Pages & Paws

Monthly Archives: October 2026


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6 Authors We’re Keeping an Eye (and a Paw) On!

Kimber the Magnificent here. Being all Beautiful and Brilliant. Again. Still.

Today I’m here to tell you about some new authors we recently discovered. That are really, really good. Talented writers. Gifted storytellers. The kind who know how to craft a book so skillfully and subtly that they pull you in from Chapter 1. And don’t let go until the final page.

Some of these authors you’ve probably already heard of. They’ve been around awhile. Mom may have recently whisked them into a Buck a Bag library sale. Grabbed them off a dusty Used Book shelf. Or just decided to take a chance on an author we’ve never read before. Sometimes we’re pleasantly surprised. Other times? Not so much.

Anywho, some of these titles are by relatively unknown indie authors who deserve to be well-known. Others are by established “traditional press” authors who’ve been around awhile. They’re just “new” to Mom and me. And other dinosaurs who don’t get out much. (Don’t tell Mom I said that, okay?)

From memoir to action/adventure to suspense thrillers to kid lit, these are all books we thoroughly enjoyed. And recommend. By authors we’re gonna revisit. For sure.

So here, in no particular order, are six of our new-to-us favorite authors we’re keeping an eye and a paw on:

Set in war-torn Germany, this is the true story of a new mother struggling to protect and care for her infant son during the final days of World War II. As her country collapses around her, Katharina Berger steals a few moments between her son’s birth in 1944 to November 1945 to record what she sees, hears, experiences, and feels.

It is one of the most remarkable WWII memoirs we’ve ever read.

Read our full review here.

What if terrorists hijacked a brand new U.S. merchant ship and m^redered its crew, but the President refused to retaliate? What if the Commander in Chief was unwilling to use America’s military might to defend and protect Americans citizens from attack? What if Congress used a long-forgotten power in the Constitution to authorize military action without the President’s approval?

An expert blend of political thriller and high stakes military “poker,” Balance of Power kept us turning pages into the wee hours!

Bonus points: Much of the action takes place in a U.S. Navy battle group. But it’s clean. So extra points there.

Written by a Top Gun grad and naval flight officer.

Still My Mom is a raw, tender, and honest memoir about loving someone through Alzheimer’s. It is about grief that arrives before death, the strange ache of missing someone who is still here, and the work families do when the person they love begins to change.

Read our full review here.

Brimming with wit, wisdom, and whimsy, The Promised Queen is as satisfying as a warm slice of chocolate cake, fresh from the oven. Drenched in chocolate fudge sauce and a nice big dollop of vanilla ice cream. With a banana split chaser.

Kimber: Don’t forget a perfectly cooked filet mignon with a side of crispy bacon the size of Alaska.

Mom: You eat what you want and I’ll eat what I want, okay?

Here’s our full review.

Could a prolific k^ller be hiding in plain sight? How far will that person go to keep his many crimes hidden – and keep on k^lling?

Arizona County sheriff Joanna Brady faces her biggest case yet when a body found in the desert leads to the discovery of crimes spanning decades and the entire United States. (We felt like this suspense thriller was a bit overlong. The author could’ve taken multiple off-ramps that would’ve made sense before she finally exits the freeway. Even so, it’s still a pretty good suspense story.)

“Syd” (or Sydney) is a precocious nine-year old girl. She lives in Virginia with her Dad, Dr. Gardener, and her fabulous blue heeler, Goose. Dr. Garndener is a scientist. When he asks Syd if she and Goose would like to join him on a hiking/’backpacking/camping trip to inspect insect damage to Eastern Hemlocks, Syd doesn’t have to be asked twice. She and Goose are packed up and ready to go before you can say “Bow Wow” in this delightful children’s story by Danielle Simone.

***

Wait. Is that a Brontosaurus?

What new talented authors have you recently discovered?


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Why ‘Adventures of Syd’ Will Get You Outdoors in Record Time

The Adventures of Syd: A Trail of Trouble

By Danielle Simone (Creative Minds Publications, 2024)

Genre: Juvenile Fiction –  Nature/Science.

Pages (Print): 82

Via: Author request

Note: We received a complimentary copy of this book for honest review.

Kimber: You know that Julie Andrews tune? The one from that “Music Sound” movie thingy? Where Julie, as “Fraulien Maria,” is waxing lyrical about a few of her favorite things? That’s kinda what this book is like.

“Syd” (or Sydney) is a precocious nine-year old girl. She lives in Virginia with her Dad, Dr. Gardener, and her fabulous blue heeler, Goose. Dr. Garndener is a scientist. When he asks Syd if she and Goode would like to join him on a hiking/backpacking/camping trip to inspect insect damage to Eastern Hemlocks, Syd doesn’t have to be asked twice. She and Goose are packed up and ready to go before you can say “Bow Wow” in this delightful children’s story by Danielle Simone.

