Editorial Reviews for Nominees
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 Score: 94+/100 (9.4+ out of 10)
Silas on Stage joins the rank of Joel Shoemaker's best books! Silas on Stage follows Silas, a theatrical and imaginative transgender child who dreams of playing the sparkling angel in their church’s Christmas pageant. Acting runs in the family, and Silas throws themself into preparing for the audition: making wings, adding glitter, finding matching shoes, memorizing every line, and even creating a halo. Silas performs flawlessly but is cast as a shepherd instead. We've all had experiences like that in which you envision something and work so hard to achieve it, then fall short or get passed over. Deeply disappointed, Silas tells their parents that they wanted to be an angel so they could sparkle. Their parents gently explain that shepherds can sparkle too and that helpers are often the true stars of a production. During rehearsals, Silas begins noticing the many people helping behind the scenes: Molly paints the backdrop, Mrs. Allen provides the music, and Mr. McCurdy, the church custodian, cleans and prepares the stage. Silas gradually understands that a successful performance depends upon far more people than those standing in the spotlight. This might be one of the best and most admirable aspects of the book: how Silas is able to appreciate all the different people and moving parts that make something successful. It's like the NASA janitor once said, "I'm helping to land a man on the Moon!" It also paints Silas as a good person, a considerate and conscientious one who notices the efforts and talents of others. That's great. In addition, it allows Silas to develop as a person and a character, realizing that just because they didn't get the role they wanted doesn't mean they don't matter. On the night of the pageant, the angel, Max, disappears. Silas finds him crying in a coat closet because his costume is too large, his halo will not stay in place, and glitter has spilled everywhere. Rather than seizing the opportunity to take Max’s role, Silas becomes the helper their parents described. They adjust his halo, use the belt from their own shepherd costume to make his robe fit, and reassure him that he will be wonderful. The pageant earns a standing ovation. Afterward, Max places his halo on Silas’s head. Glitter falls everywhere, allowing Silas, Max, and everyone around them to sparkle together. The previous book prominently featured Silas as a transgender child, focusing on Silas wrestling with their identity and how society might view them. Both books use gender-neutral language to describe Silas. That might wear on readers who have different world views or opinions. One great thing is that this book doesn't really focus on gender identity or the LGBT+ stuff aside from the gender-neutral pronouns. Like, this book doesn't go as far as to make Silas romantically interested in Max or vice-versa. It doesn't have Silas cross-dressing, which is the impression someone might get from the cover. Silas is just simply playing a part. So, in other words, being transgender isn't the sole focus of the book or the character. With that said, this book seems to accomplish something that arguably tops the previous book: it presents Silas as a typical, normal person. In fact, their trans identity is the furthest thing from Silas's mind or the book's narrative. The book really doesn't linger or fixate on Silas's gender identity. Instead, it presents Silas as a person—a kid—who has hopes, dreams, feelings, and aspirations just like everyone else. That actually says a lot. Someone's gender, sex, or sexuality doesn't become their whole identity. Or it shouldn't be. Yes, it might be PART of that person's identity, but it's not all-encompassing. Every song is made of more than one note, and everyone has a variety of things going on in their head and in their life. That's true for us, that's true for you, it's true for someone who is straight, someone who is gay, someone who is cis-gender, or someone who is trans. And, hey, Silas is an example that you can be LGBT+ and be Christian too! Silas is no more a sinner than anyone else. Silas is not any less in need of Christ's salvation and God's mercy than anyone else. Ok, let's talk about the aspect of this book that really makes it exceptional: the illustrations! Taranggana’s artwork is absolutely wonderful. The illustrations are bright, expressive, polished, and full of personality. Silas’s emotions are immediately understandable, whether they are confidently admiring their costume in the mirror, slumping beside the cast list, searching anxiously for Max, or finally sparkling beneath the stage lights. The artwork also does a great deal of storytelling on its own. One of the strongest images shows Silas standing before the posted cast list while their parents comfort them. Silas’s disappointment is visible before the text even explains it. Another memorable scene shows Max hiding in the coat closet, overwhelmed by an oversized costume, an uncooperative halo, and glitter that has gotten absolutely everywhere. The situation is funny, but Max’s distress is treated with enough sincerity that the moment never becomes cruel. We also love how the illustrations give attention to the people working outside the spotlight. Molly paints the nighttime backdrop and its enormous star. Mrs. Allen plays the piano. Mr. McCurdy sweeps and prepares the stage. These scenes reinforce the book’s message by visually placing each helper at the center of their own page. For a few moments, they become the stars because Silas has learned to see them that way. There is a great deal of inclusion throughout the artwork as well. The pageant features children and adults of different races, body types, ages, and abilities, including a child who uses a wheelchair. Again, the book does not stop the story to announce these differences or turn each person into a lesson. They are simply part of the church, the production, and the community. The final sequence is especially effective. After the pageant succeeds, Max places the halo on Silas’s head. Glitter falls around them as Silas stands with their shepherd’s staff, symbolically combining the role they received with the role they originally wanted. Silas does not need to become the angel in order to sparkle. Their kindness has already made them worthy of the moment. That conclusion also creates a meaningful exchange between the two characters. Silas gives Max the belt from their shepherd costume when he needs help. Max later gives Silas the halo. Neither gift is presented as a transaction, yet the two gestures reflect one another beautifully. This book is expected to be released in November 2026. Follow the author!
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 Score: 92+/100 (9.2+ out of 10)
Most of us know that the heart pumps blood, but how often do we stop to think about the enormous biological highway carrying that blood throughout the body? Nurse Florence, Tell Me About the Aorta introduces young readers to one of the circulatory system’s most important structures. Rather than merely telling children that the aorta is a large blood vessel, author Michael Dow provides a surprisingly substantial anatomy lesson filled with accurate medical terminology, practical health advice, and opportunities for further discussion. The narrative begins as Jean, Condi, and Sonia leave their classroom and head toward the school cafeteria. After spotting Nurse Florence, they ask to sit with her and request another lesson about blood vessels. Nurse Florence decides to explain the aorta, the major artery that carries blood away from the heart and helps distribute it throughout the body. Before discussing the aorta itself, Nurse Florence reviews the definition of an artery. This section contains one of the book’s strongest educational moments. Many people assume that arteries are simply blood vessels containing oxygen-rich blood, but Nurse Florence explains that arteries are actually defined by the direction in which blood travels. They carry blood away from the heart. The pulmonary arteries are an important exception to the usual oxygen rule because they carry blood with relatively little oxygen from the heart to the lungs. That distinction may sound small, but it corrects a common misconception that some adults still carry around years after leaving science class. There is something admirable about a children’s book that refuses to underestimate its readers. The lesson then moves through the aorta’s anatomy. Young readers learn about the aortic root, aortic valve, ascending aorta, aortic arch, descending aorta, thoracic aorta, and abdominal aorta. Nurse Florence explains that the aortic valve prevents blood from flowing backward into the heart, while branches extending from the aortic arch supply blood to the arms and head. The book also gives children a sense of scale by explaining that the aorta is approximately one foot long and about one inch wide. These are not watered-down facts disguised as science. They are legitimate anatomical concepts presented in manageable pieces. That approach reflects one of the central strengths of the Nurse Florence series: children are introduced to the same terminology they may encounter later in biology, nursing, medicine, or other STEM fields. Skyler Sharpell’s drawings accompany the lesson with friendly characters, anatomical diagrams, and visual breakdowns of the aorta’s different regions. These are probably among the best illustrations for a Nurse Florence book. This is probably the best that Jean, Condi, and Sonia have ever been illustrated in the series. The illustrations help readers follow the vessel’s path through the body and distinguish one section from another. The cafeteria setting also keeps the lesson relaxed and approachable rather than making it feel like a medical lecture delivered inside a laboratory. The book’s second half expands beyond anatomy and discusses ways readers can protect their arteries. Nurse Florence recommends eating a balanced diet, participating in aerobic exercise and strength training, getting sufficient sleep, managing stress, maintaining a healthy weight, following treatment recommendations for chronic