Category: Book Reviews

Review: Bella Collector of Cuentos

Posted in Book Reviews, Books

Bella is about to go on the trip of a lifetime. No, it does not involve planes, trains, or automobiles, but it may involve a horse, an odd little cart, and a weird bird, among other surprises.

Oh, and a bit of magic.

While going through old things in the attic of the family home, Bella finds – and oh, my! – falls into another time and place, where she learns that perhaps she can be more than the quiet little sister and the shy student, easy prey for a school bully.

In this magical place she meets ancestors, beings of legend and lore, Death, and most important, she meets herself and learns her potential. And she learns perhaps the most important lesson of all: to be remembered is a blessing; to be olvidado, forgotten, is to let one’s culture and language slip away.

She meets fore bearers she never knew, or scarcely knew in their lifetimes. At nearly 15, coming into the family late in her parents’ marriage, she sees no connection to her past. Nor does she see the threads that bind her family together, feeling too often the outsider.

The legendary characters she meets on her journey teach her the importance of retaining a connection to the cuentos, the stories, that are the backdrop of her culture, the art, music, and literature that frame who she is.

In the land of yesterday she encounters beings – human and fantastical – who by turns protect her, teach her, and caution her to remember their cuentos and share them with a careless society that has forgotten their value.

Dwarves and giants, witches and snakes, tricksters and Death herself leave a lasting mark on Bella. Reading the story of her journey is charming, yes, but it is also a cautionary tale about remembering and sharing one’s culture and language, not as an afterthought, but as a vibrant part of life.

Bella Collector of Cuentos is a tale told by those who do not want to be forgotten. It is also a magical tale about a girl coming into her own.

HOW TO BE ORIGINAL

Posted in Book Reviews, Books

To say Adam Grant is a professor and an author of nonfiction books about social and business psychology is to say a candle and a 100-watt bulb are lights. Read more about him here.

I just finished listening to the audiobook of his best-selling Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World. It is inspiring and eye-opening. What does it mean to be “original” in an age when everything is accelerating at speeds beyond our imaginations? How does one stand out in a crowd? How do you take a novel – sometimes controversial ­– idea, and get other people on board?

The answer might not be what you think. Great thinkers, brilliant innovators, and Nobel prize winners top the list of originals, but how about the office worker who has a brilliant idea for improving an internal process. Is she shot down because the idea is so novel, so unconventional the hierarchy can’t see its value? How does that lower-level staffer get past barriers of groupthink and cautious management?

The book is based on real-world examples and research done by, well, innovative social psychologists in different fields of expertise. It delves into –

• ways you can improve family dynamics and raise children who can solve problems and think for themselves;
• coalition-building to achieve transformational objectives;
• managing fear;
• understanding why listening to your critics makes your ideas scalable and achievable;
•how entrepreneurs create sustainable products and businesses;
• why it’s okay to procrastinate;
• yes, and more.

Originals aren’t born, they are made, or perhaps better stated, they make themselves. They are not always dynamic, take-it-to-the-mat personalities. Originals learn the skills necessary to carry their invention or idea from coulda, shoulda, woulda, to a revolutionary product, inspirational message, or life-altering concept.

What to look for (from the author’s website)

Using surprising studies and stories spanning business, politics, sports, and entertainment, Grant explores how to recognize a good idea, speak up without getting silenced, build a coalition of allies, choose the right time to act, and manage fear and doubt; how parents and teachers can nurture originality in children; and how leaders can build cultures that welcome dissent.

​You’ll learn from…
​• An entrepreneur who pitches his start-ups by highlighting the reasons not to invest
• A woman at Apple who challenged Steve Jobs from three levels below
• An analyst who overturned the rule of secrecy at the CIA
• A billionaire financial wizard who fires employees for failing to criticize him
• A TV executive who didn’t even work in comedy but saved Seinfeld from the cutting-room floor

Adam Grant explores the journeys of several successful originals and looks at why some things work and others don’t. He explains how the non-innovator – which covers most of us – can take the behaviors of originals and create change within their own businesses, organizations, and families. You can even take a quick test to see if you have the traits of an original. Typically, respondents got 6 of 15 answers correct; I got 9 of 15 and I read (listened to) the book! I suspect I’ll listen to it again after I’ve had time to distill the wealth of information it contains.

