Keely Brooke Keith New Uncharted story

 

Uncharted Mercy

Keely Brooke Keith
Edenbrooke Press, January 1, 2025
Print, 224 pp $17.99
Ebook $6.99
Hardcover $23.99

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About the Book:
Lonely bachelor Noah Vestal longs for a family of his own. His inherited farmhouse feels empty, and working the expansive orchard doesn’t keep his mind off his life in America before being shipwrecked on the Land. When he learns the lovely widow next door is being pressured to marry a man she’s never met and to leave her son behind, he offers to marry her. She could have a home and keep both of her children, and he could fill the orchard house with the family he longs for. But when Noah’s inheritance is contested by someone claiming to be the orchard’s rightful heir, he stands to lose everything—including his new family.

Bette Owens has made the best of things since losing her husband three years ago, but now her forceful in-laws want rid of her. When they persuade her parents to help separate her from her son, she has nowhere to turn but to the generous bachelor next door. She has always admired Noah and misses the protection and companionship of having a husband, so when Noah proposes a quick marriage, it seems like a wise remedy. Just when her children are settling into their new home—and love between Bette and Noah seems possible—she discovers Noah isn’t who he says he is.
While the Good Springs elder council becomes judge and jury over the orchard’s ownership, Noah’s dreams of supporting a family and being part of a community slip away. And as Bette’s friends side against her, she finds herself in an unimaginable fight for her family—and for love.
Can their marriage of convenience withstand the battle for inheritance, family, and love?

My review:
Keith settles deeper into her role of great story-teller with her fourteenth book in the Uncharted series. I have often longed for steeper conflict to propel her stories, and she fulfills my wishes in Uncharted Mercy. There isn’t much I can add to the cover copy. The story in a nutshell is that characters we’ve met earlier, Noah clinging to his values with all his might, and his sister Caroline’s pet project and friend next door, Bette and her kids who are getting a total bum rap from her inlaws, finally get story. They both know they can make a relationship work, given time, which they don’t have. It’s not really a marriage of convenience story so much as a “two are better than one” story when facing a brutal series of bullies, no less the established societal expectations of legalism over practicality in the Land. The interesting twist playing out is that in this male-dominated culture, a particularly cruel woman is dealing the hand.

Hidden love, great secrets, deeply held promises, misinterpretation of laws meant to guide society—all of which Keith uses to great value in her circle of tales about a Brigadoon civilization hidden from the evils of the world by a mist that clears for a brief window each year. Well done. Fans of the series will certainly enjoy this latest addition. Readers of inspirational fiction, not exactly historical but set amid a greater dystopian and unseen world, should check out the series.

About the Author:
Keely Brooke Keith is the author of the beloved Uncharted series. Her books are best described as inspirational frontier-style fiction with a slight sci-fi twist.

Born in St. Joseph, Missouri, Keely was a tree-climbing, baseball-loving 80s kid. When she isn't writing, Keely enjoys teaching home school lessons and playing bass guitar. Keely, her husband, and their daughter live on a hilltop south of Nashville, Tennessee, where she dreams up stories about a hidden land.

 

New from Kimberley Payne Grand Faith

 

Grand Faith: Words of Wisdom to Leave a Spiritual Legacy

Kimberley Payne

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Do you want to raise a godly generation and help your grandchildren grow in faith? Discover the wisdom and testimonies of Christian grandmothers who are passing on the love of God to the next generation.

Grand Faith brings together 25 inspiring interviews with grandmothers who are actively nurturing their grandchildren’s spiritual lives. Whether through prayer, teaching, or leading by example, these grandmothers demonstrate how intentional faith can transform not just their lives but also the lives of their grandchildren.

Compiled by Kimberley Payne, this heartfelt collection showcases the powerful role of grandmothers in shaping the faith of future generations.

In Grand Faith, you'll discover:

• Practical ways to intentionally pass on your faith to the next generation
• Different approaches to being a spiritual guide for your grandchildren
• Insights on how to make your walk with Christ a lasting legacy
• Encouragement for grandmothers to be spiritual mentors in their families

My Review:

Kimberley Payne’s latest addition to her lengthy repertoire of bite-size live-by-faith books, Grand Faith: Words of Wisdom to Leave a Spiritual Legacy, come from her experience of becoming a grandmother. She wanted to model her faith for her grandchildren, and reached out to other grandparents for inspiration.
 
