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.

The Publisher Used The Perfect Review Tagline! I'm not joking on that headline either. As I write this review just over a month before this book publishes, the very first line of the current description of this book says "Untangling the Sunday School Stories You Learned from the Biblical History You Haven't". And dammit, had they not used that line, *I WOULD HAVE!*. That book is the singular **PERFECT** way to describe this book in a succinct manner. It really is exactly what you're getting here. In this book, an actual field archaeologist goes through the Bible nearly cover to cover showing what the field of archaeology has discovered... and what it hasn't. Written from an unequivocally Christian perspective, this is a book that doesn't try to destroy faith - and yet also actively debunks claims that the evidence simply can't support, even while fully acknowledging and even actively embracing the supernatural in instances where there is wiggle room. (Absence of evidence not being evidence of absence and all that jazz. ;) ) In many of my reviews of Christian books I've deducted a star for prooftexting, and while Haley does in fact cite Bible verses frequently throughout this text... she never actually engages in that practice. Indeed, she cites the verse specifically to place it *within* its context both Biblically and historically and archaeologically. Thus, she's actually doing quite the *opposite* of prooftexting, even while employing a similar mechanism. No, the star deduction here is simply the dearth of the bibliography, clocking in at just 8% or so of the text I have in my Advance Review Copy - vs the roughly double that that would be an acceptable (ish) minimum per the documentation standards of other nonfiction books I've read over the years. (And indeed, many of the remaining nonfiction ARCs I have clock in at or north of 30% documentation, a few even hitting the 40% and above mark!) Overall though, this really is a particularly strong book that may potentially be controversial for the hyper religious (both Christians and those who oppose anything remotely related to Christianity), but is well within the Overton Window for most readers. The writing style is very approachable, far from the dense and dusty academy-speak one might fear they would be getting into here, and thus truly very much approachable for most any reader capable of reading chapter books at all. Very much recommended.

Masterful Thriller That Will Keep You On The Edge Of Your Seat. McKinnon has become a true master of the kind of suspense/ thriller where you're still on the edge of your seat and trying to figure out what comes next... when their suddenly is no more "next" to be had in the book. Now, don't get me wrong, she tells a complete story every time. She's just also become a master of telling that story and then leaving *just* enough dangling *so* well that you want that story to continue, even though it has reached its final point for the story she was telling in this particular tale. Arguably one "weakness" here - more something I've just never gotten into and don't really understand the "appeal" of - is the podcast base of this tale. McKinnon uses it particularly well to tell her story, both in featuring actual podcasts within the tale and in using the relationships of the various personalities that create and work on and around podcasts to great effect. For me though, the strength of this tale really is the relational. McKinnon creates here a woman with several crucial relationships... and one she isn't aware of that is about to push her to her limits. Because the best relationship in this book isn't the marriage or the friend or any of the other usual suspects. It is the antagonist our leading lady finds out through this tale that she has. While our leading lady is no (Sherlock) Holmes or (Aloysious) Pendergast or (Charles) Xavier or even (Clarice) Starling, our antagonist here absolutely is one that fans of Moriarty or Diogenes or Lensherr or Lecter will absolutely love. Because yes, the antagonist McKinnon creates here *is* that good. And yet... if our antagonist *is* that damn good and one way to measure someone is by the strength and ability of their enemies... doesn't that mean that our leading lady actually *is* that damn good herself? How about you read the book and write your own review on whatever platform you're reading this review on and let us know. :) Feel free to tag me in it, assuming that is possible on said platform. Overall though, this book really is very well done, exactly as fans of McKinnon expect from her... and may even be her best yet. Very much recommended.

Action Packed Island Adventure With Heart. This is one of those books that is going to be great for damn near any reader. If you're more a women's fiction type... well, there's a lot of aspects of that happening here between one of our main characters coming to the island specifically over some trauma she is trying to heal from and one of our other main characters and the reasons she lives on the island permanently. Both of which play central roles in this tale. Then for the action/ adventure/ mystery crowd, suddenly the tale spins and becomes much more action/ suspense/ mystery based, with unexpected newcomers threatening to kill everyone currently on the island. Through this section - much of the rest of the book, with the relationship drama folded into this new survival/ action pacing - we get a near Atomfall / early Tomb Raider/ Lara Croft type tale wherein the islanders have to evade their captors and sneak their way around as they work to find some way back to safety. Both sides of the storytelling work well with each other, with richly detailed main characters providing a lot of the heart even as their various and conflicting motivations also lead to some of the difficulties being faced here. The Pacific Northwest island setting also plays a strong role here and Hodge describes it so wonderfully that you'll likely want to consider vacationing out there yourself... without the drama and survival tale taking place within the setting of this particular tale. :D Truly an excellently written tale that works superbly on many different levels. Very much recommended.

