God's Surprising Way by Jeyran Main #bookreview #christian #nonfiction #spirituality #rabtbooktours @TalesReview @RABTBookTours

 

The Path to Lasting Joy, Healing, and Love

Christian Theology • Philosophy • Contemporary Faith • Spirituality

Date Published: 03-01-2026

Publisher: Review Tales Editing & Publishing Services

God's Surprising Way: The Path to Lasting Joy, Healing, and Love guides readers into the upside-down kingdom of God, where human expectations are consistently overturned. In this transformative journey, the humble are exalted, the last are lifted, and true greatness is found through servanthood, surrender, and sacrificial love. Through Scripture, theological insights, and historical reflections-from Augustine and Luther to Bonhoeffer and Nouwen-readers discover how God's surprising ways cultivate lasting joy, deep healing, and authentic love.

Each chapter explores a distinct paradox of the gospel, demonstrating how humility, generosity, and obedience can transform relationships, communities, and personal faith. Practical reflections and prompts invite readers to integrate these principles into daily life-choosing forgiveness over resentment, service over recognition, and trust over control.

With accessible scholarship, devotional insight, and concrete application, this book reveals the practical power of God's reversals. It challenges conventional assumptions about success, power, and happiness, inviting believers to live counterculturally in alignment with Christ's teachings. God's Surprising Way is both an invitation and a roadmap: to encounter God's transformative presence, embody the values of the Kingdom, and experience joy, healing, and love that endure.

 

Review

This book presents a refreshing perspective on faith by exploring the “upside-down” nature of God’s kingdom. It emphasizes surrender, grace, and sacrificial love.

Throughout the book the author really builds on this idea, offering insights that feel both spiritually rich and practical.

The writing strikes a nice balance between thoughtful theology and accessible language, making it easy to follow without losing depth.

Readers who enjoy devotionals with substance will appreciate how each section encourages personal reflection and real change. 

About the Author

Jeyran Main has spent years immersed in the world of books as an editor and publisher. She is the author of The Radical Realism of Jesus: A Framework for Living in the 21st Century and serves as Editor-in-Chief of Living in the Light of the Cross magazine. Through her platform, HeavenlyHarmonyHub.com, she provides resources that encourage thoughtful engagement with faith. Guided by a passion for seeking truth, Jeyran explores how God’s counterintuitive Kingdom wisdom overturns human expectations and invites readers into a life marked by joy, healing, generosity, and love.

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Death and Life in the City of Dreams by Nicholas Deitch #releaseday #newbooks #literary #fiction #rabtbooktours @RABTBookTours

 

Literary Fiction

Date Published: April 16th

Publisher: Acorn Publishing

Jaded city planner Townsend Meadows looks out across Evermore Valley with the ghost of his dead friend by his side. “Do you ever wonder,” Fen asks, “what this city will look like five hundred years from now?”

Their city is teetering on the brink of collapse, and the mayor’s answer is a gleaming new auto mall at the valley’s edge. For Townsend, it’s the death of everything a city should be. Struggling to regain his passion and forced to choose between compliance and conviction, he must risk his career to fight for a more hopeful and verdant future.

From an architect’s vision at the dawn of the twentieth century, to a rancher’s dynasty scarred by violence and greed, to a city founder’s hidden message of hope, this story about the rise, fall, and reawakening of an American city reaches far beyond the present. A timely, sweeping novel of memory, corruption, and resilience, Death and Life in the City of Dreams asks, “What legacy will we choose to leave for our children?”

 

About the Author

 

 Nicholas Deitch is a writer, architect, and advocate for social justice whose fiction explores the intersection of cities, history, and human resilience. His passion for storytelling began when a colleague recognized the emotional depth of his nonfiction work. Since then, he has honed his craft, publishing short stories in Litro Magazine, Club Plum, and Santa Barbara Literary Journal. His short story “Grace Eternal” won Best Fiction at the Santa Barbara Writers Conference (2019).

