For fans of The Warsaw Orphan and The Tattooist of Auschwitz: the start of WWII changed everything in Poland irrevocably—except for one man’s capacity to love.
September 1, 1939. Sixty-year-old Janusz Korczak and the students and teachers at his Dom Sierot Jewish orphanage are outside enjoying a beautiful day in Warsaw. Hours later, their lives are altered forever when the Nazis invade. Suddenly treated as an outcast in his own city, Janusz—a respected leader known for his heroism and teaching—is determined to do whatever it takes to protect the children from the horrors to come.
When over four hundred thousand Jewish people are rounded up and forced to live in the 1.3-square-mile walled compound of the Warsaw ghetto, Janusz and his friends take drastic measures to shield the children from disease and starvation. With dignity and courage, the teachers and students of Dom Sierot create their own tiny army of love and bravely prepare to march toward the future—whatever it may hold.
Unforgettable, devastating, and inspired by a real-life hero of the Holocaust, The Teacher of Warsaw reminds the world that one single person can incite meaning, hope, and love.
Praise for The Teacher of Warsaw:
“Through meticulous research and with wisdom and care, Mario Escobar brings to life a heartbreaking story of love and extraordinary courage. I want everyone I know to read this book.”—Kelly Rimmer, New York Times bestselling author of The Warsaw Orphan
“A beautifully written, deeply emotional story of hope, love, and courage in the face of unspeakable horrors. That such self-sacrifice, dedication and goodness existed restores faith in humankind. Escobar’s heart-rending yet uplifting tale is made all the more poignant by its authenticity. Bravo!” —Tea Cooper, award-winning and bestselling author of The Cartographer’s Secret.
Review
The Nazis have moved all the Polish Jews to the ghetto, including all the children in Janusz Korczak’s orphanage. Everyone’s life has changed. There is little or no food. Every day is a struggle to survive.
Janusz Korczak battles day in and day out to find enough food, medicine and clothing for all the children in his care. The atrocities of the Nazis and the deaths he witnesses every day are almost too much to handle. But, he never gives up!
This is a story which will break your heart. But, it is also a story which will show you about the love, hope and strength one person can have on others. Dr. Korczak saved so many but he could not save everyone. But, he is determined. This is a novel I will not soon forget. It is so beautifully written and well researched. I love that it is based on a real life hero.
Need a fantastic historical fiction you will be thinking about for days after…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today!
I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.
The year 1900 ushers in a new century and the promise of social change, and women rise together toward equality. Yet rules and restrictions remain, especially for women like Alice Butterworth, whose husband has abruptly disappeared. Desperate to make a living for herself and the child she carries, Alice leaves Chicago far behind, offering sewing lessons at a New Orleans orphanage.
Constance Halstead, a young widow, has thrown herself into charitable work. Meeting Alice at the orphanage, she offers lodging in exchange for Alice’s help creating a gown for the Leap Year ball of Les Mystérieuses, the first all-female krewe of Mardi Gras. During Leap Years, women have the rare opportunity to take control in their interactions with men, and upend social convention. Piece by piece, the breathtaking gown takes shape, becoming a symbol of strength for both women.
But Constance carries a burden that makes it impossible to feel truly free. Her husband, Benton, whose death remains a dangerous mystery, was deep in debt to the Black Hand, the vicious gangsters who controlled New Orleans’s notorious Storyville district. Benton’s death has not satisfied them. And as the Mardi Gras festivities reach their fruition, a secret emerges that will cement the bond between Alice and Constance even as it threatens the lives they’re building . . .
Review
Alice’s husband has disappeared. She is in dire straits. She is pregnant and has no source of income. She ends up traveling to New Orleans because of an overheard conversation about a needed seamstress. She takes a leap of faith and ends up in the home of Constance Halstead. But, everything is not as it seems and Alice may be taking a huge risk.
Jessica Marchbank is the narrator of this audiobook. And to be honest, I am not sure if she is the reason I gave this novel a 3 star rating or if it was the story itself. I found this narrator a bit too dramatic and too soft in her tone. Usually narrators do not bother me much. But, she just did not sit well with me.
The story itself is pretty good. It is a bit far fetched in the outcome. And I found it a bit contrived. But, I did enjoy the time period and the setting of New Orleans in the early 1900s.
