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The Guardian’s Legacy
Luciana Cavallaro’s The Guardian’s Legacy opens with an explosive chase through the forests of Slovakia and quickly spirals into a myth-soaked adventure that bridges modern Australia with the ancient world. The novel follows Nikolaos Zosimos, a history teacher whose quiet life takes a dramatic turn when his grandfather reveals a family secret, an ancient coin tied to the goddess Aphrodite, and a lineage of guardians sworn to protect it. What begins as a curious inheritance soon turns into a journey through history, myth, and time itself, weaving ancient Greece, lost knowledge, and family legacy into a single thread of destiny.
I was pulled in from the start. The writing has a cinematic feel, especially in the action scenes. Cavallaro writes with the rhythm of someone who loves myth but also respects the quiet spaces in between, the small human moments that make the big ones matter. The dialogue feels real, not forced, and the relationship between Nik and his grandfather has a tenderness that grounds the story. At times, the pacing slows during long explanations of history, but that’s also part of the charm. You feel like you’re being let in on a secret that’s been whispered through generations.
Emotionally, the book hit me harder than I expected. There’s something deeply moving about watching Nik wrestle with disbelief, responsibility, and faith in something unseen. The blend of myth and realism works better than I thought it would. The coin isn’t just an artifact; it’s a metaphor for memory and heritage, for how the past can live inside the present. Cavallaro’s descriptions are lush, sometimes even poetic, but she keeps her feet on the ground. When the story jumps between modern scenes and the ancient world, it feels seamless. If anything, I wanted even more of those mythic flashbacks.
The Guardian’s Legacy is a book for readers who love mythology but crave a human story at its core. It’s perfect for fans of historical fantasy, teachers who secretly dream of adventure, or anyone who still believes there’s magic hiding in the mundane. It’s thoughtful, heartfelt, and rich with imagination. I’d recommend it to anyone who likes a bit of mystery with their myths and doesn’t mind getting lost in the pull of time itself.
Pages: 152 | ASIN : B09DX41S11
Mental Gymnastics
Dig Two Graves follows a man recently released from prison, armed only with a Bible, rage, and an unresolved history, as he attempts to reclaim his place in the world and regain his respect. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
Two primary inspirations, which I discuss in the Afterword: the Egyptian novelist (and 1988 Nobel Prize winner) Naguib Mahfouz’s short novel from 1961, The Thief and the Dogs, which is set in the aftermath of the 1952 Egyptian Revolution, and living in Southwest Florida, which has undergone its own climatic, cultural, and political upheavals in recent years.
When creating Von Martin, did you have a plan for development and character traits, or did it grow organically as you were writing the story?
Since I was following the plot of The Thief and the Dogs pretty closely, I knew WHAT Von was going to do at every turn. What grew organically, and what interested me enough to actually write the novel in the first place, was that it seemed I knew WHY he would be doing these things, the mental gymnastics he would go through to make each terrible decision seem like the correct one to him. Von’s internal narrative, his voice, carried me through to the end.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
The idea of respect, as opposed to revenge, is huge, obviously. Is respect something you must earn from the people in your life? Or is genuine self-respect a prerequisite?
I’m also fascinated by how I, and many of us, take actions that we are 100% convinced are correct, or righteous, or just, or good, but then these actions have terrible consequences for those around us, and for ourselves. We are often our own worst enemies, and Von is an extreme example of that.
What is the next book that you’re working on, and when can your fans expect it out?
The next book is a dark fantasy titled This Accursèd Blade. It’s the story of a cursed sword, from the sword’s point of view, and is also centered around a strong revenge plot: Illyria is a young woman whose soul has been trapped in this sword, and she is determined to work her way back to the sorcerer who put her there to exact her vengeance. I’m presently editing the manuscript, and hope to have it out by the end of the year.
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Von Martin walks out of prison with nothing—no job, no home, no real plan. His ex-wife has moved on with his former best friend. His daughter doesn’t recognize him. His old boss pretends he doesn’t exist.
