GSMC Book Review Podcast

Sarah speaks with Don Bentley about Forgotten War, the fourth book in his Matt Drake series: "As a team, Matt Drake and his partner, Frodo, have watched each other's backs through some very dark days. But one thing they've never doubted was their commitment to each other...until now. Frodo has been accused of a war crime ten years after leaving Afghanistan. Matt is determined to prove his friend i...

Sarah speaks with Ashley Winstead about her romantic comedy, The Boyfriend Candidate: "As a shy school librarian, Alexis Stone is comfortable keeping out of the spotlight. But when she’s dumped for being too meek—in bed!—she decides she needs to change. And what better way to kick-start her new more adventurous life than with her first one-night stand? Enter Logan, the gorgeous, foul-mouthed stran...

Sarah speaks with Janie Paul about her book, Making Art in Prison: Survival and Resistance: "The United States is the most incarcerating nation in the world. More than two million people are locked behind bars, where they endure the degradation and violence of a dehumanizing system. But in prisons around the country, incarcerated people have regained their dignity by creating objects of beauty, me...

Sarah speaks with JaNay Brown-Wood about her children's series Love Puppies, specifically the first book, Best Friends Furever: "Yip! Yip! Hooray! A little magic can save the day! When Rosie and the rest of the Love Puppies find out that Meiko is struggling to make friends at her new school, they are sure they can sniff out a solution! But it takes more than magic to break the ice. If they can be...

Sarah speaks with D.C. Gomez about the second book in her The Order's Assassin Series, The Traitor: "Witches, Demons, and Shifters are all landing in Salem. But who do you trust? Eric’s search for Rafael, the Order’s betrayer, is leading to a dead end. Running out of time, he decides to enlist the help of some old acquaintances in Salem’s underground. In the meantime, the Garcia Clan, the deadlies...

Sarah speaks with Patrick H. Moore about his noir novel, 27 Days, "a taut and topical political thriller narrated in laconic noir fashion by veteran LA PI Nick Crane. In the spring of 2019, Nick is on the run in the Pacific Northwest, pursued by a cabal of wealthy right-wing power brokers and domestic terrorists (the Principals) led by Marguerite Ferguson and Desmond Cole. Nick has clashed with Ma...

Sarah speaks with Elizabeth Shick about her debut novel, The Golden Land: "When Etta's grandmother dies, she is compelled to travel to Myanmar to explore complicated adolescent memories of her grandmother's family and the violence she witnessed there. Full of rich detail and complex relationships, The Golden Land explores those personal narratives that might lie beneath the surface of historical a...

Sarah speaks with returning author Tracy Clark about the first book in her Detective Harriet Foster series, Hide: "When a young red-haired woman is found brutally murdered in downtown Chicago, one detail stands out: the red lipstick encircling her wrists and ankles. Detective Harriet Foster is on the case, even though she’s still grieving the sudden death of her partner. As a Black woman in a male...

Sarah speaks with Ruben Quesada, editor of Latinx Poetics: Essays on the Art of Poetry, which "collects personal and academic writing from Latino, Latin American, Latinx, and Luso poets about the nature of poetry and its practice. At the heart of this anthology lies the intersection of history, language, and the human experience. The collection explores the ways in which a people's history and lan...

Sarah speaks with Andrea Faye Christians about the first book in her Time Binders series, Suspension: "An unexpected time travel tale. When Carla Thompson falls asleep and doesn't wake up, she is shocked to discover what destiny has in store for her. Suspended between two worlds, she meets Isambard Brunel, the legendary eighteenth-century civil engineer, who built the Clifton Suspension Bridge in...

Sarah speaks with Angela Greenman about her debut thriller, The Child Riddler: "Despite the angry scars she carries from her childhood training, Zoe Lorel has reached a good place in her life. She has her dream job as an elite operative in an international spy agency and she’s found her one true love. Her world is mostly perfect—until she is sent to abduct a nine-year-old girl. The girl is the onl...

Sarah speaks with Mark Ellis about the fifth book in his DCI Frank Merlin historical fiction series, Dead in the Water: "Summer, 1942. The Second World War rages on but Britain now faces the Nazi threat with America at its side. In a bombed-out London swarming with gangsters and spies, DCI Frank Merlin continues his battle against rampant wartime crime. A mangled body is found in the Thames just a...

Sarah speaks with returning guest Anna J. Stewart about the first book in her new Hawai'ian Reunion series, Her Island Homecoming: "If she stays… Will he stay too? From sand in his shoes to a gecko eating his dinner, Theo Fairfax is way outside his comfort zone in Hawai'i. Sent to convince pilot Sydney Calvert to sell the tour company she just inherited, he finds himself being won over by the tigh...