Need a good historical fiction with some strong women characters…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today!
I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.
With her unique brand of witty, emotional storytelling, Susan Mallery’s latest is a heartfelt tale of friendship between three women brought together by chance who open a bookshop together on the boardwalk of the California beaches and ultimately become one another’s family. Fans of Elin Hilderbrand, Robyn Carr and Susan Wiggs will love The Boardwalk Bookshop!
Brought together by chance, Bree, Mikki, and Ashley become fast friends and open up a beachfront bookshop together, bringing together their three different businesses. To celebrate, each Friday at sunset they pop open champagne on the beach and enjoy the sunset together. Little did they know that that chance meeting and this simple ritual would make them one another’s family.
Bree owns the bookshop. Funny that she can’t stand authors. They’re far too demanding. But when NYT bestselling author Harding Burton, the memoirist who wrote about being paralyzed as a teenager and how he fought his way back, comes in, Bree never expected to actually like him. But anything beyond casual sex is out of the question for her. She trusts no one—a brutal first marriage and a painful childhood taught her well. Still as much as she wants to walk away, she can’t quite do it…
Ashley, Harding’s brother, owns the muffin shop and she has her own problems. She’s been happily in love with her boyfriend, Seth, for eight years. He’s thoughtful, supportive, kind, generous…but he hasn’t proposed and, she can’t hold it in any longer. When he announces that marriage isn’t for him, she’s shocked. And as much as she wishes this was enough, the truth is that she wants to be married. But what now?
And Mikki, the gift shop owner, is getting a second chance. She married her high school sweetheart, but three kids and completely different interests made them drift apart until they divorced a few years ago. They’re still close for the kids, but when someone new enters her life, he makes her feel appreciated and alive. Suddenly Mikki’s ex is making her dinner and asking her advice and Mikki must choose between the man she loved and let go of—and a chance for a brand new beginning.
Review
Mikki, Ashley and Bree decide to go in together to share the rent on a beachfront property. They become fast friends. Bree is the bookshop owner and has no intention of having a relationship with anyone. Ashley owns the bakery and she has a boyfriend which she loves dearly, but does he love her. Mikki owns the gift shop. She has been divorced and has decided to start dating again. But, as you can guess, complications arise.
These characters stay with you a while. I loved each and everyone of them. I love how they grow in their relationship with each other as the story moves along. Throw in romance issues and you have a dang good read! I mean…you have books, beach, cute guys, and champagne…what’s not to love!
Need just an all around good read for the beach…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today!
I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
SUSAN MALLERY is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of novels about the relationships that define women’s lives—family, friendship and romance. Library Journal says, “Mallery is the master of blending emotionally believable characters in realistic situations,” and readers seem to agree—forty million copies of her books have been sold worldwide. Her warm, humorous stories make the world a happier place to live.
Susan grew up in California and now lives in Seattle with her husband. She’s passionate about animal welfare, especially that of the two Ragdoll cats and adorable poodle who think of her as Mom.
Tommy Colt is stunned when his childhood best friend—and love—Bella Worthington abruptly announces she’s engaged to their old-time nemesis! Knowing her better than anyone, Tommy’s convinced she’d only agree to a sham marriage if something was dangerously wrong. Now Colt Brothers Investigations’ newest partner is racing to uncover the truth and ask Bella a certain question…if they survive.
Review
Bella is getting married…but not because she wants to or because she is in love. No, she is being forced to marry someone she despises. Can Tommy save her before it is too late?!
I am starting to enjoy these books I can read in one sitting. I read this on the way back from St. Louis and it was a perfect book for that trip. It is fast-paced and definitely intriguing. Now, it is a bit overly dramatic and contrived in places. But I fell for Tommy in the first book. And he did not disappoint in this one!
Need a quick romance with some great manipulation going on…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today.
I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.
Author Bio
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author B.J. Daniels lives in Montana with her husband, Parker, and two springer spaniels. When not writing, she quilts, boats and plays tennis. Contact her at www.bjdaniels.com, on Facebook at B.J. Daniels or through her reader group the B.J. Daniels’ Big Sky Darlings, and on twitter at @bjdanielsauthor.
