#Bookreview of Cora and Martha and Other Stories

By: Thomas Penn Johnson

Publisher: Atmosphere Press

Publication Date: July 15, 2025

ISBN: 979-8891327191

Reviewed by: Alma Boucher

Review Date: June 11, 2025

In Cora and Martha and Other Stories, writer Thomas Penn Johnson delivers a captivating and richly textured collection of interconnected tales that explore the human condition with a quiet, unrelenting intensity. With artistic skill and attention to the emotionally significant, Johnson invites readers into the intimate, often wounded spaces of his characters’ lives—each story serving as a glimpse into decisions, remorse, strength, and the subtle poetry of everyday moments.

Fifty years ago, two houses were quietly occupied by their original inhabitants at the northern edge: Cora Johnson and Martha Brown. These women represented a familiar presence in many Black neighborhoods—strong elders who had endured years of transformation, having resided there since the Great Depression.

In Summer's End, reflection is offered through poetry shaped by a life marked by hardship and history. The verses draw from personal experiences, offering stories deeply rooted in the Black American tradition where the past is always present. Since the Civil War, the reality of racial violence lingered— emphasized by the disturbing image of Confederate flags defiantly declaring, “Nigger Beware.” These symbols were not just relics but living threats.

In Once Upon a Time at Shooting Creek, readers are brought into the Blue Ridge Mountains, a region where faith, memory, and nature hold significant importance. Throughout the Civil War, both enslaved and free Black people worked in apple orchards, nurturing them amidst the chaos of war. When the soldiers returned home, the trees flourished, nurtured with affection and attention. This act served as a form of quiet defiance, a legacy sustained through the land.

Another story follows Chrisholm, a slender Black boy who meets Duck, a classmate facing a terminal illness. Duck’s only wish was to attend school. Despite his fragile condition and being placed in special education, he and Chrisholm quickly formed a bond. When Duck left for extended treatment, both boys knew he would not return. Their silent farewell carried a weight beyond words—a final, shared moment between two souls connected by more than circumstance.

Every following story enriches the central themes of the collection. Johnson depicts his characters with both respect and authenticity. His writing is lean but lyrical, willingly dwelling in grief while ensuring it never veers into sentimentality.

Johnson’s experience as a poet shines through in his writing. His sentences breathe with rhythm and clarity, and every paragraph is woven with sensory detail and emotional resonance. More than once, a turn of phrase lands with the weight of revelation, drawing readers into a moment of truth so personal it feels shared.

What distinguishes Cora and Martha and Other Stories is not just the profound emotional resonance but also its stark honesty. These are stories of ordinary people facing the extraordinary within themselves, confronting the quiet violence of time, memory, and social division. And yet, hope flickers at the edges of nearly every tale, not brightly, but enough to remind us of the endurance of the human spirit.

Quill says: A lyrical, deeply affecting collection, Cora and Martha and Other Stories marks Thomas Penn Johnson as a powerful voice in literary fiction. These stories ache with beauty and honesty—readers will remember them long after reading.

For more information about Cora and Martha and Other Stories, please visit the publisher's website at: atmospherepress.com/books/cora-and-martha-and-other-stories-by-thomas-penn-johnson/

 #Bookreview of Leonie's Leap: A Liberation Journey

By: Marzia Pasini

Publisher: Atmosphere Press

Publication Date: June 3, 2025

ISBN: 979-8-89132-622-4

Reviewed by: Ephantus Muriuki

Review Date: June 9, 2025

Leonie's Leap: A Liberation Journey by Marzia Pasini is a vivid, moving, and deeply philosophical coming-of-age novel that blends lyrical and emotionally charged storytelling with soulful reflection. It revolves around Leonie, a brave, curious, and emotionally complex young boy who makes the bold and life-altering decision to escape a bleak, oppressive Hungarian orphanage in search of something greater than mere survival—longing instead for freedom, meaning, belonging, and self-discovery. With poetic language and spiritual undertones, Pasini warmly invites readers into an enchanting, dreamlike world where reality bends and emotions stretch wide.

