Reviewed by Brenda Ballard for Readers' Favorite

No Greater Freedom is a page turning thriller set in Africa. From South Africa to Kenya, unscrupulous characters involved in gun running and animal poaching are intertwined and cross paths with the good guys who are investigating their goings on via land and water. Add unexpected romance to the pot, and you have drama and suspense. The author draws the reader into each plot line and incorporates the plight of the African dealing with government corruption, their hopes and dreams, the lows that people will stoop to in the name of money and power, and the highs of being in love.

Tom Edwards is a very talented wordsmith. No Greater Freedom is captivating; you will not be able to put it down as there is just no stopping point until the last word on the last page. Mr. Edwards writes of the lengths people go to for money and power, the sacrifices they will make in the name of love and the people of a land that has a history of war and famine. This story is believable and easy to fall into. The description of the landscapes, the scenes and characters are so vivid and real that the reader will find themselves easily able to visualize each page's words right down to the clink of a beer glass being set upon the ship's bar or the thud of the body as it finds its final fate...

Reviewed by Caitlin Lyle Farley for Readers' Favorite

Thirteen-year-old Poppy Wainwright’s mother is a drug addict and drunk who roams the United States, leaving Poppy to be raised by her Grandma Lainey in Arkansas. When Lainey dies, Poppy is sent to live with her grandmother’s sister in Savannah. Aunt Sookie is an abrasive old woman whose chief joys in life are shooting her neighbour’s twin boys with her BB gun and tending to her vegetable garden. Sookie is uncertain how Poppy will fit in with the locals and forbids her to leave the yard at first, but the young girl gradually befriends a few of the local children and a woman at the church. Poppy even meets a handsome boy and develops her first crush. It’s only a matter of time before the secrets start falling from the Wainwright family tree.

Aunt Sookie and Me is a heart-warming tale with liberal sprinkles of laugh out loud moments. Michael Scott Garvin is a cunning writer and the plot of Sookie and Me is more layered than it appears in the first few chapters. Garvin confronts delicate issues surrounding gender equality and identity, sexuality, and rape culture in a matter of fact manner that keeps the story light while still providing food for thought. The characters in this novel are well developed and even mean old Sookie and Poppy’s disastrous mother are likeable. Sookie and Me is a coming of age story with a distinct difference that has all the makings of a classic. I think everyone should read this book.

Reviewed by Ruffina Oserio for Readers' Favorite

Slay the Dragon by Laura A. Zubulake is a story that follows the cause of César Rosada, a man who rose from humble origins to become the Finance Minister of his country. Now his mind is set on one thing: to make life better for the working class. Follow his path in a perilous battle against corruption, drugs, and injustice. This could have been a fight to rally the best minds and resources behind him, but he meets opposition from the most influential people and the rich who will do anything, including murder, to maintain the status quo. César Rosada is about to shake the balance of power and this doesn’t sit well with the few who control the economy and politics.

Laura A. Zubulake weaves crime investigation, corruption, and social ills into the story of a man’s gritty fight to defend his values and the lives that matter to him. I loved the protagonist, a man who has to make difficult choices, but who must also deal with his shortcomings. The conflict is developed at multiple levels, from the protagonist’s struggle to reconcile his position with his core values, to the opposition he faces from his peers, and then there is the social plague of opioids. I enjoyed the way the author explores the psychology of the characters, injecting them with humanity and realism. The characters are believable, the plot intelligently done, and the prose exquisite. Slay the Dragon can be read as a succinct indictment of the misuse of power and of what happens when a minority in authority has to make decisions that affect the lives of millions. The story is deft and balanced, as entertaining as it is thought-provoking.

Reviewed by Paul Johnson for Readers' Favorite

If I Should Die is the story of war torn Africa when nations were determined to throw off the last vestiges of colonial rule for self-determination. It is a story of violence set against the breathtaking beauty of the fictitious nation of Nyanga. Students of history will know the real country and remember the terrible misery imposed on its population when savagery and extreme viciousness was so often inflicted upon scores of peaceful farmers and farm workers.

This is not a story just about blacks against whites, since both were killed with equal cruelty. It is more of resistance to change on one side, and the righting of past wrongs on the other. This is a story of a war men fight, knowing in the end they cannot win, but they fight anyway, because it's their job.

As the fight unfolds, it becomes personal for two combatants, the best each side has to offer, and even more so when Sergeant Wilson is severely wounded and taken away for interrogation. Desperate efforts to rescue the Sergeant are made, as a band of comrades attempt from one side, and his fiancé tries another way. But, will they be successful?