Death and Life in the City of Dreams, his debut novel, is deeply influenced by his experiences in nonprofit leadership and the design of inclusive communities and urban places.

Originally from Los Angeles, he now lives in Ventura, California, with his wife and creative partner Diana.

 

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I Love It When We Read Together by Karolyn Wallace #giveaway #childrensbook #rabtbooktours @RABTBookTours

Children's Books / Early Learning Beginner Reader

Date Published: 08-12-2025

Publisher: Mission Point Press

I Love It When We Read Together invites reading partners to create their own special rituals with gentle prompts and endearing illustrations that encourage kids to read along, spot animals, and spark lively conversations. This book is perfect for building fluency and connection. Inspired by the literacy challenges of the pandemic, early childhood educator Karolyn Wallace crafts a cozy experience that helps families bring the joy of reading home.

 

About the Author

Karolyn Wallace is a seasoned educator with over twenty years of experience teaching in elementary classrooms across public and private schools in Maryland, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, and New York. Before that, she was a broadcast journalist at local news affiliates in Los Angeles and Flint, Michigan. She is currently part of the team at The Children’s Learning Lab, where experienced educators connect with elementary students for online learning. She divides her time between Michigan and California, enjoying the company of her husband, children, and grandchildren.

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Your Joyful Years by Professor Joyce Harper #bookreview #nonfiction #selfhelp #giveaway #rabtbooktours @RABTBookTours

 

Empowering good health and happiness beyond 50

Self help, Women Health

Date Published: 20 March 2026

“An uplifting and empowering guide to later life that blends lived experience with science and practical wisdom, encouraging us not merely to age, but to thrive. I read this book as a middle-aged man and loved it … it is beautifully reassuring, humane, and optimistic.”

— Professor Chris van Tulleken, Clinician, Academic, TV Presenter, UK

 

Aged 50+ is a pivotal stage in many women’s lives. We are entering post-menopause—free from reproductive hormones, periods, and contraception. Children may be leaving home, careers may be shifting or winding down, and there is the dawning realisation that we may have 20 or 30 healthy years ahead of us. This is not an ending, but a powerful new beginning. This stage of life offers an opportunity to reconnect with yourselves, to rediscover what truly matters, and to prioritise self-love and self-care without guilt. This book brings you the wisdom of 50 inspiring women who share their lived experiences with honesty and generosity. Their stories offer guidance, reassurance, and permission to live authentically on your own terms. Together, they show how this stage of life can be rich with meaning, purpose, freedom, and joy. These are Your Joyful Years.

Professor Joyce Harper is a down-to-earth expert in reproductive and women’s health, with almost 40 years’ experience listening to women and translating science into practical, evidence-based guidance. She has published widely about women’s health and is passionate about helping women thrive. Joyce combines research, real-world experience, and a deep belief in living life to the full, and she practices what she preaches. This book is the second in her trilogy: Your Fertile Years; Your Joyful Years; and Your Final Years.

Review

This is a much needed and really uplifting and reassuring read about aging. Instead of focusing on what we lose as we get older, the book highlights everything we can still gain... joy, purpose, and fulfillment. 

The writing is clear and approachable, and it feels like the author genuinely wants readers to feel hopeful about the future.

I appreciated how it blends science with real-life advice in a way that doesn’t feel overwhelming.

It’s a comforting reminder that getting older doesn’t mean slowing down, it can actually be one of the most meaningful stages of life.

About the Author

Joyce Harper is an internationally renowned and award-winning educator, author, women’s health coach, podcaster, academic, public speaker, and scientist. She is Professor of Reproductive Science at University College London in the Institute for Women’s Health, where she leads the Reproductive Science and Society Group. She has published more than 250 scientific papers and regularly gives keynote lectures at international conferences.

