Letters to an Embryo by Jasna Kaluđerović

September 11, 2025 By Leave a Comment


Letters to an Embryo by Jasna Kaluđerović
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Non-Fiction, Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Letters to an Embryo is an autobiographical novel that explores the deeply personal journey of Jasna Kaludjerovic as she grapples with the aftermath of a painful divorce. Left with a frozen embryo from the final IVF attempt, she feels torn between the responsibility of giving it a chance to live and the emotional weight of her past.

Over the course of many letters, Jasna writes to the embryo, reflecting on motherhood, identity, and the complexities of letting go.

The novel touches on themes of loss, hope, and the quiet resilience of the human spirit, offering readers an intimate exploration of one woman’s emotional and psychological struggle. With honesty and vulnerability, Kaludjerovic invites readers to walk with her through a personal crisis that many can relate to, yet few are willing to speak about.

Does it have the right to life?

How will it fit with her new role now?

What does it take to make a decision?

Some decisions are too important to make swiftly.

One of the most interesting things about this epistolary

memoir was that Ms. Kaluđerović spoke to her frozen embryo as if he or she were a fellow adult. The letters in it included references to dates, career decisions, occasional money problems, and more. It made me smile to see how deeply connected she already felt to her possible child and how willing she was to talk about sensitive or complicated subjects. Those are good signs in a parent or potential parent in my opinion! So much suffering can be prevented or reduced if a mom or dad is happy to talk about anything and never makes their child feel embarrassed for wanting to know how the world works.

While I enjoyed learning so much about the author’s life, I struggled with the slow pacing of this memoir and had trouble keeping my interest levels high as I read. There were many details that were included that didn’t seem to have anything at all to do with the decision of if or when to implant her final frozen embryo. Even once she knew which option was best for her, there were still many delays along the way that I thought could have been trimmed down or left out.

The ending was well written and matched the tone and themes of the earlier letters beautifully. I ended up searching for the author online to see if there were any additional updates to her journey because I felt like I’d gotten to know her well and was so curious to find out what happened next. There is definitely something to be said for memoirs that dive so deeply into both the positive and negative moments in someone’s life. While I don’t want to spoil anything for other readers, this is definitely something I’d recommend to anyone who enjoys this genre and is even slightly curious about how in vitro fertilization and similar fertility treatments can work.

Letters to an Embryo was thought provoking.

Filed Under: Non-Fiction, Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

If I Could, Would I? by Michale Mohr

September 10, 2025 By Leave a Comment


If I Could, Would I? by Michale Mohr
Publisher: Self-published
Genre: Sci-fi/Fantasy, Time Travel, Contemporary, Paranormal
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Lavender

The return of a long-lost dolphin necklace by a mysterious ethereal stranger and a magical accident hurl 60-year-old Emma Corbell back to the age of 17 with the memories of her entire life intact. Elated, she plots out how she will change the sad, unfulfilled life she’d been living into her senior years. She is immediately met by translucent beings who explain that her presence there is a mistake. She must return to her own time. Standing her ground, Emma refuses. The entities, unable to interfere with her free will, cannot force her to do so.

Emma’s extraordinary journey, guided by mystical beings and fueled by newfound personal power, become a battleground for the struggle of her lifetime. Each choice she makes in her second-chance existence carries a profound weight, rippling through time and shaping the lives of all those she encounters. The question remains: even if she returns to her old life, will that choice be enough to undo her missteps?

Will Emma navigate the pitfalls of her new mistaken time travel? Will she return to her own time? Or will she cease to exist in either one?

Michale Mohr’s If I Could, Would I? is a meditative and metaphysical twist on the classic “second chance at youth” tale. At its heart is Emma Corbell, a 60-year-old woman unexpectedly thrust back into her 17-year-old body—but with all the memories and regrets of her life intact. Her journey, catalyzed by the return of a long-lost dolphin necklace and a mysterious ethereal stranger, becomes a thought-provoking exploration of choice, regret, and free will.

