Category: Book Review

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#BookReview: Tell Me Why by Kay Bratt

Another Solid Entrant Where Bratt’s Heart Is Tattooed On Her Upper Arm With Her Sleeves Down. For a series that was *supposed* to end at Book 7 or so to now have doubled that speaks to just how popular it has become among fans of the author. That the new books continue to sell and continue to bring in new fans speaks to how well the author is crafting both each individual entry and the overall arc of the series. I know in my own reviews I’ve noted before the series was supposed to end at this book or that book or whatever, but at this point it seems that Bratt will be containing this series through the rest of her writing days.

With this particular entry and its particular crime, Bratt’s heart shines through in more muted and subtle ways than in both previous entrants in this series and in Bratt’s prior works such as her True To Me series or (where I first “met” Bratt) in Dancing With The Sun… and yet equally powerful as those other books, when you know her story. (That she speaks of from time to time publicly, to be clear.) Bratt’s loves are never far from her mind, and always shine through in her writing when you know where you’re looking… and yet when you *don’t* know these details, she still provides an all-t00-real look into far too many of our own families and, in her fictional world, gives us hope that all can work out as well as Bratt makes it work out here. Which isn’t to say there won’t be tragedy, just that the family *will* work through whatever tragedies may come – and celebrate whatever successes may come too.

The heart of the Hart’s Ridge community – and of the Gray family in particular – is what makes this series so strong, so what is coming next for those hearts following the events here…

I for one am looking forward to finding out. 😉

Very much recommended.

This review of Tell Me Why by Kay Bratt was originally written on November 21, 2025.

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#BookReview: With Friends Like These by Alissa Lee

Strong Tale Of The Travails Of Friendship After College. This is one of those tales where, as someone in his 40s who graduated college 20 yrs ago this year himself and who has maintained at least a couple of friendships since that era, I get it. Now, my friends and I were nowhere near as complicated as these ladies. There were no secret houses or anything remotely like that at our then-commuter school that was just on the cusp of creating its first actual dorms as I was graduating. Our football team was “still undefeated”… because it didn’t exist yet. And yet, as I type this review just a couple of weeks before Selection Sunday 2025, there is a chance that that very same football team goes to a bowl for the first time in school history this year! (Go Kennesaw State Owls!)

Even so the book, for me, evokes the fireside scene in the 2017 Power Rangers movie (and particularly the soundtrack playing in that scene) and even elements of the John Knowles classic A Separate Peace or the more obscure One Bullet Away by Nathaniel Fick. Those beautifully tragic moments when you realize that all that you thought you knew, you never really had a clue, and yet there is still that essence there that is exactly what you always knew, that essence that drew you to these people to begin with, that was truly the foundation of your friendship.

Now, there is a lot going on in this book, and yes, there are elements of both ‘literary fiction’ and thriller that make for an interesting merger, but I actually thought Lee did a solid job with said merger. The tale gets chaotic at times, even though told from a single perspective… but I almost think that was the very intent. Lee *needed* the reader to *feel* the chaos around these characters in these situations, and this was the best vehicle to really bring that out.

Overall, this is truly a book that won’t work for everyone. I suspect Lee knows that, or at least I hope she does. But for those it works for, I think it has the potential to *really* work for. Will it be remembered and studied ala A Separate Peace? Unlikely. Is it an enjoyable short ish (sub 250 page) book that can be a fun yet cathartic diversion during the cold winter months? Absolutely.

Very much recommended.

This review of With Friends Like These by Alissa Lee was originally written on November 19, 2025.

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#BookReview: The Knives Before Christmas by J. Kent Holloway

Solid Laid Back Cozy Florida Mystery – With Magical Realism Tossed In. This is the book that exactly one person alive was capable of writing – particularly writing this well. That person being St. Augustine-based medical investigator and now pastor of a St. Augustine area church, Kent Holloway.

I’ve known Holloway for years. I first started reading his works when he began working as a coauthor with The New God Of Science Fiction Jeremy Robinson, and I’ve read most of his independent works since – even his nonfiction book I Swallowed A Goldfish, where he looks at his older day job (medical investigator) through the eyes of his newer one (pastor). I either know of or have read every project he names in the Author’s Note at the end of this tale, and I was largely around when he was coming up with all of them. Living in Jacksonville myself for nearly a decade now, I even finally got a chance to meet Holloway in real life a couple of years ago now… when Robinson came to St. Augustine and brought his annual gathering of fans and colleagues, Robinsonfest, with him.