With twenty-five interviewees responded to several questions about how they raised their own children, advice, caution, activities, favorite Bible verse and prayer.
 
Payne’s book is both a spiritual how-to and a call to action. She asks her readers to respond to her book and share your own grandparenting stories; to “create a community of wisdom and support.” What a wonderful rallying call.
 
My favorite pearls of wisdom include read God’s word with your biological or “adopted” grands especially age-appropriate Bible versions, pray with and for them constantly; always encourage them. don’t pretend you know everything, and realize you can’t be perfect.
 
One thing I missed was how the author chose these participants. Nevertheless, it’s a great group of special, inspiring women from Canada and the US who offer guidance and enthusiastic support for grandparents everywhere to lead a life worthy of our calling. The author includes a chart of favorite Bible verses and pages of resources to follow up. Grand Faith is a grand addition to your arsenal of faith. I believe parents and future parents would also find much to learn from in the pages.

New poetry collection from Megan Muthupandiyan

 

Review of Of the Earth and Other Desires by Megan Muthupandiyan
League of Minnesota Poets ,February 2024, 58 pp.
$4.99 ebook
$11.95 paper
 
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About the book: With poems that arise at the intersection among phenological study, place, and memory, Of the Earth and Other Desires celebrates the locus poetica of our land communities and explores what they have to teach those who move through them about desire. This volume was awarded the John Rezmerski Manuscript Prize in 2023 by the League of Minnesota Poets.

My Review

Deeply Emotive Cycle of Life Collection

The first time I read through this amazing collection of poetry, I read with an electronic dictionary. The use of Latin names of the poem’s subjects and geographical map points made each poem even more mysterious. I wanted to unravel those mysteries and read them over, taking delight when some point hit home for me in a different way with a fresh read. From Muthupandiyan’s subtitle of A Poet’s Phenology to the last line of the last poem, “I am here,” I was drawn into her cycle of natural phenomena. I enjoy poetry but admit that I am not experienced enough to know form, so I cannot speak to style, but I can speak to lyricism, and reaction—especially reaction.

The act of blinking away the feeling that I’ve been somewhere else came across strongly when I got to “Visiting the Chicago Board of Trade.” I felt as though I was standing there, looking up at the ceiling, where the art deco windows “exploded like sun rays.” The reward, truly, was coming back to the floor and closing my mouth. Beginning in January, the author takes the reader through the seasonal meanderings of the changes that take place in the northern hemisphere, the Midwest, mostly around 42-45 degrees north; mostly 88 degrees west with occasional slides to 112 (Utah/Arizona) and to 9 (Spain). “The world is everything, and nothing more,” we read and then move into maple buds that “season the blush bower of winter.” Using lovely imagery, we see that braiding of compost and soil the farmers create in spring, to the background blend of sandhill cranes.

Leading the reader along the furrows of humanity—family—friendship—echoing the creation, we watch a child grow and leave home, and of visiting another landscape with its own traditions, to a land where slot canyons were carved by force and brightly burnished. By high summer Muthupandiyan slices into varieties of knowledge: do we teach relationships as well as identify the differences of malus domestica in “The Same Fruit”? I enjoyed connecting our simple cinquefoil to “a clockwork of forks winding up the lichened basalt” in “A Dance of Darwinian Proportions.” You’ll want to watch the deer slide into shadow, “touch the wild carrots steeped in winter,” and contemplate our world, our home.

Over half of these poems have appeared in other recent poetry journals. The author has won numerous awards, and self-defines as a “pilgrim, poet, and public humanities scholar who is most at home…walking the world.” Her astute observations segue naturally into engaging interpretive rhythms of language. The thinking poetry lover, those unafraid to explore a different encounter with the natural world in its primal iteration, those who soak up poetry and revel in lush combinations of descriptors, will fall in love with Of the Earth and Other Desires.

About the Author: Meg Muthupandiyan is a pilgrim poet, most at home when she is walking the world. The founding director of Poetry in the Parks public humanities project, much of her creative enterprise as an illustrator, essayist, and poet celebrates how individuals' participation in their land communities fosters their ecological consciousness.

 

New Inspy Romance from Barbara Britton

 

Escape to Whispering Creek

Barbara Britton

White Rose Publishing
September, 2024, 256 pages
$5.99 ebook
$16.99 print
 
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About the Book

Can a gregarious office manager and rehabilitating business owner find love while fighting accusations of white-collar crime?

