Zane Duvall has one goal this Christmas: attend all Twelve Parties of Clementine and win the grand prize—a small ranch he’s always dreamed of owning. But his plan hits a snag when his well-meaning family decides he needs a holiday romance to go with his holiday cheer. Lily Smith has come to town to confront a man claiming to be her father—and ends up facing a lot of questions she’s not ready to answer. When Zane proposes a fake relationship to keep nosy citizens and matchmakers at bay, Lily agrees. After all, it’s just pretend…right? But when family secrets and old wounds come to light, will their budding romance survive the season?
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Elise’s Thoughts
The Christmas Cowboy by Melinda Curtis is a delightful holiday read. There are some heavier subjects that are heartfelt and emotionally riveting. But the humor is a welcome relief, coming mostly from a five-year-old boy.
Lily Smith has come to Clementine to act as a nanny for her newborn niece and five-year-old nephew, Ford. But there is another reason she is there. She has spent her whole life wondering why her father ignored her and did not treat her like he did her brother, and intends to find out.
She intends to be by herself until she meets Zane Duvall in a bar. He asks her to be in a pretend relationship with him to get both of his biological and foster mothers off his back and stop their matchmaking ideas. She decides to help him be his date at all the Christmas parties so he can avoid every single woman chasing him all over town.
Because Zane knew Lily was a cowboy that has worked on many ranches, he asks her to chase down this wild white Stallion, Solomon that has never been caught. They grow closer and realize there is a chemistry between them. But first, she must find out who is her real father after getting a letter from a local man claiming to be her “real” father as opposed to the man who raised her.
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Author Interview
Elise Cooper: What are you planning for Christmas?
Melinda Curits: I’m recovering from a severely broken ankle. The holidays have been great because, for the first time in what feels like forever, I’m not cooking! I plan to nap a lot.
EC: What does it mean in your writings?
MC: I use a lot of my family’s decorations and holiday traditions in my writing. It feels like I’m connecting to the past when I include a special side dish, ornament, or game in my stories.
EC: What is the role of Christmas in this story?
MC: It has Christmas Cards, 12 parties of Christmas, Santaplooza Parade, and Rowdy is like Scrooge. This is a fake dating story, so I needed many events. Christmas offers a lot of events. I created the 12 Parties of Christmas, so the hero and heroine had places to date.
EC: Idea for the story?
MC: I love fake dating stories. Hallmark has a lot of them during the holidays. They get me in the mood to write, especially the funnier ones.
EC: How would you describe Lily?
MC: She is self-assured, has a sense of humor, tomboy, guarded, and runs when it gets overwhelming. Up until her parents died, Lily had decided she wasn’t “that girl,” the one who men wanted to date. But then her parents die and she learns the man she thought was her dad wasn’t and from there on nothing is the same.
EC: How would you describe Zane?
MC: Not a planner, honest, witty. Zane is definitely a seat of the pants type of guy. He’s been letting life happen to him. But now, what’s happening isn’t what he wants.
EC: What are the roles of Zane’s two mothers. Biological and foster?
MC: Nurturing and family are important. They are like a burr under a saddle – annoying in their desire to see him settled down. He can’t ignore them because he loves them. But their matchmaking is very heavy-handed. What do you do when women are put in your path at every turn?
EC: What about Ford, Lily’s five-year-old nephew?
MC: He is rooting for Zane, a comic relief, enthusiastic, the inner thoughts of the male and female lead. Ford keeps things light when some of the backstory might be a bit heavy. I love character growth and I love comedy when the two work together. It’s kind of the way I approach life.
EC: Why Solomon the horse?
MC: As a kid, we’d take road trips through the west and count white horses. They became special to me, a touchstone to family. Also, where we lived, there were a lot of local myths and legends about wooded areas. It seemed right to combine the two as a bridge between Zane and Rowdy.
EC: Describe the relationship?
MC: Friends first. She shields him from all the women sent after him by his mothers. He is a teaser. This is a buddy story. Neither expect love to bloom. They each have their own agenda for the holidays. But somewhere along the line, they realize they are each other’s person.
EC: Next book(s)?
MC: I have five western romances releasing in 2026 – 3 with harlequin (including a new Blackwell series book) and 2 with tule (only tule has a page up https://tulepublishing.com/books/the-cowboys-accidental-bride/). I’ll also be working on two romantic comedies – 1 Grandma Dotty/Summer Kisses book (It Happened at Sea), 1 Mermaid Bay.
THANK YOU!!
***
BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
Evelyn Schwartz has the perfect Hanukkah planned: eight jam-packed days producing the live-action televised musical of A Christmas Carol. Who needs family when you’ve got long hours, impossible deadlines, and your dream job? That is, until an accident on set lands her in the medical bay with one of her chronic migraines, and she’s shocked to find her ex-husband, David Adler, filling in for the usual studio doctor.
