Gsmc Book Review Podcast

Sarah speaks with Shetal Shah about her poetry book, Shakti Girls: "Captivating biographical poems come to life in a world of exploration and fun! This delightful book, perfect for kids aged 5 and above, weaves together 13 compelling biographies with engaging rhymes that kids will absolutely love. Meet these trailblazing women who made a big impact Kalpana Chawla: She soared among the stars, the first Indian woman to explore space! Indra Nooyi: With a heart full of ambition, she led PepsiCo to success as the very first Indian woman. Asha Bhosle: Her melodies were like magic, earning her the title of the first Indian Grammy nominee. But that's not all! From Mindy Kaling, who's known around the world, to the brave freedom fighter Kasturba Gandhi, you'll discover the stories of incredible Indian women from all walks of life. They've shown that girls can do anything, whether it's in science, sports, politics, and more. These women's stories aren't just told – they're

Sarah speaks with Annie Rains about her novel, Through the Snow Globe: " Diana Merriman, a physical therapist, is probably the only person in the small town of Snow Haven, North Carolina, who isn’t looking forward to Christmas. It’s been three weeks since her fiancé Linus was critically injured when a car hit him as he biked home from the toy store he owns and manages. Watching him open his eyes is the only gift she wants, but she can’t help losing a little more hope every day. But an unexpected visit from a friendly neighbor and finding a snow globe of Snow Haven—a gift Linus had hidden in the closet—the night before Christmas Eve changes things in ways Diana never would have imagined. Because on Christmas Eve Diana wakes up to find that it’s not—Christmas Eve, that is. Instead, it’s somehow December 4 all over again, the day Linus got hurt, and as mystified as Diana is, she immediately starts a plan to save her partner from his fate. Nothing is that simple, of course. Instead of a single repeat o

Sarah speaks with Mark Leslie about his book, Yippee Ki-Yay, Motherf*cker!: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard: "That line, one of many quotable moments from Die Hard, was an on the spot insertion during filming by actor Bruce Willis and director John McTiernan. That's just one of numerous ad lib or almost accidental elements added to the film which make it such a memorable modern classic. When Die Hard premiered in July 1988 John McClane didn't just become a fly in Hans Gruber's ointment, he heralded in a new era of action movies, inspired countless knock-off action movies best described as "Die Hard in a" or "Die Hard on a" copycats, and created a franchise that spanned five decades (if you include the 2020 DieHard battery commercial). Even thirty-five years later it continues to inspire heated annual debates regarding the film's status as a Christmas movie. This guide, lovingly researched by a die-hard (pun completely intended) fan of the 1988 action-adventure blockbu

Sarah speaks with Robert Hofler about his book, The Way They Were: How Epic Battles and Bruised Egos Brought a Classic Hollywood Love Story to the Screen: "Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of “The Way We Were,” this intriguing and impeccably researched book is the first ever account of the making of the classic film starring Barbara Streisand and Robert Redford, revealing the full story behind its genesis and continued controversies, its many deleted scenes, its much-anticipated but never-filmed sequel, and the real-life romance that inspired this groundbreaking love story… It’s one of the greatest movie romances of all time. Fifty years on, the chemistry between Barbra Streisand as Jewish working-class firebrand Katie Worosky and Robert Redford as all-American golden boy Hubbell Gardiner remains potent. Yet the friction and controversy surrounding The Way We Were was so enormous, the movie was nearly never made at all. Screenwriter Arthur Laurents wrote the role of Katie with Streisand in mind. Ca

Sarah speaks with Don Bentley about Forgotten War, the fourth book in his Matt Drake series: "As a team, Matt Drake and his partner, Frodo, have watched each other's backs through some very dark days. But one thing they've never doubted was their commitment to each other...until now. Frodo has been accused of a war crime ten years after leaving Afghanistan. Matt is determined to prove his friend innocent, but what will he do when he finds that his closest friend has secrets he won't share?" If you enjoyed this episode, follow and subscribe to the show: you can find us on iTunes or on any app that carries podcasts as well as on YouTube. Please remember to subscribe and give us a nice review. This way you will always be among the first to get the latest GSMC Book Review Podcasts. We would like to thank our Sponsor: GSMC Podcast Network Advertise with us: https://gsmcpodcast.com/advertise-with-us Website: https://gsmcpodcast.com/gsmc-book-review-podcast Apple Podcasts: https://po