Emma Uranova enjoys her office job until her boss disappears with the investors' money. To avoid the media storm and false accusations, Emma flees to Whispering Creek, Tennessee to live on her best friend' s secluded property. When a temporary position opens up in Nashville, Emma leaves small-town anonymity to pad her depleted bank account. With a handsome new boss and a steady income, Emma believes life is looking up... until she discovers she has transported the scandal in her backpack. Where is God when her life is falling apart?

Wade Donoven is recuperating from a crash that sidelined him from the family electrical business. Worse yet, his prodigal younger brother is getting the glory for Wade' s accomplishments. Desperation, and physical setbacks, have him agreeing to let Emma help him manage the business office. But when trouble follows her to his doorstep, Wade must make some difficult choices. Sending Emma back to Whispering Creek may unknowingly place the woman he's come to love in danger.

My Review

This delightful second story following characters from Christmas at Whispering Creek is a nice and easy inspy read. Britton adds an elements of danger and suspense to her romance when her innocent and eager Emma learns her perfect career choice isn’t so perfect after all, and she flees notoriety in Wisconsin for her friend Sam’s refuge in Whispering Creek, Tennessee. It turns out that notoriety isn’t all she’s running from.

Emma had invested all of her funds in her new boss’s senior living development project. She’s left with nothing when the project was merely a front for criminal activity. When Sam and her boyfriend Cole offer Emma a temporary respite in Nashville to visit Cole’s family, Sam finds new purpose in helping Cole’s family with fill-in office work for the family business. Trouble is, the job comes with a surly older brother recovering from injuries that have sidelined him, and he has a huge chip on his injured shoulder, among a host of other resentments stemming from prodigal son syndrome. Is it worth it for Emma to deal with him just to hide out while her name and bank account recover from a bad situation? As Wade thaws enough to accept some help in his physical recovery, his emotional recovery also allow room to let Emma’s bubbly personality and utter faith coax him into a happier and more positive state of mind. When Emma’s past catches up to her a week later, they must decide to stand together or divide and conquer.

 Britton’s characters are sweet and loving, dealing with challenges realistically. I enjoyed the setting and the unwavering faith elements as the romance grew. Those who enjoy sweet romances with a touch of danger will certainly like this story from Whispering Creek.

About the Author

Barbara M. Britton lives in Southeast Wisconsin and loves the snow—when it accumulates under three inches. Barbara writes romantic adventures for teens and adults in the Christian fiction and mainstream markets. She is published in Biblical fiction and enjoys bringing little-known Bible characters to light in her stories. She also writes historical and contemporary romance. Barbara is a member of the American Christian Fiction Writers, the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and Romance Writers of America. She has a nutrition degree from Baylor University but loves to dip healthy strawberries in chocolate. You can follow her on Facebook and Twitter and instagram. http://www.barbarambritton.com

New political thriller from Robb Grindstaff

 

Bones of Dead Man’s Bluff
Robb Grindstaff
Evolved Publishing, August 2024
Fiction, 260 pp
$5.99 ebook, $16.99 print

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About the Book
Even the most powerful men can't prevent dark secrets of the past from washing ashore.

Worth Sullivan is the celebrity pastor of the globally renowned Harvest Fields megachurch. Kirk Madison is an esteemed former US Army general and popular US senator. Both men came from humble beginnings in the Ozarks, but today are highly successful beacons of hope and leadership in a nation torn apart by political and social divisions. Then Kirk announces he's running for president.

Decades earlier, Worth and Kirk witnessed the death of a young girl and agreed to never speak of it. While Kirk seems to have made his peace, Worth still dreams of the dead girl every night. The deep forensics of presidential campaigns makes it likely this indiscretion will soon come to light—taking down Kirk's campaign, destroying Worth's life, and possibly pushing the nation into full-blown civil war. Can Worth set things right, or will the dead girl seek justice on her own?
 
 
My Review
Two men locked in a death spiral of counterpoint ambition must face up to their past to find and accept forgiveness.
 
A reluctant “America’s Pastor,” Worth has never wanted to be in a position to endorse political candidates. He’s already got enough on his plate feeding the souls of thousands in his surprising international mega-ministry. The secret he’s kept for his entire adult life eats away at his soul, and he’s sure of facing hell. His “good friend,” the counterpart in a triad of tragedy, has carefully nurtured his public military and subsequent political career to the point he has a good chance at serving in the world’s highest governmental office. For Kirk, the cherry on top is getting more than the “support” of the most influential faith-based person in America. But Worth isn’t playing that game and in fact is desperate to keep Kirk and their terrible, haunting ghosts from destroying their families and themselves.
 
