Monday, October 5, 2026

CHASING HOPE ~ A STORY THAT STAYS WITH YOU

BOOK TITLE: CHASING HOPE

AUTHOR OF BOOK: Joy Lynn Goddard with Daniel Pike

GENRE: Women's Fiction

ISBN: 97810677110-0-9

PAGE COUNT: 326

AMAZON or FAVE LINK to BUY BOOK:

https://www.amazon.ca/Chasing-Hope-Joy-Lynn-Goddard/dp/1067711007

REVIEWER: Jodi Cooper, Originally for Amazon

X PERMISSION GRANTED TO SHARE REVIEW:

FULL REVIEW

5 out of 5 stars

A Story That Stays With You

Reviewed in Canada on September 3, 2026

Format: Paperback

While reading Chasing Hope, I kept thinking about how family is often the people we choose, not just the families we are born into. They are the people who love us, support us, show up for us, and to whom we give back in return. Finding this kind of family is precious and worth cherishing. I was also moved by the book’s portrayal of resilience. It reminded me that strength isn’t about overcoming hardship on our own. Sometimes it means accepting help, continuing to love, and finding reasons to hope when life feels overwhelming. I especially appreciated the message that our difficult experiences can become a reason to extend compassion to others and help create something better in the world around us.

This story left me with a renewed appreciation for how much one person’s kindness can matter in another person’s life, and how our paths can come together in unexpected ways and make us stronger together. I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone looking for a heartfelt story about family, resilience, compassion, and hope.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Joy Lynn Goddard and her husband, Daniel Pike, write adult fiction that blends mystery, romance, and suspense. Their first novel, Moonshadow, won a Book Excellence Award, a Reader Ready Award (Recommended Read), and a Canada Book Award. Their second novel, The Keepers, also won a Canada Book Award. In addition to their novels, they wrote a screenplay adapted from their novel A Good Mother and a collection of humorous short stories about the real estate industry, Buyers, Liars, Sellers and Yellers.

Although Joy is well known for her award-winning young adult and middle-grade fiction, with her books in schools across Canada, her novels with Daniel have found readers around the world. Joy and Dan divide their time between Guelph and Belleville, Ontario, where they enjoy spending time with their growing family when they are not working on their next book.

ABOUT THE REVIEWER: Jodi Cooper is an educator, art therapist, and filmmaker living in Eastern Ontario with her husband and two dogs. When she’s not working, she can usually be found reading, working on a creative project, travelling, or enjoying a coffee and good conversation. She’s endlessly curious and especially drawn to stories that explore creativity, connection, and what it means to be human.

MORE ABOUT #THENEWBOOKREVIEW ASSOCIATE, LOIS W. STERN

Lois W. Stern is the creator of Tales2Inspire®, an Authors Helping Authors project/contest with no entrance fees, a labor of love to help aspiring writers on their paths to discovery. Now in its thirteenth year, Stern has published twelve Tales2Inspire® treasured Tales2Inspire Gem Collection anthologies, each with a different Gemstone emblazoned on its cover, to match the theme of the stories within that particular collection. Learn more about this fascinating project, and the woman who created it, in two quick films at https://www.tales2Inspire.com/BIO.

Stern is a multi award winning author herself, whose work has been featured in the New York Times, Newsday, Long Island Press, Barnard Magazine, on Local Access TV and in live presentations in varied venues. As an Associate at the award winning blog, TheNewBookReviewBlogSpot, Stern serves as an outreach, helping other authors brand themselves as authors of talent.

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 the 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. NewBookReview associate Lois W. Stern is the silver circle associate in charge of review submissions and the one who keeps services offered on this blog to authors free with her AuthorsHelpingAuthors projects. Please see submission guidelines in Lois W. Stern’s silver circle icons in the right column of this blog, in a tab at the top of this blog's home page, or go directly to the submission guidelines at https://bit.ly/ThePlacetoRecycleBookReviews. (WARNING some cell phones cut off the right column of this blog, so try it using your desktop!) Carolyn Wilhelm is our IT expert, an award-winning author and veteran educator. 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 (the link is also found in the right column!) handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at SharingwithWriters.blogspot.com and #FrugalSmartTuned-InEditor.blogspot.com. Learn more about the team using our frequent hashtags: #TheFrugalbookPromoter, #CarolynHowardJohnson, #TheNewBookReview, #TheFrugalEditor, #SharingwithWriters, #reading #BookReviews #GreatBkReviews #BookMarketing and Carolyn’s website, HowToDoItFrugally https://bit.ly/ThePlacetoRecycleBookReviews.

