THE MONOCLE, A WILDLY FUN, SMART AND EXCITING YA SCI-FI ADVENTURE

TITLE OF YOUR BOOK: THE MONOCLE

AUTHOR’S NAME: Mark Cavanagh

NME OF BOOK SERIES: The Monocle Trilogy

AUTHOR'S EMAIL ADDRESS   markcavanagh2014@gmail.com

 _x_ Yes, I have received permission from the reviewer to reprint their review in its entirety

REVIEWER’S BYLINE: Christine Rodriguez, Fiction Addicted – Reading Books and Exploring Worlds. She is a prime reviewer for Reedsy, having authored 1203 reviews. This review originally published in Reedsy Discovery.

AUTHOR'S FAVORITE SALES LINKS:  

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Monocle-Mark-Cavanagh/dp/B092P6WTDR 

Must read 🏆 

Two teens find a mysterious monocle that bends reality—but they're not the only ones after it. Secrets, danger, and adventure await! 

SYNOPSIS 

In the quiet corners of a mundane 1960s town, two curious teenagers are about to trade the hum of their bicycle wheels for the crackle of cosmic energy… and unknowingly change their lives forever.

When best friends Viv and Mick stumble upon an alien artifact and a notebook of secret code, they unlock a strange new world where space folds and time travel is possible. As the adventurous teens master the powers of the extra-terrestrial monocle, friendship takes on new dimensions as they attempt to outrun federal agents and face fearsome creatures torn from the very fabric of nightmares! 

As they grapple with the unfathomable supernatural powers that they unlock from the monocle, Viv and Mick must decide whether they want to make the ultimate gamble – venture further into the unknown… and risk losing not just each other, but their very lives.

Will their friendship withstand the trials of this spectral journey or will the very forces that brought them together tear them apart?

REVIEW 

Some books hook you with action, others with mystery. The Monocle by Mark Cavanagh grabs you with pure wonder—that feeling of being a kid again, discovering something strange and incredible, and knowing that nothing will ever be the same. This YA adventure delivers a thrilling mix of nostalgia, mystery, and mind-bending science fiction, making it a must-read for fans of Stranger Things, A Wrinkle in Time, and The Goonies.

The Monocle is a coming-of-age adventure with a twist. Mick Sullivan and Viv Oulette, two curious and fearless teens, stumble upon an alien artifact—a mysterious monocle hidden inside a metallic clam-shaped shell. At first, it seems like a weird trinket. Still, when they unlock its abilities—seeing other dimensions, teleportation, even weaponized energy beams—it quickly becomes apparent that they've found something way bigger than themselves. And they're not the only ones interested. Enter Agent Flanders, a shadowy government official who wants the monocle for his own agenda, and suddenly, Mick and Viv are in a game much bigger (and far more dangerous) than they ever imagined.

What makes this book shine? For starters, Mick and Viv are fantastic protagonists. Their friendship feels genuine, fun, and full of personality—Their sharp, witty, and natural dialogue makes them feel like real teens rather than just "characters in a book." The Monocle is also an intriguing mystery. It slowly unravels the secrets of the monocle, blending sci-fi elements with a classic small-town adventure feel. Every discovery brings more questions, making it impossible to put down.

Mark Cavanagh has also given us a really strong sci-fi concept. The monocle itself isn't just a gimmick—it's an artifact with fascinating, reality-bending properties, and how the book explores its power is genuinely exciting. The blend of hard and soft sci-fi elements makes it feel both grounded and fantastical at the same time. I also loved the tense government conspiracy angle. It's not just a story about cool powers—there's a sense that something massive is at play, and Mick and Viv are in way over their heads.

The Monocle is a wildly fun, smart, and exciting YA sci-fi adventure that blends mystery, government intrigue, and coming-of-age friendship perfectly. If you love books that capture that nostalgic sense of discovery while keeping you on the edge of your seat, this one's for you. A great YA read for young and old alike!

REVIEWED BY

Christine Rodriguez 

Following

Christine is a 7-12th grade English teacher, a library assistant, and a bookworm with a passion for good literature. She has a keen eye for good literature and reads books across genres. Her favorites are dystopian lit, sci-fi, fantasy, and contemporary literature. 