conditions, avoiding cigarettes, and limiting alcohol when old enough to drink. We appreciated that the book does not simply identify a body part and send readers on their way. It connects knowledge to action. Children learn that their daily habits can influence the health of their hearts and blood vessels. The discussion of sleep routines, mindfulness, music, exercise, and stress management also gives families several practical subjects to explore together. Because this is primarily an educational book, the story sometimes functions more as a framework for Nurse Florence’s extended explanation than as a fully developed narrative. Jean, Condi, and Sonia introduce the topic, but they could have participated more actively by making guesses, asking follow-up questions, or relating the lesson to their own experiences. Additional back-and-forth dialogue might have given the information more rhythm and allowed readers to pause between the denser concepts. The later health recommendations are worthwhile, although they broaden the book considerably beyond its central subject. By the conclusion, the lesson has evolved from an explanation of the aorta into a more general guide to cardiovascular wellness. That is not necessarily a weakness, but readers specifically seeking a narrowly focused anatomy book should expect a substantial preventive-health component as well. This book does have a lot of the same weaknesses of other books in the series. Almost every book in the series is overwhelmingly dense and feels like an expositional information dump more than a story. This book is no different. And it can be too much for many children. One other thing we noticed is that the author did at least try to give the three regulars (Jean, Condi, and Sonia) something more to say than just a morbid fixation on one medical topic or another (which happened in other books). The girls do notice and compliment things about each other. However, this amounts to a somewhat awkward, cringy, and unnatural "I like your red bow!" and Your skirt is cute!" It's not exactly the most compelling dialogue or character development ever. It's sound more like a conversation at a checkout line than friends with actual rapport. The one really positive aspect of this book is how it doesn't just teach kids about health, it actually teaches them practical, applicable things they can do to improve their own health. It might sound crazy, but kids are often not taught the importance of physical activity/exercise and eating healthy. At least this book teaches kids that. In the end, Nurse Florence, Tell Me About the Aorta is an informative and responsible introduction to cardiovascular anatomy. Michael Dow trusts children with real scientific vocabulary while explaining the material in a calm and understandable manner. The result is a meaningful educational resource that encourages health literacy, curiosity, and a lasting interest in the human body. Check it out on Amazon!  Score: 91+/100 (9.1+ out of 10)
We're so excited to get some Jewish representation and Jewish literature again. It feels like it's been a while! Chanumas: One Boy, Two Holidays and a Very Big Wish by Irv Brand, illustrated by Hannah Finkelshteyn, is a rhyming picture book about a Jewish boy whose first night of Chanukah happens to fall on Christmas Eve. The boy’s home fills with relatives, food, music, games, and holiday cheer. His family lights the menorah, sings, dances the hora, plays dreidel, and enjoys his mother’s cooking. Although he appreciates the Chanukah celebration and knows that tradition grants him eight nights of gifts, he cannot stop thinking about the Christmas stockings, decorated trees, and other customs he sees around him. He wants just one additional present in a stocking. After he tells his parents how he feels, they promise to consider his wish while remaining “faithful and true” to their beliefs. The boy hangs a sock on the kitchen wall and begins wondering who might fill it. Santa seems unlikely, especially without a fireplace, so he imagines other possibilities, including Elijah, a kind-hearted neighbor, or even Houdini. To tempt this mysterious visitor, he leaves out an increasingly funny assortment of foods: potato pancakes, brisket, cookies, milk, chopped liver, and fresh challah. The next morning, he discovers some “dough,” candy, and an orange in his stocking. More importantly, he receives kisses from both parents, creating what he calls the perfect ending to his combined “Chanumas” celebration. This is a warm, original, and wonderfully specific holiday story. Its greatest strength is that it does not simply mash Chanukah and Christmas together or pretend that they are interchangeable. The boy’s parents want to accommodate his feelings without abandoning their own traditions. That gives the story more sensitivity and substance than a basic tale about receiving an extra present. The boy’s wish is also more emotionally understandable than it initially appears. On the surface, he already receives eight Chanukah gifts and wants a ninth. That could make him seem greedy. Underneath that desire, however, he wants to participate in something he sees happening throughout his neighborhood. The stocking represents inclusion, curiosity, and the childhood fear of missing out. The parents’ modest solution allows him to enjoy that experience while keeping Chanukah at the center of the family’s celebration. The book becomes especially entertaining once the boy begins speculating about his mysterious benefactor. The progression from Santa to Elijah, a helpful mensch, and finally Houdini is imaginative and funny. The parade of foods also gives the final section a growing comic rhythm. Leaving chopped liver for an anonymous nighttime visitor is an especially amusing touch. The “dough” in the stocking may also function as a clever little food-and-money pun. Finkelshteyn’s illustrations are colorful, textured, expressive, and packed with family activity. They create a cozy, lived-in atmosphere rather than a spotless, overly polished holiday-card world. The boy's mom is especially... cute. The opening scenes effectively contrast Christmas trees and outdoor decorations with menorahs glowing inside nearby homes. Later spreads capture the crowded warmth of relatives eating, dancing, talking, and playing dreidel. The artwork feels distinctive and handmade, although some readers may find its intentionally loose proportions and folk-art qualities less refined than conventional commercial picture-book illustrations. The rhyming language is playful, but it is also the book’s most uneven element. Some passages flow naturally, while others appear constructed primarily to achieve a rhyme. Words and phrases such as “illusory,” “inner misery,” “benefactor,” “not a weenie,” “needed Houdini,” and “lactose milk” may sound awkward or require explanation for younger children. “Fresh-baked chally” appears chosen to rhyme with “jolly,” but readers familiar with the food may expect the standard spelling, challah. The vocabulary occasionally seems more appropriate for adults reading aloud than for beginning readers navigating the book independently. Another thing that kinda bugged us about this book is how it constantly skips around and seems random at times. There is also a slight tonal risk in building the entire conflict around a child who already expects eight gifts but wants another one. Fortunately, the modest contents of the stocking and the affectionate ending soften that concern. The resolution ultimately emphasizes parental love, cultural flexibility, and the joy of feeling understood rather than expensive presents. Check it out on Amazon! Review of "Vietnam’s Modern Day Boat People: Bridging Borders for Freedom" by Shira Sebban7/25/2026  Score: 92+/100 (9.2+ out of 10)
Vietnam’s Modern Day Boat People by Shira Sebban is a meticulously documented true story about several Vietnamese families who risked everything to escape persecution, economic devastation, government harassment, and imprisonment. It is also the story of the international network of ordinary people who fought to keep those families together and eventually help them reach freedom. The book begins in July 2016, when Sebban reads a newspaper article about Tran Thi Thanh Loan. Mrs. Loan and her husband, Ho Trung Loi, had fled Vietnam with their four children and dozens of other asylum seekers aboard a fishing boat in 2015. Australian authorities intercepted them at sea, subjected them to an abbreviated screening process, and returned them to Vietnam after receiving assurances that they would not be punished. Those assurances proved worthless. Mr. Loi was imprisoned, Mrs. Loan received a three-year sentence, and their children faced being placed in an orphanage. Horrified by their situation, Sebban contacts human rights lawyer Vo An Don and creates a GoFundMe campaign called “Don’t Let Them Go to an Orphanage.” What begins as an attempt to cover one family’s living and educational expenses soon expands into a much larger humanitarian effort. Sebban and advocates Ngoc Nhi Nguyen, Grace Bui, Doan Trung, Vo An Don, and others begin helping additional families who were similarly returned by Australia and punished by Vietnam. The book explains why these families fled. Their reasons include confiscated land, destruction of livelihoods, institutionalized religious discrimination, harassment by local authorities, dangerous encounters with Chinese forces in disputed fishing waters, environmental devastation, and the near impossibility of challenging government power. Several parents are accused of “organizing” illegal departures merely because they helped buy a boat, supplies, or fuel for family and friends. After being returned, some are imprisoned, beaten, threatened, publicly denounced, or prevented from working. In January 2017, three families secretly flee Vietnam for a second time. The group consists of six adults and twelve children, including Mrs. Loan and her children; Tran Thi Lua, her husband, children, sister, niece, and in-laws; and Nguyen Thi Phuc and her children. After approximately twelve days at sea, their damaged boat begins sinking near Indonesia. Local fishermen rescue them and tow them ashore. What follows is a desperate international