J UN E 2018

Your guide to self-publishing

Indie Scouting Report • Book Cover Redesign •
First Lines from BookLife Authors •
Ask the Editor with Betty Sargent • 85 New Titles Listed

Patience
Pays Off
A sci-fi author forges his
self-publishing path

BY MATIA BURNETT

B
efore becoming a writer, Fredric Shernoff
had several careers. “I was a real estate
investor, actor, and teacher, but writing
has always been there,” the Florida author
recalls.
The seeds were planted early for Shernoff,
who counts Stephen King and Anne Rice as
strong literary influences. He describes his
own novels as science fiction that “explores
normal people being thrown into abnormal
situations.” He adds, “I like to discover how
my characters get themselves out of predica-
ments.”
Shernoff’s books include The Traveler, a
time-traveling sci-fi romance, and the Atlantic
Island trilogy, which takes place in an island
 ® INDIE SUCCESS

nation following an apocalyptic event. (He published the final

book, Omega Protocol, earlier this year.) But his first pub-
lished work wasn’t sci-fi—in fact, it wasn’t fiction at all.
Under a pen name, Shernoff wrote a book about his
brother’s pro-wrestling league titled Doing the Job (2013).
He was urged by an editor to self-publish it.
“Once I started down that path and saw the opportuni-
ties, I decided to go that same route with my fiction,”
Shernoff says. As he navigated the self-publishing
process, he found his way by experimenting, learning
from fellow authors, and taking strategic steps by using
the resources available to him.
Early in his career, Shernoff read the work of Hugh Howey,
the author of the Silo series of science fiction books, and
met the author, who offered him some writerly advice.
(Shernoff also contributed to 2014’s Wool Gathering, an
anthology of stories that take place in the Wool universe,
the setting of the Silo books.) “Hugh was such a huge influ-
ence and has always been extremely supportive,” Shernoff
says. “He is such a strong proponent of self-publishing, and
that certainly pushed me to continue doing things that way.”

Taking It to the Next Level

After publishing his work on Amazon and promoting his books through
social media, Shernoff saw slow but steady sales growth. But he sought
to broaden his publishing footprint. “Eventually the benefits of being
exclusive to the Kindle began to dwindle,” he says.
Shernoff next reached out to Barnes & Noble’s Nook self-publishing
platform and has been advocating for his work since. He was able to
increase public exposure to his books through the (highly selective)
e-book promotion service BookBub.
“It took me several years to grow my sales and my audience enough
to qualify for a BookBub ad,” Shernoff says. “In 2017, I landed one for
Atlantic Island, and, immediately after, I picked up one for Traveler.
I knew at that point I’d reached a different level.”
Shernoff’s work has also been selected for Amazon Prime Reading,

136 B O O K L I F E , J U N E 2 5 , 2 0 1 8
INDIE SUCCESS
Barnes & Noble’s Cyber Monday
promotions, the Nook Daily Find,
and gift guide selections. The
Atlantic Island series has made
Amazon’s top-100 list and is a
bestseller at the Nook store.
“At that point, word of mouth
took over and generated steady
sales,” Shernoff says. “I continue
to promote through public appear-
ances.”
Of all of the accolades that
Shernoff has received, he says
he’s most proud of the many
positive reviews he’s received
from readers. “I’ve had a few
rough reviews, as well,” he adds.
“But I respect that my work isn’t
going to be great for everyone.”
Shernoff has a few words of
advice for aspir ing authors:
“Patience and perseverance are
key. For the majority of us, success
will not happen overnight. That
doesn’t mean that a book can just
sit there waiting to gain an audi-
ence. It takes constant market-
ing, tweaking and refining of
blurbs, keywords, covers to find
what truly works. Stick with it
and gradually the doors start to
open up.”
But Shernoff is still humbled
by his success. In the early stages
of his career, he says, he would
have been content to sell a cou-
ple hundred copies of his books.
It turns out that being a commit-
ted storyteller, learning from the
success of others, and steadily
reaching for the next star can
pay off.
“At this point, I’ve sold tens of
thousands and somehow the
book s keep selling,” Shernoff
says. “It often feels like I’m dream-
ing when I consider how many
strangers have experienced what
I created. It’s an honor to enter-
tain so many people.” ■ For the complete interview, visit booklife.com/hafner.
®
Q&A SPONSORED
BookLife Talks with
Betty Hafner
Hafner breaks the silence of the 1970s in this
award-winning memoir about triumphing over
spousal abuse.
What is the story behind Not Exactly Love—
why and how did you write it?
It all started with a simple writing prompt. I
wrote the words, “If only... ” and felt chills. Next
thing I knew I was writing the story of my
descent down a staircase on my wedding day, in
1970, when I stumbled. My broken heel sent me
running back upstairs in a state of panic. I was
terrified that it was a sign I shouldn’t go ahead
with the marriage. That piece became the book’s
first chapter.
If you could pick anyone to give this book to,
who would it be and why?
The kind of reader I thought of most while writ-
ing was a youngish woman who is in a relation-
ship with a difficult man. I wanted her to watch
the development of my understanding, my decision-making process,
and my actions as I dealt with my sometimes-violent husband.
Why or how do you think this book is particularly relevant now?
I could never have imagined the seismic cultural shift that the #MeToo
movement has inspired in addressing not only sexual harassment in
the workplace but also all the ways in which men abuse power over
women. My story shows what it feels like to be afraid to go into your
own home at the end of a day’s work. I hope it will help those who are
experiencing similar fears to feel less alone.
How do you make sure you are telling “the truth,” or how do you
refresh your memories when writing?
I constantly asked myself, “Did I convey the heart of that experience?”
This book could be interesting and beneficial only if I dug up the truth.
In some cases, I remembered the exact words spoken at the time—for
example, what the police said to me at my house the first time I called
them for help.
How did you come up with your title?
I remembered a line from the book, where I’d written that my hus-
band and I freely used the word love but that “it was not exactly
love.” I instantly knew that title conveyed the essence of my story.
B O O K L I F E .C O M 137
 ® COVER ART

Cover Redesign
This month, Michelle Argyle at Melissa Williams Design
reimagines the cover of The Last Will and Testament of
Ernie Politics by Brad Grusnick, who said that “the new
cover will make the book more enticing to readers.”
Original Cover
To submit a book for a free cover redesign, email us at booklifeeditor@booklife.com.

“The title is very

long, so I stuck
with a tight,
“The author concise font and
wanted a sense created artistic
of back-street elements to
grittiness, so I give it a spray-
included many painted look.
layers of grunge I also tilted it
as part of the slightly to soften
background.” the mood a bit.”

