Category Archives: Book Reviews
The Hedgewitch’s Charm
The Hedgewitch’s Charm is a fantasy novel that follows a spreading, deadly illness sweeping through Colonodona and the people who are desperate to stop it. We meet Gwendolyn, a young hedgewitch trying and failing to save those brought to her door, and Ipsinki, a duke haunted by the suffering of his people as he races to bring news of the mysterious plague to the king. Their paths eventually converge as both realize this sickness may not be natural at all, but something crafted with intent. The story blends magic, politics, and personal grief into a quest to uncover the living force behind the dying.
I kept pausing at moments where the writing leans into the rawness of helplessness, especially in scenes where Ipsinki stays at a dying friend’s bedside or when Gwendolyn works in suffocating heat, hoping for a miracle that never comes. The author’s choice to place us so close to the emotional burden of failure brings a kind of intimacy to the narrative. It hits harder than expected for a fantasy novel, which usually leans more on adventure than emotional weight. Here, the emotion is the adventure, and I found myself sinking into that more than the worldbuilding at times.
The ideas in the book feel grounded in very human fears: disease you can’t stop, the panic of not knowing the cause, and the sudden realization that the danger might not be random at all. When Gwendolyn senses the illness’s true nature, the tension spikes. It’s the moment where the genre shifts from comforting folk-magic fantasy into something more ominous, and the book seems to say: this world is lovely, yes, but it’s not safe. Still, the writing keeps a warmth to it. There’s grief, but also friendship; fear, but also stubborn hope. The rhythm of the storytelling reflects that. Some sentences snap quick like sparks. Others roll out slowly, the way a person talks when they’re trying to make sense of something that still hurts.
I think the book sits in that space between cozy fantasy and dark fantasy. It’s magic, mystery, and emotional stakes all woven together. I’d recommend The Hedgewitch’s Charm to readers who enjoy character-driven fantasy, especially those who like stories where magic comes with consequences and the heroes are driven less by glory and more by compassion. If you like fantasy that feels personal rather than epic, you’ll enjoy this one.
Pages: 221 | ASIN: B0G67H73RH
My Dad Knows a Superhero
My Dad Knows a Superhero is a sweet little story about a boy named Westin who asks his dad if superheroes are real. Dad says yes, then slowly reveals that the hero he knows is actually Westin’s mom. Page by page, the book shows Mom using all sorts of playful “powers” like super strength, X-ray vision, emotional radar, time-bending, and more. By the end, Westin realizes she really does do everything a superhero would do, and he proudly hands her his cape.
I found myself smiling a lot while reading this. The writing is simple in a warm way that made me think of bedtime stories. It moves fast and stays light, which felt nice. I loved how the powers start out sounding like things a comic book hero would do. Then they slowly shift into everyday mom stuff that feels epic when you look at it through a kid’s eyes.
The idea behind the book hit me harder than I expected. It feels like a hug for moms. It also felt like a reminder for kids that heroics happen in tiny moments. The Emotional Radar bit got me. Mom kneels down to comfort her daughter, and it feels loving and patient. I liked that the book never tries too hard. It just shows these moments and lets you feel them. I kept thinking, this is exactly how kids see their parents when they slow down long enough to notice.
The illustrations use a vibrant and polished digital style. The artist employs soft shading and a bright, saturated color palette to create a welcoming atmosphere, drawing the eye immediately to the emotional interactions. The characters are particularly expressive as well.
I’d recommend this children’s book to young kids and to parents who want a sweet, quick read that sparks some warm feelings. It seems perfect for bedtime. It would also make a cute gift for a mom who needs a little cheer. The whole thing feels cozy and honest, and it made me want to call my own mom and thank her for all the powers she never bragged about.
Pages: 34 | ASIN : B0FVTFLNM6
The Profitable Author: 1,001 Ways to Build a Business You Love Around Your Books
The Profitable Author lays out a huge and lively roadmap for turning a writing life into a real business. The book moves through mindset, marketing, sales, income streams, and the day-to-day actions that keep an author afloat and happy. It mixes tough love with encouragement, and it shows how an author can build a long game instead of hoping for sudden fame. It also pushes the idea that authors can be multipreneurs who stack skills, products, and creative ventures on top of each other. I found myself flipping pages and feeling the book widen the definition of what an author can become.
The writing is direct and warm. It never hides how hard this business can be, yet it never slips into cynicism. Woodhouse talks about overwhelm and disappointment in a way that feels honest. She also pushes readers to think bigger. I liked how she blends practical advice with a kind of grounded optimism. I could feel her long experience in the field. She explains ideas like daily promotional habits, diversified income, and using personal strengths in a voice that feels friendly.
What struck me most was the emotional undercurrent. The book believes in authors. Not in a cheesy way. More like a steady voice saying you can do this if you show up and keep showing up. I loved how she reframes marketing as something flexible and personal. I also liked the sections about commitment. They hit me in that spot where doubt hangs out. The mix of stories, checklists, and bite-sized reflections creates an easy rhythm. I drifted between curiosity and excitement. Still, the tone stays kind. It feels like a mentor talking at the right speed for someone who wants change but does not want to burn out.