Christine Rodriguez links: https://fictionaddicted.com https://www.instagram.com/chrisofcourse2025 https://x.com/csrodriguez1970

 AUTHOR BIO.  Mark Cavanagh, author of The Monocle Trilogy, Big Blue Society, The Zen of Laundry and RV Time Machine, lives with his wife by the Dark Swamp in northwestern Rhode Island where H.P. Lovecraft searched for the legendary IT. He co-wrote and produced Zombie Dearest, a feature film, and directed the award-winning Youth Vision program, recipient of the Action for Children’s Television Award. 

Author website: https://markcavanaghbooks.de  

The Monocle Book Trailer Links:

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/62417144829536698/ 

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/62417144829536709/

https://www.tiktok.com/@dorothysflyingmachine/video/7487626535676005674

https://youtu.be/Jd3efdBLsSQ

https://rumble.com/v6rgcat-the-monocle-the-monocle-trilogy.html

YOUR TWITTER (X) MONIKER: @CavanaghBooks

https://x.com/CavanaghBooks/status/1908148725349839061

Publicist Carol Baldwin Published YA Novel, 18 Years in the Making

Title: Half-Truths

Author: Carol Baldwin

Author’s Website: https://carolbaldwinbooks.com/half-truths/

ISBN: 978-1-957656-85-4

Available on Amazon  and both paper and e-book on B&N:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/half-truths-carol-baldwin/1147046554?ean=9781957656854

 

 Reviewed by Linda Phillips, 

author of CRAZY, published by Eerdmans

 Kate Dinsmore, the teenage protagonist in this book you won’t want to put down, and the author, Carol Baldwin, have a lot in common. They both have a way with words and aim to use them to make the world a better place to live. In her first fiction YA novel, Baldwin has used her keen research instincts to give us an historically accurate and compelling picture of racial tensions in both rural and urban settings in 1950s North Carolina. Against a backdrop of KKK rallies and racial prejudice, Kate dreams of going to college and becoming a reporter. When it looks like her tobacco-farming family will likely not be able to afford it, her wealthy Charlotte grandparents agree to let her live with them to attend school. Kate knew living with her aloof and society-minded grandmother would be challenging, but she had no idea how the young, hired help in the household would change her life forever. Kate’s curiosity and observations soon lead to questions about her family tree. There are material items and story fragments in the house and among family members that don’t add up. Baldwin effectively uses the fragile relationship between Kate and her newfound cousin, Lillian, to illustrate the importance of truth-telling, especially across racial lines. I highly recommend this book to teachers and students for its accurate depiction of pre-Civil Rights and the Jim Crow era.

More About the Reviewer: 

Linda Phillips is passionate about mental health and has written two novels in verse for teens relating to that topic: Crazy, Behind these Hands. She also has published one chapbook, Thoughts on Crossings. Learn more about her here:  https://www.lindavigenphillips.com

More About the Author:

Carol Baldwin's debut YA historical novel took eighteen years to research, write, and publish.  Besides writing, Carol loves teaching writing to kids and adults and is the volunteer publicist for Monarch Educational Services, L.L.C. Find her on Twitter at @CBaldwinAuthor and learn more about her at her website at  https://carolbaldwinbooks.com/half-truths/ and her blog, https://carolbaldwinbooks.com/grid-of-posts-2x3/. Visit her favorite social network, 

More About #TheNewBookReview Blog 

 The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Authors, readers, publishers, and reviewers may republish their favorite reviews of books they want to share with others. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read and love. Please see submission guidelines in a tab at the top of this blog's home page or go directly to the submission guidelines at http://bit.ly/ThePlacetoRecycleBookReviews or to the guideline tab at the top of the home page of this blog. Authors and publishers who do not yet have reviews or want more may use Lois W. Stern's #AuthorsHelpingAuthors service for requesting reviews. Find her guidelines in the right column of this blog home page (a silver and gold badge and threee silver-gray circles beneath it. 