“Though the
original cover
is interesting,
it’s doesn’t
represent the
book’s genre. “To make sure
Including the the author’s
image of a name didn’t get
knife and blood lost on the cover,
immediately I gave it a unique
tells the reader color.”
this is a dark
crime thriller.”

138 B O O K L I F E , J U N E 2 5 , 2 0 1 8
BOOKWOKS_HALF_V_0715_Layout 1 7/24/15 10:10 AM Page 1

RETHINKING THE BOOK ®

Turning the TOC

On Its Head
How nonfiction authors can monetize
their work byall
Calling creating training courses
Indie Authors
BY JOEL FRIEDLANDER

I
t’s often been said that professionals with specialized skills
What can BookWorks do
and years of experience should think about writing and
for you:
publishing books about their areas of expertise. This makes
a lot of sense because a book can work as a powerful marketing
tool, and result in great personal satisfaction. The problem is
● Help You Find Your Reader
that instructional and how-to books can take a long time to
Joel Friedlander
develop and bring to market.
● Post Excerpts from Your Book
for Peer Review Q&A SPONSORED

BookLife Talks with

● Get a Featured Author Cover
Medallion for Your Book Tamara Neal
Neal, a 911 operator turned rela-
● Chat With Our Experts tionship e xper t and an Indie
Excellence Award finalist, returns
with more advice about how to deal
● Showcase and Sell Your Books With
can BookWorks do
What Direct-to-Retailer for you:
Links
with violent or failing relationships.

How did you come to write His & Hers:

● Find
• Help you the
FindBest
Your Editors,
Reader Designers, Relationships Do’s & Don’ts?
Illustrators, Marketers, and After writing The World’s Top Ten Worst Men for
• Post Excerpts from Your Book for Peer Review Women Guide and Venomous Relationships, a 2015
Publicists in the Business
• Get a Featured Author Cover Medallion for National Indie Excellence Award finalist, I received
Your Book an overwhelming response from male readers
• Chat
AndOur
With
that’s just for starters
Experts requesting a female version of the guide. I decided
Let us help you Prepare, Publish and Promote to write a book that would address both male and
• Showcase and Sell
your books. Your Books
We show you how With
to make female relationship dos and don’ts.
Direct-to-Retailer Links Who is your ideal reader and why?
indie publishing easier and, yes it’s true — My most important reader is someone who is cur-
• Find the Best how
Editors, Designers,
to make it fun. Illustrators, rently in a physically or emotionally abusive rela-
Marketers, and Publicists in the Business tionship and could use valuable information about
how to safely get out, but my readers are many: any
woman or man who desires to learn how to hack the
10 most common unhealthy relationships.
JOIN NOW! For the complete interview, visit booklife.com/neal

bookworks.com
B O O K L I F E .C O M 139
 BOOKLIFE_HALF_VERT_Layout 1 5/14/14 4:16 PM Page 1

RETHINKING THE BOOK

Chapters Time
izza ent h
n to P
p m e a st D oug
i o u i Y a
o d uct nd Eq ies of le Pizz
Int r a r p
A n T o ols M yste A Sim
Get one. 1. 2. 3. 4.
Taps the experience, integrity and
authority of Publishers Weekly to An alternative to the traditional publishing
Support for process can be found by looking at nonfiction books
assist indie authors achieve their
INDIE AUTHORS
in a new way—specifically by reconsidering the

publishing goals.
table of contents, where, in most how-to or instruc-
tional titles, the subject matter is presented in a
from Publishers Weekly hierarchical and chronological manner. Each
chapter’s subject matter builds on the lessons that
tips,insights
• Profesional tips,
n Professional insightsand
and came before. And that’s where authors can lever-
strategies for creating
creating and
and age what I call the “sideways table of contents.”
When authors turns their tables of contents
marketing your book sideways—thus converting chapter titles into steps
on a project timeline, as shown above—they reveal
• Connect and
n Connect and share
share with
with other
other road maps for completing their books. Turning the
indie authors table of contents sideways can also help with many
indie authors other problems associated with nonfiction book
publishing, such as lengthy development time, lack
n A free and easy way to submit
• A free and easy way to submit of critical feedback while writing the book, the
self-published books for review long wait before the book starts generating income,
self-published books for review and the lack of a robust author platform from which
in Publishers Weekly
in Publishers Weekly to launch the title. Though a traditionally published
book must be totally finished down to the last bit
of type on the copyright page before any of it can
be delivered to readers, disassembling the book
and repackaging its components offers an alterna-
tive publishing plan.

A New Plan
Support for Suppose an author has outlined her book and writ-
ten the first chapter or two. At this point, she

INDIE AUTHORS would still be looking at a long grind before bring-

ing the title to market. As long as the author views
her task as writing a book, she’s pretty much
from Publishers Weekly trapped by the need to finish the entire book.
But if she considers that her readers only need
the first chapter to get started, she can begin
monetizing her work from the beginning. To do
this, she simply needs to think outside the book—and
convert each chapter of her work in progress into
booklife.com a module of a training course.
With this plan, authors will be able to cut the
time to get books to market; build credibility,

