Book Link

From Amazon:

In a devastated world where love and tenderness are scarce and survival is often at the point of a knife, nothing is what it seems…

Alita’s life was ripped apart when her parents disappeared, likely murdered by a brutal member of their newly adopted tribe. Stalked by him for years, it’s almost a relief when she becomes the annual tribute to the leader of a mysterious race of saber cats from the wild lands.

Though drawn to the Great Saber, Alita doesn’t understand what he wants from her. Is she supposed to become his mate? She’s never dared hope to share the love her parents felt for each other, but she’s starting to wonder about the possibilities. Yet the forces of magic and fate are threatening their lives and future and there seems little chance of escape.

A Shapeshifter Story

My Review:

Mary Schmidt

5.0 out of 5 stars Love, sabers, and shape shifting

Reviewed in the United States on July 15, 2025

Verified Purchase

This short story is about tradition and love in a world most likely not the planet Earth we know. A different planet Earth. One with tribes of humans living among shape shifters and using old ways of making spear heads of stone and tanning hides for clothing and warmth. Can a human woman learn to love a saber? Read and find out.

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From Amazon:

A collection of Odes, Poems, Rants, Dreams, and Short Stories. Stories that will make you laugh, bring you joy and make you cry. Stories filled with mystery hidden in the words. Some are about people long dead and some very much alive. Songs and poems about lost love, pesky cats, beautiful places, desolate worlds, and glorious food. Thoughts that inspired me, saddened me, and made me stand in awe of our Universe.

My Review:

Mary Schmidt

5.0 out of 5 stars Odes and shorts

Reviewed in the United States on July 16, 2025

Verified Purchase

This book is filled with ideas and short story bits. Some is rather romantic when written about women with beauty and scent so sweet. Toss in odes to Centauri Prime and what could be, or Mars and traveling the red dirt, even mating snails that can mate for up to 12 hours. That’s stamina. This is but a sample of what is within these pages.

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From Amazon:

Can Maddy solve the case, confront her past demons, and finally find peace?

Deputy Detective Madeline (Maddy) Dawson returns home to take a new job with Magnolia Bluff’s Sheriff’s Department. But when she discovers the body of a family friend in Miller Creek, Maddy finds her life turned upside down.

While navigating a tough case offering little evidence, Maddy becomes a target. As she and fellow detective Clay Monroe set out to investigate, she is confronted with dead ends, relationship issues, attempts on her life, and demons from her past. Can Maddy overcome the war raging inside as she desperately searches for answers in this challenging and dangerous case?

My Review:

What’s not to like about a murder/mystery/romance/a giant gamut of feelings all over the board? The main characters have a lot to work through, and for some, more than others. When the novel also brings in two towns with different things going on, then the twists in the story give cause to wonder if all of it is related to the murder of a young girl or are they separate cases? One thing is for sure. No one will ever be who they once were.

Book Title: A Prodigy in Auschwitz

Series: A Holocaust Story, Book One: Simon

Author: Fred Raymond Goldman

Publication Date: April 29^th, 2025

Publisher: Historium Press

Pages: 368

Genre: Historical Fiction

Any Triggers: n/a

Twitter Handle: @cathiedunn @marylschmidt

Instagram Handle: @thecoffeepotbookclub

Hashtags: #HistoricalFiction #WWII #Auschwitz #JewishSurvivorStory #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub

Tour Schedule Page: https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2025/06/blog-tour-a-prodigy-in-auschwitz-simon-by-fred-raymond-goldman.html

Book Title and Author Name:

A Prodigy in Auschwitz: A Holocaust Story, Book One: Simon

By Fred Raymond Goldman

Blurb:

When Nazi Germany troops enter Krakow, Poland on September 2, 1939, fourteen-year-old Simon Baron learns two truths that have been hidden from him.

One, the people who have raised him are not his biological parents. Two, his birth mother was Jewish. In the eyes of the Germans, although he has been raised Catholic, this makes Simon Jewish.

Simon’s dreams of becoming a concert violinist and composer are dashed when his school is forced to expel him, and he is no longer eligible to represent it at its annual Poland Independence Day Concert. There, he had hoped to draw the attention of representatives of a prestigious contest who might have helped him fulfill his dreams.

Simon vows to never forgive his birth father for abandoning him, an act resulting in unspeakable tragedies for his family and in his being forced to live the indignities of the ghetto and the horrors of Auschwitz and Sachsenhausen concentration camps.

