I'm an author, but I'm also a reader. From time to time, I'll share my reviews of present and past reads. My available time to read is limited because I write, but I love to curl up with a paperback or an eBook at night for the last hour of my day.
Here are some of the books I've read recently. Maybe you'll
discover a new book or author.
At a quiet Brooklyn café watched
over by painted dogs and warmed by just the right cup of coffee, two teenagers
arrive—lost, hurting, and unsure where to turn next.
In this deeply compassionate third entry in the Smiling Dog Café series—fully
enjoyable as a standalone—author Neil S. Plakcy shares two powerful novellas
about grief, resilience, and the unexpected ways we find our way home.
In Grounds for Hope, Miguel is alone on the streets
after his father is deported back to their violence-plagued homeland. Cold,
hungry, and nearly out of hope, he’s led to the café by a mysterious pit bull
named Baxter—and taken in by Betty, the wise café owner whose coffee and
compassion help restore his sense of safety and purpose.
In Finding Grace, Tanya is reeling after her mother’s
decision to walk away from their life to “find herself.” Angry and unmoored,
Tanya is gently nudged toward the café by Kiyomi, a calm, three-legged
Samoyed—and slowly begins to rediscover her strength, her voice, and her path
forward.
This tender volume celebrates how healing begins—in community, through
ritual and memory, and with the quiet guidance of a dog who always knows
exactly who needs help next.
Come in from the cold. The coffee’s brewing, and the dogs are waiting.
My Review
I’m a dog lover, and I was immediately drawn to this book by the premise: dogs possess an innate sense to help and heal. The book relies on well-defined characters who are caring and have issues that immerse the reader in the story. A boy who is illegal in the country and how he finds a path to find his way is ripe for our times. Mr. Plakcy tells his story as if he’s lived it. Tanya might be a girl of privilege, but the pain of her mother’s action is deep. The café offers both of these young people hope.
A family’s secret, a ruthless
fanatic, and a covert arm of the American government—all are linked by a single
puzzling possibility:
What if everything we know about the discovery of America was a lie? What
if that lie was designed to hide the secret of why Columbus sailed in 1492? And
what if that 500-year-old secret could violently reshape the modern political
world?
Pulitzer Prize–winning investigative journalist Tom Sagan has written
hard-hitting articles from hot spots around the world. But when one of his
stories from the Middle East is exposed as a fraud, his professional reputation
crashes and burns. Now he lives in virtual exile—haunted by bad decisions and a
shocking truth he can never prove: that his downfall was a deliberate act of
sabotage by an unknown enemy. But before Sagan can end his torment with the
squeeze of a trigger, fate intervenes in the form of an enigmatic stranger.
This stranger forces Sagan to act—and his actions attract the attention of the
Magellan Billet, a top-secret corps of the United States Justice Department
that deals with America’s most sensitive investigations. Sagan suddenly finds
himself caught in an international incident, the repercussions of which will
shudder not only Washington, D.C., but also Jerusalem. Coaxed into a deadly
cat-and-mouse game, unsure who’s friend and who’s foe, Sagan is forced to
Vienna, Prague, then finally into the Blue Mountains of Jamaica—where his
survival hinges on his rewriting everything we know about Christopher Columbus.
My Review
This story held my interest and kept me turning pages because of the “what if” factor. Plus, in the recent years of factoids and fabrications you can find on the Internet, so much has been speculated about Columbus. It was a fun read of fiction and fact.
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