Rosetta Diane Hoessli | Updates

MURDER AT SEA OATS BEACH, by Karen C. Whalen (Book One of the SEA OATS BEACH Series)

Rosetta Diane Hoessli — Thu, 15 May 2025 17:19:08 -0400

Reviewed by Rosetta Diane Hoessli, Author

**** 1/2 (4 1/2 stars)

MURDER AT SEA OATS BEACH, by Karen C. Whalen, is the initial book in her SEA OATS BEACH series. You may remember that I reviewed Ms. Whalen’s second book in this series recently (WASHED UP AT SEA OATS BEACH), and I mentioned that I thought I might have enjoyed it more had I read the opening salvo first – and I was right.

This first book has a simple plot, but I’m an animal lover, so it kept me engrossed from beginning to end. The Sea Oats Beach police chief, Derek Stanley, has been murdered at the Animal Control building next door to the police station and his body found in the pen of an adorable but bloodied French bulldog named Samson. Breanna Hart, the main character, is convinced the bulldog had nothing to do with the killing, regardless of all the bite marks on the man’s body, and is determined to prove it. Despite her social anxiety disorder, she takes on everyone and does everything she can to save the little dog’s life.

Ms. Whalen carefully builds all the characters that will appear throughout the SEA OATS BEACH series, and that’s so important to someone, like me, who reads a lot. Breanna is a truly sympathetic individual who stirred my heart, and to whom I could seriously relate. Her girlfriends are very different from one another, which made them easy to keep separate in my mind, but my favorite character, to my surprise, was Roscoe Blue, the former champion ‘surfer dude’ with a crush on Breanna, who spends all his time on the beach, still following the waves whenever his Italian Ice cart will let him.

MURDER AT SEA OATS BEACH is an easy read. I know what it is to feel so compelled to fight for something that you risk everything and believe that failure isn’t an option, so this story is completely relatable to me. I really enjoyed it!

I’m giving MURDER AT SEA OATS BEACH 4 ½ stars.

https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Sea-Oats.../dp/B0CTHRXKSX/

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WASHED UP AT SEA OATS BEACH, by Karen C. Whalen (Book Two of the SEA OATS BEACH Series)

Rosetta Diane Hoessli — Mon, 17 Mar 2025 22:03:15 -0400

Reviewed by Rosetta Diane Hoessli, Author
**** (Four Stars)

WASHED UP AT SEA OATS BEACH, by Karen C. Whalen, due to be released April 14, 2025, is the second book in her new SEA OATS BEACH SERIES. Although I enjoyed this story a great deal, I believe I should’ve read her first novel of the series, MURDER AT SEA OATS BEACH, first – just to get a better feel for the backstory and supporting characters. So, my lack of connection with some of her ‘people’ may have been due to that.

However, the main character, Breanna Hart, with whom I felt a personal kinship, comes to life early on, and she grew on me throughout the book. Originally from Chicago, Breanna has moved to a tiny touristy town in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, where she seems to be hiding out because of her social anxiety, and has volunteered at the local animal shelter – not only because she loves animals, but because she prefers them to people (which I totally get). When she and her ‘surfer dude’ buddy, Roscoe Blue, discover a dead woman on the beach, then see a large dog bobbing on a surfboard out in the ocean, the story truly begins.

The traumatized canine – named Milo by Breanna – is a Golden Retriever that becomes one of the main catalysts in the solving of what becomes a ‘local’ murder - a murder with which Breanna becomes obsessed because she’s so concerned about the welfare of the dog. She agrees to foster Milo while the shelter tries to find his family, but, of course, becomes more than attached to him.

My only complaint about this cozy mystery is that the Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) from which Breanna Hart suffers is in direct conflict with one or two of Whalen’s most important and transitional scenes.

On the other hand, Breanna’s social awkwardness is endearing and something with which I believe most of us can relate. Her close friend, Emma, is a southern staple, using ‘Bless your heart,’ and ‘Give me some sugar,’ as she greets the patrons in her bait shop every morning. Ty Whitaker, a policeman that Breanna has a crush on, is handsome and looks terrific without a shirt on, but doesn’t seem incredibly astute other than that. Entrepreneur Roscoe Blue, a blond, curly-haired surfer ‘dude’ who clearly has a thing for her, is obnoxious in a 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High' sort of way, and I truly hope that relationship doesn’t go anywhere.

My favorite character, other than Breanna herself – and, honestly, the best defined – is her brother, Flynn, an unstable, former drug addict that she's wracked with guilt about, and, typically, feels obligated to take care of.

WASHED UP AT SEA OATS BEACH is touted as a cozy mystery, and it is. To be honest, I appreciated its lack of steamy love scenes and graphic violence, and Whalen’s focus on the beauty and isolation of the Outer Banks beaches of North Carolina is a joy to read. Cozies are all about innocence and a desire to step away from the Helter Skelter Vibes of the Real World, and this book does that. In spades.

I’m very happy to give WASHED UP AT SEA OATS BEACH 4 Stars.

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THE FATAL FLOTILLA AT SEA OATS BEACH, by Karen C. Whalen (Book Three in the Sea Oats Beach Mystery Series)

Rosetta Diane Hoessli — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 13:32:50 -0400

Reviewed by Rosetta Diane Hoessli, Author

(*****) 5 Stars

From the back jacket of The Fatal Flotilla at Sea Oats Beach:

The dazzling lights of the Christmas Flotilla shimmer across Sea Oats Beach, transforming the December night into a twinkling wonderland. But for Breanna Hart, the brilliance dims when she discovers a gunshot fatality on an abandoned boat. The victim, known for his generosity in the animal welfare community, seems an unlikely target, making the suspicion cast upon one of Bree’s own neighbors all the more perplexing.

Driven by a connection to the victim’s love for animals and her own pursuit of truth, Bree begins a fact-finding mission. As an animal shelter volunteer, she sees a chance not only to solve the case but also to help a bloodhound named Tracker. If he can pick up overlooked clues, Bree hopes the police will train him as a K-9 detection dog and give him the forever home he deserves.

As Christmas Day approaches, Bree’s holiday plans compete with her investigation. Every question she asks edges her closer to a vicious killer who is definitely not feeling the holiday vibe.

Author Karen Whalen calls this novel ‘a cozy mystery beach read,’ which is spot-on. Written in the First Person (from the vantage point of main character Bree Hart), it’s easy to read, even easier to follow, and it’s my favorite so far in The Sea Oats Beach Mystery Series – primarily because of the characters.

Not only the humans, but the animals as well.

