BWL Publishing New Releases August 2025

 

Finding killers is Calgary Police Detective Janice Maidstone’s job, for now, but her parents want her back on the short-grass prairie in southern Saskatchewan to take over the ranch. Janice must choose between the police service in a job she loves, or the life as a rancher to carry on the family legacy. 

The decision hangs over her head while she and her partner investigate their latest case involving a pregnancy, a playboy fiancé, a greedy business partner, and a jealous bride. 

 

Editorial Review 

Nancy M Bell 

 

The Aquamarine Necklace is great read. The murder of a local restaurant owner sets our detective off on a complicated search for justice that takes her behind the scenes of the restaurant business. Ms. Beswick does a wonderful job of combining excellent writing with the gritty business of solving murders while sticking to the laws. Our heroine is not our typical detective, but a lovely mix of tough cop with certain vulnerabilities underneath.  A must read. 

A stirring coming-of-age family saga about resilience, forgiveness, and the unbreakable bond between a mother and child 

Living in the vast beauty of the Saskatchewan prairie, fourteen-year-old Eden English finds herself pregnant and unwilling to name the father. Her parents send her to a maternity home in the city where she is forced to give up her newborn daughter for adoption. 

Years later, Eden is trapped in an unhappy life marked by poverty, addiction, and haunting visions of a child she feels certain is in danger. When a chance encounter sparks new hope, she is determined to rescue the little girl who was stolen from her. 

 

Eden’s dramatic search for her daughter—and the unexpected friendship and love she finds along the way—is set in the 1970s, when women’s roles and rural communities in Canada were slowly but inexorably changing with the times. 

 

Editorial Review by Nancy M. Bell  

Eden's Daughter by Katherine Maitko  5 Stars 

 

Teenage southern Saskatchewan farm girl, Eden finds herself pregnant and fighting to keep her unborn child. It's the 1970's and unwed mothers are not looked upon with any favour in the small farming community. Eden's parents insist she have an abortion, but Eden is convinced her unborn child is a daughter and there is no way she is going to terminate this pregnancy. She bolts from the hospital and hides on the streets of Regina before returning to her family the next day. Instead Eden finds herself in a home for unwed mothers. She is determined to keep her daughter, but politics and some underhanded dealings conspire to take that choice away. Eden goes on with her life but is plagued with dreams of her daughter living in less than desirable conditions. Her quest to find and reclaim her daughter is wonderfully depicted in Matiko's sensitive and evocative text. A must read.  

 

It is 1803 at the Hudson’s Bay post of York Factory and fifteen year old Elias Gunn faces a dilemma. His grandfather wants his sons and grandsons to accompany him inland to Fort Edmonton to deliver the supplies the men at the fort will need to survive for a year. Elias has heard the stories about the months’ long, arduous trip by York Boat and has no desire to go. But he is forced to agree by his Uncle Jonas. Elias’ nemesis, his cousin, Nathaniel, who continuously picks on Elias, is also going. But he finds there is more than just rowing the boat in store for him. 

Martha lives with her family in the Cree village near Fort Edmonton. She is waiting for Nathaniel to return and marry her so she can realize her dream.  

 

Editorial review by Renee Duke 

5* COMPELLING TALE OF A GRUELLING JOURNEY 

With the recent demise of the famous Hudson Bay company adding to its relevance, this YA novel is one that will easily hold the attention of teens interested in how goods were transported to and from various outposts back in the early 19th century, as well as those who might wonder if they would be up to such a challenge. Well written and meticulously researched, West To Fort Edmonton is sure to have readers feel as though they are making the arduous cross-Canada trip right along with the young, definitely not-happy-to-be-there, protagonist, Elias Gunn.  

Mike Gouchie is an Indigenous Nashville Country Recording Artist.  

Over his musical career he’s had the privilege of opening for country legend George Jones on a cross Canada tour and has shared stages with Alan Jackson, Lonestar, Billy Currington, the Neville Brothers, Jo Nichols, and many others. 

He has lived the kind of life most only sing about. 

A ten-time award-winning Country Recording Artist with deep Indigenous roots, Mike’s journey through the highs of the spotlight and the lows of life behind the curtain is as real as it gets. In Shattered Glass, he shares his raw and riveting story—an unfiltered look at the pursuit of a dream in an industry that rarely plays fair. 

From standing ovations to slammed doors, from almost making it to almost giving up, this memoir is a heartfelt tribute to resilience, faith, and the power of never letting go. Along the way, Mike lets you in on the backstage moments, the near-misses, and the personal struggles that shaped the man behind the music. 

Because sometimes, the ones who almost made it are the ones with the most powerful story to tell. 