It’s been two years since David walked away from Evelyn and their life in Manhattan, and his ex-wife is still the same workaholic who puts her career before everything else—especially her health. But when Evelyn begins hallucinating “ghosts” tied to her past heartbreaks, and every single one leads to David, he finds himself spending much more time with her than he anticipated. And denying the still-smoldering chemistry between them becomes impossible.
As Evelyn revisits her ghosts of Hanukkah past, she and David both begin to wonder if they can have a Hanukkah future. But with a high-stakes production ramping up the pressure on Evelyn, and troublesome spirits forcing them both to confront their most difficult shared memories, it might just take a Hanukkah miracle for these two exes to light the flame on their second-chance at love.
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Elise’s Thoughts
The Eight Heartbreaks of Hanukkah by Jean Meltzer is a great holiday read. Hanukkah is known as the “Festival of Lights” and this novel shows how the characters were brought out of their darkness and illuminated with light as they take their journey to reconnect.
In the style of best-selling author Kristin Hannah, this novel is a heartfelt, sad, and heartbreaking story dealing with loss and trauma. But readers also will laugh with the characters as they learn about life lessons and reignite the light of their relationship that was once filled with hope, love, and togetherness. The story is about a second-chance romance during Hanukkah and there is a happily ever after.
It’s been two years since David walked away from Evelyn and their life in Manhattan, during the first night of Hanukkah. Eveyln fell back on her “go to” by leaning into work. Now, a successful television producer, she was chosen to produce the live action musical version of A Christmas Carol for network television.
While having one of her debilitating chronic migraines, she had an accident on the set. The show’s medic is called but unfortunately, he is Evelyn’s ex-husband David, who is substituting for the permanent medic. These migraines can cause Evelyn to blackout, but now something else is going on where she has visions, and hallucinations.
The author spins A Christmas Carol with Jewish twists as Evelyn’s “Ghosts of Hanukkah Past” visit her every night and make her flash back to certain difficult times in her life. Her past, present, and future are displayed to her, offering her to feel love, growth, change, and forgiveness. She is shown how instead of being married to David, she is married to her job with little time for anything but work.
Readers will laugh with Evelyn as she tries to deal with the comical Hanukkah ghosts but also cry with her as she remembers how David always tried to help her deal with parental neglect, chronic illness, infertility, pregnancy loss, and grief.
This is a great book because people will be able to connect with the characters and understand their journey through the lens of Judaism, although they do not have to be Jewish to enjoy the story. Readers will laugh at the humor, cry as they mourn the character’s loss, and cheer as they demonstrate strength and rekindle love, getting their happily ever after.
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Author Interview
Elise Cooper: How does Hanukkah come up in your writings?
Jean Meltzer: My husband is an Army military veteran, having done two tours of duty during the Iraq war. The world, as my husband has seen, can appear so dark. By being bright ourselves, we can brighten other people and make the world a much lighter and better place. I try to write from the lens of Jewish authenticity of my Jewish experience. It is my mission and passion to tell Jewish stories. My first one, The Matzah Ball, was also a Hanukkah book. I like the idea of spreading light among Jewish stories.
EC: Does Dickens have an influence in this story?
JM: I thought of different ideas and loved the Hanukkah retelling of A Christmas Carol. My mother who is a psychologist often used A Christmas Carol in her therapy, marriage and family counseling. We talked and she commented that the people think the story is about looking at your past and changing. She said what the story is really about is seeing your experiences through another person’s lens. At that moment I thought this is what I want The Eight Heartbreaks of Hanukkah to be about where the main female character, Evelyn, sees her heartbreaks through another person’s lens, David. I find it a privilege to tell other stories through a Jewish lens. Hopefully, lots of Jewish retellings in my future.
EC: Why the chronic illness?
JM: I have been sick with a chronic disability since I was 18/19 years old, chronic fatigue syndrome. Because I have lived with disease for so long, I have come to a process in my life as someone who has a chronic disability. From my first book, I have always written characters a little bit like me, either sick or anxious or struggling, but still get their happy ending. I can write all these stories with real life events, but in the end the characters deserve to have a happy ending.
EC: Does Evelyn’s chronic migraines define who she is?
JM: As someone with a chronic disability, I feel you cannot separate it from experiences. It is a part of my daily life. Does it define me totally? No, but it is a part of who I am. For Evelyn, that is the same sort of experience. She knows how to maneuver and deal with it. It is a part of the decisions she makes in her life. I also have experienced chronic migraines but not as disabling because medication has worked.
EC: Do you agree Evelyn does not appear to be very religious?
JM: Because Evelyn is more of a secular and cultural Jew, she does not spend much time with the lingo then someone who is super educated in Jewish culture and tradition. David’s family is a little more engaged in the Hanukkah traditions than Eveyln. I have lived in both experiences. I have the characters decide for themselves. The main message is there, that miracles can still happen and that God is involved in our affairs. I try to write from the lens of Jewish authenticity of my Jewish experience.