Syd, Goose, and Syd’s dad soon hit the trails of Nelson County, Virginia. Dr. Gardener is on assignment to find out what is attacking Hemlock trees, a sign of global warming. Unfortunately, trouble meets them all along the hike thanks to mishaps with animals, nature, and camping locations. Will Syd and her dog overcome these obstacles to help Dr. Gardener discover the cause of the attack?

This book includes family togetherness. Learning about nature and recreating responsibly. Why non-native plant and animal species are problematic. Camping and campfires. Goose’s “dog cave.” Why stinging nettle is not your friend. Why mud and “onion cups” are. Throw, flick, lift, throw. (Mom: “I’m seein’ Paulie and A River Runs Through It here.) Leave no trace camping. DIY vanilla pudding. Also “instant grits.” (Kimber: I guess hoomans actually eat that stuff?)

There’s also some botany. Nature. Hiking and history. Camping! The Appalachian Trail! Science, astronomy, engineering, and map reading skills. Even a little Latin. (Kimber: See? A few of our favorite things….)

This story is like a sunny afternoon at the park — short enough to fit between lunch and dinner, but packed with learning, adventure, and discoveries that stay in your head all day. With short, easily digestible sentences and a clever, engaging plot, The Adventures of Syd is a  green‑thumb adventure young readers can finish in an afternoon or less. It would make an excellent read-aloud or bedtime story as well as a springboard for further discussion about science and nature. It would also make a welcome addition to any school or home library.

The Adventures of Syd is Book I in the Adventures of Syd series. We loved it! You will, too!

Our Rating: 4.5


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Circuits & Snark: Our Take on ‘I’m a Weapon’

I’m a Weapon

By Sean Robins (Indie author, 2026)

Genre: Fiction – Sci Fi/Space Opera

Pages (Print): 235

Via: Author request

Note: We received a complimentary copy of this book for honest review.

“Come with me if you want to live.”

Can an android be more “human” than a human? I’m a Robot probes that question and more in this creative and quick new title by Sean Robins.

The Basics:

Thirty-one minutes after coming online, a Series-9 combat android finds himself in a muddy trench, surrounded by artillery fire, corpses, terrified soldiers, and a command structure making decisions so catastrophically stupid they should probably qualify as enemy action.

When a panicked officer orders him to charge into a kill box and die usefully, the android does the one thing he was never designed to do.

He says no.

That single act of defiance turns him from military asset to dangerous anomaly. Hunted by the empire that created him, he is forced to flee across a war-torn world where obedience means death, freedom is mostly inconvenient, and the rebels he was built to kill may be the only people willing to see him as something more than a weapon.

Now, with the brutal Hegemony tightening its grip and entire worlds paying the price for rebellion, he must decide what he really is: a machine following corrupted programming, a soldier choosing his own orders, or the first spark of something the empire cannot control.

First

First thing you may want to look up Sweet Stuff, if you haven’t already, is the word “hegemony.”  It basically means leadership or dominance, especially by one state or social group over others. Think The Capitol in The Hunger Games and you’re pretty close.

Second

Next, the main character in this book is an anomaly. Meaning something that deviates from what is standard, normal, or expected.

So, when said newly-minted combat android is given a suicidal order by a newly-minted, terror-stricken Hegemony lieutenant that’s “just panic wearing command insignia and hoping volume will do the work of thought,” the android refuses to obey – “on the grounds of stupidity.”

That’s an anomaly. A big one.

But wait. It gets worse. Or better, depending on how you look at it.

Hybrid

Said android, later christened “Jack,” is sort of a C3PO and The Terminator meet Soldier hybrid. With a bit of Groot. And some Tuvia Bielski here. (Look it up again, Jack.) He not only disobeys direct orders. Jack also takes initiative. Thinks. Makes jokes. But the longer Jack is alone, the less soul-less he seems to become. In fact, Jack is personally insulted when he’s referred to as a “weapon, thing, chrome, m^urder android and ‘you there.’” He explains it’s “de-humanizing”. Or is that “de-android zing”?  (Kimber: We’re talkin’ MAJOR anomaly here. Kinda like trying to explain trigonometry to the neighborhood fluff ball.)

Well. The Hegemony doesn’t do anomalies. It destroys them.

Speaking of destroying, while Jack searches for power cells to recharge his system, he comes across some of the Hegemony’s “First Order” troops engaged in “Civic pacification operations.” Read: M^rdering unarmed civilians.

“Unexpected”

When Jack prevents First Order troopers from m^urdering a family of three, it’s… Well, “unexpected” is the understatement of the millennia. Because in the First Order universe, combat units don’t threaten First Order troopers. Combat units follow orders. Obey commands. They do not stop executions of unarmed civilians. And the units certainly don’t have feelings. Wait. Has Jack  developed a conscience? A moral code? If so, how? Where? Why? When? From what or who? And how will that play out when Jack, newly classified as a “rogue Series-9,” decides to join the rebellion?

