Tuesday Book Spotlight: The Good Mother Test by Michael R. French

When Emily, a bright but impulsive UCLA student, gives birth to her daughter Violet, she vows to be the kind of mother she never had: endlessly loving and fiercely protective. But single motherhood is a test with no right answers.

As Violet grows into a gifted and unpredictable child, Emily’s instinct-driven parenting collides with a world obsessed with achievement, social expectations, and expert advice. When Violet’s father, Doug, reenters her life — now in a relationship with Amanda Hoenig, a respected family therapist unable to have children of her own — an uneasy triangle begins to form. What starts as an amicable co-parenting arrangement turns into a psychological tug-of-war over Violet’s future. Emily’s intuition and Amanda’s professional authority clash in living rooms, classrooms, and finally courtrooms, as everyone insists they are fighting for the same thing: what is best for the child. Violet has her own opinions about this.

Told in two voices — first Emily’s, then Violet’s as she comes of age — The Good Mother Test is a gripping work of contemporary fiction exploring modern motherhood, ambition, and identity. Fans of Little Fires Everywhere and The School for Good Mothers will be drawn to its emotional depth and moral complexity.

Read sample here.

The Good Mother Test is available at Amazon.

Book Details

• Genre: Contemporary Women’s Fiction
• Sub-genre: Literary Fiction/Psychological Fiction
• Language:English
• Pages: 315
• Paperback ISBN: 978-1948749909
•  

Excerpt:

Cedars-Sinai, arguably the most luxurious and respected hospital in L.A., was waiting for Emily. Under a moonless sky, Doug seemed to be steering an Army assault vehicle, not a vintage Mercedes — honking, flicking his high beams, and clenching his teeth whenever he passed a car. Was he praying for luck or simply exuding courage? Emily wondered. He was navigating Beverly Boulevard like he'd just held up a bank. Emily was slouched in the passenger seat, the baby inside her kicking.

She glanced at Doug. "Slow down, please."

"Steady as she goes," he said, eyes glued to the traffic flow.

"I don't want to kill our baby."

Doug smiled patiently. "I should have taken you to the hospital half an hour ago, when your water broke. I don't know why you resisted."

"My bad. I wanted to finish watching the last five minutes of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix."

"Seriously? Why take chances?"

"I wasn't ready, Doug. I'm still not."

She didn't have the strength to explain in a hundred words or less to a man she wasn't married to that she wasn't sure about her future, say, beyond the next year or two. She was in flux. Recently, her thoughts had been tossing her into her past, where she had to feel her way out slowly, gingerly, like being in a dark room with sharp objects.

"Ohhhh." Emily's first contraction came with a jolt, body-slammed by a seven- or eight-pound fetus. She and Doug had already chosen the baby's name.

– Excerpted from The Good Mother Test: Not Trying to Heal My Inner Child While Raising One by Michael R. French, Terra Nova Books, 2026. Reprinted with permission.

About the Author

Michael R. French graduated from Stanford University where he was an English major, focusing on creative writing, and studied under Wallace Stegner. He received a Master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University. He later served in the United States Army before marrying Patricia Goodkind, an educator and entrepreneur, and starting a family.

In addition to publishing twenty-three titles, including award-winning young adult fiction, adult fiction, biographies, and a self-help book, he has written or co-written a half-dozen screenplays. These include indie films Intersection, which has won awards in over thirty-five film festivals, and The Reunion. Both streamed on Amazon.

He has also had a long business career in real estate, living in Santa Fe, New Mexico. His passions include travel, collecting rare books, and hanging with friends and family. French’s work, which includes several best-sellers, has been warmly reviewed in the New York Times.

Visit his website at www.goodmothertest.com.

Connect with him on social media at:

╰┈➤ Twitter: https://twitter.com/mfrenchauthor  

╰┈➤ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MichaelRFrenchAuthor/?fref=nf 

╰┈➤ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrfrenchbooks/  

╰┈➤ Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/245381265-the-good-mother-test

Tuesday Book Spotlight: The Faithful, The Fearful & The Foolish: Living for God in Troubled Times by Luke Uebelher

 

Empowering readers to grow as Faithful Disciples of Christ by equipping them to overcome the fear of man, become effective in the Business of God, and prepare themselves to Rule & Reign with Christ…

Here is a timely word for the Church of Jesus Christ, for those who have a true desire to know and to be pleasing to God. The parable of the talents, while not necessarily an easy word to hear, is a much-needed word for the Church today. Brother Luke has perfectly captured the word of Jesus in his exposition on the parable of our Lord. 

