HFC AWARDS BOOK REVIEWS 3/45

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Memories of Sicily Into the Heart of America - an Editorial Review of "My Sicilian Father"

Memories of Sicily Into the Heart of America - an Editorial Review of "My Sicilian Father"

Memories of Sicily Into the Heart of America - an Editorial Review of "My Sicilian Father"

Book Blurb: My Sicilian Father is a sweeping, multi-generational historical novel that traces the odyssey of a Sicilian immigrant family as they navigate the trials, triumphs, and transformations of 20th century America. Beginning in the sun-drenched hills of Sicily, where olive groves and stone villages whisper of centuries of tradition, the narrative follows a proud patriarch who leaves behind his ancestral homeland in search of opportunity across the Atlantic. His journey

Mar 148 min read

The Women Who Refused Confinement - an Editorial Review of "Abandoning the Script" by Linda Rosen

The Women Who Refused Confinement - an Editorial Review of "Abandoning the Script" by Linda Rosen

The Women Who Refused Confinement - an Editorial Review of "Abandoning the Script" by Linda Rosen

Book Blurb: "Engaging and immersive, Rosen delivers a deeply moving plot with a heartfelt conclusion." -Rochelle Weinstein, bestselling author of We Are Made of Stars Lucy never wanted the life that's been thrust upon her-the wedding band or the baby in the crib. A woman of ambition, she longs to pursue her dreams on stage, but her husband insists on locking her in a gilded cage under his control. And in 1922, alternatives are almost nonexistent and certainly not acceptable,

Mar 126 min read

In the Shadows, There is Truth - an Editorial Review of "Dual Convergence: Witness to History"

In the Shadows, There is Truth - an Editorial Review of "Dual Convergence: Witness to History"

In the Shadows, There is Truth - an Editorial Review of "Dual Convergence: Witness to History"

Book Blurb: In Umbra, Veritas “In the shadows, there is truth.” Teddy, known to some as "Bull," short for "Bull Moose," for how he charges into battle, carries the same name. He wears the same medal. The spirit of the Rough Rider, Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, 1st U.S.V., walks beside him. U.S. Army Colonel Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt IV (Ret.) — Special Forces, Vietnam Veteran, former covert operative, Medal of Honor recipient, and great-nephew of the 26th President—

Mar 116 min read

Secrets Are a Matter of Survival - an Editorial Review of "The Seer"

Secrets Are a Matter of Survival - an Editorial Review of "The Seer"

Secrets Are a Matter of Survival - an Editorial Review of "The Seer"

Book Blurb: "A passionate, heartwarming novel that effortlessly imbues its historical setting with elements of magical realism...An engrossing, touching novel, perfect for lovers of women's fiction." -- Kirkus Reviews In 1890s Missouri, secrets are a matter of survival. Clairvoyant Sarah Richardson screams as her older sister Katherine is forced into a straitjacket and thrust into a carriage bound for the St. Louis City Lunatic Asylum. She is devastated to learn Katherine has

Mar 96 min read

This is not Washington, This is Rome. An Editorial Review of "My Agrippa" by William Twersky

This is not Washington, This is Rome. An Editorial Review of "My Agrippa" by William Twersky

This is not Washington, This is Rome. An Editorial Review of "My Agrippa" by William Twersky

Book Blurb: Old certainties have vanished. Laws are flouted, norms discarded. The Senate, once the Republic’s proudest institution, cowers under the shadow of brute force. This is not Washington. This is Rome, 27 BCE. As Rome bleeds itself dry with civil wars and ruthless ambition, two figures who were previously relegated to historical footnotes fight to hold things together. Octavia, sister to Rome’s rising first emperor, and Agrippa, that emperor’s loyal friend and brillia

Mar 95 min read

A Test of Courage in a Country Tearing Itself Apart - an Editorial Review of "The Woman Who Drew a War"

A Test of Courage in a Country Tearing Itself Apart - an Editorial Review of "The Woman Who Drew a War"

A Test of Courage in a Country Tearing Itself Apart - an Editorial Review of "The Woman Who Drew a War"

Book Blurb: She survived a war by drawing it. The cost was everything else. Pulled from an ordinary life into the violent undercurrents of a nation at war, Isabella’s rare talent for drawing becomes both her refuge and her danger. What begins as a means of survival soon draws her into a hidden world of secret commissions, shifting loyalties, and constant risk, where a single sketch can mean protection, betrayal, or death. As armed conflict spreads, Isabella is forced to move

Feb 265 min read

Staying Ahead of a Kill Order - an Editorial Review of "Burn Notice"

Staying Ahead of a Kill Order - an Editorial Review of "Burn Notice"

Staying Ahead of a Kill Order - an Editorial Review of "Burn Notice"

Book Blurb: "In the shadows, there is truth." It’s 1984, at the height of the Cold War, and Colonel Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt IV is a man on the run. A Special Forces legend, fourth-generation soldier, and great-nephew of a president, he led a team of CIA ghosts into the darkest corners of Southeast Asia. When Colonel Roosevelt refused to carry out the last phase of a top-secret mission, powerful men buried him under fabricated charges. The road to redemption is treacherous.