As noted in the Author’s Note, years ago Holloway wrote a book called The Legend Of The Winterking. In its level of detail and blending of both fantasy and Christian lore – but with Holloway’s own particular Christmas-focused bent to it – it really did seem capable of standing right up there with Lewis and Tolkien. As I don’t read fantasy, I don’t *know* this, but being familiar with the overall stories of all three authors – despite never having read a word of any of their fantasies – I feel confident enough in saying that. Winterking was supposed to be Holloway’s Magnum Opus. It was going to be glorious and make Holloway as famous as those other two. Wait. Has anyone ever heard of them? 😉

Here, with this particular tale, Holloway actually does *better* than he has ever done before – including with Winterking. Yes, you heard that right. This long time fan and reader of Holloway is openly proclaiming *this* to be his best book yet – and I have strong thoughts on this.

Who else beyond Holloway would be able to create a Tolkien-level world… and then when that project failed, instead use it as a magical realism deep background element to an Agatha Christie level cozy murder mystery… that happened to be based both at Christmas and in Christmas, Florida? I know many more Florida based authors, from the few native Floridians to be found these days to transplants who have lived here various lengths of time, both longer and shorter than I’ve lived here myself. Literally not one of them – talented authors all in their own rights, many of whom I am an active fan of – could have pulled something quite like this off. Sure, many of them have done emotional family mysteries of various levels. A few have done scifi epics. But none of them have been able to combine fantasy and cozy mystery the way Holloway has here, and it shows just how strong a storyteller he really can be.

Who else could take the real-world Christmas, FL – a town on the opposite outskirts of Orlando from that place with the castle famously ruled by a rodent, a town that literally doesn’t have so much as a stop sign on its main road through town, a town where it is more than possible to imagine the rampant (recovering) alcoholism Holloway incorporates into this book being all too real – and use it quite the way Holloway has here? Even with the blatant set up of the name, I’ve not yet encountered anyone.

And yet Holloway takes all of this, takes his deep Christian faith and his deep love of all things Christmas (the holiday), and creates… this truly remarkable cozy mystery that somehow blends all of this, along with quite a bit of both heart and hilarity, into a tale that will be unlike most anything you will ever read from any other author.

Now, because of all of this – the several mentions of alcoholism throughout the book, the focus on Christmas, the magical realism based in nothing you’ve likely ever heard of before, the sheer number of characters (though from only a single perspective), the merry-yet-acknowledging-the-darkness, the (off screen) referenced child abuse, the (behind the door) attempt to cajole a young adult lady to have sex (played for both heart and a touch of comedic relief, to be clear), and perhaps any number of other issues… maybe this book isn’t for you. You do you. But I’m telling you as someone who has read over 150 books this year, who has read nearly 1800 books in a decade now… this is one of the most singularly unique books I’ve ever encountered, in so many of the best possible ways. Do what you need to do for your own mental health, I’ll never say otherwise there (so long as you’re not harming anyone else, that is, and choosing not to read a book is not harming anyone). But I’m not going to hide my opinion that this book is great for *all* readers.

Ultimately, this could yet be the opening chapter in Holloway’s true Magnum Opus. It truly is the best book he has written to date, bar none, and I for one cannot wait to see where he takes this world next.

Very much recommended.

This review of The Knives Before Christmas by J. Kent Holloway was originally written on November 18, 2025.

Jeff and the author at Robinsonfest 2024:

The entire Robinsonfest 2024 crowd on the pirate ship in St. Augustine. Jeff is at the front along the right rail, the author is in front of Jeff in the black shirt.

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#BookReview: The New Year’s Party by Jenna Satterthwaite

No Angels. No Demons. Only Humans. This is one of those tales that has a lot going against it – multiple perspectives, pretty well everyone is “unlikeable” at best, etc. And yet… that is the very *strength* of this particular tale.

I for one enjoy and even embrace tales where humanity is shown in all of its highs – and lows. Where people are shown to be exactly what they are – flawed creatures simply trying to live their lives the best they can. Where no matter how angelic someone appears, there is clearly a demon hiding just under the surface, and no matter how demonic a person appears, there is an angel hiding in there somewhere. (Eh, maybe a fallen angel, but still an angel. 😉 )

That Satterthwaite uses a fairly standard-ish overall plot of high school friends reuniting after several years apart to tell this particular story actually works well to establish expectations… which makes it even better when she actively subverts these very expectations at nearly every turn.

