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SM XTRA 8

Review: Austin Heat – The One Who Undid Me, by Amari Nylix

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04 BNR Austin Heat - TOWUM (1920 x 1005 px)

 

About the Book, Austin Heat: The One Who Undid Me 04 Book Cover - Austin Heat

  • Series: Austin Heat, book one
  • Genre: Contemporary Romance/ Comedy / Football
  • Publisher: Temair Media
  • Pages: 390
  • Publication Date: September 14, 2023
  • Scroll down for giveaway.

Rumor has it that Texas just got a little hotter! Fans of Tessa Bailey and K. Bromberg will fall for this sexy story of mistaken identity, electric attraction, and irresistible romance in the first installment of the addictive new series, Austin Heat.

Jake is desperate to rewrite his past with women and leave behind the media storm surrounding his off-the-field antics that cloud his potential. He’s done with the stream of models, actresses, and NFL cheerleaders that have warmed his bed since he made a name for himself as starting quarterback for the University of Texas. He desperately wants to meet a normal girl in his hometown of Austin.

After moving to Austin to be the hired girlfriend of one of her long-term escort clients, Rakell finds herself wishing she could live a normal life with an average guy. Turned off by the billionaire clients she’s been serving for the last five years, she longs to get out of the business and build a life where she doesn’t live in the shadows of her escort persona.

Their worlds collide and the spice is off the charts. “Pretty boy” Jake Skyler has met his match with saucy-mouthed, Rakell McCarthy. Both think they’ve fallen for an average person. Both are wrong! What happens when their physical connection explodes, their hearts take charge and the secrets they are concealing are revealed? 

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About the author, Amari Nylix 04 Austin Heat- TOWUM - Author Photo

Amari Nylix (alter ego to author Tara Delaney) tells sordid stories revolving around tempestuous love affairs that are inspired by the secret liaisons of Old West villains, heroes, and the temptress women who lure those powerful men into their webs. Amari delights in sharing her torrid stories of heart-wrenching, epic love that begin with the desires of the flesh and evolve into affairs of the heart.

In the Austin Heat series, Amari works closely with bestselling author of both non-fiction and fiction, Tara Delaney 😉. Tara has been a pediatric occupational therapist for more than thirty years and has extensive professional experience in sensory processing and nervous system development, while also having studied how early trauma impacts our responses as adults. Tara is responsible for trimming back Amari’s numerous spicy scenes, allowing room for all the FEELS. 

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My Thoughts MAB-Summer24

There’s something to be said for a slow burn romance – something we don’t feel enough of these ays, and author Amari Nylix has given us that in this book, which is the first of a series (the following three are also available.)

The word “heat” is part of the title, and aptly so. I mean, yes, this book is set in Austin, TX, and I appreciated the author’s attention to detail. I felt like I was on those streets, breathing the sultry southern air. At the same time, there was a more metaphoric heat, in the relationship between Jake and Rakell, and I thought the spicier scenes were well written. It’s more challenging than you think to ride the line between “insert tab (a) into slot (b)” and being too explicit. Nylix straddled it perfectly.

04 AD - Austin Heat - TOWUM

While I have to admit that I didn’t really relate to either character, I still enjoyed the story. I know real women who have worked as escorts, and the connections they sometimes form with clients are real and lasting,while still being business. I thought the author let us glimpse a bit of that life.

I also appreciated the peek at the world of both college and professional football. It’s not a sport I follow (I prefer hockey), but the details felt plausible.

Overall, this is a good introduction to a series, and an enjoyable, relatively fast-paced read with a healthy dose of steamy romance.

Goes well with smoked brisket and Shiner bock.

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SM XTRA 2

Review: The Barber, the Astronaut, and the Golf Ball

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04 BNR The Barber, The Astronaut, and The Golf Ball (1920 x 1005 px)

 

About the book, The Barber, the Astronaut, and the Golf Ball 04 BAGB Cover

  • Genre: Biography / Golf / Space Travel
  • Publisher: Stoney Creek Publishing
  • Pages: 202
  • Publication Date: September 17, 2024
  • Scroll down for giveaway.

In 1971, famed astronaut Alan Shepard returned from the moon and went to get a haircut. Before settling into the barber’s chair in Webster, Texas, near NASA’s Mission Control, Shepard gave his longtime barber and friend, Carlos Villagomez, an autographed golf ball.

During his Apollo 14 moonwalk, Shepard had conducted a world-famous demonstration of gravity by hitting a golf ball in an out-of-this-world sand trap. It took him two tries.

