Another Solid Sarah Morgan Christmas Tale. The sun rises in the East. The grass is green. Some politician in your country is being an idiot. Some celebrity said something stupid. Baby animals doing cute things in short videos. The clock showing the same numbers twice every day. The tide comes in and goes away. Ohio State Football being severely overrated. Some things you can just count on, day after day, year after year. They just seem like they're always going to be there, longer than the pyramids of Egypt.

Sarah Morgan writing a 300 ish page Christmas novel that feels like a warm blanket at a cozy fireside with the beverage of your choice on the table beside you and your cat (or dog, if you prefer) curled up at your feet is one of those things, and here, she doesn't disappoint at all.

As usual, there is at least a touch of drama. A touch of romance. But at its heart is a family coming together for Christmas, and as usual yes, there is at least an element of a road trip involved for some of them.

Indeed, about the only thing to turn anyone off from this book or any of Morgan's other Christmas romances is that she isn't exactly a warm glass of milk level spice author. More of a jalapeno or so, maybe up to a habanero at certain key moments, but never more than once or twice or so per book. And even then, absent those scenes... yeah, about as spicy as a good eggnog. One where it is blended so well that you get all the flavors of the bourbon and rum and cognac without any burn whatsoever.

Seriously, if you're looking for a Christmas romance author that you can just buy every year and not have to worry about quality or consistency and just know you're going to get an enjoyable tale long enough to really sink into and spend a few hours with... Sarah Morgan absolutely belongs at the top of that list, and this book, her 2025 entrant here, is no different.

Very much recommended.

All Too Real. I've been reading Bleeker's books since her debut, WRECKAGE, many years ago now. I even finally got a chance to meet her IRL at Walt Disney World last year when we both randomly happened to be there. (For what its worth, I'm there frequently, living just 2.5 hrs away. In fact, the reason I'm writing this review less than 24 hrs before this book comes out rather than last week is because I was at Disney yet again late last week.) All of Bleeker's books have been great, and this one is no exception. Several have hit close to home, either because of her Southern roots showing through or just because we're similar in age and thus have seen a lot of the same events from similar generational views or for some other random reason.

This one is no different there. Something that despite knowing each other for several years now and despite how public I am about my admiration of one of my grandfathers in particular, I'm not as public about is that I actually lost three of the four grandparents I knew in my life - my natural maternal grandmother and grandfather and my maternal step grandfather - to dementia long before we lost their actual bodies. Yes, that includes the WWII hero grandfather that I knew as a simple Southern farmer the last 20 years of his life. The one that I could not bear to see in the nursing home losing his mind, so chose to stay away and preserve those memories of that strong southern farmer I had known before that point.

So yeah, this book, partially about a daughter's experience with her mother who is now suffering dementia hit as all too real, particularly when it came to one particular interaction deeper in the text that is a spoiler to reveal.

Bleeker hits all the perfect notes here, particularly for someone in a more... challenging... relationship with her parents before the dementia strikes. All the anger, the fear, the desperation, the longing, the heartbreak... it is all there and captured so well, and yet done in an overall women's fiction tale that never gets too dark or heavy, instead turning to different issues in other relationships both new and old to more fully flesh out the overall story.

The addition of the historical fiction timeline also works quite well here, as we get to see the grandmother and grandfather in their prime, including several of their own life changing experiences before kids came into the picture.

As someone who has long sought the memories of his grandparents lost long ago to first dementia and then death, the historical timeline - and its intersection with the present day timeline, which was executed to near breathtaking (and very dusty room) perfection - was truly remarkable.

This is one that I could very easily see recommending to my mom and "second mom" - one of my mom's oldest sisters - as they could most likely identify with this particular tale even more strongly than I did, having done so much of the caregiving for their parents in those years, including frequent nursing home visits. As this is an unfortunately far too common occurrence in the US these days... Bleeker could well have the biggest hit of her career to date on her hands, if that particular community starts spreading this book.

With apologies for making this review have so much of me in it. But, two things here: 1) Every review should always be about the reader's experience with the book, and thus I needed to explain my history to explain my experience with this text and 2) my own history here really is far too common these days, at least at the very high "grandson of someone who developed dementia" level, and thus I really do think that explaining that these types of readers in particular will find much here actually does help further a review's primary purpose: to help authors sell books. So even though so much of me is interwoven here, I think it actually both works and, for me, is necessary here. But maybe I'm blinded by narcissism or some such here and am an absolute idiot. You should read this book for yourself and absolutely feel free to call me out when you write your own review if you think that is the case. Let us know your experience with this book, even if it differs dramatically from my own. Between all of us, we can begin to get a more clear picture of exactly what this book is and is not, and that is always a beautiful thing to behold.

Very much recommended.

In The Running For Best Book Of 2025. I've read some strong books this year, even a couple this month alone. This is easily right up there in contention for the best of the best. But it could very well be a "me" thing, to a degree.