Fans of the particular story type and overall genre will have enough here to sink their teeth into and enjoy, while those like me who enjoy having something “more” will find a fair amount of that here as well.

Indeed, looking back to my review of Satterthwaite’s 2024 debut, Made For You, it seems here that Satterthwaite leaned into the better parts of her storytelling in that tale, threw out the bits that didn’t work so well, and used the remaining time to really tighten up what worked so well there and really do it even better here. Thus, showing strong progression as a storyteller that indeed makes me want to come back for book 3 to see what she has in store for us next, and if she can continue to improve her storytelling and potentially evolve it even further.

Very much recommended.

This review of The New Year’s Party by Jenna Satterthwaite was originally written on November 17, 2025.

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#BookReview: Every Last Fish by Rose George

More Primer Than Deep Dive. I read George’s (nearly 20 yr old now) The Big Necessity near the start of 2025, so beginning the ending of 2025 with her latest release seems appropriate, right? 😉 Like Necessity, this book takes George to several different places to talk to several different people and chronicle their lives and thoughts on the subject at hand – in this case, commercial fishing. Unlike Necessity, here George mostly stays in and around the British Isles, with a few ventures into other European areas such as Norway.

The overall text here is essentially 15 different essays, one per chapter, using wherever she is and whoever she is talking to for that chapter to glance at the history of that chapter’s focus before primarily looking to what is currently going on in that area. There is little to no overall narrative beyond “I want to look at as much about commercial fishing in and around the United Kingdom as possible.”

And yet, for what the book is, it absolutely works and works well. You’re going to learn a little about a lot here, even as George has her own distinct editorial thoughts. On those, your mileage will absolutely vary, but George does a seemingly solid job of presenting the issues at hand in a mostly even-ish manner and never treating those she is profiling in the given chapter as anything less than fully human – for good and not so good.

No, where the star deduction comes here is the just-too-short bibliography, clocking in at 12% of the overall text, at least in my Advance Review Copy, and thus coming in just shy of the 15% or so I expect to see even with my more recent more relaxed bibliographic standards. Had George been more forceful or more novel, the Sagan Rule might have applied, but I don’t think the text here warrants that particular application – through the vast majority of the text, George is relating what she personally sees as well as what those she is profiling have directly seen as well.

Overall a solid primer on the issues surrounding commercial fishing, at minimum in and around the United Kingdom, and something a lot of us will learn a fair amount from reading.

Very much recommended.

This review of Every Last Fish by Rose George was originally written on November 13, 2025.

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#BlogTour: Not You Again by Erin La Rosa

For this blog tour, we’re looking at a fun, quirky scifi romance reminiscent of Eureka. For this blog tour, we’re looking at Not You Again by Erin La Rosa.

First, the review I posted to the book sites (BookBub.com / BookHype.com / Goodreads.com / PageBound.co / TheStoryGraph.com) and YouTube:

Romance Author Creates Eureka-Esque Scifi. Just a couple of weeks ago, I was proofreading The New God of Science Fiction Jeremy Robinson’s late April 2026 release, Parallax, where he – a long time and prolific scifi author who has never really dabbled in romance at all – created a kick ass scifi action tale that was *also* a spicy romance book. Now, just a few books later, I’m reading a book by a more recently established romance author… who is introducing quirky scifi into her romance book. Interesting times, it seems. 😉

And this is absolutely a quirky scifi romance. To me, it gives off strong vibes of the now-long-dead Syfy show Eureka, where the entire town knows they are in a scifi tale and they all merrily do their own things within it. If your sense of humor is of the ‘WTF’ variety… this is absolutely going to be right up your alley.

And yes, speaking of things being ‘up alleys’ (groan, I know, sorry), if you’re not a fan of spicy romance of the habanero, maybe even hotter, level… this book probably isn’t going to be your thing. There isn’t *much* of it… until there is. But when it is there, it is *there*.

And the ambiguity. Other than giving away that there is some here, all I’ll note about it is that I appreciated it. Obviously, some readers have to have every possible thread buttoned up exactly so. I’ve never been one of those, so I appreciate books that don’t do that since they are so rare.