The Faithful, The Fearful & The Foolish: Living for God in Troubled Times is available at Amazon. 

╰┈➤Book Details

• • Genre: Personal Transformation

  • Sub-genre: Spiritual Self-Help/Discipleship/Christian Leadership

  • Language:English

  • Pages: 124

  • Paperback ISBN: 979-8368097947

╰┈➤Here’s What Readers Have To Say!

“This book will encourage you, challenge you & remind you that YOU have a purpose & important kingdom work to do here, put your armor on Christian soldier.” – Valentina Anderson

“If you, like me, see that this world is getting darker and that the light is not as bright as it could be, then this book is for you.” – Joyful

“This book is very inspirational and a must read!” – Carla Price

Watch Luke Talk About His Book

 

About the Author

In 2012, Luke Uebelher began serving and supporting the needs of sex-trafficking and domestic violence survivors by working in partnership with ministries that are led by trafficking and abuse survivors. Under the guidance and leadership of his pastors, his ministry expanded to also serving and supporting the needs of homeless Military Veterans, and ministries in the Philippines. Luke and his wife Maggie were married in 2018 and have a home in the Philippines. Luke travels between the United States and the Philippines for business and ministry services. 

Luke’s latest book is The Faithful, The Fearful & The Foolish: Living for God in Troubled Times.

Connect with him on social media at Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Luke-UebelherDiamond-Fire-Transport-Missions-100077395525353/ 

Sponsored By:

❤Author Interview: Mike Martin, Author of 'A Change in Plans' #authorinterview

 

Mike Martin was born in St. John’s, NL on the east coast of Canada and now lives and works in Ottawa, Ontario. He is a long-time freelance writer and his articles and essays have appeared in newspapers, magazines and online across Canada as well as in the United States and New Zealand.

He is the award-winning author of the best-selling Sgt. Windflower Mystery series, set in beautiful Grand Bank. There are now 17 books in this light mystery series with the publication of A Change in Plans. 

A Tangled Web was shortlisted in 2017 for the best light mystery of the year, and Darkest Before the Dawn won the 2019 Bony Blithe Light Mystery Award. All That Glitters was shortlisted for the LOLA 2024 Must Read Book of the year award.

Some Sgt. Windflower Mysteries are now available as audiobooks and the latest Darkest Before the Dawn was released as an audiobook in 2024. All audiobooks are available from Audible in Canada and around the world.

Mike is Past Chair of the Board of Crime Writers of Canada, a national organization promoting Canadian crime and mystery writers and a member of the Newfoundland Writers’ Guild and Capital Crime Writers.

Visit Mike’s website at https://sgtwindflowermysteries.com. 

Connect with him on social media at:

╰┈➤ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheWalkerOnTheCapeReviewsAndMore 

╰┈➤ Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mike54martin 

I am so excited about your new book, A Change in Plans. Why did you choose this particular story to write?

A Change in Plans is the 17^th book in the Sgt. Windflower Mystery series, so it is a continuation of the adventures of Windflower and the gang. But it is also a story about choice and how the ones we make can have so much impact on ourselves and others.

Can you give us a book blurb so others will know what it’s about?

RCMP officer Winston Windflower’s rare afternoon off gets interrupted when a hit and run turns into murder and he must pull together a team of Mounties from Newfoundland to resolve the crime. Following the money and fentanyl— and bodies—Windflower and his team join forces with police officers in southern Ontario to take down an international drug-smuggling ring.

Windflower must face personal doubts and fears when fellow Mountie Fil Romano is kidnapped. While the higher-ups at HQ make plans to give safe passage to the drug lords in return for Romano’s life, Windflower worries Romano will get caught in the crossfire. Windflower again looks to his friends and allies for help in the difficult hours and days ahead. 

Can you tell us a little about the main characters in your book?