You see, while this book is all about the roughly 450 mile Camino de Santiago in Spain (and specifically its traditional "French Way"), it also has the vibes of the stories of a far longer trail I am much more familiar with and somewhat connected to - the nearly 2200 mile long Appalachian Trail that begins in the mountains I grew up in the foothills of in northern Georgia outside Atlanta and ends in the wilds of Maine. Many years ago (enough to constitute a few decades ago), I too intended to strike out on my own to conquer that particular trail, as it represented the ultimate challenge to me at the time. Life happened and instead of spending the latter half of my 18th year hiking, I was already deep into my collegiate career and indeed that very summer taking steps that would allow me to come into my own and find myself within the college ecosystem as much as the Trail would have allowed me to do the same within its ecosystem. All these years later, I still hear the call of the Appalachian Trail at times... but I'm now a middle aged fat ass that would take a significant training investment to even last the approach to the trail at Springer Mountain in Georgia. These days, I couldn't even make it up trails I did hike all those years ago at the beginning of that approach.

But back to Redfearn's book, now that you know that bit of history about me.

With part of this book being set in 1997 and featuring a then-17 year old character setting out on this adventure as an escape from a rural setting for... reasons... and with the history above happening in my own life circa 1997 at its peak (when I was just 14 years old), you can very easily see how easily I found myself identifying with one of our two female lead characters. I'd never heard of the Camino de Santiago until I saw Redfearn mentioning it on social media (presumably around the time she began actively working on this book) along with another author (Boo Walker, iirc, who spent time living in Spain) also mentioning this trail at some point. But the way Redfearn describes it here, in both the practical and the near mystical, is truly eerily similar to the tales of the Appalachian Trail.

Redfearn does indeed note that she did actually walk this trail, and that experience shines through vividly in this tale. (Including one particular character being based on a person she actually encountered on the trail... but read the book and its Author's note to find out what happened there. ;) ) She really does a truly phenomenal job of highlighting both the hard realities of a trek of hundreds of miles, both logistically and on the human body, while at the same time showing just how transformative such an endeavor is on the human psyche and just how much it truly changes lives.

Read this book. Absorb this book. Feel the magic of Redfearn's words and how transformative this undertaking clearly was for her as she creates this fictional version of the Camino that even as fiction is yet also all too real.

Then write your own review of it. Let the rest of us know how you felt about it. (Though yes, I will absolutely condemn you to a day of minor irritation if you 1 or 2 star this book over some bullshit personal hangup like "it mentioned AI!!!", but still, I absolutely want to see your own reaction to this book even if it is that level of bullshit... mostly so I can see how many others saw the same magic here I did. :) )

After you've written your review... maybe consider going for even a mile hike in a local park. Get out in nature and the sun. I know I've been inspired here to make it a point to begin moving more and get away from my desk more, and hey, audiobooks exist in part for exactly that. ;)

Very much recommended.

Solid Slow Burn Romance. This is one of those romances where both people come into it with some pretty hefty emotional baggage - that each is very cognizant of their own and knows they need to work on, thus providing most of the actual drama here. Those looking for external drama/ suspense will only find the barest touch, deep in the text, and thus this may not be the book for you if that is something you must have.

For those looking for a more laid back "I've gone through hell and need to heal myself, but this person is extremely interesting" type romance, this is much closer to that kind of feel, and I think you'll like it quite a bit. It is the third book in a series and possibly the finale of a trilogy, but it also works decently well as a standalone, so long as you don't mind previous characters showing up and thus knowing that prior couples from other romance novels actually (shockingly! -note the dripping sarcasm there) wound up together.

The presence of a minor yet recurring (and somewhat essential, at least in the endgame) non-binary character is one of those things that some will actively buy the book specifically because it has this kind of character, and others will actively avoid this book for exactly the same reasons. You do you, no judgement at all here - unless you one star the book because of this character. That, I absolutely condemn you to some minor irritation for a day over. After all, I've now warned you about this, and you chose to read the book anyway.

Regardless of what you thought though, please do leave a review wherever you see this one after reading the book yourself. I'd love to hear what you think.

Oh, and a note about the "spice level": Apparently Sullivan is known for closed-door romances, and this is exactly that. Things get a touch more interesting than basic kissing, so I think I'd rate this somewhere around a poblano pepper or so. It may cause some heart palpitations for some and yet be quite bland indeed for others, but for most it will work well enough to provide a solid flavor without being overwhelming.

Very much recommended.

Perfect Blend Of Travel And Psychological Thriller. Quite simply, this book is amazing. It stumbles out of the gate perhaps a step or two first establishing Ava - and this could well have been a me problem here - but once we get to Greece (where the vast majority of the book takes place), it really opens up and becomes exactly what I said in the title here: a perfect blend of travel and psychological thriller.

The Greek island setting is used superbly and makes you wish you could be there... and the vivid descriptions make you think you are. (Which is awesome as fall turns to winter and we all long for our next summery vacation. :D) This is one of those books where the setting really does come into its own and really helps accentuate the story, and that is always awesome to see.

And the story itself... wow. There's a lot going on here, and yet Dunnett manages to make this tale as much about self discovery as in solving the mystery of what the hell is going on on this island... and that is exactly what makes the book work as well as it does. The mystery/ suspense elements here are great on their own, but it really is the self discovery aspects that really make them pop, and when combined with the strong setting really set this book apart.

This book is perfect for readers new to Dunnett... and at least a worthy disctraction for his fans who are almost foaming at the mouth with excitement waiting for his next Detective Susan Sands thriller due to how the previous book - the last book Dunnett released before this one - left off. And yes, you should absolutely join us in reading that series too so that you can be as vocal as we are in demanding the next book there. Because I'm living proof that peer pressure on authors eventually gets you what you want... but that's a whole other story. ;)

Very much recommended.

