I was informed by Thomas (Literary Titan) received a gold rating. Clover is found here.

Clover is a children’s picture story about all things’ bunny rabbits. Clover teaches children about the life of a bunny rabbit from how they live, shelter, what they eat, and even predators. Children learn what rabbits like to eat and other animals they will or will not play with. Children need to know how wild animals interact with each other in a natural setting such as a park or a backyard. Rabbits and squirrels are everywhere in any location so children quickly identify with them. Clover loves to share in a rhyming manner what he likes to eat and how he and other bunny rabbits play. It is important for children to learn about nature and animals they may or may not see on a regular basis. Children gain a greater understanding about rabbits and wildlife, and they learn the types of food they can place outside for rabbits to munch on. The concept and principles of caring for rabbits and nature can be taught at an early age in any type of setting. Knowing how rabbits and squirrels interact starts the early process of learning about different animals right in your own backyard or park. 

Book Link

From Amazon:

‘I can be anything you want me to be. Even if you don’t know you want it.’

Café owner Kate is mentally drained after a tough two years; all she wants from her online chess partner is entertainment on lonely evenings, and maybe a little virtual flirtation.

She is unaware that Nico Lewis is a highly intelligent con artist who, with an intricately spun web of lies about their emotional connection, will soon convince her that he is The One.

Neither does Kate know that his schemes involve women who seek love on dating sites, as well as his small publishing business. A host of excited authors believe Nico is about to make their dreams come true.

Terry Tyler’s twenty-fourth publication is a sinister psychological drama that highlights the dark side of internet dating—and the danger of ignoring the doubts of your subconscious.

My Review:

This novel was intense for sure. People can be jealous over things that don’t have anything to do with them. But I’m ahead of myself. Online dating sites. Never been on any, never will. This novel reinforces that some people you meet are NOT who they portray, no matter how skilled they are in their deceit. Nico is good at that. But Nico is also greedy and he doesn’t follow the ground rules that his team have in not scamming a poor person, only setting up with with plenty of money. That is one of his downfalls. This novel has it all, romance, in many ways, murder in a couple different ways, people with a gazillion aliases, friends who are not who they appear to be, deceit is rampant. That deceit comes forth in this twisted novel that is truly more than intense.

Book Link

From Amazon:

We are in uncertain times – the world seems troubled and people seem troubled. A cloud of angst looming over head.

I wanted to write a book of poems to create a sense of peace and belonging. A sense of calm. The front cover of this book is an unedited photograph taken by me. I too search for peace and calm. I find it in the sea and the setting sun.

My Review:

Calm. We all need that in life and this poetry book is full of calm and beautiful poetry that brightens anyone’s day. Each poem was a fresh breathe of air, a sweet breeze, the scents that are fresh and soothing. I’m so happy to have had the chance to read this book.

Book Link

From Amazon:

Everything in this book is designed to lighten the load, uplift the spirit or otherwise aid in shifting one’s perspective on life. Because the only thing we have going for us sometimes is our outlook. May you always believe that something wonderful is about to happen and that something good will come out of every situation you are experiencing. It really IS all about replacing one thought with another!

My Review:

Mary Schmidt

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome

Reviewed in the United States on September 28, 2025

Format: KindleVerified Purchase

This book of poems is truly awesome. The poetry is so uplifting that the reader becomes lifted up from their worries or issues they may be dealing with. Out of sadness, worry, loss, and more, comes the beauty of words so tangible one can see, hear, and feel.

Book Link

From Amazon:

In a world ruled by darkness, justice becomes their deadliest weapon.

Jack Slade is no ordinary hero. Consumed by the brutal murder of his beloved wife and partner, he embarks on a mission to provide closure to families left behind by an ineffective system.
Teaming up with Selina DuVay, a streetwise prostitute with an indomitable spirit, and the relentless FBI Special Agent Trent Morelli, Jack plunges into darkness to bring down the vile criminals behind the rape and mutilation of a young Native American woman. This is not a quest for redemption but an unyielding pursuit of raw justice in its most unforgiving form.

Will they succeed in their relentless pursuit or succumb to the shadows that threaten to destroy them all?

My Review:

This book addresses many topics such as raper, murder, visions, paranormal visions, the plight of Native Americans and the color of one’s skin to name a few. This book is different from her others in not so sublte ways. When a spirits visits and converses with a real life person, paranormal takes on new meaning when Prater writes about it from different view points. Toss in corrupted senator and his black hearted son, men with power and money, the FBI with one character doing wrong, men who try to help others or figure out who did what to whom with multiple “whoms” involved in a murder mystery is tops in this dark murder mystery.