140 BOOKLIF
booklife 1/2V rev10_6.indd 1 E, JUNE 25, 2018 10/6/14 2:24:54 PM
 RETHINKING THE BOOK
e
Recip gs
D
h
oug Toppi
n
asic ord of t
n
e B
d th erful W he Wr ond th
is e B
ey o t
n gB W ond All in ng Bey
G o i T h e It’s G oi
5 . 6 . 7 . 8 .
authority, and author platforms before publishing;
get in direct touch with avid readers; and profit
from their works in progress almost immediately.
A New Language
After turning their outlines for instructional or
how-to books into syllabi for training courses,
authors should rename the sections of their
books. Instead of parts, call them modules; instead
of chapters, call the individual topics within
each section lessons. This plan allows authors
to shift from fixed, bound presentations to a
dynamic, flexible structure for presenting the
same material.
With a first chapter and an outline in hand, an
author can announce—and sell—her course. Instead
of sitting alone at a desk and trying to finish the
entire book, she’ll be doing it gradually with a
small group of dedicated students/readers. As long
as authors write each subsequent chapter between
lessons, they can write and teach simultaneously.
This plan has many advantages: authors don’t
have to complete their projects before they sell
them; participants in courses will supply ongoing
feedback; authors will be able to build their plat-
forms as they launch their courses; and authors
can make significant amounts of money before
finishing their books.
When an author turns a book into a training
program, the financial model completely changes.
Authors often wait on agents and editors for a
couple of years before taking their next steps,
but a $495 training program only needs 20 par-
ticipants to gross $10,000 for the author—before
the book is even finished. And by the time the
training course is complete, the first draft of the
book will be ready to go. ■ empowering as an educational tool for families.
Joel Friedlander is a book designer and author;
he blogs about book design, marketing, and the
future of the book at the Book Designer.
®
Q&A SPONSORED
BookLife Talks with
s
asic
Linda Gerdner
Ethnogeriatric specialist and pio-
neering Alzheimer’s researcher
Gerdner returns with a book to help
children cope with their loved one’s
Alzheimer’s.
Why and how did you write
Musical Memories?
While there is growing recognition
that individuals with Alzheimer’s
disease must be treated within the
context of the family, too often the
needs of grandchildren are over-
looked. Musical Memories takes a
unique approach to helping chil-
dren understand Alzheimer’s.
The perception and processing of
favorite music from an earlier time in life remains
intact during the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s.
This knowledge is translated into an age-appropriate
story that is engaging and empowering to the child.
The story incorporates parallel scenes between
Gabrielle and Grandma to facilitate a child’s under-
standing of Grandma’s experiences and feelings.
Music serves as a catalyst for unveiling Grandma’s
personhood, promoting communication, eliciting
positive memories, reducing anxiety, and alleviating
agitation. Musical Memories takes place primarily
within a home setting that strives to promote
Grandma’s independence while addressing safety
issues and behavioral challenges associated with
Alzheimer’s.
How do you imagine readers at this moment will
connect to Musical Memories?
An expanding body of research has found that indi-
vidualized musical intervention is effective in stimu-
lating social interaction, promoting a positive affect,
and increasing the quality of life for Alzheimer’s
patients. Musical Memories is an innovative model
for translating basic principles of an evidence-based
guideline into a children’s story that is engaging and
For the complete interview, visit booklife.com/
gerdner
B O O K L I F E .C O M 141
 ® BOOKS TO WATCH

Scouting Report
In this month’s roundup of the best-reviewed BookLife
titles, we highlight a romance about starting over, a family
saga about childhood trauma, and a visual homage to
Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

All This Time Secrets and

MELISSA TAGG Shadows
ROBERTA SILMAN
Synopsis: Tagg crafts a
beautiful romance—about a Synopsis: This family saga
convicted felon looking for delves into the reverbera-
a new life and finding love— tions of childhood trauma.
that is filled with humor, PW’s Takeaway: Readers
mystery, and heartfelt looking for the intersection
emotion. of the historical and the
PW’s Takeaway: Tagg’s personal will be rewarded.
moving story beautifully Comparable Title: Julian
explores themes of redemption and the nature Barnes’s The Noise of Time
of home. Sample Line: “So many years, so many daily
Comparable Title: Karen Kingsbury’s To the Moon habits, and then they are adults and gone.
and Back Sometimes she can hardly remember all the
Sample Line: “By inviting Bear to join them books before bed, the sore throats, the childhood
in Brazil, Annie’s parents had given his life diseases; often it is a shadowy mist, then a dream,
meaning, made it possible to believe a man or a moment like this when it will spring to life,
really could erase all that was behind him.” as vivid as it once was.”
Read the Review: Read the Review:
publishersweekly.com/9780997964219 publishersweekly.com/9781640089006

Pride and Retreads One More

Prejudice STEVE HOBBS Night
ELLIE FABE Synopsis: REBECCA HUNTER
Synopsis: Adventurers in a Synopsis: Hunter
Collagist parallel universe takes readers from
Fabe adds flair to Jane Austen’s must find their Stockholm to Paris
Pride and Prejudice with 39 way back to Earth. on a sensual jour-
original illustrations that PW’s Takeaway: Fans of love ever- ney in this scrumptious contem-
accompany the text. lasting combined with fights for porary romance.
PW’s Takeaway: Tinged with irony survival will be completely capti- PW’s Takeaway: A page-turner
and social commentary... A sweet vated by Hobbs’s twisty filled with vivid sex scenes and
and visually appealing homage... narrative. intense emotion.
Comparable Titles: The Candlewick Comparable Title: Jack Finney’s Comparable Titles: Simona
Illustrated Classics series Time and Again Ahrnstedt’s High Stakes series
Read the Review: publishers- Read the Review: publishers- Read the Review: publishers-
weekly.com/9780692503416 weekly.com/9780999317709 weekly.com/ASINB074G1Q6DY

142 B O O K L I F E , J U N E 2 5 , 2 0 1 8
FIRST LINES ®

First Lines
Practice the Jealous Arts
DELIA C. PITTS
“She’s deader than Coltrane’s cat”

Our monthly look at some of the best

first lines from BookLife authors Madam Tulip and the Knave
of Hearts
June finds death, death, death, psychics, death, DAVID AHERN
and broken promises. To submit a first line, “The one thing psychics rarely do, and
email booklifeeditor@booklife.com. for the best of reasons, is foretell their
own future.”

Sage Stone: Murder with Altitude

The Magic Between the Worlds SUE STAR
DARCY DEMING “The body hung upside down, dangling
“Am I Dead?” against the rock face of one of the
Flatiron outcroppings.”

Face Value Miss E.

IAN ANDREW BRIAN HERBERGER,
“It wasn’t the prettiest place to die. But “I promised Miss E. I would never tell
then again, where is?” anyone her story—and I’m not, really.”

B O O K L I F E .C O M 143
 ® WRITING ADVICE

Ask potentially thrilling, like lis-

tening in on the process of
about these essays that makes
them so strong. Then choose your

the
someone thinking, choosing subject; research it thoroughly;
and dismissing perceptions, state your thesis in the opening
alighting on one adjective paragraph; keep it moving, clear,

Editer rather than another through

A veteran editor answers
your writing questions
BY BETTY KELLY SARGENT
Dear Editor:
critical skill and the power of
synthesis,” says Daphne Merkin
in a recent issue of the New York
Times Book Review. I agree.
And since you are new to essay
writing, I suggest that you start
off by reading a sampling of
some of the best essays in print.
For example, read “Goodbye to
fresh, original, and lose the
extraneous adverbs; and write
a compelling conclusion.
That should do it. If you are not
happy with your first draft, be
prepared to start again. Pretty
soon you should get the hang of
it and before you know it, you’ll
be proud of the finished results.

