Koehler Books – Rosepoint Publishing

The Colonel’s Revenge by Jeffrey K Schmoll – #BookReview #AdventureThriller #TuesdayBookBlog

A Mateus de Silva Adventure Book 2

Rosepoint Publishing: Five Stars

Book Blurb:

The prison is sealed. The vault is wired. But history always collects.

On the scorched battlefields of 1980s Angola, Colonel Juan Mateus de Silva survives a brutal ambush that costs him everything. His men. His command. His closest friend. When his general abandons them to die, de Silva answers in blood. Marked for execution, he flees across the border into Namibia. He is not running from justice. He is hunting it.

With a South African deserter at his side, he disappears into the shadows of Cape Town. But betrayal follows.

Decades later in California, his grandson uncovers an impossible truth. The colonel is still alive, buried deep inside an illegal gold mine in South Africa. Getting him out will take a crew, a flawless plan, and absolute precision under fire. The trail leads back to Cape Town, where a fortified casino holds the key to finishing what was started years ago.

The Colonel’s Revenge is a high-stakes thriller of war, betrayal, and a heist built on debts that refuse to die.

His Review:

The Colonel had been a star in Castro’s Cuba. However, Castro sends him all over the world to influence third-world countries. He began to live an expansive life style with a woman in every country he operated in. Meanwhile, his wife back in Cuba was raising a son and daughter by herself and the Colonel was no longer welcome in his birth country.

South Africa is a very dangerous country. People from all over Africa and Europe go there for the gambling. There is no table limit, and Juan Mateus de Silva quickly learns that this is better than robbing banks. He and his companions began to develop strategies to relieve the gambling houses of their earnings. He is targeted for elimination. Instead of killing him, however, he spends nearly 40 years as a prisoner working in the gold mines. Any attempt to escape earns 40 lashes and Juan’s back is a scarred testimony to this result.

As time goes by, the son has a son who discovers his grandfather is not dead. And he begins a plan.

The fast-pacing of the storyline as well as the setting keeps the interest throughout. The characters consist of some scoundrels; the main character being well developed.

This story can be brutal in its descriptions and the cruelties that exist in South Africa. Once in the system, there is no escape. Gold and diamonds are not worth the reward meted out by the mine owners and controllers of the economy. 5 stars – CE Williams

This is Book 2 of the Mateus de Silva series but can be read as a standalone. Many thanks to the author and publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this ebook. The thoughts expressed here are my own.

Book Details:

Genre: Adventure
Publisher: Koehler Books
Publication Date: July 31, 2026
Source: Author request

Title Link(s):

Amazon-US | Barnes & Noble

The Author: Jeffrey K Schmoll is the award-winning author of The Treasure of Tundavala Gap. He grew up among the tumbleweeds of Bakersfield, California, then spent years living and working on four continents and in seventeen homes with his wife and two children. From the rugged landscapes of Scotland to the vibrant cultures of Australia, Texas, and Louisiana, each place shaped him. None more than Angola, where his love for its people and landscape was born. Today he balances a deep faith, community service, competitive tennis, jewelry making, and epic adventure hikes that include summiting Mount Whitney and Half Dome each in a single day.

Man reading on his cell phone — Photo generated by Gemini

Asa James by Jodi Lew-Smith – #BookReview – 19th Century History Fiction #GothicFiction

Rosepoint Publishing: Five Stars

Book Blurb:

1875 Vermont. Asa James hasn’t exactly sucked on the silver spoon. No one chooses to grow up on a rural poor farm, but a mixed-race orphan with Asa’s scarred face has little choice.

Determined to be a naturalist and scientific thinker in the vein of Charles Darwin, instead he finds himself thrust alone into the wider world, taking a tutor’s position at a mountaintop mansion. There, the widow Caro Rockwell is glossy and sardonic, someone so far outside Asa’s experience that she could well be another species. But soon he glimpses the broken woman inside the shell. Amid a series of eerie events, they form a friendship that grows into a sweet and tender sort of love.

His heart has what it wants. But then, from within the many dark recesses of Mansfield Hall, a shameful secret is discovered that will force Asa into making a terrible choice.

His Review:

There were many orphans as a result of the civil war in the United States. The subject of this story, Asa James, is just such a child. The government did not have programs as they do today to care for the orphaned and displaced. Tolland Town Farm was set up to fill the void and offer starving children a home and place to live. There was also a sort of education program for them.

Work and cleanliness were the primary focus of the program where the young, pregnant unwed mothers were offered a place to live and have their children. Many industries such as cheese making and various meat products were taught as well as bookkeeping and farm management. Cooperage was particularly important as the products from the farm were shipped all across the country.

Asa is a self-taught entomologist and biologist who loves everything about the natural world. He gets up early and works until sundown to collect and catalogue every plant and insect that he comes in contact with. His drawings are life-like and meticulously done. He sneaks out whenever possible and works by candlelight when there is no other light.

This is an enlightening story of self-determination and success in the most austere of life’s circumstances. Read and enjoy the adventure! 5 stars – CE Williams

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book. Any opinion expressed here is my own.

Book Details:

Genre: 19^th Century Historical Fiction, Gothic Fiction, American Literature
Publisher: Koehler Books
ISBN-13: 979-8888249307
ASIN: B0FPZTYSLQ
Print Length: 306 pages
Publication Date: December 16, 2025
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link(s):

Amazon-US | Amazon-UK | Barnes & Noble

Jodi Lew-Smith - author — Pic courtesy Goodreads

The Author: Jodi Lew-Smith lives on a farm in northern Vermont with her patient husband, three wonderfully impatient children, a bevy of pets and farm animals, and 250 exceedingly patient apple trees which, if they could talk, would suggest that she stop writing and start pruning. Luckily they’re pretty quiet. [Goodreads]

Jodi Lew-Smith lives on a hill farm in the rural “Northeast Kingdom” of Vermont, with her husband, dog, chickens, and 250 apple trees. Her grown children come and go, staying long enough to make her laugh. She has always been a writer but also enjoys biology, which comes out in her fiction. She holds a bachelor’s in English literature, a master’s in botany, and a doctorate in molecular genetics, with which she works as a biocurator for a genomic database. [Amazon]