Never too late to join the growing ranks of Jennifer Snow fans.”—Fresh Fiction
When old feelings resurface, will the truth bring them back together?
Skylar Beaumont never wanted to return to Alaska. Still, when duty calls, she can’t refuse. And, as a third-generation “Coastie” and the only female captain in the local coast guard, she has too much to prove. Being stationed in her hometown of Port Serenity isn’t ideal—but she’ll tough it out until her transfer goes through and she can move on to warmer waters. That’s the plan, at least, until she crashes into Dex Wakefield. Again.
Shocked to see his secret high school sweetheart after all this time, Dex can’t help but wonder if he should finally come clean. Skylar deserves to know the real reason why he abandoned the dream they’d shared—and broke her heart. But this small tourist town is home to one big grudge where their families are concerned… And leaving the past behind might be the only way Dex and Skylar will finally realize that their first love deserves a sweet second chance.
Bonus Novella
In Jennifer Snow’s Love on the Coast, Rachel Hempshaw embarks on a themed cruise, aiming to dispel yet another local legend. But when her ship is caught up in a coast guard operation, one sexy officer makes it his mission to prove the existence of something that Rachel no longer believes in—real love.
Review
Skylar is a bit conflicted. She has returned home to Port Serenity, Alaska. But, she is just unsure if this is where she wants to be. She has to deal with her family name and her father at work. Now, throw in her ex-boyfriend, Dex, and she is really confused.
Dex and Skylar have unfinished business. Dex is hiding a secret as to why he ended their romance years ago. Now, that they are back into close proximity, the sexual tension is in overload.
This novel is a bit too sweet and predictable for me. But, I loved the setting and Dex. Skylar ain’t too shabby either. She is tough as nails! It is a quick read with some great rescues and, of course, a great dog is thrown into the mix!
Need a sweet romance with a wonderful setting…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today!
I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.
As the war begins, Hanna Rombauer, a young German woman, is sent to live with her aunt and uncle after her mother’s death. Thrown into a life of luxury she never expected, Hanna soon finds herself unwillingly matched with an SS officer. The independence that her mother lovingly fostered in her is considered highly inappropriate as the future wife of an up-and-coming officer and she is sent to a “bride school.” There, in a posh villa on the outskirts of town, Hanna is taught how to be a “proper” German wife. The lessons of hatred, prejudice, and misogyny disturb her and she finds herself desperate to escape.
For Tilde Altman, a German Jewish woman, the war has brought more devastation than she ever thought possible. Torn from her work, her family, and her new husband, she fights to keep her unborn baby safe. But when the unthinkable happens, Tilde realizes she must hide. The risk of discovery grows greater with each passing day, but she has no other options.
When Hanna discovers that Tilde hiding near the school, she knows she must help her however she can. For Tilde, fear wars with desperation. The women must take extraordinary risks to save the lives of mother and baby.
Will they both be able to escape with their lives and if they do, what kind of future can they possibly hope for?
Review
Tilde is a German mixed Jew. Her Jewish mother hides away at the top of their seamstress shop, while Tilde runs the store. Tilde has a German last name and is able to hide in plain site. Hanna has been sent to live with her aunt and uncle. They plan to raise Hanna to be a good German wife. However, the SS officer she is engaged to is less than desiring. He is beyond cruel and scary. All these characters and their lives end up mixing together and this causes some dangerous situations with possible terrifying outcomes
First off, let me start by saying, I read this in one sitting. We were on a road trip and when I started it, I could not stop. Usually, I will put a book aside and pick up the phone or the iPad on a trip. Not with this one, it just moved like lightning!
Tilde and Hannah’s situation captivated me all the way through this book. They both had to be strong and smart to overcome every obstacle. And believe me…there are a lot of obstacles!
Need a great story which will make you mad, cry, and jump for joy all in the same breath…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today!
I received this novel from the author for a honest review.
