Reviewed by Diana Lopez for Readers' Favorite

Singing Woods is a visual experience with the purpose of exciting the senses through deep descriptions and detailed images. The narrative is very precise, describing the land, the air, the scents, the colors, the sounds... everything that makes up a quality realistic setting. The story is set in a forest, and we follow the story of a small mission in a world without equal. With few words and detailed images, we can easily visualize the darkness of the night, or feel the cold of the earth. And with this, we are carried away by the enveloping experiences of the story. Anna Kutishcheva impresses with a simple yet profound story in a mystical world on the edge of reality and fantasy.

Anna Kutishcheva took great care with the content of the book. It has an antique look that I liked very much, the typography is just right, the decorated borders of each page are very detailed, the photographs and images have an air of mysticism, the sober colors give realism to the story and everything combines perfectly. Singing Woods has an original style that allows it to stand out. Anna Kutishcheva likes intricate designs and combines them in a way that looks very natural. The way she narrates the textures of the objects makes it very easy to visualize ourselves in the woods and follow the steps of the story. We can empathize with the narrator's emotions and feel his likes and dislikes alike.

Reviewed by Manik Chaturmutha for Readers' Favorite

The Strength of Silk by Lakysha Laing is a non-fiction story filled with the author's struggles in her life. First, she had to go into foster care and deal with the grief of losing her twin sister. Then, she struggled as a black woman in a male-dominated workplace to make her career. There is a mention of her struggles with cancer as well. The author shows us how trauma and challenging situations can make one grow and become stronger. This book is about her struggle to not let the way her life started and what people said get in her way. This is a story of friendships and family and how the support from both can help you in your time of need.

Some of The Strength of Silk was hard to read as it contained raw suffering and the experience Lakysha Laing went through. However, to see how the trauma shaped her was so satisfying and awe-inspiring. How the author went through her life journey was emotional, shocking, and very well executed. What I liked the most was that the chapters ended with a heart-touching quote. I really liked how she never shied away from telling the hard parts. In the last few chapters, the author showed us that when she was getting chemotherapy and was so tired that she couldn't talk to anyone, she started writing a journal to inform her loved ones; it was so hard and emotional to read. There was an authentic depiction of tiredness and not wanting to get out of bed.

The Strength of Silk is for you if you are looking for a book that shows a person's story, no matter how hard or how happy the times are. This book will be an inspiration and a model of strength for many people going through the same things in their life. If you are a non-fiction reader and like to read autobiographies, this book is for you.

Reviewed by Philip Van Heusen for Readers' Favorite

Mohsen Estesnaei shares his mystical understanding of overcoming poverty. His book—The Depth of Vision: Screw Up Poverty with This Vision—presents the advice of several mystics, especially Rumi, the famous 13th-century Persian poet, and mystic, for those who do not know. Mohsen records a group of conversations between himself and a teenage boy named Amir. While working on his thesis, Mohsen circulated a photograph of a young boy living in poverty. Amir said he saw wealth in the photo. This intrigued Mohsen, so he set up a meeting with Amir to discuss his odd answer. From their series of conversations, Mohsen’s idea of poverty changed, and he wrote this book to share his alternative way of looking at life.

What do you see when you view a picture of children living in poverty? If you are like most people, you see despair and hopelessness. You see the negative underbelly of life. However, in The Depth of Vision: Screw Up Poverty with This Vision, Mohsen Estesnaei shares a different view of poverty. Eastern mysticism is explained in this book. There are quotations from several mystics who tend to look at life from a fresh and different angle. Mohsen had been very concerned about those living in poverty. While this book might not lead to poverty’s demise, it gives a new way of looking at it that makes it more tolerable. The difficulty of life is often the result of how we think about life. Mohsen offers us a way to become one with nature.

Reviewed by Samantha Dewitt (Rivera) for Readers' Favorite

The story of the original Duke and Duchess of Windsor, the former King Edward VIII, is one of utmost love and devotion. It is a story filled with tragedy and yet, with a strong desire never to give up what is most important in life; love. For King Edward VIII, the love and dedication that he had for his country and everything that it desired of him was important, but there was nothing more important than the love he had for Wallis. For her, he was willing to do whatever it took, and she was willing to do anything she could for him as well. But could either of them truly be happy if the king chose to remain as such? Or if she chose to remain in her marriage? The King and Mrs. Simpson by Erin Schulz is where you’ll see the true meaning of love and a willingness to give up all.