Joyce is deeply passionate about empowering women to live their best lives through good health and happiness. Her last book, Your Fertile Years, published by Sheldon Press in 2021, explores women’s health from puberty to menopause. In Your Joyful Years, she shares the wisdom of 50 women over 50 who are thriving, to empower women to lead a life of good health and happiness. She has started writing her next book, Your Final Years, about the end of life.

Her podcast Why didn’t anyone tell me this? is ranked in the top 10% of podcasts globally on Listen Notes and is listened to in more than 90 countries.

Joyce gives many public talks. She regularly appears in the press, on radio and TV. She is a regular guest on various BBC programmes including Women’s Hour and the BBC World Service. She has been a guest on Brian Cox’s Infinite Monkey Cage and his radio show A Question of Science and she explained sex to Philomena Cunk, in Cunk on Life.

As co-founder and co-lead of the UK Menopause Education and Support Programme (InTune) with Dr Shema Tariq and the International Reproductive Health Education Collaboration (IRHEC), Joyce is dedicated to improving reproductive health education for all ages. She collaborates with schools across the UK and globally to deliver impactful programs that promote knowledge and understanding.

An avid cold-water swimmer, Joyce is also a founding member of the research network SwimHer, which investigates the links between women’s health and cold-water swimming. Her groundbreaking work includes publishing the world’s first study about how cold-water swimming affects menstrual and menopause symptoms.

Since 2016 she has run a local women’s group in Saffron Walden, The Purple Tent.

 

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The Man in the Middle by Julie Lee Williams #giveaway #familysaga #fiction #historical #rabtbooktours @RABTBookTours

A Tapestry of Tangled Lives

Family Saga / Fiction / Based on True Lived Experiences

Date Published: April 6, 2026

Publisher: Serapis Bey Publishing, Arizona, US www.parulagrawal.com

 

A story of human connection between twins, between lovers, between comrades in war, set against the shadow of the evangelical religion and its judgments."

 

Based on a childhood of shadowy secrets surrounding her parents’ marriage and the rigid judgment of the Evangelical religion, the author attempts to find her truth. A work of historical fiction and romance, it spans the era of WWII and beyond, weaving the story of her father, mother and aunt (her mother’s twin sister). The unexpected twists and turns mirror those of our own lives, and readers can empathize and identify with the characters’ humanity as they struggle with their flaws. The power of religious judgement is explored along with the strength and resilience of individuals challenged by the ethics of life. This is also a fascinating study of the complexities of being twins. With the strongest of bonds that overwhelms their very different personalities, their love for the same man creates a gulf between them that threatens their entire adult relationship. It is also a story of a man and how he navigates his own journey after love and loss. When his WWII experience takes him to countries he has never dreamed of seeing, and opens him to the excitement of new cultures, he finds new meaning. At the same time, his bonds to his comrades in arms and their shared experiences of battlefield traumas leaves him with emotional scars. A story of secrets and the power of love, the themes of self-doubt and second chances are embedded in the narrative, along with the acceptance of one’s actions following painful choices.

A story of human connection between twins, lovers, comrades during World War 11, families, and generational trauma, set across the United States and Europe and against the shadow of the Evangelical religion and its judgments. A family saga of secrets, shadows, and unspoken enduring love, and its impact across three generations, based on a true story of lived experience. A work of romantic, historical fiction, The Man in the Middle; A Tale of Tangled Lives is based on the true story of the author’s parents. It follows their youth in the early 1900s in US, through the years of WWII in Europe, and after, and their lives as friends, lovers, parents, and elderly individuals.

This is a story of love and its many forms. There are no heroes or demons, only people dealing with their humanity. Or maybe there are heroes: Luke, as he navigates his life honourably and responsibly, while harbouring feelings for more than one woman; Anna as she comes to terms with her selfish impulses and attempts to overcome them; Pierrette, who recognizes and accepts that she cannot give Luke the life he wants, and that their love is not enough. Karoline is perhaps the true heroine of the book. A victim of the religious beliefs she is trapped by, she finds it impossible to love herself. Instead, she spends her life feeling inferior to her sister and undeserving of Luke’s love. At Luke’s passing, she finally receives the confirmation of her worth and her place as the love of his life.

