#BookReview: The Shark House by Sara Ackerman

Beautiful Anti-Jaws. In a sense, this book is the anti-Jaws intended to take everything ugly about Jaws (including its New England setting, sorry Yankees) and make it more vivid and beautiful, with a far stronger emotional component to boot.

Now, admittedly I haven’t read the Peter Benchley original book (yet), but this year *is* the 50th anniversary of the movie that effectively created the Summer Blockbuster out of thin air, and yes, I’ve seen the movie more than a few times (and ridden the former ride at Universal Orlando, may it rest in peace). Stupid Harry Potter. (No, Rowling is awesome. I just hate that Universal decided to rip out Jaws to insert a new HP land. Almost as much as I hate that they took away Dueling Dragons in Islands of Adventure to put in Hagrid’s rollercoaster.) Wait. Wait. Back to the Ackerman’s book.

Seriously though, Ackerman flipped the script from New England (boo! hiss!) to the beautiful Hawaiian waters (yay!), gave us a compelling and complicated shark scientist lead character, truly makes us see the beauty of both Hawaii (as she always does in her books) and sharks, …

Wait. She makes us see the beauty in *sharks*? Those apex predators who are nothing but man eating living torpedos that lurk silently and randomly attack humans? Yeah, well, Ackerman actually has solid in-story rebuttals to all of that, and she works it in without being preachy but instead having her characters truly be in awe of the majesty of the sharks and seeking to understand them.

Combining elements of real-world Hawaiian anti-“mainlander” racism and magical realism to great effect both comedically and in key moments in the story, Ackerman brings in elements of Hawaiian culture in this book I’d never seen her bring in before, and looking at her catalog, I’ve now read 75% of it – the last six of her nine published books. (And I’m fairly sure I have the other three on my Kindle as I type this review.)

Indeed, it is the magical realism elements here that perhaps shine the brightest in the biggest moments of the book and help elevate the book from “just a Jaws clone” to more of a “Moana-esque epic celebration of family and culture”.

Or maybe I’m just completely seeing all of this wrong and being an absolute idiot here. Once this book releases less than two weeks into 2026, make sure to read it for yourself and write your own review. Feel free to call me out on anything you feel I got wrong here. As long as you’re actually writing a review, I’ll gladly take the hit. 🙂

Very much recommended.

This review of The Shark House by Sara Ackerman was originally written on September 23, 2025.

#BookReview: Through Water And Stone by Karen Barnett

Solid Christian Romance Beautifully Displays Its National Park And Shows Dangers Of A Particular Modern Technology. This is Barnett’s latest “National Park” book, and once again it shows off its particular national park – in this case, Zion National Park, which I’ve only ever seen in the context of Fallout New Vegas’ Honest Hearts DLC (and which we thus *might* see in Fallout Season 2 on Amazon Prime?).

Yes, the dual timeline nature will throw some readers off, but this one works fairly well, with obvious time jumps even as at least a few characters are in both timelines.

Also, the whole “Christian Romance” thing. Yes, that means there is little more than kissing here, so if you’re one of those readers that *must* have sex scenes in your romance books… this isn’t that. But I’ve seen more and more people recently specifically asking for Christian books of late, and I already recommended this book directly to one *long* time friend in particular. (Hi, Katie!) (Katie is the elder daughter of my parents’ best friends – our parents are actually directly responsible for everyone meeting everyone, in a story I’ve never fully understood. Something about the guys knowing each other and the girls knowing each other and somehow everyone gets introduced. Over 45 yrs later, both couples are still together.)

This also means that you’re going to see a lot of references to God and prayer and such, though to be clear, this is about as truly non-denominational as anything within Christendom gets. So there won’t be any saints or discussions of baptism or the exact mechanism of salvation or any of that. Just more generic cultural level Christianity where people openly mention God and openly pray and aren’t ashamed of or insulted for doing either.

And yes, the (apparent) beauty of Zion National Park really does shine through here, along with some of its specific dangers playing key roles in the overall story. This is absolutely one of those books that will make you want to go to its real world place just to see for yourself just how well Barnett has captured its beauty in her words.

Finally, there is the danger. Not just in Zion itself, but in a particular modern technology. Revealing the tech would be a spoiler, but suffice it to say I’ve read (and reviewed, as I review all books I read) at least two other books dealing with the effects of this particular technology, including at least one other novel.

Overall quite a solid book generally and specifically within its genre, this is absolutely one fans of Christian Romance – or even romance or Christian readers who can at least tolerate the other half of the term “Christian Romance” – will enjoy.

Very much recommended.

This review of Through Water And Stone by Karen Barnett was originally written on September 23, 2025.

#BookReview: The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark

Complex Story of Generational Trauma. This is one of those tales that reads a touch slow – so be prepared for that – but which ultimately succeeds in having quite an emotional impact due to just how much force it lands with. When, to bring a bit of physics into the equation here, Force is mass multiplied by acceleration, a slow acceleration of a sufficiently sized mass can hit with the same impact as a much faster, yet smaller, object. This book’s ultimate mass, all that has happened to each of these characters and all they have gone through as a result of these events, is truly rather substantial. In the end, you’re going to see clearly just how these characters became all that they did… even as you may not quite get all the answers you may want as a reader, or perhaps things ultimately play out a touch differently here than you may want in “real life”. Regardless, this book stays true to its story as Clark chooses to craft it, and she truly did a particularly great job yet again.

Yes, there is praise for both AOC and Kamala Harris within this text, so there will be some who love it for that alone and others who wish to defenestrate it for that alone, but I can also state that other than one character actively praising an event that is current for that character, the AOC/ Kamala lines in particular are one-offs and not truly central to the story.

Of at least slightly more concern, perhaps still not enough to deduct a star, yet enough to note in the review, is that this *is* yet another book where most straight males are written as antagonists and vile and evil – and yes, combined with the AOC/ Kamala line… again, could be divisive. But while annoying, it also works within the context of this tale as told, and is actually at least used well to enhance the impact of the overall story. Along these lines, there *is* also a gay married couple present, so do with that as you will. Again, I know some will love this and others will want to defenestrate the book over it, so you do you. I for one thought these characters were, again, worked into the story quite well and didn’t seem as forced as I’ve seen these types of characters be in other tales by other authors, so it was neither here nor there for me.

Ultimately there is enough in this tale that various people won’t like it for various side reasons. Read the book anyway for the actual main storyline… and maybe be prepared for the room to get quite dusty at a couple of points in particular.

Very much recommended.

This review of The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark was originally written on June 2, 2025.

#BookReview: What You Do To Me by Rochelle B. Weinstein

Better Than Malibu Rising. I read and reviewed Mailbu Rising as an ARC, back before it came out. In that review, I noted that while it was a good story overall, I knew of many others that were at least as good – and would likely never get anywhere *near* the hype.

Here, despite being published by an Amazon imprint and thus having a pretty solid team behind even it… we have just such a book that is *better* than Malibu Rising… and yet isn’t getting anywhere near the hype, even though it absolutely should.

Even from the opening of the tale, before you even get to a word of Weinstein’s own alternate history of Hey There Delilah, the fact that she/ someone on her team was able to get Tom Higgenson from the Plain White T’s to write a foreword for this tale is freaking awesome.

Then, we get into the tale. And what a tale it is. I’ve read several of its type over the years, of coming of age, of finding yourself, of mysterious zeitgeist happenings, of journalists looking for their big break and landing on a secret they decide to try to find the truth of, of star crossed lovers and what comes of them, of famous rockers that famously either disappear or crash and burn or crash and burn and then disappear.

And yet… Weinstein manages to make this tale her own unique blend of all of the above, and a love song to the entire music industry and the songs that we all believe were written about specific people to boot. Choosing to lead into every chapter with a song referencing someone specific, then discussing so very many different artists and songs through the narrative – and even having cameos by various artists – was a great touch.

Including a condo in Miami was an interesting touch, and perhaps a nod to her own real-life tragedy as her family knew some of the victims of the 2021 Surfside Condos collapse – though this is pure speculation (about the nod) on my part. (Those who follow her on social media know she did in fact know some of those victims.)

Weinstein almost always brings her own Jewish faith into her tales as well, and this is no different – and yet, like the best Christian writers I’ve encountered over the years, she always does it seamlessly and without preaching, just bakes it right into the overall tale she is telling and uses it to even *enhance* the story she is telling.

The addition of a young character who barely speaks English when we first meet him is also quite relevant to where we originally encounter him – Miami, where thanks to the large Hispanic population, this is a particular character type that much more commonly gets overlooked – particularly in these types of tales.

And then there are the actual relationships here, and where the true magic and heartbreak of this story lies. The daughter who may not know as much about her parents or why they split as she thinks she does. The lover who pushes people away because she thinks she is unworthy of love. The soulmates forced into separation. The loving parent who never stopped wanting the best for their kid – even when the kid actively rejected them. So many others, and it all comes crashing together in this maniacal way that in less deft hands and with a less skilled storyteller could have been an absolute mess, but instead Weinstein pulls off masterfully in ways that will have you both breathless and bawling.

Truly an excellent work, and very much recommended.

This review of What You Do To Me by Rochelle B. Weinstein was originally written on October 17, 2023.

#BookReview: The Haven by Nicola Marsh

Sold Short Sychological Sequel. (Yes, the alliteration didn’t work with “psychological”, so I had to misspell it. :D) This is one of those sequels where you actually really need to read its prior book, in this case The Retreat, first. But since both are actually perfect for when you want a spooky read (such as during Halloween, when this book releases)… that is actually a great thing in this case.

This one is perhaps a bit less gothic, though it certainly has the creepy old mansion. It also has an even deeper tangle of secrets, as characters from the first book come back to play roles in this book as well – though certainly not all of them, and even in nearly every horror tale out there, at least one person survives. So the prior bit isn’t really a spoiler of anything. 😀 But *does* point to *why* you need to read The Retreat first.

In both cases though, you get quite a bit of tale packed into relatively short (here, 260 ish pages) books – making them a bigger bang for your buck than longer, slower tales. And making them overall better for when life is busy and/ or you are doing other things, but also want to read some books.

And as explosive as the ending was in The Retreat… here, while the explosions are of a different type… they may be even bigger and more devastating…

Very much recommended.

This review of The Haven by Nicola Marsh was originally written on October 11, 2023.