Blog Archives
The Book of Oded, Chapter 2
The Book of Oded, Chapter 2 tells the story of a young Israeli man whose life spins through love, identity, migration, and loss. It begins with Oded racing through Tel Aviv to share his green card news with his boyfriend, Gil, and then expands into a rich, heartfelt memoir about how their relationship began, how it grew, and how it changed when HIV entered their lives. The book follows Oded from his army days to his first years in Los Angeles, through joy, heartbreak, separation, friendship, and finally grief and spiritual acceptance. It becomes a story about love that keeps changing shape yet never quite disappears.
The writing feels relaxed and honest, like a friend sitting across from me telling me their story. I loved the humor tucked inside the pain. I laughed at the stories about Na’alei Kvasim slippers and the matching striped shirts at Shabbat dinner, little moments that make the book feel alive. Then the tone shifts and sinks when needed, especially in the phone call that delivers Gil’s diagnosis. I felt myself slow down as the story did, almost holding my breath at times. The simplicity of the writing makes the emotions stand out even more. There is no attempt to impress. It just speaks plainly, and that makes it powerful.
I also found myself moved by how the book tracks what love can become over the years. Oded does not hide the messy parts. He admits the silence, the drifting, the resentment, the guilt. That honesty made me trust him as a narrator. I could feel how love for Gil kept expanding even as their lives pulled apart, and how caring for someone can be both an anchor and a weight. The dream near the end, where Gil appears in white and disappears in a hug, was very emotional. It felt like closure that grew from feeling rather than logic, and I found myself sitting quietly after reading it.
This book feels perfect for anyone who likes real stories told without pretense. If you enjoy memoirs about love, identity, or resilience, you will probably connect with this one. It is also a meaningful read for anyone who has lost someone and is still figuring out what to do with the love that remains. I would happily recommend it.
Pages: 61 | ASIN : B0FVD1N895
Litter Lady Leads: in a Litter-Filled Land
Litter Lady Leads, written by Martha Goldner, is a sweet and simple story about an older woman who cannot stop tidying the world around her. Page after page, she strolls through beaches, parks, trains, ballparks, grocery stores, even windstorms, always scooping up trash with her pointy-tipped cane. Kids adore her. She feeds them cookies, picks up after everyone, donates useful things to people in need, and somehow keeps going even when she is tired. By the end, the kids learn to help her clean, and the whole picture book wraps up with a cheerful idea that we can all make the world a brighter place.
I found the whole book very charming. The writing is short and punchy, which fits a children’s book, but it still gave me little bursts of feeling. I kept smiling because Litter Lady is drawn with this stern face that kind of hides how soft-hearted she is. The pictures on the pages add a funny mood, too. They are colorful, a bit messy, and that rough style works because the story is about mess itself. It made me feel like the book was hand-colored with real love.
I also caught myself thinking about the book’s message more than I expected. It is simple. It is repetitive. Yet it got to me because I know people like her–people who clean up without asking for thanks and who make small corners of the world better just because they care. When the kids finally asked if they could help, I felt a tiny lump in my throat. Her not having cookies for them at the bus stop made me worry about her as if she were my own neighbor. This book surprised me with how much heart it carries in so few words.
I would recommend Litter Lady Leads in a Litter-filled Land to young kids, early readers, teachers, and anyone who wants a gentle story about kindness and caring for your community. It is simple in the best way. It is warm and sweet and gives a little nudge to be helpful. If you like picture books that mix humor with a feel-good lesson, this one will certainly make you smile.
Pages: 32 | ASIN : B0CZ6SRBTZ
Inner Enlightenment
Blessings Abound is a short, sweet inspirational guide designed to help readers stop and take notice of the blessings already in their lives and how to identify them. Why was this an important book for you to write?
Blessings Abound takes the reader to a deeper level of gratitude that benefits them and the surrounding world they live in. More than just saying thank you for gifts received, it opens the door to a deeper appreciation for friends, family, and blessings we too often take for granted. A grateful person focuses on goodness, and goodness is what God is all about. The more we focus on appreciating goodness, the more goodness we receive. The more goodness we receive, the more we feel loved.
What were some ideas that were important for you to share in this book?
The secrets of the universe that evoke a sense of wonder and curiosity.
All life is interconnected.
Profound truths carried down through the ages.
Sacred spaces of quiet exist with vast reservoirs of wisdom.
New pathways to inner enlightenment can be found through gratitude.
What advice do you have for readers who want to shift their mindset from complaining to appreciating but struggle with making the first step?
Reading opens our minds to new worlds.
Understanding is the capacity to interpret, feel, and experience.
Love is the ultimate pathway.
Find one thing a day to be grateful for. To appreciate is to love.
What is one thing that you hope readers take away from Blessings Abound?
Life is a privilege, a precious journey, and a blessing. Blessings Abound has the potential to inspire everyone to see everything in a new light of love and understanding.