Solid Maddie Evans Clean Romance. I've been reading Evans' books for a few years now, and this first entrant in a new series is a perfect exemplar of her style... with references (and a few cameos) to what I think was the first series I read from her (the Brighthead Running Club). And yes, if you like what you see here, that series offers several great books to read while you wait for this trilogy to complete out over the next couple of months. :) What you get here is a small town romance where everyone knows everyone... except when they don't, because suddenly there is a new guy in town. Foodies will absolutely love all of the restaurant details in this book, and knitters/ crocheters will love all of the yarn talk herein (by an author who is an avid knitter and crocheter herself. Seriously, wait until you see the author's note at the end here. :D) Those looking for anything more spicy than a warm glass of milk will be disappointed here, but "spice" and "Maddie Evans" have never really gone together. There are other authors that offer that, but Evans always manages to create a compelling romance that does not shy away from the fact that her characters would *like* to go there... without ever actually going there. So in this book, for example, there is some heavy kissing... and that is as far as anything actually goes. Seriously, my 10yo niece has seen more in the TV shows she watches these days. There *is* one common romance element employed here that turns some off, but revealing it feels a touch spoilery so I'll simply note that it is so common that it is used across every trope I'm aware of, which is why I refer to it as an 'element' rather than a 'trope'. So those that are hyper sensitive to this particular one can probably guess what I'm referring to here, but this should note *should* be vague enough that it doesn't actually spoil anything. :) With the epilogue both closing out this story and blatantly setting the next one in motion, this is absolutely going to be one series where you'll be glad that the next book is just a few weeks away. (Indeed, I was sent ARCs of all three books at once, so I can personally verify that all three are at least ready enough to release to ARC readers, which is a significant step to making them fully ready. :D) Again, truly a solid romance full of the joy of creating and arts that will make you fall in love with both these characters and this world, thus serving as an almost "Iron Man" level tale. (Ok, I'm a dude. I had to get *something* in here to save at least a modicum of my man card! :D) Very much recommended.

Appropriately Weighty Look At Life After Loss. This historical fiction novel set in 1960s era Maryland - which plays a role in both some of the story and in some of the things that happen herein, and thus why it is worth mentioning - really does a rather terrific job of giving an appropriate amount of weight to moving on after the death of a spouse. It has its moments of comedy, as all life should, but it is far from a comedy book. It has its moments of utter despair, as life truly does, but it isn't a super heavy book either. Instead, Confino finds that near perfect balance between the two and uses both to show how life sucks at times - but there is also hope and joy to be found. There is peace. Moving on is *so* hard - but it *is* doable, and ultimately must be done. As seems common across Confino's books (now having read this one and 2024's Behind Every Good Man), bigotry towards Jews in that era and their experiences coming out of not just Germany but also Russia and Eastern Europe in the years not-then-distant, do in fact play a role here, and Confino does an excellent job making these situations realistic without going into preachy territory. Similarly, once again this book is a celebration of all things Jewish as they relate to the time and place at hand in all its shades of good and not so great, from celebrating various cultural practices to discussions of the then-still-happening creation of suburbia and its implications for this specific cultural community. But ultimately the true heart of this tale is family - a very specifically and intentionally Jewish family, yet still a family that anyone can relate to on that level. And it absolutely works. Most adults are going to have living parents that sometimes exasperate them. They're going to have at least one in-law that can sometimes be difficult or meddling. (For what its worth, I got particularly lucky there. Seriously, my mother in law is damn near a saint, and my father in law is a fellow tech geek that I can nerd out with about tech any time. :) ) They're going to have kids that have their own lives and needs and wants - and grandparents that spoil them and have their own attitudes about how said kids should be raised. They're going to have friends and pets and neighbors and people they know by sight because they're always in the school pick up line or the grocery store or what have you at the same time. They're going to have work colleagues that are amazing and work colleagues that are... let's go with "not so amazing" ;). And all of this is here, making this book have that much more life and making it feel that much more real. And when we get into the endgame here... well, it aint "Avengers! Assemble.", but instead hits more along the lines of "My name is Andrew Shepherd, and I *am* the President.". (An ancient reference and yet a damn fine movie with several excellent points in its climactic speech even ignoring the more explicitly partisan and plot based points.) In other words, you may be tempted to cheer out loud. I encourage you to do so, even in a library. If the librarian shushes you, tell them that this reviewer told them to shush, that this book needed that at that moment and that more importantly, you needed to do it in that moment. And yet, in the end, for all the bombast and comedy, it really is the quieter moments that really make this book everything that it is. Very much recommended.

