Prairie Fox Reads

Book Review:   God Talks: How to Have a Friendship with God   by Ed Rush Rating:   ★★★★☆ (4.29 out of 5 stars) Disclaimer:  I was given a free copy of the book from the publisher.   This provision has in no way affected the content, objectivity, or critical analysis of this review.  This review remains objective and focuses on the author’s narrative framework and theological/motivational utility. Publication and Context Title:   God Talks: How to Have a Friendship with God Author:   Ed Rush Publication Date:   March 12, 2023 Publisher:   God Talks, Inc. (Independently Published) Page Count:   309 pages Format:   Kindle Edition (ASIN: B0BXFYHS6X) Genres:   Christian / Nonfiction / Spirituality / Religion / Self-Help Target Audience:   Christians seeking a more intimate prayer life, spiritual seekers, and faith-driven entrepreneurs or professionals looking to align their personal success with divine guidance. Co...

  Sarah Penner Park Row, 2023 (Hardcover edition) 352 pages Disclosure: This review is based on a close reading of the text and publicly available publication details. It evaluates narrative craft, thematic content, and genre positioning.   Overview Sarah Penner’s The London Séance Society is a Victorian-set historical mystery that blends atmospheric supernaturalism with procedural intrigue. The novel follows Vaudeline D’Allaire, a celebrated spiritualist who claims to summon murder victims, and Lenna Wickes, a skeptical American who seeks answers about her sister’s death. When Vaudeline is summoned to London to assist in a high-profile case, Lenna accompanies her as an understudy, drawing them into the elite and secretive world of London’s Séance Society. Penner fashions a mood-rich tale that balances occult spectacle with investigations into grief, gender, and social power in late nineteenth-century London.   Synopsis and Structural Overview The narrative moves primari...

  Madame Restell : Who Gets to Control Women’s Health? Some historical figures survive in the record as people; others survive as warnings. Madame Restell was made into a warning—a name invoked to represent female criminality, sexual disorder, medical danger, and the supposed consequences of allowing women too much independence. In Madame Restell: The Life, Death, and Resurrection of Old New York’s Most Fabulous, Fearless, and Infamous Abortionist , Jennifer Wright asks readers to look behind that manufactured infamy. What emerges is not a saint, nor quite the unblemished heroine suggested by the book’s exuberant subtitle, but a formidable and complicated woman operating in a society that needed her services while publicly condemning her for providing them. This is a biography, but it is also an argument about power: who possesses it, how institutions protect it, and whose knowledge is recognized as legitimate. Wright presents Ann Trow Lohman—better known as Madame Restell—as a sel...

  Kirsten Miller William Morrow, 2022 (Hardcover edition) 470 pages Disclosure: This review is based on a close reading of the text and publicly available bibliographic information. It evaluates narrative structure, characterization of midlife women, interplay of genre elements (mystery, magical realism, thriller), thematic treatment of aging and empowerment, and pacing.   Overview Kirsten Miller’s The Change is a genre‑blending novel that places middle‑aged women at the center of a supernatural mystery and a social reckoning. Set in the Long Island oceanfront community of Mattauk, the book follows Nessa, Harriett, and Jo—three women navigating the upheavals of midlife—who each develop uncanny abilities tied to menopause, grief, and long‑repressed rage. When a teenage girl’s abandoned body is discovered, the trio refuses the official dismissal of the death, forcing them into an investigation that uncovers further violence and entrenched privilege. The novel uses elements of m...