Originally published in 2014, the book is available through online retailers and in bookstores. I’m sure if Nancy at Paper Trail doesn’t have the book, she can order it for you. I got Originals through Libby, the Carnegie Library application on which you can download digital and audiobooks. To use the app, you must have a library card.

Happy reading! I also invite you to learn more about the Las Vegas Literary Salon, a writing and reading group sharing ideas and information. Learn more here and here.

Thank you for being a reader/subscriber. It is my goal to present informative, interesting and creative content on this site. Your likes, shares and comments are welcomed and hugely appreciated. I am an indie author of six books and two chap books of poetry. Check the BOOKS tab to find out more. Follow me at www.vandermeerbooks.com, https://www.facebook.com/vandermeerbooks, Amazon Author Central. I frequently write about my town, Las Vegas, N.M. Occasionally I use interesting and helpful content from other sources. I also invite guest posts. If you have a topic you would like to share, send to fsharon@msn. com.

Prairie Madness

Posted in Book Reviews, Books2 Comments

Prairie MadnessPrairie Madness – Conspiracy at Fort Union
Author: Edwina Romero
Publisher: Random Horse Press
Cost: Paperback $18.81, Kindle e-book, $3.99
Available at: Amazon

Edwina Romero is the author of three books about Las Vegas, N.M. history. Prairie Madness – Conspiracy at Fort Union is her first novel. For more about the author go to www.edwinaromero.com.

If you like historical novels, you will thoroughly enjoy Prairie Madness – Conspiracy at Fort Union, by Edwina Romero. If you like a plain old good read, you are in for a treat.

Patti RomeroRomero has blended history and mystery to write an intriguing puzzle surrounding the death of personable Sean Flannery, a first sergeant at Fort Union in the late 1800s. The story involves the complex social structure of fort life with its military personnel, civilian workers, and privately-owned trader’s store. The ever-present winds sigh and bluster across the barren landscape, lending a haunting backdrop to this story of two women and the men in their lives.

Forget stereotypes, with washer women being the low rung on the social ladder, and think instead of the hardy women who ended up at the edges of the wild west. Their resilience is the true story behind this window on the past.

When army laundress Mary Margaret O’Keenan learns Sean is dead, she is convinced from the get-go that it was no accident. Who took the life of the man she had come to love? Mary Margaret intends to find out, ready to confront authority and bring to light clues she comes upon in her determined investigation.

Despite threats and pushback from military officials, she forges ahead with the unlikely but welcome help of Olivia Foote, wife of the post’s contract trader, a man whose motives appear to be less than honorable.

Mary Margaret and Olivia form a bond of trust and friendship that helps them in their pursuit of truth. The historical facts and setting take the reader back to an era when changes were underway for forts across the country. Howling winds batter at adobe walls and trickle through the mind, perhaps scouring away sober judgment and replacing it with the bare bones of greed and self-interest.

Place and character define a good story. In Prairie Madness, these elements are woven together beautifully. The tale moves apace revealing a conspiracy that reaches right into the office of the fort’s commanding officer and beyond.

Mary Margaret has good instincts, but deciding whom to trust isn’t easy. All she knows for sure is that the facts of Sean Flannery’s death must be revealed and the culprit brought to justice.

Paper Trail in Las Vegas, NM, will host a book signing on Saturday, March 16, at 1 p.m., featuring Romero and  Prairie Madness – Conspiracy at Fort Union. The book is also available online in paperback and Kindle format.

 

Book Review

Posted in Book Reviews, Books, essay

Haunted Santa Fe

Haunted Santa FeIt’s that time of year when ghosties, goblins and ghouls come out of the woodwork. Literally according to Haunted Santa Fe, a historical overview of legends and lore born of real people living real lives, and then in the afterlife returning with spectral visitations that make things go bump in the night.

What I like about Ray John de Aragón’s wonderful book is how he ties history to these legendary figures. His richly told accounts stir the mind to a time long before statehood, when many cultures were streaming into New Mexico to join the native peoples already here, not always with favorable outcomes. The tales recounted in Haunted Santa Fe reveal that cultural montage with Martyr Mysteries, Koko Man, Julia Staab, the Forlorn Spirit, La Llorona, and Billy Bonney’s Ghost, among others.

He is an educator who uses stories to bring life to northern New Mexico’s deep and wide history, whether he is delving into fiction, writing nonfiction, or creating a melding of the two. The most interesting tales come from a grain of truth. Aragon broadens the horizon of his prose in Haunted Santa Fe to engage the reader and perhaps elicit a shiver or two.

