects the tale here really is a solid slice of Americana as it exists in this post-COVID world.

But approaching this as anything remotely resembling a history of Johnny Appleseed – even though this history is discussed – would be a mistake. Because even though Fitzgerald frequently mentions various actual biographies of Appleseed, he never once actually cites them – at least not in this Advance Review Copy text I’ve had for a little over four months prior to publication day. Indeed, that is actually the star deduction here – there is not one shred of any bibliography at all in this text, when similar nonfiction books – even similar memoir based books! – average out around the 15% or so documentation point.

But there again, Fitzgerald isn’t an academic. At all. As this story will tell you. Repeatedly.

Those interested in seeing the actual lived lives of their fellow humans will enjoy this book. It has an interesting structure and due to the particular event chosen for that structure has an interesting cadence to the tale that is atypical and indeed refreshing to a point, and it reads as particularly raw and honest at pretty well all points herein. Specifically including at least some stories here where Fitzgerald doesn’t exactly come out looking as perfect as those memes say we generally try to show ourselves on Instagram or LinkedIn. And yes, there are even points where the room gets a touch dusty.

Overall an interesting tale that will absolutely appeal to at least some readers, and one that helps bring out the commonalities in so many of us even as so much of our lives tries to tear us apart by our differences, and for that reason alone it should get more attention than it likely will.

Very much recommended.

This review of American Rambler by Isaac Fitzgerald was originally written on May 9, 2026.

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#BookReview: Witness Protection by Robert Whitlow

Strong Christian Fiction Law-Based Thriller From A Long Time Master. For those who are unaware that this is a Christian Fiction book even though Robert Whitlow has spent this Millennium building a career as a Christian Fiction author and even though the description explicitly mentions “faith” or “redemption” in three of five paragraphs… yes, this is an explicitly Christian Fiction book that is going to have people praying and talking about Jesus as much and as explicitly as a jalapeno (or maybe even habanero) level “spicy romance” has sex scenes. (Ok, so with the level that praying in particular happens, it is definitely more akin to a habanero or maybe even Carolina Reaper level spicy romance with their sex scenes.) If you have a problem with that… this won’t be the book for you. Just skip it and leave Whitlow and his fans in peace.

For those that can at least tolerate this level of Christian living in your legal suspense thrillers… this is a remarkably well done book. One where while it can seem a touch slow at times, these slow periods are all about deepening the characters in some way, either enhancing their internal conflict or allowing them to grow in some manner. And yes, between this deep growth and the suspense plot these characters find themselves in, it is almost remarkable that Whitlow was able to constrain himself to *just* 450 ish pages. While some could probably argue to cut at least 10-20 pages here, others could argue that at least that many pages could have been *added* and felt quite well placed in certain areas of the book.

This is also a very *Southern* book, and it actually respects and shows Southern culture quite well, yes, including how race relations down here actually work for the vast majority of us. As a native Georgian (though from the Appalachian Foothills region of the State hundreds of miles away from the Coastal areas shown here) now living in Jacksonville, FL (actually not that far at all from Brunswick, GA, where this book takes place), I can even note that the language used here isn’t that far off – if off at all – from language I would personally use or at *worst* hear from those I either know personally or pass by in the communities I’ve lived in all over the region, from some of its largest cities (Atlanta, Jacksonville) to some of its smallest communities (that barely have a single stop sign, much less stop light). Also, while in this section discussing the Southern nature of this book, allow me to add that I *love* that the cover of this book is an edited version of an actual photograph of the port area at Brunswick with its Sidney Lanier Bridge in the background.

For what it is though, this book really and truly is quite possibly Whitlow at his absolute best, which is saying quite a bit. Fans of Christian and/ or Southern Fiction will deeply enjoy this tale, and those at least open to such a tale will most likely enjoy it a fair amount as well. Though again I ask that if you have some personal bias against either Christian or Southern themes, please do both Whitlow and yourself a favor and just pass this one by. Find my reviews wherever you see this one, and I guarantee you I’ve written a review for a book more in line with your preferences, whatever they may be.

For those who do read this book though, please write your own review and post it wherever you found this one. I’d love to see your thoughts – even if they are diametrically opposed to my own.

Very much recommended.

This review of Witness Protection by Robert Whitlow was originally published on May 8, 2026.