In this novel, by page three, I’m fully involved in a heartfelt love affair with Tracker, an aging bloodhound living at the animal rescue Bree volunteers for. He’s been there longer than any other resident, and he’s accepted his fate with typical bloodhound dignity. But Bree makes it her mission to find him a home – preferably working with law enforcement – and she’s not going to take ‘no’ for an answer. Then, by the second chapter, I’m rooting for a relinquished pregnant cat Bree names ‘Mama’ when she agrees to foster her until her kittens are born. These two characters are skillfully woven throughout the plot, providing both drama and humor to the mystery, and they held my attention throughout the story. In fact, as good as the story is, I don’t think it would’ve been as good without them.

They also provided me with the common link I needed to help me understand Bree, one of the most unique main characters I’ve ever met on the pages of a book.

Bree’s struggle with Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD), which makes her uncoordinated, vulnerable, and miserably convinced the entire world is watching every klutzy thing she does, can be difficult to relate to. It makes her seem self-absorbed, almost narcissistic, when she’s truly just the opposite. But her inability to turn down a helpless animal or a needy family member is a personality trait I totally get – and I want desperately for her to be successful. I love the way she tries to convince herself that she’s right to do everything she does as she goes about solving this mystery (even some things that are slightly illegal, which is fun since she has this scaredy-cat personality disorder), and puts herself in greater and greater peril.

Ms. Whalen’s beach descriptions are beautifully visual. She cleverly uses Christmas traditions on the island as part of the plot, as well as Bree’s bucket list of twelve Christmas ‘Things to Do’ that she hasn’t done since her mother died, while participating in a friendly Christmas race with her father, who’s marking off his own bucket list. Bree’s close friends and neighbors also become involved in this endeavor as they attempt to build her fragile ego and bring her into the warm embrace of their communal spirit.

Settling back and reading THE FATAL FLOTILLA AT SEA OATS BEACH, by Karen C. Whalen, is pure enjoyment. I highly recommend you do that as soon as possible.

I’m giving THE FATAL FLOTILLA AT SEA OATS BEACH five stars.

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CHANCE'S RETURN, by Lucy Naylor Kubash (Book One of The North Star Legacy Series)

Rosetta Diane Hoessli — Fri, 18 Apr 2025 11:58:31 -0400

Reviewed by Rosetta Diane Hoessli, Author
***** (5 Stars)

I’m going to tell you, right out of the chute (as we Texans like to say), that I’m not ordinarily a fan of romance novels and very seldom even pick one up. But I would’ve been missing out on a beautifully written, truly inspirational love story if I hadn’t surrendered to my urge to read CHANCE’S RETURN, by Lucy Naylor Kubash.

Set on the North Star Ranch near the Teton Mountains in Wyoming, CHANCE’S RETURN is a story about second chances for people who don’t even know they’re looking for them. The characters are vividly drawn, especially the young widow Casey Girard and her sad little boy, Jamie, both trying to learn how to live without their much-loved husband and father, and Chance McCord, the washed-up rodeo star and eldest son of the North Star Ranch who, like the Prodigal Son, has returned to his boyhood home only because he has nowhere else to go. The supporting characters – Jamie, Aunt Billie, Justin and Kyle McCord, even the various ranch hands and the trail horse Buckwheat – add important layers to Casey and Chance’s story.

That’s not to say the plotline is unique; it isn’t. But the tender and sensitive way Ms. Kubash handles it, with lots of soul-searching and maternal guilt on Casey’s part because of her intense physical attraction to a handsome, rugged man not her departed husband, and Chance’s stubborn refusal to allow her into his heart and life because he’s no longer the man he once was, is unique and intensely believable. There are secrets in the McCord family, of course, and Casey is the kind of eternal optimist who feels that if everyone would just come out and talk about those secrets, everything would be fine. But, as is always true, life is never that simple.

I love books that are set in the west, and Ms. Kubash’s vivid descriptions of the magnificent Teton Mountain storms, the surrounding mirror-like lakes and forests, the explosive sunrises and sunsets, and the fields of wildflowers filled with riotous color in spring are breathtaking. She integrates those descriptions into the story seamlessly, almost as if they’re characters themselves, and not once did I speed-read through a description but instead savored it, sometimes more than once.

This isn’t a long novel, and that’s one reason I think CHANCE’S RETURN makes a great first book for Ms. Kubash’s new series, THE NORTH STAR LEGACY. It was originally published in 2009, but she chose to update and re-release it on April 16, 2025 for your reading pleasure. I’m happy to suggest that you take advantage of it!

I’m very glad to give CHANCE’S RETURN five stars. (*****)

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TETONS BY MORNING, by Lucy Naylor Kubash (Book Two of the North Star Legacy Series)

Rosetta Diane Hoessli — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 14:35:13 -0500

Reviewed by Rosetta Diane Hoessli, Author

***** + Stars

I read and reviewed Ms. Kubash’s first novel in her NORTH STAR LEGACY series, CHANCE’S RETURN, and gave it 5 stars. I loved it. It was a terrific kickoff novel, but TETONS BY MORNING is where the meat in this story really begins.

Much spicier than CHANCE’S RETURN, TETONS BY MORNING took my breath away several times – and that’s not easy to do. A gripping, action-packed story, totally believable characters, and a Wyoming mountain ranch setting to die for…well, what’s not to love?

But this novel is so much more than all that. It’s actually about life. Not just life on a ranch and a marriage between two people who are so different they probably shouldn’t have even been friends, much less partners, but how they came together to complement and save one another, then build a family.

Chase McCord is a beat-up, buckle-winning rodeo cowboy who thrives on adrenalin and who’s still running from his past, even at this late date. Regardless, there’s nothing and no one he loves or wants more in his life than his wife, Casey McCord, a woman who worries even when she has nothing to worry about, and who has issues of her own. But she’s stronger than she realizes for no other reason than that she’s forced to be, and one of the things she’s forced to do is maneuver her way through a rite of passage common for all over-protective mothers: step back from her young son and allow him to grow up, free from her maternal interference.

As in Lucy Kubash’s first novel, her secondary characters in TETONS BY MORNING are nearly as interesting her main ones, but they don’t play as large a part in this novel as they did in the first. However, the way she ties them all together is fascinating – especially if you love to study people, as I do. And the dramatic, pulse-pounding scenes they find themselves in will keep you glued to the pages until you close this book!

TETONS BY MORNING, by Lucy Naylor Kubash, will be released on January 19, 2026. Two of the locations you can purchase it are:

https://www.amazon.com/Tetons-Morning.../dp/B0FY3J2ZNJ/

https://wildrosepress.com/product/tetons-by-morning/

Lucy Naylor Kubash's website is located at: https://lucynaylorkubash.com/

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A Life Came Calling: A WWII Love Story, by Ann Howard Creel

Rosetta Diane Hoessli — Fri, 15 Aug 2025 18:09:21 -0400

Reviewed by Rosetta Diane Hoessli, Author

5+ Stars

A LIFE CAME CALLING: A WWII LOVE STORY, by Ann Howard Creel, is a love story set in both Philadelphia and the Smoky Mountain region of Tennessee at the close of WWII. Due to be released on August 18, 2025, this novel tells the story of Janey Nichol, a young woman ‘past her prime’, who suddenly finds herself weighing the proposals of two men: Todd, who’s ambitious, dependable, and rock-solid, and Cole, a now-deceased Naval officer whom she’d only known for three sublime days, two years earlier.

