Coffee, Murder, and a Scone: A Mystic Brew Cafe Novel
Coffee, Murder, and a Scone is a paranormal romance mystery wrapped in the everyday life of Violet Blueblade, a sarcastic, introverted mystic who would rather hide behind a cup of coffee than deal with people. The story follows her quiet routines being shattered when vivid visions begin showing her a dangerously handsome man, murdered women, and her own death. As Violet tries to avoid the stranger who seems woven into her fate, she instead becomes tangled in a real haunting, a string of killings, and the sudden awakening of her nieces’ mystical abilities. What starts small in her cozy café grows into a full-on supernatural murder investigation that tests her gifts, her boundaries, and her heart.
The writing has this unfiltered, candid energy that makes Violet’s voice stand out right from the start. She’s funny without trying to be. She’s blunt in ways that feel real. And she never falls into the stereotypical “mystic woman” trope, which I appreciated. Even when the story plays with paranormal romance expectations, Violet keeps everything grounded through her tired sighs, her love of coffee, and her constant attempts to stay out of the spotlight despite literally seeing the future. The genre mix of paranormal romance and cozy mystery works better than I expected, especially because the author lets Violet’s anxiety, humor, and reluctant hopefulness steer the tone.
The story moves from slow daily life to emotional intensity quickly. The visions are vivid, the stakes high, and Steven walks the line between romantic interest and potential danger in a way that keeps the tension humming. There’s a nice thread about intuition, trust, and the cost of being someone who “sees too much.” The way Violet’s nieces slowly discover their own abilities added warmth and levity. Even the side characters, like chaotic Daisy and ever-present Reggie, bring texture to this small town where magic hides in plain sight. When the murder mystery deepens, the shift toward darker images surprised me, but it felt earned because Violet never stops narrating with that same blend of honesty and exhaustion.
By the end, what stuck with me wasn’t just the plot but Violet herself. She doubts, she jokes, she panics, she cares deeply, even when pretending she doesn’t. The paranormal elements give the book spark, but her relationships give it weight. If you like stories that fuse supernatural suspense with character-driven romance and a dash of cozy small-town charm, this book will land well. Fans of paranormal romance, witchy mysteries, and quirky-voiced narrators will probably enjoy it most. If you’re looking for a reflective, funny, slightly chaotic journey with heart, then pick up Coffee, Murder, and a Scone.
Pages: 254 | ASIN : B0FPQG2F2G
Surviving Cancer: Poetry and Prose
Surviving Cancer is a blend of poems, short reflections, and spiritual notes that trace Frederick Douglas Harper’s journey through cancer, aging, gratitude, and faith. It moves from personal stories about illness and recovery to broader meditations on history, injustice, friendship, love, and the fragile beauty of life. Many pieces are short and direct. Others feel like private conversations caught on the page. Across the book, Harper circles back to survival, divine protection, and a deep belief that life still has purpose for him after cancer, a theme he states openly in his introduction and early poems such as “Cancer: A Sweet-and-Sour Experience” and “God Had My Back.”
Reading this book felt a little like sitting with someone who has lived many lives and refuses to hide what any of them meant. I found myself pulled in by the plainness of the writing. It surprised me how steady and open his voice stayed, even when he talked about pain or fear. I felt that steadiness most in the pieces about his surgery and chemo, where he shares his relief, his gratitude, and even his frustration in simple, almost conversational lines. There was something honest in how he chose clarity over polish. It made me slow down and listen.
What moved me most was how wide he cast his net of concern. On one page, he reflects on his own scars. Next, he is calling America to stand up to injustice, to mourn the Trail of Tears, or to speak softly to someone who feels broken. I felt warmth rising off these pages. I also felt a kind of stubborn hope. There were moments when I wanted the book to push deeper into the contradictions of survival, but even when it didn’t, I could feel Harper’s heart working hard to stay open. That sincerity hit me harder than I expected. It reminded me that writing can be a kind of prayer or maybe a hand held out to strangers.
I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy reflective writing, people who are healing from illness, anyone who leans toward spiritual or faith-colored poetry, and anyone who wants a book that speaks plainly about gratitude and survival without pretending life is perfect. It drifts and circles back, yet that wandering shape fits a man who has lived through fear and come out wanting to share whatever wisdom he has gathered. I felt comforted, and I felt nudged to think more tenderly about my own life.
Pages: 175 | ASIN : B09RSVZ32H
Shiloh – An Act of Compassion Becomes a Prelude to Madness
In a secluded Idaho town, a lonely paramedic saves a wounded wolf only to find it transformed into a mysterious woman cursed to roam the night as a beast. As love binds them and a vengeful farmer closes in, the paramedic is torn between protecting her and protecting his town—until their tragic disappearance leaves behind only unsettling clues and the question of what was real.