I want to write essays but

have only written fiction so
far. Any tips on how to write a
good essay?  —Harold B.
“
E ssays at their best offer a
different route into a writer’s
mind than fiction or memoir:
more indirect, perhaps, but also
All That” by Joan Didion, Arguably
by Christopher Hitchens, “Politics
and the English Language” by
George Orwell, “Fail Better” by Betty Kelly Sargent is the
Zadie Smith, A Man Without a founder and CEO of BookWorks.
Country by Kurt Vonnegut, and
“Once More to the Lake” by
E.B White.
If you have a question for the
editor, please email Betty Sargent
Try to work out what it is at booklifeeditor@booklife.com.

There is magic in this tale of an underdog. A blue faerie sprite from the long
ago forests of Ireland sings a song of hopes and dreams. An old Irish dog
trainer, his young niece, and a novice handler aspire to a championship in a
sport where the competition can be conspiratorial and literally snarling.
Then there is Rooster, the flop eared, yellow-eyed "mongrel breed" and his
buddy Sparky, and with this cast of characters the reader is given over to a
fantasy in which hopes and dreams come true.

Rooster is...
"... a roller coaster ride of excitement...hilarious, engaging, and
absolutely entertaining...will leave a smile on the faces of readers."
-Romuald Dzemo for Readers' Favorite - Five Stars

“Delightful, inviting storytelling...as if the author is telling

a captivating tale around the campfire.”
-Kirkus Reviews

"...a delight. Its charm grows on the reader with each turn of the page."
-Tom Word, Author of “Gentlemen, Let ‘Em Go”

ISBN: 978-1-48356-774-7
Page Count: 136

144 B O O K L I F E , J U N E 2 5 , 2 0 1 8
 PAID LISTINGS

PW SELECT LISTINGS ®

New Titles from

Self-Publishers
Booksellers, publishers, librarians, and agents are encouraged to look at the 85
self-published titles below. Each appears with a list of retailers that are selling the
book and a description provided by its author. Some of these writers are waiting to
be discovered; others have track records and followings and are doing it on their
own. If you are a self-published author interested in listing titles in this section,
please visit publishersweekly.com/pw-select for more information.

Fiction Californiasgirl.com, boss and faces a choice that could cost

Blue Bloods: The Missing Twins
(Race Relations During the Depression)
Fannie Adams & Rolland
Taylor. AuthorHouse.
$13.99 paper (228p),
ISBN 978-1-5462-0517-3;
$3.99 e-book, ISBN 978-
1-5462-0515-9
Amazon
Based on news arti-
cles, the book is about intermarriage
between blacks and whites. The book
arouses racial feelings, bringing to light
the racial prejudice during the
Depression days.
A Bridge Named Susan
Sharon Chase Hoseley. Xlibris. $19.99 paper
(222p), ISBN 978-1-5245-8992-9; $3.99
e-book, ISBN 978-1-
5245-9033-8
Amazon
A resentful mother, a
jealous brother, a silent
husband, and an abu-
sive father-in-law
push Susan, a simple
farm girl, to seek a rock on which she
can build her life.
California’s Girl: Life on the Beach
Tamara Warren. Liferich publishing. $24.99
paper (401p), ISBN 978-1-4897-1342-1
Amazon her everything.
The story of a young
girl growing up on the Hope of Ages Past: An Epic Novel of
beach in Southern Faith, Love, and the Thirty Years War
California during the Bruce Gardner. Zino
1960s and ’70s. Publishing. $4.99
e-book, ISBN 978-0-
A Contradiction to 9998811-0-1
His Pride Amazon
Leanne W. Smith. Leanne A 17th-century
W. Smith. $14.95 paper German Lutheran
(420p), ISBN 978-0- pastor and a country
692-12579-3 peasant girl face the ultimate trial when
Amazon their city is besieged by the Catholic
When James Parker imperial army led by an awe-inspiring
takes Corrine Baldwyn on an outing Black Knight.
designed to impress her, things go
tragically wrong. Now her heart lies Infants of the Brush:
shattered, and the blood spilled is A Chimney Sweep’s
from James’s hands. Story
A.M. Watson. Red Acre
Degrees of Love Press. $14.99 paper
Lisa Slabach. BookBaby. $15.99 paper (294p), ISBN 978-0-
(335p), ISBN 978-1-5439-0721-6; $2.99 9995122-0-3
e-book, ISBN 978-1-5439-0722-3 Amazon, Apple iBooks,
Amazon, Apple iBooks, Audible, BN.com
BN.com, Powells A novel based on Armory v. Delamirie, an
Silicon Valley soccer 18th-century court battle between a
mom Susan Sinclair silversmith and a chimney sweep’s boy
is trapped in a moral who is struggling to earn his
quagmire when she independence.
becomes entangled
with her beguiling new

B O O K L I F E .C O M 145
 PAID LISTINGS

® PW SELECT LISTINGS
The Mystery of Julia Rachael’s Point sometimes serious, and often hinting
Episcopa (The Vatican R.I. King. iUniverse. toward radical libertarian ideas, this
Chronicles, Book 1) $13.99 paper (144p), freedom-loving poetry collection is best
John I. Rigoli and Diane ISBN 978-1-5320- summed up by the climax of the short
Cummings. CreateSpace. 2453-5; $3.99 e-book, story included at the end.
$4.99 e-book, ASIN ISBN 978-1-5320-
B078P5T17C 2455-9 Lyfe: A Book of Teenage Poetre
Amazon Amazon Poetre. AuthorHouse. $13.99 paper (150p),
In ancient Rome, a woman flees for her Due to haunting memories, Rod hasn’t ISBN 978-1-5462-
life. Hidden beneath her robes are secrets been back to his childhood home in 24 1386-4; $3.99 e-book,
men will kill for. years. He returns on business and finds ISBN 978-1-5462-
a series of mysterious deaths that might 1385-7
Nobody’s Angel be demon-related. Amazon
Linda Freeny. Toplink The author says, “My
Publishing. $15.99 paper Relentless poetre is not poetry.”
(262p), ISBN 978-1- Dennis O’Keefe. Xlibris. What he does, what he
948779-96-8 $19.95 paper (269p), writes, isn’t just words thrown together
Amazon, BN.com ISBN 978-1-5434- but a piece of himself etched into the
Det. David Kincaid is 6545-7 annals of time.
obsessed with finding Amazon, BN.com, Ingram
out who a dead Jane Doe is and how she Personal security pro- This World Is Heavy:
came to be in that garbage-ridden New vider Case McIntire A Collection
York alley. had never lost a client. Now, all alone in a J. A. CreateSpace. $8.99
Colombian jungle with no weapons, paper (94p), ISBN 978-
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Q&A SPONSORED
BookLife Talks with
George Kroustalis
Financial adviser George “G$” Kroustalis combats
financial illiteracy among the millennial set and
younger people.
What is the story behind Secrets to Becoming
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Initially, I wanted to teach young people and
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10.10 at financialbadass.net.
For the complete interview, visit booklife.com/kroustalis.
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paper (158p), ISBN 978-0-9887724-8-9 forever. ■