 

About the Author

"The author lives half-time in San Diego, CA, and half-time in a small village in Southern France. This is her exploration of the unexplained secrets that shadowed her childhood and the consequences that haunt all our choices."

“I wrote this book to come to terms with my past. I wanted to understand the people who raised me, through the fictional characters of Karoline and Luke, who represent my parents and my mother’s twin sister, Anna, who represents my aunt. My childhood was full of love, but as I watched the individuals around me, I sensed a drama that excluded me. I knew my father had been in WWII and experienced Normandy, the Battle of the Bulge and much more during the four years he spent in Europe. The way he talked about the world he had discovered there intrigued me and I knew there was more to tell, which he never spoke about. My mother adored my father, but there was a tension in the room when my aunt was present. A connection between my father and my aunt was obvious despite their effort to hide it. Through the years, there were inadvertent comments that hinted of a previous relationship between them, but it wasn’t until the end of my father’s life that conversations took place that enlightened me. I didn’t ask, but they each wanted to tell their story, their truth about what happened. This book is my truth, my experience in living with them and loving them. It is my attempt to honor them by exploring their humanness and accepting that we are each a complex entity.”

 

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The Bric-a-Brac of Mickey Mack by Mickey Mack #teaser #excerpt #giveaway #poetry #satire #rabtbooktours @RABTBookTours

Poetry /Comedy Satire Gift Rhyme Millennial Humor Silverstein Memory

Date Published: 04-15-2026

Publisher: The Tink and Tank Press

A wry poetry collection that captures the jarring sink-or-swim leap into adulthood. This book honors the limbo of exiting youth, a unique period where responsibility suddenly smashes the youthful optimist, crushing it under the crippling weight of adulthood. Twenty-somethings scatter across life's spectrum with some jobless and couch-surfing, while others marry, become parents, and buy a house. Everyone eventually finds themselves old enough to fight in foreign wars but too young to rent a car. It's the fast, brutal shift to an unguarded world, to bowling without bumpers. You've entered a chaotic soup of competing ambitions and subterfuge, where one hand offers help while the other conceals a knife. You're expected to be an adult without ever having been one, like seeing the ocean from afar and suddenly wrestling its waves. This book highlights the inevitable sense of crushing defeat and loss, but reveals the importance of laughing anyway. After all, life is a game of avoiding the consequences of your own actions. The Bric-a-Brac of Mickey Mack will hand you a mirror and dare you to laugh at its reflection.

Excerpt

I sat across from him, he had a twisted distant gaze while he wracked his mind and grappled with a foolish phrase which was written on a note and shuffled in a mess of junk atop a desk ensconced in filth, no doubt the man was drunk. His name was Mickey Mack, both laser focused and aloof, fenced in by Bric-a-Brac unpacked and stacked up to the roof. A product of his times, so wise, yet dumber than a door. A man of vast experience and yet he’s such a bore. He’d traveled ’round the world and been to many foreign lands to simply say he had, to sit and sulk, his only plans. For “that’s what people do,” he’d say, “they travel to enjoy the petty world and what it offers every girl and boy.” Despite the fact that Mr. Mack had traveled far and wide he would do what’s done at home and find a bar to sit inside. And there, while many past him by, bemoaning life itself, it tortured Mickey for he couldn’t help but see himself. He realized now that time is gone, and that’s the way it is, and he, while living other people’s lives, had wasted his. And as a way, as best he could, expel the toxic bile, he has compiled every groan and gripe within a file. And written down, at last, now put together in a book the crying whines of all he heard from all the trips he took. A vapid, superficial twit, he sobered up somehow, and Mickey Mack looked up at me behind a furrowed brow, and as he squinted, leaning closer straining hard to see, He was looking in a mirror, for the hopeless fool was me.

