Not Too Late: Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility – Rebecca Solnit & Thelma Young-Lutunatabua

Posted on May 27, 2023 by J D Jung

  (Reviewed by JD Jung)   “Nothing is inevitable, and that’s crucial to remember in this fight.” Personally, I have felt both hopeless and helpless when it comes to preserving our planet and fighting climate change. Not Too Late convinced me through its essays and interviews that what I do on an individual basis and…

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Who is bombing Kyiv?! – Marina Alova

Posted on May 22, 2023 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) #CommissionsEarned “It was disheartening and revolting to witness the country repeating the same mistakes and going around in circles. Slava believed that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, it would be impossible to make the same mistakes again. However, not much time has passed, and now Stalin is gaining popularity…

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The Wishing Pool and Other Stories – Tananarive Due

Posted on May 17, 2023 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) You’ll keep looking over your shoulder as you read these eerie stories of horror, with a little science fiction sprinkled in, in The Wishing Pool and Other Stories. The title piece, “The Wishing Pool” features Joy, a woman returning home to North Florida to visit her father who is suffering from…

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An UnderratedRead Revisited: The Broken – JJ Hernandez

Posted on May 14, 2023 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by Christopher J. Lynch) There are quite a few novels that chronicle the struggle of formerly incarcerated individuals returning to civilian life, but none that I have read that are as good as    The Broken by JJ Hernandez . The novel puts you on parallel paths with several disparate characters: the former inmate,…

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The Fitful Sleep of Immigrants – Orlando Ortega-Medina

Posted on May 7, 2023 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “We were a family of emigrants, on the move from generation to generation. Forced to flee our homes because of intolerable situations imposed on us by those in power. The United States was meant to be the last stop on that journey.” Such is the case of thirty-six-year-old attorney and recovering…

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An UnderratedRead Revisited – A Season in Lights: A Novel in Three Acts – Gregory Erich Phillips

Posted on May 4, 2023 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) #CommissionsEarned “Less than a year ago, when the curtain fell after the opening night applause, I assumed the New York City I knew---and my place in it---could last forever.” A Season in Lights celebrates performers and other creative artists who travel to New York to fulfill their dreams. Specifically, the story…

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The Blue is Where God Lives – Sharon Sochil Washington, PhD

Posted on April 29, 2023 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) #CommissionsEarned “If Satan is successful, the family’s history will end with the blue baby girl.” It is currently 2008, and Blue (referenced above) is grieving the murder of her daughter. She questions God’s existence, which leads her to travel from her home in Houston south to The Ranch, a retreat run…

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The Vulture Fund (Curtis Westcott Crime Thrillers Book 3) – Jeff Buick

Posted on April 25, 2023 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by Don Jung) #CommissionsEarned Two unlikely murders that don’t appear to be related become the focus of Boston detective Curtis Westcoast and his team as they try to unravel one mystery after another. This is a murder mystery series that is fast-paced, suspenseful and full of twists and turns. First, a woman with an…

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An UnderratedRead Revisited: Tard – Del Staecker

Posted on April 22, 2023 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) #CommissionsEarned “Thou shalt not be a victim, and thou shalt not be a perpetrator. But above all else---thou shalt not be a bystander.” That's one lesson Richard Bettis learned from Matt. One referred to Matt Mueller as an “enlightened outcast”, as he lived with compassion, love, a sense of serenity, and…

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An UnderratedRead Revisited: Paris Noir: The Suburbs: Akashic Noir Series – Hervé Delouche (Editor)

Posted on April 18, 2023 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) #CommissionsEarned “Where was French romanticism? The opulence of the West? I found Paris—Pantin, really---very different from what I had imagined. I found Pantin ugly…”. An Albanian national flees his country in fear for his life and joins his cousin in this Paris suburb. In this story, “Patin, Really” by Timothée Demeillers,…

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