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Fiction
8 Seconds to Midnight
John Leifer. Leifer Group, $12.99 trade paper
(364p) ISBN 978-0-9995655-0-6
Well-developed main characters and
plausible technical details help make a
familiar plot fresh in Leifer’s thriller. In the
near future, the United Islamic State, an
ISIS-like group, activates sleeper agents
planted 15 years earlier as part of a plot to
detonate a nuclear bomb in Times Square
on New Year’s Eve. UIS leader Ibrahim al-
Bakr’s influential ally in the Pakistani mili-
tary, Gen. Ash Patel, the chairman of that
country’s ordinance factories, has made it
possible for UIS to steal enough uranium to
make a 15-megaton bomb, a scheme that
U.S. intelligence learns of through a CIA
asset romantically involved with Patel’s
deputy. As the clock ticks down to the fatal
hour, America’s efforts to prevent the deto-
nation are led by Cmdr. John Hart, a “physi-
cian, Navy Seal, and senior intelligence
officer” who’s the president’s go-to person
during national crises. Leifer keeps readers
guessing as to whether Hart and his team
will succeed, though his imagined future,
in which UIS had already killed thousands
at America’s busiest airports, is underdevel-
oped. Fans of Tom Clancy and the TV series
24 will be riveted.
All This Time
Melissa Tagg. Larkspur, $12.99 trade paper
(350p) ISBN 978-0-9979642-1-9
Tagg (From the Start) crafts a beautiful
romance filled with humor, mystery, and
heartfelt emotion. Despite efforts to prove
himself otherwise, Bear McKinley cannot
escape his past as a felon. When Bear is
asked to leave the mission field in Brazil due
to his shady past, he fears his chances are
over. He travels home to Atlanta only to
discover that his family, which had always
been engaged in crime, is worse off than he
remembered. When Bear is suddenly given
the responsibility of his niece and nephew
and instructed to leave Atlanta immedi-
ately, he flees to a place of happy memories:
Maple Valley, Iowa—where he briefly felt
at-home after leaving Atlanta. Raegan
Walker has been pining for Bear ever since
the day he left Maple Valley to chase his
153a B O O K L I F E , J U N E 2 5 , 2 0 1 8
dreams of establishing a church in Brazil.
His sudden reappearance in her life causes
her feelings for him to resurface, and she
begins to hope that, this time, their rela-
tionship will have a chance to thrive. As
Bear bonds with his niece and nephew, he
begins to regret losing contact with his
family for the past six years. When he
receives a letter from the mission board in
Brazil asking him to come back, Bear faces
a decision. Tagg’s moving story beautifully
explores themes of redemption and the
nature of home.
Bear Child
Robert J. Wolfe. CreateSpace, $15 trade paper
(324p) ISBN 978-1-534883-51-2
A l a s k a ’s D i v i s i o n o f Wi l d l i f e
Conservation is under fire for allowing bear-
baiting—the setting out of food lures to
make hunting the animals easier—in
Wolfe’s solid third mystery featuring
anthropologist Camilla Mac Cleary (after
2016’s Judas Wolf). The state authorized the
practice to provide equal opportunity for
members of the disabled community, who
could only kill bears for sport if their quarry
was lured to their location. The dangerous
downside—that the wild animals would
become accustomed to eating garbage and
pose a threat to human life—seems to have
been realized after a bear apparently kills
Brenda Schofield in her Anchorage home.
Brenda and her husband were engaged in a
custody battle with Camilla, the couple’s
pregnancy surrogate, who, after giving
birth to their daughter, sought to void the
surrogacy agreement. When the police
decide that the details about the killing
don’t square with an animal attack, Camilla
becomes a homicide suspect. Wolfe plau-
sibly integrates wildlife conservation policy
debates into a fairly clued whodunit.
The Earl’s Entanglement:
Border, Book 5
Cecelia Mecca. Altiora, $3.99 e-book (290p)
ISBN 978-1-946510-10-5
Mecca’s formulaic fifth Border medieval
romance (after The Scot’s Secret), set in the
turbulent northern region of England and
nearby Scotland, is redeemed by the chem-
istry between its protagonists. Garrick
Helmsley, a recently returned Crusader who’s
heir to two earldoms (one on each side of the
border), does not want a wife but is per-
suaded by his mother that he will forfeit his
Scottish title and property to a jealous uncle
if he remains unwed. He agrees to marry the
daughter of a powerful chieftain to help
solidify his inheritance. Then he inconve-
niently meets lovely Lady Emma Waryn,
who wins his heart. Emma is single by
choice; after a lifetime of rules imposed by
her father and brothers, she has no interest in
a man telling her what to do. Nonetheless,
she’s captivated by the handsome knight.
The 13th-century setting is unconvincing
and the conflict posed by Garrick’s betrothal
drags on interminably, but fans of romantic
passion will forgive much when sparks fly
between the lovebirds.
Faerie Rising
A.E. Lowan. Phoenix Quill, $15.99 trade paper
(400p) ISBN 978-1-980200-62-8
Fans of urban fantasy with a strong
female lead will enjoy this series launch.
The realm populated by immortals, such as
vampires, was once entangled with the
human realm, but the two are now mostly
separate. Seahaven, Wash., is one of the few
places where the realms meet, and the rifts
that can be created there irrevocably change
the magical balance of the universe. Winter
Mulcahy is the sole remaining member of
her wizarding family who’s able to restore
that balance, and she struggles to preserve
law and justice in her city. With Seahaven
closer to chaos than ever, Winter must con-
front a major new threat when she learns of
a powerful being’s plan to end the “time of
hiding,” revealing the existence of immortal
beings to the mass of humans as a prelude
to unprecedented bloodshed. Lowan
grounds her imagined world in reality by
inserting preternatural entities’ power
plays, such as land grabs, into the backstory,
and her thoughtful characterizations sug-
gest she’ll likely be able to deepen her
familiar series concept in future install-
ments. This is a very capable start to the
series.
One More Night
Rebecca Hunter. Rebecca Hunter, $3.99
e-book (229p) ASIN B074G1Q6DY
Hunter takes readers on a sensual journey
in this scrumptious contemporary romance.
While dining at a Stockholm pub, New
REVIEWS
York editor Alice O’Connor meets Jonas
Hällström, a Swedish author whose manu-
script she acquired at the Stockholm Book
Expo. The mutual attraction between Alice
and Jonas is instantaneous when he sits next
to her and describes the plot of his book,
which features a Swedish man and an
American woman. The lines between fact