I think this book is a strong fit for authors who want to treat their writing as a real business without losing their soul in the process. It is great for beginners who do not know where to start and for mid-career writers who feel stuck. It works for introverts, side hustlers, and people who like having a big menu of choices instead of rigid rules. I would recommend it to anyone who has a book and a dream and finally wants a plan. It left me energized and surprisingly hopeful.
Pages: 510 | ASIN : B0DJV96V29
Identity Crisis: Who Am I, Really?
Identity Crisis blends memoir and spiritual teaching to explore what it means to find your true identity in God. Kelley opens with the raw story of his childhood in foster care, marked by neglect, abandonment, and the hurtful names that shaped how he saw himself. He then walks through his journey as a police officer, a husband, a new believer, and eventually a student of theology, all while learning to trade the labels of his past for the identity Scripture offers. From the early chapters on cultural confusion about identity to later ones on adoption, community, and endurance, the book reads like both a testimony and a guide for anyone asking who they really are.
Kelley’s reflections on trauma, performance, and the old names he carried hit with an honesty that doesn’t try to dress anything up. When he describes sitting in church week after week, slowly realizing God was dismantling the identity he had built on strength and achievement, it feels both vulnerable and relatable. The mix of personal story and teaching creates a rhythm that kept me leaning in rather than feeling preached at. Even when he steps into theological territory, the tone stays grounded in real experience, which helps the ideas land with more weight.
What stood out most to me was the way he keeps circling back to the tension between the world’s noise and God’s steady voice. His chapters on misplaced significance, false labels, and the limitations of self-discovery felt especially timely. The way he writes about social media, comparison, and the cultural pressure to self-construct shows he’s paying attention to the world we actually live in, not just the one inside church walls. His explanation of spiritual adoption later in the book adds depth, giving the reader something solid to hold on to. I appreciated how he acknowledged the slow, sometimes clumsy process of renewing the mind rather than offering a quick fix.
By the end, I felt the book had given me both a mirror and a map. A mirror, because so many of the fears and questions he names are ones most of us carry quietly. And a map because he lays out what it looks like to move from old identities into a new one shaped by faith, community, and Scripture. If you’re drawn to Christian nonfiction that blends story with teaching, or if you’ve ever felt weighed down by the labels life has handed you, this book will likely speak to you.
Pages: 241 | ASIN : B0G1NK5V76
Aries I – The King of Mars
Aries I – The King of Mars tells the story of a father and son who leave behind a life marked by loss to help build humanity’s first permanent colony on Mars. The book follows young Aries Karalis from the trauma of his mother’s death through his relentless training, his complicated bond with his father, and the discovery of his own purpose as the colony faces danger and, ultimately, its fight for independence. The novel grows from a quiet, personal beginning into a full epic about identity, loyalty, survival, and the creation of a new world.
I felt pulled in by the emotional weight of the story more than the science itself. The writing is straightforward and clear, and it avoids getting bogged down in technical talk. Scenes that deal with loss felt raw. The father–son conflict felt honest in a way that caught me off guard. Even when the plot moved into bigger action, the heart of the book stayed centered on relationships and the messy way people try to do the right thing while carrying their grief. I liked that the story never pretended that bravery comes clean or easy. Instead, it showed how fear and love can sit side by side and still push someone forward.
I also enjoyed how the book handled Mars as a place. It didn’t feel cold or distant for long. As the colony grew, the planet became something alive, something worth fighting for, and I found myself rooting for these characters as if I knew them. Some moments felt almost cinematic, like the chants echoing through the colony halls or the quiet scenes of Aries watching the Martian sunset with Skye and their newborn son. Those were the chapters that I really enjoyed. They were simple scenes but full of meaning. If anything, I sometimes wished the prose loosened up a bit more because the emotional parts were strongest then.
The story ties together themes of family, leadership, sacrifice, and the strange hope that comes from starting over. I’d recommend this book to readers who enjoy character-driven sci-fi, especially anyone who likes stories about growth and resilience more than hard mechanics. It’s a great pick for teens, educators, or adults who want a hopeful and heartfelt look at what it might take to build a new world.
Pages: 224 | ASIN : B0FVHQYS3R
BeBe the Not-So- Brave Butterfly
Bravery rarely comes easily to anyone, yet for a butterfly, it can feel almost impossible. BeBe learns this the moment her life as a caterpillar ends and she awakens as something startlingly new. Her brilliant wings captivate her, but they also unsettle her. She now stands apart from everything familiar, and the world, once predictable, feels suddenly immense. Should she embrace this transformed identity and step forward, or retreat and hide? The story lingers on that tension and follows BeBe as she wrestles with the uncertainty of being seen in a shape she barely understands. With the help of friends to cheer her on, she discovers that being a butterfly isn’t nearly as frightening as she imagined and that an even larger world waits for her to explore.