Freebies at: www.tales2inspire.com/gifts

MORE ABOUT #THENEWBOOKREVIEW BLOG 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 the 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. NewBookReview associate Lois W. Stern is the silver circle associate in charge of review submissions and the one who keeps services offered on this blog to authors free with her AuthorsHelpingAuthors projects. Please see submission guidelines in Lois W. Stern’s silver circle icons in the right column of this blog, in a tab at the top of this blog's home page, or go directly to the submission guidelines at https://bit.ly/ThePlacetoRecycleBookReviews. (WARNING some cell phones cut off the right column of this blog, so try it using your desktop!) Carolyn Wilhelm is our IT expert, an award-winning author and veteran educator. 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 (the link is also found in the right column!) handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at SharingwithWriters.blogspot.com and #FrugalSmartTuned-InEditor.blogspot.com. Learn more about the team using our frequent hashtags: #TheFrugalbookPromoter, #CarolynHowardJohnson, #TheNewBookReview, #TheFrugalEditor, #SharingwithWriters, #reading #BookReviews #GreatBkReviews #BookMarketing and Carolyn’s website, HowToDoItFrugally https://bit.ly/ThePlacetoRecycleBookReviews.

Freebies at: www.tales2inspire.com/gifts

WHY ADDING YOUR PICTURE TO THE FOLLOW BUTTON HELPS GOOGLE HELP YOU

Have you wondered why only your initial appeared in the box above

when you clicked to follow us?

Well I wondered too, so I consulted my guru of all things, A1.

Here's what h/she told me:

To make your headshot appear instead of an initial, when clicking "Follow" on Blogger, you must update your user profile picture.

HERE'S HOW

Go to Blogger.com,

Click on your profile picture/name in the top right corner

Select "Blogger Profile,

Click the orange "Edit Profile" button

Upload a photo in the "Profile Photo" section

WHY YOU SHOULD CARE

The search engines love pictures, so if you follow with a picture, your name is more likely to get noticed by them and spread around the internet.

Again I asks my magic genie, who told me:

How Pictures Help SEO and Visibility

Extra traffic sources: Optimizing your visuals allows your content to rank in the Google Images tab, opening up a completely separate channel for visitors.

AI and feature inclusion: Modern AI summaries and search tools like Gemini pull images into citations, increasing your overall visibility.

Grab some of her Freebies at: www.tales2inspire.com/gifts

visit her Facebook page at /Facebook.com/tales2inspire

Saturday, October 3, 2026

Want to Sell More Books? Check Out This Tip from TheNewBookReview Associate, Lois W. Stern

SECRETS FOR SELLING MORE BOOKS

By Lois W. Stern

Founder, Contributor and Editor of the #Tales2Inspire Series of anthologies

Contributing #AuthorsHelpingAuthors associate here and on the #SharingwithWriters Blog

Did you ever think of selling your books from the comfort of your home? At one time I thought about it too, looked into several inernet pay options, but nixed them all as they seemed too involved.

Then I learned about ZELLE.

The name of this game is SAFE, QUICK 'n EASY and FREE.

Zelle is a safe, flexible, no fee way to make or receive a payments - all from the comfort of your home.

SAFE: Despite all the talk of internet scams, when used properly, Zelle is extremely safe because you are not giving out either credit card or bank account information. This bank to bank transfer of funds moves a dollar amount from the buyer’s account to the account of the seller. The buyer’s bank simply transfers that inputted amount from one account to the other, without revealing the account number of either party. If you already pay your bills online, you're good to go. Once you sign in, there will be a drop down menu for paying bills. At my bank it looks like this:

You can set up your Zelle account using either your cell phone number or your email address. I set up my Zelle account with my email address because I knew those placing book orders would be familair with the words Tales2Inspire, but preferred to keep my cell number private.
QUICK: When making a Zelle payment, you simply input the amount owed, the name and identifier (either e-mail or cell number, but not both) of the person you are paying, click a button and DONE. An immediate Bank-to-Bank transfer of funds takes place.