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#BookReview: Paul For The World by Nijay K. Gupta

Deja Vu / Rinse And Repeat. Either Works. I do believe this is the first time in over 1,800 reviews over the last decade where I can truly say that literally everything I said about the author’s previous book – in this case, 2024’s Strange Religion – still applies to this one. Simply swap out any references to the “early church” to the “Pauline epistles” instead, and truly literally that entire review could be here with just those changes.

And so, the rest of the review is a version of exactly that:

“Fascinating History Marred By Prooftexting And Dearth Of Bibliography. This was an utterly fascinating look at the Pauline Epistles and the world they were written in and for. I genuinely learned quite a bit from reading this book, and Gupta kept the overall tone scholarly enough to be sufficiently serious without going into pretentiousness. Indeed, the *only* problems I had here, that are automatic star deductions when I encounter them, are the rampant prooftexting – the practice of citing Bible verses out of context in order to “prove” a particular point – and the dearth of a bibliography, clocking in at just 12% or so of the overall text when 20-30% is more normal in my experience across hundreds of nonfiction titles over the last several years. Even with being more willing to at least *slightly* lower that given more recent experiences, 12% is still simply too low.

But for anyone interested in the history of the Pauline Epistles and how that history could well change how exactly you interpret them, for any reason: read this book. Christians, no matter your bent, read this book and consider its words in relation to your relationship with the Pauline Epistles.

Very much recommended.”

PS Special To The Review of Paul For The World: After you consider this text and write your review of it, you should also read Frank Viola’s Pagan Christianity. He too has a very illuminating look at these very books of the Bible.

This review of Paul For The World by Nijay K. Gupta was originally written on May 6, 2026.

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#BookReview: Paradox by Douglas Preston and Aletheia Preston

Solid Near Stand-Alone Sequel Will Be Divisive. This is one of those books where a co-author was added… and makes an immediate and obvious impact. How you like that impact will likely depend on your own politics and worldview. Making one character from the previous book explicitly LGBT in this book – when this character’s sexuality was never discussed in the previous book at all – is a choice. As is adding in a nonbinary character, introducing them with pronouns, and then explicitly saying of an older character that this older character “needed to get it together”. Allegations that this book curses more than the prior book, as some 1 and 2 star reviews make, are unfounded, however, as Extinction (Book 1 of this series) actually has *more* uses of “fuck” or its derivatives than this book does, per searching the text of both books.

Then there is the religious side. The description of the book mentioning “relics” in connection to “Christendom” makes it clear that this book will have something to do with the Catholic Church. What it doesn’t prepare you for is how much of the darker aspects of the Church this book portrays. Again, some will enjoy this, others will want to defenestrate the book over it.

Divisiveness aside though, and read more as a standalone in-universe sequel with the barest of connections to the first book, for what it is this book is actually a solid mystery that eventually veers into the scifi, with action more a secondary concern and only in small doses. Nowhere near the intense action sequences of the previous book in this series, but also not really that far from Douglas’ earlier work in the Pendergast tales in particular. If anything, Pendergast fans will find a fair amount of that series’ obsession with the grotesque also makes a heavy appearance here.

And then the epilogue. Without saying *too* much, let’s just say that Douglas’ Author Note at the end reveals the title for Book 3, and that title for Book 3 combined with this tale and its epilogue? Don’t let the divisive nature of the co-author’s additions to the story here make you miss out on either story. This one was solid and interesting. The next one promises to be explosive.

Overall a solid tale that continues its series in unexpected yet interesting directions, one that will be divisive for many reasons both earned and unearned, yet ultimately one that does its primary job well in setting up the *next* book.

Very much recommended.

This review of Paradox by Douglas Preston and Aletheia Preston was originally written on May 6, 2026.

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#BookReview: The Object by Joshua T. Calvert

Dense Yet Intriguing Tale Won’t Be For Everyone. This is one of those dense tales that starts off very slow – through nearly the first half of the book – with a lot of what would actually happen if a suspicious object exhibiting these properties was found. Including all the damn meetings. Once “the action” begins, it gets into technical diatribes the likes of which would give Andy Weir or Tom Clancy (RIP) wet dreams. Pages on pages of how a drill works and similar, for example. And there is a lot of real world political commentary on everything from “climate change” to using – and effusively praising – a barely renamed SpaceX. (Calvert still uses the actual names of their technologies, even as he renames the company behind those technologies likely in an effort to avoid any potential lawsuits.) Then there are the straight up horror elements. Lots of things to throw lots of different readers off.

