Tag: Kentucky

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#BookReview: Second Chances by Kellie Coates Gilbert

Solid Second Set. This book picks up shortly after where Silverleaf, Book 1 of this new series, ended – so absolutely read it first – and continues the story of the Haverly family, largely extending plot lines from the first book for some of the family members… and introducing a few new ones for others.

Fans of family dramas featuring elite families of some form – think a less soapy Dynasty or a more rural Blue Bloods or similar – are going to love this new series and this tale in particular, as there are some dynamics that play out in both very fun and very “AW SNAP, IT DONE HAPPENED NOW!” manners.

While this is perhaps a touch spicier than the prior book – *maybe* – it is still more akin to an eggnog or horchata than anything truly spicy. And with very few exceptions, almost always between a married couple anyway. Gilbert clearly knows her fans and target audience well, and trust me, you’ll see worse on even broadcast television these days. Which, yes, I know, isn’t saying much for some… and for others will mean that there isn’t nearly enough. But Gilbert works these scenes very well indeed to great effect for her purposes, and really, that’s what *any* scene in a book like this should strive for.

Overall truly a fun overall tale, one that perhaps touches a bit close as I deal with some similar issues as raised here in my own real life. As in, my wife left for pre-op for a major surgery related to some issues that play heavily into one of the storylines of this very book as I was finishing it. By the time this tale is officially published, my wife will have had the surgery in question and… let’s just say I know well the strain of the characters involved in this situation. In some ways, my own is a touch worse, in others, theirs is. Quite similar and all too real, regardless. And one that unfortunately far too many people will have a similar experience with.

But truly, read this book for the excellent family drama… and be ready for even more, because this series is still in its early phases.

Very much recommended.

This review of Second Chances by Kellie Coates Gilbert was originally written on April 22, 2026.

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#BookReview: Silverleaf by Kellie Coates Gilbert

Solid Southern Royalty Family Drama. We don’t have actual royalty in the United States, but in different areas of the country we do have very rich families – sometimes rich going back many generations, sometimes (particularly over the last century) much newer (ala The Great Gatsby). This is a modern tale of one such family, and Gilbert really does a great job of bringing us – even those of us who themselves rose from “trailer park trash” to having “respectable” jobs and titles like I have – into this world in a stunningly vivid manner that will truly transport you to the hills of western Appalachian horse country from no matter where you may actually live in the world.

Having grown up just miles away from a prominent horse racing facility and event – the Atlanta Steeplechase at Kingston Downs in Kingston, GA – and rubbing elbows with some of the elite of my home County on the borderlands of southern Appalachia and Atlanta due to… well, I never actually knew why and the one thing I was aware of seems a bit too self aggrandizing to proclaim in this review… I actually have enough experience at the fringes of the type of family Gilbert creates in this book to truly say that at least from my perspective, this entire tale was simply all too real.

Yes, including the… let’s say “family dynamics”… at play here. Some of which are a lot more universal than just the Southern Elite “royalty” type families, and at least some of which I’ve seen play out across family, friends, and associates no matter their “status” in “society”. Here, Gilbert really manages to bring these elements out as just as real and powerful as the setting she puts the family in, and the two sides of the tale combine rather spectacularly.

One thing that I appreciated that others may not find as appealing is how Gilbert managed to craft a mildly Christian tale here but keep it more muted and more “this exists in this world” level rather than any remotely preachy aspect to it – even the actual prayers in the text are simple meal-based “grace” prayers that are legitimately common throughout the region and not really sectarian at all. More formalized than the joke “Good food, Good meat, Good God let’s eat!” prayer you’ll hear at some Southern meals, but really at about the same theological depth, at least in the content of the prayers shown in this text. To flip it around a touch, it is really more akin to having an LGBT couple in the tale that everyone simply accepts as they are without making any real fuss about it and without it truly playing a role in the tale. Again, truly just a “this exists and now we’re moving on” level. Which will still be too much for some readers, for the same reasons the LGBT couple’s presence would be too much for other readers, and hey, you do you. You’ll find no judgement from me on that point, but I do appreciate when authors are able to integrate these types of things into their stories – either direction – in this exact manner, and Gilbert truly does an excellent job of this from the Christian side here.

This is Book 1 to a new series, and it does in fact show – we get a fully fleshed out world, one complete tale here (with enough room to follow it going forward without it continuing to be the main focus), and a lot of side stories such that clearly some of them will get their own stories, while seemingly others may be a bit of a running plotline of sorts perhaps through the entire series. It will be interesting to see how Gilbert plays these lines in particular, and one great thing to note is that even as I write this review the day before this book actually releases to the public, Book 2 is actually coming in just a couple of weeks! I for one am very excited about that for several reasons, chief among them being I won’t have read over 100 books between books in a series for a change! 😀 But seriously, this is absolutely a tremendous setup for a series that we’re going to want to come back into this world at least a few times, and I’m truly glad the first of those is very soon.