EASY: I asked Siri to compare Zelle with traditional payment options and up came the chart, below.

FREE: Absolutely no charges for this service.

Most major banks now use Zelle. Many are now incorporating an additional step, such as multi-factor authentication, for first time payments to any given party.

STILL NOT CONVINCED? If you're still not sure this is for you, do what I did: Ask a friend if you could Zelle them $1. Once it arrives, have them return the favor and Zelle $1. back to you.

CAUTION

Only use Zelle to make payments to people you know and trust. To avoid falling victim to a scam, never use Zelle to buy goods or services from online marketplaces or strangers.

SINCE USING ZELLE, MY BOOK SALES HAVE TRIPLED:

Since I have published all twelve of my Tales2Inspire books with Amazon KDP, I came up with a creative idea for selling more books while offering Zelle as a payment option. It all starts with a Jotform I created, and you can create one too, for free. Click here, to check it out (or copy and paste https://form.jotform.com/260094023611041 into your browser).

COMING SOON: A whole new Sharing with Writers section, where I'll be sharing details of my project and inviting readers to post their best marketing tips as well.

A MINI CONTEST FOR OUR MOST POPULAR POSTED REVIEWS

Hi, It's Lois W. Stern here, Your TheNewBookReview Associate, with another idea to keep you and your book in the news.

As you already know, Carolyn and I are forever looking for new ways to give our followers a bit more Free exposure on TheNewBookReview blog. Many of you have been submitting your ‘Bestie’ book reviews to us, and I’m getting them posted as quickly as I can. And as a bonus, I create a nifty banner which you are free to use wherever you like. It’s just one way to get both your readers and the search engines to notice you and get a bit of extra free exposure for your book(s). So keep those reviews coming, using the template at: https://thenewbookreview.blogspot.com/2026/01/send-us-your-fav-book-review.html.

Enter our new mini contest:

We’ve started a new contest: A GREAT REVIEWS SELL BOOKS contest, so don’t keep yours a secret. Every time someone views your posted review, it automatically registers another vote for your book. So here’s the thing: Keep sending others to the link for your posted review ‘cause all reviews posted through the end of 2026 are entered into our TheNewBookReviewBlogSpot Most Popular Books contest. The tally ends on June 30, 2027. Winners are those whose posted review(s) get the highest number of views here on TNBR. If you haven’t yet sent us a proud-to-share review for any of your books, CLICK HERE to use this form to do so, (or copy and paste: https://thenewbookreview.blogspot.com/2026/01/send-us-your-fav-book-review.html into your browser.)

WHAT’S IN IT FOR OUR WINNERS:

Winners' names and book titles will be posted on the page linked to the gold ribbed seal appearing on the sidebar of our blog)* at no cost to you, along with a link to your posted review. It’s just one more way to add a little ZING to your name and book title and make the search engines take notice.

It’s also a great way for you authors to get some additional exposure, so why not give it a try? It’s Free and maybe one time a review for your book will be the lucky winner! And by the way, it’s perfectly okay if you’d like to remind possible readers that you have a fave review on our blog, complete with the permalink to make it easy for them to find. Phase one of this contest begins now. But don’t worry if you haven’t yet submitted a review, any reviews submitted after today will also be considered automatic entries.

Here's to getting more eyeballs focused on your books!

WARNING: The Sidebar is not visible from iPhone’s, so view from your Ipad or laptop instead.

Lois W. Stern, TheNewBookReview Associate and Facilitator, works with a passion to help other authors strengthen their visibility on this blog and elsewhere. She is also the creator of Tales2Inspire®, an Authors Helping Authors project/contest to help aspiring writers on their paths to discovery. And best of all, her services are Free. As such, Lois serves as an outreach to help other authors brand themselves as authors of talent. She has now published twelve Tales2Inspire® treasured anthologies and six award winning Tales2Inspire 2-in-1 Diamond Collection anthologies of her contest winners' stories. Lois is a multi award winning author herself, whose work has been featured in the New York Times, Newsday, Long Island Press, Barnard Magazine, on Local Access TV, The Authors Show podcast and in live presentations in varied venues.

CLICK HERE to get a FREE Tales2Inspire book with six of those award winning stories.

https://www.facebook.com/tales2inspire

Get a FREE Tales2Inspire book at: www.tales2inspire.com/gifts

Visit her Tales2Inspire blog HERE.