Solid Examination Of The Topic. This is a book written by a sailor that goes deep into all things rope, including its earliest known histories through to its future uses as currently known and planned. We get a *lot* of history from eras from prehistory through Egypt and the Greeks through the Age of Exploration (and even some about the Chinese exploration expeditions) through rope's uses in executions both sanctioned by governments and not all the way into bleeding edge rope tech taking us into the future of humanity. Through this narrative, I guarantee you that you are going to learn at least something you didn't previously know - I know I did. I appreciated that the chapter titles were themed to the idea of individual strands in a piece of rope, as that was both perfect theming and a great way of organizing and thinking about the overall history being presented. Ultimately, this book had two weaknesses for me, though only one worthy of a star deduction. The other, simply a discussion here in the review - a warning, really, to other readers who may be less prepared for it. The warning is that Queeney *is* a sailor and *really* knows his rope - and knots. He can get quite technical, particularly when he's talking about how to rig ropes for sailing - which is a significant topic in the book. Through these sections, I recommend the literary/ reading equivalent of the social "nod and 'uh huh'" when someone is talking about some passion that you're interested in, but clearly nowhere near as interested in as they are. Read every word - don't skim it - but allow yourself to not focus on "I must remember every detail of this!". Outside of these hyper detailed sections though (and even within them, really), the book really is quite well written and very fascinating indeed in all that it reveals. I'm not joking whatsoever when I mentioned above that even I learned from this book. I really did. Quite a bit that I had never even considered previously. So absolutely go into this book preparing to learn more about this particular subject than at any time since you left formal schooling, whenever that may have been for you. The star deduction is for the dearth of a bibliography, coming in at 12% or so of the text - still over 30 pages of documented sources in a book of this length, to be clear - which falls just short of even my relaxed-ish standard of 15% and further short of the 20-30% documentation I had been expecting earlier in my reviewing efforts several years ago. So... that's it. That's the review. Go read this book, even if you had never considered the topic and don't necessarily want to learn anything new. Because this book may be hyper focused, but that actually *increases* its overall quality and ultimately usefulness. Very much recommended.

Strong Tale Packs A Punch - And Leaves Enough Left For An Exciting Followup. This is one of those books that packs *such* an emotional weight that I think the best comparison I can make goes back nearly a decade now - to Laurie Breton's Coming Home, which I read circa 2017 or so and was the first book I ever used the term "tour de force" to describe. This one doesn't hit *quite* as hard as that one, but it'll still land a few haymakers. Maybe Mike Tyson vs George Foreman when both were in their primes. In other words, "mere mortal", prepare for an emotional beatdown with this book... in the best possible ways. Seriously, this has "summer romance that can go so much further" written *all* over it, and thus its release window - just before Labor Day in the US, after at least some kids (including my nieces and nephew) have started back to school already but right there as college Fall Semester is starting up and summer is coming to a close - is damn near perfect for exactly this story. Even now literally 20 yrs post college and having been married for the vast majority of that time (18 yrs this Fall vs graduating 20 yrs ago this past May), I don't know, for some reason this season of the year just evokes those kinds of emotions for me, and always has. There isn't really any comedy here, so the levity is more in the fact that we're not in the middle of an emotional scene and are thus riding the swell to the next one (ha! a surfing metaphor, in a book that *does* include some surfing!). And yet the book works perfectly well *because* of this, rather than in spite of the lack of comedy. Not all tales need to be romcoms, and this one in particular is well served by keeping the comedy out. It allows the emotions to have the heft and also the breathing room they need to really work well. Some may argue that in at least one somewhere between jalapeno and habanero scene that "they're only 17!!!!". A valid point, in that exact scene. But it also reflects *reality* going back essentially as long as humanity itself, and that scene helps give the overall tale the weight it needs for what happens later in the timeline. (I don't remember where this exact scene is in the actual storytelling.) If you're going to 1 or 2 star this book over that scene, it really says more about you than Wiesner, her storytelling abilities, or this tale in particular, and now that I've told you the scene is there, it really is on you, the reader of my review, to just avoid this book if that truly is a dealbreaker for you. I'll tell you right now you're depriving yourself of one of the more emotional romance tales I've read in my life - maybe even beating out Nicholas Sparks on the emotional side - but that is completely on you, and you do what you need to do. Just don't be unfair to this book when I specifically made you aware of the existence of this issue here. :D Overall, again, truly one of the more emotional and thus stronger overall romances I've read in quite some time, and even though it leaves a few threads unanswered, it does so in ways that make it clear that they will be explored in Book 2... which I am very excited to get in my hands ASAP. Per Wiesner herself on social media gearing up for the release of this book, that one is titled All The Ways You Break Me and releases in February 2026 - roughly six months from now. I tell you now that unless Bookouture (the publisher) or Wiesner prevent me from doing so, I will be reviewing that book and on its blog tour as well. I *wish* it were already in my hands. And you're very likely going to say that last sentence yourself if you read this book near release date, as hopefully you see this review in time to do. :) Very much recommended.