The novel begins with Leonie lying awake on a frozen winter night, preparing to flee the orphanage. He is an acrobat, recognized for his breathtaking talent but inwardly exhausted from years of stress, pressure, and quiet grief. Though praised by outsiders, we see him struggle with perfectionism, anxiety, and the ache of not feeling good enough. To him, the orphanage feels like a bleak, decaying place—harsh and cold, yet oddly comforting in its familiarity. Unbeknownst to him, his plan to escape is a leap into the unknown that will not only be physical but symbolic, and also a launch into a richly layered journey that is as emotional as it is mystical.

Leonie unexpectedly experiences bizarre symbolic moments and, in an intriguing, strange, and highly emotional sequence, also engages with Hridaya, a blind fortune teller with a mysterious presence and a special ability to read palms and souls. Hridaya’s words feel ancient, poetic, and full of wisdom and through his soulful guide, Leonie begins to explore not just the world around him but the world within him—his fears, his wounds, his longing, and his spiritual purpose.

This novel's chapters alternate between Leonie’s personal experiences and intensely contemplative "dearheart" letters—smooth, meditative passages written straight to the reader. Readers will find these interludes philosophical, grounding, and tender, offering thoughtful reflections on themes like fear, truth, belonging, identity, and healing. Pasini’s prose is lyrical, gentle, and expressive as well as deeply rich with metaphors and her writing is both imaginative and emotionally grounded, inviting the reader to pause, feel, and reflect.

One of the novel’s most powerful qualities is how it balances the mystical with the deeply human. It beautifully handles heavy themes such as abandonment, trauma, loneliness and perfectionism, without feeling heavy-handed or too dark. Notably, it repeatedly incorporates a thread of light, hope, and wonder woven through the sorrow. The book encourages reflection by not telling you what to believe but rather inviting you to listen inwardly and find your own meaning. The protagonist's emotional journey is wonderfully genuine, and readers will appreciate following him through his uncertainties, astonishment, courage, and little personal victories.

Quill says: Leonie's Leap: A Liberation Journey is a luminous, soul-stirring, and unforgettable novel that beautifully reads like a fairy tale for grownups—honest, raw, mystical, and deeply compassionate. With her kind, knowledgeable, and brave voice, Marzia Pasini skillfully inspires anybody who has ever felt lost, trapped, invisible, or uncertain of her direction. Her book offers a crucial reminder that healing isn’t always loud, and that even in our fear, brokenness, and confusion, we carry light. It’s a gentle invitation to leap—into the unknown, into our hearts, into our truth. Conclusively, it is a radiant, poetic, and inspiring read that will linger long after the last page.

For more information about Leonie's Leap: A Liberation Journey, please visit the author's website at: www.marziawrites.com/

 #Bookreview of To Know Good and Evil: Frank Adams Detective Series #2

By: Daniel V. Meier Jr.

Publisher: BQB Publishing

Publication Date: October 7, 2025

ISBN: 979-8886330502

Reviewed by: Lily Andrews

Review Date: June 9, 2025

Daniel V. Meier, Jr.’s To Know Good and Evil is a sharp, engaging mystery set in the sweltering backroads of North Carolina. With the feel of a Southern noir, it follows retired NTSB investigator Frank Adams, who’s pulled back to his college hometown to investigate the suspicious crash of a small plane that killed his old chemistry professor. The tale is founded on a shocking twist and what begins as a favor to a friend soon turns into something deeper, full of danger, buried secrets, and big questions about morality, science, and the power of truth.

The story kicks off when Frank gets a call from an old college acquaintance, Ted Grant, who believes that the recent death of their former professor, Dr. Lanmore, wasn’t an accident. The plane crash that killed him also took out part of a corporate hog farm—an eerie, gruesome detail that sets the tone. Frank travels back to the small town of Scottsville to poke around, but what he uncovers is more than he expected. There’s palpable tension with the sheriff, a loud sense of weird behavior from the locals, and hints that Lanmore may have been working on something very important and possibly dangerous. As Frank begins to dig deeper, he starts to piece together a complex puzzle involving sabotage and corporate interests but is shocked to encounter people who’d rather keep the past buried.