A dedication to those who fell short on fame,   yet remain large at heart   

 

 Mike Gouchie is an Indigenous Nashville Country Recording Artist.  

Over his musical career he’s had the privilege of opening for country legend George Jones on a cross Canada tour and has shared stages with Alan Jackson, Lonestar, Billy Currington, the Neville Brothers, Jo Nichols, and many others. 

He has lived the kind of life most only sing about. 

A ten-time award-winning Country Recording Artist with deep Indigenous roots, Mike’s journey through the highs of the spotlight and the lows of life behind the curtain is as real as it gets. In Shattered Glass, he shares his raw and riveting story—an unfiltered look at the pursuit of a dream in an industry that rarely plays fair. 

From standing ovations to slammed doors, from almost making it to almost giving up, this memoir is a heartfelt tribute to resilience, faith, and the power of never letting go. Along the way, Mike lets you in on the backstage moments, the near-misses, and the personal struggles that shaped the man behind the music. 

Because sometimes, the ones who almost made it are the ones with the most powerful story to tell. 

A dedication to those who fell short on fame,   yet remain large at heart   

 

Editorial Review for Shattered Glass, by JD Shipton 

 

Editorial Review 

JL Cartwright 

Mike Gouchie is a ten-time award-winning Country Recording Artist with deep indigenous roots and his  musical journey is filled with the exciting highlights and soul tearing low lights of his experiences as he travelled the road that brought him to such places as being the opening act for George Jones's  Canadian tour, and sharing stages with Alan Jackson, Lonestar, Billy Currington, the Neville Brothers, Jo Nichols and many more. 

A breathless adventure story of courage and survival in a warming climate, from the multi-award-winning author of Refugee 87

Yutu lives in a remote Arctic village with his elderly grandmother. Their traditional way of life is threatened by the changing snow and ice, which melts faster every year.

Bea is trying to adapt to yet another new school. Worse still, her father's new job takes up any spare time, and his behaviour has become odd and secretive. On a trip she hopes will fix things, their fates take a drastic turn and Bea's life becomes entwined with Yutu's in a way she could never have imagined.

Together, they become locked in a desperate race for survival.

Gotta Have Some Maple Syrup by Eden Monroe

 

https://www.bookswelove.com/shop/p/dangerousgetaway

Dangerous Getaway is set in Elgin, New Brunswick. Situated in the Caledonia Highlands within the Appalachian Mountain range, it is an area known not only for its beauty, but also for its prodigious maple sugar production.

And while the unforgettable adventure experienced by Rhone Alexander and Grace Upton in Elgin has nothing to do with sugar making, those gorgeous highlands still bring to mind the delicious pleasure of maple syrup given its vast stands of sugar maple trees. Nature at its most beautiful and productive best.

Actually, trees are perhaps what New Brunswick, Canada does best considering that eighty-five percent of the province is covered in them (globalforestwatch.org 2020). According to www2.gnb.ca, New Brunswick’s vast forests contain over twenty species of trees, “which is remarkably diverse among Canadian forests given the province’s small size.” Of that number nearly 70% (as represented by tree volume) are softwood trees (conifers) – the remaining species being hardwood (deciduous). Included in that number is the sugar maple with its luxuriant shade-producing crown, one of the most important hardwood species in the province.

The maple itself is no one trick pony, in fact there are 150 species of maple trees. As Canada.ca points out, of those 150 species, only ten are native to Canada: “the sugar, black, bigleaf, silver, red, mountain, striped, Douglas, vine and Manitoba maples.”

Not surprisingly the maple sugar tree is the most well known of all the species of maple trees. Interestingly, Canada’s arboreal emblem is of course the famous maple leaf — it’s even on our flag, although that image is actually a generic mock up of all Canada’s maple species.

The sugar maple is valued for it’s fine lumber (arboristhalifax.ca). “For hardness, strength, beauty and longevity, sugar maple surpasses all other species. Its wood is highly valued by furniture builders.”

However chief among its winning attributes is its delicious sap from which is made maple syrup, and while there are certainly other places in the world that also produce maple syrup, New Brunswick remains a key player. Says tourismnewbrunswick.ca: “Maple syrup has a long history in our province, and New Brunswick is now the second largest maple producer in Canada (third in the world), with a production of over four million kilograms (eight million, eight hundred thousand pounds) of maple syrup per year, some of it exported to 35 countries.

 

“During the season (late winter into spring), one tree can produce about 40 litres (just over ten gallons) of sap, which equals one litre (0.264 liquid gallon) of maple syrup.”

