All the Hearts They Ate: The Beauty in the Wreckage is a story of the struggle for individuality and freedom

 

THE BEAUTY IN THE WRECKAGE: OR THE BIBLIOTHECA TREATMENT: AN EXPERIMENTAL HORROR NOVELLA

Andrew Buckner

Alien Buddha Press, 2026

ISBN-13: 979-8246708750

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Fiorella leaves hearts on the doorstep of houses and everybody who eats the hearts will die. Her plan is to go from one town after another, leaving these hearts on doorsteps for the unsuspecting residents, until everyone is dead and she can create her own world of Fiorellas. But then Fiorella starts to question why she is doing this and if she is being programmed to do this. This changes everything and Fiorella is plunged into a world she no longer understands.

 

THE BEAUTY IN THE WRECKAGE: OR THE BIBLIOTHECA TREATMENT: AN EXPERIMENTAL HORROR NOVELLA by Andrew Buckner is a bizarre story of a young woman who has lost all memory of who she is and her past and only functions by doing what she is programmed to do. What she has been brainwashed to do. It is only when she breaks free – or tries to – that everything turns to chaos. When she begins to rebel against religion and against presidential orders, she becomes a target, and she knows she must do something to save herself before it is too late.

 

Even as Fiorella thinks about what she is doing and tries to change her actions, something called the “Father Figure” tries to stop her. It talks to her through her dreams. I couldn’t help but see this as religion forcing its beliefs and its ways on people, and stopping them from trying to get out of their bubbles and think for themselves. This is reinforced when I later read that the Father Figure’s spiel is ““not thinking and just doing is easier and more comfortable for you.” (page 58)

 

I loved how Fiorella’s love for books inspires her to write her own. On page 53, it reads (in Fiorella’s POV): “Now, I, too, must take up my pen, the mightiest of weapons in this barren warzone of bombs, tanks, and guns we naively call “life”, and fight by writing my memories, carving them for myself as well as for eternity, and dreams habitually, creating in any way that I can, so that the whole world can wake up through words and remember.”

 

I especially liked how she also uses her love for books to find a way to fight book bans. This love for books changes her and gives her new ideas, something the “monster-in-chief” oft mentioned in this story, as well as the “Father Figure,” would not approve of.

 

The Beauty in the Wreckage is a story not only of an individual who struggles to have the independence to think for themselves but also of an individual who wants to be free of an oppressive regime. Readers get to know Fiorella’s world through her stream of consciousness poetry and journal entries. She brings to light our natural desire for self-expression in a world that forbids individuality. Her story is a voice crying out for freedom from the chains her country has her in and one which readers may take heed of to create change in our own country.

 

Five stars

 

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Where the Crows Sing: Chorus of Crows is a chilling story of ghosts on the homestead

 

Chorus of Crows

Sharon Wagner

Dreamsphere Books, 2026

ISBN-10: 199772622X

ISBN-13: 978-1997726227

Ebook, 306 ppg.

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When Sedona Walton is fed up with her job and her life in Wisconsin, she decides to head back home to live with her widowed father, who has Parkinson’s Disease. Switching to living on a farm after living in a city is quite a change for Sedona, but she is determined to be a caregiver for her ailing father and bring positive change into her life. She doesn’t count on finding love, but that’s exactly what happens. In Chorus of Crows by Sharon Wagner, readers are treated to a touching story of a daughter’s loyalty to her sick father and her quest to find happiness. But even as Sedona tries to make life easier for her father, life becomes more challenging for both father and daughter as strange paranormal activity happens at the farm, along with several crows often lurking on the grounds. 

 

Reading about how Oren deals with his hallucinations is heartbreaking. They are very real for him, even if people try to tell him that they are not real. But as the hallucinations keep happening, he begins to accept that they ARE hallucinations, and he starts to question if that’s what’s happening when they do happen. At the same time, however, some of the hallucinations are so terrifying that he is more frightened of them than he is analytical. When he starts to see monsters and attacking crows, he is no longer certain if he really is hallucinating or not. Sedona tries to encourage him to share about what he is seeing, but sometimes, he has no words to explain any of it.

 

Sedona knows what she is getting into when she decides to take on the role of caregiver for her dad. Even so, as his symptoms and side effects from the medications get worse, she struggles with how emotionally taxing it all is. She finds comfort in Jeb, a local pastor she knew as a teen (they were both school mates) and who she begins dating. She also finds relief from her duties in Lavinia, a local woman who has been consistently caring for her father before Sedona arrived. She also finds comfort in reading her mother’s journals. Reading the journals causes her to reminisce on happy memories as well as getting to know her mother in a way she never had before. Her mother has been gone for many years but she and her dad still miss her very much. She also misses her brother, Seth, who died in a tragic accident at a young age. It is an accident that Sedona feels terribly guilty about, and she knows she must come to terms with this guilt.

 

The story is written so well. I loved the author’s writing style in describing the settings and the characters are fleshed out so well that they seemed to be real people I was reading about and not just characters in a story. I also liked how some past scenes of Oren’s life with Annilise, Sedona’s mother, is shared in the second part of the story.

