book-review – Page 2 – M.C.V. EGAN ❧Defining Ways❧

Dorothy’s Gift

Published on September 4, 2025September 5, 2025 by mariacatalinaeganLeave a comment

By Christine C. Schneider

Genre: Women’s Fiction

A modern-day, inspiring story of two women who, when their paths merge discover love, growth and redemption that changes their lives forever.

Dorothy’s Gift

By Christine C. Schneider

Genre: Women’s Fiction

Dorothy is content with her life as a wedding seamstress. She loves her two adult children, her husband, and her church. She is gifted with the ability to turn heaps of pink satin, lemon-yellow chiffon, and white lace into exquisite gowns. Her clients are beautiful, well-bred, and pay her well. Dorothy doesn’t like change, but even volunteering at the crisis pregnancy center doesn’t shake her peaceful life too much. She does what she can to offer help to women who are dealing with real, life-changing decisions.

Then Bailey wanders into the clinic: angry, abrasive, and hiding the pain of a dark secret.

In a moment of wild compassion, Dorothy convinces her wonderfully supportive husband, Gary, to allow her to invite Bailey to live with them until the baby is born.

Suddenly, Dorothy’s life is overwhelmed by change, and unable to keep up, Dorothy makes some huge errors in judgment. Instead of helping Bailey, everything Dorothy does seems to hurt the girl more.

Only Dorothy’s son, Daniel, begins to recognize Bailey’s potential, as he sees her reach out to support Dorothy when Gary has a heart attack and her daughter has a miscarriage. Meanwhile, Bailey is suffocated by the realization that this wonderful, loving family would not want her if they knew that she had allowed her first child to be aborted.

As Dorothy sews her way through a year of weddings, Bailey challenges Dorothy’s compassion and points out her lukewarm, Christian hypocrisy. The poor girl doesn’t know how to clean her room, run a washing machine, or cut up a cucumber. In addition, Dorothy’s church doesn’t want “people like Bailey” to taint their youth and college group. Worst of all, her son, Daniel, has decided to try to win the heart of Bailey. As the year progresses, Dorothy is confronted with her own ungodly self-centeredness, lack of spiritual depth, and stubborn resistance to changing her plans for herself and her family.

This is the story of the growth of love between a young woman in need of a mother and a mother with enough love for more than her own two children.

What Readers are Saying:

I finished the book because I couldn’t stop reading. I love the story, I love the characters, I love the message, I love the writing style, I love it all. I want to go back so I can better appreciate the character development and story arc. I cried multiple times throughout the book.
—Betty, missionary and missionary wife in Kenya

Carolyn’s Rewrite
The book was hard to put down until it was finished. Dorothy is an empty nester, encouraged by her son to volunteer at a pregnancy center. She does, but struggles some since her gifts to help are not typical to other volunteers. She connects with one woman, Bailey, who has made some bad decisions and needs a role model. The book answers the real question about what is more important in life. –Carolyn, Austria

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Christine Schneider is passionate about showing people how to dig treasure from God’s word. She is a Bible teacher, conference speaker, and “idea person.” She and her husband have been in missionary and church work since their marriage in 1973. She has written several Bible study guides and two historical novels. Christine and Floyd, her husband, live in Plains, MT. They have two sons, two excellent daughters-in-law, and eight wonderful grandchildren.

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Adélaïde

Published on August 26, 2025 by mariacatalinaeganLeave a comment

by Janell Strube

@RABTBookTours #RABTBookTours #Adélaïde #JanellStrube #HistoricalFiction

Painter of the Revolution

Historical Fiction

Date Published: forthcoming January 13, 2026

Publisher: Acorn Publishing

In a world where women are seen but rarely heard, Adélaïde Labille-Guiard refuses to be silenced.

The daughter of Parisian shopkeepers, Adélaïde dreams not of marriage or titles but of earning a place among the masters of French art. With Queen Marie Antoinette on the throne and a spirit of change in the air, anything seems possible. But as revolution brews and powerful forces conspire to deny her success, Adélaïde faces an impossible choice: protect her life—or fight for a legacy that will outlast her.

Inspired by the true story of one of the first women admitted to the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, Adélaïde: Painter of the Revolution is a sweeping, evocative portrait of ambition, courage, and resilience in the face of history’s fiercest storm.

