Cover Reveal & Giveaway: Letters from Lucca by Kim Baccellia

Check out the cover reveal of this gut-wrenching historical where Sammi Clark travels to Italy to redeem her beloved Grandmother's name, only to find the truth is more complex.

Letters From Lucca

by Kim Baccellia

Genre: YA Historical Fiction, WWII Mystery

On the heels of Sammi's grandmother's whispered deathbed wish, a package of letters from Italy arrives at her post box. Reading them makes Sammi recall whispers she heard in childhood of her grandmother's wartime involvement, a past that Sammi's father and aunt would rather see remain closed. As if things couldn't get any worse, her long-time boyfriend, Hunter, dumps her.

However, an opportunity arises that sends her to Italy to defend her grandmother, even if the truth might shatter all she believes. In a helpful twist, Joseph, her best friend's Italian cousin, offers to help her. Despite the obvious growing attraction between Joseph and her, she tries to suppress it as she embarks on her mission to vindicate the grandmother she loves.

 

**Releases Feb 3, 2026 – PreOrder Now!**

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Award-winning author Kim Baccellia grew up in Sacramento, California, the oldest of seven. She has a business associate degree from Sacramento City College, a BS degree in elementary education from Brigham Young University, and studied post grad bilingual/bicultural education at CSUF.

She’s been a telemarketer, library helper at the Harold B. Lee library at BYU, assistant manager, sales clerk, tutor, bilingual teacher, and homeschool mother.

Award-winning author. Author of YA paranormal CROSSED OUT and CROSSED FIRE. YA dystopia CANDLE IN THE WIND. Also the author of the urban diverse fantasy EARRINGS OF IXTUMEA. Short Christmas Magic in the Holiday analogy MISTLETOE AND MAGIC. Re-releasing YA fantasy series under new titles in 2026! Currently working on a historical romance set in Tuscany.

 

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Audiobook Review: Just a Hat by Shanah Khubiar

Just a Hat by Shanah Khubiar
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The unique coming-of-age story of a small-town, Persian-American Jewish teen in 1979 Texas.

Just A Hat by Shanah Khubiar is the vivid and evocative coming-of-age story of young Joseph Nissan, a Persian-American Jewish teen whose family had immigrated to the U.S. to escape the Shah of Iran's police. The multi-layered story features Joseph's school life, home life, and life in general in his small Texas town at the start of the 1979 Iran Hostage Crisis.

The main character is Youssef (or Joseph as he is known at school) Nissan, a 13-year-old transplant from California, living in Hazel, Texas (somewhere outside Dallas) with his Baba and Maman, who had years earlier fled their home in Iran just ahead of the Shah's police. Besides navigating the emotional minefield of middle school, he's on the cusp of manhood, studying for his Bar Mitzvah and slowly changing his relationship with his parents. He's frequently mistaken for Hispanic; his best friends are Mateo and Roberto Ybarra, and there are no other ethnically Persian families (or Jews) in the entire county, so he is unique to the area's residents.

Joseph struggles with wanting to do the same things other kids do and still respect his parents' wishes, especially his father's. Still, their culture and, sometimes, religious restrictions present a conflict. He's quiet, studious, and academically adept. Joseph has a healthy temper that he must constantly work to control. His nemeses in the town are two cousins, Larry and Brian Edmondson, who are revealed later to have their own interesting backstories, who generally make Joseph's life miserable at school and in the neighborhood.

In Texas, football is a common denominator, a great equalizer that brings diverse groups of people together, creating otherwise unlikely allies (and hitting people is considered a legitimate and acceptable practice.) Joseph makes the fortuitous decision to join the football team where he shows a lot of promise. I enjoyed how Joseph observed the "tells" of the two Edmondson cousins that telegraphed their moves on the field and how he used it to even out their relationships with one another.

The story includes details of Joseph's culture and religion, with celebrations attended by extended family from across the country or Israel. The discussions of the extensive preparations for his Bar Mitzvah were eye-opening and informative, as was the talk about the political situation back in Iran that had prompted many of the characters to immigrate to the U.S.

Joseph's life is further complicated by his crush on a classmate, the daughter of a disapproving and narrow-minded Christian pastor. Baba, who knows the tough path such an alliance would pose even if the two kids were older, does not support the friendship either. The confrontation between the two fathers is frighteningly intense but Joseph sees a side to Baba that he's never seen before: one that he'd been worried was absent. It was so satisfying to see father and son open up at different times during the story and reveal their secrets to each other. And I loved when Maman revealed that she, too, had hidden depths. (I would have thrown a hissy about those apples.)

Ramiz Monsef narrates the Audible audiobook and is one of the best at this craft. His voice is warm and welcoming, using subtle changes in tone, accent, and pitch to differentiate this broad cast of characters that include male, female, young, old, and native English, Spanish, and Farsi speakers. The production is just great.

With its wonderfully relatable characters and unique coming-of-age story, I recommend JUST A HAT to readers of young adult fiction.

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What Souls Are Made Of: A Wuthering Heights Remix by Tasha Suri, Narrated by Becca Hirani and Alex Williams

What Souls Are Made Of: A Wuthering Heights Remix by Tasha Suri
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A fresh reimagining of the story behind one of the most renowned couples in literature.

Author Tasha Suri takes the literary classic, Wuthering Heights, and reimagines the backstory of Heathcliff, Catherine, and her family, breathing new life into this polarizing tale of gothic trauma. The story is set when Heathcliff has fled The Heights, and Cathy has been left behind to agonize over where he's gone and what's happened to him. Events from the original tale are recounted and take on new life and meaning with the telling. Suri's story is presented from Catherine's and Heathcliff's points of view, giving an understandable heft to the reasons for their sometimes-murky relationship in the original. If you were left wanting after reading Brontë's story, this envisioning might give you some satisfaction.

Suri explores the shadowy details of the period Heathcliff is absent from The Heights, later revealed in the original story to be when he is amassing his fortune. The story follows him to Liverpool and into the seamy underbelly of the port city, where poverty and press gangs are all-encompassing. The author weaves the results of Britain's colonial history in India on its people into the story as Heathcliff comes to understand who he is. At the same time, Catherine also comes to realize her own hidden heritage as she and her brother, Hindley, attempt to lay the ghosts of their father's past wrongdoings.

The audiobook version is voiced by Becca Hirani as Catherine and Alex Williams as Heathcliff. They breathe life into these characters, imbuing each with a personality that gives the listener a fresh new perspective on what's driving their actions. The audiobook's cover is beautifully moody but depicts these two as older than they are during the story's events. As the story ends on a more hopeful note than the source materials, is this an additional nudge in the direction that things work out differently for them?

Touted as one of the greatest, most legendary love stories of all time, Wuthering Heights often eludes and disappoints modern young adult readers. Like many classic works, it has both its fans and foes. Depending on the reason for their dissatisfaction, Suri's version may very well ease some of the latter group into the former, with its updated dialogue and delivery, more revealing first-person points of view, and its fresh underpinning based on the main characters' secret, hidden ancestries.

I recommend What Souls Are Made Of to readers who enjoyed Wuthering Heights or wanted to but were left disappointed and those who enjoy YA historical fiction, especially that featuring a portrayal of the immigrant experience in 18th-century Britain.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy from the publisher through NetGalley.


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