 

 

About the Author

Mickey Mack is a world-weary traveler and obsessive collector of life’s absurd talismans and trinkets. After years of eavesdropping on bar-stool confessions around the globe, he distills the Suffering Olympics of modern adulthood into witty, rhythmic heroic couplets.

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Sasq'et by Maxim Langstaff #historical #historicalfiction #mythology #rabtbooktours @sasqetthebook @RABTBookTours

 

Historical Fiction / Mythology

Date Published: ‎April 7, 2026

Publisher: ‎ Manhattan Book Group

IN 1939, A DEADLY CONFRONTATION IN THE CANADIAN WILDERNESS shatters young Albert Pingree's life and leaves him the keeper of a truth so staggering it could tear apart mankind's understanding of itself. Sixty years later, his granddaughter Mallory - a small-town veterinarian in rural New Hampshire, inherits more than his fortune; she inherits his secret. When Albert is found dead behind his remote British Columbia cabin, Mallory is drawn into a world of deception, lost identity, and scientific obsession. Inside a locked candle box, she uncovers a horrific relic - a severed hand too large to be human - and a note that beckons her toward the impossible.

Mallory recruits Dr. George Avery, the world's leading field zoologist to help her identify what she has found. At first, he is reluctant, unaware of the magnitude of what she has brought to him. As the puzzle begins to take shape, he is confronted by what the answers they find, reveal.

Exploring deeper, their growing affection ignites a sense of purpose, even as they face the shadows of the past and the dangers of their pursuit. In the haunting wilds of the Pacific Northwest, nature's grandeur and brutality are ever-present. Tangled forests and untamed rivers, bears, wolves, and the ancient reverence of Indigenous traditions surround them, blurring the lines between myth and reality. Their quest becomes a journey not only to solve a mystery, but to reconcile love, loneliness, and the immortal question of our place in a world still ruled by secrets.

Register to learn more: https://sasqetthebook.com/press/

 

 

About the Author

Maxim Langstaff is a Grammy-and Emmy-nominated writer, producer, and author whose creative and editorial work has reached millions of people worldwide. He is recognized for his innovative vision and exceptional versatility and reach, crafting narratives that reflect powerful insight into the natural world and our relationship to it.

His debut novel, SASQ’ET will be released on April 7, 2026.

Max holds an honorary doctorate from Connecticut College and a degree in Anthropology. He is a member of The Writer’s Guild and past participant at the Breadloaf Writer’s Conference. His editorial and creative writing has been published by The New York Times, Philadelphia Enquirer, Gannett, Wildlife Conservation Magazine, PBS, Disney, and the Wildlife Conservation Society.

Max produced the multi-media Making of Sgt. Pepper with Sir George Martin, featuring Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, George Harrison and Phil Collins.

He wrote and produced the most complete filmed history of the Beatles through the eyes of Sir George who signed them, produced their work, and played on many of their recordings. A part Max’s film became the award-winning PBS series Soundbreaking.

Many of the greatest pop culture icons of the 20th century have collaborated with Max on projects he has created, written, and produced including Herbie Hancock, Brian Wilson, Elton John, Joni Mitchell, B.B. King, Tony Bennett, Vince Gill, Burt Bacharach, Bonnie Raitt, Mark Knopfler, Michael Tilson Thomas, Gordon Lightfoot, Smokey Robinson, Jack White, Dave Grohl, Run-DMC, and Willie Nelson. A more complete listing of artists he has worked with can be found at: www.maximlangstaff.com

Known for his work with John Denver, Max created and produced the acclaimed television event, the Wildlife Concert, spawning the highest rated music program in cable TV history upon broadcast, two multi-platinum CD sets, and one of the best-selling music video programs ever released by SONY.

Working with the Wildlife Conservation Society, Max helped lead the largest fundraising effort ($100mm) ever undertaken for wildlife conservation, seeding the first integrated global conservation initiative to save endangered tigers.