This is a story that’s going to make you think again about what love really means. Being willing to give up everything for someone else is one thing, but actually giving it up, especially when what you have to give up is worth so much, can be a different thing altogether. For King Edward VIII, he had more to give up than anyone, but he had such a strong love for Wallis that he was willing and actually did give up the throne. This is their story and it is one where each tries to sacrifice for the other. It’s a story of love, sacrifice, devotion and definitely destiny, but also of proving to the world that nothing is stronger than all of these things in The King and Mrs. Simpson by Erin Schulz.

Reviewed by Emily-Jane Hills Orford for Readers' Favorite

Oh, for the simplicity of childhood, to spend some precious, cherished moments with a best friend. Certainly, the simplicity of childhood in a small town in the 1960s is very different than it is today. No technology, for one thing. And, it’s perfectly safe for two seven-year-old girls to wander around their town unsupervised, talking to people along the way, even escaping the most-feared old lady who sets the dog on them, and picking blackcurrants from Miss Virginia’s bushes, a lady who lives at the edge of town. Simple pleasures, safe activities. In the 1960s, children weren’t afraid of dirt and they knew how to create their own fun. And, these children were industrious, too. Best friends, they want to earn some money to purchase friendship bracelets. Nothing fancy, just a symbol of bonding their friendship forever. But the lady with the blackcurrant bushes teaches them another way to bond, a simpler way using dandelions. Not for wine, though she does make it, but for garlands and necklaces – the best kind of friendship bracelet ever.

Cathy McGough’s short story, Dandelion Wine, is a treasured trip down memory lane, recalling a snapshot moment in her childhood. This is a story that will make you laugh and cry and wish for some of the simpler things that life had to offer for a child in the 1960s. And it didn’t have to cost anything. A valuable lesson is learned in this story, a lesson for readers, too: the best things in life really are free. The two girls didn’t earn their quarters to purchase the much-desired friendship bracelets. Instead, they had an enjoyable time in Miss Virginia’s garden, seeing shapes in the clouds, a face on the house, and beauty all around them. Simple pleasures from a simpler time. A treasured memory.

Reviewed by Darin Godby for Readers' Favorite

In The Little Girl Praying on the Hill, we find a story filled with heartbreak, pain, suffering, as well as joy and peace. Even with all of these various emotions, this little girl is challenged within herself to find her purpose and reason for living. Having a strong and vivid imagination sometimes got her into trouble as she would forget her chores. Her father was a drunk and her mother carried more than her fair share of the load. She longed for a time when her father wouldn't be drunk. He promised her time and again that he wouldn't drink any longer, only to not live up to those promises. She used her imagination as a powerful way to escape the problems of living in her environment, all of the hard work and her drunken father. She would rather live in imaginary castles and lands than the one she was in.

Reaching out to better understand God's will for a little girl's life, we find author Olga D. Agostino taking the reader along a very disturbing trail that shares various emotions and feelings. In The Little Girl Praying on the Hill, there is also the description of a baby sister's death, the beating from a mother and wanting to die herself. This book is filled with sorrow and pain, yet also of how a little girl chooses hope and determines to find a way to make it in a sad and uncaring world. This is a book to encourage the reader that no matter what one's circumstances are, there can be better times ahead.

Reviewed by Jack Magnus for Readers' Favorite

Charm: An Amazing Story of a Little Black Cat is a memoir and tribute to a special cat written and illustrated by Leyla Atke. When she first saw Charm, he was huddled in the middle of heavy traffic. During a brief lull in the traffic, Atke rescued the dirty little kitten and carried him to a safe place. Then she realized he would probably wander off into traffic again and took him home. She bathed him and found, after all the dirt had washed away, that he was a lovely, blue-eyed kitten with sleek, black fur, who grew up into a magnificent black cat.

Leyla Atke's Charm: An Amazing Story of a Little Black Cat is a lovely and evocative tribute to a beloved pet. The story is beautifully told, and the illustrations are masterful; sometimes primitive, sometimes very reminiscent of folk art, but always very powerful. Memoirs of this type can be overblown and excessively sentimental; however, Atke's narrative remains clear and calm, and engaged this reader from the first lines to the concluding words. Atke shows her gift of being first and foremost a storyteller. Her words and art are simple yet imbued with love and expression. This is a special book, and one I would not hesitate to recommend to those who are privileged to share their lives with animal companions as well as those who haven't been...yet. It's really quite a remarkable work and a story I won't be forgetting any time soon.