Tight-Set Story Packs Hefty Punches. This is one of those tight set stories where it isn't a locked room, but the overall setting for much of the story isn't more than a handful of buildings/ places seemingly separated by as many blocks - in other words, a lot tighter than many of Lane's other historical fiction (always WWII based) stories, many of which span countries. Yes, a few scenes - notably in the beginning and ending of the tale - are set in other areas, but the vast bulk of the story takes place along a few key streets in Lisbon over a period of just a few weeks or so, thus using the location and time as an effective way to increase both the tension and the suspense of the tale. Yet again, Lane takes great care to craft fictional yet also all too realistic characters with all too common backstories and motivations, place them in very real situations within WWII, and allow us, her readers, the chance to see how these situations very likely played out in all-too-real manners for our parents/ grandparents/ great grandparents. (Yes, it is hard to believe that that era is now great and in some cases even great-great grandparents, but that is the nature of time. ;) ) While not as harrowing as some of Lane's more recent historical fiction novels and by no means a spy-thriller ala Ludlum's Bourne books, this is also a solid spy drama showcasing intelligence gathering by atypical people in completely typical situations, and Lane does a solid job of showing just how much people of this era were willing to and ultimately did sacrifice for the good of all. Very much recommended.

Interesting And Atypical Use Of Time. Admittedly, I'm a sucker for a "glimpse" based story. What makes this one stand out is that instead of spending an extended period of time in the alternate world and coming back to some realization or another, here our main character jumps sporadically and uncontrollably somewhat similar to The Time Traveller's Wife, and just like in that tale, it turns out she *is* seeing at least one possible future. Unlike Time Traveller's Wife, the expansions really are just a few moments at a time before the "snap back" to the actual reality/ timeline. So it presents a very interesting dynamic and storytelling choice. As to the overall tale itself, kind of a Gilmore Girls/ Hallmarkie type mashup where you've got a woman with an interesting yet quirky (by the time we encounter her) career in a seemingly small ish town with a single dad parent with a tragic backstory of his own that is full of family and banter. There's a lot here that hits a lot of solid notes for many readers, and I do think most readers will enjoy this book. One thing to note is that there are a few moments throughout where the room gets a bit dusty, or perhaps a few onions are being cut in the middle of the page. If the light to moderate dust/ onions don't get to you, be prepared for quite a bit more in a much more concentrated dose in the Author's Note after the end of the tale. Seriously, if the tale itself doesn't break you, the Author's Note *will*. Overall a solid romantic drama more than anything, with enough comedy to keep it from being too heavy. Perfect for a late summer release (and it is, in the middle of August), as it hits those "beginning to get more serious" notes quite well while still having just enough light "there's still fun to be had" after notes. Very much recommended.

Solid Family/ Psychological Drama/ Suspense. This tale takes the concept of twins - always interesting to me given that my grandfather was a twin and two of my nieces are twins - and spins a solid psychological/ suspense family drama in and around them in ways that are unfortunately all too realistic in at least some circles in the Southern US. This is a richly complex tale with a lot going on, even as it has only a few central character and only two primary viewpoints - that of both of the twins. One twin is written in a manner that reads a touch unusually, which can be a problem for some readers, but I thought that view written in that manner actually worked quite well for the story being presented here. The other twin uses a more standard writing style and should pose little difficulty for most readers. Overall one of the more rare and inventive ways to tell this type of tale I've come across, both io the use of twins and in the overall setting involved - the titular locked ward. Pekkanen easily has a solid hit here - I'm not sure that I would quite call it a home run, particularly given the struggles some will have reading the one twin, but I would absolutely call this a solid stand up double. (A baseball analogy, in case it wasn't clear from the "home run" bit. What can I say, I *am* a dude. :D) Very much recommended.

