The Swords of Silence: Book One of The Swords of Fire Trilogy by Shaun Curry ★★★ Harrowing story of a Jesuit priest and his Christian parishioners in 17th century Japan The year is 1626. For nearly 25 years, Father Joaquim has been a Jesuit missionary in Japan, where he and his catechists, Tonia and Miguel, live in secret, sheltered by the devout Christians of their small village. During that time, Father Joaquim has ministered to his parish and studied the culture in which he lives, mastering the Japanese Way of the Sword. However, the situation for Christians in Japan is rapidly becoming more dangerous. The ruler of Japan, the Shogun, believes the proselytisation of Christianity is a threat to his regime, and the vanguard of a possible...

The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry ★★★★ Reviewed by Jo-Anne Blanco Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery Time Period: 1940 and 1960 Major Regions: United Kingdom, USA Subgenres/Themes: Generational & Family Sagas, Dealing with LossIn 1940, two sisters are evacuated to the countryside during World War Two and, while there, tragedy strikes. Twenty years later, the elder sister receives a book that takes her on a journey to discover the truth about what happened all those years ago… In Patti Callahan Henry’s new novel The Secret Book of Flora, sisters Hazel and Flora Lea Linden are evacuated to Binsey, Oxfordshire at the beginning of World War II, in the mass evacuation of children from London known as Operation Pied...

The Renascent World by Carryn W. Kerr ★★★★ Engaging and enjoyable sci-fi adventure When Cassidy Jones was five, she, her brother and their parents, along with a number of other carefully selected families, were chosen to populate Petriville, a city contained in a huge sphere in Earth’s orbit. Thus, they were saved from a meteor which struck Earth and destroyed most of the people remaining on the planet. For eleven years, Cassidy and her friends have lived happy, sheltered, privileged lives in the sphere, always with Earth looming in their sky as a visible reminder of where they came from and where they hope humanity may return one day. However, the hermetic existence of the citizens of Petriville is about to be shattered forever. While...

The Glow: Book I - Potency by Aubrey Hadley ★★★★ An intriguing, thought-provoking sci-fi story of alienation and apocalypse On the surface, Harper Loomis is an ordinary 17-year-old living in Reno, Nevada. She plays soccer with her friends, has difficult relationships with her domineering single mother and older brother, and is close to her younger sister. However, little things set Harper apart – she is homeschooled, is not allowed a cell phone, has very limited internet access, and her overbearing mother notoriously tries to keep her at home as much as possible. Naturally, Harper chafes against this, rebelling against her mother’s control and regularly sneaking out to join her friends. Meanwhile, a mysterious disease known as the Maasai...

Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution by Cat Bohannon ★★★★ Reviewed by Jo-Anne Blanco Genre: Non-Fiction, Science Time Period: N/A Major Regions: N/A Subgenres/Themes: Evolutionary biology How and why do women perceive the world differently from men – through sight, sound, and scent? How do women’s bones differ from men’s bones? How and why did women’s bodies evolve to gestate and give birth to a child – and why is human childbirth still so difficult and dangerous? In this informative, absorbing, and rigorously researched book, Cat Bohannon sets out to answer these and many other questions surrounding the evolution, development, and capabilities of the female body. In Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200...

Barrier: The Other Horizons Trilogy – Book Two by Mary Victoria Johnson ★★★★ Continuing the mystery adventure begun in Boundary It wasn’t supposed to be her. Of all six teenagers trapped in the Victorian Gothic world of Boundary, Evelyn had always been the one to take the path of least resistance – not liking to question the strange, sealed world around her or wanting to rock the boat. Yet it was Evelyn who escaped Boundary instead of fierce and rebellious Penny. And it is Evelyn who now finds herself on the other side, laden with guilt and loss, and with no idea how to help the friends she left behind. Plunged into a very different and terrifying time and place, where no one believes her story and the world is engulfed in World War Two,...