Throughout his ordeals, Simon wavers between his intense anger toward his birth father and his dreams of being reunited with him. Through his relationships with Rabbi Rosenschtein and the rabbi’s daughter, Rachel, Simon comes to appreciate his Jewish heritage and find purpose in his life. Driven by devotion to family and friends and his passion for music, Simon holds on to hope. But can he survive the atrocities of the Nazi regime?

How do you reconcile a decision you made in the past when the world erupts in war, threatening the life of someone you love and believe you were protecting?

Excerpt from Chapter 70:

Simon sat in Rabbi Strouse’s office with his hands clasped tightly waiting impatiently for the rabbi to finish a note he was writing.

The rabbi finally looked up. “What would you like to talk about today?”  

Simon told him about his meeting with the camp director.

“Tell me what you’re thinking.”

Simon pushed the words out through clenched teeth. “I’m feeling hatred for the man. I want to punish him.”

“How would you do that?”

“By ignoring his request and refusing to contact him.”

“Hatred is a strong word, Simon. Are you sure it isn’t anger you’re feeling?”

“You sound like Rabbi Rosenschtein.”

Rabbi Strouse raised his eyebrows. “What do you mean?” 

“He said the same thing to me six years ago.”

“Apparently, it didn’t take. Maybe we’d better talk about it again.”

Simon twisted in his chair. “What’s the difference between hatred and anger? Why does it matter?” he said flippantly. Then Simon relented. “All right, you start,” he sighed.

“You’re being petulant, but I’ll play along.” Rabbi Strouse said. “People hate other people for who they are. We get angry at people we otherwise like for something they did or didn’t do. If Rachel were to come home late from work when you had an important date, you might be angry, but you wouldn’t hate her. You don’t know enough about your father to hate him, but you can be angry for what you feel he did to you.”

Buy Link:

Universal Buy Link: https://geni.us/EpuyQr

Author Bio:

Fred Raymond Goldman graduated from Western Maryland College in Westminster, MD (now named McDaniel College) in June 1962 with a BA in psychology. Two years later, in 1964, he earned an MSW degree from the University of Maryland School of Social Work.

Most of Fred’s career was spent in Jewish Communal Service. He served as the administrator of Northwest Drug Alert, a methadone maintenance program at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore. In this role, he also acted as a community resource, guiding individuals struggling with addiction toward Jewish services that supported abstinence, counseling, and job placement.

Following that, Fred was hired as the Assistant to the Director of Jewish Family Services in Baltimore.

His final professional role was with Har Sinai Congregation, a Jewish Reform Synagogue in Baltimore, where he served as Executive Director for 23 years, retiring in October 2005.

In retirement, Fred pursued his love of hiking with The Maryland Hiking Club and spent time volunteering at The Irvine Nature Center. There, he led schoolchildren on nature hikes and assisted in the center’s nature store.

Writing had always been a passion for Fred, dating back to childhood, but it wasn’t until retirement that he began to take it seriously. He started writing children’s books and became a member of the Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Association. Among the titles he wrote are: Vera and the Blue Bear Go to the Zoo, Never Bite an Elephant (And Other Bits of Wisdom), The Day the School Bus Drivers Went on Strike, If You Count, and The Day the School Devices Went on Strike.

Though none of these books has been published, Fred remains hopeful that if the CONCERTO books gain recognition, opportunities for the earlier works may follow.

Fred’s journey of writing the CONCERTO companion books began when he saw a note on a local library bulletin board about a new writer’s group led by a local author. He joined and, along with nine other participants, learned the fundamentals of writing: staying in the protagonist’s point of view, building narrative tension, developing distinctive and flawed characters, and the process of writing and rewriting.

Over the course of more than four years, Fred dedicated time to writing, researching, rewriting, and submitting the manuscript. What began as a single book titled The Auschwitz Concerto was eventually split into two volumes and self-published. For a time, the manuscript was also titled The Box.

The encouragement from the group’s teacher and fellow members played a key role in shaping the novels, and Fred hopes his feedback was equally helpful to others in the group.

In the ‘Author’s Notes’ of the CONCERTO books, Fred outlines the goals behind sharing these stories. Prior to writing them, he had only a general understanding of the Holocaust—knowing that nine million lives were lost and that it was a horrific chapter in history. Through the writing process, he gained deeper insights into both historical events and human suffering, fostering a greater sensitivity to contemporary issues. He firmly believes that what affects one group can quickly impact everyone, and that such awareness is critical today.

Author Links:

Author Page on Publisher’s Website: https://www.historiumpress.com/fred-goldman

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Fred-Raymond-Goldman/author/B0C2QMBZ9X

Book Link

From Amazon:

Jack Haliday has a score to settle.