The rub is that in Janey’s memory, a perfect wartime love affair between her and an unpredictable, strong, breathtakingly handsome man has been magnified into an intense, heated, whirlwind romance that no regular human being can compete with. Especially not someone as steady and predictable as Todd. Adding to her trepidation about accepting Todd’s proposal is the wonderful life she’s created for herself: a single woman living alone in a home she bought on her own while working as an up-and-coming secretary for a large electric company – a part of the female work force who took advantage of the shortage of men in the United States during the war, leaving her free to encourage her own ambition and drive.

Janey feels she must come to grips with all that will change in her life, plus make certain her feelings for Todd are genuine and will last forever, before she can give him her answer. She decides to make a trip to Cole’s hometown in the Smoky Mountains to see where he’s buried and to meet the family he’d spoken of so often. Enter Luke, Cole’s cousin – the third disturbance in the growing web of confusion now clouding her usually laser-focused mind.

This book is beautifully written. Creel doesn’t shy away from description in the way that romances often do. Her prose describing V-E Day in Knoxville, Tennessee is so vivid that I could see, taste, and feel everything as clearly as if I was there. (I especially love that sequence because V-E Day is an event I’d love to have been a part of, and I felt as if I truly was.) Her descriptions of the Smokies and small mountain towns are breathtaking, her characters are perfectly delineated, and her dialogue never feels stilted or out of place. Even Janey’s struggle to make up her mind, which sometimes seems a little contrived and far-fetched, fits perfectly into the restrictive dictates for single women living in 1940’s society.

I really loved this novel, and I strongly recommend that you buy a copy just as soon as it releases on August 18, 2025. I give it 5+ stars.

A LIFE CAME CALLING: A WWII LOVE STORY, by Ann Howard Creel, will be available on Amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/Life-Came-Calling-Howard-Creel-ebook/dp/B0FB9GKXWK/

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RAG LADY by Susie Black (Prequel to Book One of A Holly Swimsuit Novel)

Rosetta Diane Hoessli — Sun, 02 Mar 2025 17:23:33 -0500

Reviewed by Rosetta D. Hoessli, Author

***** (Five Stars)

RAG LADY, by Susie Black, is a scream of a book – mostly. Our heroine, Holly Schlivnik, is a 4’9” hot-tempered, slightly pompous, well-educated, wannabe reporter know-it-all who blows her first interview upon college graduation when informed by her prospective boss that she, like all female reporters, must ‘start out in the secretarial pool.’ She explodes in feminist fury and crawls home to her parents and grandmother in Miami, her tail between her legs and hoping for a little sympathy.

But her Jewish nana never wastes time on regrets or looking backward, and refuses to allow her granddaughter to do so, either. From the moment Nana walks onto the page, she stole my heart. To me, she’s the engine that makes this story run, and Holly, for all her flaws, loves her with her whole being. Nana is filled with practical Jewish analogies and superstitions, sort of a female Tevya from Fiddler on the Roof, without being so steeped in tradition that she can’t move forward. She’s a thoroughly modern grandma whom Holly accuses of missing ‘the day they taught Jewish Grandmother Nurturing.’

It isn’t until Holly’s father, a successful sexy apparel salesman with a huge territory and an even bigger heart, has a family emergency and begs Holly to help him that she decides to climb out of her comfort zone and try something completely different. She takes on a portion of her father’s territory – some of the Deep South – and discovers that the United States of America might as well be two different countries. Maybe even three or four.

A scene in which she listens, appalled, to her dad talking to truckers over his CB radio – in a totally foreign language – is absolutely hysterical, and through snorts of glee I could definitely relate. Being vertically challenged myself, I screamed with laughter as I saw her pushing racks of garment bags across streets, so tiny no one could see her, and then bristling with indignation whenever a gentleman offered to help. Her discovery and ultimate opinion of the southern staple ‘grits’ (‘slop’ in her view) mirrored my own – I’ve never been able to stomach it, either, even though I’ve lived in south Texas for more than fifty years.

But it's the characters she meets – Jody, a 6’6” transwoman who once played in the NFL, Cora Lee with the ‘enormous cone-shaped breasts pointed straight out at attention,’ Wanda Lou, a bottle-blonde waitress who says ‘bone appetite’ when she serves orange juice ‘fresh from the can,’ Herman Neumann, a wealthy businessman and a concentration camp survivor, and countless others – who flesh out this coming-of-age tale with the intimacy of your favorite childhood friends.

Susie Black’s The Rag Lady is filled with thought-provoking lessons, and as Holly learns them all, she begins to evolve and grow into herself. While some of the lessons are riotously funny, others are frightening, and still others are downright tragic, but they’re all important. Holly learns the only constant in life is change, not to judge books by their covers, to appreciate her failures far more than her successes, and most importantly: Don’t be afraid to live.

As her nana always says, “Man plans, and God laughs.”

The only downside to this terrific novel is that the author sometimes goes into a bit too much detail on the apparel business - but that could just be me. I’m one of the few women I know who don’t like to shop. But the business itself seems much more interesting than I ever figured, especially the interactions between buyers, models, and sales reps. I also found it fascinating that Jewish people were so deeply involved in business in the south as far back as the Civil War, but that there was so much bigotry against them in the late 1970’s – two facts that the author skillfully weaves through her story.

This unique prequel is a great standalone novel. It will give readers a terrific introduction to the other books in the Holly Swimsuit Mystery Series, which I haven’t yet read but intend to read as soon as I can. The Rag Lady is a book that grew on me, and that I enjoyed even more after I’d finished it because it gave me so much to think about.

You’ve done a superb job with this novel, Susie Black! I’m giving RAG LADY Five Stars!

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DEATH BY SAMPLE SIZE, by Susie Black (Book One of A Holly Swimsuit Novel)

Rosetta Diane Hoessli — Sun, 02 Mar 2025 17:33:51 -0500

Reviewed by Rosetta Diane Hoessli, Author

***** (Five Stars)

FROM THE COVER:
Everyone wanted her dead…but who actually killed her? The last thing swimwear sales exec Holly Schlivnik expected was to discover ruthless buying office big wig Bunny Frank's corpse trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey with a bikini stuffed down her throat. When Holly's colleague is arrested for Bunny's murder, the wise-cracking, irreverent amateur sleuth jumps into action to find the real killer. Nothing turns out the way Holly thinks it will as she matches wits with a wily murderer hellbent for revenge.

DEATH BY SAMPLE SIZE is just plain fun. Take a look at this cover and you’ll know I’m right.

