BookBites: Four Great Characters You’re Going to Want to Get to Know

"Ballast Point Breakdown"
by Corey Lynn Fayman 

A speedboat hurtles across San Diego Bay and crashes into the Admiral's Club, where a farewell party for the Navy's top-secret Dolphin Divers program is underway. As guests flee the ensuing fire, a woman named Janis Withers crawls from the inferno and screams her last words - "Arion has returned!"

Eccentric guitar-playing private detective Rolly Waters is pulled into the case when he connects Janis to a pair of dog tags left behind by Butch Fleetwood, a member of the Dolphin Divers who disappeared 20 years earlier. As Rolly races against the authorities to uncover Arion's true identity, his investigation begins to reverberate with his own painful history. Purchase at https://amzn.to/2EzNW6x. 

"Jersig"
by J.B. Whitehouse 

Quentin Dettweiler is a young man living a sordid, robotic life. Directionless and achingly comfortable in a complacency beckoning him to dive in, Q is on the edge when he encounters a man unlike any other: Jersig.

Jersig is a man with airs about him who seems to hold the key to the secrets of life. A wealthy, "self-made" Californian who prides himself on being able to spot talent hidden below the surface, Jersig sees something in Q that piques his interest. As a friendship is forged, Q actualizes what he believed always to be true: he possesses greatness inside him. Perhaps Jersig holds the key to the secrets of life ... or perhaps potentially dangerous ones. Buy at https://amzn.to/30htIHb. 

"The Edge of Belonging"
by Amanda Cox 

"A beautiful story about broken people coming together to find healing." When Ivy Rose returns to her hometown to oversee an estate sale, she discovers her grandmother left behind more than trinkets - she provided a path to the truth behind Ivy's adoption. Shocked, Ivy seeks clues to her past, but a key piece is missing.

Twenty-four years earlier, Harvey James finds an abandoned newborn who gives him a sense of human connection. His desire to care for the baby is complicated by the fact that he is homeless. In this dual-time story, the truth takes center stage as Ivy and Harvey grapple with love, loss, and letting go. Purchase at https://amzn.to/2CZ2IDE. 

"Life is Big"
by Kiki Denis 

"This innovative and witty novel will delight logophiles and puzzle-solvers," says Publishers Weekly. Alma-Jane, a happy 11-year-old girl, is about to die due to a rare mutation. Ayrton, Alma-Jane's older brother and a math prodigy, declares war against Death, and leaves New York for Oxford, UK, to examine Albert Einstein's brain.

Meanwhile, Death and his brother, O.M. (Obituary Man), are in need of a short vacation. At the heart of all this, a motley crew of "Minor & Major Immortals" mingle. What connects them is the belief that "wise-thinking" leads to a longer and happier future, and that it's the only way to guarantee a "Life bigger than Death." Purchase at https://amzn.to/3hUigqZ.

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