Heat Level 3 – PG-13

The Order of the Dark Rose by P. H. Solomon

April 18, 2022 By Book Review Matchmaker Leave a Comment

The Order of the Dark Rose by P. H. Solomon

Arch-mage Manny Mandeheim fell under a curse, watched his fiancé die, and then lost his job as a spy. What’s an unemployed arch-mage to do? Start his own magical investigation service while he works to clear his good name and avenge his lost love.

With his very un-magical partner, Wish Ackford, Manny discovers the menace of a conspiracy looming behind his curse. But the limitations from the hex leave him at a distinct disadvantage as he and Wish investigate.

Assassins lurk at every corner or in every tram car. The threat of an unknown mastermind with murky intentions lingers just out of sight. A questionable source offers the hint of a secret order hounding Manny’s footsteps. A murder leads to wrenching discoveries.

Nothing an arch-mage can’t handle…

Unless the curse limits how much magic he can use or kills him outright.

Journeys: the Archers of Saint Sebastian by Jeanne Roland

April 16, 2022 By Book Review Matchmaker Leave a Comment

Journeys: the Archers of Saint Sebastian by Jeanne Roland

15-year-old Marieke disguises herself as a boy to hide in the all-male archers’ guild of Saint Sebastian to escape her father’s killers. Soon she’s determined to discover the truth about her father’s mysterious past at the guild, and to help the most charming young Journeyman archer in the place win the annual guild trials – without ever letting him discover her secrets. Robin Hood meets Princess Bride and Mulan in this historical adventure set in 14th-century Belgium and packed with romance, humor, intrigue, and of course, longbow archery trials.

The Shade Under the Mango Tree by Evy Journey

April 7, 2022 By Book Review Matchmaker Leave a Comment

The Shade Under the Mango Tree by Evy Journey

Gold Medal, Contemporary Fiction, Global Book Awards (formerly New York City Book Awards)
Finalist, Multicultural Fiction, International Book Awards

After two heartbreaking losses, Luna wants adventure. Something and somewhere very different from the affluent, sheltered home where she grew up. An adventure in which she can make some difference.
After meeting Lucien, a worldly, well-traveled young architect, she goes to a rice-growing village in a country steeped in an ancient culture and a deadly history. What she finds there defies anything she could have imagined. Will she leave this world unscathed?
An epistolary tale of courage, resilience, and the bonds that bring diverse people together.

Tales from the Trail: Stories from the Oldest Hiker Hostel on the Appalachian Trail by Sherry Blackman

March 12, 2022 By Book Review Matchmaker Leave a Comment

Tales from the Trail: Stories from the Oldest Hiker Hostel on the Appalachian Trail by Sherry Blackman

During the 2020 pandemic, one thing held true: Scores of people headed out for a day hike on the Appalachian Trail (AT) as if being in the woods, immersed in beauty and mystery, immunized them against an unseen enemy. The Appalachian Trail (AT) became a hospital for souls locked up in quarantine, needing to breathe, stretch, and be nourished by the earth beneath their feet.

For decades, the Appalachian Trail (AT) has been a sanctuary for seekers, the tired and the lost; those hungry for renewal, the broken and the grieving; and those who want to face and answer questions they have lugged around with them in invisible backpacks. Questions like, what is next for me? Is there a God? Should I live or end it all? How can I liberate my life from what weighs it down? How can I forgive God?

This book pays tribute to those who dare such a grueling and soul-satisfying adventure. It tells the tales of those on a pilgrimage through insightful conversations and encounters, exploring and revealing what angels the hikers wrestle with in the wilderness who call out to name them again. This collection unveils the spirituality of any such journey in sometimes humorous, sometimes heart-wrenching portraits.

Tales from the Trail explores what it means to be human.

Phantom in the Pines by R.K. Latch

March 3, 2022 By Book Review Matchmaker Leave a Comment

Phantom in the Pines by R.K. Latch

Henry Lawton is a young man in 1930’s Mississippi. He works for his father in the family moonshining business and is one of the best bootleggers around.

He is secretly in love with the granddaughter of a woman the locals consider a true-to-life witch. So he has plenty to keep him busy.

But, when a relentless federal agent enlists the aid of the corrupt local sheriff, things take a turn for the worse. Lives and families are destroyed.

As the death toll mounts and the situation grows dire, perhaps the only thing that can fight man’s evil is the supernatural.

When the spirit of the trees walks free, evil runs in fear.

Zanzibar’s Rings by Jemima Pett

February 22, 2022 By Book Review Matchmaker Leave a Comment

Zanzibar’s Rings by Jemima Pett

A galactic crisis: the entire comms system destroyed. No waypoints, no navigation aids, no database access. And how will spaceships in flight get home – or to any destination?

Dolores is stuck in warp with a very dangerous passenger, Pete gets his shuttle back home on manual.

But why does anything in close contact with pure orichalcum fix itself?