The Shape of Angels – The Inventors Book: 1
The Shape of Angels weaves history, myth, trauma, and raw human longing into a story that shifts across centuries and dimensions. The book follows Giovanni Romano, an immortal man haunted by a curse, by love, by illness, and by the people who drift in and out of his impossible lifespan. The narrative swings between past and present, giving readers everything from Napoleon’s youth to supernatural wars in hidden planes of existence. It feels like an epic puzzle, with each chapter offering a new piece that makes the picture stranger and a lot more compelling.
The writing moved between sharp intensity and quiet sorrow. Some scenes felt chaotic in the best way, like being pulled into the mind of a man who never gets a break from the weight of eternity. Other moments slowed down so much that I could feel Giovanni’s loneliness press in on me. The author made bold choices with structure, and while the rapid switches in point of view sometimes left me unsteady, the emotional punch behind them made the journey worth it. The mix of historical detail and supernatural invention blended into something I rarely see pulled off without turning messy. Here, it worked. It felt weird and wild and strangely intimate.
I also found myself wrestling with the characters in a very personal way. Giovanni frustrated me and broke my heart at the same time. Naomi, with all her flaws and stubborn angles, felt alive even when I disliked her choices. The supernatural elements had an eerie physicality that made them feel less like fantasy and more like another kind of truth. The ideas behind the Inventors, their rituals, their burdens, and their power, left me chewing on the meaning of responsibility and the cost of being exceptional. At times, the world-building overwhelmed me, but the emotional core never slipped out of reach. The book surprised me with how much it made me feel for people who are trying so hard to survive a world that keeps demanding too much from them.
The Shape of Angels is not afraid to get dark. I would recommend it to readers who enjoy emotionally heavy stories, intricate worlds, and characters who refuse to be easy. If you like historical fantasy with a modern twist, or tales that explore the messy corners of love, grief, and identity, this book will probably pull you in the same way it pulled me.
Pages: 274 | ASIN : B0FNS1JN8S
The Art and Science of Aviation Instruction
The Art and Science of Aviation Instruction lays out a clear and urgent argument for reinventing how flight instructors teach. The book moves through research, case law, human behavior, assessment strategies, and curriculum design. It blends aviation with lessons from healthcare and other high-risk fields. It also pushes instructors to move away from time-based teaching and toward structured, competency-driven training. Throughout the text, the author ties pilot error, instructional gaps, and weak training standards together into one central message. Safety improves only when instructional quality improves.
While reading, I felt a steady mix of respect and frustration. Respect for the clarity of the author’s thinking. Frustration because so many of the issues he raises feel preventable. The writing is direct, almost clinical at times, yet the message carries a sense of personal urgency. I liked how the author admits that aviation has borrowed too little from other high-stakes industries. His comparisons to surgical education hit hard. They made me think about how casually we sometimes treat pilot training. I also appreciated the blunt stories about CFI turnover and weak instructional habits. They feel honest, and they sting a little, and that is what makes them effective.
The ideas on assessment struck me the most. The book keeps coming back to planning, documenting, and diagnosing learning like an educator rather than just a pilot. The tone gets a bit heavy with academic framing, but the purpose behind it is sound. I found myself nodding when the author described how poor remediation leads to bad habits that follow a pilot into every flight. The discussion of legal cases also stirred something in me. It felt like a wake-up call. Instructors are not just mentors. They are accountable professionals, and the courts treat them that way. Reading those sections made me reflect on how much responsibility sits on a CFI’s shoulders, sometimes without them realizing it.
In the end, I walked away feeling motivated. The book challenges you and asks you to rebuild how you teach. I came out of it believing the aviation community needs more books exactly like this. I would recommend it to CFIs, flight school leaders, and even advanced student pilots who want to understand the deeper purpose of training. Anyone serious about shaping safer pilots will get a lot out of this work.
Pages: 256 | ASIN : B0G32882YT
Dark Agent, The Memoirs of L.W. Kwakou Casselle: Global Service & Sacrifice
Dark Agent follows L. W. Kwakou Casselle from his childhood in Liberia, where he witnessed a coup and the unraveling of a nation, through a turbulent youth in North Las Vegas, into the discipline of military school, then onward to Hampton University, the U.S. Army, and finally a 22-year career with the Diplomatic Security Service. The book moves through war zones, global manhunts, the halls of the White House, and the quiet pain of family sacrifice. What makes the story stand out is not only the danger. It is the deep thread of service that carries Casselle through each chapter of his life.
As I read, I kept feeling pulled in by the writing. It has a clean, straightforward style that makes even the hardest scenes easy to follow, yet the emotion behind those scenes hits with real force. Moments like the armed confrontation in Liberia on the family porch, or his mother walking into a crack house to get her stolen briefcase, feel almost too vivid, and I found myself pausing to let the weight settle. The ideas running through the book are familiar, such as resilience and duty, but they come from such specific lived experience that they feel brand new. The blunt honesty shook me. I liked how the author never tried to polish his past. He simply opened it up and let it breathe.