effort to prevent their deportation. Sebban and her fellow advocates pay for temporary accommodations, contact immigration authorities, appeal to UNHCR, engage legal and human rights organizations, find translators, raise money, and attempt to navigate rules that the families cannot understand. The Vietnamese government pressures Indonesia to return them, while the families insist that they would rather die than go back. The families’ recognition as refugees does not bring immediate freedom. Instead, they enter another painful chapter marked by separation, confinement, uncertainty, and an exhausting struggle to secure even the most basic necessities. Some of the book’s most affecting moments involve children spending much of their time behind locked doors, hoping a compassionate guard might give them a brief opportunity to play. Sebban and her fellow advocates do what they can from across borders, providing clothing, books, food, communication devices, educational support, and, perhaps most importantly, reassurance that the families have not been forgotten. Even after their conditions improve, the refugees remain suspended between the country they fled and a future they cannot yet reach. They face restrictions on work, limited access to education, years of applications, medical examinations, interviews, misplaced documents, rejected efforts, changing requirements, and bureaucratic delays. Sebban shows just how much labor can exist behind the word “resettlement.” It requires sponsors, translators, lawyers, donors, volunteers, former refugees, and advocates willing to spend hundreds of hours assembling records and refusing to let families disappear inside an immigration system. The book also expands beyond emergency rescue. One storyline explores what it means to help a struggling family build genuine independence through education, vocational training, employment, and a small business. Elsewhere, former refugees become supporters of those following behind them, transforming recipients of generosity into contributors and advocates themselves. We will not reveal exactly where every family’s journey leads, but the later chapters provide meaningful emotional rewards after years of setbacks. Sebban ultimately leaves readers with the idea that reaching safety is not the end of a refugee’s story. It is the moment that person is finally given the freedom to begin writing the rest of it. This is an exceptionally humane, morally urgent, and thoroughly researched work. It operates simultaneously as a refugee narrative, advocacy memoir, political critique, legal case study, and record of grassroots humanitarian action. Sebban does not merely tell readers that asylum policies have consequences. She follows those consequences into people’s homes, schools, prisons, detention cells, courtrooms, and family relationships. The greatest strength is its specificity. The families are not treated as statistics or anonymous “boat people.” Readers learn their names, personalities, fears, aspirations, illnesses, educational goals, and complicated family dynamics. The photographs, translated court orders, refugee cards, passports, correspondence, and firsthand testimony give the book enormous credibility. The extensive chapter notes, further reading, bibliography, appendices, and index reinforce how seriously Sebban approached the research. Several scenes are unforgettable. The children waiting beside the locked detention door for a few minutes of playtime are heartbreaking. So is their delight at eating fresh fruit for the first time in months. The moment when Mrs. Loan’s daughter My calmly tells a Canadian border officer that both her parents were convicted in Vietnam carries tremendous tension because readers understand that those convictions resulted from their pursuit of freedom. Due’s graduation and the Canadian airport reunions provide a satisfying emotional payoff after years of setbacks. The book also presents a powerful example of what ordinary people can accomplish. Sebban begins with no institutional authority, special immigration power, or limitless resources. She sees an injustice and decides to cover one month of a family’s expenses. That decision eventually connects advocates, journalists, translators, lawyers, religious organizations, former refugees, donors, teachers, and private sponsors across several countries. The book’s central idea is not that one heroic person saved everyone. It is that one person acted, which inspired other people to act, until a network existed where none had existed before. Sebban is admirably honest about her own mistakes. She admits when she sends too much money at once, misunderstands immigration procedures, writes an overly long speech, allows a campaign to continue too long, or becomes frustrated with the people she is trying to help. That honesty keeps the book from feeling like a self-congratulatory account. Its principal weakness is density. The narrative includes a formidable number of people, organizations, acronyms, application forms, official communications, dates, fundraising updates, policy explanations, and procedural reversals. At times, it reads more like a comprehensive advocacy archive or chronological case file than a tightly constructed narrative. Some material could have been condensed without sacrificing the historical record. A cast of principal individuals, family chart, map, and master timeline would have made the book considerably easier to follow. Because Sebban is both the narrator and one of the central advocates, the book also occasionally devotes more space to communications and administrative activity than to the internal lives of the refugees themselves. However, she offsets this concern by including extensive testimony from the families and allowing them to describe events in their own words. The political position is unmistakable. This is not a detached examination offering equal weight to every government’s justification. Sebban argues that Australia failed these families, Vietnam persecuted them, Indonesia confined them, and Canada ultimately offered a more humane path. Readers who prefer a neutral policy analysis may find the tone openly prosecutorial. For an advocacy-driven work, however, that moral clarity feels intentional and largely justified by the evidence presented. One of the things we noticed is how it shows how shaky, inconsistent, and insidious immigration and law enforcement are throughout the world. It shows how those in authority often lie, deceive, manipulate, and abuse immigrants, many of whom may not understand the nuances of this complicated process (or legal jargon) or even speak the local language fluently. Immigration and asylum-seeking are hot topics right now. They've dominated the past decade of political discourse in the United States. A lot of the focus of the western media has been on the US, Great Britain, and France. But what we often forget—living here in America—is that other countries in far-away places like Australia and Indonesia are wrestling with their own immigration and asylum-seeking issues. This doesn't occur in a vacuum. It impacts all of us—all people all over the world. With that said, perhaps this book's most important function is shining a light on the plight of Vietnamese migrants and raising awareness of what is going on over there and how it impacts all of us. Check it out on Amazon!  Score: 94/100 (9.4 out of 10)
Sometimes, all a person needs is for someone to recognize their potential and give them the opportunity to rise to it. Thomas does not simply receive a violin, he receives proof that his hard work, talent, and future have been seen. That recognition transforms his frustration into confidence and his potential into possibility. In a lot of ways, author Tuula Pere once again exemplifies the ideals of the Outstanding Creator Awards. At our core, we believe that talented people can accomplish extraordinary things when someone takes the time to notice them, encourage them, and give them an opportunity. Thomas and the Magic Violin expresses that same belief through a gentle and deeply moving story about a young musician whose persistence is finally recognized by someone he greatly admires. Thomas loves playing the violin, but preparing for his music school’s spring concert pushes his patience and confidence to their limits. He's riddled with self-doubt and apprehension. He doesn't think he's very good or very talented. He definitely doesn't feel ready for his performance in a few weeks. While his friends enjoy the warm weather and invite him to play basketball, Thomas remains inside, rehearsing a difficult composition again and again. One troublesome section refuses to cooperate, leaving him exhausted, embarrassed, and increasingly angry with himself and his instrument. Across the courtyard lives an elderly master violinist whose playing Thomas admires. One day, the older man hears Thomas struggling and begins playing the difficult passage from his balcony. Thomas listens, joins him, and the two violins seem to speak to each other across the courtyard. Their unexpected duet gives Thomas the confidence and understanding he needs. He later performs beautifully at the concert. Thomas hopes to thank the master, but the music from the opposite balcony suddenly stops. He eventually learns that the old violinist has died. Months later, the man’s daughter, Aino, visits Thomas and reveals that her father had followed his development for years. Even while sick, he listened to Thomas practice and believed the boy would become a great musician. She gives Thomas her father’s treasured violin. Thomas plays the composition they once shared, sending the music across the courtyard and toward the sky, certain that his mentor is still listening. Pere once again demonstrated things we love to see at the Outstanding Creator Awards: she tells the story of someone who is seen and heard despite not realizing he is seen or heard. Early on, he felt that his song fell on deaf ears. He felt unworthy. And, as tales like these tend to go, that was all flipped on its head. Not only was he heard, but he was heard by a local legend. Not only was his music valued, but it was valued like a most-cherished memory by a sick and dying man. This is a