Some Will Love It, Some Will Hate It, Nothing Objectively Wrong. This is one of those hyper-"progressive" Gen Z TikTok obsessed romances where how you identify with the characterization of the book itself earlier in this sentence largely tells you how much you're going to enjoy this book, at a very broad, general level at least. Obviously everyone is different and even those generally inclined to love this book may actually hate it or vice versa, but at a review level to give you, the reader of my review, an idea of what you're considering getting yourself into... I think it is a completely fair generalization here. The author has "content warning" spoilers at the beginning of the book - always a mistake to my mind, as to me, they should be available on the author's website with a message in that spot to look there. This is at least in part because these spoilers are impossible to avoid on eReaders in this location in particular, and I and at least some other readers prefer to go into books unspoiled. Now, even if one wants to try to argue back at me "but aren't you doing exactly that in this very review"... 1) It isn't at the front of the book at hand. No matter where you are reading this review, you actively came here away from the book. You're not reading it immediately before reading the actual text of the story. 2) I'm also not being anywhere near as specific in my warnings as the author did, intentionally to avoid spoilers while also allowing readers of this review a chance to better determine if this book may or may not be something they are interested in spending their money and time (but I repeat myself) on. For what it is, it works reasonably well. There's lots of (progressive/ Gen Z/ TikTok style) banter, there's habanero level "spice", there's a fair amount of "coarse language" yet also a metric shit ton of "therapy speak", there's some literal laugh out loud level comedy, and there is ostensibly a romance in here that will hit harder for some than for others - same as pretty well any romance book out there. In short, if you can withstand the biases and worldview of the story itself (or even actively agree with them), you're probably going to like this romcom as much as you do a "generic romcom". There's nothing wrong here - but the only things that make it stick out from the pack at all are also the divisive elements that will attract some readers and repulse others, so those elements come out as a wash to my mind as an overall judgement. Because my "subtractive method" of rating, wherein every book starts at five stars and I need specific, describable, and *preferably objective-ish* reasons to remove stars explicitly states that star removals need to be based on something resembling objective criteria, I have nothing to hang a star removal on here. Again, all flaws here are incredibly subjective and utterly dependent on the reader's worldviews and even moods at the time of reading this book. Some will see no flaws at all, others will want to defenestrate the book almost from page 1. I hope I've done enough here to give you an idea which you may be, and if so I think I've done my job as a reviewer. If you do choose to read this review, please do also leave a review of it in the same place you're reading this one. I'd love to see what you thought of it, and all reviews help the author sell books - and help the author *not* sell books to those who might not enjoy the book, thus helping the author to avoid further negative reviews where possible. No matter what you think of the book and no matter how you write your review, *someone* will think you're an idiot and buy the book to spite you and your review, and *someone* will think the author is an idiot and choose not to pick the book up to begin with. Yes, that even includes people reading this review and concluding that *I* am the idiot in question. ;) So hey, if you're all about the progressive/ Gen Z / Tiktok / therapy talk vibe... absolutely pick this book up, I really do think you'll enjoy it. If you're not completely opposed to those things, pick this book up and give it a try. I think it is at least plausible that you'll like it. If you're more solidly/ completely opposed to those things... maybe just skip this one and avoid the headache. There are other books out there more your style, and I can help you find some of those too. :) Recommended.

Strong Travel/ Foodie / Found Family Drama Shoots Itself In The Foot. This is one of those books where everyone is flawed - and it tells a remarkable story *because* of this, not in spite of it. So if you're a reader where at least one character has to be some level of perfect for you to enjoy the book.... I tell you here and now you're not going to like this one. So save O'Neal yet another 2 star or lower review because you've been warned right here, right now that this isn't your kind of tale. For the rest of us flawed humans, this is actually a remarkable tale of picking yourself back up - and finding some fortuitous help along the way to help you do that. And yes, those people are going to be flawed too, and you may actually get a chance to help them even as they help you... hey! isn't that how friendships and families are *supposed* to work? Have so many of us been so damaged by modern life that we've forgotten this? Or is it the idealized world of booklandia that is just too perfect? Regardless, O'Neal ignores the perfection of people in pursuit of the perfection of story, and she does a truly remarkable job here. One of her books, The Art Of Inheriting Secrets, was the first Advance Review Copy review I posted on my then brand new blog when I started it all the way back in July 2018, and it has been a true pleasure reading her most every year since. Of those I've read in that time, this is easily in the upper half in terms of depth of emotion evoked and pure joy of reading. As a foodie and travel romp, this story also works quite well. While we don't get the steaks or *ahem* Rocky Mountain oysters *ahem* of Colorado, once the story starts traveling beyond the US, we wind up in a few different countries and a few different cafes within each, and the food honestly sounds phenomenal. I hope O'Neal had recipes for these fictional dishes, because I absolutely want my wife to try to make some of them for me. No, I'm not joking about this at all. That is how lovely and visceral O'Neal makes these scenes. Also the traveling itself, at times making deliberate choices within the story to slow down and not just jet-set all over the place, to take the time and really embrace the place you're in (or, more accurately, where we find the characters in that scene... warts and all. But I did mention that for all the praise I've heaped on this book - deservedly - it shot itself in the foot too, right? Well, to discuss that part absolutely goes into spoiler territory, and since the various places I post these reviews don't always have good spoiler tags, let's play it this way, shall we? And now… the spoilers. DO NOT READ BELOW HERE IF YOU DO NOT WANT SPOILERS. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. Giving. People. Who. Don’t. Want. To. Be. Spoiled. Time. To. Leave. Ok, at this point I’ve given everyone’s eyes a chance to leave before you read what I say next, so HERE COME THE SPOILERS. The blatant mistake O'Neal makes is that she allows her utter disdain for one particular type of tool to come through the page of the text here as much as her love of food and travel does. She didn't need to use a mass shooting to achieve the character dynamics she has here, *many* other things would have worked just as well or perhaps even better. Not even that 'perhaps', as using this particular vehicle and using it the particular way O'Neal does will actively turn people off across the political spectrum for a variety of reasons, and many particularly pro-gun people will likely want to defenestrate the book from the highest available window. (But don't. Read the book anyway, because it *is* a particularly strong tale even with this - it could simply have been *so much more* without it.) Also, she kills a dog. Come on. That is a *complete* throwaway that was 100% an unforced error, and *nobody* likes killing dogs - at least nobody that most of society wants anything to do with. Again, there were other ways to achieve the same results as far as characterizations. You didn't have to kill the dog. Yet neither of these are truly objective criticisms - there are many who don't like guns and will share O'Neal's disdain for them, who will thus praise her for using them the way she did, and like I mentioned, *some* absolute idiots don't mind killing dogs. But is that *really* a crowd you want to *market into*???? Still, because they weren't even approaching objective criticism, I couldn't really allow myself to deduct one or even multiple stars for it - yet it *did* need to be mentioned in this review, if deep within a spoiler coded section. And. Now. We. Come. Back. Out. Of. The. Spoilers. Ultimately, this was a fun, if deep and emotional as well, book that did a lot of things right... and then shot itself in the foot. Maybe even both feet. But you, oh reader of my review, give it a read yourself, then let us know your own thoughts wherever you are reading mine. I'd love to see what you think, even if it is just a few words. Reviews don't need to be long - really only about as many words as the first sentence of this paragraph - and can truly just be "I did (not, if applicable) like this book because (insert a reason here)." You only need 24 words to be accepted everywhere I currently know of, and I just gave you 6 of them (or 7 if you didn't like it). *Anyone* can come up with an additional 18 words. Particularly if you've just finished reading a near 400 page book. :) Very much recommended.