EC: How would you describe Evelyn?
JM: Stubborn, independent, gutsy, smart, funny, tough, workaholic, and used work to avoid relationships with friends, family, and David. She is deeply sensitive and fears her own vulnerability. I think she tries to thrive and survive. As she grows and changes throughout the story, Evelyn becomes likeable. I think she is misunderstood unlike Scrooge from A Christmas Carol.
EC: How would you describe David?
JM: He became more confident because Evelyn was a part of his life. She helped him stop being bullied and supported him financially while he went through medical school. He is also caring, introverted, sensitive, but withdrawn.
EC: How would you describe the relationship?
JM: She and he were complete partners. She was his anchor. She is the one if the dinner order was wrong, she would send it back, while he would not say anything. She is more assertive. They make each other better. They were childhood friends. They were equals and there for each other, until they started to splinter. Because of this huge traumatic loss in which she could not deal with, they fell apart. He still missed her, while Evelyn has displaced anger toward him. And feels betrayed by him. As a child of divorce, she was bitter to him for committing that unforgivable sin, leaving her in Eveyln’s worst moment, plus he did it on the first night of Hanukkah. One of the reasons she has blown off Hanukkah is she also has displaced anger towards God.
EC: Next book?
JM: I am taking a year off from writing because I am planning a big conference titled Jewish Joy Con, https://www.thejewishjoycon.com . It is a groundbreaking three-day event celebrating the best in pop-culture, storytelling, and creativity, scheduled for March 13-15th at the Broward County Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale, FL. There will be Jewish creators from every industry and is open to Jews and non-Jews alike. This is taking every second of my life right now. Readers should look for a book in 2027.
THANK YOU!!
***
BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
1961, England. The Queen is spending a night on board the royal train with her entourage and her sister, Princess Margaret. But before they reach their destination, an unreliable witness claims to have seen a brutal murder from one of the carriages.
The Queen and her assistant private secretary, Joan McGraw, get to work on their second joint investigation. No one else saw the crime. If there is a victim, could he be the missing photographer friend of Margaret’s new husband, Tony Armstrong Jones?
This time, the Cold War threatens to undermine the Queen’s upcoming visit to Italy. She and Joan must tackle dark forces that follow them all the way, in a tale of spies, lies, and treachery.
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Elise’s Thoughts
The Queen Who Came in From the Cold by S. J. Bennett features Queen Elizabeth II as the protagonist and her private secretary Joan McGraw. Fans of Peter James, who’s latest The Hawk Is Dead, involves the current Queen Camilla and King Charles might also like to read this story.
This plot has Queen Elizabeth II and her personal secretary Joan involved with spies, lies, and treachery involving the KGB. The Queen, Prince Philip, and Princess Margaret are planning on taking the royal yacht to Italy. But the temporary lady-in-waiting claims she saw through the train window a dead man being tossed into a lake. The Queen and Joan decide to investigate. They discover a plot to smuggle a Russian defector aboard the Britannia while the Queen and Prince Philip are visiting Italy.
This is a cozy mystery that has intrigue and humor along with historical figures that readers get to know better.
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Author Interview
Elise Cooper: Idea for the series?
S. J. Bennett: I was shifting from writing children’s books to crime. My father was in the army and spent a lot of time with the Queen. I ended up thinking she would make a great detective because of her curiosity about people. She had access to any expert. I decided to write a series where Queen Elizabeth II is the detective behind the scenes and lets someone else take the credit, a man who is her nemesis.
EC: Idea for this book?
SJB: This is the fifth one in the series, all written to be read as a stand-alone. I went back in time to 1961, the height of the Cold War and the Space Race. It was all very dangerous and a great time to set a mystery novel. This book starts on the royal train. An unreliable witness thinks she saw something from the train window. Later, I move to the royal yacht, the Britannia. This one is a story of spies with the Queen caught up in international intrigue and takes on the KGB.
EC: Did the title come from the James Bond movie?
SJB: John le Carre wrote The Spy Who Came in From the Cold that came out in 1963. His first book came out in 1961 and in the final pages of this book I have Prince Philip reading the book by a new author. He cannot remember the name but indeed it was John le Carre. I also have some characters reading James Bond books. President Kennedy enjoyed reading Ian Fleming so I had Prince Philip keen to read Fleming so he can chat with him when he comes over.
EC: How would you describe Queen Elizabeth II?
SJB: She was intelligent, funny, witty, curious, very warm and self-contained. She was an empathetic person.
EC: How did you get the dialogue for the Queen?
SJB: She did not talk that much conversationally in public and did not give interviews. My parents did meet her but overall, I had to imagine it. There was a time period to get her voice right. What I did do is watch old videos of the family and saw the little asides, like when she made a joke to someone. In the early books of the series I imagined her and Philip as an older couple.
EC: How would you describe Joan, the Queen’s Assistant Private Secretary?
