Reviewed by Donna Meredith A memoir centered around a stillbirth hardly sounds as if it could be full of light and spiritually uplifting, but that’s exactly what Katie Joy Duke’s story Still Breathing: My Journey with Love, Loss, and Reinvention (New Degree Press, May 2022) is. Stillbirth is far more prevalent than most realize, affecting […]
“Still Breathing: My Journey with Love, Loss, and Reinvention,” by Katie Joy Duke
May 19, 2022 by Leave a Comment
“Watermark: Poems,” by Jeff Hardin
May 18, 2022 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Claire Hamner Matturro With his newest collection, Watermark: Poems (Madville Publishing April 14, 2022), Jeff Hardin does something different—and he does it exceptionally well. That is, Hardin, an award-winning poet with six prior published collections, creates his own unique poetic structure in the Watermark selections. In this creative style, in addition to his […]
“Crooked Truth,” by Kristine F. Anderson
May 11, 2022 by Leave a Comment
Try Audible Premium Plus and Get Up to Two Free Audiobooks Reviewed by Donna Meredith Crooked Truth, (Mercer University Press, 2020) Kristine F. Anderson’s outstanding debut novel, asks an important question: how much do we owe our family? Must we sacrifice all our hopes and dreams to accommodate them? The complex examination of one family’s […]
May Read of the Month: “In the Lonely Backwater,” by Valerie Nieman
May 4, 2022 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Donna Meredith In the Lonely Backwater (Regal House Publishing, 2022) would be a grand read if it were only a clever psychological mystery or simply a unique coming-of-age story, but Valerie Nieman achieves so much more than that. With gorgeous description and elegant prose, Nieman transforms a North Carolina village and marina into […]
“The Marsh Bird,” by Anne Brooker James
April 27, 2022 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Donna Meredith The Marsh Bird (Koehler Books Publishing, 2021), by Anne Brooker James, effectively uses the novel format to showcase the Gullah Geechee culture of the sea islands along the South Carolina and Georgia coast. The historical package is sweetened by an unusual love story set amidst the horrors of the Jim Crow […]
“Relative Justice,” by Robert Whitlow
April 13, 2022 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Claire Hamner Matturro Best-selling Christian author Robert Whitlow writes a sensitive, thoughtful, and ultimately satisfying legal thriller with his newest novel, Relative Justice (Thomas Nelson, 2022). Relative Justice is sure to please readers who enjoy more emphasis on characters and family than on thriller-style action. Think Jan Karon meets Robert Bailey, with more […]
April Read of the Month: “Family Law,” by Gin Phillips
April 5, 2022 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Adele Annesi Family Law, by novelist Gin Phillips, is a work of historical fiction set in Montgomery, Alabama, from 1979 through 1981. Told from the perspectives of young attorney Lucia Gilbert and budding teen Rachel Morris, Family Law explores the course of two female alter egos on the cusp of change and […]
March Read of the Month: “Old Country Fiddle,” by Heath Dollar
March 17, 2022 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Adam Van Winkle Old Country Fiddle is certainly an appropriate title for Heath Dollar’s new short story collection from Red Dirt Press. Though, those familiar with some of Dollar’s previous stories will recognize the setting, fictional Waylon County, out in the land of the accordion, Texas Hill Country. Those familiar with the Texas […]