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Review of The First Time I Hunted

The First Time I Hunted is the third in the Garnet McGee series by Jo Macgregor. A psychological thriller, Hunted expands both characters and setting beyond the world of Pitchford, Vermont. In this third installment, Garnet again becomes embroiled in the middle of a mystery with time running out to catch the killer.

As in the first two novels, Garnet remains a fascinating character. At the end of The First Time I Fell, she made a fundamental decision about her life and carries out her resolution in Hunted. At the end of each book, Garnet advances as a character by exploring new dimensions but remains a work-in-progress. Author Macgregor has handled this superbly in the first two books of the series and continues it in book three.

The books also excels in suspenseful scenes, keeping the reader on the edge of their seat. When these passages come, the words fly by, riveting your attention. The rare “What are you doing, Garnet!” moments occur, but most of the time the sequences are taut and believable.

The humor in the novel is also excellent. While there are fewer oddball characters in this one than in the last two, Garnet’s mother is back and continues to be not just humor fodder but important to both plot and character. But the funnier segments aren’t restricted to Garnet’s mother, as small, snarky phrases throughout the narrative elevate the reading experience.

The writing is also very well done. The descriptions sparkle with details, and the settings are vividly detailed. Macgregor’s use of language propels the plot along.

Macgregor has also done a lot of research for this novel and it shows. Sometimes the exposition goes overboard, and a lot of detail is thrown at the reader. Fortunately, the author moves it along with action occurring in the scene. A lot happens here, setting up (I believe) elements that will be important in future novels.

How does The First Time I Hunted stack up against The First Time I Died and The First Time I Fell? Certainly, if you enjoyed the first two, you’ll like this novel as well. It honors its predecessors and is a worthy addition to the series. While Hunted‘s premise is not as original as Died, it sets a new standard of where Macgregor could go if she continues to write more Garnet McGee adventures. I hope she will.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/199098181X

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Review of Kataklusmos

Full disclosure that the author of Kataklusmos is my brother. As such, this will not be a normal review but a description of the novel. The following is reprinted by permission from the author.

A Trio of Stories Collide

The trilogy of Toward the Gleam, The Lucifer Ego, and Kataklusmos is packed with mystery and mayhem, philosophy and physics, paleontology and archaeology, theology and psychology, historical personages of note, and travels to the past and to exotic places—all connected to a book that is the most valuable artifact in the history of the world. In Kataklusmos, characters from all three stories collide in the pursuit of answers that span time and space.

Stalked by Danger and Despair

Two years after the forced separation of Oxford archaeologist Frodo Lyle Stuart and his “betrothed” psychologist Beatrice Adams, a cataclysmic event takes Lyle and his brother, Sam, to Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and China in search of solutions to confounding questions. Stalked by danger and despair, Lyle finds his personal and professional worlds turned upside-down.

Did the events recorded in the ancient book really occur, and are those with connections to that world still shaping this planet’s history?

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Review of Dead Leaves

Dead Leaves: 9 Tales of the Witching Season by Kealan Patrick Burke is a trick and a treat. The anthology contains nine short stories set in autumn closer to a night of ghouls and ghosts than of evenings of blessing food. Nothing juvenile about these stories, though. They are literate, well-written, and layered.

Each tale is unique. The oft-used theme of “let’s go find a ghost” is the only story that resembles most modern fare. Don’t expect much in the way of Uncle Creepy or Dark Mirror in its pages. Yes, you’ll find “traditional” monsters here along with a bevy of non traditional ones. Most of the segments, though not all, are supernatural. A taste for the dramatic and some wonderfully rich descriptions of settings are what distinguishes these stories from most. Without a doubt, the tales serve the purpose of ushering the reader into an atmosphere of delightful dread.

The book starts with the terrifying Andromeda. This straightforward tale takes the classic approach of placing a normal person in the middle of a wide-ranging, horrific event. It brings the creepiness and is the most merciless of the bunch.

Someone to Carve the Pumpkins and The One Night of the Year were both very good but not very scary stories. That said, they are the best at offering up the (bitter)sweeter side of Halloween. More Ray Bradbury than Ramsey Campbell in nature, they embrace what non-horror fans love about Halloween.

Four other stories are included, all better than your average horror tale, but never quite as scary as Andromeda or interesting as Carve the Pumpkins or One Night. The remaining two, though, exemplify good horror. The first is The Toll which is wonderful in its throwback to an old master of horror and devious in its twists and turns. It starts in a most unusual setting and when readers think they’ve figured it all out, it takes a sharp one-hundred-eighty degree turn. A tale Rod Serling would’ve adopted for The Night Gallery, this one’s a keeper.