About the Author

Janell Strube makes a mean barbecue sauce. She’s also a world traveler, a baker, and a bicyclist. But when she writes, her identity as an adoptee often steers her attention to topics of alienation, erased history, and displacement.

In 2024, a personal essay of hers was published in the anthology Adoption and Suicidality. Her work has also appeared in Shaking the Tree: brazen. short. memoir and A Year in Ink. Her short memoir, “Taking my Blonde Daughter to a Black Lives Matter Rally,” was selected for the 2020 San Diego Memoir Showcase, an annual live storytelling event.

While much of her writing is personal, she enjoys the freedom that comes with crafting fiction. Her desire to learn about forgotten female artists who shaped the French revolutionary period motivated her to write Adélaïde: Painter of the Revolution.

When not crunching numbers as a tax executive for a hotel chain, she can be found hanging out with Shiloh the Wheaten and plotting her second book.

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Rekindled Flame

Published on August 20, 2025 by mariacatalinaeganLeave a comment

Burning Hearts Book 1

by Ella Braeme

Genre: Small Town, Second-Chance Firefighter Romance

Check out this red-hot cover reveal!

Rekindled Flame

Burning Hearts Book 1

by Ella Braeme

Genre: Small Town, Second-Chance Firefighter Romance

He swore to protect his town—but guarding his heart is the real challenge.

Volunteer firefighter Shawn Miller thought he had his life figured out in small-town Elken Grove. His print shop pays the bills while his real passion—fighting fires—keeps him connected to the community he loves.

Then his new Captain walks through the station doors: Rebecca “Becks” Schwartz, the woman who walked out of his life nine years ago. Now she’s his superior officer, and someone in the department is determined to drive her away—or worse.

As danger closes in, Shawn must balance protecting Becks with respecting her authority. But when sparks fly hotter than ever between them, he realizes some flames aren’t meant to be extinguished—they’re meant to be stoked.

Get REKINDLED FLAME today and feel the heat of this slow-burn second chance romance!

★★★★★ “This is a wonderful page turner.” – Goodreads review

★★★★★ “Shawn and Becks second chance story is not without some major events which keeps the reader entranced by the story.” – Goodreads review

★★★★★ “I loved this story with its second chance at love for these two.” – Goodreads review

★★★★ “The characters Shawn and Rebecca are going to deliver a very entertaining book for you to enjoy reading.” – Goodreads review

**Releases Sep 3 – PreOrder Now!**

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Ella Braeme writes steamy small-town romance where protective heroes and the women who capture their hearts find love in the mountains and marshlands of Georgia. Whether her characters are running toward danger or running from their past, they always find their way to happily-ever-after. When she’s not dreaming up new ways for couples to fall headlong into danger (and love), she’s in her garden, supervised by a dog who firmly believes digging holes helps the flowers grow. Her quick, satisfying reads deliver the perfect escape, whether you’re sneaking in a chapter during lunch or staying up way too late to reach that happily-ever-after.

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Revenge

Published on August 17, 2025 by mariacatalinaeganLeave a comment

The FBI Tampa Mystery Series Book 1

by A.M. Holloway

Genre: Clean Romantic Suspense, Mystery Thriller

Love, Bullets, and a Second Chance — Will They Survive the Crossfire?

Revenge

The FBI Tampa Mystery Series Book 1

by A.M. Holloway

Genre: Clean Romantic Suspense, Mystery Thriller

Love, Bullets, and a Second Chance — Will They Survive the Crossfire?

When FBI Special Agent Micah French joins a high-risk pursuit through the streets of Tampa, he never expects the day to end with his partner shot and the woman he once loved holding his partner’s life in her hands.

Finley Herald, the surgeon who broke his heart a decade ago, now lives in Tampa. She’s saving lives at Tampa General and possibly risking her own when a vengeful cartel leader wages war against the agents involved in his brother’s death.

As bullets fly, allies fall, and a trail of revenge stretches from Mexico to Florida, Micah must navigate a storm of violence, betrayal, and second chances.

Every decision could be his last, and Finley’s reappearance threatens to shatter the emotional defenses he’s spent years building.

This book is a gripping blend of action, faith, and romance, where love may be the deadliest risk of all.