Carlos, a Navy combat veteran and barber for numerous astronauts, says Shepard gave him the ball immediately after he returned to earth and was released from quarantine.
Had Shepard taken a third ball to the moon? And did he give it to his barber as a token of their long friendship?

The debate provides a backdrop for The Barber, The Astronaut, and The Golf Ball, a story of two extraordinary men and their lasting friendship. The book offers a rare glimpse behind the scenes of America’s space program at its pinnacle and shows the ordinary people who supported one of the nation’s most monumental scientific endeavors.

Praise for The Barber, The Astronaut, and The Golf Ball:

It’s perfect!! Barbara and Ed capture Daddy and his long friendship with Carlos. —Laura Shepard, Daughter of Alan Shepard

Brings back the glory days of the U.S. Space Program and the importance of the “little people” who made it happen.  We see stern Shepard in a new and admirable light – in Shepard’s high regard for the vast team of dedicated supporters who enabled astronauts to succeed. —Charlie Duke, Apollo Astronaut

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About the authors, Barbara Radofsky & Ed Supkis, MD 04 Author photo Barbara Radnofsky

Barbara Radnofsky and Ed Supkis grew up in the 1960s in the shadow of NASA’s

Manned Spacecraft Center and married in 1982. They have three children and five

grandchildren. The couple —with many other community members — are co-owners of

Brazos Bookstore, an independent bookseller. As children of NASA scientists, Barbara, and Ed had front-row seats to the development of the space program and the community built around it on rural cow pastures near Webster, Texas. 04 Author Photo - edited

Barbara Radnofsky is a writer, mediator, teacher and lawyer. She’s the author of A Citizen’s Guide to Impeachment, a nonpartisan explanation of U.S. constitutional impeachment history and practice.

Ed Supkis, MD is a board-certified anesthesiologist specializing in cardiac anesthesia. He served as Director of Quality Assurance for the Division of Anesthesiology and as Medical Director of Respiratory Care for the Division of Surgery and Anesthesiology.

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My Thoughts MAB-Summer24

I’m a space junky. More than that, I’m a great fan of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions. I’ve read memoirs of the various astronauts, and devoured Andrew Chaikin’s book A Man on the Moon cover to cover… twice. So when I got the chance to review The Barber, the Astronaut, and the Golf Ball saying yes was a no-brainer.

 

I was not disappointed. Authors Barbara Radnofsky and Ed Supkis have done a deep dive into   history and the interwined stories of Al Shepard, astronaut, and Carlos Villagomez, barber, and the autographed golf ball that may or may not have traveled to the moon and back is the delightful result.

 

More than addressing the debate about the origins of Villagomez’s prized souvenir, this book gives us an insider’s view of two men, one lauded as a cultural hero, the other who was mostly behind-the-scenes, and the very real friendship they shared.

 

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We don’t celebrate men’s friendship enough, but this book does that. It also humanizes Shepard, a complicated man at best, in a way that other biographies and memoirs haven’t been able to do. The Al Shepard in this book is more than a stereotype, but a dynamic, flawed but still exceptional, human being.

 

If you love stories about the space program and the Apollo missions, you will love this book. If you enjoy historical anecdotes, you will enjoy this book. And if you like to get to know our cultural heroes as dimensional beings, you will appreciate this book. I know I did.

 

Goes well with hot dogs and Tang orange drink.

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SM XTRA 8

Review: The Duchess of Korkora, by Nikhil Prabala

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04 BNR The Duchess of Kokora (1920 x 1005 px)

 

About the Book, The Duchess of Kokora 04 BOOK COVER The Duchess of Kokora

  • Genre: LGBTQ+ / YA / Humorous Fantasy / Romantasy
  • Publisher: Grand Press
  • Pages: 442
  • Publication Date: August 8, 2024
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The Duchess of Kokora, Phera Ylir Mdana, has entered the marriage games of the neighboring kingdom of Ryene. But she’s not there to woo the dashing Prince Dominic.

Her true objective? To win back one of the other contestants, Lady Rocelle Virae—Phera’s true love and ex-fiancée.

Love proves to be a game like any other when Phera must not only mend matters with her childhood sweetheart, but conceal her true intentions in order to earn votes and stay in the competition.

And as long-brewing political tensions simmer beneath the surface, the playful veneer of the competition begins to crack. In the end, Phera, Dominic, and Rocelle find themselves united in a desperate bid to prevent a duel that threatens the integrity of the kingdom, the stability of the continent, and any hope for a happily ever after.

This novel is the first in a planned series.

