Happy Holidays! If you’re like me, you enjoy snuggling up with a good book and a hot chocolate (or a glass of wine?) on chilly winter evenings. Below, I’ve listed several excellent books I read this year. You might enjoy them, too–or maybe you can gift someone on your shopping list. Links are live, so just click on the book titles above the cover images to be directed to Amazon. Happy reading!
“Rat Town Blues: Slag Ferguson, Book One,” By Brian Kaufman
Rat Town Blues is a noir mystery that, according to Prairies Book Review, “plunges into the murky depths of corruption and moral ambiguity.” Mark “Slag” Ferguson is a former boxer and bartender who pursues a career as an unlicensed private investigator. Along the way, he discovers that people are not always who they appear to be, and sometimes there’s a price to pay when trying to do the right thing. With realistic characters and spot-on dialogue, Kaufman delivers a book that leaves readers anxious for the second in this series. Coming next year!
“In the Realm of Ash and Sorrow,” by Kenneth Harmon
In the Realm of Ash and Sorrow is a beautifully written work of literary fiction that immerses the reader in gorgeous descriptions and deep character development. When the spirit of an American airman befriends a Japanese woman and her daughter in the days before the Hiroshima bomb, he races against time to save the ones he loves the most. A unique book that pulls at heartstrings and raises questions about morality, mortality, and meaning.
“A Time of Your Choosing,” by Gordon MacKinney
In A Time of Your Choosing, author MacKinney takes readers into the near future when people are given the power to choose—at the age of 81—if they want to end their lives. When a renowned academic “proves” life after death, a counter group argues that adults of any age deserve that right. This well-written novel offers readers numerous thought-provoking questions of consciousness, empowerment, and the search for meaning in this life, and maybe beyond.
“Beautiful & Terrible Things,” by S. M. Stevens
Beautiful and Terrible Things offers a compelling portrait of modern America…with its vibrant culture and rampant social issues. Stevens takes readers into the intricacies of self-acceptance and friendship, all the while reminding us of the importance of bending to embrace those we love, including ourselves. At once enlightening and entertaining, this novel also reminds us that the family we choose has the power to validate, destroy, transform, and save lives.
“Analyzing the Prescotts,” by Dawn Reno Langley
Analyzing the Prescotts is a story about evolution and empowerment. When Hayden Prescott embraces his decision to live life as a woman, his wife and three children are thrown into an emotional storm that leaves them all questioning the nature of identity, family, and love. Dr. Cotton Barnes, a happily married psychologist, signs on to treat the family and simultaneously faces her own demons.
“Death Grip,” by Travis Tougaw
In this fourth book in the Marcotte and Collins Investigative Thrillers series, Tougaw pulls his well-developed characters together to solve a kidnapping with personal ties to one member of their team. It’s a race against the clock, and along the way, they discover that the villain has kidnapped—and killed—before. The case-solving techniques are intriguing, and the author throws in just enough red herrings to keep you guessing. All four of the books in this series are fast-paced and fun. “Captives” and “Death Grip” are my favorites. See which ones you like best.
Made with love by structure & heart studios
"Forks & Knives" was born as part of a long journal entry, a cathartic release. In 2003, despite being happily married to my second husband, insomnia visited me regularly. My brain pushed and pulled, working through hurtful and confusing memories that defined the rocky journey of my first marriage and its ultimate demise. The finished document sat inside my computer, unread, for seventeen years.
When I retired in 2021, I revisited the document, hesitantly. “Is this worth reworking into a novel? Would anyone care about this?” I asked my best friend, my husband Stephen, to read it. Bonus for me: He taught American literature for more than twenty-five years (!), so I knew I could trust his opinion. Happily, he confirmed, “Yes, it’s good. You should work on it.” Then he introduced me to Brian Kaufman (www.authorbriankaufman.com) and Penpointers, the Northern Colorado writer’s group that Stephen had belonged to years before I met him. Over the next year and a half, my self-focused monologue transformed into a work of fiction that would appeal to people outside my immediate circle of friends and family. At least that’s my hope.
Whenever I mention what this book is about, I'm invariably met with, "Yeah, my mom was a drinker," or "My son was sober for a while, but . . ." There are millions of stories like mine out there -- people who have loved/lived with alcoholics/addicts and struggled to hold on through the pain. But there are ways we can help and support those we love without losing ourselves. This novel alone can't help those still working through those dark days, but maybe some of the resources here can play a role.