About The Author:
Aimie K. Runyan writes to celebrate history’s unsung heroines. She has written five historical novels, including the internationally bestselling DAUGHTERS OF THE NIGHT SKY. Her most recent novel, GIRLS ON THE LINE is a Historical Novel Society Editor’s Choice for February 2019. She was a finalist for the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writer of the Year award and Colorado Book Award in 2019 and is a finalist for the Colorado Book Award again in 2020. Her fifth novel, ACROSS THE WINDING RIVER releases in August of 2020. Aimie is active as an educator and speaker in the writing community and beyond. She lives in Colorado with her two (usually) adorable children. To learn more about Aimie, please visit www.aimiekrunyan.com.
This is a moving and memorable tale of sisterhood, strength, and survival, which will resonate deeply with readers of historical fiction.– “Pam Jenoff, New York Times bestselling author”
Nora Beady, the only female student at a prestigious medical school in Bologna, is a rarity. In the 19th century women are expected to remain at home and raise children, so her unconventional, indelicate ambitions to become a licensed surgeon offend the men around her. Under constant scrutiny, Nora’s successes are taken for granted; her mistakes used as proof that women aren’t suited to the field.
Everything changes when she allies herself with Magdalena Morenco, the sole female doctor on staff. Together the two women develop a groundbreaking surgery: the Cesarean section. It’s a highly dangerous procedure and the research is grueling, but even worse is the vitriolic response from men. Most don’t trust the findings of women, and many can choose to deny their wives medical care.
Already facing resistance on all sides, Nora is shaken when she meets a patient who will die without the surgery. If the procedure is successful, her work could change the world. But a failure could cost everything: precious lives, Nora’s career, and the role women will be allowed to play in medicine.
Review
Nora has struggled to become a doctor. She is the only female at her medical school. She has fought against so much unfairness but her strength and her intelligence always shows through. She and Dr. Morenco, the only female doctor on staff, develop the Cesarean section. And, as you can guess…there is so much resistance in the use of the profound procedure.
Now, if you read any of my reviews you know I LOVE strong women characters. I mean…where would we be if some of these women had not gone before us. This book has one of the best!
Being in the medical field myself, I found this novel fascinating. I love Nora and the medicine. Talk about well researched! This book may not be for everyone, like I said, it has a good bit of science and medicine. But, I was hooked from the very beginning. The struggles women have gone through to have proper medical care and to achieve their goals is all in this book!
Need a fantastic historical fiction…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today!
I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.
When Isabel Perez travels to Barcelona to save her sister Beatriz, she discovers a shocking family secret in New York Timesbestselling author Chanel Cleeton’s new novel.
Barcelona, 1964. Exiled from Cuba after the revolution, Isabel Perez has learned to guard her heart and protect her family at all costs. After Isabel’s sister Beatriz disappears in Barcelona, Isabel goes to Spain in search of her. Joining forces with an unlikely ally thrusts Isabel into her sister’s dangerous world of espionage, but it’s an unearthed piece of family history that transforms Isabel’s life.
Barcelona, 1936. Alicia Perez arrives in Barcelona after a difficult voyage from Cuba, her marriage in jeopardy and her young daughter Isabel in tow. Violence brews in Spain, the country on the brink of civil war, the rise of fascism threatening the world. When Cubans journey to Spain to join the International Brigades, Alicia’s past comes back to haunt her as she is unexpectedly reunited with the man who once held her heart.
Alicia and Isabel’s lives intertwine, and the past and present collide, as a mother and daughter are forced to choose between their family’s expectations and following their hearts.
Review
Isabel is searching for her sister, Beatriz. She knows she is in Barcelona. And when Isabel arrives she encounters several dangers. Plus, she is unsure who to trust. She knows her sister is involved with espionage and is possibly in the CIA. The more Isabel uncovers, the more the past comes to threaten the future.
The thing that makes Chanel Cleeton stand out is the location and history of her books. And this one is on target…Cuba and Spain…what’s not to love! Now, sometimes she has too many characters and I tend to get lost. But this one kept me entertained and intrigued. I love the mystery and the secret. Add in the setting…and it’s a pretty dang good book! AND THAT COVER!
Need a good book set in Spain…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today!
I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.
Berkley Trade Paperback Original | On Sale May 24, 2022
As I sit on the flight from Palm Beach to Barcelona, wondering what possessed me to embark on this misguided adventure, it’s the look in Nicholas Preston’s eyes from our conversation a few days earlier that I remember most. There was no doubt that this was what he wanted, that he was worried about Beatriz as I was, but given their breakup and his desire to respect the boundaries they’d set, he was reluctant to involve himself, choosing instead to appeal to my romantic and sympathetic nature so I would do his bidding for him.