A Mullet Of Christmas Romance Not Even Until The Middle, Then Hockey Romance In The Back. In total, this book absolutely works. Now, it won't be for the "clean" / "sweet" crowd - if the fucking cussing in Chapter 2 doesn't throw you out, the habanero spice not much later will. But for those who don't mind a dude that cusses like a ... well, an athlete... and who want the spice... hey, this may be exactly what you're after as a whole book.

Now, there are reasons I titled this book a "mullet" and I mention that it works "as a whole book". And those reasons all center around the fact that it feels almost like a merger between a 140 ish page Christmas novella and a 180 ish page Hockey short novel, with enough of a merger that it works... but also because of what it actually is, isn't going to be fully want many (either direction, Christmas or Hockey) really want.

Now, some people can absolutely rock mullets and absolutely make them work. Here, I think Sullivan actually does a reasonable job of exactly that. maybe not quite a David Bowie mullet, but certainly a Billy Ray Cyrus Achy Breaky Heart mullet. (Which, to be clear, as a not-quite-10yo Son of the South in that era, all of my friends wanted to sport that particular mullet there for a minute.)

Basically, as long as you come into this book expecting a spicy romance more generally, I think you're going to enjoy this book. If you come in expecting it to be 100% either one of its main components... you're likely not going to enjoy it as much. I do think you'll enjoy whichever component you're here for, and based on the cover I expect that will be the Christmas "novella" that doesn't quite hit the 50% mark of this text. But if Hockey romance isn't your thing... that just-over-half won't be as compelling to you.

All I ask here is that if this review makes you want to read this book, go in knowing what I've told you... and don't 1 star or 2 star this tale because it has cussing or because it is a bit spicy or because it isn't fully one trope or another. Judge it, as I have, on its totality, and still discuss in your review what issues you may have had with it. PLEASE discuss the cussing and the spice, if you enjoyed it or if you had a problem with it. Not everyone will see this review. But don't 1 or 2 star the book just because of those things.

Overall, a solid enough mullet of a romance story, and I for one will be continuing to read Ms. Sullivan's books to see where she goes next.

Recommended.

Beautiful Anti-Jaws. In a sense, this book is the anti-Jaws intended to take everything ugly about Jaws (including its New England setting, sorry Yankees) and make it more vivid and beautiful, with a far stronger emotional component to boot.

Now, admittedly I haven't read the Peter Benchley original book (yet), but this year is the 50th anniversary of the movie that effectively created the Summer Blockbuster out of thin air, and yes, I've seen the movie more than a few times (and ridden the former ride at Universal Orlando, may it rest in peace). Stupid Harry Potter. (No, Rowling is awesome. I just hate that Universal decided to rip out Jaws to insert a new HP land. Almost as much as I hate that they took away Dueling Dragons in Islands of Adventure to put in Hagrid's rollercoaster.) Wait. Wait. Back to the Ackerman's book.

Seriously though, Ackerman flipped the script from New England (boo! hiss!) to the beautiful Hawaiian waters (yay!), gave us a compelling and complicated shark scientist lead character, truly makes us see the beauty of both Hawaii (as she always does in her books) and sharks, ...

Wait. She makes us see the beauty in sharks? Those apex predators who are nothing but man eating living torpedos that lurk silently and randomly attack humans? Yeah, well, Ackerman actually has solid in-story rebuttals to all of that, and she works it in without being preachy but instead having her characters truly be in awe of the majesty of the sharks and seeking to understand them.

Combining elements of real-world Hawaiian anti-"mainlander" racism and magical realism to great effect both comedically and in key moments in the story, Ackerman brings in elements of Hawaiian culture in this book I'd never seen her bring in before, and looking at her catalog, I've now read 75% of it - the last six of her nine published books. (And I'm fairly sure I have the other three on my Kindle as I type this review.)

Indeed, it is the magical realism elements here that perhaps shine the brightest in the biggest moments of the book and help elevate the book from "just a Jaws clone" to more of a "Moana-esque epic celebration of family and culture".

Or maybe I'm just completely seeing all of this wrong and being an absolute idiot here. Once this book releases less than two weeks into 2026, make sure to read it for yourself and write your own review. Feel free to call me out on anything you feel I got wrong here. As long as you're actually writing a review, I'll gladly take the hit. :)

Very much recommended.

Intriguing 'What If'? Particularly with the author's note at the end, where Ackerman notes that her motivation for this book was to try to resolve the mystery behind Mrs. Stanford's death, this book feels most like a phenomenal book most of y'all have never heard of - The Last At-Bat Of Shoeless Joe by Granville Wyche Burgess. The key difference being that Ackerman admits she created a character to blame the death on, while Burgess actively dug into the scandal and claims to have unearthed new real-world evidence that definitively exonerates Shoeless Joe Jackson of the Black Sox scandal.

This noted, for what this book actually is, it will absolutely put you back into Mrs. Stanford's last days both in California and in Hawaii, where all of Ackerman's books (at least every one I've ever read, including her January 2026 release The Shark House (review will be written shortly after I finish writing this one)) are set. The story is full of Ackerman's usual attention to detail of the specific time period of Hawaiian history that her central mystery actually took place in, and really makes the reader long for the Hawaii of old rather than the hyper-touristy destination it can be at times and in places today. (Which is only going to get worse with Carnival Cruise Line resuming cruises from Los Angeles to the Hawaiian islands in the coming years.)

