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#BookReview: Love By The Slice by Maddie Evans

Solidly Short Sequel. This book is a direct sequel to the Christmas 2024 era book A Wood-Fired Christmas, and like that book, it works quite well indeed as a particularly short romance novella that manages to pack quite a bit of tale and even emotional heft in its short, sub 100 page, length.

Long time fans of Evans know what to expect, but for newbies – and this series *is* a great introduction to her style with minimal time commitments – Evans tends to write “clean” (I wouldn’t go so far as to say “sweet”, as they usually involve some level of emotional drama) somewhat off-beat or even quirky romances, and this one is absolutely that.

Here we get two well meaning people who come from very different backgrounds trying to figure out how to come together as a couple, along with the continuing escapades of the brother of one of them an the boss of all of them (including the brother)… who are both the couple featured in Wood Fired Christmas.

Overall truly a fun little romance book perfect for when you’re just trying to make it to double digit books read by the end of the month (as I was, perfect timing Maddie!) or whenever you may have only a few spare minutes to read.

Very much recommended.

This review of Love By The Slice by Maddie Evans was originally written on February 4, 2025.

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#BookReview: Spores by Michael McBride

Visceral Horror Thriller Sets Up Horrifying Series. When two different friends release a book with the same sky high general premise within a year of each other – in this case, fungi, with this book and Jeremy Robinson’s POINT NEMO – it is always interesting to see how divergent they will be. While Robinson’s has some horror-ish elements, it remains more of a pure scifi action thriller. *This* book however is absolutely scifi horror, on the level that will have you squeamish at best and potentially mind-melting at worst. Featuring elements similar to Greig Beck’s BENEATH THE DARK ICE and even Lee Child’s DIE TRYING, this book manages to combine a deep backstory from decades earlier with hot off the presses current issues of environmental protection in the Western US (and even specifically referencing the Centralia, Pennsylvania coal mine fire that has been burning for over 60 yrs now).

Truly a book horror fans, and particularly fans of multiple types of horror, will love, this one has everything from scenes that will make those suffering claustrophobia lose their minds to several great creature horror elements and scenes that will give creature feature lovers chills in the best possible ways. This book is going to make your heart pound *hard* almost no matter what makes you anxious or or terrified – it truly does have a bit of everything, including even elements of disaster stories.

And then that ending… wow. Blatantly sets up an ongoing series, but that is all that I will reveal about it here.

Truly one of the better books early in the year, and very much recommended.

This review of Spores by Michael McBride was originally written on February 4, 2024.

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#BookReview: A-List by D.P. Lyle

Great Laid Back Gulf Coast Mystery In The Big Easy. This particular mystery manages to capture the aura and allure of both Hollywood and New Orleans (and my AI voices I use for the Audio book reviews I post to YouTube aren’t going to be able to pick up the Southern, much less local, pronunciation of that town’s name). You’ve got the glitzy high priced hotels and the down in the weed drug dealers. You’ve got Cafe Du Monde and a bayou full of gators. You’ve got the real world pressures of being on set on a movie and trying to stay within budget… and a lead actor who likes to sleep around with the locals.

And then you’ve got Jake Longly, his girlfriend Nicole, his dad Ray, and his best friend Pancake. Yet again doing what they do, and yet again using each of their talents to help solve the mystery – and resolve the resultant fight scene. Jake being the former MLB pitcher who knows his way around a bat, Nicole learning her way in a fight, Ray being the former SpecOps-adjacent soldier, and Pancake being a beefy guy that could likely hold his own with Jack None Reacher, should the crew ever come across him.

This particular entry in the series is absolutely more New Orleans focused than general Gulf Coast / Floribama vibe that the other books in this series generally have, and yet it absolutely works for the story told here.

Very much recommended.

This review of A-List by D.P. Lyle was originally written on February 4, 2024.

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#BookReview: The Big Necessity by Rose George

Interesting. Possibly Benefits From My Reading Audible Version. The day I was finishing reading this book, my own dad was being congratulated for reaching 15 years working at Cobb County, Ga’s RL Sutton Water Reclamation Facility. One of my brothers had also worked at a similar facility several years ago, before dad even started working there, so I’ve had a tangential knowledge of at least some of the issues raised in this book for even longer than the near 20 yrs since George first began writing it back in 2006.

And this tale is absolutely interesting. Perhaps a bit dry at times, and certainly with many references from earlier tales in the book the deeper you get into it, but as a global tale of how the world takes on the issue of “solid waste management”, as the US euphemism goes, this was truly a fascinating and globe trotting tale that perhaps spent a bit more time in the Indian subcontinent than it arguably should have and could maybe have used a foray into South America, but was still utterly fascinating in what it did cover nonetheless.