Strong Refutation of Gun and Drug Laws. At least in American politics, the political right loves to demand total freedom re: guns (and has a particularly strong textual Constitutional case for exactly that) yet also demand exceedingly harsh punishments for even minor issues wherein a person is using, possessing, or even being anywhere near some substance the government has decided it doesn't like. In American politics, the political left is the opposite - demanding near total freedom re: substances (despite, to be clear, a clear Constitutional case protecting access there) while demanding ever more draconian punishments for any issue they don't like involving certain tools they don't like. In this text, reasonably well researched with a bibliography clocking in at around 23% of the overall text, Reason Magazine editor Jacob Sullum finally writes a book about the two issues he has spent a career writing for the magazine about: gun control and drug control, and how both have remarkably similar histories and even current arguments. Sullum shows how both ultimately come from racist and classist origins and actively have racist and classist causes and effects even in today's society. He quotes the oft-cited Michelle Alexander's New Jim Crow, while pointing to some of its shortcomings. He cites others across the ideological spectrum, showing the strengths and weaknesses of several different ideas through the course of both early American history up through history as recent as 2024. Ultimately, this is not even that arguably the strongest take down of both regulatory schemes I've yet encountered in book form - and the fact that Sullum did it with *two* topics (and shows how closely they are linked, despite "both" American Political Parties handling each very differently) at once shows just how much of a master logician he is. I mean, I consider myself reasonably well versed in various forms of debate, but here Sullum may as well be Neo upon discovering that he really is The One, effortlessly slicing through counter arguments as if they were no more substantive than the hot air coming out both sides of Joe Biden's mouth. (And yes, yet again another libertarian-based book, and another book were former US Senator and now former President Joe Biden is cited - and showing how wrong he was - seemingly more often than any other US President, including the current one as I write this review just over a month before publication of this book. The other similar book being Radley Balko's excellent 2013 book Rise Of The Warrior Cop.) If you're at all interested in gun control or drug legalization in the US, from any position and any angle... you need to read this book. Even if just for opposition research. Because even if I didn't agree with Sullum's positions (and I don't... maybe 5% of the time here ;) ) this truly is a very solidly reasoned and examined argument against government regulation of either object, at least as regulations of either currently stand or are largely even thought of at all, and even if you are 100% opposed to Sullum's stances here, you'll do yourself a favor by examining his arguments if only to try to find a way to counter them. Truly well done, truly well organized narratively, and absolutely... Very much recommended.