With a steady pace in each chapter, we follow Frank as he visits the wreckage, interviews a nervous young mechanic, and inspects the damaged parts himself. We see the investigation quickly shift to a more thorough analysis of power, motivation, and secrecy, uncovering information that unexpectedly confirms his long-held concerns. He is a remarkably grounded protagonist, who is also outstandingly intelligent, and resolutely motivated by duty, memory, and a strong sense of justice throughout the narrative. Ted, his friend, brings a touch of dry humor and philosophical musing, making their interactions fun and believable.

This story is easy to follow and reads like a detective story with a scientific twist. While the chapters are well-paced and build smoothly on each other, the author's writing style is smooth and deeply engaging, with just enough sensory detail to make the readers feel as if they are part of the protagonist's endeavor.

Well depicted themes of truth, memory, and the blurred line between good and evil are woven throughout as pointed out by the title itself. What does it mean to act morally in a world full of corruption and compromise? The protagonist's journey is partly external, solving a mystery and also internal, revisiting a past he thought he’d left behind. The author's prose is smart but accessible, never bogged down in jargon or unnecessary description which makes this read one of the best flowing available in the genre.

Quill says: To Know Good and Evil by David V. Meier Jr. is a thoughtful, suspenseful read that balances mystery, character, and ideas. It’s a perfect pick for readers who enjoy mysteries that not only stimulate the mind with intelligent plotting and moral complexity, but also resonate emotionally through richly drawn characters and heartfelt themes.

For more information about To Know Good and Evil, please visit the author's website at: danielmeierauthor.com/

 #Bookreview of A Guide to Jazz in Japan

By: Michael Pronko

Publisher: Raked Gravel Press

Publication Date: April 30, 2025

ISBN: 978-1-942410-36-2

Reviewed by: Tripti Kandari

Date: June 3, 2025

A Guide to Jazz in Japan by Michael Pronko is a personal jazz journey as much as a travel guide, drawing on the author's years of experience living in Japan to immortalize the icons of the jazz tradition of Tokyo.

A passionate and well-informed take on the jazz scene of Tokyo and Yokohama, the book is a real-world, experience-based documentation listing Tokyo's top-tier jazz clubs and scoops of practical travel advice. It details not just every club but their environment, the type of music, and the etiquette to follow in a city where jazz isn't just music but a serious cultural tradition. A major highlight of the work is a deep respect towards Japan's jazz culture, where jazz venues aren't just venues to go and listen to songs but places treated as sacred sanctities. As such, the guide sweeps one through the etiquette and rules to be a part of this culture, the understanding of which is the road to developing a genuine appreciation of this tradition.

The author captures the atmosphere of each venue visually and emotionally. While capturing décor and layout, it lays out the crowd's behavior, tone of music, sound quality, and lighting effects in detail. These sensory elements account for an immersive reading complemented by photographs and layout, which increase visual engagement but do not interfere with the core text.

More so, the guide isn't all about the jazzy mood — it's full of practical knowledge, with locations to every venue, timings, music style, entrance charges, and venue accessibility to foreigners. There is a structured presentation of each club, where each description comes out as a distinct identity. The observant tone along with accessible and information-centric language make for responsible cultural documentation.

The guide introduces jazz clubs in Japan not as tourist attractions but as living cultural practices. This approach to the jazz tradition in Japan makes it a valuable text for those seeking information on it — not just as a leisure activity on their travels but also as a chance to understand its core. It's a well-researched and culturally sensitive guidebook that presents the jazz landscape of Japan in a rich and respectful attire. A trusted reference material, it's a handy and perfect source for those into music tourism, jazz studies, and Japanese urban culture.

Quill says: A Guide to Jazz in Japan is a must-have guide to understand Japan through jazz, transcending a mere jazz club directory to become a passport to cultural experience.