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About the Author, Nikhil Prabala 04 Author Photo Nikhil Prabala

From playing the DM in Dungeons and Dragons to writing fantasy novels, Nikhil Prabala loves storytelling, delighting in fantasy fiction from the epic to the cozy and everywhere in between. The Duchess of Kokora is his first published novel.

Born and raised in Austin, Texas, he graduated from Stanford in 2019 and is currently based in the Bay Area. In his free time he enjoys ballroom dancing, singing, playing the guitar, tabletop games, and spending time with friends and family. 

Connect with Nikhil:

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My Thoughts MAB-Summer24

Nikhil Prabala’s “romantasy,” The Duchess of Kokora is a witty and delightful novel with the kind of self-possessed lead characters I always love to read. I was intrigued from the moment I read the synopsis, and immediately fell in love with the story. I especially appreciated the use of wordplay, creative cursing, and the many unfavorable comparisons between male human and equine anatomy.

 

The title character, Phera (the eponymous Duchess) has entered marriage games with a neighboring principality, ostensibly to find a prince, but really to reclaim her lost love Rocelle. I was a little dubious about a lesbian relationship being written by a man, but Prabala showed himself to be astute and attentive to detail. The last time I read such believable women from a male author was probably Arthur Golden’s Memoirs of a Geisha. But while that book was historical fiction, this one is set in a fantasy world with magic. (It’s worth mentioning that while marriage games are a common trope in fantasy romance, the idea felt fresh and original as treated in this book.)

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While I enjoyed all of the characters, especially the leads, I also loved the world building in this book. I’m a little rusty on magic systems (I’m a recovered table-top role-player) but I didn’t have any issues following the use of magic, and rules thereof, in this novel.

 

The Duchess of Kokora is escapist fiction at its best. It doesn’t pander, but neither does it require notes and charts to follow the plot. Rather, I needed tissues handy because several scenes had me laughing out loud.

 

Overall, this is an excellent entry into the romantic fantasy genre, and a thoroughly engaging read.

 

Goes well with: cottage pie, brown bread, and hard pear cider.

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Review: Sugar on the Bones by Joe R. Lansdale – with Giveaway

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BNR Sugar on the Bones (1920 x 1005 px)

 

About the book, Sugar on the Bones (a Hap and Leonard Novel) Cover Sugar on the Bones

  • Genre: Private Investigator Mystery / Noir Crime / Hard-Boiled Mystery / Lawyers and Criminals Humor
  • Publisher: Mulholland Books
  • Pages: 317
  • Publication Date: July 16, 2024
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In this holy mess of a case for the “perpetual bad boy” (New York Times) sleuths in the beloved Hap and Leonard series, PI Duo Hap and Leonard investigate the untimely death of a woman whose family stood much to gain from her passing.                                                         

Minnie Polson is dead. Burned to a crisp in a fire so big and bad it had to be deliberate. The only thing worse is that Hap and Leonard could have prevented it. Maybe. Minnie had a feeling she was being targeted, shaken down by some shadowy force. However, when she’d solicited Hap & Leonard, all it took was one off color joke to turn her sour and she’d called them off the investigation. Wracked with a guilty conscience, the two PIs—along with Hap’s fleet-footed wife, Brett—tuck in to the case. As they look closer, they dredge up troublesome facts: for one, Minnie’s daughter, Alice, has recently vanished. She’d been hard up after her pet grooming business went under and was in line to collect a whopping insurance sum should anything happen to her mother. The same was due to Minnie’s estranged husband, Al, whose kryptonite (beautiful, money-grubbing women) had left him with only a run-down mobile home. But did Minnie’s foolish, cash-strapped family really have it in them to commit a crime this grisly? Or is there a larger, far more sinister scheme at work?

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About the Author, Joe R. Lansdale Lansdale

Joe R. Lansdale is the author of nearly four dozen novels, including Rusty Puppy, the Edgar-award winning The Bottoms, Sunset and Sawdust, and Leather Maiden. He has received nine Bram Stoker Awards, the American Mystery Award, the British Fantasy Award, and the Grinzane Cavour Prize for Literature. He lives with his family in Nacogdoches, Texas

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My Thoughts MelissaBartell - photo

Before I dove into Sugar on the Bones, my only experience with Joe R. Lansdale’s work was his collection of short stories, Things Get Ugly, which I loved. So, even though this novel is the thirteenth in the Hap and Leonard series, I knew I was going to get a well-crafted story.

Lansdale did not disappoint. His private-eye duo of Hap and Leonard leapt off the page and into my imagination, with their down-home language, affectionate banter, and distinctly different personalities, not to mention that one is Black and the other white, one is gay and the other straight. The friendship and history between the two came through in every scene, and while I’m sure I’d have appreciated more backstory, it wasn’t strictly necessary, and this book worked just fine as a standalone.

