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#BookReview: The Lost Family by Libby Copeland

Astounding. This is absolutely critical reading for those who have either already bought an at-home DNA testing kit or who are considering buying one. Copeland does an excellent job showing the beginnings of this relatively new industry, its promises, its pitfalls, and the numerous concerns and issues surrounding so much of it. Read this book before you buy such a kit, and carefully consider the issues Copeland discusses and whether you are truly ready to handle them if they arise. Very much recommended.

Note special to BookAnon: I actually read this immediately after reading this week’s Featured New Release of the Week, True to Me by Kay Bratt, wherein the entire story is premised on the use of just such a kit and the wait for its results. Each book feeding off the other in my head- even though completely independent of each other – was truly an interesting time. 😀

This review of The Lost Family by Libby Copeland was originally written on December 12, 2019.

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#BookReview: Holiday Fling by Crystal Lacy

Fling or Flung? This was a fun Christmas romance on Hawaii with two visitors who happen to live not far from each other back home. Solid awakening type romance, with pretty well everything expected within that trope – and all executed well. As with any vacation romance, “will they or won’t they” looms large in the back third, and even here Lacy spins a solid tale. Very much recommended.

This review of Holiday Fling by Crystal Lacy was originally written on December 12, 2019.

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#BookReview: Holly Banks Full of Angst by Julie Valerie

Hilarious Super Mom Satire. This is one of those books that non-perfect parents will LOVE, showing just how ridiculous the Super Moms of the world are and that no one is truly perfect. Truly the only reason I dinged this a star was because I personally just could not get into it due to being a childfree male that generally prefers to avoid kids… and this is all about a mother’s struggles with her daughter’s first week of Kindergarten. Great tale, well written, and I absolutely look forward to seeing more from this debut author in the future. Recommended.

This review of Holly Banks Full of Angst by Julie Valerie was originally written on December 12, 2019.

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Featured New Release Of The Week: True To Me by Kay Bratt

This week we look at an excellent tale of finding oneself that is full of enough potential that the author could spend the rest of her career in this world and I doubt anyone would be disappointed. This week, we are looking at True To Me by Kay Bratt.

This was absolutely a world I’m looking forward to coming back to, which is a good thing since Bratt has already announced a sequel. But the richness of this world is unlike any I’ve seen lately and possibly in quite some time – there are simply so many threads set up here that Bratt could use to spend literally the rest of her career within this world, and yet this book itself is a complete and unitary tale unto itself. In other words, while those other areas are there, this book is a complete experience whether or not they are ever explored more deeply – and that is a testament to Bratt’s skill as a writer that she was able to pull this off.

My own overall experience with this book was perhaps enhanced by reading this tale of Maui and its secrets while on a cruise to the southern Caribbean Sea myself, and indeed much of this book was read while I was somewhere south of Hispaniola either on my way to Curacao and Aruba (where the pic to the right was taken) or on my way back to Miami from Aruba. Truly a perfect read for such a vacation, and I’m sure my experience with both was enhanced by the other.

As always, the Goodreads/ Amazon review:
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#BookReview: Heavenly Melody by Sammi Cee

Christmas Magic. This was a solid tale of two men who both tragically lost their mothers and their paths to finding each other. One man used the tragedy to help others. The other man used it as an excuse to hide. But thanks to some meddling elders and some old fashioned holiday obligations and magic… Excellent holiday romance, very much recommended.

This review of Heavenly Melody by Sammi Cee was originally written on December 9, 2019.

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#BookReview: No Hallow’s Eve by Kane Gilmour

Gilmour Again Makes Stoker Proud. In a bit of an ironic twist, I was reading this as my wife was watching one of her sparkly “vampire” movies. If you detest those as “not real vampires” as so many of us do, you’re going to love this tale where yet again Gilmour *finally* comes back with an old school Dracula tale that shows the Black Prince in all his glory – while actually setting in motion much grander plans. Gilmour has author’s notes at beginning and end explaining the delay since Crypt of Dracula was published 6 yrs ago and his future plans for hopefully 2020, and if all goes as planned fans of old school Dracula (among others) should be very pleased indeed. Very much recommended.

This review of No Hallow’s Eve by Kane Gilmour was originally written on November 30, 2019.