Feb 246 min read

The Scars We Earn, the Homes We Build - an Editorial Review of "Delivering Apple Pie"

The Scars We Earn, the Homes We Build - an Editorial Review of "Delivering Apple Pie"

The Scars We Earn, the Homes We Build - an Editorial Review of "Delivering Apple Pie"

Book Blurb: "A kaleidoscopic tale set around World War II with an international cast of characters. Intrigue and color abound… this is well-researched fiction and the scenes feel authentic. A finely detailed war novel with an outsize cast." - Kirkus Reviews Delivering Apple Pie interweaves the lives of several fictional characters between 1940 and 1963, from the war in the Pacific into postwar suburbia and the baby boom. Claire forges a strong personal identity during WW2 in

Feb 225 min read

The Axis Rules in an Alternate WWII - an Editorial Review of "Wolves at the Gate"

The Axis Rules in an Alternate WWII - an Editorial Review of "Wolves at the Gate"

The Axis Rules in an Alternate WWII - an Editorial Review of "Wolves at the Gate"

Book Blurb: Lieutenant Jim Fraser was, in turns, eager and terrified. His Baker Company led the American offensive to liberate Charleston, but would his wife, Florrie, and their twin girls trapped behind German lines survive the coming battle? Wolves at the Gate is the first of a series of three alternative history thrillers from Bart Stark imagining another World War II. Due to a twist of history during his youth, Adolf Hitler turns west and out to sea against England and t

Feb 215 min read

A Robbery Gone Perfectly Wrong - an Editorial Review of "Love and Money"

A Robbery Gone Perfectly Wrong - an Editorial Review of "Love and Money"

A Robbery Gone Perfectly Wrong - an Editorial Review of "Love and Money"

Book Blurb: 'Tis a truth universally acknowledged that a gentleman in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. However, our Hero is in possession of no fortune whatsoever. And thus, we have a History to relate... 1865. Somerset. Love and Money , those twin pillars upon which the precarious edifice of Mortal Existence rests, have rarely been more at odds. For Mr Francis Sheringham — a libertine whose charm is far more substantial than his purse — desperate tim

Feb 197 min read

A Boston-based American Captured by Muslim Pirates - an Editorial Review of "An American Slave in Barbary"

A Boston-based American Captured by Muslim Pirates - an Editorial Review of "An American Slave in Barbary"

A Boston-based American Captured by Muslim Pirates - an Editorial Review of "An American Slave in Barbary"

Book Blurb: A Homeric American Novel An American Slave in Barbary: The Odyssey of Winston Prescott Jones is the story of a first-generation American student whose commercial ship is captured in the summer of 1801 by Muslim pirates. He spends the next sixteen years as a captive in Algiers. He rises to become a confidant to the Dey of Algiers, who is desperate to know what made the American shopkeepers and farmers believe they could defeat the British war machine, and how they

Feb 75 min read

Wrestling for Control of Miami Beach in the 1920s - an Editorial Review of "The Fight for Miami"

Wrestling for Control of Miami Beach in the 1920s - an Editorial Review of "The Fight for Miami"

Wrestling for Control of Miami Beach in the 1920s - an Editorial Review of "The Fight for Miami"

Book Blurb: A gangster. A dreamer. One city up for grabs. In The Fight for Miami , award-winning author Joseph Kovler delivers a pulse-pounding historical thriller set in the glitter and grit of 1920s-30s Miami Beach - where the American Dream goes to war with the American Underworld. Al Capone, fresh from Chicago's bloody empire, sees Miami as his next conquest. Carl Fisher, the visionary who built the city from sand and swamp, will risk everything to keep it a "sundown town

Feb 54 min read

Growing Up in Communist China - an Editorial Review of "The Winding Dirt Road"

Growing Up in Communist China - an Editorial Review of "The Winding Dirt Road"

Growing Up in Communist China - an Editorial Review of "The Winding Dirt Road"

Book Blurb: Hoarded in the depth of memories of the past decades, this has been a work long overdue. Written as an antithesis to all first-hand and second-hand propaganda written by both Chinese and foreign writers for China in the good part of 20th century in a fictional form, this collection, through different times and lands, gives insights into how human docile nature and characteristics are manipulated and brought about cultural and social corrosion over the century. The

Feb 34 min read

A Blast From the Past to 1980 - an Editorial Review of "The Right Time"

A Blast From the Past to 1980 - an Editorial Review of "The Right Time"

A Blast From the Past to 1980 - an Editorial Review of "The Right Time"