Another thing that is going to be one of those that some will love and others will loathe is the seemingly forced LGBT inclusion here. I don’t personally have strong feelings either direction on should it be here, shouldn’t it be here, but it *did* feel a touch out of the blue and it never really added much to the story for me, but hey, maybe I’m the idiot here and it is the fact that sells the book for you. You do you there. Doesn’t affect me in any way at all.

Ultimately, I did think that this book largely works quite well overall, and I absolutely LOVE that La Rosa was stretching herself so far here and making everything work as well as it did. That is absolutely a mark of a strong storyteller, and a brave one that can at least stretch the norms of her established genre and try different things within it that are far from cookier cutter. And that is something I will always applaud any author doing.

Very much recommended.

After the jump, an excerpt from the book followed by the “publisher details” – book info, description, author bio, social links, and buy links.
Continue reading “#BlogTour: Not You Again by Erin La Rosa”

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#BookReview: Gemini by Jeffrey Kluger

Solid History Of A Well told Yet Unfocused On Era. The subtitle of this book speaks of the “untold story” of Gemini… which is a bit misleading. Anyone who knows most anything about NASA in the 1960s and/ or the Apollo missions knows a fair amount about the Gemini missions that created and proved the tech that made Apollo possible. What this book does is that it *centers* its focus on that exact period. (Literally, the central part of the book is specifically about Gemini, after an introduction discussing how we got to Gemini, including Mercury, and a back end that begins discussing Apollo and other fallout from Gemini.)

In this focus, Kluger does exceptionally well. He shows the key players and tech, and even provides details that even those who know a fair amount about the history involved here may not know. (Such as the Chris Kraft toddler/ sandwich story, which I had never previously heard despite reading several books about and memoirs from many of the people Kluger profiles yet again within these pages.)

Indeed, the only real fault I could find here is the absolute lack of any bibliography at all, at least in the Advance Review Copy of this book I read. Which is the reason for the star deduction.

Overall this is a book where many will probably already know a lot about this subject, but more in passing while having been focused on other things. Again, the subtitle is misleading in that the Gemini story has always been well told, but most always before now *as part of* the Apollo narrative. Indeed, Kluger’s own Apollo books, at least the ones I’ve read, have all discussed the Gemini missions to some extent as well. But in centering this text precisely on Gemini, this new version does in fact provide at least some new details even those who think they know every possible thing about the Space Race of the 1950s and 1960s could possibly know quite likely did not, in fact, know.

Very much recommended.

This review of Gemini by Jeffrey Kluger was originally written on November 12, 2025.

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#BookReview: The Great Math War by Jason Socrates Bardi

Math And History Nerds Will Love This. Solid History For Everyone Else Too. Ok, so I’m a dude that got a Computer Science degree 20 yrs ago and came within literally half a dozen classes of getting degrees in Mathematics and Secondary Mathematics Education at the same time… who also took HIST classes as electives just because they sounded interesting. In other words, this book may as well have been titled “Jeff Sexton Will Beg To Read This Book”, because I damn near did. But clearly, I *am* the very math and history nerd that my title of this review above explicitly said would love this book.

Clocking in at 19% bibliography, it has a healthy enough backing so that it doesn’t drop a star on that account, and really the only even quibble I have here is that in choosing to end in 1938, Bardi doesn’t even attempt to show how the war he describes here played out in the Post Second World War world where the rise of computers and computer science changed pretty well everything in mathematics.

Still, for what it is and what it actually covers, this is an utterly fascinating book that gives enough of the backstories of everyone involved to show how they arrived at the moments they did and why they mattered when they got there without going too deep into unnecessary detail too often. Yes, even when it looks like Bardi is going off on some wild tangent that can’t possibly be related to The Great Math War (such as the Boer War), he ultimately manages to bring it right back around and show how that tangent actually played a role in shaping the thinking of one of his principle targets or at minimum someone closely linked to them who also shaped their thinking.

For me, this was an utterly fascinating look at a period of math history I hadn’t previously really considered, featuring several names I had known of from other exploits and adventures, but had never really dived into from this angle. And yes, at least some of the most famous of their era make appearances here, up to and including one Albert Einstein.