For more information on A Guide to Jazz in Japan, please visit the author's website at: www.michaelpronko.com

 #Bookreview of Until the Walls Come Down

By: Gal Podjarny

Publisher: Atmosphere Press

Publication Date: July 22, 2025

ISBN: 979-8-89132-695-8

Reviewed by: Ephantus Muriuki

Review Date: May 28, 2025

Until the Walls Come Down is a touching and deeply emotional novel written by Gal Podjarny that gently follows the journey of a young Israeli woman named Tammar, who, while expecting her first child and dreaming of a peaceful future with her loving Palestinian husband, Ali, is suddenly thrown into a world of heartbreak, confusion, and personal struggle after her parents are killed in a tragic terrorist attack. This event not only shakes her life to the core, but also brings back old wounds, family tensions, and social pressures that test her courage and challenge everything she thought she knew about love, loyalty, and identity.

From the very beginning, Tammar stands out as a powerful and relatable character whose emotions feel so real and honest that readers can almost hear her heartbeat, feel her sorrow, and understand the overwhelming pressure she faces as she tries to keep her family together while grieving, protecting her childhood home from destruction, and preparing for the birth of her baby. Her palpable love for Ali, who is gentle, patient, and supportive despite being treated unfairly by many around them because of his origin and background, is one of the strongest and most beautiful parts of their story. Throughout the narrative, readers are drawn into a deeply inspiring environment of two people holding firmly on to each other even when the world around them feels like it’s falling apart.

The novel also paints a complicated but honest picture of Tammar’s relationship with her two brothers—Barak, who is fiery but logical and responsible, and Daniel, who is distant, extremely religious, and hard to reach. Each one of them carries their own version of pain, disappointment, and loss, and each struggle to connect with the other after years of separation and misunderstanding. The scene at the funeral, where emotions boil over and old resentments explode into a public fight, is heartbreaking and tense, and yet it is written with such tenderness and care that readers will not only feel the chaos, but also the deep love hiding beneath the surface.

Podjarny's writing style is soft and poetic, filled with quiet details that bring the world to life: the smell of sea air near Tammar’s childhood house, the heat of the sun on the street where a bulldozer approaches, the bittersweet taste of pastries at the morning table, and the ache in a daughter’s chest when she hears her brother say he never felt loved. These moments, captured in eloquent prose, conjure up a world that is both familiar and relatable, yet profoundly significant, serving as a reminder to readers of the ways in which people, places, and memories influence who they are.

Quill says: Gal Podjarny does something very special in this book—she shows us how grief can hurt deeply but also open the door to healing, how family can break but still find its way back together, and how even in a country full of conflict and division, peace can begin with a quiet conversation, a shared memory, or a single act of kindness. Interestingly, the book offers a silent yet profound call to young readers to think critically and to trust that change is possible, even if it begins with tiny steps. Until the Walls Come Down is not just a story—it is a gentle and emotional experience that teaches empathy, bravery, and the quiet power of standing up for what you believe in, even when it’s hard, and even when you’re standing alone.

For more information about Until the Walls Come Down, please visit the publisher's website at: atmospherepress.com/books/until-the-walls-come-down-by-gal-podjarny

 #Bookreview of Between the Lies

By: Shana Frost

Publisher: Loch Fuar Publications

Publication Date: March 28, 2025

ISBN: 978-1-7384994-4-1

Reviewed by: Trix Lee-Rainwater

Review Date: June 2, 2025

What drives someone to sacrifice everything they know for the truth? This question lies at the heart of Shana Frost's Between the Lies.

Nina Banerjee is an investigative journalist who has spent years building her career after leaving her family behind in Mumbai. When her investigation into sham marriages leads her to an abandoned building one night, she wakes up hours later next to her dead colleague Jonas with no memory of what happened. She flees the scene but becomes the prime suspect in both Jonas's murder and the murder of Anne Muller, PC Robert Muller's wife. Robert is convinced Nina killed his wife and is determined to bring her to justice. His grief over Anne's death has consumed him, straining his relationships with his closest friends and colleagues. However, when Robert and Nina finally meet, an undeniable attraction develops between them despite his suspicions. Despite his initial hostility, Robert finds himself drawn to the enigmatic journalist, even as mounting evidence points to her guilt.