 Carolyn Wilhelm is our IT expert, an award-winning author and veteran educator, she also contributes reviews and posts on other topics related to books. Reviews, interviews, and articles on this blog are indexed by genre, reviewers' names, and review sites so #TheNewBookReview may be used as a resource for most anyone in the publishing industry. As an example, writers will find this blog's search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. 

Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. #TheFrugalbookPromoter, #CarolynHowardJohnson, #TheNewBookReview, #TheFrugalEditor, #SharingwithWriters, #reading #BookReviews #GreatBkReviews #BookMarketing HowToDoItFrugally http://bit.ly/ThePlacetoRecycleBookReviews.

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Welcome!
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Your  #TheNewBookReview blogger

"Marketing is a huge part of a book's success, and getting reviews is a huge part 

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Get your review request (it's like a mini query for reviews!) listed here on this The New Book Review blog at no charge.  Send your request to Lois at tales2Inspire2@gmail.com with REVIEW WANTED in the subject line. If you need help writing a query, see Carolyn Howard-Johnson's The Frugal Editor. (Check the Appendix for sample letters and the Index for help within the body of the book.) 

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When you get a request from a fellow author who wishes to review your book, send a review copy directly to your volunteer reviewer in whatever format you have offered, along with any promotional material you wish to share that might be helpful to the reviewer. The reviewer will then give your book an honest and fair review. Those interested in maximizing their efforts to get and use reviews to market their books will find Carolyn's How To Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically a big help.  

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Tales2inspire® was a kernel of an idea I started in 2012, which has grown to proportions even I didn’t dare to envision. My innate curiosity about potentially fascinating human interest stories was the spark that ignited this idea, but it was the confused state of traditional publishing that propelled me forward. You see, in my heart I am all about authors-helping-authors and Tales2inspire® is another of those projects. It delivers exactly what it promises as both a project and a contest. Free to enter, this competition is open to talented newbies and seasoned authors alike who are willing to listen to their fellow author's critiques to better their work. Learn more here. 

A multi-award-winning author, Lois's work has been featured in The New York Times, Newsday (Act 2), and Long Island Press, on Local Access TV, and in live presentations in a multitude of venues. She has now published ten Tales2Inspire® books of her contest winners' stories. Fans of Chicken Soup for the Soul are particularly enamored with Tales2Inspire® books because, aside from their inspirational themes, they are filled with original photos to enhance the power of each story. Lois invites interested readers to get a free Tales2Inspire® sampler book click here. 

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More About This Blog

 

The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Authors, readers, publishers, and reviewers may republish their favorite reviews of books they want to share with others. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read and love. Please see submission guidelines in a tab at the top of this blog's home page or use this link to take you there.  Or you can use Lois W. Stern's "Authors Helping Authors" plan for requesting reviews. Just scroll up on this page to find her guidelines for getting reviews for your book or books!

Reviews, interviews, and articles on this blog are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites so #TheNewBookReview may be used as a resource for most anyone in the publishing industry. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

Badges, Banners and Illustrations on this blog are provided by Carolyn Wilhelm. She tweets @jamsandbooks and offers educational aids on Pinterest as well. You'll also find her book and study guides by going to https://sharingwithwriters.blogspot.com 's  handy search engine. Or just subscribe! We'd love to have you!

More About #TheNewBookReview Blog The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Authors, readers, publishers, and reviewers may republish their favorite reviews of books they want to share with others. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read and love. Please see submission guidelines in a tab at the top of this blog's home page or go directly to the submission guidelines at http://bit.ly/ThePlacetoRecycleBookReviews or to the guideline tab at the top of the home page of this blog. Authors and publishers who do not yet have reviews or want more may use Lois W. Stern's #AuthorsHelpingAuthors service for requesting reviews. Find her guidelines in a tab at the top of the home page, too. Carolyn Wilhelm is our IT expert, an award-winning author, a veteran educator and also contributes reviews and posts on other topics related to books. Reviews, interviews, and articles on this blog are indexed by genre, reviewers' names, and review sites so #TheNewBookReview may be used as a resource for most anyone in the publishing industry. As an example, writers will find this blog's search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. #TheFrugalbookPromoter, #CarolynHowardJohnson, #TheNewBookReview, #TheFrugalEditor, #SharingwithWriters, #reading #BookReviews #GreatBkReviews #BookMarketing