Solid Conclusion With One Significant Flaw. As a conclusion of a trilogy, this story works *extremely* well. We get a contained story here that is on par with the other books, yet we also get closure for each of our main characters and answers about the overall mythos established in the earlier books as well. Yes, for fans of books having every possible plot thread tied into a nice little bow before "THE END"... this trilogy is "officially" for you. Which means that by its very nature, this book was always going to be rather explosive, and it absolutely lives up to that. Johnson, a lawyer before becoming a published author, manages to bring us into a courtroom... well, like a seasoned lawyer should be able to. ;) But seriously, he actually exposes what the process of a Grand Jury can be like, particularly through the viewpoint of someone testifying about charges the prosecutor is trying to level against the person testifying. This drives a significant part of the book, and is done quite well... mostly. The significant flaw here is that interspersed with the Grand Jury testimony, we get flashbacks to the events at hand. Rather than staying in the courtroom, we flash back and see the events as they actually unfold. Which is awesome, to a degree - show me, don't tell me, right? Yet even with my Autistic brain (some may argue *because of* my Autistic brain if they don't notice this issue ;) ), the actual manner in which we go between courtroom and flashback is a bit jarring and at times even fairly difficult to ascertain which timeline we're currently in. Yes, there are a few clues, but with the way the testimony is written... at certain points it could truly feel like you're in either one. And yet the story overall really is richly layered, really on par with the movie version of For Love Of The Game, wherein there also we get a "real time" event and glimpses of what led to that moment as the moment plays out. (Except that doesn't actually happen in the book form of that tale, btw. This is absolutely one case where the movie form of the tale is *so* much stronger.) Indeed, it is this rich layering that makes the Grand Jury scenes pop as much as they do, as well really begin to see how Mary Beth thinks in ways we didnt get even in the first couple of books here. All of this noted... with this trilogy, each book really does build on the one before it, so go pick up Moonshine Messiah, book 1, first. Then work your way up through this book. If you like kick ass action and cops who aren't afraid to at least test the boundaries... you're going to love this entire series. When you read it, make sure you leave a review wherever you see this one. It doesn't have to be anywhere near as long as this one, it doesn't even actually have to be as long as this sentence. But no matter how verbose or brief you may be and no matter your opinion of the book, it will help the book sell. Even if you absolutely *hate* the book and think Johnson is a complete idiot, some will agree with you... and some (to be clear, I'll tell you right now I'll be in this camp ;) ) will think you're the idiot and buy the book to spite your "negative" review. Thus, either way, reviews help sell books. So please, write one, no matter your thoughts on the book. If the trilogy sells well, maybe we'll get another series from Johnson. Which would be awesome, based on how good a storyteller he proved to be in this trilogy. Very much recommended.

Max Lucado-Style Examination Of John. With a title like this, the easy assumptions are that the book is going to be some kind of fluffy bullshit "self help" slop that never actually helps anyone or that it is going to be so "inclusive" of everything that it excuses everything and just make everyone feel better about themselves, no matter how horrible they may be. Except that is about as far from what we actually get here as is possible to be. What we actually get here is an insightful look through the Gospel of John that shows elements both of the Gospel as a whole and of specific stories herein that even I, who have studied this Gospel extensively throughout my own 42 years and counting and even preached my one "official" sermon on one of the very passages Butler spends a chapter walking us through in this text, had never known before. Even Lucado, for all his awesomeness, hasn't exposed some of the elements of these stories and this book the way Butler does here, at least not in anything I've read from Lucado. (Though Lucado *does* have an even stronger look at what was going on at the Feast of Tabernacles, in a vivid description I'll never forget and have often retold...even though I don't remember which of Lucado's books it came from.) Butler exposes here more clearly than I've ever seen anywhere just how much the Gospel of John was written explicitly to show people just how much God loves them, in a way that the people - particularly his fellow Jews - of the era would understand much more deeply than is obvious millennia later and in a completely different language and far different culture. In revealing all of this rich detail, he does for the overall Gospel exactly what Lucado did for the Feast of Tabernacles - he makes it *so much more real and vivid*. Even as someone who truly has studied this very text off and on almost literally since he could read at all - I'm fairly certain John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but shall have everlasting life" was literally one of the first things I could read at all, growing up in Sunday School and the Church nearly as much as I was in public school -, Butler reveals elements that make the book so much more alive even *for me*. Details like the entire structure of the book being a common way to structure Jewish tales even as far back as the time of Moses, that the frequent references to time were as much about story as about connecting those particular stories to particular periods of Holy Week / Passover - the days when Christ made His ultimate sacrifice. These are literary details that one may expect a Southern Baptist church to gloss over, perhaps, but I even took a Junior level collegiate class in Scriptural Literature as an elective in college and never learned this! Granted, this was a public college and not even a private school, much less an actual Seminary, but still! *Scriptural*. *Literature.*, and I didn't learn about this *literary* technique! I had to learn about it over 20 yrs later in a random book by some preacher most people have never heard of! Now, about the assumption at the top that this would be some kind of bullshit that excuses everything? Nah, Butler aint about that. Butler was pilloried barely two years ago for his book Beautiful Union: How God's Vision for Sex Points Us to the Good, Unlocks the True, and (Sort of) Explains Everything, because he *dared* look at all aspects of sex from a Biblical, conservative Christian viewpoint. He got a *lot* of fire over that book, including one "reviewer" infamously going in and rating any book with his name attached to it at one star on Goodreads, even a book literally titled at the time "Untitled [I forget the year number here now] Joshua Ryan Butler Book", which given when I saw that she had done this, I suspect he hadn't even started writing yet at that moment! Yet here Butler references the exact same take on these same issues and has similar types of takes on many more. And yet, like Lucado, Butler aint exactly about making people feel judged either. He's not going to hesitate to call out sin... but he also does it in a caring manner that makes it clear that we are *all* sinners in need of grace, he more than any of us. If you don't like Christians or anything to do with Christianity... why are you reading a book that literally has the name of Jesus in the subtitle? Seriously, if you're that bent out of shape for whatever reason - and maybe there is legitimate trauma there even... just ignore this book. If there is trauma there, get the help you need for it. But don't bother reading this book until you do, because it is just going to piss you off - it is literally a book that talks about Christ on every single page, and you're not ready for that. If you're this type of person, just ignore the book - don't bother reading it, and because you're not going to read it, don't be like that other asshole I told the story of above and rate one star something you never actually read. Yes, I know, it gives you that dopamine hit for a minute or two, but that's it, just a shallow high that you'll need something else to get that feeling in five minutes. For those more open to Christianity - again, for whatever reason, even at just a comparative religions type level - check this one out. Even if you don't agree with Butler's takes on sin and the various societal and personal issues he discusses here, like I noted above, there's a lot of legitimate learning here that even I didn't previously know, despite my own extensive studies of this particular text. I might even go so far as to say that even if you have some Doctorate level degree specifically on the Gospel of John... there's probably *something* in here even you wouldn't be aware of. Read this book, then write a review and let the rest of us know your own experience with it. This has been mine, and I'm interested to see what yours is like. Oh, and that star deduction despite everything I've said above? As with so many others - even Lucado, maybe *especially* Lucado - there is rampant proof texting (citing Bible verses out of context as "proof" of some argument) here, even in a book whose overall narrative structure is walking through a single book of the Bible. I wage a war on this practice, and my only real "weapon" in that war is a star deduction on every review I write where the book uses it. Very much recommended.

