Melanin is the friend we all wish was in our group when we were in school. Kind, sincere, and smart, Melanin is a leader for our times whose compassion knows no bounds. Open these pages and accompany Melanin on her path to self-confidence!
About Melanin Brown Discovers America
Melanin Brown is a girl far beyond her years who observes a brand new student being bullied at her school because of his ethics. This causes her to feel distressed, uncomfortable, and the treatment does not sit right with her. As she is given guidance from her parents, friends, and teachers, she also leans on her desire to treat people in the same manner in which she would want to be treated. Melanin finds how to confront disparate difficult situations while simultaneously navigating her own sense of truth and justice.
Melanin is the friend we all wish was in our group when we were in school. Kind, sincere, and smart, Melanin is a leader for our times whose compassion knows no bounds. Open these pages and accompany Melanin on her path to self-confidence!
You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon, B&N and Mascot.
About the Author
Candice Davis is a middle school Special Education Teacher in Washington, D.C., with a background in film. She started her career in education as a Curriculum and Personnel Specialist, writing grants and proposals. Due to her desire to have more of a direct impact with disadvantaged students, she transitioned into teaching. This is Davis’s debut book. She holds a M.Ed. in Educational Psychology with a focus in Social Foundations from the University of Virginia and a BA in Film and Video Studies from George Mason University.
Disclosure: This is a spotlight tour, I did not receive compensation for this post. All opinions expressed are my own.
Erin Bartels draws from her own personal experiences hiking backcountry trails with her sister to bring you a story about the complexities of grief, faith, and sisterhood.
About All That We Carried
Ten years ago, sisters Olivia and Melanie Greene were on a backcountry hiking trip when their parents were in a fatal car accident. Over the years, they grew apart, each coping with the loss in their own way. Olivia plunged herself into law school, work, and a materialist view of the world, what you see is what you get, and that is all you get. Melanie dropped out of college and developed an online life-coaching business around her cafeteria-style spirituality–a little of this, a little of that, and whatever makes you happy.
Now, at Melanie’s insistence (and against Olivia’s better judgment), they are embarking on a hike in the Porcupine Mountains of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. In this remote wilderness they will face their deepest fears, question their beliefs, and begin to see that perhaps the best way to move forward is the one way that they had never considered.
My Thoughts
“What is done is done and cannot be undone” – All That We Carried
We all deal with grief in different ways and no one way is correct but some can lead to lasting pain instead of healing. Olivia and Melanie (sisters) lost their parents in a fatal car accident, caused by a close family friend. The sisters relationship fell apart after the death of their parents and the path that they were both originally on becomes skewed as they both struggle to find healing, forgiveness and move forward without their parents.
Melanie, who seems to be full of life and carefree, is determined for the sisters to speak about their past and try to mend their relationship in the remote wilderness of Michigan. Olivia wants to ignore the past and keep moving forward. You can tell from the start the two are not getting off to the right start, they continuously fall into their old patterns, they bicker and continue to judge instead of seeing with their hearts what is truly in front of them. The story that begins to unfold is one of pain, anger, and the hope of healing, forgiveness and the importance of family.
I loved our two characters, they were real and you felt connected to them. Melanie and Olivia are very much like any other normal person dealing with grief. They lash out, they carry grudges and find it hard to admit their wrong. They have a painful history and you want them to find some healing and hope for a positive relationship in the future for the two of them. It is impossible for us to carry the burden for others and this story shows us the importance of letting the baggage we carry go in order to move forward. I loved the lessons we learned on forgiveness, healing and finding the strength to move forward. This was a beautiful, touching novel from start to finish.
Erin Bartels is the award-winning author of We Hope for Better Things, a 2020 Michigan Notable Book and a finalist for the 2019 Christy Award and the 2020 Star Award from the Women’s Fiction Writers Association (WFWA), and The Words between Us, a finalist for the 2015 Rising Star Award from WFWA. Her short story, “This Elegant Ruin,” was a finalist in the Saturday Evening Post Great American Fiction Contest in 2014, and her poetry has been published by The Lyric. A publishing professional for 18 years, she is the director of WFWA’s annual writers retreat in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She lives in Lansing, Michigan, with her husband, Zachary, and their son. Find her online at www.erinbartels.com.
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.
Lets Talk! A story of Autism and Friendship is the heart warming story of two friends and the different ways they communicate.
About Lets Talk! A story of Autism and Friendship
Harper, a seven-year-old little girl that is typically developing, meets a new friend one day at the pool that is diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. They both love to swim at the pool and want to play together however, Emma has little communication skills. Emma can make sounds and not words and flaps her hands when she is excited. When Harper realizes she cannot communicate with her new friend she becomes determined to find a way to. She begins to learn about Autism Spectrum Disorder and the different ways that Emma can communicate. Once she does the two become inseparable. Harper introduces Emma to all her friends and teaches them how to communicate with Emma. Harper and Emma become the center of their circle of friends and have more many more adventures together.
Lisa Jacovsky currently is a doctoral level student at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology. She is excited the possibilities having her Doctorate degree will bring her. She has been in the field of ABA since 2014. She began working with children with Autism in 2018 and is currently working in Early Intervention. It is her experience with children that inspired her to finally fulfill her dream of writing a book. Lisa began writing short stories when she was seven years old. Writing is her passion and one of many things she enjoys. She is excited for the future of her series Lets Talk!.
In A Dance in Donegal, Moira decides to fulfill her mother’s wish that she become the teacher in Ballymann, her home village in Donegal, Ireland.
About A Dance in Donegal
All of her life, Irish-American Moira Doherty has relished her mother’s descriptions of Ireland. When her mother dies unexpectedly in the summer of 1920, Moira decides to fulfill her mother’s wish that she become the teacher in Ballymann, her home village in Donegal, Ireland.