It has been four years since ex-Navy SEAL Jack Haliday, had an explosive run-in with a biker gang, wounding their leader, Gunner. During those years, Jack had acquired everything he ever wanted: a beautiful wife, daughter, and a lovely home in the suburbs–everything was just about as perfect as it could get, until Gunner returned to twist Jack’s world inside-out with a vengeance that he could never have prepared for.

Now Jack has a score to settle and he’s got some friends to help him do it.

My Review:

Mary Schmidt

Reviewed in the United States on July 10, 2025

Format: KindleVerified Purchase

This book is heavy on love, crime, CIA, special ops, safe houses, corruption and more. The evil that people do always comes back around and they either pay the price, die, or not get into heaven. The story is interesting. Characters bears not only physical scars. Triggers: Rape memories, female sex slave trafficking, military memories.

Book Title: Unspoken

Series: The Dust Series

Author: Jann Alexander

Publication Date: July 3, 2025

Publisher: Black Rose Writing      

Pages: 368

Genre: Historical Fiction

Any Triggers: Two deaths from dust pneumonia in first chapter, 1935; inhumane treatments in an asylum setting, pre-1950; maltreatment in a state home for children, pre-1945; a botched abortion where a woman nearly dies, 1940s

Twitter Handle: @cathiedunn @marylschmidt

Instagram Handles: @jannalextx @thecoffeepotbookclub

Hashtags: #Unspoken #HistoricalFiction #DustBowl #WomensFiction #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub

Book Trailer: https://youtu.be/_Caypmn4JBs

Tour Schedule Page: https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2025/06/blog-tour-unspoken-by-jann-alexander.html

Book Title and Author Name:

Unspoken: A Dust Novel

by Jann Alexander

Blurb:

A farm devastated. A dream destroyed. A family scattered.

And one Texas girl determined to salvage the wreckage.

Ruby Lee Becker can’t breathe. It’s 1935 in the heart of the Dust Bowl, and the Becker family has clung to its Texas Panhandle farm through six years of drought, dying crops, and dust storms. On Black Sunday, the biggest blackest storm of them all threatens ten-year-old Ruby with deadly dust pneumonia and requires a drastic choice —one her mother, Willa Mae, will forever regret.

To survive, Ruby is forced to leave the only place she’s ever known. Far from home in Waco, and worried her mother has abandoned her, she’s determined to get back.

Even after twelve years, Willa Mae still clings to memories of her daughter. Unable to reunite with Ruby, she’s broken by their separation.

Through rollicking adventures and harrowing setbacks, the tenacious Ruby Lee embarks on her perilous quest for home —and faces her one unspoken fear.

Heart-wrenching and inspiring, the tale of Ruby Lee’s dogged perseverance and Willa Mae’s endless love for her daughter shines a light on women driven apart by disaster who bravely lean on one another, find comfort in remade families, and redefine what home means.

Excerpt 1:

1935

RUBY LEE

As the train picked up speed, leaving our tiny corner of the Texas Panhandle, we passed deserted farmhouses where I noted no living thing, not animals nor crops, only wavy sand patterns making mounds of the flat plains. Front doors left wide open, drifts blowing into living rooms.

We passed shacks where dirty children with dull eyes wore rags, turning their heads with effort to watch our train rumble by. But what little life I saw outside was more than was inside my heart.

I felt chilled, then feverish, then weak. Leaning against Will’s shoulder, I drifted in and out to the rhythmic rocking of the train.

“Let’s get some sleep, Ruby,” he said, and soon he was snoring gently with his newsboy cap pulled over his eyes. But try as I might to keep them shut, my eyelids kept flying wide open, waiting for the duster to give way to dawn, looking for the daylight that would shine on what my future held.

The hissing, clanging steam locomotive roared awake, and us with it. Looked close to daybreak.

“You hungry?” Will reached into his pack for two apples. We bit into them in crunchy unison. I looked at the travelers and saw none of our family. My mind was foggy from sleep. I worked at assembling the events of the last weeks into some kind of order but only one thing screamed at me, shattering beneath my skin, paining my soul raw.

What had I done to make Momma so mad? Did she blame me for baby Nell?

I didn’t realize I’d let go of my apple till I heard its dull thud on the floor. As it rolled down the aisle and passengers’ heads swiveled to look, I shivered—like a blanket of snow had been thrown over me. Views from the windows swirled past, flashing dizzying turns of dead crops and cracked brown fields and scrawny cattle. I sucked in quick shallow breaths but weakness made me slump toward the wall.