And the second excellent story, How the Night Receives Them, is prose but reads like a dark poem. It begins with an interesting quote and goes on to describe a girl walking down the road. While sounding mundane, this tale slowly unveils how something as ordinary as a stroll down a lane can become extraordinary. Short, eerie, and poignant, the story is superbly executed and remains my personal favorite of the collection.

So what’s this about a trick and treat? The trick is, with the exception of The One Night of the Year, the rest of the stories could’ve easily been set on any night in the calendar other than Halloween. They may be spooky but they have no real connection to October 31. Burke spends time describing autumn scenes beautifully and calls out to traditions like carving pumpkins, but they play a small part in the overall narrative. However, the treat is you’ll probably not notice. The stories in this collection will sweep you away and they are, indeed, best read as the October moon wanes and waxes.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1720274096

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The Shadow Oaks Series

My Shadow Oaks series are five YA character-driven novels of adventure in a mysterious fictional town in Indiana. When sixteen-year-old Brian Rees visits the hidden neighborhood of his deceased mother, a town that forbids modern technology, he underestimates just what lies in store. Each novel is a self-contained story detailing the adventures of Brian, his love interest Luna D’Claire, adversary Theodopolis Gond, and friend Katerina Loss. In a town where fires start spontaneously and trees move on their own, Californian Brian has his hands full.

Shadow Oaks blurs the line between reality and fantasy. Urban fantasy? More like rural fantasy but light on the fantasy aspects in the early novels. While each novel has a start, middle, and end, an overriding arc exists in all the books. Each book starts with the phrase “This is the tale of a boy, a girl, and a town.” The boy, the girl, and the town each have a secret, all inter-connected, that is explored in each novel and revealed in the latter novels. Readers get the satisfaction of reading a complete novel no matter which one they choose, but they also get clues into the larger secrets of the community.

Shadow Oaks is a setting with a mysterious past, hidden from the world but fully aware of it, and littered with surprises. Since it has outlawed modern vehicles, it has no need for what we consider a street. Bicycles are the only method of transportation through the village. As the town exists in a forest, the founders have allowed trees to grow haphazardly around the neighborhood. Trees grow on two properties, in the middle of streets, through the center of residences. And the dense foliage of Shadow Oaks provides a canopy that covers the town from a satellite’s vision. That canopy also provides another advantage…

Secluded townspeople in a town out of the 1800s have personalities you’ll find nowhere else. From an arsonist who sets fires every night though no one can find him, to a shy boy who may also be a werewolf, to a brilliant school teacher who is determined to shelter her daughter from meeting Brian. The people in Shadow Oaks make up a lot of the atmosphere of this intriguing town, and all of them have pasts and secrets, but none more so than…

Brian meets a number of people his age in Shadow Oaks. In the country store, he encounters Luna D’Claire, a red-haired beauty who finds Brian equally interesting. Another boy, Milton Cougar, quickly shares an interest in baseball with Brian but he is warned that introspective Milton is dangerous. Drummer and tomboy Katerina Loss believes Shadow Oaks is populated with people with abilities but can’t prove anything unusual is going on until…

Is there something supernatural going on? Brian’s a skeptic. He’s never believed in that “magic stuff.” His world is the Pacific ocean, baseball, school troubles, not poltergeists, invisible arsonists, or people who can summon birds with a whistle. Once he encounters these things, Brain is forced to re-evaluate everything he knows. And there’s no better start than with his own heritage… 

If you’re a writer, you’re welcome to become a critique partner for any novel in the Shadow Oaks series. The tight community in Indiana, a little “west of October” as Ray Bradbury put it, would love to share their stories with you. Reach out to me at jim.doran.author@gmail.com if you’re interested.

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Review of Havok: Stories that Sing

Cover of Havok 2

I reviewed the first book in the Havok series, Havok: Reborn, when it was published and immensely enjoyed it. Genre flash fiction that mostly hit the mark, the first offering was an entertaining read and has a place prominently on my bookshelf. I was excited to learn the second book was going to feature music as its inspiration and read a few of the stories online. I waited for the opportunity to buy it in book form.

The second season of Havok allows talented authors to show off their writing chops in approximately four pages or less. Horror, science fiction, fantasy, mystery, thriller are all represented here. Some stories are deep and densely packed; others, light-hearted. If nothing else, Havok brings variety in spades.