and fiction are blurred when Alice indulges
in a memorable night of passion with Jonas
and meets up again with him in Paris for a
romantic interlude. Then Jonas shares some
of the details of his sordid history, and their
sizzling sexual encounters hint at a darkness
in Jonas that he has worked to suppress.
Jonas warns Alice that she will want
nothing to do with him once she reads the
manuscript, and though his warning proves
true, she is forced to face him again when
he visits her publishing house. Hunter has
written her protagonists with great depth,
carefully revealing how their pasts have
shaped their personalities in this page-
turner, which is filled with vivid sex scenes
and intense emotion.
Outposts
Sean Akerman. Threekookaburras, $24.95
trade paper (236p) ISBN 978-0-9953692-2-1
Akerman’s aimless novel tells the story
of an impoverished scholar and his attempt
to forge a career for himself by writing the
biography of Nestor Dunn, a notably reclu-
sive yet lauded man of letters. Threatened
by “financial squalor,” the nameless nar-
rator agrees to take on the biography project
when offered it by an acquaintance.
Unfortunately for both the narrator and the
reader, the narrator has few sources, none of
whom are terribly forthcoming. Nestor’s
daughter, Emma, is coy; stripper and
aspiring novelist Anya Luchinskaya has met
Nestor only a few times; his psychiatrist
friend Bernard LaBelle is dead. Nestor has
been out of sight for some time, only sur-
facing in connection with the death in a
house fire of a mother and son near the area
where both Nestor and the narrator grew
up. A dramatic plot turn midway through
the story drastically alters the narrator’s
course of action, leaving him at sea. The
novel is a patchwork of the narrator’s mean-
derings about New York and assorted odd
vignettes and occurrences. Nestor is
described as “one sprawling question
mark,” and the same could be said of this
work. The whole is a mass of loose ends that
may satisfy readers of unconventional nar-
ratives but will leave others wishing for
something more grounded.
The Paris Writers Circle
Norma Hopcraft. Jaguar Publishing, $14.99
trade paper (296p) ISBN 978-0-9994089-1-9
Hopcraft’s uneven novel reveals how four
expatriates living in Paris find escape from
their personal woes in a writing group.
Anjali, in her early 20s, is trying to recon-
cile the expectations of her Indian parents
with her own desire to be a free and inde-
pendent woman. John is an American who
devotes himself to his successful investment
company located in Paris while his relation-
ship with his wife and daughter withers.
Carol, a single mother from Britain, strug-
gles with her fear of losing a job and her
anguish about finding love. And Philippe,
an American pastor, clings to his faith as he
watches alcoholism consume his daughter’s
life. All four find comfort in their creative
writing and in the increasingly constructive
and supportive discussions that positively
affect their personal lives. Hopcraft’s char-
acters are hampered by hackneyed descrip-
tions that often overstate their weaknesses,
such as Carol’s desperation to have a man in
her life. Though grammatical errors are
distracting, there are some insightful obser-
vations that capture the essence of writing
as an art (“Fiction is the lie that tells the
truth”). Numerous details about Paris
interwoven throughout also capture the
rich history and essence of the city. The
novel will appeal most to those looking for
a straightforward story set in Paris, but
those seeking a memorable cast of charac-
ters should look elsewhere.
Presidential Prey
James F. Hamilton IV. Battleworld Media,
$15.95 trade paper (386p) ISBN 978-0-6920-
4495-7
Stronger on plot than on character,
Hamilton’s melodramatic political thriller
focuses on the travails of U.S. president
James Atwater. A widower whose wife died
in a car crash and whose 19-month-old
daughter died of leukemia, Atwater is
hiding a secret that could end his adminis-
tration: he’s sleeping with Robin
®
Holdridge, a “full-blown, one-hundred
percent, dyed-in-the-wool knockout” who
just happens to be the vice president’s wife.
As Washington Post reporter Henry
Saperstein investigates rumors of the affair,
a group of terrorists led by Musa Abu
Tabou, whose “heavily haired body was as
dark as his soul,” plot to assassinate Atwater.
Hamilton maximizes suspense by alter-
nating between the White House soap
opera, which includes more shocking rev-
elations, and the violent progress of Abu
Tabou’s team. Several graphic sex scenes
may be too explicit for some readers. Fans
of TV series like Scandal and 24 will be
intrigued.
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen, illus. by Ellie Fabe. Beauty Panic,
$30 trade paper (158p) ISBN 978-0-692-
50341-6
Collagist Fabe adds flair to Jane Austen’s
Pride and Prejudice with 39 original illustra-
tions that accompany the unabridged text.
Fabe’s collages overlay bright, watercolor-
washed scenes with retro cut-paper figures
and objects sampled from fashion maga-
zines from the 1930s to the ’50s.
Accompanying each tableau is a quote from
the Pride and Prejudice passage that inspired
it. Like Austen’s book, Fabe’s work explores
arcane customs of beauty and courtship,
pageantry and social artifice: in one collage,
a housewife holds a tray of drinks while a
man sits happily with a sandwich in hand
in the distance. While tinged with irony
and more than a dash of social commentary,
the collages nevertheless have a spirit of glee
and evidence deep reverence for the novel.
As Fabe describes in a preface, Austen “was
a little bit mean—the way real people are
mean—so there are both heroes and nin-
compoops. Family is both beloved and
annoying. That is Austen’s genius, her
ability to describe people in all their frailty
and humor.” This is a sweet and visually
appealing homage.
Retreads
Steve Hobbs. Hatchet Mountain, $14.99
mass market (304p) ISBN 978-0-9993177-0-9
Adventurers trapped in the unknown,
unfriendly parallel universe known as the
Hole must find their way back to Earth in
this action-packed journey between two
B O O K L I F E .C O M 153b
 ® REVIEWS
worlds. Business owner Sam and his friend
and bodyguard, Oscar, cross through a fis-
sure in spacetime and get trapped in the
Hole, where time goes by much faster. As
they search for a way home, they encounter
helpful and harmful humans, dangerous
creatures, and resurrected people called
retreads. Hobbs (New Hope) ends each
chapter on a cliff-hanger as he cleverly
switches back and forth between Sam and
Oscar’s perilous travels and the story of
Meg, a retread who’s adjusting to her new
life centuries after her death. She’s sure her
true love is still alive, even though they
