Book Reviews, Find Your Next Read

One Small Mistake by Dandy Smith: A dark, addictive tale of ambition, manipulation, and the lies we tell ourselves

How far would you go to make your dreams come true? That’s the haunting question at the heart of One Small Mistake by Dandy Smith, a psychological thriller that pulls no punches in its exploration of obsession, abuse, and the dangerous allure of ambition. Set to release November 25, 2025, this gripping novel follows Elodie Fray, an aspiring author who quits her job to chase her dream of literary success—and ends up caught in a web of manipulation spun by a man who knows exactly how to pick his prey.

Get your copy of One Small Mistake from my independent online bookstore today!

At first glance, Elodie’s story might sound like a familiar tale of envy and rivalry—she’s the overlooked sister, forever in the shadow of Ada, who seems to have it all. But Smith skillfully turns the narrative inside out, showing how ambition and vulnerability can intersect in terrifying ways. As Elodie’s world begins to unravel, it becomes clear that she isn’t the architect of her own downfall—she’s the victim of a master manipulator.

Continue reading “One Small Mistake by Dandy Smith: A dark, addictive tale of ambition, manipulation, and the lies we tell ourselves”
Book Reviews, Find Your Next Read

The Sunshine Man by Emma Stonex explores how trauma shapes who we become

The Sunshine Man by Emma Stonex isn’t a fast-paced thriller—it’s a quietly devastating exploration of trauma, memory, and how early wounds can echo through a lifetime. Stonex’s latest novel begins with a startling line—“The week I shot a man clean through the head began like any other”—but what follows is less a story of vengeance than a study of how people are shaped by pain and circumstance.

Get your copy of The Sunshine Man from my independent online bookstore today!

When Birdie Keller learns that Jimmy Maguire, the man who killed her sister eighteen years earlier, has been released from prison, she sets out for London to confront him. What she finds is not closure, but a confrontation with the ghosts of her past.

Continue reading “The Sunshine Man by Emma Stonex explores how trauma shapes who we become”
Book Reviews, Find Your Next Read

How to bury a husband—and the patriarchy: A review of The Best Way to Bury Your Husband

What do you get when you mix a cast-iron skillet, four fed-up women, and a global pandemic? A page-turner that asks whether murder might sometimes be the most reasonable option.

The cover of The Best Way to Bury Your Husband by Alexia Casale
Get your copy of The Best Way to Bury Your Husband by Alexia Casale from my online bookstore today!

Alexia Casale’s The Best Way to Bury Your Husband is a dark comedy with claws—and a heart. It opens with Sally, a woman who kills her abusive husband with a skillet and finds herself surprisingly calm about the corpse. Her kids are grown and out of the house, so her main concern isn’t about custody—it’s about what comes next. How do you dispose of a body? And what do you do when you realize you’re not the only woman in town asking that question?

Continue reading “How to bury a husband—and the patriarchy: A review of The Best Way to Bury Your Husband”
Domestic Violence

In the Victims’ Best Interest: Is a Joint-Custody Arrangement Appropriate when Intimate Partner Violence is a Factor?

Good morning, everyone! I just published my final paper for my Family Violence course on Scribd. I’m not sure what’s going on with the spacing. For some reason, there is no space between paragraphs at all. I looked all over my document and can’t figure out what I did different this time. At any rate, here it is:

Continue reading “In the Victims’ Best Interest: Is a Joint-Custody Arrangement Appropriate when Intimate Partner Violence is a Factor?”

Bibliography, Domestic Violence

Lit Review: Who should be held accountable for failure to protect children from domestic violence?

"North Hampton is a Domestic violence fre...
“North Hampton is a Domestic violence free-zone” (Massachussetts) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Hello! I am continuing my literature review today for my summer course, “Family Violence: Cross-Cultural Perspectives.” Today’s article examines cases in which victims of domestic violence have lost custody of their children for failing to protect them from being exposed to violence in the home. You may read the full article here.

Harris, L. J. (2010). Failure to Protect from Exposure to Domestic Violence in Private Custody Contests. Family Law Quarterly44(2), 169-195.

Child custody arrangements in the United States have evolved a great deal over the past fifty years. Prior to the 1970s, a joint custody arrangement was not an option for most families. In most cases, the custody of the children would have been awarded to the primary caregiver, who was often the mother. In the late 1970s, with the advent of the father’s rights movement, many states began to enact laws allowing divorcing parents to share legal custody of their children. With these changes in place, it wasn’t long before family courts were faced with the necessity of determining whether a joint custody arrangement was in the best interests of children in cases that involved domestic violence. Continue reading “Lit Review: Who should be held accountable for failure to protect children from domestic violence?”