Very much recommended.

This review of Silverleaf by Kellie Coates Gilbert was originally written on April 15, 2026.

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#BookReview: The Mystery Of The Undying Man by J. Kent Holloway

Fun Amalgamation Of Scooby-Doo, Stranger Things, and The Sandlot. This is one of those fun, nostalgic types of kids-solving-mysteries tales that will bring back all of the above + Nancy Drew/ The Hardy Boys type vibes, as well as a touch of Johnny Quest. Now, if I’ve named enough popular franchises to get you this far, know that this book *does* still have its own feel – it isn’t merely a clone of the other franchises, though it does share a genre and general vibe with them. Here, Holloway manages to spin is own form of the tale and involve science fiction ala the *earliest* science fiction (yes, there’s a touch of Frankenstein and his monster involved here) while centering the tale in his own “native” (and actually native) Kentucky and Southern lore and mythology. Ultimately this is simply a fun romp through a simpler time that still had its evils and mysteries, and Holloway shows the period and style – and his own particular culture – particularly well. Very much recommended.

This review of The Mystery Of The Undying Man by J. Kent Holloway was originally written on October 25, 2022.

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#BlogTour: Secrets At The House By The Creek by Elizabeth Bromke

For this blog tour we’re looking at one of the better trilogy-ending books I’ve ever come across, as everything in this tale is geared at telling its own tale *within the context* of wrapping up the entire trilogy. For this blog tour, we’re looking at Secrets At The House By The Creek by Elizabeth Bromke.

Here’s what I had to say about it on Goodreads:

All Will Be Revealed. In this conclusion to the Brambleberry Creek story, series-running questions are answered, series-running plans are executed, and everyone gets some form of their happy ending. Thus making this a perfect trilogy-ending book. Yet again on the shorter side at 273 pages, Bromke manages to pack quite a few laughs, a few tears, and even a touch of steam into a generally shorter tale – and, again, manages to wrap everything up while doing so. Truly an excellent series and an excellent endpoint to that series, with a solid send-off to boot. Very much recommended.

After the jump, the “publisher details”, including book description, author bio, and social media and buy links.
Continue reading “#BlogTour: Secrets At The House By The Creek by Elizabeth Bromke”

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#BlogTour: Home To Brambleberry Creek by Elizabeth Bromke

For this blog tour we’re looking at a book that is a more serious approach than its author’s normal tales and is also a series starter – though this isn’t always obvious in the tale. For this blog tour, we’re looking at Home To Brambleberry Creek by Elizabeth Bromke.

Here’s what I had to say on Goodreads:

Serious (And Not Always Obvious) Series Starter. In this first book with a new publisher, Bromke does something she’d rarely done in my experience reading her books over the past year or so – approached 300 pages. Most of her other books I’d read hit between 150 and 200 or so pages, and here the extra length works to allow fair amount of extra drama and detail that Bromke normally manages to tell a strong tale while excluding. Yet she adds it in such a way that it is never obvious, and that is evidence of solid storytelling abilities. While the witty comedy that she normally brings is noticeably absent here, there are still some fun times to be had – but the overall tone of this particular tale is truly much more serious than previous efforts I’ve read from her. Still, in the end it does in fact become clear that there are at least two more tales to tell in this world, and this reader for one is looking forward to coming back to this world and seeing where Bromke takes us. Very much recommended.

After the jump, the “publisher details” – book description, author bio, and social media and buy links.
Continue reading “#BlogTour: Home To Brambleberry Creek by Elizabeth Bromke”

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#BookReview: Coal Cages Crisis by Judah Schept

Avowed Anti-Capitalist Screed Still Highlights All Too Real Issues. And these issues absolutely need to be more openly discussed. If you dismiss the blinders to anything other than the set premise and worldview the author comes to this research with and look at the points he raises instead, this is a solid examination of at least some of the ways the central Appalachia region of (primarily) Kentucky / (some) West Virginia / (some) Virginia has transformed from being driven by a coal economy to now being driven by a prison economy – largely on much of the exact same land. With a bibliography clocking in at 38% of the ARC I read *even with* the author conducting much of the research and interviews himself, the scholarship within his worldview is largely beyond contestation. This truly is one of the most well documented ARCs I’ve come across in nearly 800 books (across all genres, fiction and nonfiction). Ultimately the star deduction here was because the author never leaves his particular biases to even make strawmen of opposing views, much less actually examine whether they may explain the issues at hand better than his own views do. Still, for what it is, this truly is a remarkable text that covers a particular topic that few others do. Very much recommended.

This review of Coal Cages Crisis by Judah Schept was originally written on April 16, 2022.