Corporate consultant Newman (Do It! Speaking) delivers an energetic resource for business-to-business salespeople looking to move ahead. To scout potential clients, Newman recommends perusing lists of the top local or national companies related to one’s target demographic (e.g., those who work with women executives might consult Fortune magazine’s “Best Workplaces for Women”) and reaching out to individuals in upper management. The “five tips for first contact calls” include inviting a prospect to open up by asking them “what have you done to get to where you are today” and demonstrating the value of one’s services by either challenging the prospect’s thinking or sharing stories of how one has helped previous clients. Elsewhere, Newman encourages readers to gain clarity on a prospect’s objectives by asking such questions as “what specifically are you hoping to gain from our work together,” and to win over wavering prospects by following up with insights or ideas tailored to their business needs. Though Newman doesn’t include much in the way of research studies, success stories, or other supporting evidence, the many enumerated lists (“17 great answers to ‘how much do you charge?’ ”; “7 things sales pros must do daily”) provide a lean, easily digestible overview of how to seal the deal. This gets the job done. Photos. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 01/03/2025 | Details & Permalink

In this solid cozy from Vallere (Gilt Trip), former fashion buyer Samantha Kidd probes a murder at a New Jersey dude ranch. Samantha and her husband, Nick, have traveled from Philadelphia to join her father-in-law, Nick Sr., at the Down Home Ranch for a weeklong stay. Nick Sr. is toying with the idea of purchasing the property from its current owner, Joey Baldwin. Samantha hopes to take it easy, but her plan goes awry when she discovers Baldwin’s bludgeoned corpse in an empty horse stable. The situation triggers Samantha’s investigative instincts, and, despite the local sheriff’s warning to stay out of the case, she starts investigating staff members, Baldwin’s widow, and other suspects. Vallere approaches the material—and Samantha’s narration—with a light touch; the gumshoe makes her grim discovery because she learned from “six seasons of Yellowstone” that horses shouldn’t be wandering a farm alone at night. When the solution comes, it’s clever and satisfying. Readers in the mood for a low-stakes whodunit will be charmed. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 01/06/2025 | Details & Permalink

Minson (Sun City) delivers a heartfelt and hilarious story of greed, environmental protection, and small-town life in West Texas. Dave Crockett, acquisitions agent for Enroxx Energy, is no fan of the outdoors and the suffocating Texas heat, so he’s dismayed when he’s dispatched to the state by his eccentric boss, Dick Dunlap. Dick, a nudist who’s often naked at the Houston office, erroneously believes Dave is descended from the famous frontiersman of the same last name and insists on calling him Davy. Dave’s mission: purchase the sleepy desert town of Crockettville, Tex., which has the most consistent wind currents in America, and where Enroxx plans to install wind turbines. Dave eventually learns to appreciate the landscape’s charms—including a crystal-clear swimming hole and wondrous night sky free from light pollution—and bonds with café owner Bettie, maker of an addictive fried apricot pie, along with beautiful biodiversity researcher Angie and stoic Native American Geronimo, a direct descendant of the Apache warrior, who watches over the town with his donkey, BidenTrump. After an Enroxx engineer reveals the company’s true motives for the site, which would devastate the town, Crockett tries to intervene. Infused with deadpan humor and stocked with appealing characters, Minson’s witty tale builds to a stirring environmental rallying cry. This is sure to put a smile on readers’ faces. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 01/06/2025 | Details & Permalink

Umber (Sound of Snow Falling) presents nine unsettling graphic shorts that delve into darkness, grief, and the author’s fascination with James Harris, a demonic figure from a 17th-century ballad. The collection eschews a standard comics-style narrative in favor of evoking an eerie and contemplative vibe, through ephemeral black and gray story fragments and portraits. In “Rine,” a faceless man and woman marry in an abandoned Victorian mansion before the man fades into shadow, leaving the woman alone. A woman on a ship falls in love with a cloven-footed man in “The Devil Is a Hell of a Dancer,” only to drown in the sea on which they sail. A ghost rows a lonely, lost woman in a small boat in “The Rock.” Harris haunts the collection, showing up as a suit-clad suitor, a dapper lover, and the devil himself. Umber’s gestural sketches with gothic tones add to the spectral atmosphere. Fans of Frank Gogel’s Grief anthology will find a comfortable discomfort here. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 12/13/2024 | Details & Permalink

Behan (A Measured Thread) delivers an immersive story of a woman’s search for answers about her birth. In rural Wisconsin, Isobel Babić receives an unexpected inheritance of $50,000 from the woman for whom she was a full-time caregiver. Isobel, who was raised in Canada, delays her plan to start veterinary school and flies to New Zealand to visit her adoptive parents, Novak and Christina, who live there now, and get answers about the circumstances of her adoption. Novak, who was born in Yugoslavia, discloses that Isobel is the daughter of his brother, Toma, who arranged for a woman to bring Isobel to Canada from Sarajevo after his wife, Amela, was killed during the Bosnian war. Though Novak’s acquaintances in Bosnia told him that Toma died in the war, Isobel flies to Sarajevo to meet with Gordana, the woman who brought her to Canada, and discovers some startling information about her birth parents. Behan expertly traces the complex web of relationships surrounding an adoption and Isobel’s conflicted emotions upon uncovering her family’s secrets. This will move readers. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 11/22/2024 | Details & Permalink