**Get it for Only .99cents 8/24 – 8/26!**

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A.M. Holloway is an author of clean murder mysteries where crime and suspense take hold. Her catalog spans five series. A.M., who is married, relies on her husband’s expertise in the CSI field to ensure accuracy in her books. She was born and raised in Georgia but now lives in Central Florida. When not writing, you will find her with her family, enjoying the outdoors, or sitting in her favorite chair, daydreaming about her next book.

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Corporate Almighty: 2098

Published on August 5, 2025August 6, 2025 by mariacatalinaeganLeave a comment

Political Satire/Fiction

Date Published: October 28th, 2025

Publisher: Acorn Publishing

At the turn of the next century, a corporate oligarchy rules America with an iron fist. Commercial jingles have replaced the Top Forty, babies come from factories, and the race captivating the nation isn’t between political candidates. It’s the cutthroat competition to find the formula for No-Sog Stay-Crisp Cornflakes.

The battle pits cereal titan Todd Swindell, head of Flakes Alive Incorporated, against Chad Scandalman of the Great American Flake Company. When Scandalman hires a diminutive assassin named Twinkle to bump off his rival’s top chemist, it sparks a war of the flakes that makes the bloody feud of York and Lancaster look tame by comparison.

But not everyone in the Cornflake capital of Domino, Indiana, is happy with the status quo. Ziggie Wexler, an unemployed pipefitter and all-around average Joe, knows that something is deeply wrong with his country.

All history prior to 2040 has been banned, but old-timers whisper about the days when people still voted for their leaders. After Ziggie posts fiery polemics against the state to the Clandestine Journal, he becomes a marked man. But in a world built on lies, there’s one truth he’s sure of. Somebody needs to fight back.

About the Author

Retired IT professional, James Owens is a trained computer engineer and technical documentation specialist who earned an A.A.S. in computer programming and a B.A. in English from Purdue University.

Immensely curious about human behavior, James spent the 1970s hanging out on the streets to observe people, many of whom became inspirations for his fictional characters. Later, he worked in cube farms at conservative insurance companies, where the idiosyncrasies of corporate personalities sparked his imagination.

James has spent the last decade reading and writing offbeat fiction about bizarre protagonists. Corporate Almighty: 2098, a dystopian tale about the rise of the corporation and the fall of democracy, follows his first two novels, Animal Candy and Pods of Bubbledumb: A Study in Mass Depravity.

Born and raised in an industrial suburb on the south edge of Chicago, James lives with his wife Sue and four cats in Evansville, Indiana.

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The Plight of Pudgy

Published on July 21, 2025July 21, 2025 by mariacatalinaeganLeave a comment

by Tammy Waldoch

Health & Fitness Diet & Nutrition

/ Weight Loss Humorous

Memoir

Date Published: 07-29-2025

Publisher: BookBaby

Studies have shown that laughter and music are proven ways to facilitate healing. Author Tammy Waldoch uses this potent secret sauce in her book Plight of the Pudgy: Stories, Inspirations, and Preposterous Parodies for the Slim at Heart. From weight loss drugs, chronic diets, and toxic body shame, the book is an open invitation to connect authentically with someone who deeply understands the plight. Her own pilgrimage to finding self-love and a place to “fit in” includes a near-death car accident, a bipolar diagnosis that turned her life upside down, and a lifelong struggle with poor body image.

Waldoch authentically pours her heart and soul into sharing raw stories and songs filled with deep faith, side-splitting humor, and a resounding message that we are all perfectly made in God’s eyes.

Tammy writes this book not only as a testimony of her faith but also to share her private path of redemption and healing.

Among the pages, readers will also enjoy fiction stories designed to encourage laughter and reflection, along with some preposterous (and creative!) parodies that provide a backdrop of humor to lighten the burdens of The Slim at Heart.

Early Review

Heart Felt And Honest – This book will make you laugh and cry. The lament of women who struggle with body image applies to a good majority of women.

About the Author

Tammy Waldoch is an imaginative author/singer/songwriter/painter with a degree in Liberal Arts from the University of Wisconsin, Lacrosse, emphasizing Aesthetic Education—teaching using the creative arts. She did just that in The Plight of the Pudgy, combining musical parodies with literature to teach others how to overcome obstacles and rise above adversity. She is actively involved with the Writer’s Well at the White Bear Center for the Arts and gathers with other inspiring writers of all ages to explore their creativity. She also consults with the Springboard Center for the Arts in St. Paul, MN for further resources.

