The Hermitage House Miracle

Ater, Malcolm. The Hermitage House Miracle. Blue Ridge Mountain Books, May 31, 2012. CreateSpace/Blue Ridge Mountain Books ISBN-10: 1470129361   ISBN-13: 978-1470129361  ASIN: B00881P756   178pp.  List Price: Paperback $9.95 E-book $3.99.

Jamie arrives at the Hermitage House Orphanage after his mother is killed in a car accident. Jamie could not remember her not being his mother, but he had no memories before he started school when he was six.

Starting the first night at the orphanage, Jamie dreams strange dreams. Though he was now twelve, he knew that he was the blond-headed freckle-faced five-year-old boy in his dreams. In his dreams he also had a different mother and a father. The father promised to program him a videogame that was so real he would feel as if he were in it.

Sometimes dreams turn into miracles that originate in the heart for yourself and others.

What child has not wondered if he is adopted, or if the parents she has are her real parents? Miracles do happen. They happen every day. Malcolm Ater captures the dreams and the possibilities. This book will especially appeal to the 10-13 year old age group.

Best Contemporary Fantasy 2012

Malcolm Ater, a junior-high special-education reading teacher, knows the hearts and minds of the children who people and  will be drawn to this piece of possibilities. Living in the area of West Virginia where The Hermitage House Miracle takes place allows him to bring not only his characters, but the background to life.

The Hermitage House Miracle was selected as the 2012 Pinnacle Book Achievement Award Winner for Best Contemporary Fantasy and also chosen as a 2012 Finalist for Best Children's Book by the West Virginia Writers, Inc.

I received a .pdf file of the book from NetGalley in order for me to provide my unbiased opinion.

The Unwanted

Carter, Daniel L. The Unwanted: The G-6 Chronicles (Volume 1). CreateSpace (May 10, 2010).  ISBN-10: 1477479724 (sc) ISBN-13: 978-1477479728 (e)

In Chicago, FBI Agent Nick Catlin spent months setting up a sting on Damon Hannah’s business, INYO Industries, that supposedly focuses on high-end medical equipment. It is clear there is a leak in the FBI team.  Twice an enormous explosion has obliterated all traces of genetic manipulation and murdered five babies and ten or more adults. Each time Hannah has moved his operation to a new city.

Now, fourteen months after the Chicago murders, Catlin has traced Hannah’s operation to Poughkeepsie, New York. This time, as the explosions begin just ahead of Catlin’s raid, nurses Janet Renard and Michele Townsend manage to get the five infants under their care into the backseat of Janet’s jeep. Running just ahead of Hannah and Catlin, Janet and Michele transport the children to Oklahoma. Janet’s uncle, Leigh Barrus, her only living relative, has a vast ranch there.  They fix up a cabin, far removed from any roads or houses, and Janet and Michele take on the seemingly insurmountable task of mothering five unwanted children.

Because of genetic manipulation the babies grow at an abnormal rate, at twenty-four days they need solid food, at nine weeks all can roll over in their cribs, and at four months, they speak their first words. Each child begins exhibiting extraordinary gifts. Uncle Leigh teaches Mama, Aunt Shelley and each of the children to keep their eyes on God not on the concerns their gifts cause or on their fear of discovery.

The back of the book says in part: “Born out of vengeance, five discarded children must fight to keep their family safe. Millions of lives stand in the balance as sacrifices are made. This family will never be the same as heroes rise and fall.”* A book where the bad guys are bad and the good guys try really, really hard to be good.

The cover will draw the reader into the manipulation of the DNA of innocent children, the power, the love, and the anger that carries this book.Written as Janet’s journal, here X-men for Christian readers begins. Mystery, science fiction, adventure, romance: something for every tween, teen and adult that has ever felt helpless, unwanted, or alone. Carter has incorporated his love of fantasy and science fiction with his fascination with the spiritual principalities of the Bible and given us a new paranormal fantasy. He gives us a book where the bad guys are bad, and the good guys try really, really hard to be good.

Carter has penned a story that will keep readers up at night wondering what will happen next. The tone is consistent and reasoned, exciting and compelling, the reader will gladly suspend their disbelief. Contemporary social, economic, ethical, and political issues are incorporated while conforming to the reader’s expectations of an adventure in the near future. There are enough unanswered questions and partial possibilities to make the reader look forward to the trilogy and the series to follow.

