Bookbites: Secrets, poetry, celebrities, plot twists

An Upside-Down Sky
by Linda Dahl

When Lidia, a blocked Latinx artist in her sixties, goes on a group tour of Namyan, a fictional Southeast Asian country reopened to the world after a long dictatorship, she gets much more than the vacation she thinks she’s signed on for. Against a backdrop of pagodas and enigmatic customs, she and the disparate crew of 18 Americans encounter one adventure after another — experiences that challenge their assumptions about their host country’s placid surface of beautiful pagodas and wandering Buddhist monks.

Lidia finds companionship with Haynes, a Black man seeking adventure. They watch the nighttime sky, and the stars look upside-down — a metaphor for Namyan as a foreign place for her. She enjoys Haynes but is conflicted. The final chapter reveals a secret and her steps towards a new freedom.

Love…as of late
by Adrienne N. Wartts

How do you respond if a loved one you lost touch with suddenly reappears in your life? “Love … as of late” is a poetic narrative about a man and woman who desired to be together despite the geographical distance between them. Years after losing contact with each other, she discovers he has passed away.

As she reflects on memories of their past, grief turns to comfort when the Holy Spirit reveals he has received the gift of eternal life — an affirmation conveyed through a series of synchronicities that demonstrate how love, hope and faith work together to provide a glimpse of the potential promises God has planned.

Celebrities Against Violence: Case Studies in Speaking Out
by Truman R. Keys

Violence is more than an issue in America; it is a pandemic. Its negative impacts and corrosive character are undeniable, whether you are a victim, a bystander or a professional tasked with public health and safety. Violence itself does not discriminate, affecting individuals regardless of class or social standing.

This book spotlights the celebrities and their loved ones who have experienced various types of violence and survived to tell their stories to the world.

Leave No Trace
by Tim Mulholland

In this mystery thriller, Fred, a skilled backpacker in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, stumbles upon a woman who has been kidnapped. Kim, a leading computer scientist, has created a security tool that is thwarting the efforts of an international computer hacking group, and the group seeks to neutralize her or bring her to their side. To keep her out of trouble, mercenaries capture her, seclude her in a house, and take her to the mountains to keep her away from computers and rescue.