Name:  Stephanie Cowell

Book Title: The Man in the Stone Cottage: a novel of the Brontë sisters

Series: N/a

Publication Date: September 16th, 2025

Publisher: Regal House Publishing

Pages: 258

Genre: historical fiction

Any Triggers: no

Twitter Handle: @cathiedunn @marylschmidt

Instagram Handles: @cowell.stephanie @thecoffeepotbookclub

Hashtags: #Brontë #Yorkshire #Victorian #EnglishLiterature #WomenWriters #HistoricalFiction #TheCoffeePotBookClub #BlogTour

Tour Schedule Page: https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2025/08/blog-tour-the-man-in-the-stone-cottage-by-stephanie-cowell.html

Book Title and Author Name:

The Man in the Stone Cottage: a novel of the Brontë sisters

By Stephanie Cowell

Audiobook by Brilliance Audio

Blurb:

“A haunting and atmospheric historical novel.” – Library Journal

In 1846 Yorkshire, the Brontë sisters— Charlotte, Anne, and Emily— navigate precarious lives marked by heartbreak and struggle.

Charlotte faces rejection from the man she loves, while their blind father and troubled brother add to their burdens. Despite their immense talent, no one will publish their poetry or novels.

Amidst this turmoil, Emily encounters a charming shepherd during her solitary walks on the moors, yet he remains unseen by anyone else.

After Emily’ s untimely death, Charlotte— now a successful author with Jane Eyre— stumbles upon hidden letters and a mysterious map. As she stands on the brink of her own marriage, Charlotte is determined to uncover the truth about her sister’ s secret relationship.

The Man in the Stone Cottage is a poignant exploration of sisterly bonds and the complexities of perception, asking whether what feels real to one person can truly be real to another.

Praise for The Man in the Stone Cottage:

“A mesmerizing and heartrending novel of sisterhood, love, and loss in Victorian England.” – Heather Webb, USA Today bestselling author of Queens of London

“Stephanie Cowell has written a masterpiece.” – Anne Easter Smith, author of This Son of York

“With The Man in the Stone Cottage, Stephanie Cowell asks what is real and what is imagined and then masterfully guides her readers on a journey of deciding for themselves.” – Cathy Marie Buchanan, author of The Painted Girls

“The Brontës come alive in this beautiful, poignant, elegant and so very readable tale. Just exquisite.” – NYT bestseller, M.J. Rose

“Cowell’s ability to take readers to time and place is truly wonderful and absorbing.” – Stephanie H. (Netgalley)

“Such a lovely, lovely book!” – Books by Dorothea (Netgalley)

Excerpt 4:

Branwell, the only brother of the family and now thirty years old, has become an alcoholic and drug addict, in spite of the sister’s hopes that he would save the family.

Despite that conversation, bills from the Black Bull were once more presented weekly at the parsonage door. Over the next months, Branwell pawned some of the silver spoons for money for opium and drink; she and Martha went stone-faced to the pawnbroker in the poorest streets of the town and redeemed them. A month later, they found their brother collapsed in an alley.

Then all talk of his writing ceased.

He was well for a day, perhaps two. He was calm that night, they later said. No, he was not. Anyone can tip a candle; anyone too tired can fall asleep with one burning and a wind through the open summer window.

Charlotte sat up in bed at the sharp, piercing cry of Anne from the hall and hurried from her door. Emily in her nightdress was rushing toward Branwell, who was hardly dressed. Behind him, flames leaped and consumed the bed hangings up to the poles.

He waited unmoving. “Bedroom candle! Knocked it over.”

“How, by God?”

“I don’t know.”

“Stand away!” Emily had seized the full bucket of water they kept on the landing. Anne followed with a second. Charlotte ran down for more and struggled to carry it, back aching, bare feet leaving marks on the wet floor. In her brother’s room, water flooded every crack in the floorboard. By then, their father had come with his own bucket.

“Why was the candle lit?”

“Fell asleep reading… Very sorry…” Branwell muttered.

The clock struck four in the morning by the time the flames were out. Branwell was naked to the waist, his thin ribs pressed against his strained skin, blotched with soot and some kind of crawling rash.

“You must believe me,” he said.