She and her husband of 38 years share a dynamic love for better for worse, in sickness and in health, that has endured all things.

She is also a proud parent of two sons and has two beautiful daughters-in-law who share life’s joys and challenges. Her faith is at the heart of everything she does, and this book is a testimony of her Lord and Savior’s incredible loving kindness toward her. Gilda Radner once said, “Life is full of delicious ambiguities.”

Tammy invites everyone to share those ambiguities with her!

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Never Lost

Published on July 14, 2025 by mariacatalinaeganLeave a comment

General Fiction

Date Published: October 23rd, 2025

Publisher: Acorn Publishing

Zane Carter and his sons, eleven-year-old Ty and thirteen-year-old Joseph, venture one hundred miles into the Idaho wilderness with only a knife and the knowledge of their Nez Perce ancestors. Danger awaits at every deadfall and lurks in every snowy shadow as the boys hunt, fish, make weapons, and build shelter, learning to survive, taking only what they need from the land, and leaving no trace.

During their eighteen-day journey, Zane’s determination to fulfill a promise to his grandfather, an Indigenous warrior who exemplified the tenets of a wise and spiritual existence, is thwarted by a fatal encounter that transports Zane into an ancient realm as he straddles the thin line between life and death.

He wonders what has become of his boys. Have they learned enough patience, resourcefulness, and courage to complete this rite of passage? Will they make it out of the wildlands alive? Or will the unforgiving forces of the natural world take them too far from home to ever return?

About the Author

After high school, Aaron Anderson set out to see the world, embarking on adventures through North America, Europe, and North Africa. He enjoyed traveling as a bicyclist, motorcyclist, train passenger, and even as a hitchhiker, reveling in the excitement of the unknown.

At the age of twenty-two, Aaron returned to the US and worked on oil rigs in Wyoming. He later became a carpenter and eventually a real estate appraiser. However, his true passions have always been writing, developing powerful friendships, and exploring new country.

During the 1980s he and his two sons hunted, hiked, and camped throughout the western states. Here, his love for the natural world and respect for Indigenous people prompted him to write his second novel, Never Lost.

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Whiz Kid

Published on July 1, 2025July 1, 2025 by mariacatalinaeganLeave a comment

Historical Fiction

Date Published: 07-01-2025

Publisher: Sunbury Press, Inc.

Whiz Kid is a powerful coming-of-age novel set in 1950 Philadelphia, where Jewish Navy veteran Ben Green faces impossible choices.

Pressured by his pregnant wife to finish his novel or take a secure job at a prestigious ad agency, Ben must also navigate the era’s class divisions and antisemitism. His best friend’s elite world clashes with his working-class South Philly roots and Jewish identity.

Temptation, ambition, and loyalty collide—especially when Ilene, a captivating classmate, threatens to unravel his carefully balanced life. As the Phillies’ Whiz Kids chase a pennant, Ben’s own reckoning builds to a climax, culminating in a surprising decision that redefines his future.

Co-written with David S. Burcat, Joel Burcat’s late father, Whiz Kid is a deeply American story of resilience, legacy, and the true cost of following one’s heart.

About the Author

Joel Burcat is a novelist and retired lawyer living in Harrisburg, Pa. His previous novels, Reap the Wind, Drink to Every Beast, Amid Rage, and Strange Fire have been award-winning thrillers. He is a Gold Medal Winner from Readers’ Favorite, a Finalist of the Next Gen Indie Book Awards, and a winner of the PennWriters Annual Writing Contest. Strange Fire was a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Week.

David S. Burcat was a Navy corpsman in World War II, a graduate of University of Pennsylvania (English Literature and Dentistry), and a proud son of Camden NJ and his adopted town of Philadelphia. He worked in advertising in the 1950s before returning to Penn to study dentistry. He wrote Match Point, the novella within the novel, in about 1950. He died in 1998. Whiz Kid- A Novel is his first published book. Dave was the father of co-author, Joel Burcat.

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Grave Wind

Published on June 30, 2025July 1, 2025 by mariacatalinaeganLeave a comment

by Janice Tremayne

@RABTBookTours #RABTBookTours #GraveWind #JaniceTremayne #Horror

Haunting Dahlia Series, Book One

Horror, Supernatural, Paranormal

Date Published: June 30, 2025

A cursed lighthouse, a malevolent shapeshifter, and a deadly game. One life-altering decision could seal their fate.