Quote from website

One thing I really appreciated was Landsdale’s ability to write in first person, and to do so well. I never saw an out-of-synch verb tense or felt that the narrator (Hap in this case) knew more than he should.

I also felt the plot was paced well. It’s a mystery, of course, and if there isn’t a sub-genre called “Texas-noir,” there should be, and this novel should be the flagship title, because it was gritty where it needed to be, but also had the right amount of comic relief to keep tensions from boiling over.

Overall, this novel is a fast – almost reckless at times – read, with characters who will take up residence in your brain and squat there forever. I can’t wait to go back and read earlier works in this series.

Goes well with: a patty melt and sweet tea.

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Cover This Time Around

Review: This Time Around by Kimberly Packard – with Giveaway

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BNR This Time Around (1080 x 540 px)

 

About the book, This Time Around Cover This Time Around

  • Genre: Time Travel Romance / Contemporary Women’s Fiction / Romantic Comedy
  • Publisher: Abalos Publishing
  • Date of Publication: June 11, 2024
  • Number of Pages: 286 pages
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Most of us would jump at a chance for a do-over of our teenage years…but what if our worst mistakes lead to our happily-ever-after?

Josie Gardner’s life revolves around her amazing children and her career. But, when her husband threatens to take her kids in their divorce, and the business she’s put most of her passion, time and money into building is at risk of failing, a panic attack shatters her grip on reality… and the present.

Josie wakes up in her teenage bedroom, thirty years in the past. She’s forced to relive her emotionally devastating senior year of high school — the year she cut her father out of her life, caused one of her best friends to sever ties, and turned away the boy she loved.

Determined to get back to her children in her own time, Josie tries to fix the mistakes she made, in the hope that righting wrongs will send her back to the present. But when tempted by her high school crush Josie faces the real possibility of losing her future for good.

Would you take a second chance for love…even if it meant losing everything?

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About the author, Kimberly Packard Kimberly Packard - TENTATIVE Author Photo

Kimberly Packard is an award-winning author of women’s fiction.

When she isn’t writing, she can be found planning her next trip, asking her dog what’s in his mouth or curled up with a book. She resides in Texas with her husband Colby, a clever cat named Oliver and a precocious black lab named Tully.

Her debut novel, Phoenix, was awarded as Best General Fiction of 2013 by the Texas Association of Authors. She is also the author of a Christmas novella, The Crazy Yates, and the sequels to Phoenix, Pardon Falls and Prospera Pass, and her stand-alone titles Vortex, Dire’s Club and This Time Around. She was honored as one of the Top 10 Haute Young Authors by Southern Methodist University in 2019. Vortex was the 2019 winner of the Pencraft award in Women’s Fiction, and Dire’s Club, was awarded the 2021 General Fiction of the Year by the North Texas Book Festival.

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My Thoughts MelissaBartell - photo

Have you ever wished you could live your life over again and make different choices? Or make the same choices but with more information? That’s the question Kimberly Packard explores in her new novel, This Time Around.

Josie Gardner is given that chance when a panic attack in response to a custody battle she hadn’t anticipated sends her body into a coma and her brain back to her high school self. What ensues is part self-examination, and part fix-it fiction, where she attempts to seed better future results into the lives of her past friends.

Does it really happen? It doesn’t really matter. Author Packard has given us a likeable, well-meaning heroine who knows she isn’t perfect, and isn’t trying to be. She just wants to be better. It’s that distinction that makes her so relatable, and makes this book suck you in. Sure, the scenes of present-Josie interacting as past-Josie are often amusing, but the emotional truth that runs through everything is what really resonates.

With snappy dialogue, a believable cast of characters who alternately doubt and support Josie, and a present-day family that knows they don’t quite deserve her, this book is a rich tapestry of people and situations.

I particularly liked that past-Josie’s closest friends were willing to believe in her even when they didn’t quite believe her. I also liked that in the present day her almost-ex husband wasn’t painted as a one-dimensional villain, but as a complex character whose intentions were good, even if the execution of them was not.

Packard has a knack for making impossible situations feel both plausible and organic, and she’s true to form with This Time Around. Overall, it’s a satisfying story, and much meatier than the blurb reveals.

Goes well with: pepperoni pizza and cherry coke.