The novel’s speculative premise is promising: what if you could re-live your life, fully aware of the mistakes you made the first time? Mohr leans into the philosophical and emotional implications of this question, often at the expense of pace. This is not a fast-moving narrative; rather, it’s contemplative, frequently revisiting the same internal dilemmas. There are moments of surprise and intrigue, but the novel often relies more on telling than showing, which may distance some readers from fully immersing in Emma’s experience.

Emma herself is a complex protagonist—sometimes endearing, sometimes self-involved. This ambiguity makes her feel more real, but it can also make it difficult to root for her. Her interactions with translucent, mystical beings add a layer of the surreal, grounding the novel in magical realism and prompting larger questions about fate, time, and identity.

While the narrative can be repetitive at times and might have benefited from tighter editing, Mohr does succeed in crafting a reflective character study with a strong emotional core. For readers who enjoy introspective time travel stories with metaphysical overtones—think The Midnight Library meets The Time Traveler’s Wife—this book may resonate deeply.

Verdict: A quiet, contemplative journey through time, regret, and personal power. Though uneven in pacing and occasionally over-expository, If I Could, Would I? offers a poignant look at the price—and potential—of a second chance.

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Death Message by Mark Billingham

September 9, 2025 By Leave a Comment


Death Message by Mark Billingham
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

Delivering the “death message.” That’s what cops call those harrowing moments when they must tell someone that a loved one has been killed. Now Detective Investigator Tom Thorne is receiving messages of his own: photographs of murder victims sent to his cell phone.

Who are the victims? Who is sending the photographs? And why is he sending them to Tom Thorne? The answer lies in the detective investigator’s past, with a man he had once sent to prison for life. But even behind bars, the most dangerous psychopath Thorne has ever faced is still a master at manipulating others to do his dirty work for him. And Thorne must act fast because the photos keep on coming, and the killer’s next target is someone the detective investigator knows very well . . .

When a convicted murderer is given the death message that his wife and young son have been killed in a hit and run “accident” a few weeks before his release from prison – the police didn’t give it too much thought. But then bikers and other “associates” are found killed and it’s DI Tom Thorne who is being sent photos directly of these murders. Thorne and his team quickly find the connections, but all too soon the case becomes murky, and Thorne begins to struggle to find which side is right and which side he’s meant to be acting on behalf of.

I have been really enjoying this British police procedural series and found this to be yet another strong book. With a number of excellent supporting characters – now becoming quite familiar this far into the series – and with a number more well written supporting characters I feel this is a strong book that should appeal to many readers.

While the plot is delightfully complicated readers should absolutely be aware of the fact the usual lines between black and white, good and bad are far more shaded in this series and far less clear cut than in many other British mystery series that I’ve read. And while I absolutely feel a number of the previous books could be quite gritty, harsh and even bleak, this book is not quite as stark as I’ve found the others to be. I feel this could be partly because the strong cast of secondary characters are playing more of a role now and so Tom’s world feels a bit more “peopled” and less harsh, but also the plots – which still are heavily complicated – are more intertwined with other cases and feel less isolated and more layered in reality and regular lives.

I still definitely feel this is a strongly written murder mystery – but while we know the “who” fairly early on, the “why” is deeply complex and has quite a few interesting twists and layers to it which is really what make this an excellent mystery book. I also feel the fact Thorne is flawed – and knows it yet continues to do his best – also helps make this an addictive read.

Like many of the previous books in the series this is not an easy read, but I did not find it an uncomfortable read either – which I definitely struggled with in some of the previous works. I found this book gripping reading and much like Thorne at times I deeply empathized with the “bad” guy and found some of the “good” guys quite questionable. So, this might not be everyone’s cup of tea – but I look forward to the next book in the series.