 

Sgt. Winston Windflower is a police officer with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Mounties. He is also a Cree from Northern Alberta who gets stationed in the small town of Grand Bank where he falls in love with the place. His wife is Sheila who is the former Mayor of the town and he has two great friends, Eddie Tizzard, a fellow Mountie and Herb Stoodley, a former Crown Attorney

Where and when does this book take place?

A Change in Plans is set in Grand Bank, Newfoundland, on the easternmost tip of Canada. It is small, fairly isolated with a history of rum running during prohibition and the love of smuggling runs deep. It is the perfect location for a series of mysterious crimes and adventures.

They say all books of fiction have at least one pivotal point where the reader just can’t put the book down. What is one of the pivotal points in one of your books in this series?

There’s a lot of action in the book, but the climax may be when the parties involved arrive at a small airport in the relative middle of nowhere with a police officer taken as hostage.

Does your book carry a message?

Probably to keep your friends close and your enemies closer

What's your next project?

Book 18 in the Sgt. Windflower Mystery series is in the works and will be released in 2027.

Where can we pick up copies of 'A Change in Plans'?

 A Change in Plans is available from Amazon, all over the world.

Is there anything you'd like to tell your readers and fans?

Thank you for your on-going support. Without readers, there would be no writers.

Book Trailer Feature: Fighter Pilot's Daughter by Mary Lawlor #booktrailer

 

Fighter Pilot’s Daughter: Growing Up in the Sixties and the Cold War tells the story of Mary Lawlor’s dramatic, roving life as a warrior’s child. A family biography and a young woman’s vision of the Cold War, Fighter Pilot’s Daughter narrates the more than many transfers the family made from Miami to California to Germany as the Cold War demanded. Each chapter describes the workings of this traveling household in a different place and time. The book’s climax takes us to Paris in May ’68, where Mary—until recently a dutiful military daughter—has joined the legendary student demonstrations against among other things, the Vietnam War. Meanwhile her father is flying missions out of Saigon for that very same war. Though they are on opposite sides of the political divide, a surprising reconciliation comes years later.

⤷Read sample here.

⤷Fighter Pilot’s Daughter is available at Amazon.

╰┈➤Book Details

• Genre: Memoir
• Sub-genre: Women in History / Military Leaders Biography
• Language:English
• Pages: 323
• Paperback ISBN: 978-1442222007
• Kindle ISBN: 978-1442222014
• Publisher: Rowman and Littlefield
• Format: Hardcover, Paperback, Kindle, Audiobook

╰┈➤Here’s What Readers Have To Say!

“Mary Lawlor’s memoir, Fighter Pilot’s Daughter: Growing Up in the Sixties and the Cold War, is terrifically written. The experience of living in a military family is beautifully brought to life. This memoir shows the pressures on families in the sixties, the fears of the Cold War, and also the love that families had that helped them get through those times, with many ups and downs. It’s a story that all of us who are old enough can relate to, whether we were involved or not. The book is so well written. Mary Lawlor shares a story that needs to be written, and she tells it very well.” ―The Jordan Rich Show

“Mary Lawlor, in her brilliantly realized memoir, articulates what accountants would call a soft cost, the cost that dependents of career military personnel pay, which is the feeling of never belonging to the specific piece of real estate called home. . . . [T]he real story is Lawlor and her father, who is ensconced despite their ongoing conflict in Lawlor’s pantheon of Catholic saints and Irish presidents, a perfect metaphor for coming of age at a time when rebelling was all about rebelling against the paternalistic society of Cold War America.” ―Stars and Stripes

 

Mary Lawlor is author of a memoir, Fighter Pilot’s Daughter: Growing Up in the Sixties and the Cold War (Bloomsbury 2015) and two books of cultural criticism, Recalling the Wild: Naturalism and the Closing of the American West (Rutgers UP 2000) and Public Native America (Rutgers UP 2006). She studied at the American University in Paris, the University of Maryland, and New York University. She divides her time between Easton, Pennsylvania and Gaucin, Spain. Her novel, The Translators, is set in 12th century Spain and fictionalizes the experiences of Robert of Ketton, first translator of the Koran into Latin. She hopes to see it out next year. In the meantime, she has started a second novel, The Women’s Hospital, set in 18th century Spain and inspired by the life story of an Irish woman whose family moved to Cádiz, escaping English oppression in their own country.