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06/11/24 Ames for the Stars Review
06/12/24 LSBBT Blog Review
06/13/24 Book Fidelity Review
06/14/24 StoreyBook Reviews Review
06/15/24 Jennie Reads Review
06/16/24 Boys’ Mom Reads Review
06/17/24 The Plain-Spoken Pen Review
06/17/24 The Real World According to Sam Review
06/18/24 Carpe Diem Chronicles Review
06/18/24 It’s Not All Gravy Review
06/19/24 Reading by Moonlight Review
06/19/24 The Page Unbound Review
06/19/24 Bibliotica Review
06/20/24 Rox Burkey Blog Review
TBD Hall Ways Blog Review

 

 

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Review: Bound in Silence, by Christena Stephens

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BNR Bound in Silence

 

About the book, Bound in Silence Cover Bound in Silence

  • Genre: True Crime / Texas History / Nonfiction
  • Publisher: Stoney Creek Publishing
  • Page Count: 286 pages
  • Publication Date: February 26, 2024
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On a nearly moonless night in October 1943, a single gunshot rang out in Littlefield, Texas. A prominent Texas doctor and his wife were found bound, shot, beaten, and murdered. The only witness: their five-year-old daughter, who was bound to silence and refused to speak about what happened for 70 years.

The heinous crime remains unsolved. For years, the courts tried to convict one suspect, but forensic evidence contradicted the prosecution’s case. Investigators, including the famed Texas Rangers, failed to bring anyone to justice.

Eight decades later, the questions linger over the plains of the Texas Panhandle: who killed the Hunts and why?

Author and historian Christena Stephens spent more than a decade researching the Hunt murders, re-examining every twist and turn in the legal process, uncovering new evidence, and drawing new conclusions about who might have been responsible. She also convinced Jo Ann Hunt to break 70 years of silence and tell her story for the first time. Armed with Jo Ann’s account, Stephens takes the reader back to that deadly night and through the years of trauma that followed.

Why did the criminal justice system repeatedly fail to bring anyone to justice? What could have scared a 5-year-old girl into a lifetime of silence? What did investigators miss? And most importantly, who killed Roy and Mae Hunt?

Bound in Silence is a true crime tour-de-force, a meticulously researched, impeccably told tale of unsolved murder on the High Plains.

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About the author, Christena Stephens Author Photo Stephens Bound in Silence

Christena Stephens is a native Texan growing up amongst cotton fields and spending time exploring the nature of the Llano Estacado. After earning two Master of Science degrees, she started a project to preserve ahistorical Texas ranch, thus began her interest in history, research, and writing. She did not intend to be a historian but was mentored by the best Texas historians. Several of her writings have been published in anthologies, along with her photographs. In science and history, truths need to be accurately told. That is her mission-truth and authenticity. She still resides on the Llano Estacado enjoying sunsets and chance porcupine encounters. She is an ardent advocate of wildlife conservation and her heart belongs to her dogs.

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My Thoughts MelissaBartell - photo

Christena Stephens’s new book, Bound in Silence is where true crime, history, and creative non-fiction all meet to form a whole that is both a gripping story and a grisly one.

In this case, this book really tells two stories, the first is a murder mystery taken from the pages of Texas history: the death by shooting of a doctor (Roy Hunt) and his wife (Mae). And author Stephens takes down a well-researched and equally well-written path of whodunnit, and why, and how.

The second story is that of the Hunt’s older daughter, JoAnn, who was in the room (albeit stuffed in a closet) while her parents were being murdered. For decades, she kept silent, scared into event-specific muteness, until the author got her story.

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Stephens’s narrative style is straight to the point without being dull or dry. Her photographer’s eye comes in handy – her descriptions of people and places, while taken from photos and press clippings – feel cinematic. Her choice of topic is a compelling one, because it gives a glimpse into the psychology of childhood trauma and fear, as well as into the gory events themselves.

Overall, this is a well-crafted account, and deserving of a lot of notice.

Goes well with: a whiskey flight and Texas barbecue.

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5/28/24 LSBBT Blog Review
5/29/24 The Plain-Spoken Pen Review
5/30/24 The Clueless Gent Review
5/31/24 Hall Ways Blog Review
6/1/24 StoreyBook Reviews Review
6/2/24 The Real World According to Sam Review
6/3/24 Rox Burkey Blog Review
6/4/24 Book Fidelity Review
6/5/24 Bibliotica Review
6/6/24 Boys’ Mom Reads Review

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The Ghost of Whispering Willow Giveaway

Review: The Ghost of Whispering Willow, by Amanda M. Thrasher

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Ghost of Whispering Willow - Banner

 

About the book, The Ghost of Whispering Willow (Second Edition)  Ghost of Whispering Willow High Def Front Cover

  • Genre: Children’s Horror / Fantasy / Magic / Chapter Book
  • Publisher: Progressive Rising Phoenix Press
  • Publication Date: January 9, 2024
  • Page Count: 246
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Full of surprises, feuds, kidnappings and a family reunited!