A native Las Vegan, he brings authenticity to his work by drawing on his roots and remembered stories told to him by elders in his family over the years. Haunted Santa Fe is one of fifteen books he has authored. He has written for or been featured in more than one hundred publications.

As a traveling storyteller, Aragón has thrilled audiences with his frightening and enthralling tales of ghosts and the supernatural. Holding advanced degrees in Spanish colonial history, arts, legends and myths of New Mexico, he has presented on these topics for the New Mexico History Museum, the Museum of International Folk Art, the National Hispanic Cultural Center, the University of New Mexico, the College of Santa Fe and many more. His books are available at online retailers or in bookstores.

Book Review

Posted in Book Reviews, Books

The Undiscovered CountryThe Undiscovered Country
by Mike Nemeth

Take a man who has just gotten out of prison, serving time for a crime he did not commit, and present him with life and death decisions for his ailing mother who arguably has not been getting the best of care. Throw in his estranged brother and sister who have disturbing secrets, and a hospital more interested in protecting its reputation than providing care. What do you have? Randle Marks  determined to preserve his mother’s dignity and save her life – perhaps at the expense of her wellbeing – and determined to find out why his deceased father hated him.

Randle Marks is a man with a lot of baggage.

It doesn’t help that Elaine Marks has kept a lot from him, yet insists she has taken care of everything. Randle doesn’t trust what she says. After all, she’s been having conversations with Jesus, who has let her know He is coming for her. She even knows the day.

At times, Marks comes across as somewhat self-serving in the decisions he makes. Through everything he remains focused on abiding by his mother’s wishes after she passes.

The tension builds as he investigates the hospital, questions the care his mother gets when she is transferred to a rehabilitation center, and discovers all the ways she has been taken advantage of by his siblings and the health care system. And then there are all the things she keeps to herself.

I like the way Nemeth shows Randle navigating the unfamiliar territory of broken family relationships and the undiscovered country of health care in the modern age. He has a lot more going on than his mother’s situation, but I’ll leave that for the reader to discover.

Nemeth is a retired businessman living in suburban Atlanta with his wife, Angie and their rescue dog, Sophie. He said in his Amazon profile, “I’m a football fan and a golfer. Now my job is to write domestic thrillers that are candy-coated medicine for our social ills.” He is the author of Defiled, which introduces readers to Randle Marks, a rebellious scientist who runs afoul of blind Lady Justice.

My rating: Thumbs up

Please Follow, Like, Comment and Share this post. Your feedback is important. Thanks for reading One Roof Publishing, sharon@oneroofpublish.com.

School for Psychics

Posted in Book Reviews

School for PsychicsI enjoyed School for Psychics, by K.C. Archer. It moves right along and has an intriguing premise.

Having said that, despite references to the ages of the characters as being twenty-somethings, it reads more like the adventures of middle grade teens. Yes, one character is a former policeman. Yes, Teddy Cannon, the main character, has a gambling addiction and been banned from Las Vegas casinos. Nevertheless, I couldn’t get past the idea these adults behaved more like teenagers.

And then I got it. What made them unique, also set them apart. These men and women never quite fit in. Acting out or pulling in were coping mechanisms as they grew up, which perhaps inhibited bonding with others or stifled social development.

The School for Psychics is a chance to fit in, to be among peers, to learn how to trust. Easier said than done. Most of the first-year candidates for the school have been in denial or clueless about their gifts. Some consider their talents a curse. How will each student navigate learning to use skills previously ignored or hidden? Can they let go of fear and suspicion and learn to trust instructors and other students?

Successful students who graduate, will become agents in a special department of the government. But there is a problem. Someone else is out there, a group with a different agenda, and they want to recruit the School for Psychics’ best students.

This is the first book in a series that promises lots of action, perhaps a little romance, and an exploration of what it means to be caught between a rock and hard place. Teddy’s going to find out.

My rating: Thumbs up

About the Book:
Series: School for Psychics (Book 1)
Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster (April 3, 2018)
Language: English

Please Follow, Like, Comment and Share this post. Your feedback is important. Thanks for reading One Roof Publishing. Contact Sharon by e-mail at sharon@oneroofpublish.com.