╰┈➤ You can visit her website at https://www.marylawlor.net/.

Connect with her on social media at:

╰┈➤ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mary.lawlor.186/ 

❤Author Interview: Marie McGaha, Author of 'Your Ghost: A Memoir of Love, Loss and the Echoes That Remain' #authorinterview

Marie McGaha is an award-winning writer whose work includes clean historical romances, Christian devotionals, and heartfelt children’s books. A storyteller at her core, she weaves faith, resilience, and gentle humor through every page she writes.

She makes her home in southeast Oklahoma, in the foothills of the Ouachita Mountains, where life is anything but quiet. Her days are shared with four spoiled dogs, a crippled rooster with more attitude than feathers, a noisy guinea who believes it runs the place, a couple of flighty hens, and a watchful roo who keeps an eye on everything that moves. This lively little farm—equal parts sanctuary and circus—provides endless inspiration, companionship, and the kind of grounding only God’s creation can offer.

Whether she’s crafting a tender love story, guiding readers through Scripture, or bringing the Bible to life for children through animal characters, Marie writes with a voice shaped by faith, loss, healing, and the stubborn hope that refuses to let go. Her work reflects the heart of a woman who has walked through fire and come out carrying stories worth telling.

You can also join her for daily devotionals on YouTube at @HeReignsChurch, where she shares encouragement, Scripture, and the steady reminder that hope is still alive. You can contact her by email: church.hereigns@gmail.com. 

Marie’s latest book is Your Ghost: A Memoir of Love, Loss and the Echoes That Remain.

Visit her blog at authormariemcgaha.blogspot.com. 

Connect with her on social media at:

╰┈➤ Facebook: www.facebook.com/AuthorMarieMcGaha

╰┈➤ LinkedIn: Linkedin.com/in/mariemcgaha 

Can you tell us about your creative process for writing your new book  Your Ghost: A Memoir of Love, Loss and the Echoes That Remain? How did you come up with the idea to turn it into a book? 

My husband died in November 2021 and my world came apart. Over the weeks, months, and years I began writing down all the things I felt and what I was going through. The result was 600 pages of pain, grief, anger, prayers and pure insanity. I began reading it, then editing it, and a book was born.

Which specific chapter or scene was the hardest for you to write, and why? 

 

All of it. I bawled while reading it, while editing it, through the whole process it was reliving the love of my life’s death. Some days I could only work on a couple of pages, and other days, I couldn’t even look at it.

What is the primary emotional truth you want readers to take away?

Losing your spouse, your life partner, the one who made the world make sense is the hardest thing we can go through and even when it feels like you’re not going to survive, you will. One day, one moment, one breath at a time.

 

How has completing this book changed you as a writer or a person?

The book didn’t change me, losing my husband did. The book is just an extension of grief that I hope will help someone else.

 

 

 

How did you decide what secrets or details were too private to share with the world? 

When you’re a writer, there really are no secrets. Even in fiction, you still bare a part of yourself in your work. In this book, I laid my soul bare and hid nothing. It’s raw, it’s personal, and it’s honest.

 

 

Were there any memories you recalled during the writing process that you had completely repressed?

All of it. I bawled through the entire process. It also brought to mind the love we had, the things we shared—like watching a movie of the past 30 years. The pain is still raw and I miss him so much.

 

 

What do you hope readers who are currently trapped in a similar struggle take away from your survival? 

 

Loss is not linear, grief is not linear. It is jumbled, it is up and down, sideways, pear shaped, and can turn you inside out. The stages of grief slam into you one day, pull back on other days, hits you one at a time, or they roll over you all at once and you are at their mercy. There is no pattern in grief. No way to tell someone how to get through it, how to survive it—you just roll with it and try to keep breathing and try to not completely lose yourself. Grief has no middle or ending, it is something you learn to co-exist with. And I hope, if nothing else, readers will at least know they aren’t alone and they aren’t crazy. 

 

Where can we pick up copies of 'Your Ghost: A Memoir of Love, Loss and the Echoes That Remain'?

Readers can find Your Ghost: A Memoir of Love, Loss and the Echoes That Remain here:

• Amazon: https://a.co/d/0ioxQy4s