Book Details:

Book Title: Prospector's Run by Kevin W. Bates
Category: Adult Fiction, 277 pages
Genre: Science Fiction
Publisher: Kevin W. Bates
Release date: April 2019
Tour dates: Nov 23 to Dec 11, 2020
Content Rating: PG for mild profanity and some depictions of violence

Book Description:

Five thousand years ago in a savage assault, someone tried to annihilate humanity. They almost succeeded. Now, millennia after the First Stellar Civilization’s cataclysmic destruction, humans have clawed their way back from the brink of extinction and returned to the stars. Massive riches in the form of forgotten tech lie hidden in the ruins of the First Civ’s dead, shattered worlds. For a prospector with luck and the right coordinates, they are ripe for the taking. Holtz Mitsumi has neither. Down and out from a failed expedition, Mitsumi allows an enigmatic stranger to talk him into one more prospecting run. After scraping together a crew, Mitsumi embarks with high hopes. But nothing is as it seems and this run may be his last.Very enjoyable read. The premise sucked me in – mankind’s first interstellar civilization was destroyed long ago but is now (maybe) making a comeback. For me, wondering what happened to the first civilization made for an intriguing backdrop. The characters, except for Captain Mitsumi, seemed a bit dull at first, but they definitely develop over time. I like how the author manages to incorporate some subtle humor into their various interactions. The advanced technology is quite good and well thought out. Lots of action coupled with mystery kept me turning the pages. Looking forward to the next book!

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Sunday Salon hosted by Readerbuzz is simply a place for us to link up and to share what we have been doing during the week. Sunday Salon is a great way to visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there. 

Matt Haig is the number one bestselling author of Reasons to Stay Alive and Notes on a Nervous Planet and six highly acclaimed novels for adults, including How to Stop Time, The Humans and The Radleys. He has also written many books for children and has won the Blue Peter Book Award, the Smarties Book Prize and been nominated three times for the Carnegie Medal. He has sold more than a million books in the UK and his work has been translated into over forty languages.

Josiah was nineteen with the world at his feet when things changed. Without warning, the new university student’s mental health deteriorated to the point that he planned his own death. His mother, bestselling author Amanda Prowse, found herself grappling for ways to help him, with no clear sense of where that could be found. This is the book they wish had been there for them during those dark times. Josiah’s situation is not unusual: the statistics on student mental health are terrifying. And he was not the only one suffering; his family was also hijacked by his illness, watching him struggle and fearing the day he might succeed in taking his life. 

In this book, Josiah and Amanda hope to give a voice to those who suffer, and to show them that help can be found. It is Josiah’s raw, at times bleak, sometimes humorous, but always honest account of what it is like to live with depression. It is Amanda’s heart-rending account of her pain at watching him suffer, speaking from the heart about a mother’s love for her child. For anyone with depression and anyone who loves someone with depression, Amanda and Josiah have a clear message—you are not alone, and there is hope.

Reviewed by Laura Fabiani

As soon as I saw this book, I knew I wanted to read it. Part of me couldn't wait to read it and part of me dreaded it. My interest in this book was two-fold. It's about depression--a topic that both attracts me in books but also makes it hard to read-- and it's written from both the point-of-view of a mother and her son. I could relate in two ways. I have suffered from post-partum depression, and I am the mother of a teen who suffers from depression.

This was both an easy book to read and a hard one. The writing is very compelling, on the part of both authors, pulling me in, absorbing me in my hungry need to know that I am not alone in my struggles with my son, and in my need to know how to best help my son. I cried when I read Amanda's feelings of guilt from not doing enough or the right things. As a mother I am plagued with the same doubts, guilt, worries and helplessness that Amanda went through. My heart also broke for Josiah who felt overwhelmed, sad and in pain both physically and emotionally. Seeing things from his perspective has helped me to think twice about what words I say to my son and about how I show him that I love him beyond all else.

Despite these hard feelings, this is a book about hope. About starting over. About taking it one day at a time. About understanding that mental illness is a big social issue that needs to be dealt with compassion and community support. It's a book about changing the stigma still attached to depression.

I applaud both authors for being so raw in their honest portrayal of what it has been like to be a family dealing with the big challenges brought on by mental illness. It must not have been easy to relive all the emotions as they were being remembered and written.

For all families who are dealing with depression or any other mental illness, this book is a testament that things can get better. That with the right support you can still lead a fulfilling life despite having depression. A very worthwhile read for fans of memoirs and inspirational literature.

Thank you Amanda and Josiah for bravely sharing your story.

Amanda Prowse is an award winning international bestselling author best known for her contemporary fiction novels. A radio broadcaster and TV presenter renowned for her empathetic and emotional books, she is known in the UK as the 'Queen of family drama'. Her books have sold over 8 million copies in dozens of languages around the world.

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

Josiah (Josh) Hartley is the son of Amanda Prowse who has co-authored with his mother to tell the story of his journey through life so far. Born in the England, Josh was fortunate enough to attend one of the country's elite public schools from an early age and was awarded a place at one of the UK's top Universities where he planned to work towards a medical doctorate. But just at the moment when he should have been having the time of his life, he started feeling nagging tugs of self-doubt which spiralled into a depression during which time he planned his suicide. Luckily, his family intervened and after a roller coaster couple of years, he is alive and well and sharing his story to help other families who find themselves in the same position navigate their way through those difficult times.