Author Links: GoodReads | Amazon
With this book, Katherine Scherer and Eileen Bodoh serve as our guides to revealing them, glorifying them, and super-charging them. Drawing upon inner experiences and wisdom, from ancient and contemporary sources, including Native American lore and the Christian Bible, and from a diverse selection of many who have gone before such as Wordsworth, Thoreau, Whitman, Tagore, and others, the authors guide readers as they embark on a journey to discover and appreciate their own inner and outer blessings. With a connection to spirit and their personal divinity, Katherine and Eileen empower readers with the truth, magic, peace, and gratitude inherent in the words.
Discover blessings in human and divine love, in unassumed places, in the natural world, in music, and in our everyday lives. The power and awe of blessings comes forth in waves as the book allows us to realize the unlimited nature of all that we encounter, even aspects of our lives we may think of as painful or trite.
Move away from the mundane if only for a few moments as you read these passages and learn to appreciate the joy that all of our blessings contain and proliferate.
Blessings Abound does that for you.
A Clean Slate
A Mother’s Promise follows a fed-up thirteen-year-old boy who runs away after his mom’s partner starts drinking again, and witnesses a brutal attack on a helpless stranger, where he steps in to help. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
I always wanted to write a story that combined both magical, fantastical elements with real-life, everyday occurrences that a lot of families experience around Christmas. I wanted to show the harsh truth that leaving a volatile relationship like that is extremely difficult for some people, but with enough courage, it can be done.
Grace and Dylan are both looking for a Christmas miracle and find it in different ways. What were some of the emotional and moral guidelines you followed when developing your characters?
Throughout my life, I grew up knowing friends who are in the same position as Grace and Dylan. There are female friends of mine who wanted to remain loyal to a very flawed partner who, only when circumstances become dire, they see as very selfish. I wanted to keep the story grounded within reason and make the fantastical scenes feel a bit more real.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
Hmm…that’s a tough one to answer because there were a lot. I guess if I were to narrow it down, the main themes were: the courage to do what’s right and knowing when to leave a bad situation. So courage, forgiveness, and redemption. Forgiveness is very important around Christmas time because nobody knows how much time we have left on Earth. So the one question I always ask is: do you want to leave here bearing a grudge and have others hating you? Or do you want to leave here with a clean slate and a clear conscience?
What is the next book that you are working on, and when can your fans expect it to be out?
The next book I’m getting ready is the final, action-packed book in the YA horror series, The Hopps Town Quadrilogy. That will be released in April 2026. Then I’m finishing, When Worlds Collide, the third book in my YA epic fantasy series, The Zargothian Saga. There are a number of screenplay scripts I’m working on, as well as making AI movies. So 2026 will be pretty busy, but I’m very grateful to be able to do all these wonderful things.
Author Links: GoodReads | X (Twitter) | Facebook | Website | Amazon
Dylan Sanchez used to love Christmas. But for the last three years, the holidays have been anything but festive. Like clockwork, Greg – his mother’s partner – gets intoxicated and spirals from awkward jokes to tense, needling arguments that drain the joy from the season. Every year, his mother says it’ll be different. Every year it isn’t. When Greg slips back into old habits just days before yet another Christmas, Dylan can’t take it anymore. He grabs his coat and walks out, leaving behind the wreckage of promises too thin to stand on.
But when he witnesses a brutal attack on a helpless stranger out in the dark streets, his split-second choice to intervene sets off a chain of events unlike anything he could have imagined — something that’s nothing short of a Christmas miracle.
Sometimes, a thirteen-year-old boy’s fierce heart is exactly what the world needs to remember the true meaning of Christmas.
The Solar Current Is Nuptially Tuned
Thomas M. Miovas, Jr.’s The Solar Current Is Nuptially Tuned is a lively, old-school science fiction adventure filled with invention, romance, and a touch of satire. The story follows Spencer Harling, a fiery engineer exiled from Lunar Industries who discovers that the so-called “alien ship” that crashes on the Moon is not an alien vessel at all; it’s piloted by his lost love, Adrian Lunar, the daughter of his former employer. What starts as a mysterious space exploration tale becomes a heartfelt reunion between two brilliant minds who combine science, love, and courage to outwit bureaucracy and rediscover their shared purpose. It’s an inventive mix of hard science fiction and playful romance, framed within the optimism of human ingenuity.
Reading this book, I felt like I’d stepped into a retro sci-fi movie from the golden age of the genre. The writing has that earnest energy, long paragraphs that brim with ideas, characters who speak in grand tones, and technology that’s both ambitious and oddly personal. Spencer is a classic idealist, the kind of scientist who believes knowledge and reason can solve anything, and I found that sincerity refreshing. Miovas has a knack for building tension in quiet moments, especially when Spencer debates the nature of communication and consciousness. The reunion with Adrian felt a little melodramatic, but in a way that fit the tone, like a satisfying reveal in an old pulp serial. The story’s heart lies in its belief that exploration, both scientific and emotional, is what makes life meaningful.
Some exchanges between characters feel a bit formal, which adds a unique charm. It is worth noting that the exposition can sometimes be heavy, but there’s also charm in that thoroughness. I could tell Miovas cares deeply about the science and the philosophy behind his fiction. I liked that the story wrestles with moral ideas, authority versus curiosity, fear versus discovery, and even what it means to be human when faced with the unknown. Beneath the space battles and romance, there’s a clear message about individual thought and integrity.
