The Book Blog - Learning Resources at St. Johns River State College

It is rare, but every now and then, you stumble across an author who just gets you and produces the kinds of books that feel like they were written with your exact reading tastes in mind. The tropes, the humor, the characters, and the storyline were so well done that I found a book, and series, that I just could not put down. The two series that I have read by her so far are the Harbour Village series and the Lucky River Ranch series, which is still being written.

Peterson creates these small-town worlds that feel real, like places where you could move to tomorrow. Whether it’s the charming coastal vibes of Harbour Village or the sun-soaked, rustic warmth of Lucky River Ranch, her settings are more than just backdrops. They’re living, breathing characters in their own right.

The absolute best part of her writing is the characters. If a romance novel has a weak female lead, I really struggle to get through the book. The same is true if the male lead is incredibly unlikeable or just too perfect. But Peterson’s characters are smart, funny, vulnerable, and flawed in ways that make them feel real and relatable. I love that her heroines are strong and self-aware, and her heroes are refreshingly respectful, emotionally intelligent, and deeply swoon-worthy.

One of Peterson’s greatest strengths is how she balances emotional storytelling with just the right amount of heat. I found that her romances are as much about personal growth, healing, and connection as they are about passion. The slow burns, the angst, the banter—all of it is written with care and depth. I found myself laughing out loud one minute and tearing up the next.

One of the main reasons why I love the romance genre so much is that when the world feels chaotic and uncertain, these books can leave you smiling, feeling hopeful, and happy. Discovering Jessica Peterson has been a game-changer for me. If you’re a fan of heartfelt, character-driven romance set in cozy, beautifully detailed small towns—with just enough spice to keep things interesting—you owe it to yourself to check out her books!

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New Favorite Author: Jessica Peterson

Have you ever struggled to get through a reading slump? I feel like I had been in one for at least two months. I just couldn’t find anything that held my attention or that I could say to someone that what I was reading was just so good. In romance, like in any genre, there are a few really great books, a lot of ‘meh’ books, and definitely some books that are just hands down bad. For the last month or so I felt like I was stuck in ‘meh’ limbo. I’ve been reading a variety of books, within the romance genre, and just could NOT find anything that really sparked my interest. That is, until I read a book by Jessica Peterson. It is rare, but every now and then, you stumble across an author who just gets you and produces the kinds of books that feel like they were written with your exact reading tastes in mind. The tropes, the humor, the characters, and the storyline were so well done that I found a book, and series, that I just could not put down. The two series that I have read by her so far are the Harbour Village series and the Lucky River Ranch series, which is still being written.Peterson creates these small-town worlds that feel real, like places where you could move to tomorrow. Whether it’s the charming coastal vibes of Harbour Village or the sun-soaked, rustic warmth of Lucky River Ranch, her settings are more than just backdrops. They’re living, breathing characters in their own right.The absolute best part of her writing is the characters. If a romance novel has a weak female lead, I really struggle to get through the book. The same is true if the male lead is incredibly unlikeable or just too perfect. But Peterson’s characters are smart, funny, vulnerable, and flawed in ways that make them feel real and relatable. I love that her heroines are strong and self-aware, and her heroes are refreshingly respectful, emotionally intelligent, and deeply swoon-worthy.One of Peterson’s greatest strengths is how she balances emotional storytelling with just the right amount of heat. I found that her romances are as much about personal growth, healing, and connection as they are about passion. The slow burns, the angst, the banter—all of it is written with care and depth. I found myself laughing out loud one minute and tearing up the next.One of the main reasons why I love the romance genre so much is that when the world feels chaotic and uncertain, these books can leave you smiling, feeling hopeful, and happy. Discovering Jessica Peterson has been a game-changer for me. If you’re a fan of heartfelt, character-driven romance set in cozy, beautifully detailed small towns—with just enough spice to keep things interesting—you owe it to yourself to check out her books!...

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Rereading A Clockwork Orange: How Time and Experience Changed My Perspective