On any given day you will likely find him on a wilderness river or mountain trail. A three-time Boston Marathoner, he lives in North Carolina. SASQ’ET is his first novel.

Register to learn more: https://sasqetthebook.com/press/

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Early Snow by Kevin Wolf #audiobook #giveaway #mystery #rabtbooktours @RABTBookTours

Mystery

Date Published: February 18, 2026

Narrator: Greg O'Donahue

Run time: 5 hours 20 minutes.

EARLY SNOW

Odyssey Pruit paints pictures of the ghosts and spirits she saw in the halls of an old hotel where she worked ten years before. GUY HOGAN doesn’t believe in ghosts. Hogan is hired to guard Odyssey’s pictures for her first art show in the same old hotel. When an early blizzard closes the roads, knocks out the power and telephone, Hogan is trapped in the hotel with Odyssey’s quirky fans. When imps and ghouls make their presence known, Hogan questions his doubts, and the answer could be murder.

 

 

 Kevin Wolf is an award-winning Mystery and Western author. His books include Trailridge (2024), The Homeplace, winner of the 2015 Tony Hillerman Prize and the 2016 Strand Critics Award finalist for Best Debut Mystery. His short story Belthanger received the 2021 Spur Award for Best Short Fiction and his novel, The Bootheel was a 2024 Peacemaker Award finalist.

The legends and landscape of the West are evident in everything he writes. His newest novel, Trailridge, is set against the grandeur of Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park and the 1982 Lawn Lake Flood. Those who visit Rocky often or have chosen the national park for their once-in-a-lifetime destination will recognize the mountains, valleys, rivers, and the twists and turns of Trailridge as this story races to its climax.

In The Homeplace, a schoolboy hero returns after sixteen years to solve a murder in a windswept, dying town on the eastern plains of Colorado. In his short story Belthanger, readers are given a glimpse of a 1950s small town, soon to be bypassed by the new Interstate Highway System, and the drama that unfolds on the town’s darkened streets one night. The BootHeel is a coming-of-age tale of a teenage orphan and an aging gunman as they follow a treasure map into Mexico as the nineteenth century draws to its end.

Kevin Wolf is a member of Western Writers of America, Mystery Writers of America, and serves as Vice President of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. He facilitates a weekly critique group for other writers. The great-grandson of Colorado homesteaders, he enjoys fly fishing, old Winchesters, and almost every 1950’s Western movie. He lives in Estes Park, CO with his loving and patient wife.

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Golfing, Gardens & Ghosts by Mary Seifert #giveaway #cozymystery #mystery #Rabtbooktours @mary_seifert @RABTBookTours

Cozy Mystery

Date Published: 01-28-2026

Publisher: Secret Staircase Books, an imprint of Columbine Publishing Group, LLC

School’s out for the summer and math teacher Katie Wilk needs something to occupy her time, something beyond helping to plan Jane Mackey’s upcoming wedding. So, when Jane suggests golf lessons and Katie secures a part-time job at the Shady Oaks Country Club to cover the cost of her golfing gear, it seems like a win-win plan. Unfortunately, the club’s irascible golf pro seems to make enemies wherever he goes, so when his body turns up near the 14th hole, it’s anyone’s guess who might have done him in.

Katie doesn’t really want another murder to investigate, but Officer Ronnie Christianson is back to his old ways, and it looks like he’ll do what it takes to implicate her in the death. And Katie just happens to have seen a potentially incriminating clue, behind a secret garden wall that few know about. Can Katie, Jane, and Ida ask enough questions to find out what really happened before the police come after her?

