Today, I have a historical fiction novel to share! Learn about The Weight of Loyalty and author Mike H. Mizrahi! 

Date Published: May 25, 2025

“My long-term survival is doubtful under any scenario. Yet, I already defied the impossible by escaping from a watery tomb and swimming to this very spot. But luck is finite—it always peters out.” 

As the island of Kefalonia falls under the harsh occupation of Italian soldiers in 1941, British sailor Oliver Graham washes ashore, desperate to evade capture. Rescued by the fierce and determined Natalía Giannatos, he becomes entangled in a web of love, loyalty, and betrayal. 

With her brother and fiancé lost to the conflict, Natalía is driven by vengeance against the occupiers and a deepening bond with Oliver. But when an Italian colonel fixates on her, she must navigate a dangerous game of deception to protect her family and village. As Oliver struggles with his hidden heritage and his growing feelings for Natalía, they are thrust into the heart of the resistance, where every choice could lead to freedom or devastation. 

In a story that intertwines love and sacrifice against the backdrop of war, The Weight of Loyalty explores the resilience of the human spirit and the lengths one will go to for love. Will Oliver and Natalía’s connection survive the trials of conflict, or will the brutal realities of war tear them apart forever?

About the Author

 Mike H. Mizrahi and his wife, Karen, reside in Poulsbo, WA. He is a winner of the (indie Reader Discovery Award and a Laramie Finalist in the Chanticleer Book Awards. His other historical novels include The Unnamed Girl, Tattered Coat, and the Great Chattanooga Bicycle Race.

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This morning,  I have a self-help book for students in our book blitz spotlight! Learn about The A+ Student Blueprint by Zohaib Khan! 

Self Help, Study Skills, Study Hacks

Date Published: June 13, 2025

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Why This Book Stands Out

Unlike generic guides, The A+ Student Blueprint blends cognitive science, neuroscience, and Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) to transform how you learn. Struggling with focus, retention, or procrastination? This book offers science-backed strategies to study smarter, not harder, helping you excel in any subject.

What You’ll Discover

Real Results, Real Stories

Follow Jack’s journey in case studies as he masters vectors, quadratic equations, and biology tests using these techniques. Step-by-step examples show how to apply strategies to real subjects, making learning achievable.

Why Students, Parents, and Educators Love It

Who Is This For?

Your Journey Starts Here

With The A+ Student Blueprint, you’re building a toolkit for success. Start with one technique today—color-coding or Pomodoro—and watch grades soar. Backed by research and student stories, this is your shortcut to A+ status.

Join the A+ Movement Today!!

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Today, I am sharing a self-help book that explores grief and healing--and parenting an dysfunctional family dynamics. Take a few minutes and learn about Crossing Fifty-One and author Debbie Russell and remember to enter for a chance to win a prize in the book tour giveaway at the end of this post! 

Death & Grief, Parenting, Self-Help

Date Published: 06-20-2023

Publisher: Koehler Books

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A week before Christmas 1951, Dr. Ralph Russell risked everything to voluntarily enter a locked federal drug-treatment facility known as a "narcotic farm."

Sixty-five years later, Dr. Russell's granddaughter Debbie suffers a debilitating crisis of identity when her father (Dr. Russell's oldest son), always her biggest fan, is accepted into hospice.

Debbie's investigation into her paternal lineage reveals family secrets and ignites her mother's volatile outbursts, propelling her into therapy.

When therapy fails her, the grandfather Debbie never knew saves her, and she collaborates with her dying father one last time to make her biggest dream come true.

Crossing Fifty-One pulls back the curtain on the internal struggles of midlife and provides a blueprint for redefining one's self beyond the constraints of addiction and dysfunctional family dynamics.

About the Author 

Debbie Russell is a lawyer-turned writer. She spent twenty-five years as an Assistant County Attorney in Minneapolis, prosecuting numerous high-profile cases—specializing in those involving domestic and child abuse. At age fifty-five, Debbie took early retirement, giving up a full pension for the freedom of time. She now spends that precious time writing, restoring her property to native prairie and wetlands, and training her rambunctious retrievers.