It’s a move Beatriz would make in a heartbeat, and it’s crystal clear how two people could be both utterly perfect for each other and impossibly doomed.
It’s been my experience that relationships are often about balance: one person tends to be the star, and the other is there to support them, to play those all-important background roles of advice and support. And sometimes, maybe, the roles shift a bit, although in my reality it has been almost entirely the man who is held in such a place of honor and esteem. Knowing my sister as I do, and her inevitable draw to the limelight whether intentional or otherwise, I can’t see her playing the role of the-woman-behind-the-man while Nicholas Preston ascends to political greatness. And I can’t imagine a man with such political ambitions and connections being happy throwing it all away for a life of relative obscurity.
If Beatriz is in Barcelona nursing a broken heart, the big sister in me wants to be there for her.
The flight is uneventful, the last hours passed staring out the window, questioning the decision to send me rather than Elisa as the family envoy, weighing the odds of Beatriz being happy to see me against the far more likely possibility that she’ll be less than enthused.
“I have a four-year-old,” Elisa pointed out when I suggested she would be more successful and welcomed by Beatriz. “How am I supposed to leave for Spain? Do you suggest I take Miguel with me?” She laughed at that, and given how energetic my nephew is, I can’t quite blame her for not wanting to bring him on an international flight to Europe by herself.
In the end, after much prevarication, and a fair dose of pleading with Thomas, who thought it both unseemly for his wife to travel by herself and has always harbored a strong dislike for Beatriz and her reputation, he reluctantly acquiesced, giving me a week away.
Armed with the return address on Beatriz’s letters to Elisa, a bit of money, my suitcase, and little else, I step off the plane when it lands at the airport in Barcelona and hire a taxi to take me to Beatriz’s home.
After a few initial minutes of conversation in Spanish, the driver leaves me to my own devices, and I stare out the window of the cab as he makes the twenty-minute journey, my gaze on the city.
I thought of dialing Beatriz’s number from the airport, warning her of my arrival before I showed up on her doorstep, but any attempts to call her before this trip have been met with silence, and I must admit I worried a bit that if Beatriz did answer the phone this time, she might tell me to turn back around and return to Palm Beach.
The farther we get from the airport, the more congested the city becomes, and I realize we’re near the center of Barcelona now.
Beatriz’s return address from her letter is a smart building on Las Ramblas with a beige stone facade and little balconies with red wrought iron railings. The taxi lets me off right before it.
It’s the sort of place I can imagine Beatriz living—elegant with a dash of whimsy. I can envision my sister leaning over the balcony railing, her dark hair billowing around her as she calls out good-naturedly to pedestrians, her laughter ringing down Las Ramblas. It is quintessentially Beatriz, both the privilege seeped in living in one of the city’s most desirable locales and the slight bohemian bent a city like Barcelona thrives on: art, music, and culture seemingly on every street corner.
It is a far cry from my life and the one our mother wanted for us in Palm Beach; no doubt, much of the allure for Beatriz was escaping to a place where there is anonymity in the crowded streets and bustling pace, where the need to see and be seen does not reign paramount.
But still, it raises the ever-important question that has been on my mind since Elisa first told me Beatriz had left:
Why?
Why Barcelona?
And given the environs where she’s chosen to live, who is funding this adventure?
A list of names of apartment residents is affixed near the building entry. I scan the directory until I settle on a “B. Perez.”
I set my suitcase down on the ground and lift my gloved hand, my heart pounding as I press the buzzer next to Beatriz’s name.
The boundary between battlefield and home front blurs. Are there wounds love can heal?
Marleigh Mulcahy grew up in a boxing gym, the daughter of hard-drinking parents who didn’t keep a stable roof overhead. In the cinder-block Box-n-Go, amidst the sweat and funk, she meets EOD specialist Jace Holt, a highly and expensively trained bomb diffuser with three successful deployments behind him. With a heady mix of hope, carelessness, and a ridiculous amount of courage, they begin a family. When Jace returns to active duty, a roadside bomb resurrects ghosts from the couple’s past and threatens the life they’ve built.An unflinching and timely gaze into the marriage of an enlisted special operator and his wife, Breach is a story of betting it all on love, a couple’s determination to change the trajectory of their lives, and one woman’s promises to the man she loves and the boys they’re raising.