Sarah speaks with Ashley Winstead about her romantic comedy, The Boyfriend Candidate: "As a shy school librarian, Alexis Stone is comfortable keeping out of the spotlight. But when she’s dumped for being too meek—in bed!—she decides she needs to change. And what better way to kick-start her new more adventurous life than with her first one-night stand? Enter Logan, the gorgeous, foul-mouthed stranger she meets at a hotel bar. Audacious and filterless, Logan is Alexis’s opposite—and boy, do opposites attract! Just as she’s about to fulfill her hookup wish, the hotel catches fire in a freak lightning storm. In their rush to escape, Logan is discovered carrying her into the street, where people are waiting with cameras. Cameras Logan promptly—and shockingly—flees. Alexis is bewildered until suddenly pictures of her and Logan escaping the fire are all over the internet. Turns out Logan is none other than Logan Arthur, the hotshot candidate challenging the Texas governor’s seat. The salacious scandal is poi

Sarah speaks with Janie Paul about her book, Making Art in Prison: Survival and Resistance: "The United States is the most incarcerating nation in the world. More than two million people are locked behind bars, where they endure the degradation and violence of a dehumanizing system. But in prisons around the country, incarcerated people have regained their dignity by creating objects of beauty, meaning, and value. These powerful stories and images upend the manufactured stereotypes of those living in prison, imparting a real human dimension—a critical step in the movement to end mass incarceration. For 27 years, Paul has traveled throughout Michigan to meet artists and select work for the project she co-founded: The Annual Exhibitions of Artists in Michigan Prisons, an initiative of the Prison Creative Arts Project at the University of Michigan. Pedagogical as well as curatorial, the project has provided crucial validation for the artists. Making Art in Prison features over 200 images of their extraor

Sarah speaks with JaNay Brown-Wood about her children's series Love Puppies, specifically the first book, Best Friends Furever: "Yip! Yip! Hooray! A little magic can save the day! When Rosie and the rest of the Love Puppies find out that Meiko is struggling to make friends at her new school, they are sure they can sniff out a solution! But it takes more than magic to break the ice. If they can be creative, these caring canines might just might find a lonely girl her paw-fect match! With a little bit of magic and a whole lot of kindness, the Love Puppies are here to help kids overcome some tough social situations. Because with the power of love, anything is paw-sible!" If you enjoyed this episode, follow and subscribe to the show: you can find us on iTunes or on any app that carries podcasts as well as on YouTube. Please remember to subscribe and give us a nice review. This way you will always be among the first to get the latest GSMC Book Review Podcasts. We would like to thank our Sponsor

Sarah speaks with D.C. Gomez about the second book in her The Order's Assassin Series, The Traitor: "Witches, Demons, and Shifters are all landing in Salem. But who do you trust? Eric’s search for Rafael, the Order’s betrayer, is leading to a dead end. Running out of time, he decides to enlist the help of some old acquaintances in Salem’s underground. In the meantime, the Garcia Clan, the deadliest of all the shifter assassin families in the world, has been attacked. Tensions are rising as Sasha is forced back on the field to investigate and bring the culprit to justice. With both the Order of Witches and the Garcia Clan searching for the truth, Eric and Sasha are the only ones standing between a full-on blood bath." If you enjoyed this episode, follow and subscribe to the show: you can find us on iTunes or on any app that carries podcasts as well as on YouTube. Please remember to subscribe and give us a nice review. This way you will always be among the first to get the latest GSMC Book Rev

Sarah speaks with Patrick H. Moore about his noir novel, 27 Days, "a taut and topical political thriller narrated in laconic noir fashion by veteran LA PI Nick Crane. In the spring of 2019, Nick is on the run in the Pacific Northwest, pursued by a cabal of wealthy right-wing power brokers and domestic terrorists (the Principals) led by Marguerite Ferguson and Desmond Cole. Nick has clashed with Marguerite and her crew in the past, and she wants him abducted so that she can personally “close his eyes forever.” Things get worse. Nick’s close friend and business partner Bobby Moore is kidnapped by Marguerite and the Principals. Nick is then informed that he has twenty-seven days to surrender to Marguerite. If he does not turn himself in, Bobby will be sent to Scorpion prison in Egypt to be tortured and murdered. If Nick surrenders, however, Bobby will be released. Help appears in the form of a young, idealistic female FBI agent named Carrie North who wants to arrest Marguerite for conspiring to commit dom

