Glad you asked. The answer is cuz I’M SO EXCITED!!
Mom: Kimber, that’s not new. You’re always excited. Just likd you love everyone. (Except maybe the neighborhood powder puff. But let’s not get picky here, okay?)
Kimber: I know. But Im soooo happy and super excited! Cuz its a favorite time of year! As in, Spring! New life! Warmer weather! Trees budding! Mud drying! Burgers on the barbie… What?
Oh yeah. Spring. And Easter! Oh yes. Oh Yes. OH YES! Like this:
They thought it was over. Friday felt like a final defeat. But Sunday morning was just getting started.
Cuz Easter isn’t just a story. It’s the Most Momentous Event in Human History. The Ultimate Triumph. The Everlasting Hope. Easter changes everything.
And one of our favorite books celebrating Easter is pretty new. In fact, it was released just last year by indie author Caleb Backholm. It’s called Two Weeks Till Sunday.
You know it’s Pawsome cuz we say so. It also garnered a very rare 5.0.
Kimber: Jackpot! It’s a beautiful spring day. The sun is shining. The sky is a perfect bowl of blue. The neighbor’s cat is visiting relatives elsewhere. And Her Grumpiness is only half as grumpy as usual.
What a deal!
Speaking of “deals,” I’ve got a two-fer for you today. Sort of. One’s a “repeat surprise.” I’ll let Her Grumpiness tell us about that in a min. So kindly keep your shirt on, okay? The other is a Second Sigh. As in, we loved the author’s first book but this second one is a stinker. Which is why Her Grumpiness is only half as grumpy as…
Well, wait. Here she is now.Mom, is that the second or third bowl of cookies ’n cream ice cream? “Mind your own beeswax;” Mom chirps.
By Lili Cyr-Robillard (Kenos Publishing, November 2025)
Genre: YA/Fiction – Fantasy
Pages (print): 304
Via: Author request
Note: We received a complimentary copy of this book for honest review.
What happens after we die? What’s on the other side?
Up to his shackled ankles in corpses, at the lip of the Pit of the Forgotten, twelve-year-old Glaguel wants to know the answers to these questions. And more. You will too in Lili Cyr-Robillard ambitious and absorbing new fantasy, The Forbidden River.
It’s one of the finest fantasies we’ve read in years. Here’s the 4-1-1:
We received a complimentary copy of this book for honest review.
“I don’t know what to think of this book,” spake Her Royal Momness the other day. “It’s not like anything we’ve ever read.”
“Welp,” says I, Kimber the Magnificent. “There you go again, Mom. Thinking on an empty stomach.” (You’d think she’d learn, right?)
Anyway. This book arrived in our mailbox last spring-ish. Or maybe it was summer? We were buried under a metric ton of other stuff and set it aside. It got buried under another ton of other stuff. And was recently excavated. So here’s the 4-1-1:
Peacemaker the Labradane is “black, lanky, and large.” He has one “Achilles’ heel”: Loyalty. He’s also the star of this show. So we like it a lot already, thank you very much.
Now. The’s an old In-Between Land prophecy about a fearless black dog and two “enablers.” (Aka: “Klutzes.” Aka: Humans Malcolm and his friend, Eve.) “Peace” and one other dog are the only ones with enough courage to face infinite evil and save everyone, everywhere.
Kimber: Peace is probably a cousin. I know we’re related. No doubt about it.
When Malcom, Eve, Peacemaker and Gruffy stumble upon a “farm pond”, everything goes sideways. Unleashed by the stout-hearted by impetuous Peacemaker, “whimsical forces” drag Malcolm and Eve away from Earth and into In-Between Land where the adventure unfolds. While traveling through a mountainous landscape of ancient lore, the Earthlings learn that the future of all worlds within the continuum depends on their ability to defeat the demonic evil that has invaded In-Between Land.
So. The future of pretty much everything and everyone is in the paws of one black, lanky, and large Labradane and his faithful friend, Phantom.