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Shakespeare in Virginia by John Leonard

September 8, 2025 By Leave a Comment


Shakespeare in Virginia by John Leonard
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Historical
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

In February 1616, William Shakespeare finds himself on the brink of financial ruin and trapped in an unhappy marriage. Desperate for a way out, he agrees to resume his clandestine work for the English secret service. His mission: to report on the Virginia Company and their activities in the Virginia Colony. To maintain his cover, Shakespeare must fake his own death and assume a new identity. As he embarks on this dangerous journey, Shakespeare befriends John Rolfe and his wife Matoaka (Pocahontas), who are visiting England. The couple provides invaluable insights into Virginia, Powhatan society, and the complex situation unfolding in the Colony. Following Mataoka’s tragic death, Shakespeare accompanies Rolfe to Virginia, taking on the guise of a tobacco planter. In this new world, Shakespeare must navigate the treacherous waters between the avaricious English colonists and the hostile, embittered Powhatans. Can his experience as a renowned actor and playwright help him survive and thrive in the Colony? And how will the most famous life in history come to an end?

Pretending to be dead is easy, right?

Shakespeare was a complicated character whom I had all sorts of reactions to. There were scenes when I was impressed by how open-minded he was to new experiences only to shake my head in exasperation at his stubbornness a few pages later. It was almost like spending time with an uncle who was so set in his ways that he couldn’t quite see how his actions were affecting others. As much as one loves relatives who act like that, they also might wish for five minutes of clarity to help smooth things over. Honestly, I think it’s wonderful when a protagonist can evoke so many different types of emotions in me as a reader, and I’d happily read a sequel if the author ever writes one.

I found myself wishing for more character development in this novel. For example, some of the characters held surprisingly modern opinions about slavery and race that I would have loved to dig into deeply in order to understand where they came up with those ideas and how they had been able to develop them in a society that often firmly disagreed with them. It would have also been easier for me to keep track of everyone if I had stronger impressions of their personalities and interests.

Some of my favorite passages were the ones that described Powhatan culture in vivid detail. Their reactions to English culture, especially when it came to topics like cleanliness, the afterlife, or how one should spend a long, cold winter, were completely understandable. Honestly, I could have read an entire book about their tribe and still wanted to learn more about how they thought about the world.

Shakespeare in Virginia made me smile.

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The Unholy Silence – A True Account of a Haunted Idaho Home by Doug Owen

September 5, 2025 By Leave a Comment


The Unholy Silence – A True Account of a Haunted Idaho Home by Doug Owen
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Non-Fiction, Paranormal, Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

The Unholy Silence is a harrowing true account of one family’s descent into spiritual warfare after moving into a seemingly ordinary home in Idaho. What began as a fresh start quickly spiraled into a nightmare of ghostly apparitions, shattered mirrors, demonic voices, and eerie manipulations that targeted their children, faith, and sanity.

Told with raw honesty and emotional depth, this memoir follows the author—a devoted husband, father, and Catholic—as he battles unseen forces that twist reality, test his beliefs, and slowly dismantle the life he built. From a terrifying mockery of his daughter to unholy rituals discovered in the shadows, every chapter peels back another layer of haunting.

But perhaps the most chilling aspect of all is the silence—the silence of the Church, of friends, of reason—and the silence that falls when the attacks stop… after he gives up fighting.

This is not a tale of victory. This is a reckoning.

Evil can find a foothold anywhere.

I was impressed by the amount of documentation Mr. Owen had collected about the haunted house he and his family lived in. It was organized neatly and included detailed information about the multitude of ways that experience traumatized not only him, his wife, and their two young daughters but a long list of visitors who had the unfortunate experience of visiting that property. Their stories repeatedly corroborated each other and often added new layers of meaning to what the Owen family already knew or suspected about their beautiful but menacing property.

This book would have benefited from another round of editing. I noticed multiple sentence fragments, run-on sentences, punctuation errors, and compound words that should have been written as two individual words. It was distracting and sometimes produced phrases or sentences that I had to reread in order to understand what the author was trying to communicate. As enticing as the storyline itself was, these issues happened frequently enough that I didn’t feel comfortable giving the higher star rating I would have otherwise chosen.

It was so unnerving to learn about the spirits in this house that I was only able to read this tale in broad daylight. This was not a case of someone jumping to conclusions after hearing one strange noise at night without investigating what caused it. The primary entity the author described was intelligent, dangerous, and chillingly methodical in the steps it took to attempt to destroy everyone who crossed its path. Few things are more horrifying than true life experiences with something evil, after all.