Book Blurb: “In The Right Time: Back to the 80s , Lena Gibson deftly blends women’s fiction, romance, and magical realism to craft a can’t-miss story of love and identity.” –Travis Tougaw, author of the Marcotte/Collins Investigative Thrillers Thirty-year-old Andie is struggling. Despite a fresh start—escaping an abusive ex and making a new home—her old life reaches out to reclaim her. In desperation, she makes a wish and slips back in time. The 80s are safer and have a reput

Feb 17 min read

A-Bomb Tests and the Effect on Children in the 1950s - an Editorial Review of "Then Came the Summer Snow"

A-Bomb Tests and the Effect on Children in the 1950s - an Editorial Review of "Then Came the Summer Snow"

A-Bomb Tests and the Effect on Children in the 1950s - an Editorial Review of "Then Came the Summer Snow"

Book Blurb: Edith Higgenbothum is a 1950s housewife and mother in the “atomic town” of Richland, Washington. Edith’s husband, Herbert, is an engineer at Hanford, a secretive federal atomic weapons facility just north of town. Edith’s world, which is enshrouded in the myths, prejudices, and delusions of 1950s America, is thrown into turmoil and fear when her son Herbie powers up his father’s uranium prospecting Geiger counter. The device emits an ear-shattering barrage of clic

Jan 319 min read

An Exciting Historical Science Fiction Mystery - an Editorial Review of "Yonder and Far: The Tarot Terror"

An Exciting Historical Science Fiction Mystery - an Editorial Review of "Yonder and Far: The Tarot Terror"

An Exciting Historical Science Fiction Mystery - an Editorial Review of "Yonder and Far: The Tarot Terror"

Book Blurb: Violence. Politics. Magic. What could possibly go wrong? Yonder and Far are back with new mysteries, adventures and misadventures in 1800 Boston. Banished to Earth, our two heroes from the land of the Fae are still trying to get home. As they navigate the baffling human society, their quest is full of intrigue and danger. So, of course they bring their fortune-teller friend, Mary, into it. Along with Far’s armed band of Irishmen, the trio faces a new enemy – backe

Jan 298 min read

Under the Grip of Communism in Romania - an Editorial Review of "The Last Patient"

Under the Grip of Communism in Romania - an Editorial Review of "The Last Patient"

Under the Grip of Communism in Romania - an Editorial Review of "The Last Patient"

Book Blurb: Honorable mention in the 2025 Readers' Favorite book awards. THE LAST PATIENT is a sweeping historical novel that captures one family’s struggle for love, survival, and identity under the grip of Communism in Romania. Spanning fifty years of political upheaval, this saga explores how ordinary lives are shaped—and sometimes shattered—by extraordinary times. Kostea and Clara meet and fall in love shortly before World War II. As they get married, build careers, and

Jan 276 min read

An Orphan Musician Finds Her Voice in Venice - an Editorial Review of "Poinsettia Girl"

An Orphan Musician Finds Her Voice in Venice - an Editorial Review of "Poinsettia Girl"

An Orphan Musician Finds Her Voice in Venice - an Editorial Review of "Poinsettia Girl"

Book Blurb: Venice, 1710, Poinsettia Girl is based on the story of Agata de la Pieta, an orphan musician of the Ospedale de la Pieta. Ten-year-old Agata's world is shaken at the sudden death of her mother. Left only with her egregious father, a working musician in Venice, her ailing grandmother sends her to the well-known orphanage, hidden from everything she's ever known. Agata auditions for the conservatory style music school where music is both salvation and spectacle. Hid

Jan 217 min read

The Choice Between Deception and Truth - an Editorial Review of "Soldier's Girl"

The Choice Between Deception and Truth - an Editorial Review of "Soldier's Girl"

The Choice Between Deception and Truth - an Editorial Review of "Soldier's Girl"

Book Blurb: “Could you kill a Nazi, Miss Lake? Or, in the moment of killing, would you remember his mother’s grief—and let yourself be killed instead?” It is the most extraordinary of job interviews, for the most extraordinary of jobs. In the final year of WWII, Sibyl, an English nurse, volunteers to help free Alsace—the beloved province of her childhood—from Nazi control. Her mission: to train and lead a band of resistance fighters, men commanded by Jacques, once her closest

Jan 118 min read

From Star Singer to Pirate Prey - an Editorial Review of "Showboat Soubrette"

From Star Singer to Pirate Prey - an Editorial Review of "Showboat Soubrette"

From Star Singer to Pirate Prey - an Editorial Review of "Showboat Soubrette"

Book Blurb: FROM STAR SHOWBOAT SINGER TO PIRATE PREY ON THE WICKED RIVER! Showboat singer Stella Parrot’s star rises in the Antebellum South with every sold-out performance along the lower Mississippi River. When a river pirate viciously assaults her, new friends Toby Freeman and John Dee Franklin foil the attack. However, the pirate’s family is bent on revenge. Stella, Toby, and John Dee escape their riverboat with able assistance from young cub pilot Sam Clemens, only to be

Jan 95 min read

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