One of the more interesting things about this tale that I've never seen Ackerman do is the addition of the novelist character and the discussions on writing novels... which always seem like the author inserting meta-commentary about their own views and practices, even when they're actively creating a character they actively oppose with every fiber of their being. (As Dale Brown once somewhat infamously did in Warrior Class with the introduction of President Thomas Nathaniel Thorn over 20 years ago now.)

Between the turn of the 20th century timeline and the 21st century timeline, there really are two compelling stories that do in fact eventually sync up to some degree... and the damn cat nearly steals every scene it is in. Seriously, this cat will make even dog lovers want to at least consider have a cat adopt them.

Overall truly a strong book of its type, one that will absolutely leave you questioning the official narrative of Mrs. Stanford's death - even with the introduction of the fictionalized killer.

Very much recommended.

Solid Christian Romance Beautifully Displays Its National Park And Shows Dangers Of A Particular Modern Technology. This is Barnett's latest "National Park" book, and once again it shows off its particular national park - in this case, Zion National Park, which I've only ever seen in the context of Fallout New Vegas' Honest Hearts DLC (and which we thus might see in Fallout Season 2 on Amazon Prime?).

Yes, the dual timeline nature will throw some readers off, but this one works fairly well, with obvious time jumps even as at least a few characters are in both timelines.

Also, the whole "Christian Romance" thing. Yes, that means there is little more than kissing here, so if you're one of those readers that must have sex scenes in your romance books... this isn't that. But I've seen more and more people recently specifically asking for Christian books of late, and I already recommended this book directly to one long time friend in particular. (Hi, Katie!) (Katie is the elder daughter of my parents' best friends - our parents are actually directly responsible for everyone meeting everyone, in a story I've never fully understood. Something about the guys knowing each other and the girls knowing each other and somehow everyone gets introduced. Over 45 yrs later, both couples are still together.)

This also means that you're going to see a lot of references to God and prayer and such, though to be clear, this is about as truly non-denominational as anything within Christendom gets. So there won't be any saints or discussions of baptism or the exact mechanism of salvation or any of that. Just more generic cultural level Christianity where people openly mention God and openly pray and aren't ashamed of or insulted for doing either.

And yes, the (apparent) beauty of Zion National Park really does shine through here, along with some of its specific dangers playing key roles in the overall story. This is absolutely one of those books that will make you want to go to its real world place just to see for yourself just how well Barnett has captured its beauty in her words.

Finally, there is the danger. Not just in Zion itself, but in a particular modern technology. Revealing the tech would be a spoiler, but suffice it to say I've read (and reviewed, as I review all books I read) at least two other books dealing with the effects of this particular technology, including at least one other novel.

Overall quite a solid book generally and specifically within its genre, this is absolutely one fans of Christian Romance - or even romance or Christian readers who can at least tolerate the other half of the term "Christian Romance" - will enjoy.

Very much recommended.

Second In Series Shows Strong Growth. Yeah, I couldn't find an "s" word to keep the alliteration through the title. Bummer. But that is on me.

For Evans, she breaks ground in a couple of different ways with this book that at least in my reading of her books over the years, I've never once seen her do - thus showing tremendous growth in a single book, which very few authors ever really do.

Here, Evans uses a love angle for the first time. Why a love "angle" rather than "triangle"? Because despite her growth in even having this angle, Evans is still Evans and all of our characters here are straight. As a true love triangle requires either three gay, lesbian, or bisexual people or at bare minimum two people of the same sex and sexuality along with a bisexual person of either sex to complete all three sides of the triangle... an actual love triangle among three straight people cannot exist. Two people interested in the same person or one person interested in two people both result in a love angle, where two line segments meet at a common point - not a love triangle, which requires three line segments connecting three points.

But enough of the math geek stuff, this really was meant more to praise Evans for her courage in even having this be a part of her book at all rather than diving into math pedantry, even if said pedantry is one of my own sore spots within the romance world and its inaccurate terminologies. ;)

The other solid growth point here is in using a character that is explicitly black, and whose blackness is as core a component of their character as Jack None Reacher's sheer physical size is with his character. (Meaning Tom Cruise will never be Reacher. Period. End of that discussion. And moving on from another booklandia sore spot... :D) This is again new to at least my own reading of Evans, and I've been reading her books for several years now but admittedly haven't read everything she's written. Most of the time, most of her characters leave truly racially identifying characteristics out/ don't make them a core component of the characterization, meaning that for the most part, readers can really read most any race they want onto her characters.

Here though, Evans deviates from this history and it works quite well. There is no preachiness from any particular viewpoint and also no racial guilt from any viewpoint, simply an acknowledgement of the humanity and experiences of these characters in ways that feel quite real and fleshed out.

Beyond these factors, you're getting a fairly standard Maddie Evans romance that is in the middle of a series here. Those who prefer even Jalapeno level spice won't find that here, and those who prefer books that at least mention God in a positive light will find that here. As this is a continuation of her crafting/ yarn based series, there is quite a lot of yarn and painting and other crafting discussion here, which allows Evans to geek out with what I know to be some of her real world passions. (As she did with running in the Brighthead Running Club series that this one shares a world - and even a town - with.)