What choices will a desperate mother make to keep her family whole?
About the Author
Kelly Sokol’s work has appeared in print and online publications including The Manifest-Station, ConnotationPress, The Quotable, and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She serves on the Board of Directors of The Muse Writers Center in Norfolk, VA, where she also teaches creative nonfiction and fiction writing. She also serves on the Board of Directors for ForKids, Inc. and advises the Board of the Seven Cities Writers Project. She earned her MFA in creative writing from Goddard College.
Kelly is a low-lander who dreams, in color, of the mountains. When she is not reading, writing or parenting, she can be found wandering or skiing the backcountry, or training for it. Kelly is represented by Michelle Johnson of Inklings Literary.
Marleigh looped the tail of the letter y on her note card to complete the word autophagy, transforming the letter into a pointed trident. Multitasking was a survival skill; still on the clock at the gym, she learned her biology terms while practicing her art. Outlining and shading. She should have forked the tail, instead, into a mouth that turned on the open arms of the letter. She liked when form and meaning matched. Couldn’t a letter self-devour as much as a cell? She slid the card to the bottom of the stack. She only had a few more minutes to review the terms before she had to close Box-n-Go and leave for class.
The fake prizefighters bell dinged as the gym door opened. Marleigh looked up as two new guys entered. The first one, bigger and better looking than his friend, flinched at the smell and the heat. Box-n-Go regulars stopped noticing the stink—sweat and blood and yeast and leather all wiped down with Clorox.
Hot new guy spoke first. “We want to box.” He had no accent. His hair was buzzed. He had a lopsided dimple bigger than Marleigh’s pencil eraser on one side of his smile. Managing her grandfather’s gym had few perks, but a view like this was one of them.
“That’s what we do here. Drop ins are twelve dollars, or you can prepay three sessions for twenty.”
Often, wannabes were caught cold by sore muscles after their first workouts and never returned. Projection bias, a term she’d learned at night school at ECPI. People told themselves that paying guaranteed that they would show up. School cost her a lot, too, and she never missed a class. She’d need all the tricks she knew and plenty she didn’t to keep Box-n-Go’s doors open and her plans on track.
New guy dug into the pockets of his mesh shorts, muscular forearms tightening, opened his wallet and slid out a credit card. Marleigh tapped the laminated wall sign: Cash Only. He scratched at his freshly buzzed scalp, the skin still bright white above his ears and at the base of his neck.
His buddy thumped him on the shoulder. “I’ve got cash,” he mumbled. On the other side of the thin wall, the real round bell sounded. The speed bag started, the clang of the chain as it was struck. The treadmills revved.
New guy took his friend’s money and handed it to Marleigh. He yelled over the din. “Two three-packs.”
Marleigh nodded. She pointed to the spiral notebook open in front of her, facing the men. Each line had hand-drawn sections for Name (your REAL name), Date and Paid Y/N, and Manager’s signature. The new guy signed Jace Holt. Then he thrust his hand out between her nose and the notebook, forcing her to shake.
“Pleasure to meet you!”
His eyebrows were thick and light brown above big, dark-brown eyes. Marleigh twitched him a half smile and nodded at the book to get his friend to sign in. The round ended with a ding and the treadmills and speed bag slowed. She set two release waivers in front of the new boxers. Both signed without reading the language she’d cut and pasted from a Wiki how-to. No one ever read it. No one wanted to think that far ahead. Basically, the paragraphs said that if you got fucked up in here, you knew what you were getting into. Box at your own risk.
“Do you have your own gloves?” Marleigh asked. The friend held up his pair. Jace shrugged and shook his head. She plucked a pair from the metal rack behind her and sprayed them liberally with Lysol, holding them out to him with her fingertips. “Wrap is right there. You can use ours tonight, but bring your own or we’ll start charging you next time. This isn’t your mama’s house.”
