Sent Shadow Spy’s Daughter to my editor and am back to editing the nonfiction book on courage. We have a rough draft!

Young Adult 3-/5

Hazel, with only cancer-limited time to live her young life, falls in love and chooses to live her last days to the fullest. Yes, it’s sentimental, but I enjoyed this book. It’s not hard to become intrigued by the destinies of these ill-fated lovers.

Classic 5-/5

Paul Atreides, son of a powerful duke in the galaxy’s far future, must evade, out-manoever, and overcome overwhelming political and military forces—as well as history and myth—to secure water and Spice for the Fremen. I re-read this book in the last year and was pleasantly surprised by how well this classic stands up over time. Not only is it a must-read for anyone who wants to understand SFF references, it’s a gripping epic as well.

Finished the revisions on The Shadow Spy’s Daughter and am doing a read-through to see if I introduced inconsistencies in the revision process.

Thriller 5+/5

Psychologist Alex Delaware is drawn into the mystery of locating Ovid, the missing child of a fragile Hollywood starlet. I loved this book on so many levels. The writing is beautiful, the mystery deepens with ever turn—and the ending is impossible to guess, and perfect when it arrives. One of the best bits, though, was the absence of an identifiable villain for the first half of the book: well-meaning bureaucrats in a broken system provide all the obstacles needed to stymie Alex’s hunt for a killer.