A Life Through Books

Women’s Fiction

Date Published: April 14, 2026

Publisher: Acorn Publishing

Cece Belle is a high-functioning neurodivergent. She’s also a big believer in destiny, but when her soulmate Robby dumps her mid-flight to Israel, she instantly regrets ever telling him she’s on the spectrum.

Not one to dwell in misery, Cece sips some chamomile hibiscus tea to set herself straight. And with meditation and spirituality on her side, she looks to what’s next. Yet another blow hits when she is kicked out of her rabbinical studies program for “strange behavior.”

Then, she meets Joel. With his quirky demeanor and ability to say all the right things, he gives Cece the desire to begin a new relationship. There’s only one main obstacle: Cece loves living in Los Angeles, and Joel is a diehard New Yorker.

She marries him anyway, despite misgivings that extend beyond their geography. After all, this is her carefully drawn plan—marriage, then kids, then happily ever after. Sometimes though, the best-laid plans are better left in dreamland where they can’t go awry.

Cece in Wonder Land is a twisty journey down a rabbit hole of unexpected anxieties, disappointments, and more questions than answers. But where there is hope, there is life, and maybe Cece can hang on for the next bit of wonder bound to come her way.

 Born and raised in Los Angeles, Bonnie S. Priever majored in communications studies at UCLA before moving to Philadelphia. There, she attended the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, which prepared her for an assistant directorship at the Israel Levin Senior Adult Center in Venice, California.

As a way to process emotions and stay connected to her spirituality, Bonnie started writing about her experiences. In 2023, Newsweek published her personal essay about the challenges of aging. Currently, she combines her passion for writing and her love for live theater as a reviewer for CurtainUp, an online theater magazine.

Bonnie loves to travel but always looks forward to coming home to LA. She has one grown son and a backlog of great ideas. Based on a true story, Cece in Wonder Land is her first novel.

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Historical Fiction

Date Published: 04-24-2026

Publisher: Salty Books Publishing

She is assigned to Tunis where she falls in love with U.S. diplomat James Whitcomb. At the conclusion of their tours of duty, they marry. Within weeks of the wedding, he is taken captive in the Iranian Hostage Crisis of 1979-81.

James, held hostage in the U.S. Embassy in Teheran, endures the same demons that afflicted the real life hostages during the actual crisis 45 years ago.

Angie, biting her nails at home, endures her own demons. How can she support him? Should she join efforts to force the president into negotiating a release? Or even a rescue?

When the ordeal finally ends fourteen months later, the couple faces a new set of demons. Rebuilding their life together as they each recuperate from their own PTSDs.

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Historical Fiction Mystery Thriller

Date Published: 01-26-2026

Publisher: Bearss Lair Books

Dan Driscoll is consumed by gambling debt, cornered by bookies and loan sharks, forced to bet on one last scheme. When things turn violent and two people are shot, his best friend, Stan Neumann, swallows what he suspects. He can’t risk divulging a closely-held family secret.

Then a body washes up on the Lake Michigan shoreline, and the lake gives Dan what the bookies never would: a way out. Authorities call it an accident and list him as the drowning victim. For Dan, it’s an escape route delivered in black ink.

He becomes a ghost, an imposter, a chameleon. But lies don’t stay buried.

As America is pulled into World War II, Stan enlists, choosing duty on his terms before the draft can rewrite his life. In Pearl Harbor, one chance encounter dredges up a name he thought was long buried.

War changes everything, but it doesn’t erase unfinished business. And when the truth demands to be heard, how long can a stolen life stay buried before the past comes to collect?

 While author Mark Bearss was setting the stage for his retirement, concerned co-workers would ask, “What are you going to do when you’re not working?” He found this question rather curious. It should have been posed, “What are you going to do first?” Mark knew that if travel was involved, he had had enough of commercial flights after 28 years of teaching for the medical device industry. Mark yearned for road trips – to visit those places he only saw from 38,000 feet. Little did he know that wish journeyed down an unexpected fork in the road. He would become an author.

While conducting genealogy research, Mark discovered archived de-classified military documents that revealed the name of a U.S. Navy destroyer his father served aboard during WWII. The reason this was a poignant discovery was because, while growing up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, his father made no mention of this. Apart from being a U.S. Naval Reserve flight instructor, he knew his father served aboard the carrier USS ESSEX. But in what capacity? That, too, was not revealed. More discoveries materialized the further he dug. In fact, there was a lot more his father didn’t mention. This wasn’t unusual. Many WWII veterans didn’t talk about what happened back then.