What also surprised me was how strongly the family story held the whole book together. Casselle writes about his parents, his siblings, and later his own children with a tenderness that sits right beside the scenes of conflict. I felt a real ache when he described the loss of his father, and I felt a sort of quiet pride as he pushed his way through the rough corners of his youth. The book does not try to be symbolic or lofty. It just feels human. And that honesty makes the bigger themes land with more punch. Service feels less like a slogan and more like a lived promise. Sacrifice feels personal instead of abstract.
I found Dark Agent to be a powerful and surprising memoir. I would recommend it to readers who enjoy true stories about grit and growth, as well as those curious about the unseen world of U.S. diplomatic security work. It also fits anyone who likes memoirs that mix pain with hope and still come out standing. The book carries hard truths, but it carries them with heart, and that is what makes it worth reading.
Pages: 332 | ASIN : B0G4SPWJWP
From a hod to an odd EM wave
From a Hod to an Odd EM Wave follows D. A. Weston’s life from a rough start in postwar Britain to a long, winding career in engineering and research. The book moves through building sites, radio repair shops, mental-health research labs, nuclear facilities, and international consulting work. Along the way, Weston meets people who are brilliant, kind, petty, tragic, and sometimes heroic. His memoir mixes personal anecdotes with technical curiosities, plus emotional reflections on war, ethics, science, and the strange places a career can lead. It feels like a tour through the human side of engineering, full of sharp memories and surprising turns.
I found myself pulled in by the plainspoken honesty in his stories. He writes in a way that feels like the reader is sitting across from someone who has lived five lifetimes and is finally ready to talk. Some scenes hit hard. The thalidomide children, the chaotic fights in the lab, the grim humor around radiation work, and the quiet sadness of patients stuck in outdated psychiatric systems. Other parts feel warm and almost nostalgic. His delight in radios and tape recorders, his pride in small technical victories, his awe at mentors who believed in him. At times I laughed, then suddenly felt my stomach drop. The emotional swing made the book feel alive, even when the writing wandered.
The parts that lingered most for me were the stories that touched on moral courage. Rudy’s escape from Auschwitz and his fight to warn the world. The reminders that science is done by flawed people who can steal credit, cut corners, or act with unexpected kindness. Weston never hides his own missteps either. That humility made me trust him more. Sometimes the prose felt abrupt, but I didn’t mind. It matched the way memories surface in real life. The mix of technical curiosity and human vulnerability kept me hooked.
From a hod to an odd EM wave is ideal for readers who enjoy memoirs with grit and candor, especially those curious about science and engineering from the inside. It is raw, personal, and full of feeling. I recommend it to anyone who likes hearing about life told straight from the heart and who does not mind a ride that goes from light to heavy and back again.
Pages: 223 | ASIN : B0G9C9R31N
Easy-To-Use Tactics
Dr. Toad’s Short Book for a Long Memory is a guide that blends humor with practical advice, vivid examples, quirky illustrations, and down-to-earth explanations to show how memory works and how anyone can strengthen it. Why was this an important book for you to write?
Among several reasons, I wanted to be a physician because I receive tremendous satisfaction from helping people with challenges. No longer in clinical practice or teaching, I realized some time ago that everyone—no matter their age—worries about lapses in memory. I knew I could help by offering my simple, easy-to-use tactics.
What is a common misconception you feel people have about memory and learning to improve it?
If you are young, under 40 years old, you worry about looking dumb when you can’t remember someone’s name or phone number. If you are older, you worry about early dementia. A lot of people assume they have a memory problem if they can’t recall everything. Not true! As I describe in my book, forgetting things is common. Good memory does not require brilliance. It only requires a small effort to employ one’s imagination.
Learning to strengthen memory can be overwhelming. What were some ideas that can help readers feel more comfortable with starting this process?
Start with a name you want to memorize. Use your imagination to turn that name into a mental image that is outlandish. If that image makes you laugh, you are on the right track. This may sound silly at first, but it works! Turning one’s wristwatch over and linking it to an item or date is another simple technique.
What is one thing that you hope readers take away from Dr. Toad’s Short Book for a Long Memory?
I hope readers will believe that they truly can improve their memory for things that are important by using the simple, easy-to-understand techniques that anyone can use. They can DO it!
Author Links: GoodReads | LinkedIn | Website | Amazon
Dr. Toad’s Short Book for a Long Memory is the first book in the Dr. Toad series, created to share simple, achievable solutions for the everyday challenges we all face on the path to better health and well-being.
LITERARY TITAN 