From the origins of sewers as we currently know them in London to the high tech roboticized toilets of Japan to the open defecation so prevalent even then in India as George was writing this book, this is a globe trotting adventure that takes us on a look at an area of life that we all do… and do our best not to think about.

Ultimately this was a very well written examination of its topic, and one that I would love to see yet another update to – or perhaps even a full on sequel of – now that we *are* approaching the 20 yr anniversary of George’s first research into the topic.

Very much recommended.

This review of The Big Necessity by Rose George was originally written on February 3, 2025.

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#BookReview: Guilty Until Innocent by Robert Whitlow

More Southern Fiction Than Legal Thriller. Admittedly it has been several years since I last picked up a book by Whitlow, but back in the day this author was essentially a Christian form of John Grisham – he’s going to give you tight, exciting legal thrillers of some form (via inside or outside the courtroom itself), but a Christian version of it where people more openly pray and talk about “God stuff” and such.

This book… keeps all the “God stuff” *in spades* (seriously, if you’re openly hostile to anything Christian or even just not at all interested in anything Christian… don’t bother reading this book, you’re not going to like it) but ditches the legal thriller aspects in favor of a more Boo Walker or Nicholas Sparks or Pat Conroy ish Southern fiction tale.

The story is long, some might argue too long, drawn out, yet ultimately satisfying for what it actually is and the multiple sub plots it is running concurrently. There is a *touch* of action near the end, but it really is more of a “slight rise on a kiddie coaster” level than anything particularly suspenseful – more suspenseful than anything else in this tale, but that only serves to highlight just how little actual danger there seems to be at any point here.

Still a great tale for what it actually is, just in no way any form of thriller or suspense.

Very much recommended.

This review of Guilty Until Innocent by Robert Whitlow was originally written on January 16, 2025.

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#BookReview: The Pianist’s Wife by Soraya M. Lane

Not Fully German. Not Fully Jewish. Not Fully Straight. How Will They Survive The Holocaust? Yet again Soraya Lane returns to historical fiction during WWII with yet another aspect you’ve never likely considered. Before the rise of Hitler, before the collapse of Germany due to the Versailles excesses, it was possible – if perhaps frowned upon in at least some circles – for a German to marry a Jew and have kids with them. What happens *after* the rise of Hitler and Nazism to those children?

We know from the history books that homosexuals were sent to some of the same concentration -and extermination – camps Jews were during the “Final Solution”. But have *you* ever read a fictionalized version of what their lives could have been like? What if I told you that one particularly harrowing incident – you’ll know it when you see it here – was taken straight from Lane’s actual research and that that particular scene was only barely fictionalized at all?

Lane, as usual, manages to build a metric shit-ton of research into making her historical fiction as real and as tense as possible, without making it ever seem like an info-dump in any way. These people, though completely fictional, are going to *feel* like people you will think you could have known during this period. (Which gets weird if you, like me, are the grandchild of two American soldiers of this period, both of whom survived the Battle of the Bulge during the period of the story in this book, one of whom got a few fairly high ranking medals for his actions in that particular battle.)

For those that could ever doubt just how horrible the Third Reich was – and yet, just how *normal* at least some people who lived under it were – Lane is here to show you in stark imagery just how wrong you truly are. And yet she’s never going to preach to you at all – she’s simply going to tell her story her way and highlight several different very real incidents along the way. Incidents you may not have heard about, no matter how much you study that period yourself.

Very much recommended.

This review of The Pianist’s Wife by Soraya M. Lane was originally written on January 16, 2025.

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#BookReview: The Loathe Boat by Cindy Dorminy

Fun Cruise Read. But It Has The Wrong Best Video Game Ever. When this book releases on my birthday – US Presidential Inauguration Day as well, this year – I will literally be out of the country. Specifically, I’ll be on Grand Turk with the Carnival Mardi Gras… yes, on a cruise myself that week. 😀

Reading this one in the last few days before I drop down to Orlando and Port Canaveral to meet up with the Mardi Gras was particularly fun, but I can tell you from over 4 months of cruising across nearly 20 years now that this book really does capture the spirit of the modern cruise industry quite well. Some of the other aspects re: group cruises or partial charters (and particularly the type of group doing the charter here), I’m less familiar with as neither group cruises nor this particular type of group are really my scene. Even there, from what I’ve seen of that group, Dorminy shows the group in a favorable light and does a solid job of incorporating the better elements of that group within the overall story being told here.