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#BookReview: Dead End by Pandora Pine

A Cop A Week From Retirement. A Baby A Day After Being Kidnapped. When these two meet up, we get yet another excellent entry in Pandora Pine’s expansive Cold Case Psychic universe. Filled with further progression both professionally and personally for both Ronan and Tennyson, this story is yet again episodic in a long running universe – enough is explained in the text here that you won’t be lost starting here, if you don’t mind spoilers from previous books. Which is a balance that Pine is particularly skilled at. Very much recommended.

This review of Dead End by Pandora Pine was originally written on November 29, 2019.

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Featured New Release of the Week: Stay by Catherine Ryan Hyde

This week we look to an excellent tale of coming of age in the summer of 1969 – that only mentions one of the numerous events happening in the US that summer. This week, we’re looking at Stay by Catherine Ryan Hyde. Well, y’all are. This is going up a few days early because I am leaving to meet up with a cruise ship and spend the week in the Caribbean. 😉

This was another strong book from Hyde, with quite a few individual dramas all interconnected via how they intersect with one teenager’s own life. Some school drama, some first romance drama, plenty of familial drama with two different characters impacted by service in Vietnam but also two separate couples having their own difficulties, a black sheep of an entire small town, and more. Overall this story, like so many of Hyde’s, comes down to the power of a caring community – and this is exactly where the book finds its power.

Truly a great story touching many difficult and sensitive topics with an adroitful grace, this is yet another that would work well on the silver screen. Very much recommended.

As always, the Amazon/ Goodreads review:
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Featured New Release of the Week: Tribe by Jeremy Robinson

This week we are looking at the latest electric release from the Modern Day Master of Science Fiction. This week, we are looking at Tribe by Jeremy Robinson.

I speak here somewhat frequently of my desire for authors to take risks, even within the confines of their own genre. And boy does Robinson do that in spades here – and yet they all work to combine to make the book so much better than the sum of its parts. He speaks of politics and religion – two areas he tends to not discuss with any level of commentary even while building in numerous allegories through many of his books – and yet it totally works within the context of the story he is building here and never feels preachy at all. He has much more nudity than is typical of his books, which while sometimes pretty gory are almost never explicit nudity. (Though to be clear, no sex scenes, just nude bodies.) The man who literally named a character “F-Bomb” yet rarely actually drops them in his writing uses several of them here – and again, within the context of this story they work to enhance the realism. Even the more pure fantasy elements – again, something Robinson typically doesn’t use – work well to enhance the story here (and are used fairly sparingly, even though critical to the plot at points).

Overall simply one of Robinson’s best in recent memory, and a bit more arguably one of the best he’s ever written. If you’re looking for Robinson to return to the frenetic balls to the wall action of some of his earlier tales – you’ve found it. Very much recommended.

And as always, the Goodreads/ Amazon review:
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#BookReview: I Died Swallowing A Goldfish by Kent Holloway

Max Lucado Meets CSI. Holloway has been writing fiction stories for many years, sometimes involving various cryptids, other times involving various folklores, and even one time using his day job to create a fictional tale of a crime scene “cleaner”. This is his first foray into the nonfiction realm, and here he uses his day job to talk about Christian ideals in a style very reminiscent of Max Lucado. Each chapter is roughly half “here’s a story from my day job as a forensic death investigator” and roughly half “here’s how that tale impacts the Christian life”. Because Holloway consistently uses prooftexting – the technique of citing Bible verses out of context in support of one’s thesis – I personally cannot give it any more than the four stars I’ve chosen to give it here. Others, particularly Christians or at least those than enjoy reading books such as Lucado’s works, will likely rate it higher and honestly I cannot fault them for it. It was a solid tale in that vein, I simply am so adamantly against prooftexting that I cannot allow myself to give 5 stars to any text that uses the technique. Others more critical of Christian beliefs reading this more for the CSI side of it (which is a valid approach, that side is truly fascinating) might rate the book a bit more critically specifically because of the Christian points, and that too would be fair-ish. Holloway, as he admits in the text, is an ordained minister and a Southern Baptist, and what he says throughout the text is mostly solidly in line with current Southern Baptist theology. So if you’re reading this book just for the CSI side, maybe just skip over the back half of most chapters, or skim them for any conclusions about the CSI side of the chapter. Overall a very well written book with a rare if not unique perspective in this field, and one that is very much recommended.

This review of I Died Swallowing A Goldfish by Kent Holloway was originally written on November 20, 2019.