To remember the stories, I rated each with a simple 1-10 rating. As each song is inspired by a piece of music, I also rated them 1-10 on how well the author incorporated the song into the story. In the end, though, the song rating didn’t play nearly as large a role in the final score. Two stories received perfect 10s, three received 9s, and from there were a wealth of 8s. I made sure to reread the 9s and 10s before writing this review, and though I tried to avoid it, went to one decimal point.

I won’t describe the plot of any of the following as the stories are short enough that even giving away the genre is giving too much away.

Notable stories rated an 8 include Weaver of Dreams by Jebraun Clifford, Rave by Justin Mynheir, and A Fly on the Wall by Kat Heckenbach. Whether it was an exciting setting (Dreams or Rave), or unique premise (Fly), they made a mark that elevated Havok. A couple more wavered between an eight and a nine for me. What Happens in Las Veggies by J. L. Ender was so clever that I enjoyed it even more the second time. Darksoul by Rachael Kemme took a familiar device into new dimensions. Everyone’s a Henry by Charles Frierman was one of the few that I boosted because of its source of inspiration. Wreaking Havoc by Ronnell Kay Gibson had the right tone and perspective, and was both fun and merciless at the same time with a perfect narrating voice. And my favorite 8 belongs to Kristiana Sfirlea’s hilarious yet profound Siege of the Dead. With its killer opening line to its lasting impression, this one’s a winner.

The first nine, when I read it, really stood out to me. The Balloon Man by Morgan L. Busse has an ingenious plot and a lot going on for flash fiction. One of the reasons it works is it generates the atmosphere it’s going for with an economy of words. This one will stick with me for a long time.

The second nine was Blow Her a Kiss by Rosemary E. Johnson. This slice-of-life story was unlike most in the collection in its world-building without explanation, but its thriftiness with words and its compelling creativity make it stand out. The first time through I was baffled and in awe of this wonderful story.

My first ten is the editor’s choice. A Good Night to be Alive by Meaghan E. Ward had a lot to live up to being the last story but it delivered. This story had both a light-hearted plot and some serious underpinnings. You get two unique characters, an interesting setting to place them in, and an ending that sticks with you, all in 1K words or less.

And then there’s One Day in the Park by Teddi Deppner. I’m going to label this a personal 10 as this story wears its heart prominently on its sleeve. This story really touched me in a way no other tale managed to do in this entire collection. I went back and read her entry in Season One as a result of this offering and would encourage you to do the same.

All of the authors ought to be proud of the stories in this collection but the real winner is the reader who has yet to read these “wonderful compositions.” Season Two is as successful as season one. I’m looking forward to new tales in the next book (Bingeworthy) produced by Havok.

On Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087SMHW62

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Review of Pumpkin Spice Pie-Jinx

Cover

Pumpkin Spice Pie-Jinks by Selina J. Eckert is a delightful retelling of a famous short story I’ll leave for the reader to discover. The story introduces Reese, a baker, who lives in a small New England town co-inhabited by the fae. In fact, some special fairies are visiting from the United Kingdom. This story of a contest which could save Reese’s baking business is solidly written and cleverly imagined.

From chapter one, Pumpkin Spice and Pie-Jinx has a strong hook. The world of humans and fae, of how Reese concocts her pies, of how she interacts with a new stranger in town transports the reader quickly into an autumnal world. It clips along at a fast-pace after establishing what’s at stake for multiple characters. Though the ending is comfortably charming, the journey—not the destination—is the fun part here. With descriptions of people with “sunflower eyes” and curses like “Spoiled spells!”, the writing has exactly the right tone for a creative, whimsical fantasy. Again, without spoiling anything, Eckert’s novel takes a different approach to its usual grim source material.

So go to the kitchen and indulge in a nice slice of pie along with your favorite autumn beverage, but don’t forget to bring this novel. Curl up in the brilliant sunshine and enjoy spending time with Reese, Emmett, and others in Pumpkin Spice Pie-Jinks.

On Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZSF5GV9.

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Imagine Don’t Show

In the writing world, the words “Show, don’t tell” are often given as advice. Countless blogs describe why it’s better to show and not tell, how to show instead of telling, and (naturally) why sometimes it’s better to tell and not show. Let’s go beyond that and say you’ve mastered the art of “show, don’t tell.” None of us ever will, but for sake of argument, we’ll pretend we subscribe to this sentiment and are looking to take our skills to a higher level. Is there another step to increase the effectiveness of your writing?