The Unholy Silence was terrifyingly scary in a good way.

Filed Under: Non-Fiction, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , ,

Hear Me by Lynn Crandall

September 3, 2025 By 11 Comments

Hear Me by Lynn Crandall
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Rated: 4 stars
Review by Rose

Atlantis Aeon Ainsley Durham loves running her antique shop, Fancy This, in Old Town Auralia, but takes seriously her mission to work with her fellow Aeons to fight Darkness in her home town. But she’s changing. Her precognition is showing her darker and darker visions of what’s to come. When growing darkness forces her to reevaluate her place in the Aeons and her work, she’s not sure she belongs in either space any longer. Her terrible past urges her to withdraw, not only from her mission but from letting true love in.

Bounty hunter turned bonds company owner Keegan Barnes is also an Aeon. He hears things others don’t, and sometimes he wishes he could shut down his clairaudience ability. After all, he doesn’t see how he can help the cause with such a low-key ability. But when he picks up discussions among members of Dark Sides, will he discover just how much he’s been underestimating himself? He’s hiding secrets that keep him from healing his scars and getting close to anyone, most of all Ainsley.

Keegan and Ainsley know the efforts the Aeons have been putting in to raise the level of light energy in the city have been helping. But will it be enough to influence others to make choices for good or will Dark Sides take the city? Can they team up to save the city and find true love? Find out in this thrilling book two in the Dark Sides trilogy.

I have always loved the idea of the lost continent of Atlantis (I blame the TV show Stingray and the character Marina for this). So, when I found out about Hear Me, I had to take the chance, even though it was the second book of the series. I’m glad I did.

Although I know I would have gotten a richer experience had I read the first book, the author does a great job about filling in the backstory as she goes along. There was no great info-dump, for which I’m grateful, but instead she gently inserts needed material where it is needed.

The concept is very cool. Descendants of survivors from Atlantis (Aeons) have found each other at this point in history because evil (the Dark Aspects) is getting a deeper stronghold. The mission of the Aeons is to use their power of light to combat the workers of darkness. With each of them having specific abilities, together they are stronger than each of them separately.

The worldbuilding here is wonderfully done.  These are not just cardboard characters, but real people with their real lives and backstories. I especially enjoyed the backstory involving Ainsly’s family and would love to learn more about that (it’s possible it was covered in book one).

The characters that Hear Me focuses mostly on are Ainsly and Keegan – both damaged in their own ways, but honestly drawn. I appreciate flawed heroes and heroines and loved the connection these two have.

I really hope there are more books in this world coming – and now off to read book one.

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Pop Tarts and Mistletoe by S.L. Sterling

September 1, 2025 By Leave a Comment


Pop Tarts and Mistletoe by S.L. Sterling
The Happy Holidates Series Book 1
Publisher: Self Published
Genre: Contemporary, Holiday, Romance
Rating: 5 stars
Reviewed by Mistflower

Being stuck at the airport wasn’t part of my holiday plans.

I was on my way to stay with my best friend and his family for the holidays when a freak snowstorm hit. Now I’m stuck, all planes are grounded, and there are no hotel rooms available. I also have no clue of when I’d be able to get on another plane, so here I sit.

Then I saw her.

She stood in front of a vending machine, scrounging through her purse. When she found her last bit of change, she carefully made her selection. A disappointed look came over her face and she began to punch and kick the vending machine trying to get whatever she’d selected to drop. When it did, she threw her hands in the air as if she’d just made the winning touchdown. Then she bent down and pulled out a package of pop tarts. Pop tarts? Who buys pop tarts from a vending machine?

She was feisty and cute, and I knew I needed to meet her. So, I invited her to sit with me. The night passed quickly, with flights heading out the next morning. It was then I realized I’d missed an opportunity as I watched her disappear into the airport crowd.

However, Father Christmas smiled down on me once again when I discovered that the beautiful holiday angel, I’d met earlier was my best friends sister, and I only had a few days to make her mine.