Set in a time of terrible strife, the author has put together a very thorough, but intense look at Africa and its struggles. The characterization is first rate as both sides are shown as history reports them to have been. The plot is set as a work of fiction, but the author has indicated it is partially based on a true story. I have no reason to doubt this. Some readers may find the graphic violence and excessive brutality to be excessive; however, as history tells, that was the way it really happened. Very nicely done.

Reviewed by Ruffina Oserio for Readers' Favorite

Red Clay, Yellow Grass: A Novel of the 1960s by Richard Barager is a fascinating story that combines romance with war to transport readers to an interesting setting in the sixties. Meet two people, orphan David Noble and Jackie Lundquist, college sweethearts whose relationship takes a dramatic turn for the worse when David decides to join the army and fight in the Vietnam War. Jackie takes this decision very negatively and for years, she refuses to answer David’s letters. After surviving a fierce siege in Khe Sanh, David returns home to meet Jackie, a woman who has morphed into a significant and highly regarded activist, and who now stands against everything David has fought for. She is a strong anti-war activist, while David looks at war as an act of honor; their beliefs separate them. But what is it that can get them to come together again as one?

This is an interesting story with a powerful conflict, a conflict of ideologies that is mirrored in the two protagonists. Richard Barager’s characters are phenomenal and it is interesting how David and Jackie personify two opposing cultural trends of their time. David’s background as an orphan sets him apart in many ways, and one notices a kind of tragic tendency in his attitude, the quest for honor that makes him very vulnerable — perhaps because he has nothing to lose? One of the things I look for in a novel is the strength of the conflict and this author knows how to use conflict to enhance and drive the plot forward. The writing is strong and the descriptions capture vivid images, bringing out deep emotions, and allowing readers a great feel for the characters and the setting. Red Clay, Yellow Grass: A Novel of the 1960s is skillfully plotted, fast-paced, and deftly handled. A very satisfying read!

Reviewed by Sarah Stuart for Readers' Favorite

Ghosts in Sunlight by Gretta Curran Browne is an epic story that spans forty-four years, the class divide between an aristocratic family and a young woman brought up in an orphanage, and the countries of France, America, England, Vietnam, and Sweden. It is a story of obsession – passionate love of people and power, greed and immorality, and implacable, unforgiving hatred. It opens in Paris, a beautiful city despoiled by conquering Nazis, with the sixteen-year-old daughter of a wealthy jeweler, Philippe Castineau. Jacqueline, dressed as a boy and pretending idiocy, joins the French Resistance and kills without mercy. Married, she lives for her son, Marc, whom she sees as a true Castineau. Marc lives on only in letters written to him in Vietnam by Marian – lover, mother, and widow – and the flashback memories of Nam veteran, Marc's friend, Jimmy Overman. Will Jacqueline meet her match in Marc and Marian’s son?

Steeped in literature as one might expect of writers and publishers, invaded by the music of each decade, and gloriously multicultural, Ghosts in Sunlight is the book out of countless thousands I have read that made me, like Phil, answer when asked how I wanted my coffee, say “in peace”. Time after time, I guessed what was coming, and sometimes I was right and sometimes shockingly wrong, but I had to know. The pace is unforgiving, every character strides through the pages alive, vivid, and believable, and the plot is flawless – a superbly written whole. This is an overpowering, sensual love story, a political testimony that argues against American involvement in Vietnam, and an intense thriller. For Gretta Curran Browne’s Ghosts in Sunlight, "the only word is wow”.

Reviewed by Rabia Tanveer for Readers' Favorite

This Second Chance by D.L. Finn is the story of a woman who finally got her second chance at love; however, there seem to be unseen forces that don't want her to be happy. This is the story of Rachael Battaglia, a woman who has seen the real hardships of a bad marriage. After years of living with an abusive husband, she runs away one night with her two kids and the one that was unborn at that time. She ran away and finally found the man whom she truly loves and who loves her back.

Now newly married, she is as happy as one could be. But her happiness is destroyed when she receives a snow globe as a wedding present. Although innocent, the snow globe reminds her of her ex-husband. Rattled, but determined, she pushes it out of her mind and starts preparing to go on her honeymoon in Hawaii. But should she do that? Is this a sign that something bad is going to happen? She has no idea that she has an Angel with her, but even that Angel cannot save her from the evil that is after her.