Jace held up his hands as if to guard his face. “These are deadly weapons,” he said. “The wrap just protects the other guy.” He smiled wide at her, and it connected, sending a dangerous twinge deep in Marleigh’s gut, somewhere he wasn’t supposed to be. His triceps strained, a curve of navy ink showed at the edge of his shirtsleeve, almost certainly an anchor. Of course. Working in a gym only a couple miles from Norfolk Naval Base, the largest base in the world, Marleigh could spot a sailor.
“Good luck.” Marleigh crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair. “Go on and wrap up and find Terry.” Marleigh was trying to save the gym financially until her grandfather found someone he trusted to run it permanently. She was the only business head left. Terry made boxers and boxing trainers. He could identify anyone’s strengths and weaknesses in minutes. If Marleigh could find a way for the gym to make money, Terry would be the perfect person to take it over for Pops.
After checking the clock, she tilted her head down to her notebook and found the paragraph she’d been annotating in her textbook. She forced herself back into the biology notes she was taking and reeled her mind back in when she was tempted to peek around the doorway to see what Terry had Jace doing first. The classes at ECPI, a school billing itself as a college, cost way more than Tidewater Community College, but they offered a fast track to hygienist school. Marleigh had a plan and a schedule—bust ass short-term for that long-term life of her dreams. She loved how dental offices all coordinated—décor, dress code. Front desk staff clad in blue shirts and black bottoms on Wednesday, orange and black the whole month of October. The hum of air-conditioning and swish of wealthy patients with time and money to spend on their teeth. The cool, neutral scent of fluoride, X-ray equipment, and air-conditioning.
She had to be out of there in ten minutes. Six months into courses at ECPI, Marleigh would begin her hygienist apprenticeship in less than a year. Clean, minty fluoridated teeth replacing rot and disuse with orderly, uniform beauty. The first step in her real life. No time for distractions.
Biology she could learn from a textbook, but Ocean View’s Box-n-Go was an anatomy lesson. None of the guys ever had their shirts on after round one. She was going to ignore Jace. She resisted sneaking a glance into the gym.
The gym never really washed out. The odor was yeasty, a musk with a sharp edge, sweat in leather, used wraps, shared helmets and groin protectors, the plastic gloves the trainers wore when the boys sparred, rusty blood when a lip or eyebrow popped open, a bright straight line, thick and resinous, Lysol sprayed into gloves after every match, the bucket of bleach used to wash everything down. It all coalesced, somehow.
The strongest smell, the one that made her try to hide the rise and fall of her chest, came from the men’s bodies. Almost like in high school when she left her shin guards in her bag after a game, forgetting to air them, to wash the socks. No ventilation. Rich people didn’t reek like that. But there was something more. The perfect stink that originated in all the Vs of men—their armpits and where their thighs met. The deep cuts that started above their shorts, at the hips, and finished under. As they sweated off pounds during a bout and their shorts slipped down and their bellies tensed and twisted. That’s the smell that lingered. Sweat and hair and crotch and pheromone. Man stink, animal and visceral. She went to sleep with it in the curls of her hair. She imagined running her fingernails up the back of the new guy’s freshly shorn neck.
Focus. He didn’t have twenty bucks on him. He had to be low-level enlisted, even if he looked a little older. She reviewed the material for tonight’s quiz one more time, mumbling the vocab aloud, confident that between the music, the grunting, and the misery in the other room no one would hear her, though the “wall” forming the reception-slash-office didn’t go all the way to the ceiling.
She double-checked the cash in the box with the sign-in sheet for the day. It was short by fifty-two dollars. She added and re-added the columns but couldn’t rectify the difference. Shit. She didn’t need this tonight. The gym was dangerously in the red. Her grandfather had been far too lenient on people making their payments over the years, always prioritizing training over profitability. Her efforts were probably too late, but Marleigh couldn’t let Pops lose his gym.
Marleigh turned over the page and there was a sticky note from Serpent (not his real name, his ring name). I O U. He was late on his payment plan and should have paid eighteen dollars the last two visits. He was, of course, long gone, and now she was running behind. And Serpent’s missed payments only accounted for thirty-six dollars. What about the additional sixteen dollars? The gym had Q-tip-thin margins in its best years, but no one besides Marleigh and Terry, and Pops, when he could remember, had any clue how desperate the gym’s financial situation had become. If the fighters kept acting like this, there would be no gym for them to stiff. Where was the remaining cash?