Oh, my cuteness—Pop Tarts and Mistletoe was a wicked fun holiday treat! This short novel made my heart feel all gushy and left a goofy smile plastered on my face. I totally want to re-read it just to get that happy-ever-after glow all over again. A Pop-Tart! As a plot thread! So unique, so unexpected—and so perfectly delightful. If the synopsis pulls you in like it did me, go ahead and start reading. Just be warned: it’s too delicious to put down until you finish it.

Maya, the heroine, was laugh-out-loud hilarious. I could totally relate to her—I’ve beat up a vending machine or two in my college days myself. And yes, strawberry frosted Pop-Tarts are the best! Also, who drinks eggnog without rum? (Not me.) I won’t spoil anything, but her brother gave her a childhood nickname that had me howling when I read why. It reminded me of my own brother, and the family dynamics were spot on and so much fun.

Now Liam—the leading man—was 100% my kind of book boyfriend. I adored him from the moment he met Maya at the airport, but I fell head over heels at the Christmas festival. (You’ll know why when you read it.) He’s sincere, romantic, and totally transparent—no mind games, just honesty and heart. The chemistry between Maya and Liam? Hot enough to warm an entire horse-drawn sleigh ride in the dead of winter. Forget coats, the steam between these two was more than enough.

It took Maya a hot minute to realize Liam was the one, but when she did…? Chef’s kiss. I felt so completely satisfied and happy. I also loved the setup for book two—it’s a romance between Maya’s brother and her best friend, and now I have to know how that story plays out.

This was my first read by S.L. Sterling, and it definitely won’t be my last. I don’t think I’ll ever forget Pop Tarts and Mistletoe, and for that reason alone, I whole pop tart-ly recommend it!

Filed Under: Reviews, Romance Tagged With: , , , , ,

Tome of Stars by Stargazer

September 1, 2025 By Leave a Comment


Tome of Stars by Stargazer
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Romance, Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

“Tome of Stars” is a poetic odyssey chronicling a tragic romance, told through 100 interconnected sonnets. The pages explore love and loss, belief and apostasy, trauma, madness, reason, myth, and memory. While written in classic Shakespearean form, its voice and vision are contemporary. It was written with the hope that it might resonate with those who have loved and lost on a transformative scale.

Sometimes love has thorns.

I enjoyed the fact that these sonnets followed the rules of this style of poetry so closely while seeing the characters through the course of their relationship. Normally, contemporary poetry does not include so much space for character and plot development, much less strict expectations about rhythm and rhyme, so it was interesting to watch the characters learn and grow as a result of their positive and negative experiences with love in this format.

With that being said, I did struggle to make sense of what I learned about the protagonist at times. Their mood shifted so rapidly that I found myself wondering how Stargirl, their love interest, would have described the same scenes. Did she find those moments as sweet and romantic as he did, or was this a case of a possibly unreliable narrator? While I wouldn’t expect the author to spell everything out directly for their audience, I did wonder if these other interpretations of the text were something that were intended or if I was reading too much into it. Having more guidance in this area would have gone a long way to encourage me to choose a higher rating as the writing style itself was beautiful.

The inclusion of various myths were a nice addition to this collection. They gave it a timeless feeling, especially once the author went into even further detail about these metaphors and how they were related to Stargirl. While I can’t go into a lot of detail about this without sharing spoilers, do keep an eye out for those lines and sonnets as they appear. They were well done and interesting no matter which myths they were referencing.

Tome of Stars was an adventure to read.

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Being Broken – Tales and Essays of Survival and Death from Narcissistic Parental Abuse by Geoffrey R. Jonas

August 22, 2025 By 2 Comments


Being Broken – Tales and Essays of Survival and Death from Narcissistic Parental Abuse by Geoffrey R. Jonas
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Non-Fiction, Contemporary, Historical
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

A young woman dies alone in a hotel room, her fentanyl-poisoned cocaine still on the desk. She had been missing for nearly 2 weeks. Social Services had been trying to find a place for her to live with her 3-year-old son, whom she had left with her parents. Six months later her father fights for his life in intensive care, but succumbs to his illness because of a lifelong use of alcohol and tobacco. A month after his death her mother is assessed by doctors to be unable to care for herself because of her Alzheimer’s and mental health issues brought on by benzodiazepine and alcohol addiction.