were parted 200 years before. Fans of love
everlasting combined with treacherous and
fascinating fights for survival will be com-
pletely captivated by Hobbs’s twisty
narrative.
Secrets and Shadows
Roberta Silman. Campden Hill Books, $12
trade paper (296p) ISBN 978-1-64008-900-6
Alternating between 1989 and WWII,
Silman’s moving, intricate family saga
delves into horrific childhood trauma and
how it reverberates for years. As the Berlin
Wall is brought down in 1989, New York
lawyer Paul Bertram returns to his birth-
place, Berlin, with his American ex-wife,
Eve, to confront the horrible secrets from
his past as a Jewish child hiding from the
Nazis. Paul was the son of a wealthy jeweler;
his parents believed they would be pro-
tected from deportation because of their
large Nazi clientele, but Paul’s family was
eventually forced into hiding in their attic,
protected by Hjalmar (best friend and
employee of Paul’s father) and Marga
Friedmann. But teenage Paul chafed under
Marga’s domination over his family and
raged when she threatened to turn them in,
leading his family to hide in barns in rural
Germany. As Paul revisits childhood places
as an adult, he relates to Eve, flashback-
style, the atrocities he witnessed and a trau-
matic betrayal from those years. With the
exception of Paul’s memories, much of the
story is Eve’s—how Paul’s professional suc-
cess and their blissful, early married years
were followed by his lies and womanizing,
and her post-divorce life on Martha’s
Vineyard. Silman delves into a marriage
fraught with love, loss, and remorse, and
Paul is a complex and flawed character.
153c B O O K L I F E , J U N E 2 5 , 2 0 1 8
Readers looking for the intersection of the
historical and the personal will be rewarded.
Solar Reboot
Matthew D. Hunt. Matthew D. Hunt, $24.99
(328p) ISBN 978-0-692-91671-1
In this dramatic apocalyptic thriller, a
family is torn apart by the collapse of civi-
lization after a massive solar flare disrupts
technology around the world and sparks all
manner of natural disasters. While ex-mil-
itary medic Cameron finds refuge in a cabin
community in the Pacific Northwest, her
husband, Alex, and diabetic 12-year-old
daughter, Piper, are left stranded in New
York City. They must trek across an increas-
ingly dangerous country to reunite with
Cameron. Cameron reluctantly assumes
leadership of her group of residents and
refugees and has to deal with personality
clashes and resource management.
Meanwhile, Alex and Piper must evade
marauders and weather gone wild, as well
as the ever-present threat of Piper running
out of insulin. This is a strong tale of sur-
vival against all odds, and Hunt’s portrayal
of a devastated society is chilling, but the
story feels overly ambitious, with a new
hazard around every corner—Alex and
Piper encounter two flash floods in a short
period of time, for instance. The book is
optimistic in tone, with an emphasis on
humanity’s resilience, and lands squarely in
the middle of the disaster genre without
venturing to innovate.
Sun Storm
Marlow Kelly. Viceroy Press, $2.99 e-book
(251p) ISBN 978-0-9952301-1-8
In Kelly’s action-packed, if far-fetched,
first Gathering Storm romantic thriller, Dr.
Marie Wilson, a brilliant scientist, and
David Quinn, an ex–Special Forces soldier,
run for their lives through a Montana bliz-
zard to evade gunmen, a corrupt police
force, and a businessman who’s willing to
kill to ensure Marie’s new invention never
sees the light of day. Marie comes to
Montana to test whether her innovative
solar panel will withstand the cold; she has
no idea she’s about to become a hunted
woman. David takes what he thinks is a
simple job retrieving a stolen prototype for
Public Domain Energy, but when he meets
Marie, he realizes right away that she’s no
thief. He breaks the contract and feels
honor-bound to protect her from his former
client. As they’re thrown together in the
face of danger, sexual tension simmers
between the pair. Though both the chase
and the couple’s budding relationship esca-
late at an implausibly rapid pace, the non-
stop action is sure to keep readers turning
pages.
Uncharted
Julie Johnson. Johnson Ink, $3.99 e-book
(241p) ASIN B0774KN1KJ
In this unusual but thoroughly enjoyable
contemporary romance, Johnson (Like
Gravity) pairs a teenage babysitter and a
moody photographer who survive a plane
crash at sea. Seventeen-year-old Violet
Anderson is embarking on the journey of a
lifetime: a summer spent nannying in the
South Pacific. Her first encounter with
acerbic photographer Beck Underwood
comes at LAX over a mistakenly claimed
bag, and when she finds out he’s traveling
on her flight, she’s not happy. But soon
Violet wishes that was all she had to worry
about: the private jet crashes in a remote
area of the South Pacific, taking all but
three of the plane’s passengers to a watery
grave. After days of drifting, Violet, Beck,
and their severely injured companion end
up on a deserted island. The author skill-
fully weaves a narrative that avoids cliché.
Though the story is more survival than
romance and some of the details are grue-
some, the reader can’t help but be capti-
vated by Violet and Beck, their explosive
chemistry, and their dramatic tale.
Nonfiction
Alpha Boys’ School:
Cradle of Jamaican Music
Heather Augustyn and Adam Reeves. Half
Pint, $25 trade paper (400p) ISBN 978-0-6929-
8073-6
The Alpha Boys’ School, a Catholic
boarding school in Jamaica that counts
among its alumni a large number of famous
musicians, gets a meticulously researched
overview by music journalists Augustyn
and Reeves. The school, the authors argue,
is the core of Jamaican popular music, and
the influence of graduates from the school,
REVIEWS
established in 1880, is far-reaching and sig-
nificant. The charismatic personality of
music-loving Sister Mary Ignatius Davies,
who came to teach at the school in 1939 at
age 17, inspired such students as Cedric
Brooks (saxophonist for the Skatalites), Joe
Harriott (a pioneer of free-form jazz), David
Madden (trumpeter for Bob Marley),
Tommy McCook (founding member of the
Skatalites), jazz flutist Harold McNair, and
Yellowman, a reggae and dance hall DJ. The
authors include an impressive listing of
popular releases of Alpha Boys’ School
alumni (the school has since been renamed
Alpha Institute) that reinforces the legacy
of the institution, along with photos. For
fans of world music, especially Jamaican
sounds, this enthusiastic, informative book
is a treat.
Amsterdam Exposed:
An American’s Journey
into the Red Light District
David Wienir. De Wallen, $12.95 trade paper
(264p) ISBN 978-0-9993559-0-9
In this uneven memoir, entertainment
lawyer and author (Making It on Broadway)
Wienir shares the events of his 1999 journey