Perhaps the answer lies in the movies, especially horror movies. The most effective of these movies follow an adage of “don’t show the monster until the end.” The best of these movies like Jaws or Alien allow your brain to fill in details the camera never shows you. Just recently I watched a newer movie called The Ritual which did exactly the same thing. The Ritual has some problems but it shows only part of the monster until the end. In one scene, when it’s following the victims, and you see it briefly, it’s very creepy. Goosebumps properly raised.

Video has sort of ruined this adage for movies as you can pause your movie and observe the movie in full glory. Yes, directors have gotten smarter and show you only part of the monster—Alien did this extremely effectively because that darn thing’s head looks like the pipes of the ship—at a time, reducing the pause effect. However, I miss the thrill of being in the theater and seeing something that might have been the monster but I’m still unsure. Now is there a lesson here that the written word could benefit from? I think so.

If you allow your reader to imagine and fill in the details, your story will be far more effective than if you explain in detail what’s going on. Who wants to see the magician show you the trick? Keeping specific details from the reader draws them in and invests them more into your story because they’re telling parts of it to themselves.

Consider: “Shaina stepped into the empty room, disturbing a thin layer of dust on the floor and walls. Noticing a gold-framed mirror hanging askew on one wall, she stepped toward it, stopping in the middle of the room. She completed the circuit to the reflecting glass and blinked. Shaina extended her fingertips, swiped away the dust, and peered into the reflection. A translucent second face stared back at her over her shoulder.

Hee! Hee!

Now let’s end this passage a different way: “Shaina extended her fingertips, swiped away the dust, and peered into the reflection. Only her own pale face, wide-eyed and drawn, gazed back at her, and she released an unsteady breath. Laying a hand on her chest, she turned around and stood still. Slippered footprints from the opposite end of the room had joined her own trail and the ended next to hers.”

So both are examples of show, don’t tell. I don’t have to tell you that Shaina is scared and worried about what she’ll find in the room. The face that appears over her shoulder in the first passage is written matter-of-factly without any description. You should know Shaina is freaked out by what came before and how you react to the passage. But what about the second passage? You could say it’s different, but not really. Other than the ghost being visible, there’s little difference here. A woman enters an empty room and encounters a ghost is an apt description for both paragraphs.

Does “Imagine, Don’t Show” only work for horror or the supernatural, or only in scenes that evoke fear? No, it can work in all sorts of situations. Consider:

“Jiu’s eyes sparkled in the candlelight, her warm smile inviting me to ask her more. Sweat beaded on my forehead. I gulped and lowered my hands and unfolded the paper where I had written down my questions. I cleared my throat to speak, but Jiu spoke first.”

Or

“Jiu’s eyes sparkled in the candlelight, her warm smile inviting me to ask her more. How to continue this conversation? The paper with my questions in my hand felt like a fifty-pound weight and I debated opening it. What was the best question I could ask? Looking into her eyes, I knew the perfect one, but she asked me a question first.”

Both describe a nervous narrator. Yes, the second passage has more “deep voice” going for it, but focus on the difference. Readers ask themselves in the second passage “what was this perfect question?” and then they answer it using their imagination. And now, as the conversation may go in a different direction, the  unasked question hangs large, investing the reader in what will happen next. Will they ever hear the perfect question?

If you’re worried about using this technique, let me assure you that this is what you do when you end a chapter. Chapter endings are often cliffhangers, asking questions that fire the readers’ imagination and wanting them to read more. So you already do it at the end of chapters but not throughout the chapter. Take that skill and employ it more throughout the narrative.

Is there a downside? Absolutely. You have to have details because you’re also painting a picture in your reader’s minds. It’s inherent in movies but not on the printed page so you must supply the relevant information. Also, if done poorly, it won’t fire up the reader’s imagination, and if the writing is too obscure, it may work against you. Readers won’t be able to follow the passage. As with all writing where you balance show and tell, you should balance imagine and show. In fact, “imagine” is not to be used excessively. It’s best if you sprinkle it in, not dump its contents into a chapter. Be careful. It may end up that the reader imagines a better scene in their mind than you plotted. In the first example, if their ghost is a shrivelled-up desiccated corpse and later you describe it as a beautiful woman, your reader may be disappointed.