I do think that one of the more fascinating tidbits that I had not known, particularly as someone who learned the basics of Set Theory in 2004-2005, was just how new that particular branch of mathematics was – and how controversial it had been even a century before I learned it, at which time it was (clearly) being routinely taught to Senior level college students. (And I still hold that we can actually teach it even in elementary school, as one key feature of it ultimately revolves around remainder division.)

Truly an excellent book written without the dryness that can accompany such texts in the hands of less skilled storytellers, this is absolutely one of those kinds of books that many will enjoy and a few will absolutely love.

Very much recommended.

This review of The Great Math War by Jason Socrates Bardi was originally written on November 12, 2025.

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#BlogTour: Otherwise Engaged by Susan Mallery

For this blog tour, we’re looking at a solid women’s fiction tale with a touch of romance where all four central characters are executed very well indeed. For this blog tour, we’re looking at Otherwise Engaged by Susan Mallery.

First, the review I posted to the book sites (BookBub.com / BookHype.com / Goodreads.com / PageBound.co / TheStoryGraph.com) and YouTube:

Solid Susan Mallery Women’s Fiction (With A Touch Of Romance). With Susan Mallery, you know pretty well exactly what you’re going to get. She basically has two styles, with a few wrinkles per style, and once you know which style and which wrinkle you’re in… well, if you enjoy reading a lot of variations on the same thing and are looking for the kinds of books that are essentially the reading equivalent of TV you can simply zone out and enjoy and know you’re not going to hit anything *too* complex or disturbing… Mallery is an author you’re going to love. Which long time fans will already know, but the above explanation was more for those newer to her or perhaps who haven’t read her books at all.

With this particular iteration, again, we’re more on the women’s fiction side, but even on this side of Mallery’s writing, romance is never far from the scene – indeed, it will always be close enough that technically the books can be (and generally are) marketed as romance tales, even when the women’s fiction side is actually more dominant in the overall story (as it is here).

Overall, I thought this was actually perhaps a touch more standout than typical Mallery, more dealing with the specifics at hand here that can’t be discussed too much without going into spoiler territory. But she absolutely nails the women’s fiction side, showing strong growth in each of her four central characters – not always easy to do with so many moving parts. So if you’re looking for a solid escape this holiday season – and have some time to invest in this near almost 370 page book – well, here’s yet another solid option.

Very much recommended.

After the jump, an excerpt from the book followed by the “publisher details” – book info, description, author bio, social links, and buy links.
Continue reading “#BlogTour: Otherwise Engaged by Susan Mallery”

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#BlogTour: The Perfect Hosts by Heather Gudenkauf

For this blog tour, we’re looking at a solid tale in its genre that has a bit of a chaotic and potentially controversial opening. For this blog tour, we’re looking at The Perfect Hosts by Heather Gudenkauf.

First, the review I posted to the book sites (BookBub.com / BookHype.com / Goodreads.com / PageBound.co / TheStoryGraph.com) and YouTube:

Don’t Let Your Opinions Of Over The Top Gender Reveals, Guns, or Multi-Perspective Stories Fool You – This Is A Solid Book. Seriously, this is one of those books where the *opening scene* has a lot of ick for a lot of people – me included, to an extent. Indeed, I delayed reading this book for a week in part because of the very inciting incident literally listed in the first sentence of the description as of publication day earlier this week as I write this review. (Yes, I’ve had it as an Advance Review Copy for months and yes, I’m officially running behind. Apologies.)

You see, while I have exactly *zero* problems with guns and enjoy a good Tannerite explosion from time to time (on video, never experienced one in person), the over the top gender reveal and thus making a pregnancy a central point of this story… that was the ick for me.

And I was wrong.

Yes, the opening scene is complex and more than a bit confusing and perhaps even accurately labeled as hard to follow.

But the story opens up from there and becomes much easier to understand, even as it revolves around small town and family secrets and decades long mysteries all coming to a head.

Gudenkauf creates here a truly layered story with many things going on at the same time, in the mold of some of the best soap operas – and yet with a fair degree more danger involved.

Overall truly a fun book once one gets beyond the chaotic opening scene, one that plays very well within genre norms without really pushing the boundaries too hard. In other words, a perfectly comfortable read for genre fans that works well enough for those looking to see whether they enjoy this genre.

Very much recommended.

After the jump, an excerpt from the book followed by the “publisher details” – book info, description, author bio, social links, and buy links.
Continue reading “#BlogTour: The Perfect Hosts by Heather Gudenkauf”