Sarah speaks with Philip Fracassi about his novel, Boys in the Valley: "St. Vincent's Orphanage for Boys. Turn of the century, in a remote valley in Pennsylvania. Here, under the watchful eyes of several priests, thirty boys work, learn, and worship. Peter Barlow, orphaned as a child by a gruesome murder, has made a new life here. As he approaches adulthood, he has friends, a future...a family. Th...

Sarah speaks with Heloisa Prieto about her novel, The Musician: "Thomas has felt alone most of his life, his only companions the musical creatures that he can see but others can't. Wealth, talent, charisma, good looks, and fame conceal the eighteen-year-old's lingering pain following the loss of his parents. His music is his bridge to the world, and his favorite form of connection. A chance meetin...

Sarah speaks with Cindy Callaghan about her middle grade book, My Big Heart-Shaped Fail: "In this hourly time-stamped, action-packed tween comedy of errors, Abby Gray, feeling weighed down by her secrets and lies, lets five balloons float into the sky with her deepest secrets attached to them in a desperate attempt to clear her conscience. Her relief is short-lived, though: the next day, those bal...

Sarah speaks with Nuzo Onoh about her horror novel, A Dance For the Dead: "On a moon-lit night, Diké , heir to the Kingdom and leader of the terrifying warrior cult, the Ogwumii, falls asleep inside his bedroom. He wakes up to find himself trapped within the secret shrine of the village deity, a dark cave forbidden to all save the powerful witchdoctors. Overnight, the mighty warrior-prince becomes...

Sarah speaks with Charles Breakfield and Rox Burkey about the first book in their new techno-thriller series, Enigma Tracer: "Phillip Pliant is the wealthy opportunist plastics dealer, and CEO of Pliant Industries. He’s also a master thief—creating a pervasive threat to the manufacturing infrastructure in the Caribbean islands markets. With the cartel as his stealth client, the naïve city leaders...

Sarah speaks with Kelle Z. Riley about the two newest books in her Riches and Royals series, Reluctantly Royal: "racie lost her father, her sister's friendship, and her confidence in a single night. Now, her academic research in her sister's new home—the Kingdom of Melesia—gives Gracie a second chance. But when she falls in love with the king's brother, she'll have to risk both her heart and her p...

Sarah speaks with Victory Witherkeigh about her young adult dark fantasy/horror novel, The Girl: "It is the year 1521. A blood-red moon sets the stage on the evening of April twenty-six on the Philippine island of Mactan. This night, famed chief, LapuLapu, and his men discuss the terms given to them by a man, Magellan of Spain, who arrived on a large wooden ship. LapuLapu leads his people in a def...

Sarah speaks to Elisa Bernick about her memoir, Departure Stories: Betty Crocker Made Matzoh Balls (and other lies): "Elisa Bernick grew up "different" (i.e., Jewish) in the white, Christian suburb of New Hope, Minnesota during the 1960s and early 1970s. At the center of her world was her mother, Arlene, who was a foul-mouthed, red-headed, suburban Samson who ultimately shook the walls of their fa...

Sarah speaks with Elizabeth Winthrop Alsop about her memoir, Daughter of Spies: Wartime Secrets, Family Lies: "s a child, Elizabeth Winthrop Alsop, along with her five brothers, was raised to revere the tribal legends of the Alsop and Roosevelt families. Her parents' marriage, lived in the spotlight of 1950s Washington where the author's father, journalist Stewart Alsop, grew increasingly famous,...

Sarah speaks with Roger Leslie about his memoir, Light Come Out of the Closet: Memoir of a Gay Soul: "How do we live with a God, or ourselves, if who we are dooms us to Hell? As a joyful boy who realized I was gay,I fought for my happiness and faith as prejudices of family and religion isolated me from the world. Battered and withdrawn, could I rediscover the God of love I first learned about as a...

Sarah speaks with Kirsty Loehr about her book A Short History of Queer Women: "No, they weren’t ‘just friends’! Queer women have been written out of history since, well, forever. ‘But historians famously care about women!’, said no one. From Anne Bonny and Mary Read who sailed the seas together disguised as pirates, to US football captain Megan Rapinoe declaring ‘You can’t win a championship witho...

Sarah speaks with D.A. Mucci about the second book in his Ignatius series, Ignatius and the Battle of Dinas Affaraon: "The sweat pours from his brow…as Iggy forges a sword from a meteorite. Will it be the weapon to save them? As the evil and obsessed Emperor Mallak plans to kill Iggy for his crystal amulet, Iggy is distracted by Raraesa. His crush makes it hard to focus, but he’s becoming a master...