Everyone tells him to play it safe. Keep his head down. Stay clean. Rebuild.
But Von knows respect isn’t something you get by asking politely.
What starts as a quest to salvage his dignity quickly spirals into a blood-soaked reckoning through the sultry heat and septic underbelly of Southwest Florida. Brutally funny, cynically violent, blisteringly sunburnt, this is the story of a man fighting to reclaim his place in a world that has long since left him behind.
You probably shouldn’t root for Von Martin.
But you just might anyway.
Defenseless Sea Life
The Tralls of Colum follows two siblings from the Tralldom of Colum, who face challenges tied to environmental changes, friendship, courage, and discovery. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
I was a primary school teacher for many years, and on rainy days, I’d tell my class stories of the tralls and their battles to protect their environment.
I noticed that after a storytelling session, my young audience would become more conscious of their effect on the surroundings and more interested in the local flora and fauna.
So, when I retired from teaching, I decided to publish the stories in the hope of reaching a wider audience
and making more children aware of the ways they could protect their own environments.
What were some ideas that were important for you to personify in your characters?
The Tralls of Colum was written for two of my grandchildren, and the main characters Jai and Emi were fashioned on them. They are often complimented on their co-operation, resourcefulness, perseverance, and tolerance, and I wanted to focus on those characteristics in the hope they would resonate with, and influence, my young readers.
What were some goals you set for yourself as a writer in this book?
I live near the coast, so I often see the deleterious effect that plastic waste is having on our beautiful oceans and our defenseless sea life. I wrote The Tralls of Colum to highlight those problems and make our younger citizens aware of the problems that we will face in the future if we don’t act to rid all our waterways of this dangerous material.
What is the next book that you are working on, and when can your fans expect it to be out?
The Trall Series consists of five published books, and each one revolves around a different environmental problem.
The Tralls of Nindarry – displacement of people due to mining.
The Tralls of Mundi – watercourses, aquifers, lakes, and rivers being diverted or polluted due to mining.
The Tralls of Maruchus – the dangerous effects of fracking on the environment.
The Tralls of Colum – the danger our oceans and sea-life face due to plastic waste.
The Tralls of Nosa – the danger faced by native flora and fauna when invasive species are introduced.
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When Emi overhears her grandfather and two of his chars making plans for them to leave their ancestral lands she is devastated but the next morning a huge island of fresh green kelp and thousands of plump jellyfish miraculously appear off-shore, and she quickly realizes this precious gift from Mother Ocean will change everything.
Emi and Jai are determined to collect as much of the unexpected bounty as they can before the sea creatures devour it all but unfortunately, their dugout is overturned by a mysterious creature. Emi is almost drowned and Jai is lost at sea, and sadly, their exploits were in vain because the kelp and jellyfish are not what they seem. They are an unknown substance that is inedible and very dangerous for all living things.
Eventually, the tralls are forced to leave their beloved tralldom and begin their trek south in search of a new home.
Could this signal the end of the Tralldom of Colum?
The Tralls of Colum is the fourth book in The Trall Series – a collection of environmentally-themed portal fantasies that are set in the Sunshine Coast region of Australia. Each book in the series can be read individually but when read in sequence, they introduce the reader to an enchanting world full of unforgettable characters and locations..
The series is suitable for competent middle-grade readers.
Reputation Is Paramount
Gods of Glenhaven follows a middle-aged couple and their teen daughter trying to navigate a failing marriage and broken family dynamic in a talkative small town. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
I love suburbia for many reasons. What fascinates me most about it is that it seems like the goal is to eliminate as many of the hardships and vicissitudes of life as possible. In the suburbs, you try to capture and keep the good things, while either ignoring or reframing the bad things you can’t manage to avoid. And reputation is paramount — you don’t want to become known as anything other than an upstanding person who loves their job, their children, and their community.
Do you have a favorite scene in this story? One that was especially enjoyable to craft?