I’d recommend The Solar Current Is Nuptially Tuned to readers who love classic sci-fi with a philosophical edge, or anyone who appreciates a bit of romance mixed into their cosmic adventure. It’s a thoughtful and imaginative ride through human ideals and relationships. If you enjoy stories where love, reason, and invention all share the same orbit, this one will feel like a rare find.
Pages: 38 | ASIN : B0BRGCQBMR
What We Hold No Longer
Aaron Gedaliah’s What We Hold No Longer is a collection of poems that circle around memory, aging, identity, and the haunting void that lies beneath it all. The book moves through phases of transformation, wrestles with the Lacanian “Thing,” looks at the unraveling of society, and then slips into reflections on love, loss, desire, and imperfection. It blends the deeply personal with the philosophical, balancing childhood recollections with meditations on mortality, politics, and the quiet strangeness of being human.
Some of the poems struck like sudden jolts. They’re raw, unfiltered emotions that left me uneasy in the best way. Others drifted, slow and lyrical, catching on the edges of memory. Gedaliah doesn’t shy away from pain, whether it’s private grief or public horrors, and I respected that. I thought the psychoanalytic undertones and references added a fascinating depth to the collection. They gave the poems a layered richness that invited me to think as much as feel. What made the book especially strong, though, was the way those ideas blended with moments of plain vulnerability. The balance between theory and raw emotion kept the work dynamic, and the times when the language leaned into honesty and looseness stood out all the more because of that contrast.
The book feels like someone holding a mirror up to both his own past and the chaos of the present world. He talks about adolescence with brutal honesty, aging with rueful wit, and political violence with fury. I connected with the tenderness in “Birds on a String,” the ache in “Paradise Lost,” and the weary warning of “When the Shelves Are Empty.” There’s something relatable in the way he lets contradictions live side by side, rage and love, despair and beauty, the personal and the universal. It made me stop more than once and just sit with my own ghosts.
I’d say What We Hold No Longer is best for readers who like poetry that wrestles hard with ideas yet still finds room for confession and story. It would suit anyone interested in memory, loss, or the philosophical edges of spirituality.
Pages: 85 | ASIN : B0FPG8MLQ9
What If?
Waiting for Them to Come Back follows a boy growing up in a home filled with abuse and searching for love and comfort, only to be left yearning. Where did the idea for this story come from, and how did it develop over time?
I had thought about ‘what if.’ The question was ‘What if my siblings and I stopped talking to my mother?’ This is where the idea came to be, where I thought about that terrible thought over and over again. And imagined my mother looking out the window, waiting for her children to come home.
I knew I didn’t want a happy ending. I want to show that this is a reality for many people, for whatever reason. Life isn’t full of promises and happiness.
What are some things that you find interesting about the human condition that you think make for great fiction?
I think our selfishness and our ability to hurt one another are both fascinating and terrifying. What makes us human is what makes us inhuman too, for example: stubbornness, where we often learn the lesson the hard way. Pain is often a good place to start a great fiction, too.
What themes were particularly important for you to explore in this book?
Pain is a good theme for this book. Physical pain and emotional pain are what Walter experienced throughout the book. And then It was his mother’s turn.
What is the next book that you are working on, and when will it be available?
I’m working on this sci-fi (which is a departure from my first book, drama) called ‘Revenge In The Hospital.’ Hopefully, it will be available in August 2026.
Author Links: Facebook | Website
Waiting For Them to Come Back
The writing is raw, unfiltered, and relentless. The way Finley captures Walter’s inner turmoil feels painfully real. I could almost hear the silence in the house, the beatings, the slammed doors, and the endless need for comfort that never came. The style is unpolished in the best way. Sentences are jagged, like thoughts gasped out between sobs. I realized it mirrored Walter’s spiraling mind. The story doesn’t offer relief or lightness, and at times, I found myself desperate to look away. But the honesty kept me glued.
What hit me hardest were the moments of yearning. Walter wanting to laugh at dinner. Walter staring at his sister’s shoes, wishing she would speak. Walter clutching a dirty tissue from a kind police officer like it was gold. Those small details broke me more than the violent scenes. I’ll be honest, the mother’s perspective in the later part of the book stirred complicated feelings. I wanted to hate her fully, yet Finley doesn’t let you take the easy way out. Her regrets arrive too late, and they don’t erase what she’s done, but they force you to face the complexity of cruelty born out of misery. It left me unsettled, and I think that’s exactly the point.
By the end, I sat with a heavy chest, not knowing if I felt sad, angry, or just hollow. This isn’t a book for someone looking for comfort or escapism. It’s a story for readers who want to stare straight into the messy reality of trauma and what it does to families. If you can stomach the pain and you’re willing to walk alongside Walter in all his despair and fragile hope, then this book will stay with you long after you close it.
Pages: 42 | ASIN : B0F2GCS2LR
LITERARY TITAN 