For some lively conversation, join Lois on her Facebook page HERE.

Friday, October 2, 2026

A NewBookReview Essay on Book Magic We Rarely Consider

Dear Subscribers and Visitors:

You might already know that I (the longtime blogger of this #TheNewBookReview) and my longtime associate Lois W. Stern don’t do reviews. It is the new book review where people who love books can send their own reviews and authors and publishers can extend the exposure of their books by re-sharing their favorite reviews with us (see guidelines for that process below in the “More About” this blog section!) and with readers looking for new books of both well known and new authors.

So this essay about a newly published book is a first coming direct from me. I was inspired by a media release I just received for a new book that reminded me of the values--some of them rarely mentioned--of books. This one touched me because it is a way to learn about a part of the US that I knew nothing about in spite of living in many cities and states and having traveled by car cross-country many times--both before there were any freeways (seriously) to today. Needless to say, some of those trips were made before most people rarely traveled by partially because it was so expensive. And, yes, I still missed knowing anything about the large peninsula region of our far north known as Michigan's UPPER PENINSULA.

I couldn’t resist sharing this book with you hoping that might do the same for a good number of our New Book Review readers. Of course times and communication are different than they were way back then, but I am still believe it will be a must-read for today's huge segment of American history buffs.

Victor Volkman, the publisher, says,

"Thanks Carolyn!

"Very sweet of you to take notice of our little project. I never thought of this way until you mentioned it. But the Upper

Peninsula is really is a microcosm of America--everything is in there from colony times to industrial revolution to civil war and

beyond. One man lived through the most transformative era we will ever know, his name is KAWBAWGAM.”

So, here is a little about this book from Modern History Press’s press release, edited and abbreviated (as is permissible with media releases) for #TheNewBookReview audiences:

MEDIA RELEASE

MARQUETTE, Mich. — September 25, 2026 — Modern History Press of Ann Arbor announces the publication of Charley Kawbawgam: Ojibwa Chief and Lake Superior Pioneer, the first illustrated biography of Chief Kawbawgam written specifically for elementary and middle school students.

Award-winning Marquette author Tyler R. Tichelaar, who previously wrote a full-length scholarly biography of Kawbawgam, brings the Ojibwa tribal history [and its chief’s remarkable life] to a younger audience. The book combines biography, Upper Peninsula History including the Obwith timelines, discussion questions, educational activities, and project ideas designed to help readers understand Kawbawgam’s life and the nineteenth-century world in which he lived. Charley Kawbawgam is the second book in Modern History Press’ new middle-grade Yooper Heroes series.

Sixteen pencil-and-ink illustrations bring the story to life. Upper Michigan artists Joanna Walitalo and Bruce “Buck” Denomie created the artwork, with Denomie, a member of the Ojibwa First Nations tribe, helping ensure historical accuracy. Several illustrations are based on historical photographs of the Kawbawgam family and Ojibwa life.

Artwork from author Tyler R. Tichelaar’s newest release.

METADATA

Charley Kawbawgam: Ojibwa Chief and Lake Superior Pioneer (ISBN-13 979-8-89656-142-2 paperback; 979-8-89656-143-9 hardcover; 979-8-89656-144-6 eBook) is available from ModernHistoryPress.com, Ingram, Amazon and other retailers. Review copies are available to reporters and professional book reviewers by request at info@modernhistorypress.com

MORE ABOUT #THENEWBOOKREVIEW BLOG

#TheNewBookReview 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 the 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.

#TheNewBookReview associate Lois W. Stern is the silver circle associate in charge of review submissions and the one who keeps services offered on this blog to authors free with her AuthorsHelpingAuthors projects. Please see submission guidelines in Lois W. Stern’s silver circle icons in the right column of this blog, in a tab at the top of this blog's home page, or go directly to the submission guidelines at https://bit.ly/ThePlacetoRecycleBookReviews. (WARNING some cell phones cut off the right column of this blog, so try it using your desktop!) Carolyn Wilhelm is our IT expert, an award-winning author and veteran educator.