 

 

 

 

Book Review: The Ballad of Huck and Miguel

Posted in Book Reviews, Books

The Ballard of Huck and Miguel

Huck – yes that Huck – or a reasonable facsimile thereof, is back in all his boyish glory in this modern-day tale about a gutsy survivor. If you’ve read Mark Twain’s classic, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, you know Huck has experienced physical and emotional abuse at the hands of his father, a violent drunk who Huck wants to believe has some good in him somewhere.

In this tale, Huck endures a journey across the country from Missouri to California, with Pap (Huck’s father), in search of fortune and the easy life; Huck in hopes of escape from relentless beatings when Pap is drunk, which seems to be most of the time.

In his attempts to evade Pap once they reach California, Huck encounters several people who in time prove to be better friends than he could have imagined. One of them is Miguel, a Mexican immigrant whose goals in life are to remain in the United Stated and reunite with his wife and daughter. When Pap’s evil plan to get Huck back results in two innocent women being attacked, Miguel fears he will be blamed and sent back to Mexico, leaving his wife and child behind.

Thus begins an adventure down a different kind of big river, the concrete sided river that runs through Los Angeles. At no time is Huck safe from Pap’s determination to visit bodily harm on him, maybe even death. Miguel and Huck encounter many interesting characters along the way.

The pace is fast, the characters engaging and the illustrations by Daniel Gonzales captivating. The book has received high acclaim for capturing the tone of a well-told tale from another era. It is a deceptively simple premise that explores what immigrants face in uncertain times and offers backwoods wisdom about complex social issues.

Huck and Miguel have quite an adventure and remind us what friendship is all about. I give it a hearty thumb’s up.

Title: The Ballad of Huck and Miguel
Author: Tim DeRoche
Illustrator: Daniel Gonzales
Publisher: Redtail Press
Price: Hardcover, $23.65

 

Review: Seven Wings to Glory

Posted in Book Reviews, Books3 Comments

Seven Wings to GloryIn Seven Wings to Glory, author Kathleen M. Rodgers tells a layered story of life as we know it. It’s rarely simple and often riddled with secrets and surprises. Rodgers’ latest book explores loss, racism, forgiveness, and hope.

Protagonist Johnnie Kitchen uses her dream job as a newspaper columnist to bring to light long buried racially charged secrets, including the lynching of an innocent black man. She tells hauntingly and beautifully about the spirit of forgiveness as seen through the lingering presence of victims who died tragically in a long-ago fire that an all-white fire department refused to respond to.

When prejudice again rears its ugly head in Johnnie’s small home town of Portion, Texas, she is appalled and infuriated. Despite worries about her soldier son in Afghanistan, she sets out to right the wrongs of a brutally insensitive teen with an attitude. What she finds is the troubling reality of his life as a neglected and emotionally troubled victim of family dysfunction. With compassion and determination, Johnnie teams up with others to help reshape the life of someone who grew up in a hateful and mean environment.

In Seven Wings to Glory Johnnie frets about her absent son and the dangers he faces; learns surprising news about her life, withheld by people trying to do what they considered at time to be “the right thing;” and endures pain upon the tragic death of a beloved four-legged family member.

Surrounded by people whose love is sure, if sometimes imperfect, Johnnie navigates life with determination and steadfast hope.

Praise for Seven Wings to Glory:

Seven Wings to Glory “masterfully weaves the story of the Kitchen family, capturing a vivid snapshot of the American South.” – Eastern New Mexico News

A nuanced portrayal of military connectedness… Rodgers writes convincingly of relationships, foibles and struggles. Johnnie’s worry over her son is particularly tangible, informed by Rodgers’ experiences as the mother of a deployed soldier. – Stars and Stripes

Rodgers’ first Johnnie Kitchen book, Johnnie Come Lately, received First Place in Women’s Fiction for 2016 Texas Association of Authors Best Book Award Contest, a gold medal in the Military Writers Society of America 2015 Book Awards, and a bronze medal in the Readers’ Favorite 2015 Book Awards–Women’s Fiction Category.

The author lives in a suburb in North Texas with her husband, a retired fighter pilot/commercial airline pilot. Her youngest son is a former Army officer who deployed to Afghanistan in 2014. Her first novel, The Final Salute, takes place on an air force base.

Seven Wings to Glory, $15.95, is a work of women’s contemporary fiction available online and in bookstores. For more information about the author go to www.kathleenmrodgers.com .