The first book I read in Susie Black’s hilarious Holly Swimsuit Mystery Series was RAG LADY, which was released in November 2023, nearly two years after the first book in the series, DEATH BY SAMPLE SIZE, came out (2021). I don’t usually read cozy mysteries and really didn’t think I’d read beyond the prequel – but I loved RAG LADY so much, I’m in the process of reading all five books in the series, in order. (In my opinion, you should begin with RAG LADY if you haven’t read any of them yet. It’s a beautiful standalone novel that fills in all the blanks and adds meat to the regular characters.)

Holly Schlivnik, a Ditzy Swimwear sales exec and our heroine in each book, is so sarcastic and funny that I found myself writing down some of her thoughts and comments just so I wouldn’t forget them. The author, Susie Black, uses her own background in the fashion industry to create unforgettable characters that had me laughing out loud – including, even, the bad guys.

Written in the first person, Holly Schlivnik is hilarious. She's vertically challenged (4’9” – picture, she says, a barber pole having a child with a fire hydrant), but she more than makes up for her height issues with Attitude. She's definitely relatable because, for one thing, she's genetically predisposed on her nana’s side to laugh hysterically at the sight of a dead body, and I so relate to that. And she seems to be eternally optimistic because, to her, pizza, ice cream, and a huge glass of Chardonnay makes any kind of day a perfect one.

This tiny firebrand is the lucky gal to discover our victim, fashion executive Bunny Frank, dead in an elevator with a size-10 bikini stuffed in her mouth. But Holly declares to a determined detective, Miguel Martinez, that the real question isn’t, Who wanted her dead? The real question is, Who didn’t?

Everybody, including Holly herself, has a reason to hate this sales bigshot who has given an all-new meaning to the slogan, Follow the Money.

I mean, this lady is BAD. She’s not above blackmail, bribery, sleeping around, stalking – you name it, she does it. The only person without a motive seems to be an ancient security guard who never responds to anything because he’s always watching novellas on Estrella TV.

Ms. Black has a ball tossing in red herrings galore and dressing them up to become some of the funniest characters ever, while moving the story along at a fast pace via short chapters and no extra words. When two office lotharios (and main suspects) beat the crap out of each other, her descriptions and ensuing toothless dialogue had me wiping away tears of laughter. She takes her time describing people you’ll only see once (but hope to meet again in subsequent stories), using their physicality, unique quirks, and irreverent character traits to guarantee they’ll stand out long after you’ve closed the book.

This is a character-driven story with a not-too-complicated plot, but an ending I didn’t see coming.

Do yourself a favor and treat yourself to DEATH BY SAMPLE SIZE. I’m giving it 5 stars.

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DEATH BY PINS AND NEEDLES, by Susie Black (Book Two in the Holly Swimsuit Mystery Books)

Rosetta Diane Hoessli — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 22:33:41 -0400

Reviewed by Rosetta Diane Hoessli, Author

***** (5 Stars)

Here's my latest book review for Susie Black's Holly Swimsuit Mystery Series, and I hope you enjoy it. This is DEATH BY PINS AND NEEDLES, Book Two in the series, and if you haven't begun reading it, you're seriously shortchanging yourself!

https://www.amazon.com/Death-Pins-Needles-Hysterical-Whodunit-ebook/dp/B0BPLHRWJ7/

Here we go!

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This second novel of the Holly Swimsuit Mystery Books (unless you count prequel RAG LADY as the first of the series, which I do) is so filled with red herrings and surprises that my head spun and took off on a mystery tangent all its own. Here’s the blurb on the back cover, which only gives you a tiny taste of what you have in store:

I’d combed the place from one end to another and found no sign of Lissa. Where the Sam Hill could she be? Not in the showroom. Not in her office. Not in the kitchen. Not in the copier room. In the ladies’ room? Abducted by aliens? Hiding in a closet? I was out of options and time. So, for giggles and squeaks, I pulled open the doors to the enormous sample closet that stretched across the back wall and peered inside. Good news. I found Lissa Charney. The question was, did she have my key?

A dozen swimsuits picture-framed Lissa’s battered, bloody corpse like a museum exhibit. Ringed with matching black and purplish-blue shiners, her wide open, sightless eyes stared into space as though surprised by her situation. No kidding. That made two of us. I was no doctor, but you didn’t need a medical degree for this diagnosis. No need to take her pulse. One thing was for sure. Lissa Charney had made her last sales presentation.

Naturally, I burst out laughing.

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Crap on a crumpet. She gave me the stink-eye, the big eye, the three-finger salute. These are the crazy character descriptions that I’ve come to look forward to in a Holly Swimsuit Mystery Book. This heroine is so sarcastic and caustic that I sometimes don’t even know what to think, but I love her in spite of it all.

Our 4’9” heroine, Holly Schlivnik, is a real pistol, but one you’re never sure is going off in a direction you saw coming - or even the right direction. Being vertically challenged myself, I get why it’s more important for her to be seen as a keg of dynamite than just another cute face, so she always takes risks no one else will because…well, because she has to.

After all, she has to prove herself…doesn’t she?

In DEATH BY PINS AND NEEDLES, Holly takes on a whole cast of people twice her size – and badder than she ever thought of being. Every single one of them has a great motive for having done the deed. She’s seriously judgmental and opinionated about who she thinks ‘done it,’ but she doesn’t hesitate to back off when she realizes she’s wrong. Of course, when that happens, Holly has to assuage her cratered ego with pizza, Rocky Road ice cream, and Chardonnay, and I just love that about her. Holly has foibles and idiosyncrasies, as we all do, and Author Susie Black doesn’t try to conceal them. Instead, she builds on them until she’s created a completely relatable character – one that the reader has to love, in spite of everything.

Another characteristic I truly admire is her loyalty to her friends, the Yentas. These are women in the swimsuit fashion industry who meet for coffee every morning at A Jolt of Java coffee shop, all good friends of Holly who never seem to mind one iota when she harnesses them in for mystery-solving duty in her latest escapade. If one of them is in trouble (and one of them is in the beginning of this novel), you know without even thinking about it that Holly Schlivnik is going to be there. Several times I found myself thinking, Man, I wish I had some friends as giving of their time and as energetic as these ladies!

The ending of DEATH BY PINS AND NEEDLES is a shocker, though, and it took me completely by surprise. I thought I had it wired – and I almost did – but there was so much more to it than I thought there was. Still, I promise you: You’ll never figure it out.

Plus, a handsome detective built like a brick outhouse is coming on the scene…

I’m preparing to read the third novel in this rollicking series shortly, which is DEATH BY SURFBOARD, and I’m really looking forward to it.

