REVIEWStella (Shadow Mountain, September 2022) is the story of a security service dog with trauma issues. Due to an error while sniffing out bombs at an airport, Stella’s handler was tragically killed in an explosion. Stella survived but is now afraid of everything. A kindly trainer takes her home and entrusts her to the care of her… Continue reading STELLA: A Middle Grade Book Review by Guest Blogger, Josie Murdock + A Giveaway
One of the good things about writing historical fiction set in the not-so-distant past is that you can interview people who lived through the conflicts you are writing about. One of the hard things about writing "recent" historical fiction is that the people you interview--your experts--are elderly and die. Ten years ago I posted my first blog… Continue reading Thereasea Elder Wore Many Hats
Congratulations to Danielle Hammelef who won The Voice that Won the Vote from last week's blog.Memoirs of a Tortoise (Sleeping Bear Press, 2020) is a clever and heart-warming book written by Devin Scillian and beautifully illustrated by Tim Bowers. Young readers will follow a year in the life of Oliver, an 80-year-old tortoise, whose "pet" is his… Continue reading Memoirs of a Tortoise: Picture Book Review and Giveaway
Donna Everhart warned me that her newest book, The Forgiving Kind (Kensington, 2019) had some tough parts. She was right. Like her previous book, The Road to Bittersweet, The Forgiving Kind also features a young woman coming of age in rural North Carolina. The time is the 1950's and the place is 300 acres of Jones County--cotton territory. Although both… Continue reading The Forgiving Kind: A Review and Audio Book Giveaway