As always and maybe even moreso now, I'm very much looking forward to seeing where Evans takes this series next.

Very much recommended.

The BlueSky Crowd Will Love This Goldmine. "Clashing regional cultures" didn't shatter America. America is strong and survived this for generations. What has shattered America in these past 20 ish years has been the hyper partisanship and doomerism that Nate Silver now calls "BlueSkyism" - which is why that crowd will love this book. Everyone else, don't waste your time.

With that TL;DR already dealt with, let's dive into the details. First, "goldmine", above. My personal worst possible rating for a book. It means you're shifting through a ton of shit to find something redeemable... but at least there is a fleck or two of something approaching redeemable here.

Second, backing up and briefly mentioning my own background, Woodard himself will probably just excuse this particular review knowing that I am a Son of the South who grew up at the border of what he calls "Greater Appalachia" and "Deep South" according to his own maps, directly along the path of that war criminal terrorist bastard William Tecumseh Sherman's Atlanta Campaign - and my home County literally still bears its physical scars to this day, in places readily seen even as their history isn't as readily known anymore.

Now let's truly discuss the book. To get to a one star rating means I had four major issues with the book, in this case and in no particular order:

-dearth of bibliography -shoddy "journalism" -elitism -doomerism

The bibliography here, calculated as the point when the "Acknowledgements" section begins, is just 14% of this text, which falls short of my expectation from reading many nonfiction books over my over seven years as a book blogger of between 20-30% documentation. Further, given the rather extreme nature of this book generally, the Sagan Rule - extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence - applies, meaning even more documentation is actually needed... which this book failed to supply. So there goes one star.

Next, shoddy "journalism". For one, Woodard cites in at least one incidence that Donald Trump claimed the people at the "Unite The Right" rally in Charlottesville, VA were "very fine people". This has been resoundingly debunked... simply by showing the entire transcript of that very speech in question. Furthermore, Woodward speaks quite often of "voter suppression" and (accurately) proclaims that the right's fears of "voter fraud" are excessively rare so as to be near 0 actual incidents... except that the actual evidence of "voter suppression" turns out to be just as scant, despite Woodard openly proclaiming it happening quite often. In areas where his side is losing, of course. Note that even here, Woodward is blatantly and openly lying as he claims that Georgia does not allow people to be given water while waiting in line to vote. And these are only the things I have direct and personal knowledge of myself. So there goes another star.

Next, elitism. Simply put, Colin Woodard thinks he knows everything about every political issue... and even a lot of non-political ones. Colin Woodard needs to learn a bit of humility... and this is coming from someone often accused (at least earlier in life) of exactly what he is accusing Woodard of here. Let me be clear here: The general theory of the twelve nations is revolutionary and seems to have quite a bit of merit. It is why I was interested in this book to begin with. But when Woodard leaves this theory to comment on things such as climatology or virology, among many others, he inevitably winds up simply repeating extreme leftist talking points rather than actual history or science. And yet he makes these claims openly proclaiming them to be absolute fact and openly mocks those who disagree... even when he is blatantly wrong and, as a scholar, should be aware of just how wrong he actually is here. But again, blinded by his elitism. So there went another star.

Finally, doomerism. I mean, the subtitle of this book really does give that part away, I'll grant that. But particularly in light of the two attempted assassinations of now President Trump in 2024 (which happened as Woodward was still writing this book), followed by the assassination of former Minnesota Speaker of the House Melissa Hortman in June 2025 and then the assassination of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk in September 2025 (admittedly barely a week before I write this review), the doomerism in politics must end.

To do my part in helping end this scourge, I will do the one thing I can as a book reviewer, the one tool I actually have: I'll remove one star every time I see this in a nonfiction politically oriented book, beginning here.

There never was a place for such doom and gloom as "my opponents will end all elections!". It was wrong when the right did it, and I called it out back then. It is equally wrong when the left does it, and I call it out now. Elections for both Congress and President were held during the most trying times in US history - the US Civil War from 1861 - 1865 and World War II from 1941 - 1945. If we as a country can hold elections even in those circumstances, we're going to keep holding them in every peacetime circumstance, no matter what Woodard and other doomerists claim.

No, the only outcome of such doomerist proclamations is that more people will die both from suicide - as suicide is almost inevitably from a loss of hope for one reason or another - or from murder, as more and more people begin to believe that the only hope remaining is if their political opponents are dead. THIS. IS. WRONG. It is 100% unacceptable, and we as a society must verbally oppose this ideology with as much force as our words can possibly carry.

America can survive as a federation of twelve nations. We have for 250 years in just a few more months - and yes, we will absolutely make it to the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence next summer. We'll also make it tot he 250th anniversary of our current Constitution first being ratified on June 21, 2038, when we will have at least one and possibly two Presidents post-Donald Trump.

We just have to have hope. We have to believe in the processes we have created, and that we can make the changes within them to continue to make ourselves a "more perfect union".

No matter the doomerism of Woodard and others.

Not recommended. (But you already knew that if you got here. ;) )

Solid Second Stage. The easiest way to describe this series, for those who haven't read the first book, is to imagine the TV show Blue Bloods... but instead the family is Hispanic and lives in Phoenix. If you're even vaguely familiar with that show (and to be clear, I've never watched a single episode of it, just seen several ads and a few clips over the years), that gives you a reasonably solid idea of what to expect in general with this series.