As their father took his son back to share his own bed, the sisters remained shivering, white bare feet wet, hair wet. The sodden bed hangings from his room drooped down.

“Sorry.” They heard the fragment of their brother’s voice from behind their father’s bedroom door and their father’s voice sounding like it did so many years ago when they were very small. “Shh… God was watching… All’s well.”

Emily was silent. Then the words burst from her. “I wish he were dead,” she said. Everything poured out then. With her fist, she struck the doorjamb again and again. She shouted and yelled. Her fierce brown mastiff rushed up and down the stairs again, barking and howling as if he could not stop.

In the floor below, water dripped through the ceiling, seeping into the crate of copies of gift books sent from Charlotte’s publisher, dampening the pages, staining the cloth covers of the first few.

From that time on, their father made Branwell sleep on a cot at the foot of the paternal bed. Emily, now calmer, waited in darkness in the hall before her room. “Heal him,” she whispered. Deep within her body, she felt the old power that would let her stop a storm. “Heal him and I will be Yours only again, you elusive God to whom my father has dedicated his life. That is the price of my returning to You.”

Charlotte came from her room and held her. They stood together, clinging to each other.

Anne joined them; she had come softly, like a ghost.

Buy Link:

Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/mqLV2d

Author Bio:

Stephanie Cowell has been an opera singer, balladeer, founder of Strawberry Opera and other arts venues including a Renaissance festival in NYC.

She is the author of seven novels including Marrying Mozart, Claude & Camille: a novel of Monet, The Boy in the Rain and The Man in the Stone Cottage. Her work has been translated into several languages and adapted into an opera. Stephanie is the recipient of an American Book Award. 

Author Links:

Website: https://stephaniecowell.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stephanie.cowell.14

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cowell.stephanie/

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

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/197596.Stephanie_Cowell

Book Link

From Amazon:

The only way three people can keep a secret is if two are dead.

A couples’ nude bodies swaying in the wind on the banks of the Chicago River. A gruesome murder with missing hearts and body parts. The word pedophile carved into the man’s forehead.

It seems like a simple crime for Detective Kacy Lang and her partner, Dave Capello, to solve. The man was a pedophile, his wife knew and kept his secret. But when the body of the second in command of the Brave Hearts’ gang is discovered with missing hands and the word thief burned into his forehead it sends a message they can’t ignore.

There’s a vigilante on their beat, and he isn’t finished yet. Tension increases with the local gangs in an uproar and the body count rising. A gang war is imminent. Dave is missing and Kacy has a price on her head. Can she uncover the truth before it’s too late, or will she become the next victim of the killer’s heartless intent?

My Review:

This murder, mystery, romance novel was intense. The pace moved right along and I was surprised by many instances when I thought things were one way, yet that was not the case. Prather writes the dark cases rather well.

Book Title: Cobblestones

Series: n/a

Author Name: S.R. Perricone

Publication Date: July 30, 2025

Publisher: Historium Press

No. of Pages: 586

Genre: Historical Fiction

Any triggers: No triggers.

Twitter Handle: @cathiedunn @marylschmidt

Instagram Handle: @thecoffeepotbookclub

Hashtags: #HistoricalFiction #NewOrleans #TrueEvents #TheCoffeePotBookClub #BlogTour

Tour Schedule Page: https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2025/08/blog-tour-cobblestones-by-s-r-perricone.html

Book Title and Author:

COBBLESTONES 

by S.R. Perricone

Blurb:

The turbulent history of Post-Reconstruction New Orleans collides with the plight of Sicilian immigrants seeking refuge in America.

Antonio, a young man fleeing Sicily after avenging his father’s murder, embarks on a harrowing journey to New Orleans with the help of Jesuit priests expelled from his homeland. However, the promise of a fresh start quickly sours as Antonio becomes entangled in a volatile clash of cultures, corruption, and crime.

In the late 19th century, Italian immigrants in New Orleans faced hostility, exploitation, and a brutal system of indentured servitude. Antonio becomes a witness to history as a bitter feud over the docks spirals into violence, culminating in the assassination of Irish police chief David C. Hennessy. The ensuing trial of nine Italians and the shocking lynching of eleven innocent men ignited international outrage, threatening to sever ties between the United States and Italy.

Caught in the crossfire of prejudice and power struggles, Antonio fights to survive while grappling with his own past and future. His journey weaves a gripping tale of resilience, betrayal, and the enduring hope for justice. Cobblestones: A New Orleans Tragedy is a poignant reminder of the human cost of intolerance and the courage it takes to rebuild a life from ashes.