Kimberly Robinson’s BeBe the Not-So-Brave Butterfly offers a gently crafted, warmly illustrated story that celebrates the courage we find when life presents its challenges. Through BeBe’s hesitant journey, young readers witness the emotional terrain of change that is confusing, intimidating, yet rich with the possibility of discovery.
Robinson’s connection to the narrative is unmistakable. After undergoing the discovery and removal of a brain tumor, she endured a long, difficult recovery, an experience that reshaped her life as profoundly as BeBe’s metamorphosis. That personal transformation becomes the book’s emotional engine, and children are the fortunate beneficiaries of the lessons she extracted from her experience.
The result is a genuinely lovely story. Soft, muted illustrations, evocative of gentle watercolor exercises in a youth studio, provide a serene canvas for the tender, economical prose. BeBe, clearly a reflection of Robinson herself, voices her confusion with striking honesty. She no longer recognizes her own form, a sentiment often echoed by those recovering from serious medical trauma.
Books exploring such territory can easily slip into somberness or didacticism, yet Robinson skillfully avoids both. Instead, she offers an uplifting message: change will find us, sometimes abruptly, sometimes painfully, but it need not be feared. In fact, opening our wings to unfamiliar possibilities may lead to joy and meaning far beyond anything we once imagined.
Motion Dazzle: A Memoir of Motherhood, Loss, and Skating on Thin Ice
Motion Dazzle is a memoir about a daughter trying to keep her life steady while everything around her seems to slide in unpredictable directions. The book shifts between her years as a competitive figure skater and the present day as she juggles early motherhood, a marriage, and the slow, heartbreaking decline of her own mother. The chapters move in short, vivid pieces that echo the idea of dazzle camouflage and the incomplete way memory works. What unfolds is a layered story of love, loss, identity, and grit. The author’s voice is warm and sharp at the same time, and the result feels honest in a way that hits straight in the chest.
I was pulled into her world. The skating scenes are full of pressure and sparkle and fear, and Jocelyn Jane Cox writes them with such clarity that I felt like I was watching from the rink boards. The early chapters show her constant push to perform, to smile when she is hurting, to carry herself with poise even when she feels anything but composed. Later, watching her try to shape a first birthday party while her mother is in the hospital had me tensing up in real time. The tiny details of the zebra books, the blue painter’s tape, the quiches cooling on the counter caught me off guard because they were so tender and so fraught at once. I could feel her heart splitting open as she tried to make something lovely for her son while her grief pressed in from the edges.
The portraits of her mother are what stayed with me the most. The way she describes their twenty-year daily phone call, the quiet jokes, the listening, the stories from childhood that finally spill out in fragments. Grief shows up in the book like a tide that rises slowly, then all at once, and I found myself rooting for her to catch her breath. The writing feels bright, then raw, then bright again, and I loved that. It felt real. Not polished grief, but grief that stumbles and snaps and softens. I could feel her longing for more time and her guilt and her fierce love drowning each other out in waves. It made me think about my own family more than I expected.
Motion Dazzle would be a powerful read for anyone who has cared for an aging parent or anyone who has tried to grow a new life at the same time another one is fading. It would also resonate with former athletes or anyone who knows what it means to chase perfection even when it costs more than it gives.
Pages: 273 | ASIN : B0FHF95RKB
Amongst Embers and Ashes
Amongst Embers and Ashes tells the story of Scarlet, a girl raised on an isolated farm who learns she is a pyro elemental. Her quiet life collapses as secrets spill open. She is taken from the only home she has known and thrown into a kingdom where politics, power, and fear swirl around her. The book follows her as she meets the other elementals, discovers the truth behind her past, and feels the weight of a world that both wants and fears her. The tale blends magic, trauma, and coming-of-age moments into a journey that keeps tilting between warm hope and sharp dread.
I felt swept up right away. The writing has this fast pulse to it, almost like Scarlet’s own nerves buzzing under the surface. Scenes crackle with emotion. Little moments hit hard, such as Scarlet lighting her fingertips so she can see in the dark, or the tight, bitter silence that fills the farmhouse during dinner. The dialogue feels natural and messy. People talk over each other. They misunderstand each other. I found that refreshing. The story leans into the confusion of being young and scared, and the author does not tidy it up. Sometimes Scarlet’s thoughts spiral in a way that feels raw and very emotional.
I liked the theme of being labeled dangerous before you even understand who you are. Scarlet’s guilt sits like a stone in her chest, and I could feel its weight while reading. The contrast between her rough farm life and the polished castle made me think about how power works and who gets to feel safe. I also enjoyed the mix of elemental magic with political tension. It gave the world a lot of texture, even in quiet scenes. The pacing is fast, and the energy of the story pulled me along, and I found myself caring more about the characters than the neatness of the plot. That says a lot about how well the emotional core is written.
This book would be great for readers who love character-driven fantasy, especially those who enjoy stories about teens pushed into roles they never asked for. If you like magic mixed with messy feelings, or if you want a tale that hits close to the heart, then Amongst Embers and Ashes is an easy recommendation.
Pages: 362 | ASIN : B0F2ZFDN9W
LITERARY TITAN 