beautiful, tender, and surprisingly emotional children’s book. It begins as a familiar story about practice and perseverance, but gradually becomes something deeper: a story about mentorship, grief, artistic connection, and the ways one generation can inspire the next. One of the strongest ideas is that Thomas and the old man barely know each other personally, yet they communicate meaningfully through music. Their violins “talk,” allowing encouragement, instruction, gratitude, and eventually farewell to pass between them without many spoken words. That gives the story an almost magical feeling without requiring literal spells or fantasy. The violin is “magic” because of the emotion, history, and human connection carried within it. Thomas is also a believable child. He is committed, but he becomes tired, insecure, impatient, and angry. His frustration with the difficult passage feels honest. Importantly, the book does not suggest that talent appears effortlessly. Thomas improves because he practices relentlessly, listens carefully, accepts guidance, and continues after failure. The master helps unlock his confidence, but Thomas has already done the hard work. The ending is exceptionally moving. The revelation that the elderly musician listened from his sickbed adds new meaning to Thomas’s daily practicing. Thomas believed he was receiving encouragement from the master, but his music was also comforting the older man during his final days. The gift of the violin therefore feels earned rather than merely fortunate. It becomes both an inheritance and a responsibility: Thomas is being trusted to continue the music. Sofia Panchyshyn’s illustrations complement the story wonderfully. The soft watercolor-like artwork, flower-covered balconies, warm pastel shades, and musical notes flowing through the air give the book a gentle, dreamlike atmosphere. The visual ribbon of music rising into the sky near the ending is particularly effective. It turns Thomas’s tribute into something readers can almost see and feel. Check it out on Amazon!  Score: 95/100 (9.5 out of 10)
All the Things I Want to Tell You is an intensely personal collection of poems and poetic prose written by C. J. Canino during her teenage years. Rather than telling one continuous story, the book creates an emotional autobiography. It records the thoughts the speaker struggles to say aloud to her parents, friends, first love, God, society, younger self, and even the person she sees in the mirror. Gosh, we have to say: this is probably the best poetry book we've read in a year or so. This is extraordinary! Truly! Every poem feels so genuine, honest, and lived in. Everything in this book feels earned. There's so much pain. So much suffering. So much blood, sweat, and tears. There's so much introspection. So much thoughtfulness. Conscientiousness. Consideration. So much love. So much fear. So much anger, confusion, longing, guilt, self-doubt, hope, and healing. There's just something about the writing in this poetry book that gripped us, grabbed us, and wouldn't let go. These are more than just words. More than just beautiful lines crafted to wow, impress, and amaze. You know what... maybe that's why this book was received so well by us. It's because it seem authentic. It's not trying to impress anyone. It's not trying too hard. It wasn't written to win awards or make a ton of money being published. And yet... it's still beautiful, still powerful, still eloquent, still meaningful. Every piece of this book seems to come from the heart, from the soul. It's an expression of the author's personal thoughts and personal pains and personal experiences. And, many times, she seems just as lost and bewildered as we are--trying to find herself, her identity. Trying to figure everything out. The opening poem, “Chimera,” establishes the central conflict. The speaker is logical but emotional, confident but insecure, loving but capable of lashing out, academically gifted but mentally exhausted. She sees herself as something assembled from contradictions. From there, the collection explores depression, anxiety, perfectionism, self-harm, suicidal thoughts, friendship, romantic love, faith, queerness, family, grief, school pressure, sexual assault, school shootings, environmental destruction, and the painful experience of being dismissed by adults. Canino frequently transforms emotions into creatures. Sadness is made of broken glass. Anger is a parasite. Fear is a puppeteer and spider. Joy is an enormous St. Bernard. Hope is a dangerous magician. Love is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Together, these recurring figures create an internal mythology in which the speaker’s mind becomes an ocean, battlefield, burning forest, storm, garden, and haunted house. The collection begins in fragmentation and self-hatred. Poems such as “The Ocean Depths,” “First Steps,” “Hell Hound,” “Golden Girl,” and “Hidden Hatred” depict a young person who is frightened by her own thoughts and convinced that every mistake proves she is fundamentally defective. Some of the darkest poems confront suicide, sexual violence, school shootings, bullying, and the consequences of adults failing to listen. Love becomes both the speaker’s greatest source of comfort and her most persistent wound. “Crush,” “Golden Hour,” “My Beautiful Girl,” “A Letter to My First Love,” “Jealousy,” and “Bittersweetness” trace the exhilaration of falling for another girl, the security of being held and understood, the anxiety of abandonment, the collapse of the relationship, and the difficult realization that something can be real and meaningful without lasting forever. These poems do not reduce the former girlfriend to a villain. The speaker gradually acknowledges that fear, insecurity, miscommunication, and emotional instability caused pain on both sides. Faith runs alongside that romantic story rather than opposing it. “Something Beautiful” finds peace in an empty church, while the long poem “Father and Child” presents an ambitious conversation with God about suffering, free will, imperfection, forgiveness, and the nature of the Creator. The prose piece “Sinner” then connects Catholic faith with the speaker’s queer identity. Its conclusion is one of the clearest expressions of the book’s worldview: her capacity to love another girl is not the sin; cruelty, hatred, and the ordinary failures of being human are what require repentance. The later poems move toward healing without pretending that recovery is complete. “Let Go of Her” releases the wounded child the speaker once was. “Secret Smiles” allows her to recognize that mistakes are pieces of the puzzle rather than the entire picture. “Wildflowers” and “Patchwork Quilt” celebrate the friends whose love has helped construct her identity. “A Mother’s Love” provides one of the collection’s warmest and most mature reflections, showing how patient love can shape someone without destroying what makes them unique. By “Dear Reader,” writing itself has become survival: the words that could have suffocated her have been transformed into art. This is a remarkably courageous and emotionally intelligent debut, especially from a writer who was sixteen and seventeen while creating it. Canino’s greatest strength is not technical perfection. It is her willingness to reveal thoughts that most people conceal, including jealousy, resentment, dependency, shame, spiritual doubt, fear of abandonment, and the frightening belief that love must be earned through perfection. She is often perceptive enough to recognize that her feelings are not necessarily objective truth, but they remain emotionally true in the moment. That distinction gives the collection unusual honesty. The strongest pieces combine raw feeling with a sustained image or dramatic situation. “Chimera” is an excellent opening self-portrait. “Fingers Crossed,” in which the speaker meets her younger self and asks her to remain alive, is heartbreaking. “Splintered Perfection” powerfully portrays the frustration of receiving generic advice when what someone needs is understanding. “Golden Hour” is vivid, intimate, and cinematic. “Patchwork Quilt” turns individual friendships into pieces of a larger identity. “A Mother’s Love” balances accountability with compassion. “Sinner” may be the strongest prose selection because it brings the collection’s themes of faith, love, identity, guilt, and acceptance together in one coherent personal narrative. The writing in this book is extraordinary. This book features some of our favorite quotes and passages of the year, including: * “It doesn’t matter If you’re drowning In an ocean of thoughts Or a puddle of tears You’re still Equally Dead I tried To face the leviathans Hidden under the waves…” Gosh, how can you not be blown away by the aquatic marine imagery in this passage? * “Because hate only grows Like a cancer Spreading outward Like an oil stain Shaking the foundation Like an earthquake Flooding the streets Like a hurricane Burning down the house Like a wildfire…” Great use of similes! * “What do I do? I write. I put the words I cannot tell you onto paper, wishing you could see them and knowing you should not.” * “I am who I am, broken, burning, beautiful. I am human, and when humans hurt, they create art. I am human. I write poetry to process the pain. This is what I do.” What an outstanding poetry collection! It is set to be released in October 2026.  Score: 95/100 (9.5 out of 10)
