This post was last updated on August 24th, 2024 at 09:09 pm
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These book recommendations are among my chosen few. I’m passing them on in hopes they keep you reading late and find a special place in your heart as they have in mine!
The Web of Deceit Series by Charles Stubbs
Set in North Wales, this masterfully written mystery-thriller series is sure to keep you guessing into the wee hours of the night! These are must-reads for those who love mysteries that make us think.
Web of Deceit
Six weeks ago, George Travis was living quietly in North Wales in the UK – keeping himself to himself, bothering no one, walking and birdwatching in his spare time. Now he’s on the run: wanted by the police, vilified in the national press, and hiding from a man he thought was his friend. In desperation, Travis seeks help from a woman he has met just once, hatching a plan that will lure his tormentor out into the open. But to make the plan work, he has to stay one step ahead of the police, the press, and the man he eventually comes to know as Yr Hen Was, ‘The Devil’.
Played out against the stunning backdrop of the North Wales mountains, this is the story of how one man strikes back against people who misuse the media to distort facts, exploit innuendo, and ruin lives. Set in 1999, it foreshadows many of the real-world smear campaigns, scams, and scandals of the following decade, raising questions about how the internet and universal access to the Web will change the way we process information, the way we view the world, and ultimately, what we believe to be the ‘truth’.
Retribution (The sequel to Web of Deceit)
What can happen when an ordinary member of the public’s mobile phone is hacked?
A student has been murdered in North Wales and the press are hounding her landlord, Gareth Evans. Peter Gray, a reporter, sent up from London to cover the story, tries to protect his ex-colleague Gareth, but becomes embroiled in a murderous plot.
Craig Fletcher, a drugs runner, wants retribution. He plans to torture and kill James Ryan, the man he believes tried to have him killed six years ago and who is now running his former drugs empire in the north-east of England. Fletcher’s plot involves the abduction and murder of IT worker Travis Williams, whose disfigured body in a burnt-out car will keep James Ryan’s men off the scent while Fletcher exacts his revenge.
But in its bid to be first with a ‘new angle’ on the murdered student case, a tabloid paper conflates the two stories and the result is confusion and chaos. As the body count rises and the journalists, the local police, and Travis’s acquaintances, Nick Parker and Ann Butler, try to work out what is really happening, the race is on to find the location where innocent people are being held before more deaths are added to the list.
Their intense experience over three long days drives many involved to question some deeply held assumptions and re-examine their consciences. Ultimately, in various different ways, nearly everyone caught up in the media frenzy becomes a victim of press intrusion and phone hacking.
Charles Stubbs’ blog at http://webofdeceit.org/blogs deals with issues relating to the media and their influence over our lives. You can follow him on Twitter: @charlesrstubbs, or search for hashtag: #WebOfDeceit.
Book Recommendations: The Lisen of Solsta Series by D. Hart St. Martin
This award-winning, six-book series is one of my all-time favorites in Young Adult Fantasy! You can read an interview with this amazing author here.
Fractured, Book 1
Seventeen-year-old Lisen Holt only begins to realize that her life is fractured after a sorcerer abducts her from a California beach and brings her home to Garla. She awakens at Solsta Haven, a refuge for the spiritual members of Garlan society known as hermits. The sorcerer, Hermit Eloise, has returned Lisen’s body to its true form–a human-like marsupial with no visible breasts and a fuzzy pouch just above where her belly button once was. She then restores Lisen’s memory of her first ten years in Garla, leaving her earthly existence behind but not forgotten.
Although she is Lisen of Solsta now, questions haunt her, questions Eloise refuses to answer. Who are the parents who left her at Solsta? Why did Eloise send her to Earth? And what is so important about her that Eloise has manipulated so much of her life? The answers will propel Lisen into a quest for a throne, and all that will stand between her and her birthright is her matricidal twin of a brother.
Book Recommendations: The Megan Jones Trilogy by Jenny Lloyd
This is an amazing Welsh historical fiction trilogy set in the 1800s. It is among my favorite book recommendations because it’s one of those rare books you don’t read; you experience it, and it stays with you forever.
Leap the Wild Water, Book 1
‘It is easier to do wrong when there is someone else to blame’…
So says Morgan Jones, now his tyrannical mother is dead and he alone is responsible for the terrible thing he has done at her behest. His sister, Megan, longs for love and an easier life, and Eli Jenkins promises both when he asks her to marry him. If Megan gets what she wants, Morgan will fail to correct the wrongs he has done. Morgan can’t sleep at night, knowing what he does.
As the wedding date approaches, Megan knows she should tell Eli about her past but fears rejection if she does. She wants to wipe the slate clean and begin anew. She realises, too late, the past is not something which can be wished away; like the hounds of hell, it pursues you, snapping at your heels.
Morgan and Megan discover there is always a price to be paid for the choices we make, and the consequences of our actions can have a disastrous impact on the lives of innocent others.
Leap the Wild Water is set in early 19th-century rural Wales.
More Book Recommendations: My Favorite Books I Read as a Teen
The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
This is one of my favorite books of all time, so I had to include it on my book recommendations page. It has greatly inspired and influenced my own writing. I first read it when I was 17. I pulled an all-nighter, continued reading when the sun rose, and finished it around 8:30, just in time for breakfast.
The Forest House
Although written later, The Forest House is the prequel to The Mists of Avalon. 100% worth reading!
The Darkangel Trilogy by Meredith Ann Pierce
The Darkangel Trilogy is another one of the best books I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. This story has elements of science fiction, fantasy, friendship, and, of course, dark and complicated love.
Other Recommendations
In The Space Between Worlds, Iltani, in ancient Sumer, saw a need for change in her society, especially in women’s rights. While she may not have had the resources to bring about such a change, in today’s world, we have not only the resources but the people and groups dedicated to making a difference. One such group is Global Women Power, a charity and registered non-profit founded by Alka Madan, which has chapters in the United States and India.
Global Women Power prepares women leaders to create major social change around the world. It is a vast network of female business owners and professionals all over the world connected to each other. Every project is aimed at empowering women, children, and senior citizens.
One area that the group is tackling is that of education ― since every person living has the right to education.
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” ― Nelson Mandela
Pencil Project
Global Women Power has launched its Pencil Project, which sponsors classroom books, pencils, field trips, and science and art projects. The project helps children achieve big dreams while growing up in financially challenged environments.
GWP’s blog states: Every kid deserves to read as many books as possible; every kid needs to express his or her own brilliant thoughts and ideas reflected through the power of a pen. Every kid deserves to explore what nature has to offer him or her: a trip to a local museum, a trip to a national forest, or getting to know their capital city’s history. Pencil Project reaches out to teachers and students to help many challenged classrooms achieve their academic goals by bringing them pencils, pens, and books, and sponsoring their field trips and class projects. This is accomplished through collecting books, pens, or pencils from kind and caring donors or through educational expenses sponsorship with the help of individual contributions or charitable donations from business organizations.