Kimber: Best place to be in the midst of an ‘epic conflict’!
Still not quite sure what to make of this book. It’s quirky. Witty. Clever. It also sags in the middle and feels overlong in places. It defies genre pigeon-holing. You might call it a “silly fantasy.” Or an “epic fairy tale.” An adventure story. A dog-ish book. Or a trip to Neverland via Narnia and Middle Earth. Add a chaser of Oz on the side. And a spur trail into Star Trek. The text includes nods to Germanic/Norse origin or mythology with chapter headings like Odin’s Day, Thor’s Day, Freya’s Day, etc. (Yeah. We noticed.)
Top-Notch
The writing is top-notch. With just the right amount of sass and spunk. Besides. Who can resist words like “globulous agglomeration”? “Mucilaginous.” Sentences like, “A stench of wickedness accompanied the silence.” Or “Beware of chicanery and desolation if you chose to proceed.” There’s also The Anthology of Erudition. The Compendium of Catastrophe. The Tenets of Antephsyics and Subliminal Simulacrums. World tunneling. A rift in the continuum. The Managerial Reserve and the Kingdom of Deletion. And that’s just for starters! Delish! Indeed, the clever word play and labyrinthian plot twists in this delightful fantasy adventure are so “out of the box,” they’re in a completely different world!
And that’s the whole point. Or at least part of it.
Clever
This imaginative, clever tale brims with originality and sparkles with rapier wit. Beautifully written with rich, robust language, the story features impressive world-building skills and an imagination that registers somewhere in the stratosphere. It’s a riotous romp through a dazzling fantasy world and a host of fantastic creatures. These include Weewuns (“gnomes” to you hoomans). Sasquatch. Evil Lizard Number One. A mouthy unicorn named Mr. Corny. A shape-shifting witch named Irene. Zinger the loquacious bunny. Seedub. The Weewuns who administrate In-Between Land. Villain extraordinaire, Ahrem. There’s even a “lazy gray cat” named Gruffy (nobody’s perfect.) Many more.
The story is metafictional. You’ll find the author popping in and out of the story here and there. Some readers will love this technique. Others may find it jarring or disruptive. Just sayin’.
The story takes some time to get rolling and the timeline can get bumpy. We got a little lost in the opening chapters. (Kimber:Mom had a hole in her breadcrumbs pocket. Silly Mom!)
Issues
A story synopsis or book blurb on the back cover or the inside jacket flap would be a big plus. Absent both, readers and potential readers don’t really get much on an idea of what they’re in for when opening page 1. Except for what can be deduced from the cover art. So a story synopsis would make a welcome addition.
On the whole, Farm Pond is a whole lotta fun, empty stomach or not. (Note: Sometimes raw mushrooms aren’t half-bad. Except when they need salt. “And cheese. And bacon.” Just ask Eve.)
By Jessica Fletcher & Terrie Farley Moran (Thorndike Press, 2023)
Genre: Fiction – Murder Mystery
Via: library
Pages (Print) 382
Kimber here. Telling you we weren’t going to do a “St. Patrick’s Day post.” Were not. Were not. WERE NOT!! But then…
This here “murder mystery” thingy sorta jumped off the shelf at The Book Place and landed in Mom’s book bag. Funny how that happens sometimes. But a cozy mystery by Jessica “J.B.” Fletcher set in Ireland? Well. Who can resist that? Especially on St. Patrick’s Day. So here we are.
“Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy. “Safe?” said Mr. Beaver. “Don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ’Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.” (Emphasis added.)
– C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
Margaret Sparhawk is a young, idealistic American missionary in this compelling Christian fiction by former missionary and best-selling author Elisabeth Elliot. Margaret travels to Ecuador to reach the Quichua Indians of the Andes Mountains. At first, she feels displaced. But per Matthew 28:19-20, Margaret (“Margarita”) is certain she belongs there. “I am under orders” she says to herself.
