New Homepage

Welcome!

Book Picks and Pics is your expert source for book reviews, photography tips, travel scenes, and creative inspiration.

Latest Posts

Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover

★★★★★ Like many of CoHo’s romance books, this book starts with an unusual meeting between our main characters. When Tate Collins finds a drunken Miles Archer camped at her brother’s front door, she isn’t impressed.

Read More »

What Never Happened by Rachel Howzell Hall

★★☆☆☆ As a child, Coco was the only survivor of a deadly home invasion that killed her entire family. She now writes obituaries for her hometown paper, owned by her college best friend. When elderly women start disappearing from Catalina, Coco begins to believe there’s a serial killer on the loose.

Read More »

The Last Carolina Girl by Meagan Church

★★★☆☆ The Last Carolina Girl is Megan Church’s debut novel. Set in 1935, Leah Payne is living a happy, simple life in Holden Beach when tragedy strikes, making her an orphan. She is forced to leave the people and town that she loves to live with a foster family in Matthews, N.C.

Read More »
In Focus

Photo Tips

Indie Reviews

Fire at Her Fingertips by Rebecca Crunden

★★★★☆ Written in the second person, Fire at Her Fingertips is about a young woman who lives with daily rejection by her family. She has nothing, not even a birthday, to call her own. Nothing, except the flames at her fingertips, that is.

Read More »

The Io Project by J.E. Clarkson

★★★★★ Callie Sullivan headlines The Io Project, a new sci-fi series by J.E. Clarkson. In book one, Sullivan accepts the opportunity to work with the renowned Horatio Brookes, an inventor and philanthropist, on an environmental project after climate change starts having an accelerated impact. 

Read More »

Secrets They Never Told by Kayla Hicks

★★★★☆ Secrets They Never Told by Kayla Hicks is a heartwarming story about 18 year old Sadi who is preparing for a new stage in her life after the tragic death of her parents.

Sadi is a lovable character – you can’t help but to want her to find peace and happiness. Her best friend, Parker, is also an endearing character. Everyone needs someone like him in their lives.

Read More »

Dystopian Reviews

The Io Project by J.E. Clarkson

★★★★★ Callie Sullivan headlines The Io Project, a new sci-fi series by J.E. Clarkson. In book one, Sullivan accepts the opportunity to work with the renowned Horatio Brookes, an inventor and philanthropist, on an environmental project after climate change starts having an accelerated impact. 

Read More »

The Guidal: Unearthing Secrets by Roxy Eloise

★★★★☆ The Guidal: Unearthing Secrets is the second book in Roxy Eloise’s dystopian series, which she began publishing after landing a contract in a Twitter pitch event.

In The Guidal, we return to Boulderfell Institute, where Aurora makes a shocking discovery.

Read More »

Embryo Zero by Trevor Wynyard

★★★★☆ The second book in the dystopian fiction Streetlighters Trilogy, Embryo Zero again features brothers Matthew and Kevin Turner, along with a few new characters and familiar faces from the first book.

The brothers are estranged as Matt takes Kevin’s place at university, and finds himself propelled into national hero status. Meanwhile, his younger brother makes a risky move in an attempt to have a different future for himself and his family.

Read More »
Take Flight

Travel Scene

Science Fiction Reviews

The Io Project by J.E. Clarkson

★★★★★ Callie Sullivan headlines The Io Project, a new sci-fi series by J.E. Clarkson. In book one, Sullivan accepts the opportunity to work with the renowned Horatio Brookes, an inventor and philanthropist, on an environmental project after climate change starts having an accelerated impact. 

Read More »

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

★★★★★ I was browsing a bookstore while vacationing in Canada when I ran across Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel. I had previously read Station Eleven by her, and though it was well-written, it wasn’t my favorite. Sea of Tranquility was different.

Read More »

The Day After Never by Nathan Van Coops

★★★☆☆ The Day After Never is book three in Nathan Van Coops’ time-traveling series. I loved In Times Like These, the first book in the series and, while I didn’t like The Chronothon (Book 2) quite as much, its Amazing Race-style plot and pacing held my attention.

Read More »

Mental Health Reviews

Climb Out of the Traps

Have you fallen into the trap? The negative thinking trap. You know the traps I’m talking about. The one that has you obsessing and taking things personally that probably don’t have anything to do with you.
These traps zap creativity and drain productivity because they monopolize our mental energy and lock us into a narrow way of thinking.

Read More »

Effortless by Greg McKeown

★★★☆☆ I listened to McKeown’s book Essentialism and it was a game changer for me. I wanted more of his wisdom on how to simplify my life and get more with less effort. Unfortunately, Effortless: Make it Easier to Do What Matters Most wasn’t as revolutionary as Essentialism.

Read More »