I especially enjoyed writing the scene in the Home Depot, which takes place the morning after the Rites of Initiation at the high school. There are seventy naked people slumbering amidst the lumber and wheelbarrows, and a stunned police sergeant has to sort it all out.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
The value of the social contract is the big theme. This is why I needed Gods (who don’t play by the rules) and the potential for humans to have unusual power, which might encourage them to break the terms of the social contract.
Can fans expect to see more releases from you soon? What are you currently working on?
I like to write short comedy pieces — my work has been published in McSweeney’s, Points in Case, Weekly Humorist, and other magazines. I’m doing a lot of that kind of writing while also beginning work on a second novel, entitled Little Dan.
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When Greek gods sweep into the quaint suburban town of Glenhaven to untangle their messy love lives, the helpless mortals don’t stand a chance.
Christian Orr, struggling with work and erectile dysfunction after discovering his wife’s infidelity, has just moved into what his daughter Francesca calls the Divorced Dads Apartment Complex. His high-powered attorney ex, Sloan, is jaded and restless, leaving precocious Francesca caught in the crosscurrents of change.
Enter Dionysus-“Dee”-the god of wine, sex, and questionable decisions, who shows up searching for his estranged wife Ari and their teenage son Maron. After three thousand years of Dee’s antics, Ari has had enough. She’s struck a deal with Zeus to start fresh-as a mortal suburban mom. And what’s more normal than falling for a regular guy like Christian? If only Dee would stop tearing through Glenhaven in his quest to win her back.
Drunk on Dee’s wine, the residents of Glenhaven form chanting covens in the woods, participate in ecstatic rituals, and experience divine revelations-all while Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love” loops faintly in the background of their lives.
Gods of Glenhaven is a hilarious, poignant, and confronting novel about the universal fears and follies of the human condition, and the joy and freedom we can experience by letting go.
Self-Deprecating Humor
Spelled in Ink centers around a gifted but snarky mage on a supernatural heist that suddenly goes wrong. Where did the idea for this novel come from?
Plenty of inspirations for my novels come from my travels. This one was inspired by a trip to the French chateaus of the Loire. We visited both Clos Lucé and Chenonceau, and I found them both so magical that I simply had to write about them. Da Vinci was an amazing person, and the exhibition in the chateau gave me plenty of food for thought. I always have paranormal elements in my novels, and Magical Realism is a thing for me. This one borders on urban fantasy; I simply wanted to have more magic than in my other series, the Magical Misfits Mysteries. I also wanted something faster-paced. Poor Cyn and Dan are almost constantly on the run….
Cyn is such a fantastic main character. What was your inspiration for her traits and dialogue?
I prefer characters who break the mold, that’s why she–while grounded in Europe–isn’t purely of European descent. Fortunately, my kind Indian friends made sure I didn’t introduce any bloopers when it came to the Indian part of her heritage. The voice is typical–or so I’m told. My MCs seem to suffer from self-deprecating humor, are intelligent and resourceful, and that makes for some snappy comebacks. I love writing dialogue. Apparently, it’s one of my strengths, or so I’m told.
What is the most challenging aspect of writing a mystery?
Getting the “trail of breadcrumbs,” i.e., the clues aligned so the ultimate conclusion is not only logical, but the reader also has a chance of working it out for themselves. Getting that right requires a lot of careful planning and mapping. Spelled is also a heist, which means I had another plotline to distract from the murder, but it still had to fit.
Can you give us a glimpse into the next book in the Da Vinci Mysteries? Where will it take readers?
The next one, Cursed out Loud, will take readers to Da Vinci’s home country and even his birthplace – Vinci in Tuscany. This book is stronger on the murder mystery aspect. To get hold of the next part of Vinci’s treatise, Cyn and Dan take part in an oldtimer rally. The winner gets the treatise. Well, that’s the theory. When a rally organizer is murdered, things go sadly pear-shaped… I’ve also been asked about the romance – yes, it develops during the series, and the next instalment makes their attraction very clear. But be warned – I’m anything but linear….
