A pair of glasses bringing a blurred scene into focus.

Friday Focus #5 January #BookReviews @jeanleesworld @TerryTyler4 @lindabroday.bsky.social @pokercubster @jameswadewriter #SharonSala

A pair of glasses bringing a blurred scene into focus.

Happy Friday, everyone! Instead of talking more about the Wednesday, word (wait), I decided I’d not make you WAIT any longer for my January reviews! See how I did that? 🙂

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MY REVIEW:

A Western with a different twist! This novella whetted my appetite for the next book with these characters. It served as a great introduction and now I need to know what happens to Sumac. It took me a minute to figure out he was a shapeshifter, but once I did, I was all in for the events that happened.
I will say this story left me not knowing exactly who to root for, but I’m leaning toward Sumac. I liked him immediately. And then, there’s Charlotte. Now, there’s a mystery I need to solve.
The story is well-written and so very different from any Western I’ve ever read. I love the setting. What’s not to love about a riverside town and especially when it’s next to the old mighty Mississippi. Another mystery presented is the train. It must get through at all costs and someone is determined to stop it. This is the first book in the River Vine series and I’m looking forward to the next. If you are a fan of the 1800s mixed with dark fantasy, you will enjoy this well-written story.

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MY REVIEW:

Wow! This book leaves me a bit speechless and a whole lot disturbed. Set in the not so distant future, it is a dystopian story that is more real than fiction, as things across the globe continue to deteriorate in our world.
Lita Stone is on top of the world, making a decent living as an influencer blogger and sharing a flat with two roommates she adores, Nick and Kendall. She finally has a place she belongs and can call home. After being bounced around in foster care and never having family, she’s happy where she is.
Nick, a journalist, also has an undercover blog where he exposes what others don’t dare. Kendall has a job and is always happy.
That is until it all starts to unravel. The UK is under the control of a government that is raging a war on its citizens through propaganda and armed force. Homeless are rounded up and sent to live in what they call Hope Villages.
Lita, Nick and Kendall never imagined they would end up in one of the villages, but they do. Conditions inside are worse than bad. What’s being done to these people is inhumane.
The author did a great job of letting the reader see both sides of the equation, and also shows us how easily the public can be swayed by the media. In this story, the government has seized control of everything from the food supply to healthcare and nothing is at they make it appear. I don’t want to leave any spoilers in my review, so I won’t go too deep into the story. But I will say this story left me feeling vulnerable and much more leery of anything I see or here in the media or on social media. As I said, it leaves me wide-eyed and disturbed. This is a dystopian story everyone should read. Folks, it can happen. I give this book an easy five stars!

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MY REVIEW:

I met Summer in the first McIntyre book when her brother Cade found her working as a nurse. The family had been torn apart by murderers and Cade’s goal is to reunite all the siblings.

In this story, Summer has moved to a new town, still working as a nurse. The man she loves, Dan, is the new sheriff and they are soon to be married. Only a fly jumps into the ointment in the form of a deranged woman with a baby, claiming the baby is Dan’s. Now what? Can their love survive?

There is an underlying plot to find more of the McIntyre siblings, and this journey takes both Summer and Dan into the midst of something more dangerous than they can imagine.

While they try to rekindle the love and trust they once had, they must also fight for their lives and the life of Summer’s brother, who has been held captive and horribly abused.

This is a wonderful story full of twists and turns. The romance is palpable. You can feel the love Summer and Dan have for each other, if only they can find their way back to it. I highly recommend this story for anyone who loves a gripping story set in the dead of winter in the 1800s.

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MY REVIEW:

I’ve had this book for a while and put off reading it because of fear. I lost my husband sixteen years ago and one thing I know for sure is we never stop living in some state of grief, although it changes over time.
As the author points out in her book, anything can trigger that deep hurt and we never really know what it will be. It can be a photo, a song, or even just a thought.

But I found, by reading this book, that I am not alone in my feelings. They are validated. While there is no way to ever get over the loss of a spouse, there are ways to get through it and keep living and that is what the author shares from her own experience. I saved a couple of quotes from the book as they really hit home to me.
“When the mind is steeped in grief, nothing else feels like it matters.”
This is so true.

Then moving forward, alone, in this state of grief is an entirely difficult task. The author has this to say:
“Adapting to a new life is hard work, emotionally, and mentally. Putting ourselves back into the land of the living is a big step that is beneficial to us all, but no easy task. So, we begin with baby steps, with the goal of learning to walk steadily in our own brand new shoes…”

If you’ve experienced a loss so devastating you’ve forgotten how to breathe, I highly recommend this book to help you find your way. Again, the author writes from experience, not from theories and it is raw honesty.

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MY REVIEW:

I am a fan of James Wade’s storytelling. That’s a plain simple fact. He has the unique ability to dive deep inside extremely flawed characters and pull the reader in with them.

This is a story of quests.
America is in the throes of the Great Depression in the 1930s and this story is set in East Texas. William is a fifteen year old kid facing things that would challenge any adult, much less a teenager. His mother, Laurie, is dying. He knows it and is helpless to stop it. The bank is foreclosing on the farm and he can do nothing about that. The cotton crop has withered in the field despite his efforts to keep it growing. And on top of it all, his father is missing.

William’s quest is to find his father and bring him back home before his mother dies. But he has only a vague idea of where Thomas Carter might be. Yet, he’s determined. If only he can get his father to come back, maybe his mother will agree to go to Houston for treatment. Before leaving to find his father, he stops in to see his best friend, Ollie. He needs someone to take care of his mother while he is gone and Ollie has a relative who is a nurse. Only, Ollie won’t let William go without him. His loyalty is what friendships are truly made of.
Along the way, the two boys encounter a young girl, Lena, who joins them on the journey. In some ways, this is a coming of age story but it goes so much deeper than that.
There are so many memorable characters this trio encounters on their journey through swamps, thickets, fields and rivers. The witch woman in the cabin is portrayed in such vivid detail, I could see, hear and smell her.

And while William is on his quest, his father, Thomas, is on a quest of his own. I liked that the author gave the reader some insight into what drove Thomas through an occasional peek through his point of view.

Do either William or Thomas succeed on their quests? I won’t tell you. But I will say this story is a compelling emotional rollercoaster. The only criticism I have is that for some reason the author resorted to using lots of extremely long, run-on sentences with a plethora of ‘ands’. That threw me out of the story just a bit, but still I couldn’t help but give it five-stars for the storytelling prowess shown by Mr. Wade. I highly recommend it!

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MY REVIEW:

This book has many different nuances. The characters are believable and memorable. The danger is thick and palpable and the ending is perfect.
Glory Walker has a gift. It terrifies most people, but her family which consists only of her father and brother respect and protect her at all costs.
So when Glory is awakened in the middle of the night in a panic from a vision, her father and brother jump in immediately to get her to the person desperately in need of her help.
That person turns out to be Wyatt Hatfield. He’s been in a horrific car crash and the only thing that can save his life is the rare type of blood that Glory has.
That’s the beginning of this great story. And when Wyatt starts to experience an uncanny and unexplained connection, he must leap into action when he hears her cry for help from not only miles away, but from another state. Once he arrives, the story really takes wings and I couldn’t flip the pages fast enough to keep up. As always, Sharon Sala, delivers a compelling story with touches of metaphysical elements which I love. If you’re looking for a different kind of romance that also includes murder, small town drama and high stakes danger, you’ll love this one. I read it in one sitting.

Such great reading in January!! And it’s continuing in February with another book that has me in its grips. I hope you found something new to read in these. It’s my pleasure to share!

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