In Solitary Island, Australia. A malevolent shapeshifter haunts a storm-battered lighthouse. When Dahlia confronts an ancient secret, she must make a life-or-death sacrifice to save herself and Paranormal Jack from a terrifying entity trapped between worlds.

Caught in a twisted game, Dahlia is forced to make an impossible choice—one of them must die for the other to survive.

As Paranormal Jack fights to escape the lighthouse’s sinister grip, he must explore the human fear of death and what lies beyond to uncover the horrifying truth. Betwixt has been claiming the souls of those who enter the lighthouse for centuries, and its curse runs deep.

As fate hangs in the balance, Dahlia must uncover the dark history of the Island and make a desperate bid before the evil grave wind takes hold.

Grave Wind is the first book in the Haunting Dahlia series. This riveting tale, packed with unforgettable characters, heart-pounding paranormal investigations, and shocking twists, will leave readers spellbound. If you were hooked by the eerie tension of Dean Koontz’s Phantoms, this electrifying story is must-read.

About the Author

Janice Tremayne, hailing from Australia, is a celebrated author specializing in supernatural horror. Her novel “Haunting in Hartley” achieved finalist status in the Readers’ Favorite 2020 International Book Awards in the category of fiction-supernatural, clinching the prestigious Distinguished Favorite Prize for paranormal horror at the New York City Big Book Awards. Janice’s literary prowess was further acknowledged with the silver medal at the IPPY Awards 2021 in the Australia/New Zealand/Pacific Rim – Best Regional Fiction category, as well as the Bronze Award in Adult Fiction at the Wishing Shelf Independent Book Awards 2020. In 2023, she secured the Literary Titan Gold Book Award, a testament to her excellence in writing.

Residing in Melbourne with her family, Janice intricately weaves cultural superstitions into her narratives, drawing from her upbringing where such beliefs were deeply embedded in daily life and customs. Her bestselling series, “Haunting Clarisse,” has consistently soared to the top of Amazon Kindle rankings, captivating readers with its blend of occult supernatural, ghosts, haunted houses, and British horror.

Janice’s journey as an author began with a simple cup of coffee, sparking the inspiration to translate her fascination with cultural superstitions into gripping tales of horror. Her books are renowned for delivering heart-thumping, bone-chilling, and thought-provoking paranormal experiences, each narrative offering a fresh twist that keeps readers enthralled worldwide.

Stay updated on Janice Tremayne’s latest releases by following the author.

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Kill Beth

Published on June 14, 2025June 14, 2025 by mariacatalinaeganLeave a comment

by Jon Cohn

Horror/Psychological

Date Published: June 12, 2025

Publisher: Deadbolt Books

After a horrific incident fifteen years ago, theater director Mike O’Brien never planned to return to Seattle. But when his estranged best friend sends him a script he can’t ignore, Mike finds himself back in the city with a spotlight on his troubled past.

As rehearsals begin, so do the nightmares. Strange figures keep him up at night, the production is plagued by one horrific accident after another, and everywhere he goes he can’t help but see the same message: Kill Beth. The strange thing is, Mike doesn’t know anyone named Beth, or how he could ever be capable of killing anyone.

When his world descends into chaos, Mike has to ask if he’s being haunted by his past, or if there is some sinister force working behind the curtain to derail his life.

About the Author

Jon Cohn is a horror novelist and professional board game designer. His works include 2024 Indie Book Brawl Quarter-Finalist Slashtag, and the much less popular, but award winning novel The Island Mother. He gets his best ideas from a tarot reader who lives in Hawaii.

As a designer, Jon is very excited to finally be able to merge horror books and board games together by bringing Ghostland to life as a board game, coming to Kickstarter. He’s also designed games like Thanksgiving, co-designed with Eli Roth, Basket Case and Taboo Horror.

Order autographed books, and get updates for new games and upcoming novels at http://www.joncohnauthor.com. Sign up for Jon’s newsletter for free short stories and games, and follow at @joncohnauthor on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok .

Jon lives in San Diego with his supernaturally patient wifeDelaney, and their adorable dog, Miss Cordelia Chase.

He would also love to give you free stuff like stories, audiobooks, and games by signing up for his mailing list at http://www.joncohnauthor.com.

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