The son, brother, stepson is the only one left to pick up the pieces. He begins a journey of the self and finds out the truth of his family. After going over letters, notes, emails, videos, and text messages, he uncovers a disturbing picture of the abuse his sister suffered at the hands of their parents. He also begins to better understand his own struggles with mental health and substance addiction because of the trauma and abuse he also suffered from their parents.

Follow the son as he looks through his family history to discover the generational abuse that trickled down through the years. Learn about how parents who suffer from narcissistic personality disorder emotionally abuse and manipulate their children. See how the abuse and trauma becomes mental illness in the abused, and how they fall into vicious traps of addiction, eating disorders, self-harm, and complex post-traumatic stress disorder. Witness the transformational change of the son as he works on the recovery of his inner child and tries to become the man he was meant to be.

Every choice has consequences, and some terrible choices echo through families for generations.

I appreciated the author’s thoughts about how medical providers and society in general could improve the way they treat people who are struggling with mental illness, domestic abuse, trauma, and Substance Use Disorder. His ideas were sensible and included plenty of straightforward advice on everything from changing the way one thinks of someone who is struggling with these challenges to ideas for legislation that could make treatment and recovery easier for this population as well. These are not easy problems to fix by any means, but there are things people from every walk of life can do to make the world slightly better for everyone affected by the sorts of things that Mr. Jonas experienced as a child, teen, and young adult.

While I loved this book in general, my all-time favorite scenes were the ones that showed how people who have Narcissistic Personality Disorder can manipulate nearly any conversation or situation to their own benefit, especially in cases when their victims are not already well-versed in how this disorder can destroy relationships. This isn’t always an easy topic to talk about, so I appreciated the care the author took in describing what his childhood was like without demonizing anyone or downplaying the deep trauma this mental illness caused in his life. It was a delicate balance to maintain, but it added extra layers to his story that were necessary in order to understand why everything unfolded the way it did.

One of the most remarkable things about this memoir was how brutally honest Mr. Jonas was about his faults. He shared multiple stories about things he had done that hurt other people or, in a couple of cases, animals without making any excuses for his choices or softening the blow by passing the blame to others. This is a difficult thing for many people to do, especially for someone who had such a traumatic start to life, so I have to commend him for doing all of the hard work that is necessary in order for a person to not only face up to their worst moments in life but also to genuinely apologize for them. He is a talented writer, and I hope to read more of his work in the future.

Being Broken – Tales and Essays of Survival and Death from Narcissistic Parental Abuse was exactly what it needed to be in order to tell this tale.

Filed Under: Non-Fiction, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , ,

A New Life by L.J. Ambrosio

August 19, 2025 By 6 Comments


A New Life by L.J. Ambrosio
Publisher: self-published
Genre: contemporary, literary fiction
Rated: 5 stars
Review by Rose

From America to the streets of Paris, A New Life follows two friends as they navigate grief, love, and self-discovery in a city filled with history and hope.

A New Life is a story that lingers long after the last page.

This book is the ending of the Reflections of Michael trilogy (actually a bonus book – book 4) and is a complete ending to the circle that began in A Reservoir Man. You can see all the reviews of the trilogy here: A Reservoir Man, Reflections on the Boulevard, and Exiles.

Like the other books, Ambrosio takes the reader on a lyrical journey into the lives of Louie and Ron. This stream of consciousness way of writing is like sitting with an old friend and finding out what they have been up to.

This book is probably one of the most emotional of all the books and, without giving away any spoilers, I have to admit to more than a few tears and will stay with me for a long time.  I’m so glad I read it.

This book gets a solid 5 stars for a wonderfully stirring and emotive closure, and I recommend the entire series to everyone.

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