Reviewed by Lit Amri for Readers' Favorite

Accidental Activist: Justice For The Groveland Four by Josh Venkataraman and Barbara Venkataraman is about a case in 1949, in Groveland, Florida, where a white 17-year-old young woman had falsely accused four young African-American men of rape. In 2015, Josh, a 21-year-old University of Florida student at the time, had read a copy of Gilbert King's Pulitzer Prize non-fiction novel about the case and decided to do something about it. "Nothing was right about this case and I wanted--I needed--to do something to help." With the help of his mother, Barbara, Josh tracked down Carol Greenlee, daughter of one of the accused, Charles Greenlee. By this time, an effort to clear the men's names had been done but it was unsuccessful. A launched petition further cemented Josh’s effort, but the journey to justice was riddled with obstacles.

The narrative tone is casual but deftly presents the heavy subject to readers. I would never have known about this case if not for Accidental Activist and I appreciated that several photos and timelines relevant to the case are included in the book. That said, the complex and challenging racial norms of 1940s America is well-known. I wonder how many more similar cases had been buried or forgotten with no chance to be judged without prejudice? And we’re all very aware that racial injustice is still happening today－unfortunately, it will always be a tough dragon to slay. This is a commendable book about the efforts, perseverance, and success of all those involved in the exoneration of the Groveland Four. They made a difference and are an inspiration to others.

Reviewed by Saifunnissa Hassam for Readers' Favorite

Barbara Hoffbeck Scoblic's Lost Without the River: A Memoir is about growing up on the family farmstead in South Dakota, and of the strong and continuing influence of those years and the farm itself long after she leaves home. In 1926 her parents, Roy and Myrtle Hoffbeck, moved to the farmstead in the Big Stone City area. The Whetstone River runs right through the farm. Scoblic, the youngest of the seven Hoffbeck children, writes of life on the farm from the 1930s to the 1960s. The chapter titles reflect everyday life, farming, weather, floods, the Great Depression and the Great Drought. The stories are about family love, personal courage, resilience, and a love for nature. The farm was sold in the 1970s. After her parents passed away, she and her siblings continued to visit the Big Stone City area.

I found Barbara Hoffbeck Scoblic's memoir absorbing and fascinating. I loved the sketches and vivid descriptions of the farmland, the Whetstone River with its Big Rock, and its bridges; the gentle hills and prairies with wildflowers. The river was a place for swimming, fishing, and solitude. It also posed a grave danger in times of floods. I loved the delightful titles Scoblic gives to two floods that she recalls: "The Year the Chicken Coop Floated Down the River" and "The Year the Bridge Went Out". I loved the contemplative and thoughtful nature of her poems about family and farm, the passage of time, of love and loss: "Dirt" and "Dirt Revisited", "Mourning Dove" and "Lost". I admired the courage and strength with which she writes of her sister Dorothy, of her conflicts with her dad, of doubts about being a farmer, and finding her place in life.

Reviewed by Ruffina Oserio for Readers' Favorite

A Year Under Sharia Law: Memoir of an American Couple Living and Working in Saudi Arabia by Alex and Elizabeth Fletcher is a memoir that documents the life of a couple as they navigate the challenging, somewhat dangerous landscape of Saudi Arabia under Sharia law. Alex studied and graduated with majors in marketing and English, and after working for an online casino, nothing could get better. Employment in Michigan was soaring and depression, the kind that can’t be cured by therapy or medication, got a strong hold on Alex. They needed to pay off their student loans and their home, and the only thing to do was what many would consider a crazy idea — go to Saudi Arabia to teach English.

In this memoir, the authors offer telling revelations of the nature of Sharia law, about a society torn between the idiosyncrasies of religious practices and the exigencies of contemporary technological advancement. The reader is introduced to the day-to-day life of the authors, their experience of culture shock as they witness blatant human rights abuses that go unchecked and a lot more. They learn about the abuses that foreigners, especially women who come into the country, suffer under their employers who take their passports and make them work as nannies, often experiencing unspeakable crimes. From the preface, the reader understands that “While the church and state in Saudi have been intertwined for many centuries, the unique culture of the country has added its own idiosyncrasies.” Alex and Elizabeth Fletcher open the eyes of readers to these idiosyncrasies. A Year Under Sharia Law: Memoir of an American Couple Living and Working in Saudi Arabia is a powerful memoir with strong cultural commentaries, the story of a decision that came with huge consequences.

Reviewed by Divine Zape for Readers' Favorite

A Tortuous Path: Atonement and Reinvention in a Broken System by Christopher E Pelloski is a memoir that will fill every fiber in the reader with emotion. The memoir begins with the sentencing of the protagonist: “The sentence for accession with an attempt to view child pornography (which I pleaded guilty) was handed down on July 11, 2014. (...) The manner in which most of the local news entities handled the sentencing hearing was predictable.” The author takes readers on his journey from incarceration through house arrest to rebuilding his life, featuring heartbreaking experiences and in a tone that at times can be sarcastic, humorous, or filled with pathos. He navigates imprisonment, divorce, medical board hearings, polygraph interrogations, and court-mandated therapy. As you read through this memoir, you find yourself constantly asking the question: What happened to the system?