I loved it! I'm a fan of D.L. Finn and I especially love her children's books. This Second Chance is very different from what I have read from her and I really liked it. The story was intense, interesting and really well crafted. This is a fast paced novel that had me on the edge of my seat. I was rooting for Rachael and wanted for her to get her happy ending. This was really good and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Reviewed by Bobbie Grob for Readers' Favorite

When the Serpent Bites by Nesly Clerge tells a riches to rags story of a man, Frederick Starks, who has anything and everything the money from his successful business empire can buy. Along with that, he has a beautiful wife, three children, a loving family and friends, and well wishers as far as the eye can see. Life is about to get a whole lot less pretty for Starks, though, as one night of rage leads to a whole different reality. Starks' well-heeled life takes a turn for the worst, and he goes from being a hugely powerful man in the corporate world to the newest inmate in a maximum security prison in what seems to be the snap of a finger.

I've always enjoyed a good legal drama so I was glad to grab a copy of Nesly Clerge's When the Serpent Bites, although I wasn't expecting to be riveted to the pages. I was sucked right into Frederick Starks' life and drama, and I had more than one late night when I had to stay up and read far later than I would normally have. This does not read like an amateur novel. The characters have real depth - something I am big on - and the drama on the pages made me feel as though I was right there watching it. The book is fast paced and, in my opinion, downright amazing. You will get to the end of this book and want more, more, more! This is less a legal drama than the story of finding a way through a new life, but it is no less worth the read for that.

Reviewed by Viga Boland for Readers' Favorite

If I hadn’t checked Nesly Clerge’s bio, I might have concluded that When The Dragon Roars was written by someone with a degree in psychology and criminal studies, or that the author was at least a therapist of some kind. But the brilliant Nesly Clerge has emerged from a science-based background to continue following his lifelong passion of writing with this second book in a trilogy about one Frederick Starks in When the Dragon Roars.

In the first book, When the Serpent Bites, the lifestyle of the super-wealthy Starks comes to a crashing end when he is sentenced to prison for 15 years to face a world that is no longer his oyster. Six months after his incarceration, the Starks we meet in When the Dragon Roars has attempted suicide twice, been sliced mercilessly and beaten into a coma by other inmates. Now recovered, he shaves his head and tattoos his body with a dragon, an exterior symbol of new resolve to survive the next 14 1/2 years, using the smarts he acquired as a businessman. What he learns as When the Dragon Roars unfolds is that it will take a lot more than his business acumen to battle the challenges of dangerous cons with murder on their minds, guards whose protection must be purchased, and friends whose loyalties are never guaranteed. But the biggest challenge of all is the one he least wants to face: that of being honest with himself and admitting that he too is responsible for all that has happened to him. To his surprise, it is the con men themselves that best help him recognize his faults.

When the Dragon Roars is an absolutely riveting read, full of surprising twists and turns and brilliant writing. The chapters are short; the dialogue realistic; the characters believable and the plot gripping. But, for me, it’s Frederick Starks’ reflections on human nature that are the most engaging. As eager as I was to turn each page to see what happens next, I found myself lost in thought along with Starks. While Starks reflects and analyses what he is learning about himself, I found myself doing the same about myself. I couldn’t help but think how much Starks is like me and possibly everyone else out there. How hard is it for any of us to face the truth about ourselves? The answer is obvious.

The one thing that did disconcert me was the last few lines at the end of the book. I turned the page only to realize the book had ended! What? I must have missed something. I re-read that last page and smiled. Of course! When the Dragon Roars is book 2 of a trilogy. I’m going to have to read the third and final book to see what Starks ultimately decided to do. Clever, Nesly Clerge ... very clever. I hope you don’t keep this reader waiting too long for Book 3 of The Starks Trilogy.

Reviewed by Ray Simmons for Readers' Favorite

I just love new stories built around Greek mythology. Greek mythology gave me so many hours of pleasurable reading as a kid and I appreciate that. I have read a lot of Greek mythology. I mean the original tales from Greek history and religion. I have read even more stories that are based on Greek mythology or some of its characters. There are so many ways you can transmute these tales and these characters into something totally new and fresh. A lot of writers have done this. Some have done it really well and made a lot of money. I have read these stories and/or seen them on the big screen. I have never seen or read Greek mythology based fiction done better than Olympia by Kris Kramer, except for a book I read by Dan Simmons, a long time ago. Dan Simmons writes really well. Stephen King says so. I say Kris Kramer writes well too.

I was in when I read the title. I will stay in because Olympia is a great book. It is book one of a series called Olympus. I intend to follow this series. I know I will enjoy it. The story is interesting. The writing is good, and this world is intriguing. But most of all, I like Anthony Kensom. He is my kind of hero. He is young, but has been hardened by a rough life. This has made him strong and smart, but it has not made him bitter or callous. The story is great. The writing is great, and the hero is great. What more could you ask for?