In this installment in particular, we get what appears at first glance to be just an accidental overdose... except, well, it comes to the Angelharts' attention and Margot in particular smells a rat.

Over the course of 400+ pages, Brennan never really lets the story drag at all. There is enough mystery and danger here to carry the tension, and enough familial interaction to give the tale depth, heart, and even a touch of humor at times.

This noted, the 21 Jump Street (both movie and, at least according to my understanding - the show came out when I was still a young kid - the show) parallels are so obvious here in this particular mystery that Brennan actively leans into them, openly having her characters talk about the show at a point or two.

Overall this really is a solid second outing for these characters, and it will be interesting to see what Brennan comes up with for them next.

Very much recommended.

Solid Book Three Is So Different From Others In Series That It Can Serve As An Introduction. This book is very different than most third books in a series in that it is so very different from the first two that if two of the main characters didn't also appear in the prior books, you would almost say these books weren't in the same universe at all.

And yet, the book still absolutely works - and even works as a way of a more "real world" type introduction to these characters before you dive into the more paranormal-ish realism of the prior two books. Apparently several other Advance Review Copy readers didn't realize this was Book 3 of the series - a series I've been reading since the beginning, though with on average 200 ish books read between reading installments of this series, even as I've read them all as Advance Review Copies myself - and they all claim that this book works well as a standalone, so there's that perspective as well. :)

Overall, even with the toned down paranormal aspects here - and perhaps because of the toned-down paranormal aspects here, Mejia has crafted a particularly compelling missing person/ found family thriller that doesn't bend your mind the way the prior two books do... but perhaps makes your pulse pound that much harder because of it. Particularly through one sequence late in the text, my own heart was racing enough that I actually glanced at my smart watch to make sure I was actually fine and didn't need to call 911. Seriously.

In the end, truly a creative and compelling third book in the series that leaves open the possibility for more books without explicitly setting anything up, it will be interesting to see where Mejia chooses to go from here.

Very much recommended.

The Dust In The Room Slowly Builds Up. This is one of those books where the first half in particular is rather slow... but you can feel the room getting slightly dustier the entire time you're reading the book. By the end, the room will be quite dusty indeed and it will be difficult to read due to the water your eyes are producing to try to protect themselves from the dust.

Truly an amazing tale well told, with great respect to the Amish community it uses as part of its base and also of rural America it uses as most of the rest of the base of the tale.

This is the story of how one life can impact so many people, of how one community can both shape and be shaped by one extraordinary person... and how even small rural communities cope with the secrets in their midst.

This is one of those tales that will give you hope. That will restore your faith in humanity... and maybe even higher. One where you're going to laugh. You're going to cry. You're going to stare into the void in wonder and amazement. And maybe, just maybe, you'll find a degree of peace.

Very much recommended.

Among The Best Wrestling Memoirs Ever Written. I've been reading wrestling memoirs roughly as long as Niedhart has been a professional wrestler - beginning roughly in 2001 when we were both in our late teens, maybe slightly earlier - whenever Mick Foley's first book hit mass market paperback. And yes, I've read both of Foley's early books. I've read at least one of Jericho's books, I've read Batista's book and at least one of HBK's books. I even read The Rock's dad ("Soulman" Rocky Johnson)'s book and Hornswoggle's book. More recently, I've read Rousey's 2024 book along with Lynch's book released at nearly the same time. Earlier this year, I had a chance to do an Advance Review Copy of Killer Kross's book that released about a month ago as I write this review.

In other words, I have a lot of experience reading wrestler's memoirs, though there are still several I've yet to get to.

And y'all, I absolutely put this one right up there among the top.

This one is full of everything that makes a good wrestling memoir great - the history, the peeks behind the scenes at various points and from Niedhart's view from whatever age she was at the time growing up, her own story from the first time she ever picked up The Anvil's championship belt through becoming a multi-time Champion within WWE herself. We see more of her struggles with her dad than even Total Divas really had any capacity of showing. We see her fears - shared by fellow third generation Superstar who also wrote a forward to this book, "some kid named Dwayne" (as Soulman said in his book) - of whether she could live up to her family's legacy. We see how that legacy shaped both the woman and the professional Neidhart has become - for good and not so great. We even get a friends to lovers romance for the ages that few even fictional romance authors can replicate, showing the first time TJ first showed up at Hart House through their struggles together when he broke his neck in the ring and beyond.

This book seems very transparent - yes, many of us thought we knew Niedhart particularly from Total Divas (though as with all "reality" shows, that one became quite obviously barely anything resembling reality rather quickly, particularly after the first season), but here we see even more of her story, particularly her absolute love and admiration for her dad... and all the heartache this caused as his mental condition deteriorated over the years.

Bookending with the 2019 WWE Hall of Fame Induction of Neidart's uncle Bret 'The Hitman' Hart and her dad Jim 'The Anvil' Niedhart as The Hart Foundation seems a deliberate editorial choice, a way to stop before the pandemic / "Thunderdome" era of WWE... and perhaps lay the groundwork for a later memoir to pick up exactly there, ala Foley, Jericho, and even HBK's follow-up books?