Will grasped my hands and rubbed them in his own. Everything blurred. I saw how Momma’s eyes were hard on mine when Nell’s spittle came up brown as dirt, and she choked her last breath on earth.

“Ruby, Ruby,” Will was saying, his hand on my forehead. “You’re so clammy.”

The concern creasing his brow turned into Momma’s frown. She knew.

It was my fault Nell passed.

Will’s warm hands were under my arms, lifting me upright. I must have fainted. He patted my cheeks, gentle, and my eyelids fluttered into the present, the place where I didn’t want to be. I batted his hands away. I muttered, “Leave me alone.” Like Momma did.

It made no never mind what happened to me next. I refused to ask, I wouldn’t speak. In my ten-year-old mind, that was the only control I had.

At the Waco depot, riders made ready to disembark. Will, holding my suitcase, reached for my hand. My toes tingled first, then my legs went numb on me, and my heart pounded. Little pins jabbed me all over. Will tugged on my hand. He didn’t know how terrified I was.

I was lightheaded, everything was spinning, and my legs were powerless. I broke out in a sweat. A breeze blew in and transformed into fingers tightening around my throat. A lady passing by stopped, told Will, “She doesn’t look too good.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Will, ever steady, sounded uneasy.

“I’m a nurse. Let me help you with this child.”

She sat beside me and smoothed my hair. She took my wrist and gently placed her fingertips on my pulse. Her face was so near mine, her eyes looked crossed. I moved my head away from her stale breath.

“Let’s count together now, one-two. One, two, breathe in. One, two, breathe out. One . . . two. One . . . Two. In, and out. That’s it. In, out,” and after a time, my breathing moderated. “Calmly in, sigh it out,” her voice was melodic. I inhaled deeply, exhaled more slowly. Air filled my chest—clean, pure air—I could gulp it in and not cough brown spittle back out.

She regarded Will. “You’re her brother?”

“Yes, ma’am, I’m Will Becker. This here’s Ruby Lee.”

“I can see that.” She touched the paper Pa had pinned on me. “Just a little nervous distress.”

She kept at me with the counting. “One, two, Ru-by. One, two, Ruby Lee.” I focused on her. Her face came into sharper view. Faint pink lipstick coated her lips. Her skin was smooth, powdery white. Her eyes glowed, the palest of blues. She laid two delicate fingers on my wrist again and watched me awhile.

“There, little sister, your pulse is normal. You’re doing swell.”

The other travelers had cleared out. The steward hovered nearby. “Lost her vertical hold, did she? Well, she looks fine now,” he pronounced, the first words he’d uttered to us since taking Pa’s dollar. “Off you go.”

“We’ll set a while longer.” The nurse was firm, not taking her gaze from me. “When you’re ready, Ruby Lee.”

I relaxed. I stretched out my legs, lifted my feet, and rolled them round at my ankles, first one way, then t’other. Seemed like they’d work. I was breathing normal again. I stood up.

Will let out a sigh, saying thank you. We took it slow walking till I froze at the steps. Will stood below with outstretched arms to lift me down to the platform. Behind me, the nurse gripped my shoulders, whispered, “You can do it.”

You can live without Momma.

Buy Links:

Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/mqP7ke

Book Funnel Link: https://buy.bookfunnel.com/h3rt6fn7vd

Author’s Website: https://www.jannalexander.com/buy-unspoken

Author Bio:

Jann Alexander writes characters who face down their fears. Her novels are as close-to-true as fiction can get.

Jann is the author of the historical novel, UNSPOKEN, set in the Texas Panhandle during the Dust Bowl and Great Depression eras, and her first book in The Dust Series.

Jann writes on all things creative in her weekly blog, Pairings. She’s a 20-year resident of central Texas and creator of the Vanishing Austin photography series. As a former art director for ad agencies and magazines in the D.C. area, and a painter, photographer, and art gallery owner, creativity is her practice and passion.

Jann’s  lifelong storytelling habit and her more recent zeal for Texas history merged to become the historical Dust Series. When she is not reading, writing, or creating, she bikes, hikes, skis, and kayaks. She lives in central Texas with her own personal Texan (and biggest fan), Karl, and their Texas mutt, Ruby.

Jann always brakes for historical markers.