 

Debbie’s first published article appeared in the Minneapolis Star Tribune in 2001. After that small triumph, her writing focused primarily on legal briefs and memoranda, which were consigned to district court files. Debbie resumed creative writing in 2014 when she began her storytelling blog by sharing personal stories and professional experiences that touched her life in a significant way. Her top-ranked December 2021 article for Elephant Journal, an online journal that celebrates the mindful life is entitled “Getting the Most out of Therapy: Easier Said than Done,” and is partially based on events in her book.

 

Debbie's award-winning book, Crossing Fifty-One: Not Quite a Memoir, was released in June of 2023. In 2024, she became a regular contributor to the Minnesota Star Tribune, writing about criminal justice and adjacent issues.

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A Len Buonfiglio/St. Pierre Caribbean Mystery

Len Buonfiglio is a former New York bar owner and family man. He has the perfect life until he yearns for more—for something he knows will destroy everything he had, but something he can’t resist. He makes his choice and that, along with a traumatic event, shatters his world. His life and what he had now broken, his only choice is to leave the city and his family. His flight takes him to the remote Caribbean island of St. Pierre where he opens a sports bar that he runs with his friend and partner, a young local islander named Tubby Levett.

In Freedom Drop, a genial tour guide, Rawle “Big Tree” Johns is a suspect in an American woman’s fall from a cliff and held in custody. John’s mother enlists Buonfiglio to help free her son and to prove that he had nothing to do with the woman’s death. Conflicted by the need to spend time with his sixteen-year-old daughter who he hasn’t seen in two years, Mr. Len as he’s known on the island, reluctantly agrees to help.

Buonfiglio’s search for the truth reveals that there are other, much more powerful forces involved in the woman’s death that threaten both his life and his family. In the course of his investigation, he confronts a high-ranking island politician, the local superintendent of police, the dead girl’s mother, and, ultimately, a shady yet powerful outsider investor. Was the girl’s death an accident or did Johns cause that accident? Or was she murdered? The lack of clarity—the mystery of what really happened to the girl—he realizes, reflects the enigma that is St. Pierre. It’s a riddle that, despite living on the island for several years, he still cannot solve.

Genre: Mystery
Published by: April 7, 2025 by Down & Out Books

My Review

Expect an Engaging Mystery. This was a great first book to the Len Buonfiglio/Caribbean mystery series. Readers will be immediately pulled into Len's life in St. Pierre and the island mystery that he is drawn into. The mystery itself is interesting, with enough action and thrills to hold your attention from beginning to end. I think a larger part of the mystery is Len himself! While we get to know Len in stages, we don't know all there is to know about him and his past. While the main mystery of the novel is resolved, you will definitely want to read more books to try to piece together some of the character's missing pieces or secrets!

Freedom Drop Blends Drama and Mystery Well. The author does a great job keeping his characters real and even relatable. Len's family dramas are not brushed aside in light of the crime drama that unfolds--nor are the sleuthing adventures overly done or unrealistic. The characters feel real, and the novel blends the various aspects of Len's life into a believable, entertaining storyline. 

Would I Recommend Freedom Drop by Brian Silverman? I enjoyed Len's character and following along with this first adventure. I enjoyed the author's writing style, realistic characters, vivid settings and the well-written mystery plot. If you enjoy tough, strong characters who jump in to find the truth--the author sets Len up well to fill this role in this novel and in future ones. I look forward to reading more from this series and the author--and seeing what other "mysteries" surround the main character. 

Praise for FREEDOM DROP:

"An impressive debut…Silverman capably captures the feel of his setting en route to a satisfying conclusion. A sequel is warranted."
~ Publishers Weekly

"Silverman had me at the Caribbean setting, and held me with his fully human characters—of both good and bad natures—and their situation."
~ SJ Rozan, Edgar-winning author of The Murder of Mr. Ma

"A mystery steeped in authentic Caribbean atmosphere. Silverman knows his territory, as does his hero, an ex-Marine-turned-sleuth who discovers that, even in paradise, things aren’t always what they seem."
~ Wallace Stroby, author of Heaven’s a Lie and Some Die Nameless

"A buddy book, a whodunit, and a family drama, Freedom Drop is mystery magic."
~ Reed Farrel Coleman, author of Sleepless City

"Brian Silverman’s Freedom Drop is an exciting and welcome new addition to the crime writing pantheon." ~ S.A. Cosby, author of Razorblade Tears and All the Sinners Bleed

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Meet the Author

Brian Silverman’s writing career has spanned over 30 years. He has written about travel, food, and sports for publications including the New York Times, Saveur, Caribbean Travel and Life, Islands, the New Yorker, New York, and others. From 2004 through 2013, he was the author of the annual Frommer’s New York City guidebook series. He co-authored the acclaimed Twentieth Century Treasury of Sports with his father, Al Silverman.