So Mom and I received a copy of this book as part of a book blog tour like, a hundred years ago. Or somethin’. It arrived too late for us to read and review it fairly. We require a lead time of at least two weeks. Minimum. This title arrived outside that time frame. By about a werk and a half. So we passed. Added it to The Resident Leaning Towers of Pisa. Aka: Our book shelves.
And it got buried. Forgotten. For years. (The book. Not Pisa, okay?)
Silly Mom!
Then one of us – the one with brains but no opposable thumbs – excavated it the other day. Kimber the Magnificent to the rescue once again! (Kimber: How Mom ever manages this book bloggy thing, I’ll never know. Good thing she has me to keep things on track! And do most of the brainwork. Don’t tell Mom I said that, okay?)
So here we are. Better late than never. (Hi, Mom) So let’s get to it, shall we? Like:
Genre: Christian historical fiction, Christian romance
Pages (print): 452
Set amid the feral beauty of the 1880s Pacific Northwest, An Echo of Courage is Book Two in the Columbia River series. We like, Totally Love-ified the first book, A Father’s Dream. (See our review here.) This one? Not so much. We’ll get to that in a min. So kindly keep your hair on, Cupcake. First, here’s a synopsis:
The Columbia River, 1885. After a devastating accident, Pauel Oman faces constant pain and an uncertain future. Once the dependable one, he now wonders if his life holds any meaning. Yet through his sister’s stubborn care, his best friend’s sharp humor, and the steady presence of a wolf named Essa light and hope begin to return. Pauel learns that courage is not found in grand heroics, but in the daily choice to believe again.
We hear that much of the U.S. is jacketed in snow. And wearing icy pajamas. But Mom and I? One of us is breaking out the iced tea and A/C. Here’s why:
Where’s the iced tea?
J.A. Jance’s Exit Wounds is that rare kind of “immersion” where you forget your own address but can recite the protagonist’s entire personal history without even trying.
The 4-1-1
Is the sudden death of a jail inmate linked to the murder of a reclusive woman who lived in a dilapidated mobile home with 17 dogs? What about two other dead women in New Mexico? Are the women’s murders linked by an 85 year-old bullet? How? And the vehicular homicide in Silver Creek, AZ? Is a serial killer loose in Sheriff Joanna Brady’s county? Is a “surprise” family announcement coming from the Bradys? Will Joanna’s stay-at-home hubby’s first novel ever sell? And what about the dirty tricksher opponent is cooking up as the sheriff’s re-election campaign heats up?
A powerful tale about the darkest corners of human nature and unseen wounds that never heal… Much more.
Skillful writing. Pitch-perfect pacing. Sturdy, three-dimensional characters that almost stand up and walk. The scent of summer rain. A plot with more twists than Lombard Street. And dogs! All make Exit Wounds unputdownable so far.
So, hey! It may be winter. Much of the country may be in a deep freeze. But reading this fast-paced mystery/suspense/thriller, one of us is sweating with this edge-of-your-seat Whodunit set in Cochise County, Arizona. In July.
So if anyone needs Mom or me, we’ll be in our blanket fort. Living inside these pages until further notice. While sipping iced tea (Hi, Mom.)
What’s the last book that made you a ‘functional’ ghost in your own life?
If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it 100 times: We do honest book reviews here. If we love your book, we say so. If we hate your book, we say so. We have like, standards. And every once in awhile we come across a “book” that’s so bad, so supremely cringeworthy, so genuinely awful, it’s enough to make our hair ache. We let you know about said stinkers so’s you don’t waste your time on them.
Kimber: Consider it a Public Service Announcement.
Search for a Stone Cold Killer by “Professor” Alan Dale Dickinson is the worst book we’ve read in recent memory. Yea, verily. If Eau de Skunk was an Olympic sport, this stinker would bring home gold. Here’s why (the short version):
Pages & Paws 