So. Wazzup, Jack?

High Energy

The high-energy plot is lithe and agile, with Border Collie-like reflexes (hello, Kimber!). But sometimes it flexes – or moves – a little too quickly. Like, some of the action scenes are almost frenetic, rarely giving readers a chance to breathe or get their bearings.

We would’ve liked to have seen a bit more character development in secondary characters. That includes Tavon, a college history professor rescued by Jack. Daven, a former member of the Planetary Defense Force. And Lira, Jack’s daughter.

Oops

I’m a Robot includes gratuitous profanity. As defined by us. And as we’ve said like a million times, we don’t do gratuitous profanity. So, demerits there. Additionally, it sometimes feels like you’re being hit over the head with some of the philosophical underpinnings written into the plot. We prefer a more subtle touch, allowing us to ruminate on and form our own conclusions.

Smart

That being said, this book is smart. Sassy. Snarky. Some of the finest, funniest parts of the story are Jack’s assessments of human traits and idiosyncrasies. Delivered dead-pan. As only an android – or a canine – can, presumably. It also includes one of the most entertaining About the Author sections we’ve ever read.

Devilishly clever, the writing is also quite brilliant in places. Like a sweet, furry face we all know and love.

Note: The volume of I’m a Robot which we received is actually two books in one. We are only reviewing Book 1 in the Anomaly series here. There are seven books in the series.

Kimber: What exactly is “Vantanium,” anyway?

Our Rating: 3.0

Kimber: Clean it up, Bub, and you may get a higher score.


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Why THIS WWII Memoir Kept Us Up at Night

To Steal a Moment’s Time: A Memoir

By Katharina Berger with G.J. Berger (Acorn Publishing, 2023)

Pages (print): 216

Genre: Nonfiction – Memoir/World War II

Via: Author Request

Note: We received a complimentary copy of this book for honest review.

“The sun warms. Enveloped in pine trees we are again in the forest, the beautiful Thüringer Wald. Baby is lying in his carriage, and I am lying on soft thick moss sunning myself. The sky is dark blue, high and glorious. One must have visited hell to be able to see heaven as it really is.” – Katharina Berger

Some books you read. Others you experience. To Steal a Moment’s Time is the latter.

The Basics:

On the brink of World War II, Katharina Berger was the most sought-after stage and film actress in Germany. As many of her colleagues fled Hitler’s madness and the devastation of war, Katharina stayed and gave birth to a healthy baby boy in 1944. From evading Nazi fanatics and helping Jews escape, to scrounging for food and shelter as she searched for her missing husband, she journaled during her son’s first year of life, surviving on the small thread of hope that she and her child might live to see a better world.

Kimber: Mom and I have read, like a zillion books about World War II. Enough to sink a battleship. Fiction. Non-fiction. Historical fiction. All points in between. To Steal a Moment’s Time stands alone. Here’s why (the short version):

Courage and Hope

This is a story about courage and hope. To Steal a Moment’s Time is the true story of a mother trying to protect and care for her infant son during the final days of World War II. As her country collapses around her, Katharina Berger steals a few moments between 1944 and November 1945 to record what she sees, hears, experiences, and feels. The story is told in four parts. Part I is A Newborn in a Time of War. Part II is Running in Hell. Part III is Combat Too Close. Part IV is The Trek.

Packed with power and pathos, this compilation of diary entries penned by a new mother is a quiet rebellion against forgetting, a tapestry of valor and light stitched by sacrifice and forged in steel. In these pages Katharina reflects on how a war she never agreed with has ravaged most everything she holds dear as she fights for the life of her only son, Georg, while desperately searching for her solider husband.

The Telling

To Steal a Moment’s Time is a haunting, lyrical testament to maternal love operating in the shadow of total collapse. Told by the co-author’s mother, this memoir chronicles the stark contrast between fragile new life and the volent death throes of the Third Reich. From damp, overcrowded air raid shelters to constant hunger to desperate evacuations, every page charts a cartography of endurance calibrated in ounces of milk, drops of Vigantol, a squeaky baby carriage, boiling diapers, and grating carrots. It includes layers of exhaustion. Cold. Hunger. Fear. Darkness. Confusion. Chaos. Russians marching on Berlin. Death, deprivation, and desolation. The kindness and generosity of American soldiers.

Translated from the original German, the writing is starkly luminous. It tears a beautiful wound in the fabric of time, capturing love and loss like starlight among ruins.

Truth: We could not sit down to draft a review of this book for several days after finishing it. It kept rolling around in our heads. Echoing. Reverberating. Sneaking up on us in the middle of the night and knocking on our hearts.

Remarkable

Thus, we won’t be rating this book. It doesn’t feel right. But we will say that To Steal a Moment’s Time is one of the most remarkable memoirs we’ve ever read, battleships notwithstanding.

Kimber: I’d grab a copy now ‘fize you, Buster.