Author Links:

Website: https://www.jannalexander.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JannAlexanderAuthor

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jannalextx/

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/jannalextx.bsky.social

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/jannalextx/

Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/2708203210

Book Bub for Unspoken: https://www.bookbub.com/books/unspoken-a-dust-novel-the-dust-series-book-1-by-jann-alexander

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/author/jannalexander

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/jann_alexander

Goodreads for Unspoken: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/230163000-unspoken

Book Title: An Echo of Ashes

Series: n/a

Author: Ron Allen Ames

Publication Date: March 25, 2025

Publisher: Historium Press

Pages:    247

Genre:     Historical Fiction based on a true story

Any Triggers: n/a

Twitter Handle: @cathiedunn @marylschmidt

Instagram Handles:  @RONALLENAMES @thecoffeepotbookclub

Hashtags:      #AnEchoOfAshes #RonAllenJames #WWI #SpanishInfluenza #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub

Tour Schedule Page: https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2025/06/blog-tour-an-echo-of-ashes-by-ron-allen-ames.html

Book Title and Author Name:

An Echo of Ashes

by Ron Allen Ames

Blurb:       

An Echo of Ashes is a story lost to time, then found again in century-old letters that lay in a tattered box. Based on actual events taken from the pages, this story tells of when the Great War and the Spanish Influenza forever altered the lives of millions, including a family of subsistence farmers who also worked the oil fields of Pennsylvania.

Ella and Almon make their home in the backcountry. Almon and his sons work in the oil fields, just as their forefathers before them. As war and influenza break out, the parents seek to shield their family from the impending perils.

Earl, the eldest son, is a gifted trombone and piano player. He is captivated by Lucile Lake, a girl from a higher social status. All he has to win her heart are his music and his words as the military draft looms ever closer. Jack, a friend as close as a brother, faces the horrors of war at the Western Front. Albert’s free spirit creates chaos as he searches for direction. Arthur’s patriotism leads him to the Mexican border. Young Russell must suppress his fear to save a life, while Little Clara remains protected from the distress.

World War One and the Spanish Influenza Pandemic are most often documented separately, yet they intersected in 1918. For those who endured sacrifice and loss during this time, the sharp echo of tragedy carried through the ashes of what once was, likely dulled but never vanished from their minds. This is just one of countless stories from such a perilous chapter in American history.

Excerpt 2:

He heard footsteps coming and could see a silhouette through the lace curtains that hung in the door’s window. The curtains flicked, the door opened . . . and there she stood.

 “Yes?” Lucile asked the dashing young man. Earl froze as Lucile stared directly into his deep blue eyes, recognizing him.

“I am here…” Earl blurted out as he thought, I am making a fool of myself. “I mean, I am here to give lessons.” Did that sound right?

She giggled. “I do not want trombone lessons.”

“No,” Earl spoke up. “Piano lessons.”

Just then Lucile’s mother called out from the adjoining parlor, “Lucile, who is at the door?”

“It is the trombone player, mother . . . the one from the pie social. He is here from the advertisement.”

“Tell him it is piano lessons we require, not trombone.”

Earl then spied a grand piano sitting to the right of the room by a large window.

“The advertisement says a reference is required . . . may I?” He pointed to the piano.

Lucile raised her brow and hesitated. Finally, she opened the door just far enough for Earl to squeeze by. He nervously fumbled with his hat before pushing it into Lucile’s hands.

Buy Link:

Universal Buy Link:       https://books2read.com/u/mV5ElM

Author Bio:     

Ron Allen Ames is a history enthusiast who attributes his 46 years of life experience as a hands-on business co-owner, for giving him insight into human nature, a benefit when portraying the lives of others. The information he received, dating from 1914 to 1919, is what prompted Ames to bring this history to light in An Echo of Ashes. 

Ames lives with his wife Cathy in Pennsylvania. They have two grown sons.

Author Links:

Website: ronallenames.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ronallen.ames

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ronallenames/

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Ron-Allen-Ames/author/B0DZP6TF8J

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1198847.Ron_Allen_Ames

Book Link

From Amazon:

A murder at the church rocks the small town of Hopeful and sets tongues wagging.

Single mom and successful insurance agent Merry March steps in to figure out who the killer is.

Merry’s had a tough week. Her daughter went off the rails and her best friend became an annoying matchmaker. Finding solace in food, wine, and two demanding cats, her comfortable life changes when her best friend’s daughter is suspected of murder. As Merry investigates, she begins to open her heart.

My Review:

This novel was awesome rather twisted mess of murder plus a lot more. Yes, romance is involved, plus murder, and not just one murder. The story is woven well and things are not all they seem. Jealousy plays a role, abuse plays another role, and romance blossoms spectacularly.