Sarah speaks with Elizabeth Shick about her debut novel, The Golden Land: "When Etta's grandmother dies, she is compelled to travel to Myanmar to explore complicated adolescent memories of her grandmother's family and the violence she witnessed there. Full of rich detail and complex relationships, The Golden Land explores those personal narratives that might lie beneath the surface of historical accounts." If you enjoyed this episode, follow and subscribe to the show: you can find us on iTunes or on any app that carries podcasts as well as on YouTube. Please remember to subscribe and give us a nice review. This way you will always be among the first to get the latest GSMC Book Review Podcasts. We would like to thank our Sponsor: GSMC Podcast Network Advertise with us: https://gsmcpodcast.com/advertise-with-us Website: https://gsmcpodcast.com/gsmc-book-review-podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gsmc-book-review-podcast/id1123769087 GSMC YouTube Channel: http

Sarah speaks with returning author Tracy Clark about the first book in her Detective Harriet Foster series, Hide: "When a young red-haired woman is found brutally murdered in downtown Chicago, one detail stands out: the red lipstick encircling her wrists and ankles. Detective Harriet Foster is on the case, even though she’s still grieving the sudden death of her partner. As a Black woman in a male-dominated department, Foster anticipates a rocky road ahead acclimating to a new team—and building trust with her new partner isn’t coming easily. After another victim turns up with the same lipstick markings, Foster suspects she’s looking for a serial killer. Through a tip from a psychiatrist, Foster learns about Bodie Morgan: a troubled man with a twisted past and a penchant for pretty young redheads with the bluest eyes. As Foster wades into Morgan’s sinister history, the killer continues their gruesome assault on Chicago’s streets. In her desperate race to catch the murderer before they strike again, Fos

Sarah speaks with Ruben Quesada, editor of Latinx Poetics: Essays on the Art of Poetry, which "collects personal and academic writing from Latino, Latin American, Latinx, and Luso poets about the nature of poetry and its practice. At the heart of this anthology lies the intersection of history, language, and the human experience. The collection explores the ways in which a people's history and language are vital to the development of a poet's imagination and insists that the meaning and value of poetry are necessary to understand the history and future of a people. The Latinx community is not a monolith, and accordingly the poets assembled here vary in style, language, and nationality. The pieces selected expose the depth of existing verse and scholarship by poets and scholars including Brenda Cárdenas, Daniel Borzutzky, Orlando Menes, and over a dozen more. The essays not only expand the poetic landscape but extend Latinx and Latin American linguistic and geographical boundaries. Writers, edu

Sarah speaks with Andrea Faye Christians about the first book in her Time Binders series, Suspension: "An unexpected time travel tale. When Carla Thompson falls asleep and doesn't wake up, she is shocked to discover what destiny has in store for her. Suspended between two worlds, she meets Isambard Brunel, the legendary eighteenth-century civil engineer, who built the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, England, and who now serves as the guardian of its secrets. Historical events intertwine with Carla’s current reality and along the way she discovers a murder, encounters a host of characters, including Jamaican psychic, Matilda, and engages in verbal banter with literary legend, Ernest Hemingway. Her adventures lead her to a startling revelation about why she was chosen for her strange new role. In death, Carla realizes she has never felt more alive." If you enjoyed this episode, follow and subscribe to the show: you can find us on iTunes or on any app that carries podcasts as well as on You

Sarah speaks with Angela Greenman about her debut thriller, The Child Riddler: "Despite the angry scars she carries from her childhood training, Zoe Lorel has reached a good place in her life. She has her dream job as an elite operative in an international spy agency and she’s found her one true love. Her world is mostly perfect—until she is sent to abduct a nine-year-old girl. The girl is the only one who knows the riddle that holds the code to unleash the most lethal weapon on earth—the first ever “invisibility” nanoweapon, a cloaking spider bot. But Zoe’s agency isn’t the only one after the child. And when enemies reveal the invisibility weapon’s existence to underground arms dealers, every government and terrorist organization in the world want to find that little girl. Zoe races to save not only the child she has grown to care about, but also herself. The agency prescribed pills—the ones that transform her into the icy killer she must become to survive—are beginning to threaten her engagement to t

Sarah speaks with Mark Ellis about the fifth book in his DCI Frank Merlin historical fiction series, Dead in the Water: "Summer, 1942. The Second World War rages on but Britain now faces the Nazi threat with America at its side. In a bombed-out London swarming with gangsters and spies, DCI Frank Merlin continues his battle against rampant wartime crime. A mangled body is found in the Thames just as some items of priceless art go mysteriously missing. What sinister connection links the two? Merlin and his team follow a twisting trail of secrets and lies as they investigate a baffling and deadly puzzle." If you enjoyed this episode, follow and subscribe to the show: you can find us on iTunes or on any app that carries podcasts as well as on YouTube. Please remember to subscribe and give us a nice review. This way you will always be among the first to get the latest GSMC Book Review Podcasts. We would like to thank our Sponsor: GSMC Podcast Network Advertise with us: https://gsmcpodcast.com/adver

Sarah speaks with returning guest Anna J. Stewart about the first book in her new Hawai'ian Reunion series, Her Island Homecoming: "If she stays… Will he stay too? From sand in his shoes to a gecko eating his dinner, Theo Fairfax is way outside his comfort zone in Hawai'i. Sent to convince pilot Sydney Calvert to sell the tour company she just inherited, he finds himself being won over by the tight-knit community, the natural wonders and Sydney’s free-spirited beauty. Could exploring their growing feelings lead to a future as magical as a tropical sunset? " If you enjoyed this episode, follow and subscribe to the show: you can find us on iTunes or on any app that carries podcasts as well as on YouTube. Please remember to subscribe and give us a nice review. This way you will always be among the first to get the latest GSMC Book Review Podcasts. We would like to thank our Sponsor: GSMC Podcast Network Advertise with us: https://gsmcpodcast.com/advertise-with-us Website: https://gsmcp

Sarah speaks with Philip Fracassi about his novel, Boys in the Valley: "St. Vincent's Orphanage for Boys. Turn of the century, in a remote valley in Pennsylvania. Here, under the watchful eyes of several priests, thirty boys work, learn, and worship. Peter Barlow, orphaned as a child by a gruesome murder, has made a new life here. As he approaches adulthood, he has friends, a future...a family. Then, late one stormy night, a group of men arrive at their door, one of whom is badly wounded, occult symbols carved into his flesh. His death releases an ancient evil that spreads like sickness, infecting St. Vincent's and the children within. Soon, boys begin acting differently, forming groups. Taking sides. Others turn up dead. Now Peter and those dear to him must choose sides of their own, each of them knowing their lives — and perhaps their eternal souls — are at risk." If you enjoyed this episode, follow and subscribe to the show: you can find us on iTunes or on any app that carries pod

Sarah speaks with Heloisa Prieto about her novel, The Musician: "Thomas has felt alone most of his life, his only companions the musical creatures that he can see but others can't. Wealth, talent, charisma, good looks, and fame conceal the eighteen-year-old's lingering pain following the loss of his parents. His music is his bridge to the world, and his favorite form of connection. A chance meeting with a group of strangers leads to the eventual revelation of his magical musical secret-and there are those who wish to steal it from him. Soon the wealthy Dr. Alonso and his beguiling daughter, Dora, trick Thomas into joining a cult from which he may never escape. When Marlui, a young Guarani shaman, senses the danger surrounding Thomas, she vows to protect him from Dr. Alonso at all costs. Can she rescue him, or will Thomas succumb to the advances of Dora and lose not only his heart but the powers that bring him joy?" If you enjoyed this episode, follow and subscribe to the show: you c

Sarah speaks with Cindy Callaghan about her middle grade book, My Big Heart-Shaped Fail: "In this hourly time-stamped, action-packed tween comedy of errors, Abby Gray, feeling weighed down by her secrets and lies, lets five balloons float into the sky with her deepest secrets attached to them in a desperate attempt to clear her conscience. Her relief is short-lived, though: the next day, those balloons start dropping one by one at her school, revealing Abby’s innermost thoughts to both friends and frenemies and creating hilarious misinterpretations of crushes amongst her peers. This is the worst day of her life . . . or is it? Before the last bell rings, Abby manages to integrate the oddball who is blackmailing her into her friend group and to fix the mix-ups the notes have caused—not only getting couples back together but also making a few new love matches—and finally comes clean as the author of the notes that have created such chaos." If you enjoyed this episode, follow and subscribe to the sh