Kelly Ames for the Stars

  JUST A HAT By Shanah Khubiar   Young Adult / Coming of Age / Jewish Fiction / Small-Town Texas / 1970s Publisher: Blackstone Publishing Pages: 254 Publication Date: July 18, 2023     SYNOPSIS 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 ...

DANGEROUS LATITUDES By Jack Woodville London Historical Fiction Publisher: Stoney Creek Publishing Pages: 326 Publication Date: February 18, 2025 SYNOPSIS From the author of the French Letters trilogy comes a sweeping historical adventure full of unforgettable Texas legends! Six years after the fall of the Alamo, Mexican armies invade freely across the Rio Grande, and Texas is but one skirmish away from losing its hard-won independence. Against this backdrop, naïve surveyor Alexandre LaBranche accepts a dubious commission to map the Rio Grande boundary between Texas and Mexico but soon finds himself far out of his depth. Laced with exuberant, Texas-sized historical figures such as Sam Houston, Mirabeau Lamar, and Jack Hays, Dangerous Latitudes is a quest across a war-torn frontier that becomes a race to save two hundred captured Texans who the Mexican army has marked for death. CLICK TO PURCHASE Amazon | B&N | Bookshop.org ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jack Woodville London is a histor...

BENEATH THE BROKEN OAK By Lori Altebaumer Mystery / Romance Publisher: One Thousand Hills Publishing Pages: 400 Publication Date: February 22, 2025   SYNOPSIS Trees don’t heal. They seal. But Forester Jodee Trevaine isn’t a tree. The wounds of abandonment she’s spent years denying will be ripped open the night she witnesses a child’s abduction. The hardscrabble West Texas town of El Hueso, where keeping secrets is what keeps you alive, is the last place one would expect to find healing. Until her job brings her there for a dying tree.  With new friends and the unexpected reacquaintance with the man she loved and left, Jodee has everything to gain—and just as much to lose—as she races against time to rescue the boy. Could it be that her roots go deeper than she realized into the soil of EL Hueso? CLICK TO PURCHASE Books2Read | Amazon ABOUT THE AUTHOR Award-winning novelist and Amazon Top New Release author Lori Altebaumer is a lifelong Texan whose family roots run deep in th...

  GUNBARREL HIGHWAY By Sean Bridges Suspense / Thriller Wild Rose Press Pages: 264 Publication Date: November 20, 2024 SYNOPSIS Texas trophy wife Claudia Grant dies after she causes an early morning car accident. In the other vehicle, Daniel Morrison, an attorney struggling with a pending divorce and pill addiction, panics and leaves the scene. The victim’s husband, congressional candidate Hayden Grant, is a corrupt politician who seizes the opportunity and places a million-dollar reward on Morrison’s capture. Dead or alive. Daniel is on the run. Roya Navarro, a determined San Antonio police detective, is hot on his trail with local law enforcement, county sheriffs, a hungry journalist, and trigger-happy citizens all across the Lone Star state out on the hunt for the bounty. CLICK TO PURCHASE: Amazon | B&N | Bookshop.org | Wild Rose Press Walmart | Books-A-Million | Audible ABOUT THE AUTHOR Sean Bridges is an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Nicholl award-winni...

  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 w...

VANISHING INTO THE 100% DARK By Amber Royer Cozy Mystery Publisher: Golden Tip Press Pages: 288 Publication Date: March 4, 2025 SYNOPSIS Bean to chocolate maker Felicity Koerber has been invited to be part of a chocolate festival in Tokyo. It’s a big deal for a Texas gal with a chocolate shop on Galveston’s historic Strand, so a whole group of her friends come along to support her. It’s intimidating enough to be giving a class on chocolate making with the help of a translator – she also stumbles across the scene of a murder, where a quirky group of international actors and stunt performers are making a monster movie. Felicity has already solved half a dozen murders back in Texas, so at this point her friends basically expect her to get involved – even before the young media influencer in Felicity’s group becomes the main suspect. Felicity has taken on the role of chaperone for Chloe, so she can’t imagine how she could explain what went wrong to the girl’s mother. Which gives her even...