by Roberta Kaye Waldbaum Rating: ***** Waldbaum’s debut novel, The Color of Dreams , unfolds the story of Claire Brophy McPhee, an unconventional young woman who, having married well in the late nineteenth century, appears set for a pleasurable life of some privilege.  But, when her keen intellect and intense sensibilities become stifled by domestic life, she sinks into disillusionment, longing for the freedom to explore and feel the full texture of her existence… The Color o

by Joyce V. Harrison Rating: **** What Now?  is a nicely calibrated collection of eight stories that broadly deal with the consequences of unforeseen events and their wider impact on characters’ lives. These incidents tend to serve as catalysts for change or self-examination, not always in a positive manner. The collection opens with Loot , which introduces Ella-Mae, a sixty-something waitress who makes an intriguing discovery whilst walking her dog, Ralphie. It begins in a j

by George Veck Rating: ***** Twenty-eight-year-old Amelia Paxton is trapped in an abusive marriage, used as a physical and psychological punchbag by her husband, Detective Sergeant Drake “Pax” Paxton, one of the most corrupt, degenerate coppers in Chester Police Force, and there are a few to choose from. Pax has ensured that Amelia has become completely isolated, literally and figuratively, a forsaken state compounded by her crippling valium dependency for which Pax is the wi

by Emily Bleeker Rating: **** When We Chased the Light  is the follow-up to When We Were Enemies , but it capably reads as a standalone novel. It’s 1943 and Vivian Snow is about to embark on her stratospheric rise to becoming Hollywood’s darling. But her winsome public persona and glittering lifestyle hide a private life full of poor, rash decisions, driven by a fearful desperation to bury the past and the events that ended her first marriage… The story opens and closes in 20