* The G-6 Chronicles: The Unwanted Trilogy, http://www.theunwantedtrilogy.com/ (accessed September 8, 2012)

The Emperor's Edge

A high fantasy novel in the age of steam. Reviewed by Jorja Davis 7/7/2012

Buroker, Lindsay. The Emperor’s Edge. Ebook creation by Dellastar Designs 2010. Rated PG Violence: Young Adult and Adult

Imperial law enforcer Amaranthe Lokdon is sent by the emperor’s regent to seduce and kill Sicarius, the empire’s most notorious assassin. Either the regent believes she is implacable or they want her eliminated. While searching for a secret way out of the palace dungeons she over hears what seems to be a plot to poison the young emperor, Sespasian.

Amaranthe begins to gather an unlikely band of heroes and comes across a deadly fire on the waterfront. She finds arson covering human sacrifice and a powerful coalition’s machinations to take down the empire.


Brouker brings to print adventure, romance, and mystery in a fast paced fantasy. Her characters are flesh and blood and bring fresh, humorous and lively dialogue to this well thought out urban fantasy. 

Lindsay Buroker

3 Reasons I’m Glad I Chose Self-Publishing

Evan Angler. Swipe. 

Thomas Nelson Publishers. April 2012. 

ISBN - 10: 140031836X. ISBN - 13: 978-1400318360.

Logan Langley's thirteenth birthday is approaching. He should be excited. Getting The Mark is the transition to adulthood. The Mark is a tattoo required by law in the American Union, the only way to access food, services, life and livelihood.

 Five years ago, when his sister went to make her pledge and receive The Mark, she didn't come home, and Logan is noticing it happens to others as well. So, Logan is beginning to think The Mark may not be best for everyone. 

Logan feels like he is being watched. Things in his room are moved or missing. When he is out and about he notices shadows and hears movements that indicated he is under scrutiny.

Then, Erin moves into small-town Spokie from Beacon City, half a continent away. Her father works for the Department of Marked Emergencies and is in Spokie to find and eliminate Dust - the unmarked.

The twists and turns begin. What is DOME really doing? Where is the Dust? Can Logan and Erin find answers before Logan takes his pledge?

Older elementary, tweens, teens and adults alike will enjoy this near future dystopian American Union seeking global unity where here is no conflict, no religion, no war - or, is there? Rick Riordan meets Suzanne Collins in Evan Angler'swell-crafted first novel. Non-stop suspense kept me reading when I needed to be doing other things.

Watch for Sneak, the sequel, to be released on September 4, 2012.

Evan Angler. Sneak.

Thomas Nelson Publishers. September 4, 2012.

ISBN-10: 400318424

ISBN-13: 978-14003-18421

The Discovery by Dan Walsh. Revell, 2012

At the reading of his grandfather’s will, Michael Warner receives not only a very healthy checking account, and a continuing portion of Gerard’s royalties on his many best-selling suspense thrillers that have sold in the millions, but also his grandparent’s home in Charleston.

Michael begins to settle in to make his grandfather’s study his own, and takes down the wooden box to store his grandfather’s typewriter.Inside the richly carved box, Michael discovers a yellowed unpublished manuscript obviously meant for him to find.

It is a story of Nazi spies who come onto the Florida coast on U-boats trained by the Abwehr to sabotage the American war effort. But, this story is different from Gerard’s other books; it is also a story of a tender, forever kind of love that cannot be.

“As Michael delves deeper into the story he discovers something that has the power to change not only his future but his past as well.” It is a story “that explores the incredible sacrifices that must be made to forge the love of a lifetime.”

Dan Walsh has taken a side-bar of World War II history and created a novel within a novel will make you want to stay up late, and when you have reached its final pages, you will want to read it all over again. It has it all, mystery, intrigue, history, romance, characters whose names and lifetimes will stay with you long after you have passed the novel on to another male or female reader you know will love the book as much as you do.

A member of American Christian Fiction Writers, Dan served as a pastor for 25 years. He is the bestselling and award-winning author of The Unfinished Gift, The Homecoming, The Deepest Waters, and Remembering Christmas. Dan and his wife Cindi have two grown children and live in the Daytona Beach area.

Revell Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group, known for their Christian fiction and books on Christian living, self-help, marriage, and family has signed Dan “to write 2 books a year for them through 2014.” The first of three stand-alone novels, The Reunion, will be released in September 2012. Dan Walsh and Gary Smalley, a family counselor and award-winning author of books about family relationships from a Christian perspective, have completed the first of a four-book fiction series. The Dance will be eleased in April 2013.