Stewart sees a ghostly figure out of the corner of his eye. He and his friend, Andy, begin a ghost investigation that leads to an adventure of a lifetime.  Coming face-to-face with a ghost, the boys make a decision to join forces with a group of girls, who have encountered a ghost of their own. The kids soon find that the ghosts that they’ve encountered are in imminent danger and need their help. Can the kids devise a plan to help the ghost in time? Will they be able to reunite a ghost with his lost family? Complete with a ghost village and a feud, this story takes on a life of its own.

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About the author, Amanda M. Thrasher  Author Photo Thrasher (1)

Award-winning author Amanda M. Thrasher was born in England and moved to Texas, where she lives with her family. She writes YA, general fiction, middle grade, early reader chapter, and picture books. She is the founder and CEO of Progressive Rising Phoenix Press.

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My Thoughts MelissaBartell - photo

Amanda M. Thrasher’s novel, The Ghost of Whispering Willow, may be targeted toward kids in middle grades, but this adult found the story both engaging and entertaining. It manages to hit you both in the amygdala (because most humans like to be scared when we know it’s fictional), and in the heart, once the truth is discovered.

What I loved most was the perfect depiction of childhood adventures – sneaking out at night, taking notes on whatever is observed, and the timeless debate of whether or not boys and girls are friends or enemies, or a little of both.

I enjoyed the interaction between Andy and Stewart, especially, and the way they were so different – one precise about every detail he observed, one much more casual about it. It was so refreshing to see boys written as good, kids – too often in literature middle-grade boys are depicted as troublemakers, and it gets old.

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I also appreciated the way their interactions changed once Krista and her friends become involved. The whispers among the girls and the boys about who likes whom made me smile and nod in fond appreciation of the details the author included – they weren’t necessarily crucial to the plot of the story, but they made the characters seem more real.

Overall, this is a well-paced, well-plotted book and I would recommend it to readers of all ages and genders.

Goes well with: bologna and cheese sandwiches with the crusts cut off, and Dr. Pepper.

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Giveaway Just a Hat

Review: Just a Hat by Shanah Khubiar

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BNR Just a Hat

 

About the book, Just a Hat Cover Just a Hat

  • Genre: Young Adult / Coming of Age / Jewish Fiction / Small-Town Texas / 1970s
  • Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
  • Page Count: 254
  • Publication Date: July 18, 2023
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Action-packed, humorous, and bittersweet, this 1970s-era coming-of-age novel is more relevant than ever–exploring how a second-generation immigrant kid in a new hometown must navigate bullying, unexpected friendships, and the struggle of keeping both feet firmly planted in two very different cultures.

It’s 1979, and thirteen-year-old Joseph Nissan can’t help but notice that small-town Texas has something in common with Revolution-era Iran: an absence of fellow Jews. And in such a small town it seems obvious that a brown kid like him was bound to make friends with Latinos–which is a plus, since his new buds, the Ybarra twins, have his back. But when the Iran hostage crisis, two neighborhood bullies, and the local reverend’s beautiful daughter put him in all sorts of danger, Joseph must find new ways to cope at home and at school.

As he struggles to trust others and stay true to himself, a fiercely guarded family secret keeps his father at a distance, and even his piano teacher, Miss Eleanor–who is like a grandmother to him–can’t always protect him. But Joseph is not alone, and with a little help from his friends, he finds the courage to confront his fears and discovers he can inspire others to find their courage, too.

Just a Hat is an authentically one-of-a-kind YA debut that fuses the humor of Firoozeh Dumas’s Funny in Farsi with the poignancy of Daniel Nayeri’s Everything Sad Is Untrue.

This book comes with an Educator’s Guide.

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About the author, Shanah Khubiar Author Photo Khubiar

Shanah Khubiar is a retired law enforcement officer, and she is now self-employed as a subject matter specialist. She holds a BS and MEd in education from East Texas State University and a PhD in philosophy.

A student of her Persian ancestry, she incorporates (Mizrachi) Middle Eastern Jewry into her fiction, examining the historical challenges and triumphs of a different culture and narrative than what usually appears in literature. Khubiar is a sometime resident and always fan of most things Texas.