 

Chorus of Crows is an entertaining and chilling story that hooks readers from the very beginning. It offers good insights about the realities of Parkinson’s Disease while also exploring the myths and superstitions associated with spirit boxes. I love how the author wove these two things together to create such an interesting story, and the symbolism of the crows throughout the story was not lost on me. Filled with engaging characters, surprising twists and terrifying paranormal experiences, Chorus of Crows is an entertaining novel horror lovers are sure to enjoy.

 

 

Five stars

 

 

Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. This review is entirely voluntary.

 

Girls Can Hit Too: My Call to the Ring is a powerful story of determination and women in boxing

 

My Call to the Ring: A Memoir of a Girl Who Yearns to Box

Deirdre Gogarty, with Darrelyn Saloom

BookLocker.com, Inc., 2021

ISBN: 978-0-9907377-0-4

Ebook, 275 ppg.

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For a person to recognize their calling in life, sometimes it can be as simple as watching something that they suddenly understand that they need to be a part of. That’s exactly what happens for Deirdre Gogarty, who is introduced to boxing while watching it on TV. She is so mesmerized by what she sees that she suddenly fixates on it. It is as though a switch has been flipped. She suddenly understands that boxing is her calling. Boxing is where she belongs.

 

She wastes no time in making boxing a part of her life. She asks her dad for an old bag she uses to create a homemade punching bag, but she is teased by family members when they catch her using it. Even so, in spite of the teasing and being told that girls don’t hit, she grows up fascinated and obsessed with boxing. She buys her first boxing gloves at age sixteen, and there begins the journey of this compelling memoir of a girl who grows up to be a boxer in My Call to the Ring: A Memoir of a Girl Who Yearns to Box by Deirdre Gogarty, with Darrelyn Saloom.

 

It was inspiring to read about how Deirdre stayed true to her desire to become a boxer. She is so set on it, in fact, that she starts watching boxers train at a gym near her dad’s business. The head trainer there notices her interest in boxing and takes a chance on training her. This, too, was inspiring to read. Deirdre is now 17 years old at this point, and the only girl in the whole gym who wants to box right alongside the guys. It was refreshing to see someone who looked past her sex to notice that a REAL fighter existed here, and that she needed to be taken seriously.

 

For a long time, Deirdre wanted to box like a professional. She had trained hard and practiced punching a bag at home. But when she gets a taste of the real thing in a sparring match, she gets a taste of the reality of boxing – getting hit in the head and stomach. That sort of thing. As I read this part of her story, I began to wonder if this would be her breaking point. If she changed her mind about boxing and decided to take up something else instead. I appreciated her coach’s support as she went through that first tough sparring match. He didn’t tell her to back down or quit; he gave her some pointers instead of how to get through a sparring match without losing consciousness.

 

It’s not just the many negative opinions she has to deal with about women in boxing but also the discrimination against female boxers in Ireland. Ireland forbids women in boxing, so she must deal with A LOT of rejections and denials in trying to score a fight. She does eventually have a first boxing match, even though it is not an official one, but her attempts to have an official boxing match are constantly met with refusals. It is inspiring to read about how she perseveres against this and keeps trying to get accepted for an official boxing match. However, because of the difficulty in getting any fights with other women boxers in Ireland, she sets her sights on boxing in the United States, where women’s boxing is not illegal. She spends months sending letters to various coaches in the U.S., hoping they will take her onboard, until one finally agrees to help her out. Here again I was impressed with her determination. I was also touched by how she is willing to leave her family and friends to go to another country just so she can have a chance to achieve her dream.

 

I really enjoyed reading about her experiences in the United States. She shares all of her ups and downs. I was amazed at how she was able to withstand so much during her training, but very impressed that she was so dedicated to it all the same. Her loyalty to her dream never wavers, no matter what she goes through. And she does go through a lot, even losing a boyfriend in Ireland who is fed up with her desire to return to the United States so that she can continue boxing. Boxing is definitely her passion and it shows in every chapter.

 

Another thing that I liked about this book is the detailed descriptions of the fights. I don’t know how the author was able to remember so much about each jab and hook that was thrown during a fight, but she apparently did. (Maybe she kept a journal during this time? I wonder.) I am not very familiar with the moves of boxing or fighting, though I do enjoy watching “the fights” and have watched many on TV. My exposure to watching women boxing on TV has been limited to seeing the movie Million Dollar Baby. But with the way the fights are described in this book, a familiarity with the sport does not seem to be required. I was never confused or lost as I read those passages in the book.

 

The last part of the book kept me hooked. Deirdre did not just want to be able to box in the United States; she wanted to become a champion. A title champion. With this goal firmly in place, she works hard to make it a reality. It is her dream to win a title belt, and she is willing to sacrifice everything in order to make this dream come true. As I read through the last chapters, I wondered if she would be successful. There are so many struggles she faces and a lot of let-downs, so I was pretty much hanging with suspense to find out what happened at the end of her story. The book does have a very satisfying ending and everything is wrapped up at the end really well. 

 

My Call to the Ring is an inspirational and powerful story of a young woman giving her all to make a dream come true. A story with no holds barred and very detailed fight scenes, it is not only a story which can empower women who face discrimination in sports, but also serve as a reminder to never give up on our dream. It takes a lot to make a dream come true, and as long as you keep getting back up again, keep trying again, the chance of being the victor is possible.

 

 

 

Five stars

 

 

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.