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 (the link is also found in the right column!) handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at SharingwithWriters.blogspot.com and #FrugalSmartTuned-InEditor.blogspot.com. Learn more about the team using our frequent hashtags: #TheFrugalbookPromoter, #CarolynHowardJohnson, #TheNewBookReview, #TheFrugalEditor, #SharingwithWriters, #reading #BookReviews #GreatBkReviews #BookMarketing and Carolyn’s website, HowToDoItFrugally https://bit.ly/ThePlacetoRecycleBookReviews.

Wednesday, September 30, 2026

A 5 Star Readers Favorite Review for The Heiress in Kent: Kopp Chronicles

BOOK TITLE: The Heiress in Kent: Kopp Chronicles

AUTHOR OF BOOK: Gregory Kopp

GENRE: Victorian Historical Romance

ISBN: 978-1981089246

SERIES: Kopp Chronicles

PAGE COUNT: 81

AMAZON or FAVE LINK to BUY BOOK: https://www.amazon.com/Heiress-Kent-Kopp-Chronicles/dp/1981089241

THE REVIEW ITSELF: Reviewed by Doanné Deventer for Readers’ Favorite

Gregory Kopp's novel The Heiress in Kent takes place in 19th-century London and New York. Sir Richard Mayne and Her Majesty the Queen ordered Scotland Yard detective Richard Cordwell to investigate urgent matters regarding the British throne's financial investments in the American railroads. During a global financial crisis, Cordwell embarks on his journey to uncover the truth and meets new and interesting people along the way. The handsome detective is entrusted with a secret mission from the queen herself that keeps him on his toes. While traveling to different towns to investigate the financial fraud that could negatively impact Britain's economy, he finds himself in challenging situations to complete this secret mission. The burning question on everyone's mind is, who exactly is The Heiress in Kent?

The Heiress in Kent, a historical mystery novel by Gregory Kopp, is a delightful and easy-to-read book. Kopp skillfully introduces several characters in the plot, including two based on his great-grandparents. He has portrayed the era and two different countries remarkably well and has also conveyed the challenging times faced by the characters to the reader in a touching manner. The financial difficulties that the characters experience are relatable to our current economic situation. Kopp has conducted extensive research on the eras and history of both Britain and America, which is evident from the detailed annexures containing references to some of the characters and other relevant information. The book is fast-paced, and not overly complicated. I thoroughly enjoyed the journey it took me on.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Gregory Kopp is a 5-Star Reviewed Author, Graduate of Northwestern University and a Principal Consultant for Kopp Company, a privately held firm. Gregory is also a Talent Ambassador for The Walt Disney Company. The 5-Star acclaimed Kopp Chronicles series of novels have been nominated for Reader's Choice Awards and have received glowing reviews and been featured in “First Lines” of "BookLife Publishers Weekly", an international news website of book publishing and bookselling and in “Readers' Favorite”, the fastest growing book review and award contest site on the Internet, respected by publishers Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster and Harper Collins. They have also received numerous "Cover of the Month" & "Book of the Day" Honors.

X Permission to publish the review.

You can learn more about Gregory Kopp and "The Heiress in Kent" at https://readersfavorite.com/book-review/the-heiress-in-kent where you can read reviews and the author’s biography, as well as connect with the author directly or through their website and social media pages.

Website: https://www.tales2inspire.com

E-MAIL: tales2inspire2@gmail.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 the 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. NewBookReview associate Lois W. Stern is the silver circle associate in charge of review submissions and the one who keeps services offered on this blog to authors free with her AuthorsHelpingAuthors projects. Please see submission guidelines in Lois W. Stern’s silver circle icons in the right column of this blog, in a tab at the top of this blog's home page, or go directly to the submission guidelines at https://bit.ly/ThePlacetoRecycleBookReviews. (WARNING some cell phones cut off the right column of this blog, so try it using your desktop!) Carolyn Wilhelm is our IT expert, an award-winning author and veteran educator. 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 (the link is also found in the right column!) handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at SharingwithWriters.blogspot.com and #FrugalSmartTuned-InEditor.blogspot.com. Learn more about the team using our frequent hashtags: #TheFrugalbookPromoter, #CarolynHowardJohnson, #TheNewBookReview, #TheFrugalEditor, #SharingwithWriters, #reading #BookReviews #GreatBkReviews #BookMarketing and Carolyn’s website, HowToDoItFrugally https://bit.ly/ThePlacetoRecycleBookReviews.

Pages