Just flying through Zanzibar’s Rings solves the problem – as the Federation’s Fighters find, when they descend on the Viridian System to take possession of the planets.

Zanzibar’s Rings brings the Viridian System series to a conclusion, with a bang and a lot of whimpering. And possibly a view of things to come.

Mayhem 337: Memoir of a Combat Advisor in Afghanistan by Chad Rickard

February 4, 2022 By Book Review Matchmaker Leave a Comment

Mayhem 337: Memoir of a Combat Advisor in Afghanistan by Chad Rickard

In 2008, Senior U.S. Army Infantry Sergeant Chad Rickard embedded within the Afghan Army as a Combat Advisor. During a yearlong deployment, he slugged it out with Haqqani Taliban on Afghanistan’s eastern border, along Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier. Follow Rickard as he engages in mountain warfare against numerically superior enemy forces. See urban combat through the eyes of a Soldier that was there. Follow along as his team directs airstrikes and artillery fire. From hostage situations, to IEDs, and air assaults, this memoir leaves nothing to the imagination. Don’t miss this award-winning book and author.

A Span of Moments by Robert Beech

January 23, 2022 By Book Review Matchmaker Leave a Comment

A Span of Moments by Robert Beech

A profound story of coming home to an old Florida island and struggling to save its way of life and native beauty: Midsummer 1994,a disillusioned Jake Crawford quits a prominent scientific career and retreats to the island home of his youth, longing for its old Florida way of life. Within hours of his arrival, he becomes entangled in a deadly series of events involving a billionaire real estate developer and a reclusive bridgetender with a long-hidden past. Jake’s struggle to navigate those events will determine whether Marcosta Island preserves its culture and native beauty or succumbs to the same overpopulation and environmental harm that has befallen the rest of southwest Florida.

50 States by Richard R. Becker

January 18, 2022 By Book Review Matchmaker Leave a Comment

50 States by Richard R. Becker

An Idaho farmer who aches for absolution after a tragedy is given one more chance at redemption. Two runaways cross paths in a Tennessee bus station with only one ticket between them. A family sees looters racing toward their home as they escape an Oregon wildfire. A young couple takes a reckless turn off a state highway in Utah and find themselves in a nightmarish government biohazard area.

These and 46 more shorts make up an anthology that will surprise readers with each new thought-provoking story as they skip effortlessly across different genres, moods, and states of mind. Together, they provide a character-driven sampling of the American experience over the last 60 years — the kind and the cruel, the heroic and criminal — in unpredictable and exciting ways.

50 States is a debut collection of short stories that captures the human condition and reveals how perception shapes destiny. The book spans several literary genres with each short story set in a different state across America. It is soon to be released as an audiobook, narrated by a 5-time Emmy winner.

Dani and the Outcast by R.E. Hargrave

January 16, 2022 By Book Review Matchmaker Leave a Comment

Dani and the Outcast by R.E. Hargrave

NEW RELEASE FROM R.E. HARGRAVE!

A princess.
A tramp.
A hunger for revenge.

Danielle Olivier has never wanted for anything material—some labeled her spoiled, a princess—and yet, she has a heart of gold. Unlike her father. Of course, as the head of the Olivier Crime Famiglia in Louisiana, he can’t afford to be soft. Or kind. Her station in life also means Dani has grown up under an ever-watchful eye. From private tutors to a driver, not to mention two nutty nannies with a penchant for 70s classic rock, she’s rarely had a moment to herself. When her father’s watch dogs aren’t hovering, her mother is—fretting and nitpicking Dani’s appearance, posture, fashion… anything and everything are fair game to her mother, including choosing her friends. It should be a fairytale existence, but if Dani can’t chase butterflies and fall down her own rabbit holes, dire consequences and all, the next best thing is to lose herself in simmering sauces and aromatic spices. And getting all the doggy cuddles from her best friend Dame.

Antoine Desjardins was raised by his maman and auntie in the 15th Ward of New Orleans. With no father figure urging him “to be a man,” he spent a lot of time in their small kitchen, watching, learning, and dreaming of bigger things. Brighter kitchens. Fusion flavors bringing not only palates, but people of all walks, together. Maybe even finding love one day. Young and full of life, working the French Quarter lets Juan set his own hours and decide how he wants to bring home the pay. How much of it gets added to his cooking school savings fund, however, depends on how hard he hits the pavement, and how many trades he’s Jack of. Not every day in the Quarter is peachy keen, though. Not when seen as a panhandler, and prejudice steers customers away from his dark skin and unusual accent. And not when having an ear to the ground sometimes uncovers things he’d be safer not knowing.

Returning from boarding school in France to the house Dani grew up in the Garden District may prove to be the excitement Dani has been looking for. Or it may bring the hardest lesson she’s ever had to learn. Things are different with her parents, and all clues indicate her father is up to no good.

Love hurts, and knowing who to trust, when feelings and judgement run deep, is almost impossible to do.

Bleeding Souls Saved by Love! A Fabled Retelling of LADY AND THE TRAMP