Aww, this book is adorable! This whole series by A.M. Berkowitz is adorable. It is sure to make you smile, laugh, and warm your heart. From top to bottom, this is just about the perfect book series for young children. First, there was Gigglet Goes to School, a heartwarming story that introduced readers to Gigglet, the adorable little girl piglet, and her loving family. The book followed Gigglet as she learned, played, painted, danced, ate, napped, and returned home to the comfort of Mama Pig. It reminded children that, after all the excitement and commotion of the day, they have someone who loves them and a safe place to return to. The second book, Welcome, Baby Wigglet!, added even more layers of cuteness to the mix. It introduced Gigglet’s baby brother, Wigglet, while exploring sibling anxiety, reassurance, family love, and Gigglet’s adjustment to becoming a big sister. What we have always loved about this series is how sincerely it speaks to the experiences children go through. Yes, the books are cute. Yes, they are colorful. But there is something deeper beneath all that sweetness. Berkowitz discusses subjects such as safety, security, change, family relationships, and the anxieties that can accompany stepping into the role of an older sibling. The books are relevant and relatable without ever becoming overly dark, heavy, or uncomfortable. You can sit down with a young child and read these stories without worrying that anything will frighten or upset them. In fact, we think many children will fall in love with Gigglet and Wigglet almost immediately. Gigglet and Wigglet’s Alphabet Hop! continues Berkowitz’s tradition of creating bright, cute, colorful, and care-filled children’s books. It follows Gigglet and her little brother, Wigglet, as they hop through the alphabet one letter, word, and imaginative adventure at a time. A is for apple. B is for bubbles. C is for cookies. And before long, Gigglet and Wigglet are playing with dinosaurs, riding elephants, visiting hippos, exploring a jungle, launching into space, singing karaoke, riding a unicorn, growing vegetables, playing with yo-yos, and dressing up like zebras. Can we just say? This book goes above and beyond as an ABCs book. Every single page is filled with something eye-catching, exciting, interesting, and new to discover. These scenes are dynamic. Every page tells its own story! This is not simply an alphabet chart stretched across a picture book. Each letter becomes its own miniature scene and activity. The featured words are incorporated into complete visual adventures, giving children much more to observe, discuss, and remember than they would receive from a plain picture of an apple, elephant, train, or zebra. The educational structure is simple, consistent, and highly effective. Each page introduces a letter and a corresponding word before inviting children to repeat that word three times. Every entry then ends with the enthusiastic refrain: “Hip, hop, hooray!” Children will quickly learn the pattern and may begin joining in before the adult reading to them has even reached the repeated words. That predictability makes the book especially well suited for read-aloud sessions, preschool classrooms, early learning activities, and children who are developing their speech, vocabulary, pronunciation, or confidence. The repetition does not make the book feel lifeless. Instead, it creates rhythm. It turns the alphabet into something children can say, perform, anticipate, and celebrate. Of course, the illustrations are a gigantic part of the book’s appeal. They are bright, polished, expressive, and overflowing with personality. Gigglet and Wigglet have enormous smiles, lovable faces, and wonderfully animated reactions. Their outfits and costumes change constantly, helping every new letter feel like the beginning of another adventure. For D, the siblings surround themselves with dinosaur toys while dressed in prehistoric costumes. For F, they become firefighters beside an enormous red fire truck. For H, they dress as explorers and visit a family of hippos. For R, they travel through space in a rocket. For T, they ride the Piggy Express. For U, they soar across a rainbow on the back of a unicorn. And for Z, they dress like zebras and meet a real one, creating one of the funniest and cutest illustrations in the entire book. Even the notoriously difficult letters X and Y are handled smoothly. X becomes a lively xylophone performance, while Y gives Gigglet and Wigglet a playful outdoor yo-yo scene. Nothing feels awkwardly inserted simply because the alphabet required it. The illustrations are also filled with small background details that make the book rewarding to revisit. There are books, toys, banners, costumes, animals, food, musical notes, flowers, decorations, and tiny visual jokes scattered across the pages. Children may notice something new each time they read it. One of our favorite pages is actually W. W is for Wigglet, and the illustration shows Gigglet cuddling with her little brother while reading him a book titled Best Little Brother! Another book beside them says I Love Wigglet. Awwwwww. That tiny detail captures the heart of the entire series. The alphabet may provide the book’s educational foundation, but the loving relationship between Gigglet and Wigglet gives it emotional warmth. These are not merely two mascots standing beside vocabulary words. They feel like siblings who genuinely love playing, learning, imagining, and spending time together. For young learners, the repetition in this book promotes recognition, participation, and memory. Meanwhile, the detailed illustrations give children more reasons to remain engaged and return to the book repeatedly. Gigglet and Wigglet’s Alphabet Hop! is a joyful, affectionate, beautifully presented alphabet book that combines early education with imaginative play. It teaches letters and vocabulary while also encouraging children to speak, repeat, observe, laugh, and participate. Most importantly, it makes learning feel like time spent playing with two lovable friends. Cute characters. Gorgeous illustrations. Strong educational value. Positive family relationships. Dinosaurs, rockets, unicorns, cookies, bubbles, and zebra costumes. What more could a child possibly ask for? Hip, hop, hooray! The last thing we wanted to mention how--despite the fact that there isn't a story or narrative to this book in the traditional sense--it still accomplishes something huge: it develops and showcases the relationship between the siblings, Gigglet and Wigglet, as they become increasingly comfortable, trusting, and happy in each other's company. So, the underlying themes of the series are still demonstrated through this alphabet book. Check it out on Amazon!  Score: 91+/100 (9.1+ out of 10)
Becoming a Certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt is an ambitious, information-rich, and potentially valuable professional resource written by three highly accomplished experts. It covers an astonishing range of strategic, financial, organizational, instructional, and statistical material. As a desk reference or certification-preparation tool, it has considerable value. As a continuous reading experience, however, it is dense, uneven, impersonal, and insufficiently polished. The book teaches quality more successfully than it consistently demonstrates it. This book really isn't written as a captivating or entertaining business book. It is written as an enormous certification manual, reference guide, technical workbook, and compressed textbook all at once. We read ISO 45001: 2018 EXCELLENCE by Dr. Mohamed -Ali Ibrahim, and these two books have the same vibe. They are also on the same price tier. This book's primary goal is to cover the complete body of knowledge needed by an aspiring Six Sigma Master Black Belt, not to build a relationship with the reader or make the material memorable through storytelling or case studies. That distinction matters. Some of the technical density is unavoidable because this is an advanced certification guide. However, the problem is not merely that the subject is technical. The problem is how the technical information is presented. The book frequently defines, lists, categorizes, calculates, and instructs. It rarely illustrates what this work feels like in the real world. Even when discussing people, leadership, coaching, resistance, motivation, and organizational culture, it tends to reduce human behavior to another system that must be measured, organized, monitored, and controlled. The result is informative but emotionally flat. The book explains the knowledge and responsibilities expected of a Six Sigma Master Black Belt, the highest level in the Six Sigma “belt” system. So, we had to educate ourselves about this. At first we thought this belt system was a bit gimmicky. Then again, a lot of things in business are gimmicky. Haven't you watched pro wrestling? Or seen a featured deal or special at McDonald's? Anyway, this book's central message seems to be that a Master Black Belt is not merely an expert in statistics. The Master Black Belt is supposed to become an organization-wide improvement leader who: - Connects improvement projects to the company’s strategy - Selects and prioritizes projects - Manages a portfolio of improvement initiatives - Coaches executives, managers, Black Belts, and Green Belts - Designs and evaluates training - Helps organizations manage change - Measures financial and operational performance - Applies advanced statistical tools - Builds a lasting culture of continuous improvement That is probably the book’s strongest overarching idea. It presents the Master Black Belt as a combination of statistician, strategist, teacher, project manager, consultant, coach, and organizational architect. The book begins with enterprise-wide planning and explains how organizations can turn broad missions and long-term goals into specific, measurable improvement projects. It introduces familiar strategic tools such as SWOT and PESTEL analysis before discussing Hoshin Kanri, a Japanese system that spreads strategic goals throughout every level of a company. The “catchball” process allows goals, concerns, and feedback to move between executives, managers, supervisors, and frontline employees. One case study follows a struggling steel-related company that learns to treat red performance indicators as signs of where improvement is needed rather than automatic failures. After seven months and about 21 meetings, the company reportedly meets its goals and sells for 175 percent of the expected price. From there, the book moves through governance, organizational maturity, staffing, DMAIC, Lean, Design for Six Sigma, project selection, risk management, and the process of identifying, prioritizing, funding, executing, and measuring improvement projects. The next section focuses on organizational culture and leadership, arguing that Six Sigma cannot succeed through statistics alone. The authors discuss systems thinking, executive support, leadership styles, employee motivation, communication, workplace