Wrestling fans of any stripe are going to love this book. There's simply too much history here for you not to, including Niedhart's own interactions with one Vincent Kennedy McMahon, Jr over the years. More than that though, this is going to be one for a lot more people. For the Millennial cat moms - yes, Niedhart briefly touches on why she chose not to have human children. For the woman afraid to stand up for herself in her own career - Niedhart shows that even with a legendary legacy in your industry behind you, standing up for yourself is still daunting, but sometimes absolutely must be done. For those interested in women in sports - Niedhart shows the path she made through some family connections but also several shit tons of hard ass work... and a bit of luck even, at times.

Very much recommended.

Flawed Premise And Weirdly Exacting Time Selection Move Interesting Premise To Garbage Narrative. This is one of those books that I wanted to like. I strongly believe, based on my own historical studies over the years, that there is a truly strong case to be made for how violence has shaped the modern world in ways that most humans alive today simply aren't aware of. There is a case to be made for how violence and conquest shape almost literally every facet of everything we currently know, up to and including the most bleeding edge sciences all largely having their origins in military research and applications - including all of computing and very nearly everything we as humanity are doing both in astronomy and in particle physics.

Unfortunately, this book doesn't even begin to attempt to make that case.

Instead, this is yet another anti-capitalist polemic wherein a "historian" attempts to reframe history... and yet provides a bibliography one would typically expect from a more mundane and well trod "this is what happened at this event" type history book. In other words, it is far from meeting the Sagan Standard of "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence". And yet, at roughly 22% bibliography (in addition to several more pages of front matter listing many dozens of people and events covered in the text), this text sufficiently meets my 20-30% documentation expectations for nonfiction books generally, so actually doesn't lose a star there. Note even here though that while there is technically enough bibliography, it is also extremely cherry picked to show exactly the narrative Crais is trying to frame without ever even hinting at other possible interpretations of the events at hand.

No, the two star deductions are distinct enough (in my mind at least) to warrant two separate deductions, but also linked in that they form the basis of how Crais approaches his entire narrative.

For one, Crais blames all of captialism's rise on slavery... without even going into the 20th century to try to frame the various labor debates there as also slavery or even including the rise of mass incarceration or fast fashion or any other well known labor abuses as also slavery, choosing to instead end his narrative at the end of the 19th century. Thus, even though Great Britain ended slavery relatively early in the time period Crais does choose to focus on and the US fought a civil war near the end of it to force the end of slavery... Crais still blames all of capitalism's ills on, according to him, capitalism being based on slavery and absolutely nothing else.

For another, and yes, I hinted at this above, Crais is oddly specific in his choice of time period and even areas of focus, choosing to examine only Great Britain and the United States and to begin specifically in 1750 with the publication of Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations and end at the end of the 19th century, well before capitalism really took off... and yet also before communism caused the deaths of literally millions of people itself... often via direct State violence. This odd specificity allows Crais to openly ignore other violences even within the period he chooses to examine, such as the Napoleonic Wars.

There is great promise in a book that truly and fully explores the history of human violence in its totality and shows how that violence has created and shaped our modern world as we know it.

I simply wish Crais had made even a modicum of an attempt at writing such a history. Perhaps this book would have been better with a different title and more honest and specific premise?

Not recommended.

Quite Possibly Walker's Best Yet. I've been reading Walker's books for several years now, finding him with An Unfinished Journey, which was apparently his next book after the Red Mountain saga. Because of my own reading schedule - 90% of which, including Unfinished Journey and every other book from Walker I've read, including this one, is Advance Review Copy based - I haven't had a chance to go back and read that saga yet.

With this book... I really need to. Not because I needed it in order to understand this book, quite the opposite. This book is so compelling and so well told that it really makes you feel for Mr. Otis Till and all that he has gone through - stuff that apparently is largely history by the beginning of the Red Mountain books, as this is his "origin" story and apparently he is a key player in the rest of the saga.

Told in a dual timeline manner with a touch of the supernatural/ magical realism, this is one of those books that uses those components well enough that even people who claim to not like any book that uses them - and yes, I've seen some of those types of readers over the years - shouldn't have any difficulty with this book and indeed, I would even go so far as to say that if you allow yourself to miss this book because of your own hangups on those types of issues, you're doing yourself a great disservice and missing out on a truly terrific book.

This is one of those tales that so very many men can relate to - the same type of story that made The Greatest Showman so truly spectacular. A man struggling to attain his life's desires, finding it... and finding what really matters after all. Many of us have either been there or are somewhere along that path and can identify all too well with these desires, and Walker captures that struggle across the decades perfectly.

And yet there is more than enough here for female readers as well, as we see how Till first meets the love of his life and how she shapes the life they lead together across all the years they have left together... and then some.

Those looking for ghost pepper level spice won't find that here, but also those looking for no more spice than a warm glass of milk may get quite red in the cheeks at times, or perhaps even get the vapors. There is nothing here that I would hesitate at all to put in front of a mid-teen or so, though it is likely a bit much for those younger than that. (To be fair, it is also one that those younger than that won't be able to relate to as much either, but most any adult should be able to relate all too well to.)

Truly quite likely Walker at his absolute best to date, this is one that both makes me want to go back and read the Red Mountain Saga... and hope that there are more books in this particular series forthcoming.

Very much recommended.