So the next time you want to liven up a paragraph, think of “Imagine, Don’t Show” and see if you can rearrange something to fire up your reader’s inner eye. They’ll come up with a lot on their own, elevating your novel, and participating in making it a great story.

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Review of Den

Cover for Den
Cover for Den

Hope Bolinger’s Den, a sequel to her first novel Blaze, is a contemporary take of the Bible’s Book of Daniel.

Danny Belte enjoys fun times with girlfriend Rayah, hangs around with best friends Michelle and Hannah, and goes to a premier school: King’s Academy. The academy should be his ticket to the very best colleges. On the surface it seems like life is going his way, but nothing could be further from the truth. In his sophomore year, he experienced a number of unpleasant events including nearly losing the aforementioned three friends to a premature death. Now, his best friends are all suffering from PTSD, the school still engages in despicable acts, and peer pressure runs amok on social media. However, Danny finally has what he lacked in the first novel, a large amount of evidence to put his oppressor in jail. But will he succeed in bringing justice to his school?

It’s hard to summarize this novel without giving a lot of it (or the novel preceding it) away. Suffice it to say, the plot is much more fascinating than my simple summary. This novel, with its nods to Lemony Snicket as well as the bible, grips the reader as the events turn from bad to worse for Danny. At one point, I thought this may turn into a mystery but it’s not a puzzler per se. More advice to the reader: treat this very much as allegory and not a contemporary novel. The plot follows the extraordinary events in the Book of Daniel as intended. Whether Biblical Daniel survived actual lions or survived events that would be better if he had faced lions is immaterial. Daniel survives because of his trust in God.

Den stands out as an intriguing example of entertainment and message mixed together. The entertainment comes from its compelling story. You feel for Danny and his friends as they suffer through everything King’s Academy has to throw at them. But where this novel really shines is in its message. I haven’t read a novel this year with more to mentally chew on than this book. Bolinger hits all the right buttons when she describes how an institution can negatively influence a large group of people. This is a much-needed theme in today’s world.

As I reviewed my comments on this novel, I noticed that the majority had to do with Danny’s friend Hannah Gad. Hannah was a hoot in Blaze, a true bright spot, and while the level of humor doesn’t quite reach the first novel, she says some very interesting things in this novel. Not to say Hannah isn’t hilarious in Den—couldn’t stop laughing at a comment about Hannah and scissors—but certain things she says, especially near the end of the book, shows her depth. More Hannah in book three, please.

I enjoyed this novel right up to the end. I anticipated the ending “type” after reading Blaze but still was disappointed. Keep in mind that Blaze and Den are the first and second parts of what I call a true trilogy and the middle book often has the hardest job. The reader isn’t introduced to a brand new world with shiny new characters like in book one, nor is everything concluded, for better or worse, as in book three. Poor book two. Den has that heavy burden to bear.

Overall, Den stands out in my mind as a YA novel that doesn’t talk down to its readers. Many of the adult situations depicted in this novel face that age group today. The book doesn’t flinch when taking on serious issues. Hope Bolinger’s story introduces a timely allegorical tale to the YA crowd.

On Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1645262669

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Review of Reformed

Cover for Reformed

H. L. Burke’s Reformed, the first in a superhero series, imagines a world of super enabled people, called sables, mixing with normal people, named normies, where superheroes are monitored by the government agency called the Department of Super-Abled (DOSA). In the first installment, sable Prism is revitalizing the supervillain reformation project, a project her father invented. The first villain she wants to reform is Fade, a former villain-turned-superhero-turned-villain-again. Fade has some blood on his hands for his last act of treachery. Will Prism be able to reform Fade, or is it his destiny to be a criminal?

Most of the novel takes place in the community of Oceanside, California and involves Prism’s superhero team. The group has a list of super-abilities that compliment each other, but they need someone with Fade’s powers to give them an extra edge. The early part of the novel, told from both Prism and Fade’s perspectives, detail whether Fade will be able to overcome his past and become the hero Prism believes him to be.

Reformed focuses on its villain redemption theme which differs from other superhero storylines. The novel has some of the tension of a villain in a superhero group ala Marissa Meyer’s Renegades series, but the heroes here know Fade’s past. Reformed uses a tragic backstory for its primary heroes (Fade’s past and Prism’s parents) that Marvel superheroes have capitalized on for years. But Reformed is its own novel. The idea of whether or not a person who did unforgivable acts can be redeemed has a spiritual aspect to it normally not explored in cape-and-tights narratives. While not a religious novel, the book isn’t afraid to shy away from the subject.