Kirk can’t outrun himself, however, and winning an election competes with staying alive. Worth’s spiritual battles within himself and with his cohorts often drive the story. Grindstaff delves deeply into matters of faith with intriguing intentionality, not preachiness.
 
Grindstaff has written a political thriller for the present audience, where a bombshell is always waiting to go off in our national reality. Bones of Dead Man’s Bluff is a dual message of examining the truths that divide us and forgiveness, the frailties of humanity, and our need to be honest and overcome our lesser nature. Readers of political thrillers with a side of faith-based food for thought will enjoy this story, told in a nonlinear timeframe from two perspectives and a twist from the past.
 
 
About the Author
In addition to a career as a journalist, newspaper editor, publisher and media executive, Robb Grindstaff has written fiction most of his life. The newspaper biz has taken him from Phoenix, Arizona, to small towns in North Carolina, Texas, and Wisconsin, from seven years in Washington, D.C., to five years in Asia. Born and raised a small-town kid, he’s as comfortable in Tokyo or Tuna, Texas. The variety of places he’s lived serve as settings for the characters who invade his head. His novels are best classified as contemporary southern lit. Evolved Publishing has also released June Bug Gothic: Tales from the South, a collection of eighteen of Robb's short stories, including the award-winning horror "Desert Rain."

​Robb currently resides the beautiful Lake of the Ozarks region of Missouri, where he writes, edits, and coaches writers full-time.
 

Purposeful Poetry with Thomas McRae

                                         

LYRICAL REVELATIONS
Thomas McRae
Poetry
March 9, 2024, Thomas McRae Publisher, 22 pp.
Buy paperback, $7.50

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About the Book

Join Thomas on a profound journey through the pages of his poetry book, where he eloquently explores themes of love, civil rights, religion, and more. Each poem is intentional, diving deep into the depths of the human heart and societal issues with poignant insight and heartfelt expression. From the tender verses about love to the powerful reflections on civil rights struggles, Thomas's words will captivate your soul and inspire reflection on the complexities of life. This poetry collection is a testament to the enduring power of words to illuminate the human experience and provoke thought on the world around us.

My Review

Lyrical Revelations by Thomas McRae is a tight read of 29 poems divided into 4 categories: Love, Religion, Politics, and Miscellaneous.

From two-line heartfelt poems, “you are my eternal forever,” to no longer than 13 lines in “America’s Truth,” “I'm calling out the Democrat and the Republican slime,” McRae’s mostly prose or rhythmic, sometimes wrenched rhyme odes are straight from the gut.

The love poems open with a deeply personal statement of faith in “Congratulations”: “Congratulations on love because everyone needs to believe,” and the beautiful pulsating beat of “I Believe”: I believe in love because love is so precious/ I believe people should love and stop being reckless./ When you open your heart, you connect with someone's soul/ Because love is a journey that will never grow old.”

It’s not much of a stretch to shift into Religious Poems. “Fear” advises McRae’s readers to “Thank God for His glory and ignore all the phonies.” He calls upon the believers to ride on the devil, tell the truth and unite in other poems. The final poem in Religious section, “Rest in Peace to Me” with its refrain of ready for death and flatlining segues into Political Poems where McRae calls out specific perpetrators of unrest, discord, along with a tribute to victims of senseless fear and hate. I am saddened to read “I pledge my allegiance to the African flag because America and Europe hate every black man” in the poem “Uganda” and want to reassure the author to the best of my ability that this American woman does not hate every Black man.

Miscellaneous poems include shout-outs to the author’s parents (“You taught me morals and self respect”); thankfulness for poetry and role models. McRae ends with a call to action, a challenge to respect ourselves and our partners and responsibility for the results of our choices in “Sperm Donor.”

Those who love poetry with purpose will find their own thought-provoking call to choose to rise above in Thomas McRae’s Lyrical Revelations.

About the Author

Hello my name is Thomas McRae I'm a poet author and writer I have several poetry books available online Amazon and other online book stores. Two short fiction movies. I've done numerous interviews and gotten several reviews. Newspaper interview with The Wave paper location Far Rockaway Queens NY. I'm working on another poetry book I'll keep you posted. I bought my co-op working hard talking care of funny looking forward to starting my own family. Contact me on Facebook or email quietthomas41@gmail.com McRae’s other work includes Poetry 4 the Soul, The Soul of a Poet, and Pimp in the Pulpit, and several others. He’s also developing merchandise to go along with the messages in his work.

