Compelling, compassionate and contemporary are perfect descriptors of Paul Winder’s A Son is Given: A Mother’s Testament. Mark and Josh are co-captains of their college swim team. Josh is open with and aware of his sexual orientation. Mark is in denial until Josh makes an...

Although Mutch Katsonga, author of Where Wildfires Glow, classifies his book as a Young Adult/Coming of Age story, I’d be more inclined to describe it as a psychological thriller: the plot and one of the principle characters, Carol, are positively chilling! Furthermore, given the information...

The Tribulations of August Barton is a new adult coming of age book written by Jennifer LeBlanc. Augie was a somewhat geeky and introverted creature of habit, who, at the lofty age of eighteen, was convinced that he would absolutely hate his college experience. As...

Minds of Metal finds Gwen hiking through the forest where she discovers an abandoned laboratory used to experiment with Artificial Intelligence. There, she finds a disassembled female android. At school, she is introduced to Rick, a computer whiz kid, and sparks fly. Determined to reassemble...

James Henderson’s alcoholic father was one of the pub regulars but, toward the end of his life, he would sit alone, drinking himself into oblivion. When readers first meet James, aka Chooka, in Miscarriages, he is sitting by his comatose father’s bedside, talking to him...

Seventeen-year-old Toekin has spent the last six years on his own, hiding from the evil Emperor and his powerful warriors and the madman who stole his parents. The last word his mother said to Toekin was “Hide” and that’s what he’s been doing. And very...

The Other Side of Elsewhere is a paranormal coming of age thriller written by Brett McKay. Riverton had come to feel like home to Ret, an unfamiliar feeling for the twelve-year-old whose family had moved frequently while he was growing up before settling in here...

“Inside my head, I see his broken parts. Inside my head, I feel his pain.” Those words hooked me immediately. Healer by Susan Miura shares the story of a young girl named Shilo coming to terms with the gift of healing. She’s different. Why? Is...

Everson’s disabled legs and brilliant mind have always set him apart from his peers. His sister Quinn is fiercely protective of him and has developed amazing fighting instincts due to her willingness to stand up for Everson. In A Warden’s Purpose by Jeffrey L. Kohanek,...

Lucky Stars by Hazel Eggleton is a coming of age novel that tells the story of a young girl trying to come to terms with her turbulent life and trying to make sense of what she should and what she wants to do. While Sam...