“A phenomenal epic account of a forgotten slice of New Orleans history for fans of Scorsese / Coppola-type cinematic dramas such as Midnight Vendetta and The Godfather!”
~ HFC Reviews

Excerpt 2:

When Charles Dickens created his character, Samuel Pickwick, in The Pickwick Papers in 1837, he could have not imagined that twenty years later a group of soi desant elite white male Protestants in New Orleans would have appropriated his character’s name, and fictional club as inspiration for the formation of a secret society, which fostered white supremacy. Dickens was an ardent abolitionist. The club’s first president, Adley Hogan Gladden, wanted a means to celebrate the fledgling observance on the city’s Mardi Gras, while preserving New Orleans’ own variety of eugenics. Only the finest families from selected professions were selected to join. Most of the membership were attorneys, doctors, non-Jewish merchants, businessmen, and owners of the local newspapers. Most claim to be of an Anglo-Saxon pedigree, and refused to tolerate anyone whom they view as having an inferior social standing in a city carved from a cypress swamp by French Catholics, Indians, and African slaves. Every member, during the Civil War, swore allegiance to the Confederacy, and were inveterate Democrats. Indeed, Gladden, who joined the Confederate army, was killed on April 12, 1862, during the battle of Shilo, Tennessee. But the Pickwick Club endured. It endured the Union occupation of New Orleans, and the post-war Reconstruction.

The Pickwick Club had a companion club, which had many of the same social aspirations—the Boston Club. It took its name from a popular card game of the time, but some viewed its membership a social notch below the Pickwick Club, though both clubs shared and welcomed each other’s members. And both enforced and enjoyed the caste system, which controlled New Orleans. Despite some political differences, however, the clubs sometimes found their members supporting different candidates for mayor and other elected and appointed offices, which, sometimes, caused contused feelings.  The Pickwickians self-identified as Bourbonist and more sophisticated than their Bostonians counterparts, who self-identified as The Ring or the Regular Democratic Organization. Every election found candidates in heated campaigns between the Bourbonist and The Ring, and often the mayor’s office and city council would switch sides every election. Since the end of Reconstruction, no republican dared to run for public office in New Orleans.  In fact, the last Republican mayor of New Orleans, Benjamin Flanders was voted out of office in November 1872. The insular city despised republicans, and avoided them like yellow fever. Though it had been twenty-three years since the end of the Civil War, many nativists recalled vividly the Union yoke of Reconstruction. Long memories have long knives.

Buy Link:

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

Author Bio:

Sal Perricone, a graduate of Loyola University of New Orleans with a BA (1975) and JD (1979), has dedicated his career to law enforcement, legal practice, and public service. Beginning as a sergeant with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Department, he progressed to detective with the New Orleans Police Department before practicing law privately in New Orleans. In 1985, he joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a Supervisory Special Agent, specializing in financial crime investigations and organized crime.

In 1991, Sal Perricone transitioned to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana, where he served as Chief of the Organized Crime Strike Force and Senior Litigation Counsel until retiring in 2012. Over his illustrious career, he prosecuted significant cases involving La Cosa Nostra, public corruption, and white-collar crime. He earned numerous accolades, including multiple Director’s Awards and the Attorney General’s Award for his role in establishing the Katrina Fraud Task Force.

An adjunct professor at Tulane University and the University of New Orleans, Sal Perricone has trained law enforcement professionals across the nation. Post-retirement, he has authored two novels with positive Catholic themes, Blue Steel Crucifix and The Shadows of Nazareth. A Brother Martin alumnus, he continues to inspire with his dedication to justice and ethics.

Author Links:

Facebook Profile: https://www.facebook.com/sal.r.perricone/

Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/srperricone

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/S.-R.-Perricone/author/B00RKH1OP6

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/57777507.S_R_Perricone

Finnegan and Schmidt Take Gold

Reader’s Favorite announced their chosen books for medals September 1, 2025. Local Solo Gold medal winners include Willa R. Finnegan for her debut book, Snow: Cursed, in the Young Adult Mythology/Fairytale Category. Mary L. Schmidt won her gold medal for Shadow, in Children’s Pet Books. Reader’s Favorite is on hiatus so the awards in Miami will be in November 2026 for both years. 

We were dumped on with water and the town flooded in low lying areas. Pictures are not perfect as they are drive by.