 

Praise for this amazing cozy series by multiple award-winning author Mary Seifert:

2024 Chanticleer International Book Awards - Semi-Finalist - Mystery & Mayhem category

2024 Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award - Top Pick - Cozy Mysteries

2024 International Impact Awards - Winner - Books in a Series

 

“…. a solid 5 out of 5 stars. For those seeking not just a mystery but an immersive experience, Mary Seifert's debut novel [is] the perfect companion for a cosy night in, a cup of tea, and a journey into the heart of a captivating mystery.” – Maverick, Movies & Murder, Online Book Club.org

 

“...an intricate mystery with plenty of action and suspense. Plus, I like the dog.” David Housewright Edgar Award winning author of Something Wicked

 

“From navigating small town life to solving puzzling murders, Katie and Maverick are a delight.” —Mindy Mejia, international bestseller author

 

“Immediately captivating! Katie and Maverick are destined to become a notable amateur sleuth team in the mystery world.” –Connie Shelton, USA Today bestselling author

 

“I thoroughly enjoyed this debut book by Mary Seifert! This well written and thoughtful story kept me engaged with fun characters, interesting information and mind and math puzzles. Looking forward to book two!” James, 5-star online review

 

“Fun read! The author has an authentic voice and has done her research. The plot covers many topics: dogs, history, the inner workings of hospitals, family dynamics, and more. I especially enjoyed the puzzles and little-known historical facts that were part of the story. Maverick, Movies & Murder kept my interest and left me wanting more. Highly recommend!” Beth, online 5-star review

 

“…very much looking forward to her next!!! I can’t get enough of Ms. Seifert’s books!!” – proudarmymom, 5 stars

 

“…plenty of unanticipated twists and turns. It kept [me] up reading to see what was going to happen next!” – RHN, 5 stars online

 

“Maverick, Movies, and Murder isn't merely a cosy mystery; it's a literary embrace, a narrative that unfolds in layers, revealing both the familiar and the unexpected.” OnlineBookClub.org review

 

Excerpt

“I can’t imagine you didn’t inherit my ability to sit still and do absolutely nothing. I’m the king of procrastination.”

I laughed. “This from a man who plans every minute of his day.”

“Yes, but I make certain I plan all my sitting-still time first. I might have some ideas for you.”

Poised to take note of Dad’s constructive contributions, I said, “Do tell.”

He leaned back in the chair and crossed his arms. “You could pick up a new hobby.”

…

“I could teach you to cook. Maybe. Or you could bike.”

I plopped my elbow on the table and supported my cheek in my hand. “You and Ida have tried to teach me to cook. It’s been practically impossible, and there’s only so much biking I can do.” I shook my head yet listened for something novel.

“You could sleep in.”

“Tried that.” I side-eyed my pup and exhaled.

“You could learn a craft like … crocheting or knitting.”

Two more words made the list. He waited for an enthusiastic response, which didn’t happen, but nuggets of ideas turned over in my head as I chewed my final morsel of bacon. Our landlady, Ida Clemashevski, was a creative whiz not only at cooking, but with her passions of art, acting, music, and probably crafting as well.

“There’s always fishing,” he said, cautiously optimistic. “Or get a part-time job?”

I jotted a few words next to his recommendations and drew a fish.

Dad asked, “What’s that?”

Having confirmed my lack of any artistic talent, my sketch disappeared under scribbles. “I’ll think about taking up a hobby, but meanwhile, it seems I’ll simply have to resign myself to mundane chores …” I hopped up. “Nothing exciting. Something like doing the dishes.” I juggled the serving platters, plates, and silverware and deposited them in the sink, leaving the delicate cups for a second trip.

Soap foamed under the cascade of hot water, and I scrubbed slowly to eat up at least a portion of my free time. Although Dad reached for a towel, I shooed him out of the kitchen, knowing how much he valued his predictable weekday schedule: a hearty first meal of the day, a one-mile walk around the neighborhood—rain or shine, an in-depth read of the newspaper from cover to cartoons, an exercise class at the Y, and his volunteer stint at the library.

“No doubt, by week’s end you’ll have discovered a new and more streamlined method for doing dishes. You know I love you.” He kissed my forehead and headed for the door and a day of sunshine. “But we’ve got to keep you occupied and out of trouble, or you’ll never get rid of the crazy nickname you earned.”