SJB: She is an outsider who is not part of the Royal machine and has not grown up within the Royal family. She is a working-class person. She grew up in the 1930s and enjoyed working crossword puzzles with her father. She was recruited to Bletchley Park to be a code breaker. She gave a lot and was hugely instrumental in helping us win WWII. When it was over the code breaking effort was ignored and her contribution to it was also ignored. She found herself in the typing pool at Buckingham Palace. The Queen found her there. Joan has a great memory, is a linguist, and keeps a secret. She is curious, no nonsense, analytical, and courageous.
EC: Was she based on anyone?
SJB: My grandmother. She was clever, hardworking, and multitalented. She was largely underestimated growing up in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s.
EC: Since the story is based on historical figures what do you want readers to get out of the story?
SJB: Of course, entertainment. But also, a sense of reassurance. The world we live in is stressful. My books allow readers to retreat for a bit. I write in the Golden Age tradition where the Queen sets the tone of being moral, serious, with a sense of justice. I like to live in a world where the people in charge are like that.
EC: The next book?
SJB: The next book is set in 1966. It is titled Deck on The Royal Yacht and will be published in October 2026. It was a big year for Britian. We had the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and was popular. The Queen has set off on a five-week tour of the Caribbean. The plot has somebody who has helped Joan out in the private office found dead of a drug overdose. Joan is a suspect because she does not like this woman very much.
THANK YOU!!
***
BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
Supervising two newly minted medical residents might be the toughest challenge Ruth “Dok” Stoltzfus has ever faced. Wren Baker, sharp and ambitious, graduated at the top of medical school with a hidden agenda in tow. Charlie King, at the bottom of the class, is determined to succeed–though Dok isn’t convinced he’s got what it takes. Then there’s traveling nurse Evie Miller, whose quiet love for Charlie doesn’t go unnoticed, especially by Wren.
Boarding at Windmill Farm, the trio struggles to balance modern medicine with Plain living. Between medical emergencies, cultural misunderstandings, and brewing romantic tensions, Dok finds herself juggling far more than she bargained for. Soon the stage is set in the small Amish community of Stoney Ridge for plenty of professional and personal complications.
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Elise’s Thoughts
A Hidden Hope by Suzanne Woods Fisher is a fantastic read blending romance, hope, faith, intriguing medical facts, and doctors/nurses learning their craft under the supervision of a very wise doctor. Readers can revisit characters from the previous book and get to know some interesting new ones.
The plot has Ruth “Dok” Stoltzfus deciding to lessen her medical workload by taking into the practice two newly minted medical residents, Wren Baker and Charlie King, as well as traveling nurse Evie Miller. Wren is sharp, ambitious, and graduated at the top of her medical school, while Charlie King is at the bottom of the class and determined to succeed. The trio struggles to balance modern medicine with Plain living. Between medical emergencies, cultural misunderstandings, and brewing romantic tensions, Dok finds herself juggling far more than she bargained for. A second main thread continued from the last book is about Annie, Dok’s Amish receptionist, who desperately wants to join her love interest, Gus, in the EMT field. But medical issues complicate the matter and makes her wonder if her dreams and future will blow up in smoke.
What makes these books stand out is how the author highlights some medical issues such as postpartum depression, reading disabilities, family dysfunction, drug trials with pharmaceutical companies, and severe motion sickness. Readers will take the journey with the characters as they struggle with these issues and try to overcome them. In addition, there is subtle commentary on the attitude of doctors. A great quote that exemplifies this is by Dok, ““You have all the tools to be a good doctor, but to be a great one, you need to treat the person, not just the illness.”
This book was very hard to put down. Readers will become entwined with the characters. There are tender moments, heart wrenching scenes, and humorous dialogue.
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Author Interview
Elise Cooper: Why did “Dok” decide to have doctoral residents?
Suzanne Woods Fisher: I was not setting out to do a series but have written a third book. It picks up where the last book, A Healing Touch, left off. Dok had a local TV station do a feature on her and her practice blew up with a waiting list out the door. She ends up with two brand new medical doctors. They decided to go to this rural local community to get their medical school bills paid off. It is a story where the outsiders are looking in, about observation and noticing.
EC: How did you find out about the medical practice to write about?
SWF: I have several friends who have children that became doctors. My own daughter- in-law has a residency in clinical psychology. I interviewed two of my friends’ children who did not match to where they went. I have written into the story medical issues that either I know about personally or knew of people that experienced it. Most of “Doks” work is not specialty but common, basic, and true anecdotal medical issues.
EC: Why did you write this powerful book quote about looking at the individual or animal by doctors and vets?
SWF: My experience with the medical community is that it is all about statistics. Doctors and vets today do not individualize. They need to look at the person or dogs care, commitment, devotion, and budget. Dok said to the resident that she must see the whole person. Her quote, “What truly matters to me is that you start seeing your patients as a whole people not just a collection of symptoms…You need to treat the person, not just the illness. Your patients aren’t mere tasks on a to-do-list. You need to be attentive to them as human beings.” Dok is the doctor we all wish we had.