And the story being told here is actually one of the more interesting romcoms I’ve read in quite some time, mostly because even though it uses several tropes (what romance book these days doesn’t?), it uses them in far more rare and interesting ways. The comedy segments are done particularly well in many different aspects, including some that will have you literally laughing out loud. The “spice” is somewhere around call it habanero or so. It gets a bit interesting without going so far as to cause really anyone to “get the vapors” or anything, though it *is* more than some will want to handle.

Overall a fun and interesting read, great for getting in the “vacation mood” without necessarily hearing Jimmy Buffett (but also, thankfully, no Sweet Caroline either).

Oh, and the *actual* best video game ever? Mass Effect Legendary Edition. Find it on any console or PC, and you’ll thank me for the game recommendation even more than the book recommendation.

Very much recommended.

This review of The Loathe Boat by Cindy Dorminy was originally written on January 10, 2025.

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#BookReview: The Hunt by Gregg Dunnett

Intriguing If A Touch Meandering. Will Be Divisive. I believe this is my first ever review with an asterisk on the rating as far as I’m concerned – because for the first time ever I may well come back and reduce it by a star, depending on how the next book plays out. My reasons here can’t be explained without delving into spoiler territory, but I’ve written about my thoughts on what happens here in other contexts in other places, so they are at least quantities that can be known – and which should be at least partially obvious to those who have read the book.

For what it is though, this book itself is truly a fun and intriguing look at a Sherlock-variant “super detective” who finds herself placed in a situation she refuses to believe is actually true. The story then meanders quite a bit before the big reveal, which then explains the meandering before leading into the final sequences here.

Even in the meandering, the plot is well paced with a lot going on in different areas around the globe, making this easily the most expansive book in the series to date. The characters all play their roles superbly, and the result is a book that reads at least as good as some of the movies that are of its ultimate form. But again, because of the nature of this book, there is really only so much that can be said without revealing spoilers of some form or another.

Very much recommended.

This review of The Hunt by Gregg Dunnett was originally written on January 10, 2025.

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#BookReview: A New Leash On Life by Patricia Sands

A Moving Ending. Yet again packing quite a bit of story into such scant page count, this is a great ending to this series that gives an epilogue of our dog breeder Leslie’s adventures while also telling a compelling story of life after your long time husband has been diagnosed with dementia. It *also* manages to spend the most time out of the United States than any other book, and only Collar Me Crazy, book 2 of the series, spends more time outside of Dragonfly Cove itself.

And yet the tale here is still absolutely centered around Dragonfly Cove and this most recent litter of puppies from Leslie. Here, Chance gets his time to star as the central puppy of the story – and yes, once again (as is so often in this series) he tends to steal the scene most times he’s around.

Again using an elderly main character (as the previous book, Teacher’s Pet did), this tale does a remarkable job of showing both blood and found family and how they all come together. Truly a great tale in a small package, and yet again more evidence of how page count doesn’t give any indication of just how good a story is, with this one clocking in just over 150 pages.

Very much recommended.

This review of A New Leash On Life by Patricia Sands was originally written on January 1, 2024.

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#BookReview: Teacher’s Pet by David Johnson

Best In Series For Making You Want To Explore The Author’s Other Works. With some of the other books in this series, the authors do a great job of referencing their other books, maybe even bringing in a character or two – or at least someone connected to them who can reference them in-story – to entice the reader of this series to explore their other books. It is very well done within the stories they are telling and doesn’t feel forced at all, just a casual “hey, there’s other stuff out there that may warrant exploration, if you’re into these characters” type of vibe.

Yeah… Johnson doesn’t go that route. He’s far more in your face about it – without being in your face about it at all. Instead, he brings in one of his major characters from some of his other work and gets you invested in this character’s story even within the context of the story he is telling here as part of Dragonfly Cove… and then tells you in the author’s note at the end “Oh yeah, if you want to see what actually happens with that character, well, this character just so happens to be the titular character in these other books I wrote”.

And yet the story here itself is at least as powerful as the one with that other character, here using a retiree set in her ways as our main character and telling a compelling story of an old “get off my lawn” curmudgeon (literally, in a couple of cases, telling people to leave her yard) who has very distinct thoughts about how things should be done learning to live again in a new situation. And, maybe, through the love and dedication of her puppy… maybe she just might fall in love again?

There are several subplots to this story that all show the complexities of elder life in various forms, which I know many readers are desperate for these days as seeming so few books deal in main characters of this particular age bracket – despite it being among the larger sets of the American population at the moment.

By far the longest book of this series at nearly 300 pages, this is also one of the most complex-yet-easy-to-read stories in the series as well.

Very much recommended.

This review of Teacher’s Pet by David Johnson was originally written on January 1, 2024.