I’m very happy to give DEATH BY PINS AND NEEDLES, by Susie Black, a five-star rating. (*****)

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ABANDONED, by Margaret Tanner (Book One of the Snowbound Western Women Series)

Rosetta Diane Hoessli — Thu, 27 Mar 2025 15:34:15 -0400

Reviewed by Rosetta Diane Hoessli, Author

**** (Four Stars)

Set in the 1870’s, the novella ABANDONED, by Margaret Tanner, accomplishes much in few words. I have to admit, I’m not necessarily a fan of short books, but the premise of this one intrigued me:

With the best intentions of being a loving and obedient wife, Hannah Starr has married Isaac, the son of a cult leader, but discovers within six months that he’s not the man she thought he was. Refusing to give up her strong Christian beliefs and believing that she and Isaac have reached a compromise, she agrees to travel via wagon train to Colorado with Isaac and his father’s religious cult, The Constellation Followers.

But Hannah has a secret, and a hidden agenda as well. She’s expecting Isaac’s baby – and she’s hoping to find her brother, Mal, who was horribly disfigured in the Civil War. He resides (she prays) with a group of equally-scarred soldiers on a mountain ranch known as The Haven, near the small town of Raccoon Folly. As more time passes, she sees that Isaac has no intention of leaving the cult and realizes that she must take her life in her own hands and escape the clutches of this evil cult.

When Isaac drowns crossing a river and her father-in-law and his group abandons her, Hannah is rescued, nearly frozen, by Captain Drake Noble, the scarred and reserved leader of The Haven. And this is where the story really takes off.

Captain Noble is, in my opinion, one of the most interesting characters in this novella. Tanner has brought him to life by illustrating how his disfigurement is internal as well as external, and this is where my heart was most touched. Even though the depth of this man’s feeling for his damaged men is overwhelming, the demons from his past have already devastated his future to the point where he can’t conceive of ever being allowed to live a promising and happy life - and he believes he doesn’t deserve any of God’s bounty, anyway.

Hannah, who’s grown to love this warm but guilt-ridden leader of men, must convince him that God brought them together for a purpose, and that they are truly worthy of the happiness they can find in each other.

This is a sweet and well-written story; I thoroughly enjoyed it. I’ve given it four (4) stars.

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DESERTED, by Margaret Tanner (Book Two of the Snowbound Western Women Series)

Rosetta Diane Hoessli — Sun, 06 Apr 2025 18:45:30 -0400

Book Two of the Snowbound Western Women Series

Reviewed by Rosetta Diane Hoessli, Author

**** (Four Stars)

DESERTED, the second novella in the Snowbound Western Women Series by Margaret Tanner, is similar to the first (ABANDONED, which I recently reviewed) in that it’s also set in the rugged mountains and small towns of Colorado during the 1870’s, but there the similarities pretty much end.

This time Marla, our heroine, who has lived with her selfish, frigid-as-ice aunt since she lost her parents as a child, finds herself homeless and with no options. But before she even has time to process these events, she finds herself drugged, kidnapped, and ultimately left alone to starve in the wilderness.

Although Tanner establishes Marla early on as a woman who doesn’t like confrontation and she seems so intimidated by authority that I wasn’t sure I’d even be able to relate to her, we now see the grit our girl is made of. Even though she’s freezing and terrified, when her will to live takes over and gives her the strength to think straight, she remembers the location of her grandfather’s cabin a few miles away and manages to make her way there.

As we see the methodic progression of how she intends to stay alive, my appreciation for her tenacity and bravery steadily grew – and so did my interest in her story. I especially admire how she never lost her moral compass to bitterness or a desire for revenge as she fought to survive, but instead uses that energy for positive outcomes.

It's when our hero, wounded rancher Brett Harley, literally crawls into Marla’s life that the story takes a turn and she begins to focus on the needs of someone else. Here, Tanner’s descriptive abilities kick in as she vividly portrays his injury and what Marla goes through to save his life. She also does a magnificent job of showing his growing romantic feelings for the woman who’s taking such good care of him – and all the masculine uncertainty that creates. This is a feat not always satisfactorily accomplished by a female author writing in the male point of view.

As in all sweet or cozy westerns or mysteries, there’s no heat or spice in this, but it’s insinuated quite well. And, as always, the ending is happily perfect – no revelation there! – but the growth of these two characters is surprising because it's accomplished in a novella-length western.

I thoroughly enjoyed DESERTED, and am looking forward to diving into ENDANGERED, the third book of the Snowbound Western Women Series.

I’m giving this novella four stars (****).

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SECRETS, SHAME, AND A SHOEBOX, by L. B. Griffin

Rosetta Diane Hoessli — Sun, 02 Mar 2025 18:07:20 -0500

Reviewed by Rosetta Diane Hoessli, Author

***** (Five Stars)

I have to admit it. I love cozy mysteries, sweet romances, and happy endings. L. B. Griffin, author of SECRETS, SHAME, AND A SHOEBOX (prequel to THE TWENTY-ONE YEAR CONTRACT), has written one of the best.

This novel is deceptively quiet, for lack of a better description - at least in its first several chapters. Ms. Griffin lovingly creates her characters, taking her time to build perfect people with spot-on interactions, and uses them to lull readers into believing they can predict where this story is going.

But I’m here to warn you: You can’t.

Just when you’re beginning to wonder how all these terrific characters are going to play together, the story takes off and our heroine, shy and naive, is suddenly forced to fight for her life when she’s confronted by characters you only slightly mistrusted. Excitement and adrenaline ramp up every page, and you find yourself skipping ahead to be sure everything comes out all right.

In addition, Ms. Griffin, a lifelong resident of Bath, England, uses colloquialisms native to her region in such a truthful way that this Texan was intrigued enough to do a little extra research – but that touch added great reality and energy to her setting and her characters. I found it humorous, touching, and a perfect addition to her story.

I’m off now to purchase a copy of THE TWENTY-ONE YEAR CONTRACT. I suggest you do the same!

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DAUGHTERS OF RIGA, by Mirian Exall

Rosetta Diane Hoessli — Sun, 02 Mar 2025 18:25:16 -0500

Reviewed by Rosetta Diane Hoessli, Author
**** (Four Stars)

Billy Graham once said, “Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened.”

Many individuals in pre-WWII, WWII, and post-war WWII history illustrate the truth of these words. Think Oskar Schindler who saved more than a thousand Jews, Miep Gies who hid the Otto Frank family and four other desperate Jews for more than two years, Irene Sendler who was a Polish Catholic social worker and her network of ten compatriots who rescued 2,500 Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto, among many other unsung heroes.

Basing her novel on such true events, Mirian Exall, author of DAUGHTERS OF RIGA (The Wild Rose Press, 2024), weaves a story that begins in 2003 and hurtles us backward to 1938, when two ordinary little girls, Dani and Berta, meet in the Dutch Consul’s office in Riga, Latvia. Although I knew about the Year of Horror (1940-1941) in Latvia, this tiny country wasn’t well-known to me. I had to locate it on a map right at the beginning of the novel, just to get my bearings, but the story doesn’t stay in Latvia, nor does it remain in 1938. Told in a completely unique fashion, we experience Amsterdam, London, Paris, and the countryside of the Netherlands as well – at different times, and through the eyes of different characters.