Excellent And Atypical Examination Of Serial Killers And Their Relationships. When I first met Drake, several years ago now, she was a cowboy romance author. Seriously, that was the first several books of hers I read, and they were all excellent. More recently, she started turning in a more women's fiction direction, and here she proved that she really has a knack for making rooms quite dusty whenever she wants to execute on such a scene. With this book, she pivots slightly to create a women's fiction tale... centered on a serial killer, given the recent fad of books involving that topic. (Even as I've just in the last couple of days seen data that serial killer activity apparently peaked in the 1980s and has dramatically declined since then in the real world, fwiw.) Here though, Drake does a truly excellent job taking a tack I've never seen before: What happens when you've been married to a guy for decades, borne his children, and *then* find out he not only *is* a serial killer, but that he has actively been killing people throughout your marriage? How does this affect you both in practical terms and mentally, relationally, and socially? How does it affect your kids, particularly your teenage son who is old enough to both be cognizant of what is going on and be affected in his own relationships and social structures? Drake applies her usual skill and remarkable storytelling abilities to craft a truly intriguing and insightful look at just how someone could really work through exactly these things, and in making it all too real, allows the rest of us to safely examine one nightmare we hope we never have to actually live out. Very much recommended.

Hilarious And Spicy Beach Read Romance. I don't normally proclaim a book to be a "beach read" as by definition, *any* book you bring to read on a beach is a "beach read", and I don't know what books every reader is bringing to every beach for all of known humanity, thus I can't possibly proclaim what a "beach read" is. That noted, this is *absolutely* a book I could personally envision myself or many others enjoying at a warm beach (again, not all beaches are warm - anywhere sufficiently north or south on the globe yet along a large body of water will have a beach that will be cold) or perhaps poolside on a warm day or perhaps even on a cruise in some warm location. The reason being the two parts (of 5) of the book that travel specifically to warm Spanish locations - Mallorca and Seville, where the warmer-than-the-British-Isles location actually plays a role in how some of the events come to be. Now, for those wanting a *quick* read... this aint that. This book clocks in at nearly 400 pages, and it takes nearly 100 of them to get to Part II - after Mallorca. For those less interested - for whatever reason - in the day to day banalities of being a K12 classroom teacher... know that this book deals fairly significantly with these in the back 2/3 of the book, as that is one of the drivers of the rest of the tale - the couple from Mallorca find themselves working down the hall from each other in a school, in the same department. (In the description so not a spoiler, btw. :D) For those readers who can barely tolerate a warm glass of milk spice wise, know that this tale is somewhere between a Habanero and a Ghost chili - you're *going* to see and feel it, and you might come to regret all that you saw and felt. Which is actually where some (much?) of the comedy comes in, particularly in Mallorca and to a lesser extent back in Seville. The London and Paris sections were seemingly relatively less "spicy" and it was within these sections that we get a lot more of the non-physical drama and romance. Overall I thought this was particularly well done, even at its length. The romance was enough to be both playful and heartfelt. The spice was enough that you may want either your partner or a towel - no shaming here - nearby. The comedy was everywhere from chuckles to damn near literally "I can't read right now because I'm literally rolling on the floor laughing so hard my gut may well explode and my ass may literally fall off". And for those reading this because the title is apparently a Chappell Roan song? No idea there. The most recent music I regularly listen to is now seemingly at least 15 yrs old, with newer stuff from John Williams, Hans Zimmer, Alan Silvestri, and a few other film composers thrown in along with the *occasional* random find on Spotify. Let's face it, you're coming to me for *book* recommendations, not music recommendations. ;) Very much recommended.