Reviewer Wesley Britton Suggests You Dive Into This Camelot Tale

TITLE: The Priestess of Camelot: 

SERIES: Prequel to The Heirs to Camelot

AUTHOR: Jacqueline Church Simonds

Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 28, 2018

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07HSYTNRT

PURCHASE

Reviewed by Dr. Wesley Britton

I suppose nearly everyone alive has experienced more than one version of the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table from the songs of Lerner and Loewe in their Camelot to the craziness of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.   In literature, we’ve seen everything from Thomas Malory’s 1485 Le Morte d’Arthur to Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s 1859 Idylls of the King to T.H. White’s 1958  The Once and Future King to my personal favorite, Bernard Cornwell’s earthy Warlord trilogy.

With such a plethora of reworkings of the classic stories, is it possible to give the much revamped canvas any new twists? It seems so. Jacqueline Church Simonds has indeed taken the epic where it hasn’t trodden before. For one key matter, her version of the legend centers on a female lead, Anya, a goddess-worshipping priestess of the Nordic Rus tribes. In Britain, she joins the sisterhood of Avalon, headed by Arthur’s archnemesis, Morgaine.

In time,  Anya travels to Camelot where she falls in love with Merlin and bears him a son. Then, she falls in love with Arthur and also bears him a son. Then, in a magical ritual in a sacred grove,  she has a sort of “immaculate conception” where the goddess impregnates Anya with the fatherless daughter.  Now, that’s a vivid, memorable scene.

Back in the beginning of the tale, Anya is seduced by Morgaine which sets the stage for a series of very erotic encounters.  Malory nor Tennyson nor White ever ventured into this territory but, not having read every modern recasting of the Roundtable saga,  I can’t attest as to whether or not Church Simonds is breaking new ground here.  All I can safely say is that The Priestess of Camelot is not YA material.

To be fair, the book is far more than a series of romances. Anya is a very developed, vividly painted character who becomes a leader in her region, demonstrating her skills by protecting her neighbors in a time where Christianity is doing its best to quash goddess worship.   Because of the visions the goddess occasionally shares with Anya, the priestess sets about making it possible for goddess worship to return to Britain   1,500 years in the future led by her heirs, the descendants of Merlin, Arthur, and the goddess.

So, The Priestess of Camelot sets the stage for Church Simonds’ Heirs to Camelot series including The Midsummer Wife,   The Solstice Bride, and The Mistress of the Rose Moon. All of these titles are available now, so if The Priestess of Camelot grabs your imagination, you can dive into a non-stop trip into a new avenue of Arthurian lore. Maybe you’ll fall in love with Anya yourself. You’d be in good company.

 

 

More About the Reviewer

Dr. Wesley Britton, an author in his own right,  reviews regularly for this blog and rBookPleasures.com.

More About #TheNewBookReview Blog 

 The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Authors, readers, publishers, and reviewers may republish their favorite reviews of books they want to share with others. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read and love. Please see submission guidelines in a tab at the top of this blog's home page or go directly to the submission guidelines at http://bit.ly/ThePlacetoRecycleBookReviews or to the guideline tab at the top of the home page of this blog. Authors and publishers who do not yet have reviews or want more may use Lois W. Stern's "Authors Helping Authors" service for requesting reviews. Find her guidelines in a tab at the top of the home page, too. Carolyn Wilhelm is our IT expert, an award-winning author, a veteran educator and also contributes reviews and posts on other topics related to books. Reviews, interviews, and articles on this blog are indexed by genre, reviewers' names, and review sites so #TheNewBookReview may be used as a resource for most anyone in the publishing industry. As an example, writers will find this blog's search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. #TheFrugalbookPromoter, #CarolynHowardJohnson, #TheNewBookReview, #TheFrugalEditor, #SharingwithWriters, #reading #BookReviews #GreatBkReviews #BookMarketing