EC: Did Dok practice differently than other doctors?
SWF: Rural doctors like Dok practice differently than those in an urban setting. They are much more on the front line of a family practice. Dok has this philosophy that she can learn more about a person in a home than in an office call. Dok is now so connected to the people’s well-being and whole health. She believes in alternative options, and is a quick thinker, and adapts to the moment. At first, she thinks how much Wren is like her when she was a young doctor, but Charlie is like Doc now as an experienced doctor.
EC: How would you describe the resident Wren?
SWF: Wren Baker graduated at the top of her class, brilliant, quick, decisive, gutsy, bold, audacious, competitive, and ambitious. She is also territorial, snobbish, impatient, used to luxuries, not culturally sensitive, cunning, determined, and tenacious. Wren had life a little too easy including in school that applauded her high successful IQ but that does not necessarily make a successful person with relationships, especially working with others.
EC: How about the other resident, Charlie?
SWF: He was at the bottom of his medical class. He is curious, steady, can connect with the patients. Wren was the reason he got through medical school. He had an appreciation and tolerance for her that others did not see. He is also kindhearted, patient, goofy, likes to fix things, and is all heart. He thinks outside the box and comes at things from a different angle.
EC: What about the nicknames given to Charlie by Evie, the nurse practitioner studying under Dok?
SWF: Clueless Charlie, Charitable Charlie, Correctable Charlie, Coachable Charlie, and Conniving Charlie. Evie was crazy in love with him. She feels neglected by him. These represent her emotions. Her feelings zig zag. Evie felt it was unrequited love all the time.
EC: How would you describe Evie?
SWF: She had a Mennonite upbringing. She does not have self-confidence and does not stand up for herself. She underestimates herself. She feels displaced and does not belong until her grandparents raised her during her high school years as her parents ran off on different missions. She never understood the gift she had with a sense of calmness and confidence.
EC: How would you describe Clara who has postpartum depression?
SWF: She suffered alone, is struggling, broken, withdrawn, and became disoriented. She slipped through the cracks with a lot of people to blame. Motherhood is highly revered in the Amish community. Clara was not thriving and feels judged for struggling. She has a husband who is super patriarchal. She finds it hard to except help and has painted herself into a corner of loneliness and isolation.
EC: How about Dok’s office assistant, Annie?
SWF: She is shy, not confident, and considers EMT Gus like a soul mate. She is a quick thinker but panics when she thinks she cannot achieve her professional dreams. Annie is the youngest in a big family with all brothers. Her mother is a flaming hypochondriac. At the end of the book, she has become her own person where she makes her own decisions.
EC: Next books?
SWF: There will be a book 3, a wonderful conclusion. It picks up a bit where this leaves off. It will be published next October 2026 but no title yet.
In May another book comes out, the second in the National Park Series titled Chasing the Light. This will have the ocean and buried treasure, with a lot of history of New England.
THANK YOU!!
***
BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
Hollie S. McKay is an investigative and international affairs/war journalist who has written two non-fiction books, Only Cry for The Living and Afghanistan and a novel, Dictator’s Wife. She has put her life on the line as she worked on the frontlines of several major war zones including in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria. Her books cover terrorism, and crimes against humanity.
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Book Description
Only once in a lifetime does a war so brutal erupt. A war that becomes an official genocide, causes millions to run from their homes, compels the slaughtering of thousands in the most horrific of ways, and inspires terrorist attacks to transpire across the world.
That is the chilling legacy of the ISIS onslaught, and Only Cry for the Living takes a profoundly personal, unprecedented dive into one of the most brutal terrorist organizations in the world.
Journalist Hollie S. McKay offers a raw, on-the-ground journey chronicling the rise of ISIS in Iraq—exposing the group’s vast impact and how and why it sought to wage terror on civilians in a desperate attempt to create an antiquated “caliphate.”
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Elise’s Thoughts
Only Cry for The Living takes readers on a journey of ISIS as it commits torture, rape, murder, and genocide. McKay provides a profoundly personal insight into the rise of ISIS in Iraq, exposing the desperate pursuit of a barbaric “caliphate” at the expense of innocent lives.
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Book Description
Overnight, Afghanistan dramatically transformed. One chapter – a twenty-year epoch heralded by the attacks of September 11, the U.S. invasion and propping up an ailing government – shuttered on August 15, 2021. Another entirely new – albeit old – chapter flipped open under the stringent ruling of the Taliban.
Officially termed the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, it’s a government that triggers immense fear among the population, having reigned with an iron fist pre-9/11 and waged a brutal insurgency from the mountaintops that claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Afghans and foreigners.
Veteran war reporters – writer Hollie McKay and photographer Jake Simkin – walk you through the fall of the U.S. and the rise of the Taliban, drawing you into the minds of the new regime and into the hearts of the Afghanistan people.