This is a story that puts the American justice system on trial and explores the flaws and injustices committed in the name of the law. The memoir is filled with pathos, with scenes captured in a style filled with clarity and poignancy. Christopher E Pelloski’s writing is gripping, eloquent, and in a voice that arrests the reader from the first sentence. He writes with unusual honesty and allows readers to peer into the areas of his life where he feels most vulnerable. In A Tortuous Path: Atonement and Reinvention in a Broken System, the author unveils the real image of the American justice system and allows readers to experience some of the painful encounters the author had. It is both informative and filled with disturbing revelations. A must-read!

Reviewed by Joel R. Dennstedt for Readers' Favorite

Memoirs rarely have the ability to make you root for an author and his friends as vigorously and vehemently as the succinctly and appropriately titled Tenacity by Ron Coury. If the reader were to share the author’s military background, instrumental (as attested to by Mr. Coury) in establishing his fundamental integrity and character while still a young man, he would probably just shout “Oorah!” in a declaratory final judgment of this book’s intensely satisfying outcome. We are talking here about good and bad at work in old Las Vegas, the one emerging from the decadence of its rather depraved history, where political corruption and cronyism still lingered and survived, deeply threatening the conscientious efforts of those inclined to honesty and ethics, and where one character trait alone served best to deal effectively with all such potentially lethal aggravations.

Tenacity is the trait, and Ron Coury possesses it in spades. That is what makes his retelling of the Vegas story – rich in its long and infamous tradition of greedy bad guys doing wrong – worthy of a Jimmy Stewart movie where the bad guys pick precisely the wrong man (and his friends) to threaten and harass. Mr. Coury tells his real-life tale with intensely credible authority, leaving no doubt about his own immersion in a time and place where Opportunity ruled (literally), and where some good guys, needing only big white hats to make the picture perfect, ultimately prevailed. A western story for a western town. Tenacity may be categorized as a memoir, but it reads like bad-guy fiction, or like the antidote to Down and Out in Las Vegas. Perhaps Coury could have called his book Up and In in Las Vegas. But Tenacity says it so much better.

Reviewed by Ruffina Oserio for Readers' Favorite

Invisible Target: Breaking the Cycle of Educator Sexual Abuse by Andrea Clemens is a compelling memoir that brilliantly tells the story of educator sexual abuse, a story that is as emotional as it is enlightening, but one of hope, courage, and a woman’s resolve to protect the lives of innocent children caught in the hands of merciless predators. In this memoir, Andrea describes the abuse she suffered from her middle school teacher. She gives insights into her childhood, takes the reader on the painful journey from the moment she met the teacher to how the teacher groomed her for his insidious and heinous crime, to how she utterly developed trust in the teacher and through to the ultimate ordeal and painful betrayal. It took her a lot of courage after years of abuse and manipulation to break away from her abuser. The entire story is in this book and there is more than the story — there is a whole exposé on how such abuses happen and why most victims never find the courage to speak out.

Andrea Clemens’ book is a wonderful gift to parents, teachers, and children. Apart from telling the story of the author, it explores the psychology of an educator abuser and unveils the symptoms that administrators, students, parents, and society should watch for. Each chapter ends with questions that will help anyone understand if something is wrong with an educator-student relationship. The author offers insights and wisdom that help readers understand why millions of children abused by their teachers remain silent, the part the school system plays, and the levels of trauma the victim goes through. In the introduction she defines her subject: “When I refer to educator sexual abuse, I am referring to the alarmingly inappropriate actions of school employees who abuse their positions of power and manipulate children for their own pleasure and other selfish, misguided reasons.”

Invisible Target: Breaking the Cycle of Educator Sexual Abuse is poignant, flawlessly written, and at times raw. I salute Andrea’s courage and her pioneering work in educating society on the subtle, yet very dangerous and damaging nature of educator abuse. It’s a book that every parent should read and discuss with their children while they are in school.

Reviewed by Mamta Madhavan for Readers' Favorite

The Reluctant Hotelkeeper by John Searancke is an engaging memoir that takes readers into the life of the author who ended up reluctantly being a hotelkeeper, and how his rescue mission ended up being a love affair with an old building. His parents had bought the place in the countryside to save their crumbling marriage, and the author was pulled into this venture when he was just 22. The role of a hotelkeeper is not as easy as many think because the reality of life in a hotel is very different, and the hours required to make it a success are punishing. The memoir is also a tribute to all the people who worked behind the scenes and helped in making this grand transformation a huge success.