conflict, resistance to change, customer feedback, and performance measurement. They also summarize several well-known change-management frameworks, including ADKAR, Kotter’s eight-step model, Lewin’s unfreeze-change-refreeze model, the change curve, the McKinsey 7-S framework, and the Competing Values Framework. The central idea is that leaders must communicate priorities, remove barriers, assign resources, involve employees, and reinforce the desired culture. The section also introduces financial tools such as return on investment, cost of quality, break-even analysis, activity-based costing, balanced scorecards, cash flow, and key performance indicators. The project and portfolio management section explains how improvement projects should be selected, planned, staffed, budgeted, monitored, and completed. It covers project charters, work breakdown structures, schedules, communication and risk plans, Gantt charts, PERT, critical paths, resource forecasting, earned-value management, cost and schedule variances, performance indexes, and corrective actions. The authors repeatedly warn organizations against approving projects simply because someone has an interesting idea. Instead, projects should be evaluated according to their connection to strategic goals, expected financial or operational benefits, risks, costs, resource requirements, feasibility, and likely effect on customers. The material is practical, although much of it reads like a condensed project-management certification guide. The chapters on training, coaching, and mentoring explain how Master Black Belts should identify skill gaps, create training plans, accommodate adult learners, develop instructional materials, measure training effectiveness, and continue supporting employees after formal classes end. The authors also address executive coaching, project reviews, meeting facilitation, mentoring Green and Black Belts, and engaging frontline workers. Some of the book’s most thoughtful ideas appear here, including the importance of psychological safety, respect for employees’ existing experience, constructive feedback, different learning styles, and helping workers understand how their daily responsibilities support the organization’s larger purpose. Unfortunately, these potentially human subjects are still presented mainly through lists of tactics, guidelines, activities, and expected outcomes, so the writing rarely creates the personal connection it encourages leaders to develop. The final major instructional section becomes far more technical, devoting roughly half of the book to advanced statistics and data analysis. It covers measurement error, signal-to-noise ratios, Monte Carlo simulation, measurement-system analysis, kappa statistics, gauge repeatability and reproducibility, nonnormal data, statistical process control, forecasting, regression, ANOVA, linear programming, reliability modeling, design of experiments, Taguchi methods, predictive analytics, TRIZ, and numerous other specialized subjects. The authors frequently use Minitab commands, formulas, screenshots, tables, calculations, exercises, and downloadable data files. This may be valuable for experienced professionals preparing for certification, but the pace is relentless and gives readers very little time to absorb one concept before another appears. The closing section adds four essay-style certification scenarios and a 100-question simulated examination. These materials strengthen the book as a study guide, but they also reinforce the impression that it is more effective as a technical reference and exam-preparation resource than as an engaging book to read from beginning to end. Look, there’s a lot of valuable information in this book for you to learn and discover, provided you’re willing to endure the text. And that’s a tall order, not because the text is long, but because it’s so dense, mundane, and technical. Do you enjoy looking at graphs, charts, and diagrams? Does it invigorate you, exhilarate you, and make you feel like pumping your fist in the air? This might be for you. The average or even above-average reader is likely to find this overwhelming and exhausting. Far from enjoyable. You know what this book reminded us of? It reminded us of Real-Time Earthquake Tracking and Localisation by George R. Daglish and Iurii P. Sizov. That's right, this business book reminded us of a book about tracking earthquakes. How? Well, both books take fascinating concepts and good intentions, then bury them beneath a landslide of numbers, formulas, and codes which are incomprehensible to about 99.9% of the human population. There are probably more germs that survive a Lysol wipe over a dinner table than people on Earth who understand what these numbers, formulas, and codes even mean, much less how to apply them to their lives and businesses. If you've ever woken up one day and decided you wanted to learn about the "Percent Error, Signal-to-Noise Ratio," the Johnson transformation, nested ANOVA, Monte Carlo tolerance design, or the Graeco-Latin square design, congratulations: you might actually enjoy this book. Think about the most memorable business books ever published: Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki or The Goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt... Or think about some of the best business books that have won awards at the Outstanding Creator Awards over the years: The Golden Blueprint by Mark Parrish (who owns like 19 McDonald's franchises) From Purpose to Profit by Erin Andrea Craske The Value Equation by Christopher H. Volk The Way of the Wall Street Warrior by Dave Liu Business Leadership in Turbulent Times by Michael Lawrie and George Tsetsekos You Have to Live, Why Not Win? by Dave Ketchen, Larry D. Thornton Never Sit in the Lobby by Glenn Poulos The Passionate Workforce by Nicholas Capman ...They all told stories or used case examples that were personable, relatable, practical, and applicable to the everyday businessman. Those were books in which the author(s) sounded human and like they were talking to YOU—an actual breathing, bleeding person. An actual breathing, bleeding fellow human. We thought this book sounded more like a robotic calculator talking to a computer, or vice-versa. Do you really want your business book to read like a calculus textbook? That said, let us digress for a moment because there is another side to this book. For all our complaints about the reading experience, the physical and structural presentation is excellent. The formatting is clean, professional, and remarkably consistent throughout. Headings, subheadings, tables, diagrams, formulas, examples, exercises, and answer sections are easy to identify. The book is divided into logical sections, and readers can quickly locate material on strategic planning, project management, coaching, financial analysis, measurement systems, regression, reliability, or experimental design. It looks and feels like a serious professional reference book. The organization may actually be one of its greatest strengths. This is not a random pile of information. The book moves from enterprise-wide planning and organizational culture into project management, training, coaching, advanced analytics, case studies, and examination preparation. Even when the content becomes exhausting, readers can usually understand where they are, what subject is being discussed, and how the chapter connects to the responsibilities of a Master Black Belt. There is also a tremendous amount of hidden value here for readers who are willing to dive into it slowly. This may not be a book you read once and place on a shelf. It may be a book you return to repeatedly over several years. A professional could use one chapter while developing a training program, another while evaluating a project portfolio, and another while investigating process variation or preparing for an examination. The enormous range that makes the book difficult to read from beginning to end may make it extremely useful as a long-term reference. The practice questions, essay scenarios, examples, formulas, diagrams, software demonstrations, and 100-question simulated examination give serious certification candidates plenty to work with. Readers who already understand the basics may appreciate having so many advanced subjects gathered into one volume rather than searching through several separate textbooks. There is value in that convenience, especially for professionals who know exactly what they need and are willing to study rather than merely read. We also appreciate the authors’ larger vision of what a Master Black Belt should be. The ideal Master Black Belt is a strategist, teacher, coach, analyst, project leader, and organizational problem-solver. The book repeatedly connects improvement to leadership, customer needs, employee development, financial performance, and long-term cultural change. That breadth gives the profession more meaning than the dramatic “belt” title initially suggests. Clearly, a lot of time, effort, research, pain, and experience went into the production of this book, which is admirable. So, yes, this book can feel like a robotic calculator talking to a computer. It can be dense, dry, impersonal, and difficult to absorb. But buried beneath all those charts, formulas, acronyms, and statistical models is an extraordinary collection of professional knowledge. Readers who are serious about Six Sigma certification or continuous improvement may discover far more value here than casual readers ever will. This is not an easy book. It is not an entertaining book. It is not a book most people will devour in a weekend. But it is ambitious, organized, professionally presented, and potentially indispensable to the exact audience it was created to serve. Check it out on Amazon!  Score: 91+/100 (9.1+ out of 10)