“Afghanistan: The End of the U.S. Footprint and the Rise of the Taliban Rule” is a chilling bloody, yet beautiful visual expedition through one of the most magical yet wounded parcels of the planet. It is a place where poppies grow wild and men in the mountains cradle guns like children. It’s a place where kites fly high, and everyone has a war story, even though most never chose to go to war.
Welcome to Afghanistan after the cataclysmic fall. The band-aid over the bullet wound has been ripped off, and “Afghanistan” will guide you into the maze of dust, debris and delicacy the way no journalistic endeavor has done before.
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Elise’s Thoughts
Afghanistan, written by McKay with the photographs of Jake Simkin, delves into the fall of the U.S. and the rise of the Taliban, including how women lost any rights gained while the Americans were there.
Both books interviewed those who have been the perpetrators and the victims that describe the true horrors of what happened. The best summary is from Jocko Willink, a retired Navy SEAL, “She gives us all a better understanding of war and human nature.”
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Author Interview
Elise Cooper: Can you explain your quote about how the rule of law is lost in a war zone?
Hollie S. McKay: In the book on Afghanistan, I have this quote. “The budding and innocent always bear the brunt of war in its height and aftermath.” In the book on ISIS I have this quote, “If only the victims could tell the world what was happening to them, somehow it would all change the world.” These quotes emphasized how those in these situations feel incredibly powerless with a sense of injustice. Unfortunately, the perpetrators never have any accountability. I think telling the victims stories offers a sense of justice that they will never receive from the courts. I am hoping that people might understand on a microlevel what happened and maybe it will spur action.
EC: I wonder where the feminists are with all three brutal attacks on women by Hamas on October 7th, what the Taliban has done in Afghanistan, or ISIS in Iraq. Please comment.
HSM: Women were raped, tortured, and had their freedoms taken away. There is an overarching narrative where people do not want to be perceived of being derogatory to a different culture. There are situations in life, these being one of them, where people need to culturally offend for any change to a happen. Women should not be MIA but should speak out about any cultural practices that are inherently wrong. More than 150 years ago there was a practice in Hinduism that was called SAATI. Basically, if the men did something wrong or died for whatever reason, they would burn the wives under the belief her life was meaningless without a husband. When the Brits came into India, they said they would kill anyone who practiced this and put a stop to it. My point being that people must step up. Another example, in Afghanistan, had little boys taken, dressed up as girls, and raped. It was a real mistake that the US did not clamp down on this practice. In fact, in 2014/15 a Green Beret was court martialed because he beat up an Afghan police commander he found doing it. He went through a trial and was discharged. That never should have happened. Eventually the charges were dropped and the decision reversed after public outcry. People need to speak out when they know something is inherently wrong, and that is just what he did.
EC: Why do you think the Taliban and ISIS allowed you to interview people and observe?
HSM: I was not treated like ‘their women.’ They recognize I was a western woman that has a different lifestyle and beliefs. Obviously, I was not a man. It was an arbitrary middle ground, which is quite advantageous in these places. I could go and sit with the men but also could sit with the women, which my male colleagues cannot do. In a way I had access others did not because of the middle ground.
EC: What about the Kurd fighters who are women?
HSM: It is a fascinating story. The PKK fought against Turkey but also ISIS. They have a Marxist point of view. They feel women and men are equal in the way that they fight. There are others like the Sun Ladies in Iraq where thousands were taken and used as sex slaves or killed. A number managed to escape but there are still a number still missing. A lot of those women joined the fight because they felt they could not rely on anyone else for their protection. Their motivation was to protect themselves. Generally, the Kurds have more of an open mind then other Sunni Muslims in that region. Another motivation was that these women knew that the extremists believed if they were killed by a woman they would not go to paradise. This put an extra layer of fear to the ISIS terrorists.
EC: What about the US pull out in Afghanistan?
HSM: In Afghanistan a lot of women cannot be educated anymore. A large amount of the poverty level is represented by women. Currently, women have no rights to do anything. Women who want freedom and education, feel a sense of abandonment. At some point there was needed a significant draw down by the American forces. What was frustrating was to see the Afghan Army throw down the weapons and give up the fight considering the training they had. During the evacuation there were able bodied muscular strength men filling the planes because they pushed through that gate above women and children. The evacuation did not need to happen the way it happened.
EC: Does Hamas, ISIS and the Taliban have the same goals?
HSM: Hamas relies on Iran for funding. The Taliban are a little more on their own without the global funding that Hamas has. Their objectives are different. The Taliban is focused on their own border while Hamas wants to eliminate Israel. In terms of extremism both have a Sharia Law system that is brutal. ISIS has the objective to broaden their Caliphate.
EC: What do you want readers to get out of the books?