Beginning as a simple story of various individuals struggling to keep their balance as the world explodes all around them, DAUGHTERS OF RIGA surprises the reader as it builds in intensity and suspense until it finally winds down and relinquishes the past. The next generation, formerly unable to comprehend the horrors experienced by their elders, learn to accept and forgive.

I’m giving DAUGHTERS OF RIGA four stars only because I sometimes found myself having to go back to the beginning of a chapter to find out who is telling the story, when it’s occurring, and where they’re located. This interrupted the flow of an otherwise superbly written novel about one of my favorite subjects.

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THE TWENTY-ONE-YEAR CONTRACT, by L. B. Griffin

Rosetta Diane Hoessli — Sun, 02 Mar 2025 17:47:01 -0500

Reviewed by Rosetta Diane Hoessli
***** (Five Stars)

I’m giving five stars to her latest novel THE TWENTY-ONE-YEAR CONTRACT (the sequel to SECRETS, SHAME AND A SHOEBOX), in which L.B. Griffin recreates the cultural revolution of the 1950’s and 1960’s right there in England, where it all began. She propagates her seamless yet unpredictable storyline with delightful characters, some who don’t have huge roles but definitely need to be onstage, and two main characters – Kate Westfield and Harriet Laws – best friends who have no idea what’s in store for them.

But the character I fell in love with is Uncle Jack, a drop-dead gorgeous, freewheeling, wealthy playboy who is so much more than he appears to be. To me, he personifies Ms. Griffin’s work; her stories and characters belie the simplicity of her writing style and show us by the end of the novel how deep and remarkable they really are.

THE TWENTY-ONE-YEAR CONTRACT is the gentle study of an era that seems to now be repeating itself, yet Ms. Griffin doesn’t hit us over the head with a hidden political agenda. She’s simply telling it like it is, and I appreciate that so much. She examines the pain of loss and the human spirit’s need to overcome it, as well as the fear of abandonment and the longing to trust – all weighty themes that she handles deftly and with subtlety. This is a most satisfying and enjoyable read, and I highly recommend it!

I'm giving this novel five stars (*****).

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FEAR IN FIRST GEAR (Book Seven in The Tow Truck Murder Mysteries Series), by Karen C. Whalen

Rosetta Diane Hoessli — Thu, 17 Jul 2025 12:09:53 -0400

Reviewed by Rosetta Diane Hoessli, Author

**** (4 Stars)

I loved Karen C. Whalen’s characters in her SEA OATS BEACH cozy mystery series: flawed, all-too-human, and totally relatable. As are the wonderfully engaging cast of characters in Whalen’s FEAR IN FIRST GEAR. They drive the story, not the other way around, and that always makes me want to settle in for a nice, long read.

Delaney Morran is a petite, red-haired tow truck driver famous for wearing three-inch stiletto heels whenever she answers a tow call in or around the small mountain town of Spruce Ridge, Colorado. To my mind, she’s practically Every Woman: she loves shoes and shopping, a handsome law enforcement officer in uniform, and sinking her teeth into a rock-solid mystery.

But Delaney’s famous around Spruce Ridge for something else, too. She accidentally finds dead people – or, rather, dead people seem to find her. More specifically, homicide victims. And, well, when that happens…you can’t just let it go, right?

In this tale, Delaney starts her day by heading out on a call through a mountain pass in a blinding snowstorm and catches a glimpse, for just for a moment, of a woman sitting, slack-jawed, inside her car. Dead, Delaney’s almost certain, but she can’t stop. When she finally returns to Spruce Ridge and tries to tell the police, no one pays much attention because…well, as usual, no one’s reported a missing woman, and no one else saw her. So, Delaney’s on her own, again – except for Kris, her best friend, who’s always in her corner.

This is a fun read; I read it in one afternoon. It’s written in first person, from the viewpoint of Delaney Morran, and it’s written so cozily and with so much self-deprecating humor that I felt like I was reading a personal diary. Subplots and clues were weaved through the main plot with just enough weight to hold my attention, but not so much that they were overwhelming or confusing. Also, even though this is Book 7 in THE TOW TRUCK MURDER MYSTERIES series, it stands alone just fine.

If you’re looking for something light-hearted and cozy to take you away from ‘all this,’ pick up a copy of FEAR IN FIRST GEAR, by Karen C. Whalen.

I’m giving it four stars.

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The Quiet Threads of Freedom

Rosetta Diane Hoessli — Fri, 10 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

*Written with Veridion Smart

Sometimes history isn’t remembered because it was written in books. Sometimes it’s remembered because someone around the dinner table told the story one more time.

This Fourth of July, America celebrated 250 years. That number is almost impossible to comprehend. Two-and-a-half centuries of victories and failures, of ordinary people doing extraordinary things, of families building homes, raising children, grieving losses, celebrating milestones, and somehow passing hope from one generation to the next.

Whenever a nation reaches a milestone like this, it’s easy to focus only on fireworks, parades, speeches, and flags. These things matter. But I’ve been thinking about something quieter.

I’ve been thinking about the stories families carry.

One of my favorite family memories belongs to my mother. She was twenty-four years old during World War II. On June 6, 1944, she was at a USO Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma, when word spread that the Allied invasion of Normandy (D-Day) had been successful.

The next day was her twenty-fifth birthday. She always said it was the greatest birthday gift she could ever have received.

As a little girl, I loved hearing that story. Back then I simply thought it was fascinating. Today, I understand it differently.

Now I realize she wasn’t talking about just a birthday. She was talking about hope. Imagine living through years of uncertainty, wondering what tomorrow might bring, and then hearing news that made an entire nation breathe a little easier.

That feeling stayed with her for the rest of her life. Every birthday as she told that story, we listened as if we’d never heard it before, and chills ran up and down my spine. I imagined all the jubilant servicemen hugging and kissing everyone in that USO club, grateful to be alive, as the orchestra struck up one patriotic song after another. What a wonderful, memorable night that must have been, and what a great way to kick off a birthday!

Those are the kinds of memories history books can’t fully capture.

Our own family has always smiled at a few patriotic coincidences. My birthday falls on George Washington’s actual birthday. Kevin’s is Columbus Day. His sister’s is the day before the Fourth of July. Their father’s birthday was Flag Day.

Little things, perhaps. But they always reminded us that history doesn’t just belong to museums or monuments. Sometimes it quietly sits around your own dinner table.

In addition, military service has woven itself through our family’s story in ways both large and small. Like so many American families, we had our Gold Star parents. We’ve loved and lost people who wore the uniform, sacrificed time with those they loved, believed that some things were worth giving their lives for. Their service wasn’t about glory. It was about responsibility. It was about leaving our world better than they found it.