She clicked the exterior light from open to closed. The trainers, fighters, and the two new wannabes could stay past ten, but on Marleigh’s school nights, no new boxers could sign in past seven, unless her parents showed up to take over. But that happened never. Her father, Parrish, had been a hot-shit boxer. He’d quit before she was born. Her mom, Jackie, ran the gym’s front office until Marleigh was in high school. Jackie hadn’t kept many records; Marleigh was certain Box-n-Go fell off the financial cliff under her watch. Jackie no longer had a key to the cash box.
The clock read 6:53. Marleigh had to be in her car by seven so she could slip on a change of clothes and stuff her gym clothes in a plastic bag. She scanned the list of boxers still in the gym. A few of them had problem friends or girlfriends that she had to remind the trainers not to let in. She saved that for last. She locked the cash box in the gun safe against the wall and ran a copy of the week’s receipts so she could bring it to her grandad’s tomorrow. Marleigh stacked her books and notebooks on the edge of the desk—she left her bag in the car, too. She repeated the vocab for the quiz. She turned out all but one light in the front room and made her way into the gym—a fancy name for three cinder-block walls with a cement floor. The boxing ring took up half the room, a speedbag hung in one corner and two treadmills squeezed in next to the bathroom door. Two weight racks and benches took up the other wall. Jump ropes hung over every door frame, and large white buckets were strategically placed around the room for snot and spit and puke and blood. It was small and old school. But three trainers had up to twelve guys sweating their dicks off at any one time. Even women sometimes, usually scary Marines with something to prove. Marleigh only trained when the gym was empty.
The room fell quiet when she entered, just as it always had for her grandad. The new guy, Jace, was shirtless on the weight bench. She knew she’d be able to sense him somehow, even if she couldn’t see him. She kept her back to him. “I’m shutting it down out front. Y’all know the rules, nobody else comes in. Marco and D’Ash, I’m looking at you.”
The fighters in the ring held out their knuckles for a bump, signaling agreement.
“We won’t cause any trouble, Marleigh,” D’Ashandre told her.
She fist-bumped the guys in the ring over the ropes. “Good. Terry can let y’all out and close up.” She’d known Terry since she was a kid. He showed up in OV Box one day after months in a group home for adolescents somewhere across the long Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel Marleigh could see from the beach. “My mom gets another shot at me,” he’d said, his voice and mouth tight. “Least I’m out of that dump.”
“Marleigh, huh?” Jace said from behind her. He stood up and re- racked his weights. “Like Bob?” He mimicked smoking a joint and stepped closer to her.
She rolled her eyes and ignored him. “I’ve gotta go,” she said to the room. “And remember, he’s watching.” She pointed to an old glossy photograph on the wall—her grandfather before he was a father himself. The colors were faded, but his eyes were clear and bright and present. His body hard as cement. She turned to walk out.
Jace took a big step closer, his body intimidating but his expression goofy and boyish. He had a dimple even without smiling. “Marleigh, don’t we get fist bumps too?”
“I’m leaving. And those are for the guys who stick around.”
He jumped between her and the door. “I’ll stick around.”
“Get out of my way. I’m already late.”
“Not without a fist bump.” He held out his fist. “We’ll be back tomorrow. She’d be down the street bartending, but Jace didn’t need to know that. Marleigh shoved her body around him. He leaned to the side and pinned her to the doorframe. “We bought three packs, remember?”
“Fine.” She bumped him with her left hand and pushed him out of the way with her right shoulder. He let her move him and exaggerated his reaction to the shove.
“I’m going to walk you out. This is a shitty neighborhood.”
“No kidding. I grew up here.” Stop talking, she reminded herself. Go! Another bell sounded. Jace stood in the doorway as she turned the exterior lock to the building and got into her car. The dash lit up. “Shit!” 7:08. Checking that he’d gone back inside, Marleigh pulled the smelly T-shirt over her head and replaced it with a button-down—no time for a bra change—and shimmied into jeans. She tore out of the parking lot.
reecaspieces 