The memoir is straightforward and honest, entertaining and insightful, and the author opens up about the difficulties he faced, and how he managed to keep his faith in long-term planning. There are a lot of interesting stories about eccentric guests, how many guests who checked in should not have been seen together at all, and how it ended up being one of the favored stops for a number of celebrities. The author goes through the entire process, speaking about transforming the hotel methodically and in detail, taking readers along with him and his experiences while getting the old building renovated to cater to the needs of a modern traveler. There is not one boring moment in this memoir and the positive narration and outlook make this memoir an encouraging and motivating read. The author's story and experiences are enriching, and the ups and downs of his life and the accolades he received for the hotel and its restaurant will encourage many readers out there to become hotelkeepers.

Reviewed by Jessyca Garcia for Readers' Favorite

Boot Language: A Memoir by Vanya Erickson left me feeling sad. In this memoir, Erickson tells about her childhood. She grew up with an alcoholic father, who seemed to hate her, and a mother who refused to seek medical help for her children due to her religion. It was not an easy life but somehow Erickson got through it. Boot Language is the type of book that makes you look at your own childhood and appreciate what you had. Erickson's story left me feeling unsatisfied. I felt that she too was unsatisfied with how her relationship with her father ended.

My heart hurt for her at how she was treated by her father. I wondered if he treated her badly because somehow she was not his biological daughter. I even thought that her mother would reveal some dark secret during the car ride that they took together. There had to be some reason that she was treated so differently from her siblings. I started off by liking Erickson's mom, but lost all respect for her when she did not handle the stranger touching Erickson improperly. My feelings for her lessened even more with how she treated her children after moving back to the city.

My favorite part of the story was when Erickson finally was able to stand up for herself. I was so proud of her. Overall, I liked this story, even though it left me feeling sad. I am glad that Erickson has had some happiness in her life and was able to have a special bond with horses. I look forward to reading more of her work in the future.

Reviewed by Divine Zape for Readers' Favorite

Freckled: A Memoir of Growing up Wild in Hawaii by TW Neal is a mesmerizing memoir that takes readers on a somewhat hilarious ride through the life of the author raised by hippie surfer parents. Born in 1965, Toby quickly discovers that her hippie parents are more attracted to the waves along the shores of Kauai, Hawaii than settling down and building something stable. Toby’s parents struggle with mental problems and addiction, living from tent to tent, and occasionally returning to Kauai. The narrative is filled with adventure, with beautiful moments, like when Toby catches an octopus with her bare hands. While there are exciting moments in the narrative, she craves a normal life, but can she find a place in conventional society?

Filled with grit, an enduring sense of resilience, and humanity, this narrative explores the limits of human freedom in a unique childhood set against a fascinating landscape. The author captures beautiful images of the setting right from the start, allowing readers to see the world from the eyes of the child she once was. “Sand. Big yellow mountains of sand. So much, and a long way, a giant tabby cat napping in the sun. Mom's holding my hand and I'm naked because we're going swimming...” The writing is atmospheric, laced with insightful commentaries that capture the spirit of the time. The voice has something intriguing about it, a mixture of knowing and naivety that reflects childhood. Freckled: A Memoir of Growing up Wild in Hawaii is a memoir that reads like fiction; the occasional moments of humor combine with the focused writing and the emotional strength of the narrative to make for a great reading experience.

Reviewed by Alice DiNizo for Readers' Favorite

Unmarried Holocaust survivor Sidonia Perlstein immigrated with her toddler daughter, Hanna, to the United States in those years right after the World War. Sidonia settled in Springfield, Massachusetts, in a neighborhood of Jews, many coming as survivors from the Nazi concentration camps. Stoic Sidonia is a highly gifted seamstress and finds work in a local garment factory, supporting herself and Hanna. And author Hanna tells the reader of her mother's often horrific life in a style that resembles the thread being unwound from a spool, slowly but surely.

The book begins as Hanna writes of her life in the United States with her single mother Sidonia who fashions coutoure clothing for Hanna and who, bit by bit, shares with Hanna her enchanted memories of her early life in the village of Damoc, Hungary. Then Hanna points out that what she discovers is not so enchanting. On March 19, 1944, Adolf Eichmann and the Nazis invaded Hungary and began "uncategorized, undefinable madness". Sidonia is the only member of her family that survived the awfulness of being dragged from the nearby Jewish ghetto to Auschwitz, then Dachau, and finally Bergen Belsen where she met the not yet famous Anne Frank. Author Hanna Marcus tells of coming to love her mother, finding out about her young father, delving into the fate of family members and piecing together in sequence her mother's narratives with numerous clear photographs and copies of note books, of lists, and of birth and death certificates. "Sidonia's Thread" is the unravelling and telling of one woman's remarkable survival. It is a highly readable story that is not to be missed.

"Sidonia's Thread" is one of those books that the reader will not be able to put down until the last word is read and the book put aside. The writing is superb and the characters spring to life in the book's pages: Sidonia with her memories, Hanna, the listener, Sidonia's sisters and parents, the neighbors in both the United States and years before, in Hungary. The photographs and photocopies are well-placed and add to this memoir as do the chapter headings taken from Sidonia's Coats and Clark sewing book. In short, "Sidonia's Thread" is a tale worth telling.