HSM: I want people to care about everything happening. But human nature has a limit to deal with all the tragedy in the world and the Middle East region. People also get jaded. I wanted to find the micro stories that can tell a micro picture that people can relate to on a personal level. Statistics and numbers can be very desensitizing. People can understand the conflict in a broader way. I wanted to put the human face to the number. It is impossible for Americans to live in a bubble. It is important to understand the way the enemy thinks and the way they see the world.
EC: Are you writing another book?
HSM: I have a book with my agent delving into mothers in war, in crisis, and in conflict. It expanded twelve different countries from Yemen, El Salvador, Taiwan, Syria, North Korea, and Israel.
THANK YOU!!
***
BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
The Adversary and Executive Power by Brian Andrews and Jeff Wilson show why they are one of the best thriller authors today. They have realistic, gripping, and action-packed plots. With Black Friday approaching, these books will be great holiday gifts.
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Book Description
For John Dempsey, it’s a time of uncertainty.
As a new administration tries to piece together who was behind the assassination of an American president, Task Force Ember is a team without a target. Newly minted POTUS Kelso Jarvis is haunted by strange dreams of a house on fire, and Dempsey’s son, Jake—who has begun his own journey as a SEAL—can’t escape the ghost of the father he believes to be dead.
But when a routine intelligence-gathering mission in Taiwan goes horribly wrong and one of Ember’s own is captured, Dempsey’s frustration only grows. As Ember races to rescue their teammate before it’s too late, three of America’s strongest warriors—Dempsey, Jarvis, and Jake—must ask themselves if tomorrow’s adversary resides across the Taiwan Strait, or within themselves.
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Elise’s Thoughts
There are three subplots in The Adversary. Ember’s computer expert Richard Wang has been kidnapped by the Chinese in Taiwan. The whole team know they must rescue Wang, and their biggest enemy is time. They need to rescue him before it becomes impossible to find him. Another subplot is President Jarvis and the First Lady Petra deciding who will run in the next election. As if this is not enough, there is the story of Dempsey’s son Jake Kemper following in his footsteps to become a Navy SEAL. This is the book where Jake and John do have a reunion and are forced to work together to rescue Wang. There is also the emotions that are swelling up in both.
Per usual, the story has a villain everyone will hate, characters with emotional baggage, and lots of intense action. This Tier One world is exceptional and the only regret by readers is that they must wait for the next story to come out.
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Book Description
Luanda, Angola An American intelligence team on a routine mission is wiped out. The sole survivor: Kyle Ryan, youngest son of President Jack Ryan.
But the massacre of his colleagues is just the prelude to an even more devastating conflict—a deadly military coup in the central African nation. The next step is a shocking escalation, the seizure of the American Embassy and the taking of numerous hostages including the ambassador and the younger Ryan.
As US forces fight insurgents street by street in the African capital city, Lieutenant Katie Ryan leads the effort to untangle the mystery behind the coup and the identity of the plotters. Is it the Chinese government? Is it a corrupt Angolan general? Or is there a darker force pulling the strings?
In the White House Situation Room, President Jack Ryan and his National Intelligence Team anxiously await the answers. He may have a full Marine Expeditionary Unit at his command, but the full executive power of the presidency is useless if they can’t find the target.
One thing’s for sure, Kyle and his fellow hostages sit at the center of the bullseye—human shields to deflect an American response. Jack Ryan has faced many challenges as President, but solving this problem is no one-man job. It’s going to take all three of them to get through this.
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Elise’s Thoughts
Tom Clancy’s Executive Power features the two youngest Ryan children, Katie and Kyle (a numbers person). A three-man Defense Intelligence Agency team in Angola is attacked where two are killed and the third, Kyle, survives and escapes to the US Embassy. Unfortunately, he is not safe because the embassy was seized and taken over by a terrorist group that has just overthrown the current government. Their leader, Victor Baptista, takes hostages including Kyle. Navy Lieutenant Commander Katie Ryan is asked to find a way to rescue the American hostages and find the identity of the kidnappers. This story has it all including kidnapping, torture, politics, covert intel work, and Marines sent in to help with the rescue.
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Author Interview
Elise Cooper: Since you are writing so many series, do you divvy up or write together?
Brian Andrews and Jeff Wilson: We write together in everything we do. Everything has both of us on the page.
EC: How did you get the idea for the Tier One series latest book The Adversary?
BA & JW: This is book nine. The last Ember book focused on Dempsey being back from Russia. We want to feature a different member of the team with each book. In this one Richard Wang became a main character instead of a peripheral character. He might not get that much more page time, but people learn a lot more about him. This is the first time in the series he has a point of view. The readers over time can get to know the entire family of characters. We want readers to get to know them as we know them in our mind.
EC: How would you describe Wang?
BA & JW: He is not a warrior. After being kidnapped by the Chinese he feels helpless, has been tortured, fearful, he tries to play the game, and contemplates what will happen to him. He is in “direct support” and over the years has convinced himself he is a badass warrior. This is a very big slap in the face awakening where he realizes he is not John Dempsey. We flush it out by having him ask the question to himself several times, ‘what would John Dempsey do.’ He feels he must channel his relationship with Dempsey to help himself.