After reading Renegades, Vicious, and some indie-published novels like the Arca series, the cover of Reformed led me to believe it would end up in the YA world. However the novel deals head-on with quite a few adult topics. While the characters have super powers, this book has a contemporary feel to it. A number of times I was surprised where the novel went to make its point. It wasn’t afraid to take chances.

The plot is fast-moving, leaving the reader wanting more at the end of each chapter making it hard to put down. The action scenes are described with enough detail to view the comic panels in the reader’s head. I enjoyed the humor too. Any book that succeeds in making the word squicky work not once but twice has a lot going for it.

While the action and the humor propel it in the second and third acts, I did struggle connecting with the characters at the beginning. The superhero genre is loaded with stories right now from the movies to television to graphic novels and now to books. It’s a real challenge to come up with super-powered people that are unique and harder still to name them. Reformed struggles a bit here at the starting line, however, the use of the name Fade and the fact that memory plays a big role in his arc (i.e. memory fades), was an inspired moniker for this character. In addition, in the middle of the novel, two characters engage in a “battle of the mind” of sorts. This has never worked visually in my opinion. Squiggly lines coming out of a superhero’s head only goes so far. The choice to put this in a novel which can describe abstract concepts like a mind battle is very clever.

Relapsed: Prequel to Reformed

Reformed has heart, faith, humor, and action. Effective little moments weave around larger scenes in a consistently gripping narrative. So when I finished this book, I checked out the next novel in the series and plopped it into my TBR list.

Postscript: The novel is dedicated to the Marines. As a son of a Marine, this glowing review wasn’t influenced in any way by the dedication or the honorable depiction of the Marines in this novel…mostly.

Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B085X8N8FL

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Review of Hotcakes and Holly

Cover

The Bells Pass Christmas series by Kattie Mettner has a formula it follows closely. Take two people who are secretly in love, start at the beginning of the holiday season, have one character be a person with disabilities, and mix them together with a Christmas conclusion. So if you’ve read one, you’ve read them all, right? Not at all. Ms. Mettner likes to take her Christmas novels to some interesting and unique places, and Hotcakes and Holly is no different.

Hotcakes and Holly follows the first in the series of Mistletoe and Meatloaf to focus on two new characters of Bells Pass. We met them briefly in the first novel, and the novel catches up with them again one year later. (Note: It isn’t necessary to read the first novel to enjoy this one.) Melissa (Mel) Murano is a waitress at the Nightingale Diner and Mason Hadley is a cook at the same establishment. They’ve worked together for four years and everyone in town has noticed the looks the two give each other. Right at the start, a tragedy forces Mel to move and she accepts Mason’s charity for the season. From there, the ups-and-downs of the plot play out all the way to the very last chapter.

Hotcakes and Holly is a vignette sort of novel meaning it details the lives and times of its main character and narrator, Mel, from Thanksgiving to Christmas. A lot happens to Mel in this timeframe, more than would happen to most people in a year. The reader slowly discovers her mysterious past as one event leads to another. As a time-bound novel, don’t expect the book to build around one plot point. And what most people would guess would happen at the end of the novel occurs much earlier.

Some exciting plot twists exist within the 237 pages of Hotcakes and Holly. As I alluded to before, one of the characters has health problems and the author describes it in a graceful manner. In fact, much of the darkness is handled in the same way—respectfully—and it elevates the book. A lot of complex, serious topics are introduced in this relatively short narrative. These plot points are all balanced in terms of time and character development to give the reader a lot to reflect on after putting the novel down.

Research is evident in nearly every page in this book. Whether it’s geography, healthcare, or Mel dealing with her past, Mettner has done her homework and put a lot of thought into the passages. I felt confident I was reading an accurate depiction of whatever subject the book delved into. And as far as the setting goes, though it’s fictional, it could easily be an actual small town in Michigan. As a native Midwesterner, the town of Bells Pass passed the authenticity test.

While I think Mason was a little too agreeable and there are a few passages of stilted dialog, these things didn’t detract from the story. The last few chapters have a major reveal which will make this entry in the series stick out in my head. Though I guessed it was coming, it happened in a believable and wonderful way.

Filled with solid research, good local detail, and warm characters you can root for, this book is a delightful read. Humor, heart, and humanity are wrapped in a Christmas package disguised as an unassuming novel entitled Hotcakes and Holly. One thing’s for sure—I’ll be visiting Bells Pass again.

On Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1726835189