 

Book Review: Song of the Lion

Posted in Book Reviews, Books2 Comments

Song of the LionIn author Anne Hillerman’s latest book, Song of the Lion, Bernadette Manuelito emerges as a savvy heroine who does her job with intelligence and wit while stoically ignoring the irritation of not being respected by a fellow officer. It is not luck or pride that motivates Manuelito, it’s doing the right thing at the right time for the right reason, including trusting her instincts in a life-threatening moment of peril.

Manuelito and her husband Jim Chee, work for the Navajo Tribal Police where facts and evidence add up to answers. That doesn’t discourage Manuelito from using her intuition and connection with old ways, or Chee from showing respect for honored traditions.

Put that cultural identity and awareness into play when the two unofficially work a case, and the result is a compelling story. A car bombing outside a school gymnasium that kills an unidentified young man sets the story in motion. Add in the complication of developers wanting to make dramatic changes on tribal lands and the groups for and against the proposal. Mix in a little sabotage designed to sideline the negotiations. Season with a surprising connection between the case and Manuelito’s friend and mentor, Joe Leaphorn. What you have are all the ingredients for a fast-paced story featuring familiar characters doing what they do best. Manuelito proves to be a dedicated law enforcement officer with an unbeatable spirit.

I recommend Song of the Lion to anyone who likes a good tale woven throughout with interesting, well-drawn characters.

Praise for Song the Lion from Booklist: “Hillerman seamlessly blends tribal lore and custom into a well-directed plot, continuing in the spirit of her late father, Tony, by keeping his characters in the mix, but still establishing Manuelito as the main player in what has become a fine legacy series.”

Hillerman is an award-winning reporter, the author of several non-fiction books, and the daughter of New York Times bestselling author Tony Hillerman. She lives in Santa Fe, N.M.

Title: Song of the Lion
Type: Novel
Author: Anne Hillerman
Publisher: Harper Hardcover
Publication date: April 11, 2017
Price: $27.99

Review: Blood on the Tracks

Posted in Book Reviews, Books

Blood on the TracksStop. Think for just a minute – if you can – about the worst that can happen to you. Do you believe it is some dread disease, getting hit by a semi walking across the street or finding out you’ve been betrayed? Now project that horrific thought onto someone you trust, someone you would lay down your life for, someone who has laid down their life for you… someone whose body you’re going to have to pick up piece by tiny piece to the point the only way to identify that someone is through DNA, because there’s not enough left to ID any other way.

Those are the memories Railroad Police Special Agent Sidney Rose Parnell lives with day in and day out. As an Iraq war vet whose job was working in Mortuary Affairs, Parnell returns to civilian life seeing ghosts, suffering from somewhat controlled PTSD, and generally attempting normalcy in a chaotic world.

Her problems didn’t begin in Iraq, but Iraq didn’t make them any better. Now she is faced with a mystery associated with the Burned Man, a badly wounded and scarred vet whose fiancé has been brutally murdered. Parnell, and her war-zone trained K9 partner, Clyde, are brought into the investigation by the Denver Major Crimes unit because of her particular expertise with rail riders, hobos who crisscross the country stowing away on trains. The Burned Man, the prime suspect in the murder, is a known rider and Parnell has a sense of who he is as a damaged veteran, and what he will do next.

Her investigation, complicated by an icy Colorado winter, takes her into the dark world of a savage gang of rail riders, who she believes are responsible for the death of the Burned Man’s fiancé. But there is so much more at play: a secret from her time in the military, family loyalty, and her own tarnished childhood.

This is a complex story crafted with deliberation. Sydney Rose is a heroine who doesn’t want to be thought of as such. She is admirable, tough, and takes ownership of her flawed life. She lives by her own code and with as much integrity as she can muster against odds that sometimes seem stacked against her.

Hard to believe Blood on the Tracks is Barbara Nickless’ first novel. It is indeed a page-turner that keeps you reading. The characters are people you care about, or who you can’t wait to see dealt justice, even if it’s the vigilante kind.

And this is just the beginning…

From the Publisher
Barbara Nickless is an award-winning author whose short stories and essays have appeared in anthologies in the United States and the United Kingdom. An active member of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime, she has given workshops and speeches at numerous writing conferences and book events. She lives with her family in Colorado. Blood on the Tracks, which won the Daphne du Maurier Award and was a runner-up for the Claymore Award, is her first novel.

Available Editions

EDITION Paperback
ISBN 9781503936867
PRICE $14.95 (USD)

“Blood on the Tracks” on Amazon.com