Hmm... so this is an interesting book to review, largely because we got lost in it--for better or for worse. By "lost" we literally mean bewildered and confused. We rarely get bewildered and confused about a book. We read hundreds of books a year and generally have above-average reading comprehension. We're also no strangers to non-linear narratives or novels with multiple different perspectives. But there's something about this book that felt like trying to put the shattered, fragmented pieces of a broken window back together. They say that no glass shatters exactly the same way, so putting it back together is a tall order. It's likely to cut you. And, well, there are those of us that rather just throw their hands up and sweep up the glass. And perhaps that's the point. Before Closure by Shadley Grei is built around people trying to reconstruct lives that have already cracked apart. Some pieces still fit. Some have been lost. Some are sharp enough to draw blood when touched. And even if everything could somehow be placed back where it belonged, the fractures would remain visible. The novel begins when Carol Parker abandons the life she has built with her husband, Clayton. After nearly forty years of marriage, she writes a letter, packs two bags, and leaves their Iowa farm. Carol doesn't leave because Clayton is abusive, unfaithful, or cruel. In fact, she acknowledges that she loves him and has always felt secure in his love. But, as the book memorably observes, even a security blanket can smother someone. Seven months later, Clayton remains convinced that Carol will return on Sunday, their fortieth wedding anniversary. His adult children, Frankie and Jules, are much less certain. The weekend leading to that anniversary becomes the central timeline of the novel, with the family preparing for Carol’s possible return while each member quietly struggles with a different form of abandonment. Clayton is waiting for the woman who left him. Frankie is recovering not only from his mother’s disappearance, but also from discovering that his longtime partner, Shane, was cheating on him. The breakup cost Frankie more than a romantic relationship. Shane had two sons, Brady and Toby, and Frankie had become one of their parents in every meaningful way. When Shane disappeared from Frankie’s life, the children disappeared with him. Jules appears to be the strongest and most stable member of the family. She has a husband, Damon, a young daughter named Sophie, and enough determination to take control of Frankie’s coffee shop while he retreats from his former life. However, the return of Joshua Myles, her high-school boyfriend who has since become a famous country singer, forces Jules to question whether she is truly content or merely better at hiding her desire to escape. That's the plot. Or, at least, that is the closest thing the novel has to a central plot. On paper, it is fairly straightforward: a family spends three days waiting to see whether the wife and mother who abandoned them will return for a major anniversary. That gives the story a clear deadline, a powerful emotional question, and enormous potential for tension. In practice, however, the novel surrounds that story with enough memories, romances, supporting characters, personal histories, jokes, philosophical reflections, symbolic objects, and emotional diversions to make the central narrative surprisingly difficult to locate. The book initially appears to be setting up a mystery, which always presents some level of intrigue and excitement by default. We all like solving things. Well, this book presents a lot of mysteries to potentially solve: Where did Carol go? What exactly did her letter say? Why does Clayton refuse to let Frankie and Jules read it? Why is he so certain that she will return on Sunday? Is Carol traveling alone? Has she contacted anyone? Does she genuinely intend to come back? Those questions naturally pull readers forward. The problem is that Before Closure is not especially interested in answering most of them. Carol’s disappearance is not really a mystery to solve. It is a wound the other characters must learn to live around. The book is less concerned with where Carol went than with what her absence exposes in the people she left behind. And unless you figure that out or accept that, you might find yourself as frustrated as we were reading this. We constantly found ourselves asking things like: What does this thing have to do with the other thing? How do these plot threads connect, if at all? Where is this going? What’s the point? Can we get on with it already? Are we going to get to it sometime this century? Or at least before our 40th anniversaries? Please? Eventually, some of those questions receive answers. Others do not. More importantly, the pieces often connect thematically rather than narratively. That distinction is important. Not every character, memory, romance, or extended backstory directly advances the central plot. We don't expect them to. Instead, many of them reflect different forms of loss, abandonment, reinvention, regret, or second chances. One person is grieving a dead spouse. Another is recovering from divorce. Someone else is wondering whether domestic stability has become a cage. Another character is trying to determine whether a broken relationship deserves another chance or should finally be buried. In that sense, the novel’s many scattered pieces do belong to the same broken window. The trouble is that understanding why the pieces belong together does not necessarily make the process of assembling them any less exhausting. And, gosh, this normal-sized book can come across as needlessly exhausting. Before Closure repeatedly pauses its main story to provide lengthy memories, histories, and explanations. A supporting character cannot simply enter the scene without the narrative occasionally opening a door into her childhood, former marriage, greatest tragedy, current relationship, and collection of emotional scars. An object cannot merely sit in a room without threatening to unlock another memory. A coffee mug, crack in the wall, empty house, string of Christmas lights, muddy boot, old photograph, or broken-down vehicle may become the starting point for another reflection. Look, you could say similar things about Pulp Fiction by Quentin Tarantino, which many consider a masterpiece and one of their favorite movies. We don't particularly agree, but you do you. The consensus seems to disagree with us. Some people like mint chocolate chip ice cream. Some people like pineapples on their pizza. For some people, Neapolitan ice cream and meat lovers pizza are as exotic as their taste buds are willing to go. This book often seems disjointed, fragmented, and unfocused. One moment, they're talking about Heidi's Wonder Woman underwear, the next moment you've got a homosexual pairing hoping the other falls and "breaks [their] dick" for infidelity. Ok, honestly, that was a genuinely funny line. The other one that got a laugh out of us was, "I can hear my heartbeat in my vagina." Yeah, this book can get really crude, but it's funny at times. We didn't much like the on-stage joke Thea makes about ducks gang raping each other (what she calls a "Trepidation"), but... whatever... We're not gonna let some petty prudishness completely derail our enjoyment of the book. There is some genuinely excellent writing buried in all this broken glass. Grei has a gift for capturing complicated emotions through unexpected images, contradictions, and little observations that can stop readers in their tracks. For example, we loved the simple but powerful explanation for why Carol could feel trapped inside a loving marriage: “But a security blanket can still smother you.” Then there is this haunting description of Carol crossing the line between her old life and whatever comes next: “She dropped the pen into the mug and stared at it until all shapes melted into watercolor edges, and the life she was standing in started to feel like a memory.” That is an excellent sentence. Carol has not even left the house yet, but she is already emotionally looking back at her life as something that has ended. We were also struck by the moment when Frankie looks at his father and becomes painfully conscious of his age, sorrow, and mortality: “He looks both fragile and indestructible. Like the rest of us, Frankie’s father was an hourglass filled with broken dreams and burning time.” “An hourglass filled with broken dreams and burning time.” Dang. That image stayed with us. It captures both the apparent strength of a parent and the terrifying realization that time is steadily carrying that parent away. The relationship between Frankie and Clayton is described beautifully elsewhere: “So, they became men—father and son—who loved each other as best they could from opposite sides of fear.” That line says an enormous amount about how two people can sincerely love one another while still remaining emotionally separated by everything they are afraid to say. The smaller moments can be just as effective. When Jules comforts Frankie without making a production out of it, Grei writes: “She taps his finger with her own like the smallest of hugs.” That is tender, restrained, and incredibly easy to picture. We also admired the book’s description of depression. Frankie is not looking for medication to erase every feeling or magically transform his personality: “He wasn’t seeking numbness, only a bottom that didn’t feel bottomless. If your feet can’t find the ground, you have nothing to push up from.” That might be one of the book’s best passages. It explains depression without reducing it to ordinary sadness. Frankie does not necessarily need someone to pull him all the way out. He first needs to feel something solid beneath him so he can begin pushing upward himself. There is also a bittersweet scene in which Jules looks at an old family photograph and feels: “Gratitude, perhaps, that her mother froze this moment in time and handed it to her to cherish.” The photograph preserves something real and happy, even though Jules now knows that the person behind the camera was already capable of making happiness feel uncertain. Memories do not become false merely because the people inside them eventually change, leave, or hurt one another. Of course, not all the memorable writing is poetic. When Frankie remembers confronting Shane after catching him cheating, he places a hand against: “The chest he had fallen asleep on at least 100 times but now felt like a mattress of nails.” Ouch. That is a terrific way of turning something that once represented comfort and safety into something painful and unrecognizable. It also fits the novel’s larger theme: the places and people that once felt like home can become hostile almost overnight. And when Shane later attempts to justify his behavior through a painfully rehearsed speech filled with therapy language, the narration observes: “Shane sounds like he is delivering this speech like a shitty child actor in community theater.” Yeah, that one got us. It is rude, crude, and completely brutal. It is also perfect for the scene because Shane seems more concerned with performing personal growth than demonstrating it. Finally, Mona expresses what may be the entire emotional point of the novel when she tells Clayton: “I wish for you to be waiting for someone who chooses you.” She clarifies that she wants Clayton to feel “like a priority and not an option.” That is what Clayton, Frankie, and even Jules must eventually confront. How long should someone wait for a person who is unwilling or unable to choose them? How much of your life should remain suspended while you wait for another person to return, apologize, explain themselves, or finally love you properly? And what happens if that explanation never comes? That is where the title gains its meaning. These characters cannot remain frozen until someone hands them a clean, satisfying ending. They must find a way to continue living before closure, perhaps without ever receiving closure at all. So, no, this book is not empty, shallow, or poorly written. Its greatest problem may be the exact opposite: it is overflowing. It has too many memories, too many diversions, too many emotional histories, too many symbolic objects, and too many characters competing for attention. The talent is clearly there. What the novel needed was greater focus and considerably more restraint. Before Closure is messy, crude, funny, tender, frustrating, insightful, and deeply human. We may have spent much of it wondering where the story was going, but we cannot deny that several of its characters, ideas, and images stayed with us after we arrived. We occasionally wanted to throw up our hands and sweep away all that shattered glass. But some of those broken pieces caught the light beautifully. Check it out on Amazon!  Score: 94/100 (9.4 out of 10)
We don't remember the first book being this good. Broken Image, Book 2 had us on the edge of our seats! This novel combines romantic suspense, domestic-abuse recovery, small-town drama, historical mystery, and paranormal intrigue. It opens with the unidentified serial killer from the previous book stalking another young blonde woman in Richmond. He remains obsessed with Abby Adams, who escaped him and is now protected by her fiance, TJ Bennett. Unable to reach Abby, he kidnaps Ivy Kane as a substitute, holds her in a remote cabin, repeatedly drugs and sexually assaults her, and assumes that she will eventually become another disposable victim. The central protagonist, however, is Sage Grimes, a grieving woman who has recently moved to Edmondsville after the deaths of her four-year-old daughter, Grace, and her beloved great-uncle Joe. Sage inherited Joe’s cluttered house, historical possessions, and local connections. She is also attempting to divorce her controlling and abusive husband, Walter Cooper. And herein lies what makes this book so tense and thrilling. Walter is a terrifying villain. He reminded us of Desirae from Perfectly Imperfect by Darlene Winston. Like Darlene, Walter is this creepy possessive controlling ex (or soon-to-be-ex) who seems designed to just give readers chills. Sage believes she caused the automobile accident that killed Grace. Her memories are fragmented, and her guilt has almost destroyed her. She is withdrawn, frightened, and accustomed to believing that she deserves very little. Uncle Joe’s old friend Sheriff Duane Peterson and the Bennett family welcome her into the community, while Jay Bennett, the family’s cheerful technology expert, begins encouraging her to research Joe’s antiques and write historical blogs for Bennett Auctions. The relationship between Sage and Jay becomes the novel’s emotional center. To be honest, we enjoyed the romance in this book way more than we did in the previous book. It's hard to put into words why we feel that way, but we just... feel that way. Sage and Jay just seem to be a lot less contrived as a couple. Abby and TJ repeatedly irritated each other, concealed information, and recycled the same friction. Their romance felt like an interruption between the more interesting supernatural and criminal mysteries. Jay and Sage have a gentler and more constructive connection. He encourages her historical research, supports her writing, helps her remember her value, and gives her a healthier contrast to Walter. Their disagreement over Jay hiding the online comments also has thematic relevance because Sage must distinguish loving protection from abusive control. Their romance still develops too quickly, especially considering Sage’s trauma, grief, unresolved divorce, and recent loss of her daughter. However, it contributes more directly to the protagonist’s development than Abby and TJ’s romance did. Jay treats her opinions as valuable, supports her writing, takes her walking along his woodland trail, and helps her create a journal addressed to Grace. Their friendship quickly becomes romantic and sexual. For Sage, the relationship represents something almost unfamiliar: affection without cruelty, appreciation without humiliation, and intimacy without fear. Sage also discovers that Uncle Joe had been deeply worried about her marriage. Walter had intercepted Joe’s letters, blocked Sage’s access to him, and prevented Joe from helping her escape. Joe had even contacted a secret organization that assists abused women and children. Finding his hidden letters forces Sage to confront how thoroughly Walter isolated and controlled her. Meanwhile, Ivy proves to be far more resourceful than her captor expects. She pretends to cooperate, waits until he loosens her restraints, kicks him, and escapes through the woods. She eventually reaches Deputy Wade Draper’s isolated house. Wade contacts Duane, who places Ivy in protective custody and deliberately keeps her survival quiet. They hope that the killer will continue believing she died in the wilderness, giving law enforcement an advantage. The serial killer’s chapters are among the book’s darkest. He continues watching Abby, sending her unwanted gifts and flowers, and resenting TJ. He also grows increasingly nervous because Ivy’s body has not been discovered. Ivy has seen his eyes and remembers enough about the woods to potentially lead investigators back to the cabin. However, this entire storyline remains unresolved by the ending. A second mystery develops from the historical objects in Joe’s house. Sage finds an ornate brass skeleton key decorated with symbols. Her research leads her and Jay to a hidden room in the courthouse containing old records and the diary of Judge Reuben Novak. This investigation connects with Isabella, the ghost residing in Abby and TJ’s house. Isabella remembers her forbidden relationship with artist Anthony Novak, the birth of their daughter Rose, and her own murder by a cloaked figure. Evidence, including a nearly identical birthmark, suggests that Abby may be descended from Isabella and Anthony. Like the serial-killer plot, Isabella’s murder and the fate of her baby remain open for another installment. Walter, meanwhile, has secretly followed Sage to Edmondsville. He breaks into her house, moves her possessions to frighten her, steals her journal, watches her from parked cars, makes a false report claiming she sold alcohol to a minor, and posts malicious comments beneath her blogs. His goal is to destroy her confidence and public reputation while searching for money he believes Joe left behind. Jay initially hides Walter’s cruel online comments from Sage. She reacts badly when she discovers this because his protection resembles Walter’s habit of deciding what she should be allowed to know. This produces one of the book’s more thoughtful conflicts. Jay eventually explains that his high-school friend Eileen died by suicide after manipulated photographs and online-style harassment destroyed her reputation. He was not trying to control Sage. He was terrified that sustained cruelty might break her as it broke Eileen. Anyway, this book does share a slight weakness with the previous book: it deliberately closes with several dangers unresolved. You can escape one monster, but the other is still out there, which we guess is fine for a series. You need to leave readers craving more somehow. Sage has a meaningful, satisfying transformation. She begins the story believing she killed her own daughter and deserves neither happiness nor independence. By the end, she is writing publicly, standing up to Walter, assisting with a police operation, planning a community project, and recognizing that surviving abuse does not make her weak. The book also understands something important about abusive relationships: leaving physically does not immediately remove an abuser’s voice from a victim’s mind. Walter has trained Sage to doubt herself. Even after she escapes, she keeps expecting kindness to turn into ownership. That internal struggle gives the novel more emotional substance than a straightforward stalker thriller. In the previous book, "Broken Image" alluded to how Abby is essentially the living mirror image of Isabella, the ghost. In this book, “Broken Image” can apply to Sage’s distorted and damaged image of herself, but it reaches further than that. Walter attempts to destroy Sage’s public image through false complaints, online comments, and insinuations about Grace’s death. Jay’s friend Eileen was destroyed by manipulated images and cruel rumors. It's a reminder that what's reflected back may not actually be the truth, and we need to be discerning. The story repeatedly asks whether people are what they appear to be. Walter looks like a respectable financial professional but is a violent criminal. The killer can adopt a pleasant, ordinary expression while hunting women. Sage appears fragile but proves extraordinarily brave. That thematic layering may be the smartest element in the book. Check it out on Amazon! |
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