His short fiction has appeared in numerous publications, including Mystery Tribune, Down and Out Magazine, and Mystery Weekly. His stories have been selected to appear in The Best American Mystery Stories in 2018 and 2019, and The Best American Mystery and Suspense Stories 2021. His other short fiction has appeared in publications such as Down and Out Magazine, Mystery Magazine, Dark Waters, and Vautrin. Freedom Drop is his first published novel. He lives in Harlem, New York, with his wife, Heather, and his sons, Louis and Russell.

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I love finding new memoirs to share! Learn about coming of age drama/memoir Luna Court and author Dandy Noel in book spotlight feature! 

Nonfiction/Memoir, Adventure, Coming of Age, Drama

Date Published: March 24, 2025

Publisher: MindStir Media

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"Life on the road was a dream. Destinations were shaping up to be cold, hard, complicated realities."

The call of the open road, the music that fuels them, and the night that changed everything... In the early 1990s, amidst the gritty allure of Southern California's burgeoning music scene, 18-year-old Denver finds herself at a crossroads. Her father has been missing for over a year, leaving behind a void that haunts her every moment. After high school graduation, Denver and her best friend hit the road for a transformative journey across the country.

About the Author

You might say Dandy’s lifelong pursuit of healing began in many places: with parents who both abandoned her in different ways; with the incredible cross-country road trip she embarked on as a teenager; or with a transcendent night in Washington D.C.

The truth is, healing is not about beginnings or about endings. It’s an invitation that beckons to every one of us.

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Books A Million

Today, I have a dramatic women's fiction novel to share in our book review spotlight. If you enjoy a complex family drama, Higher Love should be on your summer reading list! Learn about Higher Love and author Joanne Kukanza Easley, read my thoughts on the book, and be sure to enter for a chance to win a prize in the book tour giveaway at the end of this post.

​Joanne Kukanza Easley, a retired registered nurse who worked in the cold, stark environment of operating rooms and the highly charged setting of psychiatric facilities, now resides in the Texas Hill Country. There, she crafts fiction centered on complex women of the twentieth century. Her debut novel, Sweet Jane, garnered multiple accolades, including the adult fiction prize at the Texas Author Project, and was a finalist for prestigious honors like the Sarton Award and the Eric Hoffer Award, among others. Her second book, Just One Look, was selected as a May 2022 Pulpwood Queen Book Club Pick. Her third novel, I’ll Be Seeing You, revisits characters from Sweet Jane. Her fourth novel, Higher Love, a continuation of her third, is slated for release in Spring 2025. Easley’s award-winning short stories and poetry have been featured in various anthologies.

connect with the author:  website ~ X ~ facebook ~ instagram ~ goodreads

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Book Title:  THE PERFECT MOTHER by Desiree Moodie
Category: Adult Fiction (18 +), 
Genre: Thriller
Publisher:  Twisted Thoughts Publishing
Release date:  May 2025
Content Rating: PG-13 + M: The book has a few "f" words, one or two religious profanities and a few crude terms. There is no sex, but there is violence. Mature themes include pregnancy loss.

Desiree Moodie has been writing since before she could talk — seriously. As a kid, she spent weekends scribbling on notebook paper and stapling the pages together into makeshift books.

Now, she crafts dark, twisty stories featuring morally complex characters and impossible-to-put-down plots. Her writing is influenced by her travels, old-school noir films, and pro-wrestling (yes, still). She loves difficult women, villains who might just have a point, and snappy dialogue.

When she's not writing, Desiree is watching reruns of Perry Mason, working on her Lauren Bacall impression, or pulling Tarot cards. She’s got a soft spot for readers who love clever, gritty stories with a little bite — so don’t be shy. Drop her a line (just not in all caps).

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website  ~  X/twitter  ~  facebook ~ instagram ~ pinterest ~ goodreads ~ bookbub

 

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THE PERFECT MOTHER by Desiree Moodie Book Tour Giveaway