Author Links: GoodReads | Bluesky | Facebook | Website | Amazon
With the goddess Kali’s death curse hanging over her head, dark witch Cyn is running scared.
To get help, Cyn must sell her services to DAFT, a top-shelf supernatural society.
The mission is tricky—find Leonardo da Vinci’s missing formula to protect the witches’ fading psychic powers from modern hi-tech. The last thing she needs is more trouble.
Trouble is what she gets.
Mysterious ongoings at the maestro’s final residence in France throw Cyn’s assignment off track, leaving her with a murdered man, Dan the magic-hating art thief—and a pet tortoise.
Now Cyn and her new criminal sidekick Dan must solve the puzzle and flush out an invisible foe, who might or might not be an undead Da Vinci.
Of course, the killer strikes again.
And misses.
Given their clashing characters, backgrounds, and a slow-burn romance sparking between them, Cyn and Dan are a team forged in hell. But, hey, a little creative chaos can work wonders…
“Spelled in Ink”, the first book in this suspenseful series of paranormal cozy murder mystery and fantasy novels, will keep you laughing—and guessing—right to the very end. If you like witty and strong female characters as written by Janet Evanovich, Kristen Painter, Helen Harper, and Colleen Helme, this short and fast-paced novel will have you rooting for team Cyn and Dan.
And now go up and click Read Now or Buy Now to find out why it’s never a good idea to mess with watersprites!
Soul Reclaimed: Transforming Trauma into Triumph (Classic Paperback Edition) (The Road to Transcendence)
Soul Reclaimed tells the story of pain, healing, and rediscovery. It follows Julie, a young woman whose life is shattered by a violent assault, and Linda, a woman in midlife struggling with emptiness and disillusionment. Through the guidance of a psychologist named Bill, their separate paths converge into one that explores transformation, consciousness, and the reclamation of self. What begins as trauma and despair unfolds into a journey toward awakening. Author Neal Ritter weaves psychology, spirituality, and raw human emotion into a tapestry of stories that ultimately ask what it means to heal, not just survive.
Reading this book stirred something in me. It’s not a light read, not by a long shot. The first chapters, especially Julie’s harrowing experience, left me shaken. The writing doesn’t flinch, and that honesty made me both uncomfortable and grateful. Ritter doesn’t dress pain up; he presents it as it is, ugly, confusing, and real. But beneath the darkness, there’s this persistent flicker of hope. The therapy scenes between Linda, Bill, and later Julie hit close to home. The dialogue feels lived-in, almost like you’re eavesdropping on real sessions. I could feel Ritter’s experience as a clinician in every line. At times, I wished the philosophical passages had breathed a little more, but even when they grew dense, the sincerity kept me turning pages.
I also found myself wrestling with the mix of psychology and mysticism that runs through the book. One moment, we’re deep in clinical supervision; the next, we’re talking about ego dissolution and soul transformation. But it works. The blend feels honest to the messiness of healing, part science, part spirit, all human. The emotional through-line never wavers. I found myself caring about these people, especially Linda and Julie, whose parallel journeys felt like reflections of different stages of one woman’s soul.
Soul Reclaimed isn’t just a story about trauma. It’s about the stubborn light that refuses to go out. I walked away from it feeling unsettled, inspired, and comforted. I’d recommend it to readers who crave depth and don’t shy away from emotional intensity. Therapists, survivors, seekers, and anyone standing on the edge of change will find something here worth holding onto.
Pages: 294 | ASIN : B0FBGMY329
Morgan’s Landing
Linda Griffin’s Morgan’s Landing opens in a small Maryland peninsula town that feels both timeless and uneasy. The story begins with the sudden disappearance of Julie Morgan, one of two identical twin sisters from the town’s wealthiest family. As local police officer Jim Brady leads the investigation, the community’s calm surface ripples with suspicion, guilt, and buried secrets. What starts as a missing-person case grows into a layered exploration of fear, family, and moral grayness. Griffin draws readers into a slow, tense mystery that feels grounded in place and character, not just plot. Every chapter pulls back another curtain, revealing a town that’s anything but sleepy.