to Amsterdam, where he spent his last
semester of law school. He aims to “take
readers on a journey deeper into
[Amsterdam’s red-light] district than they
could ever go before.” But Wienir, writing
from the point of view of the 26-year-old he
was, has a more personal and idealistic
agenda as he searches for a woman who
works as a prostitute to guide him through
the district. He meets a young woman
named Emma who agrees to guide him,
hoping “to restore [her] self-worth”and per-
haps change her life. Wienir gives the reader
a sense of the district’s “addictive” power
(“There was a sense of immediacy, a feeling
it might be the last night on Earth”), as well
as its hard-nosed business rules (“Never ask
for a discount.... Agree on when the clock
starts ticking”). Wienir’s book, however,
becomes less about the district and more
about his obsession with Emma, with
whom he felt “a connection from the second
we met,” although he never became her
customer. Emma eventually left her work
as a prostitute, got engaged, and had a
daughter, and she and Wienir fell out of
touch. Wienir’s is an honest though naive
look into the workings of Amsterdam’s red-
light district, and an earnest though juve-
nile search for love.
Galantière: The Lost Generation’s
Forgotten Man
Mark I. Lurie. Overlook Press LLC, $22 (412p)
ISBN 978-0-9991002-2-6
Lurie’s dutiful biography of Lewis
Galantière (1895–1977), his first cousin
once removed, tells a clear-cut tale of a man
who crossed paths with Sherwood
Anderson, Ernest Hemingway, and James
Joyce, among many other literary notables,
helping them in significant ways.
Galantière grew up in a tenement in
Chicago and was educated at a settlement
house, a reformist educational institution
of the era; by the time he was a teenage he
was fluent in French and deeply conversant
in European literature. He worked as a clerk
at a prominent Chicago bookstore and met
many authors there, including Anderson,
whom he befriended. After Galantière’s
French skills gained him a position with the
U.S. legation to the International Chamber
of Commerce in Paris, Anderson asked him
to find a French translator for Winesburg,
Ohio. Anderson introduced Galantière to
Hemingway, and Galantière wrote a rave
review of Hemingway’s first short story col-
lection. Galantière also wrote plays with
John Houseman, translated novels by
Antoine de Saint-Exupèry, and served vari-
ously as president of PEN America, a
Federal Reserve Bank economist, and an
ACLU director. Lurie’s straightforward
biography may not fully restore Galantière’s
name to literary history, but it draws an
appealing portrait of a man who made his
own way among the literati of his day.
Six Basic Cooking Techniques:
Culinary Essentials for the
Home Cook
Jennifer Clair. HCNY, $19.95 trade paper
(112p) ISBN 978-0-998979-20-5
Those intimidated by the prospect of
entering a kitchen, let alone preparing a
dish, will benefit from this simple and slim
debut by Clair (Gourmet Cooking on a Budget),
a former food editor at Martha Stewart
Living and founder of the Home Cooking
New York cooking school. In this bare-
bones tutorial, she clearly and patiently
®
guides readers through six techniques: basic
knife skills, cooking meats, preparing pan
sauces, blanching green vegetables, roasting
vegetables, and cooking leafy greens. With
that knowledge, readers can prepare and
serve a number of classic mains and sides,
such as pan-roasted lemon-rosemary
chicken; steak with a red wine sauce;
mashed potatoes and gravy; and braised
collard greens with bacon and onions. A
recipe for Best Vegetable Soup You’ll Ever
Make calls for store-bought chicken stock
rather than homemade (a simple but impor-
tant skill one could master). Still, begin-
ning cooks will appreciate Clair’s insight
and recommendations on outfitting one’s
kitchen with the proper tools, the art of
seasoning, knife-sharpening 101, and
cooking with convection ovens. The book’s
simplistic design and layout feels ama-
teurish, but those hoping to learn funda-
mental skills and techniques will find this
to be a terrifically helpful guide.
Children’s/YA
Renaissance:
The Nora White Story (Book 1)
Yecheilyah Ysrayl. Literary Korner, $1.99 e-
book (162p) ISBN 978-0-692-91344-4
Ysrayl’s well-crafted historical novel—
the first in a planned series—centers on
17-year-old Nora White, the child of black
landowners in 1920s Mississippi. Though
her parents expect her to attend college,
Nora instead escapes to Harlem’s outskirts
to pursue writing. She works as servant to
a wealthy white woman who, while
unpleasant, is benefactor to the writers and
artists of the Harlem Renaissance whom
Nora so deeply admires. Nora meets Zora
Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, W.E.B.
Dubois, and other figures, and she finds a
mentor and friend in Hurston—whose out-
sized personality and charisma are genu-
inely conveyed. Ysrayl smoothly integrates
poetry and literary references into Nora’s
narrative, and she writes with awareness of
Jim Crow Era laws and racism in the North
and South. Chapters told from Nora’s moth-
er’s perspective focus on their turbulent
family history but somewhat lack the
urgency of Nora’s sections; even so, Ysrayl
captures the crackling energy of the Harlem
B O O K L I F E .C O M 153d
 ® REVIEWS
Renaissance. This first installment of Nora’s
story offers little resolution, but it sets up
an intriguing set of dramatic circumstances
for subsequent novels. Ages 12–up.

Bianca: The Brave Frail and

Delicate Princess
Meg Welch Dendler. Serenity Mountain, $9.99
trade paper (210p) ISBN 978-0-692-92041-1
Princess Bianca, from the kingdom of
Pacifico, has been coddled and protected
since she was born. By the age of 13, “she
had heard the stories of her birth and doc-
tor’s warnings... but none of it seemed a part
of her own lungs and heart and arms and
legs. It was as if they were fussing about a
stranger she had never met.” Her father has
forbidden anything he feels might be dan-
gerous to her health, including playing
with other children, horseback riding, and
leaving the castle. After rumors of a dragon
send the king and his knights across the
kingdom to vanquish the beast and no word
comes from them for three weeks, Bianca
sneaks out of the castle. With the help of a
witch, fairies, and a cat who’s more than she
appears, Bianca journeys into the unknown
to slay the dragon that is terrorizing her
homeland. Dendler (Max’s Wild Night)
populates the novel with varied characters
and fun, fantastical elements. Bianca’s wish
to prove that she’s not weak and that a girl
can save the kingdom is inspiring, resulting
in a sweet, empowering tale of a princess
standing up for herself. Ages 8–12.

153e B O O K L I F E , J U N E 2 5 , 2 0 1 8