I called to his retreating back, “Just because I’ve been in the wrong places and involved in the resolution of several serious crimes, I really don’t think I deserve the moniker ‘Katie Wilk, the murder magnet.’”

 

About the Author

Mary Seifert is the mastermind behind the captivating Katie and Maverick Cozy Mysteries, a 2024 International IMPACT Award winner for books in a series. If you love a thrilling whodunit with a sprinkle of humor and a dash of charm, her books are for you. Her novel Maverick, Movies & Murder was a finalist for the 2023 American Fiction Award, and Santa, Snowflakes & Strychnine earned a spot as a 2024 Chanticleer Murder and Mayhem finalist. Set in the picturesque landscapes of West Central Minnesota, where the lakes begin, Mary’s stories are as cozy as a warm cup of cocoa on a chilly day.

Mary’s love affair with books began in her grandfather’s secretive basement backroom library, where she read childhood favorites, Heidi, Black Beauty, National Velvet, Charlotte’s Web, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and devoured works by literary greats such as Agatha Christie, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Erle Stanley Gardner, Wouk, Chandler, du Maurier, Ellery Queen, Margaret Mitchell, Steinbeck, Hemingway, Salinger, Bradbury, Tolkien, and Pasternak, to name just a few. These early literary adventures, combined with lively book discussions with her mother and siblings helped shape her love for mysteries and complex narratives. Her father’s gift of outrageous storytelling added exaggeration to her arsenal, lending a playful twist to her writing.

Mary grounded her passion for storytelling when she shared her love of reading with her children, solving puzzles alongside beloved characters like Nancy Drew, the Boxcar Children, and the Hardy Boys, and that passion is growing, watching the next generation learn to read. She proudly believes her kids, their significant others, and her grandchildren are the smartest in the universe, and she’s not shy about letting the world know it!

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Cece in Wonder Land by Bonnie S. Priever #releaseday #newbooks #giveaway #womensfiction #rabtbooktours @RABTBookTours

Women’s Fiction

Date Published: April 14, 2026

Publisher: Acorn Publishing

Sometimes wonder finds you when you least expect it.

Cece Belle is a high-functioning neurodivergent. She’s also a big believer in destiny, but when her soulmate Robby dumps her mid-flight to Israel, she instantly regrets ever telling him she’s on the spectrum.

Not one to dwell in misery, Cece sips some chamomile hibiscus tea to set herself straight. And with meditation and spirituality on her side, she looks to what’s next. Yet another blow hits when she is kicked out of her rabbinical studies program for “strange behavior.”

Then, she meets Joel. With his quirky demeanor and ability to say all the right things, he gives Cece the desire to begin a new relationship. There’s only one main obstacle: Cece loves living in Los Angeles, and Joel is a diehard New Yorker.

She marries him anyway, despite misgivings that extend beyond their geography. After all, this is her carefully drawn plan—marriage, then kids, then happily ever after. Sometimes though, the best-laid plans are better left in dreamland where they can’t go awry.

Cece in Wonder Land is a twisty journey down a rabbit hole of unexpected anxieties, disappointments, and more questions than answers. But where there is hope, there is life, and maybe Cece can hang on for the next bit of wonder bound to come her way.

About the Author

 

 Born and raised in Los Angeles, Bonnie S. Priever majored in communications studies at UCLA before moving to Philadelphia. There, she attended the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, which prepared her for an assistant directorship at the Israel Levin Senior Adult Center in Venice, California.

As a way to process emotions and stay connected to her spirituality, Bonnie started writing about her experiences. In 2023, Newsweek published her personal essay about the challenges of aging. Currently, she combines her passion for writing and her love for live theater as a reviewer for CurtainUp, an online theater magazine.

Bonnie loves to travel but always looks forward to coming home to LA. She has one grown son and a backlog of great ideas. Based on a true story, Cece in Wonder Land is her first novel.

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