Because of the pandemic, the National Archives in St. Louis was closed and rendered Lt. Bearss’ military records unavailable. Thus began a project that challenged Mark’s research endeavors for over two years and about 5,000 miles on the road. The biographical sketch was sorted from creative Internet search strings, history books, navy publications, and networking with journalists, librarians, archivists, bloggers, aviation enthusiasts, museum and historical society curators, navy veterans, relatives, and more. One online resource that was instrumental in tracking his father’s journey was the weekly newspaper published in the county where his parents grew up: The Oceana Herald. It included a Local News section where family members and organizations could submit a short blurb about a relative’s visit, a social gathering, or – where a son or husband was currently stationed.

This project culminated in 2022 with Mark’s first publication titled, Undisclosed Stories Discovered: Honoring the World War II Military Journey of Lt. Joseph Ward Bearss, USNR. When asked what was one of the highlights surrounding this story, he described the road trips to seek out and discover places where his father lived, trained and was stationed during the war. What prompted him to write this as a biography took place during a meeting with the curator of the World War II Home Front Museum on St. Simons Island, Georgia. St. Simons Naval Air Station was the site for the U.S. Naval Radar Training Station, where Lt. Bearss was trained in shipboard radar operations, enemy interception, and Fighter Direction. While the museum had ample archived materials about the facility, it had very little documented about the servicemembers who trained there.

Only 250 copies were printed. Mark went back on the road in his Class-B motorhome and personally donated those copies to family members, friends and relatives, the librarians, archivists, researchers, museums, curators, historical societies, newspapers, The American Heritage Center, VFW Posts, airport FBOs, and other assorted WWII enthusiasts in 12 states who helped in his endeavors. It was a two-fold reward. Not only did his father’s story finally become told, Mark experienced the pleasure of meeting all these wonderful people who were his resources, advisors, collaborators, and consultants. Up until that point, they were only names in an email contact list.

You’re probably asking, “How is all this relevant to Mark’s new novel, Cain’s Chameleon?” It was the research from The Oceana Herald that planted the seed for this story. While perusing its issues, Mark stumbled on two articles that piqued his curiosity. The first reported an attempted murder in a home close to his family’s summer cottage on Lake Michigan. The second reported a drowning victim that washed up on the beach right where Mark and his friends used to play. Just two more stories never divulged while growing up. He wondered, Were these two events related? Then Mark decided — he would make them related.

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Memoir

Date Published: April 22nd

Publisher: Acorn Publishing

Sarah Vosburgh has often felt misunderstood by her mother, a woman who lived a quintessential suburban life. But when her mother is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, Sarah’s world unravels, and she must confront a disease that will only worsen. As roles reverse between mother and daughter, Sarah faces the guilt of making decisions she hopes are the right ones while also carrying the grief of losing her mom bit by bit everyday. She navigates a labyrinth of health services amid the heartbreaking, and at times darkly humorous, realities of caregiving.

There are the white lies and midnight phone calls, the misbuttoned blouses, and the second slice of chocolate pie that tastes just as good as it did the first time. And then there’s the quiet awe at the persistence of connection even when language falters and names are forgotten.

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Philosophy, Philosophy of Good and Evil, Social Sciences, Social Theory, Religion and Spirituality, New Thought

For millennia, humanity has stumbled through darkness, divided by wars, hatred, and inexplicable suffering. We’ve blamed politics, religion, economics—but what if the real reason has been hiding in plain sight and this knowledge could change everything? Imagine the possibility of exposing hidden forces that have manipulated civilizations, sparked genocides, and turned brother against brother. Imagine how much better your life could be if you had knowledge powerful enough to fuel culture, unite humanity, and create meaning in people’s lives for generations to come. Author William Mile unveils a forbidden truth that explains why good people constantly find themselves at war with each other while evil seems to flourish unchecked. This isn’t just another self-help book or philosophical treatise—this is the missing piece, a revolutionary theory. In this book, you’ll discover:

• why 80% of humanity shares an invisible bond that transcends race, religion, and nationality
• the shocking truth about the 20% operating by entirely different rules
• how to identify the hidden manipulators who profit from human division
• the secret to transforming conflict into unprecedented global cooperation
• why this knowledge has been suppressed—and what happens when it spreads

Mile’s 8:2 theory doesn’t just explain the world’s chaos—it gives you the formula for ending it. Are you brave enough to see past the illusions that have trapped humanity for generations?

