Rainy Days With Amanda

  THE BORDER BETWEEN US By Rudy Ruiz Literary Fiction Publisher: Blackstone Publishing Pages: 256 Publication Date: August 27, 2024 SYNOPSIS The Border Between Us is a poignant coming-of-age novel from one of the most exciting voices in fiction. Ramón López was born along the US–Mexico border but is determined to get out and embrace the American dream—and he’s not sure whether his complicated family is a help or a hindrance. As the son of immigrants, as Ramón grows, his admiration for his entrepreneurial father sours as he watches his dad’s dreams of success wither on the vine. Ramón’s mother is constantly preoccupied with his younger brother, who struggles with intellectual disabilities. And the outside world is rife with danger and temptations threatening to distract Ramón from his dreams of making it to New York and succeeding as an artist. As dreams clash with reality and values conflict with desires, Ramón finds the American dream within his reach—but will it demand too big ...

    JUST A HAT By SHANAH KHUBIAR Young Adult / Coming of Age / Jewish Fiction / Small-Town Texas / 1970s Publisher: Blackstone Publishing Page Count: 254 Publication Date: July 18, 2023 Scroll down for giveaway! Action-packed, humorous, and bittersweet, this 1970s-era coming-of-age novel is more relevant than ever--exploring how a second-generation immigrant kid in a new hometown must navigate bullying, unexpected friendships, and the struggle of keeping both feet firmly planted in two very different cultures. It's 1979, and thirteen-year-old Joseph Nissan can't help but notice that small-town Texas has something in common with Revolution-era Iran: an absence of fellow Jews. And in such a small town it seems obvious that a brown kid like him was bound to make friends with Latinos--which is a plus, since his new buds, the Ybarra twins, have his back. But when the Iran hostage crisis, two neighborhood bullies, and the local reverend's beautiful daughter put him in all sorts ...

  STORK BITE by L.K. Simonds Genre: Historical Fiction / Southern Fiction  Date of Publication: November 30, 2020  Number of Pages : 359 pages Scroll down for Giveaway! “Everything has to be reconciled eventually.”  Caddo Parish, 1913. On an October morning, a Klansman confronts seventeen-year-old David Walker at a hidden oxbow lake where he has gone to hunt. David accidentally kills the man and hides the crime. His determination to protect his family from reprisal drives him far from home and into manhood.  Shreveport, 1927.  Cargie (rhymes with Margie) Barre and Mae Compton are two vastly different young women, but both are defying convention to reach for their dreams. The men in Cargie’s and Mae’s lives help and hinder them in more ways than one. After years in hiding, David Walker finally resurfaces, and we discover the past is never as far from the present as it seems.   PRAISE FOR STORK BITE: "Sim...

    SIX FEET UNDER TEXAS:   Unique, Famous, & Historic Graves in the Lone Star State (Cemetery Tales Book 1) by TUI SNIDER    Genre: Nonfiction / Texana / History / Texas Travel Publisher: Castle Azle Press Date of Publication: August 15, 2020 Number of Pages: 250 pages  Scroll down for Giveaway! Explore the cemeteries of Texas with Tui Snider as she reveals overlooked history in these fascinating open-air museums.  Along the way, you’ll meet fascinating characters, including a whistleblower who died in suspicious circumstances, an oilman who added a phone line to his mausoleum, and the events that caused two “frenemies” to be chained together in death. CLICK TO PURCHASE! Unique. That is the best word to describe this book. When I first picked up this book, I thought the author was going to talk more so about unique headstones and the stories behind them. While Snider does have some chap...