I think that’s what anniversaries like this are really asking us to remember.

We can’t forget that freedom isn’t only defended on battlefields. It’s preserved every day by parents teaching integrity, by neighbors helping neighbors, by teachers who refuse to give up, by first responders and volunteers, and it’s safeguarded by quiet acts of kindness that never make headlines.

Every generation inherits something, and every generation leaves something behind.

As a writer and as I get older, I’ve been thinking about legacy quite a bit lately - not just the books we write or the stories we tell – but the lives that inspire them. And the older I get, the more I realize that the greatest stories aren’t always invented. They’ve been experienced by ordinary people, and they’re remembered (sometimes as extraordinary) by others. They’re passed from one heart to another until someone finally writes them down.

Perhaps that’s why family stories matter so much. They’re our personal history books. They remind us where we’ve been and where we came from, who carried us here, and why some sacrifices should never be forgotten.

As America marks 250 years, my hope isn’t that we simply celebrate our history. I pray that we preserve it. Tell your children about the people who came before you. Ask your parents and grandparents about the moments that shaped their lives. Record those memories or write them down. Pass them on to the next generation. One day, someone else may treasure them just as much as I treasure my mother’s story about a birthday that arrived one day after D-Day.

History isn’t only something we study. Sometimes...it’s something we inherit.

In closing, I think it’s important to keep in mind that the strongest nations are built not only by those who make history, but by the families who remember and share it.

*Rosetta Diane Hoessli has written two novels, WHISPERS THROUGH TIME (2021) and TIP THE PIANO MAN (2024), and is working on a third, JOURNEY OF THE HEART. She’d love to hear from you, and you can contact her at thompd2011@gmail.com, on this website (https://www.rosettadhoesslibooks.com), or at https://www.facebook.com/RosettaDianeAuthor or https://www.facebook.com/Ronni.Hoessli. Have a blessed day!

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ON BEING COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY DISCOMBOBULATED...

Rosetta Diane Hoessli — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

*Written with Veridion Smart

There should probably be a more elegant word for how I’ve been feeling lately. But honestly?

Discombobulated works just fine.

Over the last several weeks, life has been wonderfully full. Family came. Old friends visited. We traveled. We laughed. We watched basketball games that nearly required medical intervention. We made memories I wouldn’t trade for anything. Then everyone left.

And suddenly there were bills on the counter.

Laundry.

Emails.

Writing deadlines.

Doctor appointments.

Schedules.

Menus.

Normal life.

Funny how quickly extraordinary moments become ordinary responsibilities again. What no one tells you is that even beautiful interruptions still…interrupt.

When people we love leave, when routines disappear, when emotions run high for weeks at a time, sometimes we don’t bounce back immediately. Sometimes we sit in the middle of our own kitchens wondering why opening email suddenly feels like climbing a mountain.

That’s where I’ve been.

Not unhappy.

Not ungrateful.

Just... scrambled.

And strangely enough, I think writers struggle with this differently from the rest of so-called ‘normal society.’ Because while we’re trying to reorganize life externally, our internal worlds are still carrying conversations, memories, unfinished emotions, and moments we’re not ready to put away yet. We’re also trying to integrate those memories, thoughts, or even past dialogue into a story, or characters we’ve been attempting to build – whether that story is current or upcoming. It doesn’t matter.

We just don’t want to forget how it all felt, or what we thought, or what we wish we’d said…

Like, part of me is still standing in the Texas hill country with friends. Part of me is still sitting courtside in my imagination during the NBA Finals. Part of me is still lounging with my husband on the beach in Corpus Christi, Texas, watching my friends, daughter, and now-grown grandkids play in the water with their significant others and wondering where the devil did the time go? And, while part of me is still listening to characters in JOURNEY OF THE HEART as they argue inside my head, I’m trying to figure out how to incorporate these nostalgic and emotional feelings into my latest story.

And maybe that’s the real problem…

Or maybe it isn’t a problem at all. Maybe rebuilding rhythm deserves the same patience we give grief, joy, healing, creativity, and change.

So, if you’re feeling behind right now...

If your routines are broken.

If your house is messy.

If your brain feels crowded.

If your planner looks like an act of violence occurred, welcome. You’re in good company. I’m slowly putting the pieces back together, too.

And for today?

Today, that’s enough.

*If you’d like to follow me, I’d love for you to check out my personal Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ronni.hoessli, or catch my Author’s Page at https://www.facebook.com/rosettadianeauthor. And be sure to bookmark this website at https://www.rosettadbooks.com. Hope to see you soon!

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Some Places Only Become Beautiful When Seen Through Someone Else’s Eyes

Rosetta Diane Hoessli — Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

*Written with Veridion Smart

Sometimes strange things happen when old friends come to visit after a long absence. Places you stopped noticing years ago suddenly come alive again. The roads you drive every day feel different. The restaurants you take for granted somehow become memorable again. The old buildings, little diners, museums, ranches, horses grazing in open country, even the smell of the air after a Texas storm – all of it begins to feel new because you’re seeing it through someone else’s eyes.

Lately, that’s exactly what’s been happening to me.

We’ve been taking our dear friends from Oregon (Stew Parker and his precious wife, Tracy) around San Antonio and the surrounding countryside, revisiting places that have become ordinary to Kevin and me simply because we’ve lived among them for so long. But to someone like Tracy, who’s seeing Texas for the first time, nothing is ordinary.

I met Stew in 1972, when he was visiting San Antonio while being stationed at the naval base in Beeville, and I remember that he returned to Oregon after he got out because ‘there’s just too much sky in Texas.’ I didn’t see him again until 1990, on my daughter’s sixteenth birthday. Then, in early May, they came to visit after Stew had experienced a life-changing, touch-and-go bout with pancreatic cancer, heart disease, and failing kidneys.

They parked their travel trailer in our driveway and stayed for three glorious weeks. We held a family-and-pals cookout in our backyard to introduce them to other longtime friends that we see often and to our grandchildren, who had cut their teeth on my ‘Stew Parker stories’ and suffered with me as he was going through all of his health crises.

We took them to Alamo Plaza in downtown San Antonio – the first time Kevin and I’ve been in more than fifty years – and were astonished at how incredibly beautiful both the mission and its story have been highlighted. We drove them down to the coast and spent a rainy afternoon on board the USS Lexington because Stew wanted to fully experience this monumental aircraft carrier one more time. (Going up and down those stairs nearly killed us!) We took them on a long, meandering drive out to Fredericksburg, where we spent several hours at the magnificent Pacific War Museum and soaked up the German culture. We even turned Tracy into an avid San Antonio Spurs fan and a basketball fanatic.

And honestly? Watching them experience all this has reminded me how beautiful – and important – these places, and the people we love, really are to our lives.