I found myself deeply drawn into Griffin’s writing. Her style is clean but textured, the kind that lets scenes breathe. The dialogue feels lived in, and the pacing has a natural rhythm, never rushed. What impressed me most was how she handles emotion. It’s never melodramatic and always relatable. Jim Brady, the detective at the heart of the story, feels real. He’s tired, decent, sometimes unsure, and completely believable. I could feel the weight of the case pressing on him, the strain of being both a cop and a father. Griffin doesn’t write heroes; she writes people. And that, for me, made the story hit harder. The setting itself feels like a character, the fog, the quiet streets, the water’s edge, all of it whispers the kind of secrets small towns keep.
The book’s emotional pull goes beyond the mystery. I kept thinking about the way Griffin looks at truth and guilt. Her characters live in moral gray zones, where even good intentions can twist into harm. At times, I felt frustrated, even angry, at how ordinary cruelty hides behind politeness and routine. But that’s the point. Griffin wants us to sit in that discomfort, to see how easy it is to miss what’s right in front of us. The writing feels empathetic, especially toward the young characters caught in situations they can’t control. I found myself caring about them in a way I didn’t expect.
By the final pages, I wasn’t just thinking about the mystery anymore. I was thinking about how fear changes people, how love and shame can live side by side. I’d recommend Morgan’s Landing to anyone who likes small-town mysteries with heart, readers who appreciate stories about people rather than just plot twists. It’s perfect for those who enjoy Tana French’s slow-burn style or Louise Penny’s quiet intensity.
Pages: 104 | ASIN : B0DZY1YR6V
CRIMSON BLOODLINES The Rise of King Musa Africa’s First Vampire
Crimson Bloodlines tells the story of Emma Woodford, a passionate genealogist whose quest to uncover her family roots leads her to a shocking discovery, she is descended from King Musa I of Mali, the famed ruler of the 14th century. Her curiosity takes her from the quiet hum of city life to the scorching heart of Africa, where history, myth, and horror collide. The story starts like a historical mystery and slowly turns into a supernatural thriller, blending the grandeur of West African history with the dark myth of vampirism. The book pulls readers from scholarly research tables to ancient ruins and secret cities hidden beneath the desert sands, creating an atmosphere thick with tension and wonder.
I didn’t expect a vampire story to weave so neatly into African history, but author Aubin Jack makes it work. His writing has a cinematic feel. You can almost hear the hiss of the desert wind or see the gleam of a gold-encrusted citadel rising from the dunes. At times, the prose is lush and descriptive, even indulgent, which slows the pace but also deepens the mood. I found myself swept up in the worldbuilding, the Tuareg warriors, the sacred baobab trees, the mystery of Old Mali, though I occasionally wished for a tighter focus. Still, the book’s heart beats with genuine curiosity about ancestry, identity, and power. I felt Emma’s excitement, her fear, her awe at discovering she might be part of something ancient and monstrous.
Underneath the fantasy and bloodshed is a sharp commentary on legacy and climate change, a surprising but fitting connection, given the author’s background in public safety and activism. Some passages veer into lecture territory, but they come from a sincere place. What stood out to me most was how human this story feels despite its supernatural premise. The vampire lore isn’t just for thrills; it’s used to explore how power, greed, and immortality twist even noble intentions. By the time King Musa’s transformation unfolds, the horror feels earned. It’s not just about monsters feeding on blood, it’s about humanity feeding on the planet and on each other.
Crimson Bloodlines is part adventure, part history, part warning. I’d recommend it to readers who like their historical fiction with a bite of the supernatural, especially those drawn to African mythology, lost civilizations, or climate-driven allegory.
Pages: 150 | ASIN : B0DTRL2D52
LITERARY TITAN 