Connect with Shanah:

Website | GoodReads | Amazon | BookBub | X (Twitter) | Blackstone Publishing

My Thoughts MelissaBartell - photo

Shanah Khubiar’s new young adult novel, Just a Hat is a brilliant, sometimes discomfiting, portrayal of what it’s like to be “other” in America.

Set in the Texas of the late 1970s, with the Iran hostage crisis as its background, this story introduces us to teenaged Joseph (Youssef) Nissan, the only Jewish-Iranian boy in his class. We walk with him as he navigates the cultural differences he experiences – he’s brown skinned, so gets along with the Mexican boys, especially Roberto and Mateo who are both friends and defenders, but he’s not Latino. He’s Persian. He’s a piano student but practicing on Shabat is considered “work” and therefore disallowed. And then there’s the whole thing about not being allowed to touch girls, even casually. It’s a lot to handle when you’ve got feet in different worlds – the secular world at large, and the closer, religious world of his family.

As someone who is not Jewish, but sort of Jewish-adjacent (my stepfather was Jewish, and his mother, my Bubbie, was a special person in my life) I found the glimpses of Iranian Jewish traditions particularly interesting. I’m familiar with eastern-European (Ashkenazi) traditions, and have been recently learning more about Iberian (Sephardic) traditions, but it’s my understanding that most Iranian Jews are actually Mizrahi, and the specifics were new to me.

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What I loved was the relationship Joseph had with Miss Eleanor – LaLa – the elderly piano teacher whom he helps out by buying groceries and other household tasks. I also appreciated that Joseph and his Baba – his father – managed to work through family history and family secrets and end up with a closer relationship after tackling difficult subjects.

The title can be taken literally – the different hats Joseph wears include his kippah (yarmulke) and his football helmet. But it also works as a metaphor, representing the different “hats” we all wear, – the roles we have in life – including those we use in order to hide our true selves for whatever reason.

Overall, I found this to be a very moving story, with interesting characters, and a well-paced coming-of-age plot. At times very serious, because it deals with fear, racism, and antisemitism, it’s also heartfelt and full of humor – the kind that comes from real life.

Goes well with: peach sharbet.

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Review: This Familiar Heart by Babette Fraser Hale

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BNR This Familiar Heart

 

About the book, This Familiar Heart Cover This Familiar Heart

  • Genre: Memoir / Relationships / Aging / Grief
  • Publisher: Winedale Publishing
  • Date of Publication: April 2, 2024
  • Number of Pages: 312 pages

In this intimate rendering of a relationship, we learn how deceptive surface impressions can be.

Leon Hale, author of Bonney’s Place, was sixty years old, a “country boy” who wrote about rural Texans with humor and sensitivity in his popular column for The Houston Post and, later the Houston Chronicle. Babette Fraser at thirty-six was a child of privilege, a city girl educated abroad, struggling in her career while raising a young son. No one thought it could work.

Even Hale himself held serious doubts. But it did endure. The interior congruencies they discovered through a long and turbulent courtship knit them tightly together for the rest of his life.

And when he died during the Pandemic isolation period, searing levels of grief and doubt threatened Babette’s understanding of the partnership and marriage that had sustained her for forty years. Had he really been the person she thought he was? Had he kept secrets that would forever change her view of him?

In candid, evocative prose, she explores the distorted perceptions that often follow the death of a cherished spouse, and the loving resolution that allows life to go on.

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About the author, Babette Fraser Hale Author Photo Hale

Babette Fraser Hale is the author of A Wall of Bright Dead Feathers, 2022 winner of the debut fiction award from the Texas Institute of Letters. Her stories have received notice from Best American Short Stories, 2015 and the Meyerson Award from Southwest Review. In addition to writing fiction, Babette has been a magazine feature writer, columnist, contributing editor, book editor, and publisher. She lives in Texas.

Connect with Babette:

Blog | Goodreads | Facebook | Amazon

My Thoughts MelissaBartell - photo

Reviewing memoirs – especially deeply personal stories like This Familiar Heart – can be tricky. Too easily we fall into the habit of judging the life and choices presented to us. But this isn’t fiction, and cannot be examined the same way.

If this book were fiction, it would be an amazing story. The characters are erudite and earthy at once, and the pace of this love story is perfect. The author draws you in as her tale goes spiraling from a letter to meeting to several more encounters, to sex and love and a partnership that is ended by death and grief.

But since this book, this story, is a memoir, I won’t talk more about the events, but rather the way author Babette Fraser Hale has chosen to present them, which she has done beautifully.