In this humorous and tender memoir, Honour (There’s Some Place Like Home) recounts her life as a reluctant expat in Europe. New York City and “my personality were so co-dependent that I had no idea where it ended and I began,” Honour writes, recalling her shock at her husband’s proposal that they move with their two kids from Brooklyn to Cyprus for his work in 2008. At the time, Honour had lived in New York for 20 years, and she feared what she’d find if she had to reexamine her sense of self. But the offer was a “career unicorn” for her husband, so she agreed to pack up. Honour writes with quick wit and bruised candor about her rocky first few months in Cyprus, during which she moped and struggled to adapt to the relaxed pace of life. Then, with equal panache, Honour illustrates how, as her husband’s work whisked them to Copenhagen and then Berlin, she learned to extricate her self-worth from being a “New Yorker” or an “expat,” and came to appreciate the resilience that the family’s new lifestyle fostered in her and her children. This will resonate with anyone who’s had to redefine themselves under unexpected circumstances. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 12/06/2024 | Details & Permalink

Aukes (the Redline Corps series) successfully tweaks the Jurassic Park formula in this intricate sci-fi thriller about a plot to revive extinct species. Sam Brodie, a federal wildlife officer, is called to Yellowstone National Park to investigate reports of an unusually large cat roaming the area. Brodie and a colleague find and kill the animal; afterward, Brodie notices that its massive teeth resemble those of the extinct saber-toothed tiger. She reports her findings to her superiors, and the case gets shunted to the Wilderness and Animal Special Protection team, or WASP, a task force that “works the weird stuff” in America’s wilderness. As more evidence of living prehistoric carnivores surfaces across the region, Brodie gets reassigned to WASP to help unravel the mystery. Flashbacks reveal that the creatures are part of a business initiative by billionaire Marc Angel, who hopes to charge people for the opportunity to hunt the beasts or watch them battle each other. Soon Angel and his corporation are clashing with Brodie and her colleagues, with deadly results. Aukes takes the time to fully develop his characters while still providing enough action to keep the pages flying. A sequel would be welcome. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 12/06/2024 | Details & Permalink

Lyndsey (Girl in the Dark) captures the horror of having one’s chronic illness dismissed by others in her scattershot latest. After Tom Jenkins, a British PhD student in physics, starts experiencing headaches and nausea, he takes part in the psychology department’s study of self-described “reactors,” people who believe they have electromagnetic hypersensitivity. Tom comes to believe that he’s a reactor, too, when he notices the symptoms lift as he spends time away from campus, which has just installed a high-powered Wi-Fi system. After many reactors drop out of the study, Tom and his psychologist friend Kevin band together to report on its problems. When their concerns are brushed under the rug and Tom’s girlfriend dumps him, claiming he’s imagining his condition, he retreats to the countryside and joins a camp of fellow reactors. As he recuperates, he hatches plans for an experiment that will prove what they’re enduring is real. Rigorous discussions between Tom and the others about the scientific method throttle narrative momentum as the plot veers from Tom’s inner turmoil to hints of a far-reaching conspiracy. Still, Lyndsey paints a realistic picture of what it means to cope with a condition that is not recognized as a medical diagnosis, but which still has the power to shape one’s life. It’s a provocative tale. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 12/06/2024 | Details & Permalink

Bishara, a doctor of integrative medicine, debuts with a competent guide on the benefits of eating well. Explaining that the gut contains trillions of microbes, she contends that eating a varied diet of high-fiber, plant-based foods contributes to the flourishing of beneficial bacteria, which promote digestion and eliminate toxins, whereas eating unhealthy processed foods fuels harmful bacteria that can make individuals more likely to develop Crohn’s disease and irritable bowel syndrome. Gut bacteria also affect mood by producing neurotransmitters that cycle into the brain, Bishara writes, asserting that eating eggs, grains, and walnuts fosters production of the calming GABA neurotransmitter, while consuming apples, dark chocolate, and leafy vegetables boosts levels of the “excitatory” chemical compound dopamine. Elsewhere, Bishara extols the benefits of intermittent fasting, suggesting readers fast for 16 hours per day because going without food for that long prompts the body to burn fat for energy. There’s not much here that can’t be found in similar diet guides, but Bishara’s no-frills approach and encouraging tone (“Don’t jump off the bandwagon just because you have 1 or 2 bad days”) are a boon. This is worth checking out. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 11/29/2024 | Details & Permalink

Children’s author Castoro (How to Keep Monsters out of Your Room, as Catie Cat) makes her adult debut with a winning portrait of a struggling Detroit single mother trying to make a better life for her daughter. Edwina “Eddie” Hest is evicted from the apartment she shares with her nine-year-old daughter, Grace, after the landlord sells the building, prompting Eddie to borrow money from her mother for a down payment on a small suburban house. She thinks their newfound stability will help her be a better mother to Grace, whose father is incarcerated. Structured as a series of transcripts from Eddie’s therapy sessions, the voice-driven narrative depicts how Eddie, a self-described “rebel” with tattoos and dyed purple hair, gradually loses the chip on her shoulder (“I don’t intend to hang out with suburbia,” she says early on) as she spends more time than she’d like with soccer mom Sheila, whose daughter is friends with Grace. The story takes a strange turn when Sheila blackmails Eddie, threatening to expose the fact that Grace’s father is in prison. Castoro skillfully raises the stakes all the way to the deliciously karmic ending. It’s a satisfying tale of redemption. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 11/29/2024 | Details & Permalink