 

When the sap is running, sugar shacks (camps) and sugar farms are a favourite destination for delicious maple-themed cooking and treats. As well they offer family fun activities like making candy and witnessing the entire maple syrup making process in motion.

 

 

While writing this piece I just had to treat myself to pancakes with butter, drowned in maple syrup, pictured above, because writing about it made me hungry. In a sugar camp the standard fare would be flapjacks with butter and maple syrup, maple-flavoured sausages, and warm baked beans sweetened with maple sugar.

 

According to albertcountymuseum.com: “The Mi'kMaq were the first to harvest maple syrup in this area.  To extract the syrup from the maple trees, the natives would cut an upward slash in the tree and place a reed or sliver of wood in the cut.  The sap would run up the tree, get stopped by the reed then follow the reed out and drip into a birch bark cassa.  The cassas would also be used to evaporate the sap down to make syrup.  They would heat rocks in a fire then place the cassa on the hot rocks to heat the liquid inside.  It was a long process but eventually enough of the water would evaporate away leaving a delicious sweet syrup.

“When the French and then subsequently the English settled in the area, natives taught them how to extract maple syrup and use it as food.  The first commercial production of maple syrup in Albert County was in the early 1840’s by the Colpitts family.  In their first year of production they gathered enough sap to produce 6200 pounds of maple sugar.  All the sap was gathered in birch bark cassas!  The annual output of maple sugar from the Parish of Elgin was approximately 80,000 pounds.  (1851 Census data.)  It takes 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup.  It takes one gallon of syrup to make 8 pounds of Maple Sugar.  When you do the math that means that 400,000 gallons of sap were collected to make the 80,000 pounds of sugar.”

Again, according to albertcountymuseum.com, the cassas were replaced with tin in the 1800’s. But since ordinary tin rusts, that too was replaced with English tin. Of course the lead welding and lining in the English tin cans were problematic, so that was eventually replaced with galvanized metal developed in the 1900’s. Lids for these receptacles followed shortly after. The sap collected in the cans was poured into larger buckets; the buckets emptied into a gathering tank sitting on a horse-drawn sled. Filters removed any twigs or debris — the tank shaped to prevent splashing out of the top opening during transport over uneven snowy terrain.

Today, for the most part sap cans are used by hobbyists. For large operations sap (accessed through inserted spouts) is collected by plastic tubing systems connected to trees and conveyed either by vacuum or good old-fashioned gravity directly to a central collection point into storage tanks. The sap is then transferred to an evaporator, the sap flowing through the pipe to boil in a large vat. As the water in the sap evaporates, more tree sap is allowed to flow in as it continues to boil down, and is subsequently moved to a smaller vat. The process continues in the smaller vat until the sap reaches the required density and is ready to be bottled.

Another rendering method is by way of a cauldron over an open fire.

Once the syrup is complete it can be further boiled down to make maple candy or maple sugar. The good news is that all of the aforementioned, including the making of syrup, can also be accomplished on a much smaller scale in a large pan on a cook stove.

Additional tools of the trade include: (Again from albertcountymuseum.com) a maple sugar masher because “when making maple sugar it naturally wants to form lumps”; one and two pound maple sugar moulds, and wooden paddles used to work the maple sugar into the desired moulds. The site also points out that maple sugar and maple cream are actually the same thing, because “when rationing of sugar was introduced in Canada during WW II sugar camps decided to change the name from sugar to cream so that it would not be subject to rationing.”

Says tourismnewbrunswick.ca: “Whether drizzled over pancakes, added to a smoothie, frozen into candy, or used in a cocktail, maple syrup is a distinctively delicious way to add some sweetness.”

Highly versatile, maple syrup can be used in a plethora of culinary dishes, both sweet and savoury, as well as standing nicely on its own. Maple candy, ice cream and gelato are perennial favourites, as are baked goods, and caramelizes and glazes for just about everything, including roasted nuts. You can even drink it — from sweeteners in coffees and teas to actual maple tea itself. There’s also a variety of maple beers, wines and spirits. You can also drink the sap right out of the tree!

It’s easy to make maple candy once the syrup reaches a specific boil temperature. Simply take the prepared syrup outside and pour it on snow. It’s basically the same principal as making fudge, when the candy has reached the desired consistency on the snow, this one-of-a-kind late winter/early spring treat is ready to enjoy.

Needless to say, New Brunswick loves its maple syrup. We practically swim in the stuff – and you can never get enough. So for the ultimate maple experience, grow a tree (or several), tap a tree (or several) and create your own supply. Just try it, you’ll be back for more. In fact there’s a store that specializes in maple products not ten miles from where I’m writing this. Think I’ll drop by later this afternoon.

https://www.bookswelove.com/shop/p/boundforsomewhere