It’s funny how life works that way. Sometimes we don’t realize how precious something is until we watch another person fall in love with it. An old Spanish mission. A little Mexican restaurant. A quiet country road. A familiar story. An old friendship.

Especially old friendships. As we get older, time starts changing the way we experience people.

When we’re young, we often assume there will always be more time. More conversations. More visits. More opportunities to say the things we mean. But eventually life teaches us otherwise.

And when you reach a certain point – like, the age I am now – every shared meal, every laugh, every memory revisited together begins to carry a different emotional weight. You become aware that moments are no longer endless. And that realization can hurt a little.

But strangely enough, it also makes everything more beautiful, sharper and more colorful.

As a writer, these past few weeks have affected me more deeply than I expected. I’ve found myself thinking constantly about memory, connection, emotional history, and the way people carry pieces of one another throughout their lives.

Sometimes we think inspiration strikes like lightning. But more often, I think it arrives quietly. It appears in ordinary moments. In shared silence. In watching someone you care about experience something familiar (to you) for the very first time. And sometimes the most meaningful inspiration comes from simply being reminded that certain people mattered to us more than we realized.

I think that’s part of growing older gracefully – learning how to recognize the sacredness hidden inside ordinary life. Not every meaningful moment announces itself while it’s happening.

Sometimes we only understand its importance while we’re living inside it. And maybe that’s enough.

Maybe that’s the gift.

*If you’d like to follow me in the here and now, check out my personal Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ronni.hoessli, or my Author’s Page at https://www.facebook.com/rosettadianeauthor . Hope to see you there!

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Not Every Story Wants to Be Found, but Yours Might...

Rosetta Diane Hoessli — Fri, 8 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

*Written with Veridion Smart

There’s a quiet belief that many writers hold onto: If the story is good enough, it will find its way. Then somehow, without effort or intention, the right reader will magically appear.

Sometimes that’s actually true. Think Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell, who wrote that amazing novel primarily for her own amusement while she was recovering from a chronic illness.

Think A River Runs Through it and Other Stories, a beautifully written, semi-autobiographical set of novellas by Norman MacLean, based on his childhood experiences while fly fishing with his father on the Blackfoot River. How exciting and provocative does that sound? Not very. Yet it was published in 1976, nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in Letters in 1977, and ultimately became one of Robert Redford’s best movies in 1992.

Think The Great Santini and The Prince of Tides, both important works written by the prolific and poetically descriptive author Pat Conroy, who always took pieces of his own chaotic yet fragile life (and, I’m sure, huge chunks of his heart) and melded them somehow almost invisibly into his books.

But stories don’t move on their own. They wait. They sit quietly in the background…unseen, unread, unheard. Not because they lack value, but because they haven’t been given a path forward.

I understand that not every story wants to be found. Some are written for the creator alone, meant to remain private and untouched by the outside world, more a personal examination of the author’s psyche than a tale meant for the public.

But other stories are different. They carry something deeper – a truth, a memory, a piece of understanding that doesn’t belong and shouldn’t remain in silence. Those stories don’t just exist. They reach out for the reader who needs them, readers who may not even realize they’re searching. And that’s where, and when, things begin to change.

Sharing your work isn’t about noise. It isn’t about promotion or performance. It’s about connection. It’s about allowing the story to do what it was always meant to do: to be seen, felt, understood. There’s nothing arrogant about that. Revealing your work is nothing to be ashamed of.

In fact, sometimes the greater loss is keeping it hidden. Because somewhere, someone is waiting for the exact story you’ve chosen to tell. Not perfect, not polished…but the truth. And that connection can’t come until it arrives in the quiet moment when a reader discovers himself in your words.

Let that sink in.

Until that point, your words are simply squiggly marks on paper, benefitting no one, accomplishing nothing of any importance. But when you finally share them with conviction and honesty and passion, which you can’t do without putting your stories out there, then and only then will your words have impact.

And that’s when your stories begin to live.

https://www.amazon.com/Whispers-Through-Rosetta-Diane-Hoessli-ebook/dp/B098278M38/

https://www.amazon.com/Tip-Piano-Rosetta-Diane-Hoessli/dp/1509254412/

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The Stories We Almost Didn't Tell

Rosetta Diane Hoessli — Sat, 25 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

*Written with Veridion Smart

There are the stories we write…and the stories we almost didn’t.

You know the stories I’m talking about. The ones we hesitate over, the ones that feel too close, too real, too revealing. The ones that don’t feel like fiction at all. Every writer knows that moment where the truth begins to press a little too hard against the surface, where the story starts asking something back from you. It doesn’t want skill, or structure. It wants honesty.

And that’s where many stories stop.

They don’t stop because they weren’t good…but because they were too true. It’s easier to soften the edges, to shift the narrative just enough to make it comfortable, to protect ourselves from being seen too clearly.

After all, writing is supposed to be creative… not an exhibition of one’s soul.

I’ve always written about experiences I’ve had in my own life – I’m not comfortable if I can’t write what I know. The first time I ever tried to write a contemporary novel about a young married couple having adjustment difficulties, I had to put it aside because I found I was taking too much from my own life and it was making mincemeat of my own marriage. Not a good thing. Life imitating art…or the other way around?

However, when a young child in our family went through a terrible trauma for a number of years without our knowledge, I had no choice but to write about it. It was the only way I could deal with the guilt, the self-recrimination, the outrage. It was the only way I felt I could help other families in hopes that our experience might make a positive difference in their lives.

My suspense/mystery novel, TIP THE PIANO MAN, was the result of that effort – forty years later. I don’t know how many times I shelved a draft, put it in a dark closet to hide it away as if that would ease the pain, even tore up the most offensive pages and started all over again.

It took forty years for me to be able to sit down at my computer, stare at that blank screen, and plow through the truth. I didn’t give myself a break. I didn’t coddle myself. It was a story that demanded realism, and honesty, and I refused to give it any less than that.

The stories that stay with us, the ones that linger long after the last page, are rarely the safe ones. They’re the ones that dare to say something real, the ones that don’t look away. They’re the ones that trust the reader enough to tell the truth.

There is a quiet courage in that kind of writing. It asks you to step beyond craft and into something far more personal. To write not just what works…but what matters. And while not every story needs to carry that much weight, the ones that do will never let you ignore them for long.

Those stories wait. Patiently. Until you’re ready to tell them the way they were meant to be told. Even if it’s forty years later. Because some stories aren’t meant to be written from a cushy position of comfort.

They’re meant to be written from a diamond-hard position of truth.

*If you haven’t read TIP THE PIANO MAN yet, you can buy it at any reputable online bookstore in either print or e-book form. Here’s the Amazon address for your added convenience: https://www.amazon.com/Tip-Piano-Rosetta-Diane-Hoessli/dp/1509254412/

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