Ends Dec 4, 2020

Today I'm spotlighting a timely YA novel by debut author Kimberly B. Jones. You can enter the giveaway to win a copy!

But joining the protest has unforeseen consequences for Sasha, distancing her from Leah, who becomes jealous of Sasha's new friends and finds herself on the opposing side, protesting alongside her group of new white friends. As the tension mounts between the two bitterly opposed factions, a tragedy strikes and threatens to make Sasha and Leah enemies. Can they find a way to resolve their differences, putting them to the side and learn to accept each other's viewpoints? Or is their long friendship finished for good?

Ends December 8, 2020

Sunday Salon hosted by Readerbuzz is simply a place for us to link up and to share what we have been doing during the week. Sunday Salon is a great way to visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there. 

Another tough but satisfying work week. I caught up watching the rest of the Madalorian episodes and now I'm waiting for the fifth one of Season 2 to come out. I played Beat Saber with my son this weekend. It's a VR rhythm game that takes place in a surrealistic neon noir environment and features the player slicing blocks representing musical beats with a pair of contrasting colored sabers. I love it since it allows me to work on my eye-hand coordination which is good for our brains, especially as we age.

Hope you are all well. Stay safe and take care of each other.

Book Details:

Book Title: Flirtation and Folly by Elizabeth Rasche
Category: Adult Fiction,  328 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction, Clean Romance
Publisher: Quills and Quartos Publishing
Release date: November 10, 2020
Content Rating: G


Book Description:

Marianne Mowbrey is a responsible country rector’s daughter who longs for the novelty and excitement she reads about in novels. When her crusty Aunt Harriet agrees to give her a Season in London, Marianne vows to dazzle the world, win a husband, and never go home again. But the Londoners who determine social success are inclined to pass over plain Marianne in favor of her beautiful, reckless younger sister.

In a world of ambition, fashion, flattery, and deceit, how can Marianne stay true to her real self—when she is not even sure what that real self is?

Flirtations and Folly is a well-written Austenesque historical fiction novel that I enjoyed immensely. The book cover does not do it justice, making it seem like this is a fluffy romance when, in fact, it's not. I wish the publishers had kept the former cover which was better suited to the writing style and plot. 

This novel is more of a coming-of-age story. Marianne Mowbrey is the eldest daughter in a family of ten. She longs to escape the drudgery of the rectory, where she lives in the country, and go to London where she will wear beautiful dresses and win herself a husband, just like the heroines do in the romance novels she has been reading. In truth, Marianne is a dreamer. She is creative, optimistic and naïve. She is considered unremarkable, described as "neither tall nor short, neither fat nor thin, neither beautiful nor ugly". In short, she is a flawed character that most of us dreamers can relate to.

Marianne grows as a character, learning to appreciate who she is and being true to herself. She finds a friend in Mr. Hearn and they have a few encounters but nothing that can be considered romantic. This is a character-driven plot, and the author succeeds very well in creating a great cast of characters. That's what made this book so enjoyable so if you're expecting the typical historical romance, this one follows more the classical romance novels. I must admit though, I found Marianne's eventual love interest emotionally unstable, making some bad decisions that should have made Marianne question his reliability as a future husband. 

It's hard to believe this is Rasche's first historical fiction novel. She has captured the writing style, wit, dialogue and atmosphere of the Regency era so well, I felt like I was reading a classic novel. If you like the works of Jane Austen, Georgette Heyer and Louisa May Alcott, then you will enjoy Rasche's writing style, intelligent but easy to read. I'm now a fan, and I look forward to reading the second book in this series.

After acquiring a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Arkansas, Elizabeth Rasche taught philosophy in the U.S. and co-taught English in Japan. Now she and her husband live in northwest Arkansas, the ‘garden of America.’ (At least, she has only ever heard Arkansas called so.) She dreams of visiting Surrey (if only to look for Mrs. Elton’s Maple Grove), Bath, and of course, London. When she has a Jane Austen novel in one hand, a cup of tea in the other, and a cat on her lap, her day is pretty much perfect.

Elizabeth Rasche is the author of The Birthday Parties of Dragons and her poetry has appeared in Scifaikuest. Flirtation & Folly is her first historical fiction novel.

Ends Nov 24, 2020

This is an interesting collection of poems from a man in touch with his feelings, his creativity, and his inspirations.

Book Details:

Book Title: Back to the Burgh and Beyond (The Owl's Nest Mysteries)
Author: C.S. McDonald
​Category: Adult Fiction, 208 pages
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Publisher: McWriter Books
Release date: Sep 10, 2020
Tour dates: Nov 9 to Nov 20, 2020
Content Rating: G. C.S. McDonald's books are appropriate for YA readers as well as adults--no bad language or sexual content.

Book Description:


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For those of you who have been following my blog, you know that I love neuroscience. I have read some good books on the subject and I've collected a few books that I've been wanting to read. Here are the books that I've read and loved: