Success In the Press: Babe In the Woods by Jude Hopkins

Five stars from Readers' Favorite and Reader Views

★

Five stars from Readers' Favorite and Reader Views ★

From the Author: It's September 1995, the first year of the rest of Hadley Todd's life. After living in Los Angeles, Hadley returns to her hometown in rural New York to write and be near her father. In addition to looking after him and teaching high school malcontents, Hadley hopes to channel her recent L.A. heartbreak into a play about the last moment of a woman's innocence. But she seeks inspiration.

Enter Trey Harding, a young, handsome reporter who covers sports at the high school. Trey reminds Hadley of her L.A. ex and is the perfect spark to fire up her imagination. The fact that Trey is an aspiring rock star and she has L.A. record biz connections makes the alliance perfect. She dangles promises of music biz glory while watching his moves. But the surprising twist that transpires when the two of them go to Hollywood is not something Hadley prepared for.

“gives food for thought to fans of romance, women’s fiction, and psychological drama [...] will also appeal to those who enjoy entertaining, character-driven morality tales.””

— Reader's Favorite

Our Take: With a dry wit and a sharply observant eye, Babe in the Woods captures the restless creative energy of a woman caught between reinvention and nostalgia. Hadley’s homecoming is anything but quiet—full of angsty teens, aging parents, and a maybe-muse who complicates everything. Hopkins balances literary introspection with page-turning momentum, letting the story surprise us as much as it surprises Hadley herself. This one’s for readers who love second acts, small towns with big feelings, and stories that ask what it means to come home changed.

From a Reader: “The writing is crisp, intelligent and keeps the reader captivated as we follow Hadley's life and the hurdles she faces”

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Success In the Press: AFTER THE BEFORE by Eric Gammage

"More than just another survival story." - Reader's Favorite

★

"More than just another survival story." - Reader's Favorite ★

From the Author: Three hundred years after the fall of civilization, scavengers Sophie and Markus uncover a sealed, translucent box buried deep in the ruins of The Before. What’s inside might hold answers to the apocalyptic origins of The After and a path to a safer future—if it can be opened.

Hoping for help, they set out for the faraway City where a reclusive historian may have the knowledge they need. The trek takes them across the cratered plain, bombed almost into oblivion, and infested with unstoppable humanoid machines hungry for human flesh.

When a religious fanatic derails their mission, Sophie and the box disappear. Markus enlists unexpected allies to help find her, pushing into the heart of his worst fears and opening bitter wounds and testing loyalties.

What’s in the box may lead to a better future—but it just might cost them each other.

““ [...] Gammage has a real sense of visceral tension, and he delivers more than just another survival story because of the heart and soul of the characters. It’s the emotional weight packed with issues of grief, trust, fear, and hope that gives the journey its power.””

— Reader's Favorite

Our Take: Bleak, tense, and beautifully strange, After the Before drops readers into a post-apocalyptic world where history has turned to myth and survival means confronting both literal monsters and personal demons. With a mystery at its core, this novel combines high-stakes adventure with emotional weight. Gammage captures the grit of a ravaged world and the fragile hope that something better might still be possible. A great pick for fans of speculative fiction that blends action, mystery, and humanity at the edge of ruin.

From a Reader: “A well written, fast paced allegorical tale of what our near distant future could be. The prose delivered well developed descriptions of landscapes and characters I was immediately taken with. Definitely a book I will recommend to all my reader friends.”

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Success In the Press: How to Bury Your Dog by Eva Silverfine

5-star review from Readers' Favorite

★

5-star review from Readers' Favorite ★

From the Author: Lizzy has largely retreated from the world: she tends her adopted strays and goes to work, but she has forsaken lifelong pastimes and declines invitations from old friends. On the day she buries Happy, the abandoned basset hound she adopted years before, she learns a real estate developer is threatening the heart of her rural community—a tranquil pond and a relict stand of hemlocks. For Lizzy this is a magical place, hidden from the modern world.

Coaxed by an old friend to join a group fighting the development, Lizzy is reluctant—she wants to avoid both hope and him. But she realizes she can no longer keep the outside world at bay. As the battle over the development unfolds, Lizzy opens herself to two young neighbors who share her love of the natural environment—an awkward sixteen-year-old and an inquisitive ten-year-old. And as Happy’s elements return to the earth, Lizzy experiences her own transformation as buried memories find their way to the surface in increasingly curious ways.

““An absorbing, restorative tale of community and nature.””

— Kirkus Reviews

Our Take: This quiet, beautifully observed novel reminds us that healing rarely looks heroic—it’s slow, grounded, and often begins with saying yes to the smallest of invitations. How to Bury Your Dog is a tender meditation on grief, memory, and our ties to the land we call home. With writing that honors both the pain of loss and the quiet joys of rediscovery, this is a story for anyone who has ever felt the ache of change—and found unexpected hope in community, memory, and a patch of wild green.

From a Reader: “I […] loved the gentle, big-hearted tone that this book takes; the author casts a loving eye on all of her characters, foibles and all. Silverfine’s heartfelt, thoughtful story will be an easy, pleasant read for anyone who enjoys literary fiction.”

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Success In the Press: Starman After Midnight by Scott Semegran

"Darkly Funny" - Publishers Weekly

★

"Darkly Funny" - Publishers Weekly ★

From the Author: In suburban Wells Port, things are not what they seem: wild animals appear unexpectedly in backyards, raised garden beds produce fruit in days, not weeks, and a mysterious figure lurks across sidewalks late at night.

The stories in Starman After Midnight weave an often hilarious and sometimes melancholy spell. Four young boys are terrorized by a wiener dog on their walk to school, but strategize for a safer route. A beer-loving man befriends a likeminded neighbor, only to discover his jovial new acquaintance is a registered sex offender. An elderly Uber driver suspects a young rider is being lured by a night stalker and debates whether he should help her or mind his own business.

Connecting these stories are two next-door neighbors—Seff and Big Dave—who couldn't be more different: one a progressive-minded writer, the other a conservative plumber. Their love of beer drinking, backyard philosophizing, and gossiping brings them together. When several pets in the neighborhood wind up missing or worse—dead—Seff and Big Dave monitor their security cameras for the culprit. When they discover a naked man roaming their street late at night, suspicions are raised while hysteria spreads through the neighborhood social media app. What is the connection between the missing pets and this naked man? Seff and Big Dave form a posse of neighbors to find out.

““Darkly funny... Semegran has a knack for drawing colorful characters. This waggish slice of life is worth a look.” ”

— Publishers Weekly

Moving between humor and surrealism, friendship and grief, Starman After Midnight is a novel told in stories, a collection that adds up to something greater than the sum of its parts. From the quirky imagination of Scott Semegran, Starman After Midnight packs a comedic punch and uncovers the magic that seems possible in ordinary places.

Our Take: This genre-blurring, voice-rich collection slips easily between laugh-out-loud suburban absurdity and moments of startling tenderness. Told in interconnected stories, Starman After Midnight captures the strange magic of ordinary lives—where wiener dogs become villains, neighbors become investigators, and a beer on the porch might spark an existential breakthrough. Scott Semegran writes with equal parts warmth, wit, and just enough weird to keep you guessing. A perfect pick for fans of slice-of-life fiction with a surreal twist, or anyone who suspects there’s more to the cul-de-sac than meets the eye.

From the Reader: “There is a reason this author is one of my favorites. His writing is so flawless and makes reading a delight […] I love how quirky the two main characters are and how their friendship just...is. You have to read this to understand what I mean by that.”

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Success In the Press: The Cali Book of the Dead by Max V. Carp

"A story that readers will feel to their core." - Los Angeles Book Review

★

"A story that readers will feel to their core." - Los Angeles Book Review ★

From the Author: Landon Briggs is a small-time crook, gambling addict, Iraq war vet, and a dabbler in Buddhism amongst other things. He finds a new mission in trying to stop his ex-wife from marrying Ray, the trucking company con man who is about to become his son's "new dad".

When Landon steals one of Ray's cigarette-filled trucks one sunny day, all hell breaks loose. Landon finds himself navigating an increasingly dangerous cat-and-mouse game while, along the way, friends and foes share their unexpected insights into what Buddhists call the "luminous path of innate wisdom". As the long Cali days tick by, the question arises: which final path will Landon ultimately travel?

““Max V. Carp integrates spiritual concepts such as Buddhism, oracles, destiny, dream sequences, and bodily possession into a rough and ready story that readers will feel to their core.””

— Kyle Eaton, Los Angeles Book Review

Our Take: Fast-paced, darkly funny, and strangely meditative, The Cali Book of the Dead is a wild ride through the sun-baked chaos of modern California. With dry wit, sharp edges, and a surprising spiritual undercurrent, Max V. Carp delivers a gritty meditation on fatherhood, forgiveness and the clarity that comes from chaos; This one is perfect for readers who like their redemption stories weird, wise, and a little bit wild.

From a Reader: “[…] it blew my mind. Fantastic plot, characters, one memorable scene after another, I could go on and on. [The] ending is not for the squeamish […]”

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