EC: What do you want to say about China in this book: adversary, enemy, or fren-enemy?
BA & JW: China is a nation state trying to undermine democracy, undermine the US military, and actively trying to exert influence in Pacific regions of the world, pinning their natural interests against our own. We are going to call a spade a spade. We refuse to pretend this is not happening. This is the equivalent for the modern generation to the 70s and 80s Cold War with Russia that was always talked about. The stakes are enormous encompassing business, economics, and who will be the superpower.
EC: Why do you put Grimes through the ringer?
BA & JW: Speaking as a reader, if there are too many character arcs it bogs the plot down to keep everything straight. To bring one of the other team characters forward, somebody else needed to fade into the background. We chose Lizzie Grimes in this one to fade into the background. There is a toll with the characters. We want people to see, understand, and appreciate the real human toll these people do in real life, which is why we gave Grimes a beating.
EC: What are Jake’s feelings for his dad, John?
BA & JW: Jake felt his dad chose team over family and did not balance his career and his family. He has mixed emotions towards his dad. The more Jake becomes part of the team the more he understands his dad’s feelings. Jake was a child when his dad disappeared from his life and now realizes he lied to him and his mother. Jake cannot believe that John allowed them to think he was dead and buried. Again, we wanted to make things as realistic as possible. John feels his new family is the Tier One family. This will be a complex relationship. There will be a couple of books dealing with this storyline.
EC: Both of you must have a crystal ball considering President Jarvis had a dream about burning up the East Wing of the White House. Please explain.
BA & JW: This was written before anything President Trump decided to do about the ballroom.
EC: Next book?
BA & JW: We had so much momentum with this book that we changed our publishing schedule around to write the next Tier One book. It comes out in July and is titled Insurgent. The reason we did this is because of the two questions readers will have regarding Jake and John as well as Petra and Jarvis. Those questions will be answered in the next book. Several of our characters will think overtly about where they came from and where are they going. It comes to the front in the next book.
EC: What about any TV/film from the books?
BA & JW: All the series we do will wind up in both venues of books and media. Many of our series are in development. There will be a give and take about which comes first the books or the media.
EC: What about the Tom Clancy book, Executive Power?
BA & JW: This is our last Tom Clancy book because we wanted to have all our books with one publisher. We wanted to show what nation will have economic, social, moral, and political influence in the improvised part of the world in Angola. The minerals could make them wealthy. The US needs to be the influencer, not China, in this area of the world because that partner will be not just economically but also politically and militarily. China could have a naval base there with easy access to the Atlantic that they never had before. There is a lot at play with these emerging nations. We tried very hard to reflect this complexity in the story.
EC: Did you want to show how the US is underestimated?
BA & JW: Impoverished nations don’t underestimate what we could do but do underestimate US resolve. Like right after 9/11, all the politics went out the window, and we were America against the enemy. People underestimate our will. This is what happens in the story, where Victor Baptista never imagined President Ryan would send in the Marines. We showed that if poked hard enough the US will not care about the politics and will do the right thing.
EC: The coup showed what?
BA & JW: The leaders are acting in their own self-interest and question what their priority is. The incumbent President in Angola thought it was better for him to make deals with China than to make deals with America because China gave a better deal. The coup showed how the new President wanted to leverage a better deal.
EC: What about Katie and Kyle’s personality versus the other two Ryan siblings?
BA & JW: They are sister and brother in the Ryan clan. They are kindred spirits, rely on each other, can read each other, and have an inseparable bond. With the Ryan family the oldest daughter followed mom and became a doctor, Jack Ryan Jr is a gunslinger trying to be everything his dad wasn’t. There is a wide number of years between Katie/Kyle and the older siblings.
EC: How would you describe Kyle?
BA & JW: Kyle’s personality is very different than his dads. He is not a warrior but is a negotiator. If he does his job well there is no need to send someone like John Dempsey for the violent action, which should be the last resort. We want to highlight characters like Kyle and Wang because of the important job they do.
EC: In The Adversary there was the AI sub and Carmen. What do you want to say about AI since it is used in your stories?
BA & JW: Since we write a modern military thriller reflecting the real-world technology there should be AI in the plots. We also put it in the Clancy books. All the AI in the books is based on real world technology that is being utilized currently by the military. The technological ability to gather information has increased where human analysts are faced with an impossible task of looking at billions of pieces of data. The ability to get information far exceeds the ability to analyze it. Without some form of AI that can categorize and point out to the human operators in real time, things will get missed. This shows the value of AI. We try to show in all our series the concern of AI. That is the need to make sure humans do not give away their decision making to AI. The military has said that at no point would anyone, but a human make a kill order. They will get information, advice, strategy from AI but AI will never decide to kill.
THANK YOU!!
BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