But at its heart, this is a tale that those who enjoy tales such as Contact or Arrival or Project Hail Mary will enjoy, and in that vein there really is also a lot to like here. Yes, if you read a lot in this space – and it isn’t like this is the romance genre with literally millions of extremely similar books – it could feel derivative of other works, but for me, having read perhaps a dozen or so similar tales over as many (or more) years… there was still enough of a spin that I hadn’t seen done quite this way that it ultimately was quite enjoyable indeed. Whether that be a particular competition I’d never heard of, one character’s actions deep in the book that come as a surprise to our narrator, or even quite the way everything works out here… it is similar enough that fans of this space will appreciate the overall tale while different enough that it really does feel at least decently fresh enough to be enjoyed.

Overall, this really is ultimately one of those scifi books where you really need to read it for yourself to really make up your mind, if you’re interested in it at all at this point. So read it – and leave a review where ever you saw this one and let us all know what you thought of it once you do.

Very much recommended.

This review of The Object by Joshua T. Calvert was originally written on May 4, 2026.

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#BookReview: Five Star Summer by Sarah Morgan

Low Stakes Medium Spice Sarah Morgan/ Hallmarkie Summer Tale. Sarah Morgan basically has two settings: summer and Christmas, and she seems to make it a point to release both types of book every year. This being a May release and given the title, it is obviously her summer version. Which does involve coastal/ beach living and general summer-ish vibes without being too country or culture specific. (Well done as this book takes place in both the UK and the US, though the bulk of the tale is in the UK.)

If you’ve never read a Sarah Morgan tale before, this – like pretty well all of them, at least in my experience – is a solid introduction to her general style and conforms pretty solidly to “her style”. Not to the level of “if you’ve read one of her books you’ve read them all” but certainly to the level of the Hallmarkie “everything will be in this style with different particulars and take that as you will”, and yes, there is a difference there.

Those that can’t stand the heat of a jalapeno or so, know that this book is likely too spicy for you. Those that need a Carolina Reaper to be able to feel any heat at all, know that this book is nowhere near spicy enough for you. For most readers that fall somewhere in between, this book will likely be engaging without being distracting.

Overall, as I said in the title, really just a solid low stakes, medium spice, Sarah Morgan/ Hallmarkie type tale perfect for when you want to escape “actual” reality and know that there isn’t anything problematic or disturbing (for most readers, at minimum) in the book you’ve chosen to escape into.

Very much recommended.

This review of Five Star Summer by Sarah Morgan was originally written on May 3, 2026.

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#BookReview: One Nation Over God by Wes Crawford

Ipse Dixit – Bare Assertion Mars Needed (If Politically Slanted In Presentation) Call. This is one of those texts that so many American Christians are going to need to read… and yet because it *is* so politically slanted in a somewhere left-of-center/ social justice warrior direction, not enough on at least one side likely will. A more balanced presentation, perhaps referencing more right-oriented issues like being truly pro-life from conception through natural death in addition to those presented here, could have gone a long way to making the overall presentation of the arguments here that much stronger.

But that isn’t actually the star deduction here. No, the star deduction is exactly what the title noted – there is *zero* bibliography in this Advance Review Copy edition of the text I read nearly six months before publication of this book, and yes, even this far out the texts I get as an experienced reader and reviewer of such editions usually include at least some level of bibliography. Indeed, my standard *based on my experience of doing this for nearly a decade now across hundreds of similar works* is at least 15%, and more commonly somewhere in the 20-30% ish range. Less than that will get a star deduction every time, as this does here.

One thing this book, more about Christians living in the US and their behaviors than anything actually Biblical, has going for it is that it is one of the rare books about Christianity/ directed towards Christians that doesn’t actually prooftext – it never cites the Bible in any argument at all, thus is has no opportunity to selectively pick Bible verses out of their context in support or opposition to any of the points it is raising. Thus, it doesn’t lose the star here that so many similar books do, as I deduct when this technique is used in my own personal war against it.

There really is quite a bit here that *every* Christian in America needs to read and truly consider, but there’s also a decent amount here that those claiming any form of right-of-center politics are going to want to find the nearest window to defenestrate this book. Maybe not a high one, but certainly a close one. But don’t. Because you need to read this book even with its political bent. Yes, there is that much here that you really do need to consider. But those with more leftward politics *also* need to deeply consider this book, even as you find yourself agreeing with it more politically, because yes, there is going to be a fair amount of Crawford calling you out too, if in more subtle ways than he uses against those on the right.