The awakening begins now. Will you join the brotherhood or remain blind to the battle raging around you? Are you one of the 8s…or the 2s?

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Memoir

Date Published: April 22nd

Publisher: Acorn Publishing

Sarah Vosburgh has often felt misunderstood by her mother, a woman who lived a quintessential suburban life. But when her mother is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, Sarah’s world unravels, and she must confront a disease that will only worsen. As roles reverse between mother and daughter, Sarah faces the guilt of making decisions she hopes are the right ones while also carrying the grief of losing her mom bit by bit everyday. She navigates a labyrinth of health services amid the heartbreaking, and at times darkly humorous, realities of caregiving.

There are the white lies and midnight phone calls, the misbuttoned blouses, and the second slice of chocolate pie that tastes just as good as it did the first time. And then there’s the quiet awe at the persistence of connection even when language falters and names are forgotten.

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A Tapestry of Tangled Lives

Date Published: April 6, 2026

Publisher: Serapis Bey Publishing, Arizona, US www.parulagrawal.com

A story of human connection between twins, between lovers, between comrades in war, set against the shadow of the evangelical religion and its judgments."

Based on a childhood of shadowy secrets surrounding her parents’ marriage and the rigid judgment of the Evangelical religion, the author attempts to find her truth. A work of historical fiction and romance, it spans the era of WWII and beyond, weaving the story of her father, mother and aunt (her mother’s twin sister). The unexpected twists and turns mirror those of our own lives, and readers can empathize and identify with the characters’ humanity as they struggle with their flaws. The power of religious judgement is explored along with the strength and resilience of individuals challenged by the ethics of life. This is also a fascinating study of the complexities of being twins. With the strongest of bonds that overwhelms their very different personalities, their love for the same man creates a gulf between them that threatens their entire adult relationship. It is also a story of a man and how he navigates his own journey after love and loss. When his WWII experience takes him to countries he has never dreamed of seeing, and opens him to the excitement of new cultures, he finds new meaning. At the same time, his bonds to his comrades in arms and their shared experiences of battlefield traumas leaves him with emotional scars. A story of secrets and the power of love, the themes of self-doubt and second chances are embedded in the narrative, along with the acceptance of one’s actions following painful choices.

A story of human connection between twins, lovers, comrades during World War 11, families, and generational trauma, set across the United States and Europe and against the shadow of the Evangelical religion and its judgments. A family saga of secrets, shadows, and unspoken enduring love, and its impact across three generations, based on a true story of lived experience. A work of romantic, historical fiction, The Man in the Middle; A Tale of Tangled Lives is based on the true story of the author’s parents. It follows their youth in the early 1900s in US, through the years of WWII in Europe, and after, and their lives as friends, lovers, parents, and elderly individuals.

This is a story of love and its many forms. There are no heroes or demons, only people dealing with their humanity. Or maybe there are heroes: Luke, as he navigates his life honourably and responsibly, while harbouring feelings for more than one woman; Anna as she comes to terms with her selfish impulses and attempts to overcome them; Pierrette, who recognizes and accepts that she cannot give Luke the life he wants, and that their love is not enough. Karoline is perhaps the true heroine of the book. A victim of the religious beliefs she is trapped by, she finds it impossible to love herself. Instead, she spends her life feeling inferior to her sister and undeserving of Luke’s love. At Luke’s passing, she finally receives the confirmation of her worth and her place as the love of his life.

About the Author

"The author lives half-time in San Diego, CA, and half-time in a small village in Southern France. This is her exploration of the unexplained secrets that shadowed her childhood and the consequences that haunt all our choices."

“I wrote this book to come to terms with my past. I wanted to understand the people who raised me, through the fictional characters of Karoline and Luke, who represent my parents and my mother’s twin sister, Anna, who represents my aunt. My childhood was full of love, but as I watched the individuals around me, I sensed a drama that excluded me. I knew my father had been in WWII and experienced Normandy, the Battle of the Bulge and much more during the four years he spent in Europe. The way he talked about the world he had discovered there intrigued me and I knew there was more to tell, which he never spoke about. My mother adored my father, but there was a tension in the room when my aunt was present. A connection between my father and my aunt was obvious despite their effort to hide it. Through the years, there were inadvertent comments that hinted of a previous relationship between them, but it wasn’t until the end of my father’s life that conversations took place that enlightened me. I didn’t ask, but they each wanted to tell their story, their truth about what happened. This book is my truth, my experience in living with them and loving them. It is my attempt to honor them by exploring their humanness and accepting that we are each a complex entity.”

 

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