After an arduous voyage, Moira arrives to a new home and a new job in an ancient country. Though a few locals offer a warm welcome, others are distanced by superstition and suspicion. Rumors about Moira’s mother are unspoken in her presence but threaten to derail everything she’s journeyed to Ballymann to do. Moira must rely on the kindness of a handful of friends–and the strength of Sean, an unsettlingly handsome thatcher who keeps popping up unannounced–as she seeks to navigate a life she’d never dreamed of but perhaps was meant to live.
My Thoughts
Moira is a bright young American woman who has grown up with the stories and dreams her Mother told her of Donegal, Ireland. When she loses her Mother, she decides to fulfill her Mother’s wish to become a teacher in her home village. She is excited to embark on this journey of discovery, learning about where her Mother came from, and experiencing first hand all of the stories she has been told (like so many of us whose parents have immigrated, we can’t wait to see the place our parents called home). I don’t think anything could have prepared her for what would be ahead of her.
Ireland is everything she could have imagined and more, as a reader the country comes alive in the story. We feel as though we are there with Moira experiencing each new moment, and seeing the country for the first time (how it made me wish we could travel right now). The village is very typical of many small villages, everyone knows everyone, gossiping happens and grudges can last through several generations. Moira gets the sense that people are hiding something from her about her Mother but she just can’t quite put her finger on it. Someone is determined to make her life quite miserable by leaving subtle hints that she is not welcome (I loved learning about their superstitions). Combine this with the culture shock, can Moira handle all of these changes both mentally and emotionally?
Moira’s faith and personal values are put to the test and while she struggled with decisions it is her compassion and faith that comes through strong in her actions and this is despite how she has been treated. She teaches us about compassion, forgiveness and understanding. Sometimes it is incredibly hard to forgive and to treat others with kindness, especially when they have hurt us, but to act out in retaliation (or to not act) only hurts us.
A Dance in Donegal is a beautiful story of finding love, compassion, forgiveness and hope for the future in the beautiful backdrop of Ireland. We are taken on a journey that is well written, and full of impact (I know I stopped and reflected on my own past and how I can change my own mindset). Historical fans will love this well written story.
Jennifer Deibel is a middle school teacher whose work has appeared on (in)courage, on The Better Mom, in Missions Mosaic magazine, and others. With firsthand immersive experience abroad, Jennifer writes stories that help redefine home through the lens of culture, history, and family. After nearly a decade of living in Ireland and Austria, she now lives in Arizona with her husband and their three children.
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.
This electric standalone novel, When Twilight Breaks, puts you right at the intersection of pulse-pounding suspense and heart-stopping romance.
About When Twilight Breaks
Evelyn Brand is an American foreign correspondent determined to prove her worth in a male-dominated profession and to expose the growing tyranny in Nazi Germany. To do so, she must walk a thin line. If she offends the government, she could be expelled from the country–or worse. If she does not report truthfully, she’ll betray the oppressed and fail to wake up the folks back home.
Peter Lang is an American graduate student working on his PhD in German. Disillusioned with the chaos in the world due to the Great Depression, he is impressed with the prosperity and order of German society. But when the brutality of the regime hits close, he discovers a far better way to use his contacts within the Nazi party–to feed information to the shrewd reporter he can’t get off his mind.
As the world marches relentlessly toward war, Evelyn and Peter are on a collision course with destiny.
My Thoughts
When Twilight Breaks is a novel that I could not put down, the fast paced and exciting plot made it impossible to stop reading. I had to know what was going to happen next in this action packed story.
Evelyn, an American living in Germany, is a brave young woman in a male dominated profession. She is very clearly unwanted by some of her male colleagues and constantly has to prove herself to be better than her male counterparts. Evelyn is determined to show the world the truth of what is happening in Germany during the lead up to WWII. She is shocked at the way Jewish people are being treated by the Nazi party and wants the world to know. The only problem? Her editor keeps changing her stories to show the Nazi party in a positive light. On one of her assignments, she interviews Peter Lang, a fellow American completing his Ph.D. on the German language. While she begins to fall for him, she keeps him at arms length as he too cannot see the fine line that the Nazi party is crossing with their treatment of the Jewish people. She is constantly walking a fine line on reporting the truth and offending the Nazi party. Will she go to far in her fight to tell the truth and risk more than just her career – her life? Will Peter be able to let go of the past he holds on to and see what is really happening in front of him?
This novel is full of adventure, suspense and a budding romance. I love how Evelyn knows herself and never backs down. So many times, she must have felt afraid but she was determined to tell the truth and have the truth told on what was really occurring in Germany. She did this at great expense to her own life, which we saw the threat to her life start to develop halfway through the novel. These events put her and Peter on the run – can they escape the Nazi party, can they expose those involved in horrific crimes, can they make it back to America? Can you tell why I could not put the novel down?! While fast paced, it was well written with just the right amount of information given to us at each part of the story (how can friends turn to enemies so quickly?!). When Twilight Breaks is an excellent and exciting novel that fans of historical romances will love. It is a novel full of determination, strength, love, hope and standing up for what you believe in.
Sarah Sundin is the bestselling author of several popular WWII series, including Sunrise at Normandy, Waves of Freedom, Wings of the Nightingale, and Wings of Glory. Her novels have received starred reviews from Booklist, Library Journal, and Publishers Weekly. The Sky Above Us received the Carol Award, her bestselling The Sea Before Us received the FHL Reader’s Choice Award, and both Through Waters Deep and When Tides Turn were named on Booklist‘s “101 Best Romance Novels of the Last 10 Years.” Sarah lives in Northern California. Visit www.sarahsundin.com for more information.
