Book cover of The Springs

Book description

A small town. A huge grief. A struggle to see a way forward.

Larry Ahearne’s death in Afghanistan has had a traumatic effect on his friends and family back in Painter’s Springs. His best friend Alaric Morgan—who witnessed Larry’s last moments—suffers from PTSD-induced mutism, which has forced him to leave…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Springs as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Painted rocks! Okay, that was a tiny part of the story, but I paint rocks as a hobby.

People leave the rocks, with messages of encouragement, for strangers to discover. Oleson used painted rocks as one minor plot thread, but it struck a cord for me. You never know when a kind word – or an ugly one – will change the course of a person’s life, and that is a theme of this novel.

Three damaged people find each other and begin healing from their traumas. This stand alone has elements of mystery and romance, but it read like…

If you love The Springs...

Book cover of December on 5C4

December on 5C4 by Adam Strassberg,

Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!

On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…

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