I loved the way she told her origin story with the man who preferred to be called “Hale,” rather than his first name, as a creative non-fiction exercise, interspersed with her notes from the perspective of “after.” The noted are italicized so you cannot mistake them for the narrative, but they do more than add future knowledge. They color the narrative with all the years, experiences, and feelings since the initial occurrences.

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Babette’s (I use her first name to distinguish her from the Hale she writes about) language is also beautiful, full of evocative phrases like, “The day spreads out around them as they walk,” or “His mouth and tongue study her body, but it is in no way enough, and it is also too much,” and “We have been erased, as completely as our house itself, or more completely, perhaps.”

This is the kind of writing that inspires me to wander around the house reading passages aloud to my husband, the dogs, myself – it doesn’t matter. This is the kind of writing that sits with you, long after you’ve finished.

So, while this story, which begins with two people falling in love and ends with love torn apart, covers some decidedly not-beautiful details – death is never pretty – the book itself is beautiful. And brilliant. 

Goes well with: canned soup and candlelight.

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Click to visit the Lone Star Literary Life Tour Page for This Familiar Heart for direct links to each post on this tour, updated daily, or visit each blog directly.

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Review: A Beggar’s Bargain, by Jan Sikes – with Giveaway

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BNR A Beggar's Bargain

 

About the book, A Beggar’s Bargain

  • Genre: Historical Fiction / Literary Fiction
  • Publisher: Fresh Ink Group
  • Date of Publication: March 12, 2024
  • Number of Pages: 324 pages
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Cover A Beggar's BargainA shocking proposal that changes everything

Desperate to honor his father’s dying wish, Layken Martin vows to do whatever it takes to save the family farm.

Once the Army discharges him following World War II, Layken returns to Missouri to find his legacy in shambles and in jeopardy. A foreclosure notice from the bank doubles the threat. He appeals to the local banker for more time—a chance to rebuild, plant, and harvest crops and for time to heal far away from the noise of bombs and gunfire.

But the banker firmly denies his request. Now what?

Then, the banker makes an alternative proposition—marry his unwanted daughter, Sara Beth, in exchange for a two-year extension. Out of options, money, and time, Layken agrees to the bargain.

Now, he has two years to make a living off the land while he shares his life with a stranger.

If he fails at either, he’ll lose it all.

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About the author, Jan Sikes Author Photo Sikes

Jan Sikes writes compelling and creative stories from the heart.

 

She openly admits that she never set out in life to be an author, although she’s been an avid reader all her life. But she had a story to tell. Not just any story, but a true story that rivals any fiction creation. She brought the entertaining true story to life through fictitious characters in an intricately woven tale that encompasses four books, accompanying music CDs, and a book of poetry and art.

 

And now, this author can’t put down the pen. She continues to write fiction in a variety of genres and has published many award-winning short stories and novels.

 

Jan is an active blogger, a member of Story Empire, a devoted fan of Texas music, and a grandmother of five. She resides in North Texas.

Connect with Jan:

WEBSITE | BLOG | FACEBOOK | X (TWITTER) | NEWSLETTER | BOOKBUB | AMAZON | GOODREADS

My Thoughts MelissaBartell - photo

While I’m not typically a fan of the forced marriage trope, I am familiar with author Jan Sikes’s work, and trust her ability to tell a good story, so I gave A Beggar’s Bargain a chance, and I’m so glad I did. From the first page to the last, this book is a tender, honest, period piece that shows the real meaning of “chosen family” and the strength behind such creations.

 

I found myself completely absorbed by Laykin and Sara Beth’s story – how they formed a partnership, then welcomed ‘Uncle Seymour’ into their home to become a team, adding stray humans and animals as they went along, showing that kindness is a universal quality, and trust can be restored even after it’s been lost.

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Sikes’s language in this book is plain, but not simple, and while the details of this story were definitely gritty, with challenges and villains that wouldn’t be out of place in a classic western, the way she made everyday people seem special and interesting reminded me of Laura Ingalls Wilder – if the Little House books had been written for an adult audience.

 

Maybe, then, Jan Sikes is one of Wilder’s spiritual successors, because this tale about a Little Farmhouse in Missouri has the makings of a classic. It’s also the first book in a series, and I’m excited to learn what happens next.

 

Goes well with cold tea and warm cornbread… or coffee and homemade chocolate cake.

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Two winners receive $20 Amazon gift cards;

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(US only; ends midnight, CDT, 4/19/24)

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04/09/24 Hall Ways Blog Book Trailer
04/10/24 The Clueless Gent Review
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04/15/24 It’s Not All Gravy Review
04/16/24 The Real World According to Sam Excerpt
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04/18/24 The Plain-Spoken Pen Review

 

 

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