When circumstances force them to work together, they uncover a vast conspiracy involving corrupt police officers, international human trafficking, and DCI Dickheadson, Robert's superior officer who seems unusually invested in pinning both murders on Nina. As they dig deeper, with help from an unlikely alliance of a tech expert, a pub owner Billy, and also a former sex worker Daisy, they discover that Anne's death might not be what it seems. Each revelation comes at a cost, putting both Nina and Robert in increasing danger. With corrupt police officers hunting them, professional killers on their trail, and their hearts becoming increasingly entangled, can Nina and Robert uncover the truth before it's too late?

Between the Lies is a romantic 18+ thriller novella from the same author of Strangers in Crime. At its core, this is a story about trust, how it's earned, broken, and sometimes miraculously rebuilt from the ashes of betrayal. Through Nina and Robert's evolving relationship, Frost showed how love can flourish even in the darkest circumstances while never diminishing the serious nature of the crimes they're investigating. The author tackled weighty subjects like human trafficking and the exploitation of vulnerable immigrants with appropriate gravity while still maintaining the emotional engagement of a romance.

Through Nina's perspective as an immigrant herself, Frost offered insight into the complex challenges faced by those who leave everything behind to build a new life. The story’s examination of truth, justice, and redemption added layers of meaning to what could have been a straightforward romantic thriller. While some coincidences stretch credibility and certain plot points rely heavily on convenient timing, the author's handling of both the romance and thriller elements helps smooth over these minor issues.

Between the Lies proves that sometimes the greatest truths about ourselves are discovered when everything we believe is called into question.

Quill says: Between the Lies is a thrilling sensual novella that will satisfy fans of both romance and crime fiction while offering thoughtful commentary on contemporary social issues.

For more information on Between the Lies, please visit the author's website at: shop.shanafrost.com/

 #Bookreview of Slave: A Novel

By: Christina Maraziotis

Publisher: Existential Publishing

Publication Date: October 30, 2024

ISBN: 978-1959776130

Reviewed by: Diane Lunsford

Review Date: June 2, 2025

The highly anticipated release of Christina Maraziotis’ fourth book in her Loveletting Series, Slave is a phenomenal delight. Maraziotis’ natural ability to leave her audience on the precipice of free-fall from the end of one story before she artfully swoops in with a rescue and promise to keep reading in the next is outstanding.

As has been the case in each novel, Maraziotis focuses on a sublime theme and builds upon it. In Slave, love is the foundation that is something beyond a feeling of heart. Rather, it is something to covet and reawaken within the soul in an attempt to erase sin. Charlotte is desperate to gain independence during a time when women weren’t worthy of such an existence. When Charlotte and Mac are washed ashore after their plunge to the depths of the water below in the end of Ghost, we don’t know if she and Mac survive. Charlotte is furious when she realizes her true love (Mac) is alive. She is wrestling with her own ‘betrayal’ of moving on with Tilghman when she thought Mac was dead.

Evil continues to lurk, however. James is still quite alive and well. Even though Charlotte managed to escape his evil grasp, she is not safe from his will to conquer her once more. There is a greater conflict going on between her and Mac. Will there ever be trust? Are they capable of committing to each other; or has too much happened for this to ever be the case? Charlotte struggles with her own vulnerabilities and her wanderlust of what could have been with Tilghman. This clouds her judgment when it comes to a future with Mac. Therein lies her ultimate dilemma. Both Charlotte and Mac have work to do if they are able to move forward. A conscious effort to grasp and rediscover a tenderness is of the essence.

There is a bevy of situations and circumstances to unpack in this novel and just like its predecessors in books 1-3, it is an epic journey that I personally recommend one take. Bravo Christina Maraziotis! You have delivered yet another must read!

Quill says: Slave is a continuation of the dynamics and complexities of human existence. It is impossible to pick this book up and not set it down until the final page has been read.

For more information about Slave, please visit the author's website at: www.christinamaraziotis.com/