Wayne Turmel and last Johnny Lycan book

 

Johnny Lycan & the Last Witchfinder, book 3 of the Werewolf PI series

By Wayne Turmel

Black Rose Writing, May 2024, 228 pp/253pp print.

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Paperback $21.95

 

About the Book

A mysterious figure stalks Chicago’s Paranormal community, and the only person who can stop it is Johnny Lupul, the Werewolf PI.

First, he must cope with a 400-year-old witchfinder, rampaging demons, and a journalist threatening to reveal Johnnys dark, hairy secret.

As if that's not enough, his boss has been kidnapped and the clock is ticking.

Packed with non-stop action, humor and twists, Johnny Lycan & the Last Witchfinder will keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. Don't miss the heart-stopping conclusion to the Werewolf PI series.

 

My Review

Opening with our hero Johhny Lupul dealing with a nasty Wendigo on the Oneida Reservation in Wisconsin, the third, and I’m told, sadly, final Werewolf PI book, shows us just what a Lycan, aka werewolf, can do. Tasked with taking care of this nasty cannibal zombie-like creature by his boss-client in exchange for a powerful spiritual relic, Johnny takes care of business and delivers another item to the mysterious Mr. Cromwell’s vast collection of unusual artifacts.

Mr. Cromwell’s got some trouble back home with hand-written threats to his collection, while a hotshot paranormal podcaster and monster magazine reporter gets up in Johnny’s fangs after putting vintage video werewolf-in-action footage together and questioning reality. It’s enough to make a werewolf go full-moon-maniac all the time. Johnny’s new assignment is to figure out who made sand out of Cromwell’s newest antique purchase. The clue is the author of the threatening note, which Johnny learns belongs to a 500-year-old legendary witch hunter, Matthew Hopkins, who, back in his day, went on idol smashing rampages. Besides a great name for a rock band, it’s way too much of a coincidence, right? But not since the Sons of Hopkins have become a modern-day movement with every intention of welcoming their true leader and his minions back to cleanse the planet of “evil” with such helpful declarations as, “Witches and idolaters be on notice. Good people won’t be silent anymore. We don’t need them in this city, and we’re leading the purge.”

With the support of his housemates Meaghan, a rescued girl who picks up tarot card reading, along with Bill and Gramma, who took him in as a troubled teen, Johnny is learning to control his alter-ego inner werewolf he’s named Shaggy. Shaggy tends to get riled pretty easily, and it’s Johnny’s business to use him judiciously when things come down to a dogfight, though a lot depends on the phases of the moon; e.g.: “This low in the lunar cycle I wouldn’t have Shaggy’s help, but I didn’t need it.” For those unaware, Johnny explains, “Not all Lycans go full werewolf. Some just have violent reactions to the top of the lunar cycle. That’s what she meant when she said some men couldn’t handle the full moon. … Even when they don’t completely turn, they’re unpredictable and dangerous. The average human’s bite can be toxic if it gets deep enough and these guys bite plenty hard.”

In this third adventure, Johnny researches the Sons of Hopkins. Cromwell, after admitting he owns a particularly nasty antique book on demonology of consummate interest to the creepy master of the Sons of Hopkins, goes missing. The bad guys are after the book in particular, and Johnny and anyone else with unnatural tendencies in general. Johnny must decide to stay a “lone wolf” or learn to depend on his friends, new and old, to reclaim his boss and save his world.

Even if this is the first book by Turmel you pick up, you’ll be able to settle in quickly. It’s an interesting not-so-clear good vs. evil story set in Chicago with the obligatory Cubs mention, where you meet all kinds of creatures, some of whom bite. One little bothersome point in the plot about Johnny’s ability to keep information from Hopkins had me scratching my head, but all in all, the story unfolded para-naturally with a lot of high action energy. Told in Johnny’s first person voice, with chapters noting the moon cycles, readers of urban fantasy will enjoy Turmel’s sense of humor in an issue-charged environment.

About the Author

Wayne Turmel is a former standup comedian, car salesman and corporate drone who writes to save what’s left of his sanity. Originally from Canada, he writes and lives in Las Vegas with his bride, The Duchess. www.wayneturmel.com