Academic Meta-Analysis Of The Fall Of Nuclear Terror As Primary Societal Scare In The United Kingdom. First off, this is both quite short and quite well documented - clocking in at just 175 or so pages and 34% or so documentation in the Advance Review Copy I read weeks before publication. So it absolutely has that going for it, for any reader. :)

As to the subject, Gardiner does a remarkable - and remarkably focused - job of taking the reader through the last 70 ish years of British entertainment/ zeitgeist history and showing how while once (during the Cold War and its immediate aftermath) nuclear terror was a driver in the overall consciousness of the British people, of late those concerns have become a background as the populace is more focused on other issues, including immigration and difficulties caused by it.

Gardiner, appearing based on the text here to be a Scotsman and perhaps even a member of the Scottish National Party - whom he refers to favorably in several instances herein and with whom he seems to share a focus on the UK's Trident nuclear missile program (apparently based primarily in Scotland?) -, clearly doesn't like the lack of focus on the nuclear threat, seeing it as a looming threat even now that, according to him, eclipses all other concerns even today.

Even with the excellent documentation here, I don't feel that Gardiner was convincing in his arguments, but that could well be a "me" thing. To me, it seems that he is glossing over quite a few very real concerns in his exacting focus on "the nuclear threat is THE primary existential threat we face!!!".

(To be clear, I am an American from the Southern US whose every traceable-so-far ancestor was in the US for the last 150 or so years, but who largely came from either Great Britain or Ireland before that. (And yes, here I said "Great Britain" quite intentionally - to date, I've traced none of them to Scotland itself.) While I am very familiar with US politics, certainly this Millennium, I readily admit to being only extremely vaguely familiar with UK politics. To the level that a UK reader may find much more here to agree or disagree with than I have, and may quite likely find this review to be quite idiotic.)

Overall this is an interesting enough look into an area I hadn't really considered beforehand, and with its brevity works well for those open to nonfiction who are looking for a rather short, rather quick read. Indeed, I seem to have read this book in barely a couple of hours, as a rough benchmark for what you might expect here.

Very much recommended.

Lots Of Moving Parts Combine For One Explosive Thriller. This is one of those books where you know from Page 1 that little is going to actually be as it seems... and yet Marsh is going to keep you guessing and keep the reveals coming all the way until almost literally the very last words of this just-shy-of-300 page tale.

This is one where pretty well every character has some dark secret they are trying to protect, which is where most of the tension throughout the text comes to bear. Everyone thinks they know everyone and everyone thinks this is a titular "perfect family", except we know as readers that this is far from what is actually going on.

This does all happen in Australia, and apparently the narrators thus use Australian accents in their reading. I actually explicitly chose an Australian voice on my Text To Speech reader for this book because of the setting and Marsh herself being Australian, and it absolutely worked well for me.

There is also quite a bit of teen/ new adult drama to be had here, including one scene in particular that while some may find distasteful also is and has been far too common. Marsh actually plays the scene well both in what she chooses to actively show - and not - and in how she shows its impact throughout our "perfect" family, which drives a large portion of the narrative here.

Overall truly a fun, twisty family suspense/ thriller with oh so much going on on so many different levels, this really is a great end of summer/ start of the new school year read, and is thus fairly well positioned for its print release on the day after US Labor Day, when even Yankee schools start back. Southern US schools have generally been back for at least a few weeks already by this point, and indeed all of my nephew and nieces started school nearly a full month before the Kindle edition release of this book.)

Very much recommended.

Solid Examination Of The Topic. I've read books before where when you read the publisher's description of the book and then read the book, you wonder what whoever within the publisher actually wrote that description was smoking... and if you can get your hands on some of that clearly mind altering stuff.

This book is not that. Instead, here the publisher's description as I write this review nearly three weeks before publication is truly spot on exactly what you're getting here - all the way down to the fact that this is very clearly a 2020s Academia level book both in styling and in what it emphasizes.

The overall writing here is a touch dry and absolutely more dense than the casual reader will likely prefer, and yet it is still a very readable tome in the same way that fruitcake is technically edible and lead is great for many applications... and not so great for others.

Thus, if you're interested in a detailed history of exactly how this particular spirit came to be and how it became such a sought-after commodity in its era (and how it helped actively create markets in said era, along with spawning at least a few idioms known even today), this is absolutely going to be a book to pick up. You're going to learn a lot, and you may be a hit at Rum Trivia.

If you're a more casual reader looking for a history of an alcohol related topic to perhaps read while sipping your favorite refreshment at the beach (because here in Florida, we truly have (nearly) Endless Summer) or perhaps while overlooking the changing fall colors (as this book will be published in mid September, when if I remember correctly some leaves in more northern areas start to turn) from your porch with a fire burning in the fireplace... this book may be a touch too dense, but certainly close enough to at least use the "Look Inside" feature on Amazon to get an idea of how the prose works for your own tastes.

Overall truly a solid and well documented (roughly 29% of the Advance Review Copy edition I read, right around the upper range of what I consider normal in that regard) look at the liquor, its history, and its impact on history, with just a few brief mentions of anything beyond the 19th century in the closing notes of the epilogue. Well worth the read for anyone, even as realistically I know it will mostly be read by actual historians and academics or perhaps others with strong professional interests or perhaps hyper-fixations on the topic.

Very much recommended.