Overall a book that is needed – but it needs a healthy bibliography to support it just as much as the American Church needs to read the arguments it presents. And perhaps a more right-of-center author could write a companion text from that perspective ultimately raising many of these same points, in a vein somewhat similar to Shaunti and Jeff Feldhan’s 20+ yr old books For Women Only and For Men Only once did for men and women and helping them understand each other.

Recommended.

This review of One Nation Over God by Wes Crawford was originally written on April 30, 2026.

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#BookReview: The Rules That Make Us by Oliver Sweet

Interesting Insights From An Atypical Perspective. How often have you ever heard the term “business anthropology”? Hell, how often have you ever heard the term “anthropology” and not pictured some remote tribe somewhere in some jungle or maybe desert? My guess is that your answer to both of those questions is somewhere in the range of “Rarely” to “Never” for nearly anyone reading this review. Even as widely read as *I* am, my answer would have been right there with you.

Yet here Sweet, a Xennial Londoner with a clearly leftist political bent – as in, he frequently villainizes pretty well anything white and/ or male – actually uses his experiences with both psychology and anthropology to show how the two interact to form culture in ways that you likely never even actively thought of… even if some of his observations make a fair amount of intuitive sense.

Depending on your own politics, you may well be praising Sweet’s more political commentary or you may be looking for the highest window available to you for defenestration purposes – but stick with this. Yes, it may be a touch annoying at times if you are more conservative than AOC or Bernie Sanders – sorry, Brits, I don’t know (or care about, frankly) your politics enough to give you an example from Sweet’s own backyard) – but Sweet really does have a lot of insight to offer here that you really should read, so work through your annoyances if possible and feel free to blast him on them in your review *after* you read the book, if you feel you must.

The star deduction isn’t for the political bent though, as I do try to be objective-ish with those. No, the star deduction is because of the lack of bibliography, clocking in at just 5% in the Advance Review Copy of the book that I had had for several weeks before publication and yet due to life happening just before and after the publication of this book was only able to read it a couple of weeks after publication in mid April 2026. The Sagan Standard – extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence – absolutely applies to quite a bit discussed in this text, so I would expect at least 20-30% documentation, and the given 5% falls well short of even the bare minimum 15% documentation I would expect to see from a more standard book with more standard points raised.

Still, read this book anyway. Even with the political bent (which, again, you may well appreciate depending on your own politics) and even with the lack of bibliography (which is inexcusable no matter your politics), there really is quite a bit here that is both interesting and perhaps even useful,. and if nothing else it can help show the kids in your life that there is yet another profession available to them that perhaps they may be interested in pursing and may not have been aware of. Given that so much of this book is based on Sweet’s own professional experience, it really does give almost as big an insight into what a “business anthropologist” does as it reveals about any more general cultural/ psychological insights into how we can all live together with at least somewhat more understanding of each other and how we interact with the “other”.

Very much recommended.

This review of The Rules That Make Us by Oliver Sweet was originally written on April 30, 2026.

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#BookReview: Blue Power by Stuart Schrader

Rise Of The Political Cop. Nearly 15 yrs ago now, when Michael Brown still had almost exactly a year left in his life, Radley Balko released a seminal history of the rise of the militarized police force in the United States he titled Rise Of The Warrior Cop. In it, he traced the history of policing in the American tradition all the way from its origins as the ‘Shire Reef’ in feudal England to its then most modern incarnations. (He has also released an updated version of this book in the last couple of years.)

Here, Schrader does for police unions what Balko did for police militarization, though Shrader’s historical focus is more explicitly limited to the last century or so with only brief mentions of prior periods – including the aforementioned ‘Shire Reef’.

Detailed and decently documented, with its bibliography clocking in at a reasonable 22%, this is yet another book that anyone concerned with the amount of power police wield in modern America will want to read. Schrader does a great job of showing how we got to this point via both intentional machinations… and some sheer dumb luck for those pushing for more unionization of police. Yet despite being a Johns Hopkins professor, this doesn’t really read as an academic tome. Dense, yes, with a *lot* of facts and names and dates, but also decently readable even for those less academically inclined.

Overall a truly solid look at a facet of policing in America that some talk about yet virtually no one understands the history of, this will absolutely fill in that gap for any who care to read it. It also happens to be reasonably balanced, so while there may be annoyances here or there depending on one’s own politics, there isn’t really anything here that seemingly anyone will be looking for the highest possible window to use for defenestration purposes.

Very much recommended.

This review of Blue Power by Stuart Schrader was originally written on April 28, 2026.