The first time I read A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, I thought it was just okay. The language was confusing, the violence jarring, and the story, though unique, felt more like a disturbing thought experiment than something that resonated with me personally. I admired the style but didn’t connect with it. I was also deeply influenced by my love of the film adaptation, which shaped how I approached the book- and perhaps, unfairly, how I judged it. Now, years later, I’ve decided to revisit the novel (because of this business), and to my surprise, I’m enjoying it immensely. It’s an entirely different experience this time around, and I’ve found myself thinking about why that is. What changed between then and now? The text hasn’t changed- but I have. And that’s the beauty of rereading: the book stays the same, but the reader doesn’t. I’ve come to believe that my continual reading over the years has improved my literacy- not just my ability to decode and understand complex language, but my capacity to read between the lines, to appreciate subtlety, satire, and tone. Burgess’s invented language, Nadsat (there was no web guide my first time reading), once felt like an obstacle; now it feels like a brilliantly crafted layer that adds richness and depth to the narrative. I'm picking up on references and rhythms I missed before and no longer rushing to “get through” the story. I’m savoring it. But it’s not just about literacy. I think A Clockwork Orange is one of those books that becomes more relevant- and more haunting- the older you get. When I first read it, I was closer in age to Alex and his droogs. The violence felt performative, surreal. Now, with more life behind me, I read the book through a different lens. I think about morality, free will, and the terrifying implications of state-imposed conformity. I see the tragedy of a young man shaped- and ultimately broken- by a system more interested in control than in rehabilitation. The themes of choice and consequence hit harder now. I better understand the danger of a world that prioritizes obedience over understanding. And how essential it is to preserve one’s ability to choose, even if that means choosing wrong. The moral ambiguity that once made the book feel cold now feels complex and intentional. Younger me just didn’t get it. Burgess wasn’t glorifying violence- he was interrogating it, questioning the foundations of societal control.It was also fascinating to see how our cultural context changes our reading. In today’s climate, where surveillance, algorithmic control, and polarized ideologies dominate our lives, A Clockwork Orange reads as eerily prophetic. It’s no longer just a dystopian fantasy- it’s a chilling reflection of our own reality, a warning about what happens when systems are designed to suppress rather than support the individual. This reread has been a reminder that some books are meant to grow with us. What once felt alienating, and abrasive now feels bold and brave. And maybe the best thing about literature is that it waits for us- it holds its meaning quietly, ready to reveal more as we become ready to receive it. If you haven’t read A Clockwork Orange since your younger years- or if you found it inaccessible the first time- consider giving it another shot. You might be surprised at what you find the second time around. I certainly was! Here are a few of my favorite made-up words from the book!Boomaboom- thunderClop- to knockEggiweg- eggGloopy- stupidGuttiwuts- guts...

Book Rec: The Beauty of the End by Lauren Stienstra

TW for discussions of murder, suicide, reproductive health, infertility, human trafficking, and eugenics. For thousands of years, very possibly for as long as humans have existed, people have been worried about “the end.” In both religious and scientific circles, the idea that one day we won’t exist remains a hot topic of discussion; for some, the idea that our species’ existence is finite is a source of fear or existential dread, while for others, this comes as a comfort. But what might happen if we knew the expiration date? How would that impact our lives and the way we live them? Would we do something to try to stop the end from happening, or would we welcome it? Author Lauren Stienstra attempts to answer these questions in her debut novel, The Beauty of the End. In Stienstra’s novel, humanity realizes its impending extinction in an unexpected way: the cicadas don’t emerge when they’re scheduled to. In fact, they don’t emerge at all, which prompts entomologists to start digging—literally—and they find that the previous generation of cicadas did not lay any eggs before they died. The entomologists then up all their fellow biologist buddies and begin investigating other extinct and endangered species, and ultimately discover something in every living thing’s DNA (don’t ask me what; I’m not a scientist, but Stienstra is, and this is science fiction, so I suspended disbelief and took her word for it) that can approximate about how many generations a species or individual has left in their genetic line. Humans, it turns out, have only about four generations left before the species dies out. Some individuals or families may have more or fewer generations left. While four is the average, some people may naturally score a five or even a six on their genetic report, while others can score three, two, one, or even zero. With each generation, that number goes down, and fewer people are born, which leads to some interesting changes to the society which emerges in this universe. Women are encouraged to have babies later (in their 40s or 50s if possible), or, if they can’t wait, to have a lot of babies, preferably with multiple fathers so as to “diversify the gene pool.” If you are a young woman who doesn’t want to have children but still wants to help, you have the option to become a “Mendel,” a doctor who specializes in genetics and reproduction, named for Gregor Mendel, the father of genetics. People who score higher in their generational genetic testing are preferred, both as Mendels and as sexual partners, especially since it seems that reproducing individuals with lower scores tend to have greater likelihood of passing their scores on to their offspring (for instance, if you are a 2, and you have a child with a 5, despite your partner’s high score, your children will almost certainly score a 1, meaning they can have children, but their children will not be able to have children). People unlucky enough to score zero become known as “naughts” and are inevitably looked down upon for their inability to reproduce naturally. People are desperate to find a way to stop the “Limit” as that four-generation expiration date comes to be known, and from that desperation come great atrocities. Human trafficking runs rampant. Women are kidnapped and sold. Men rent their wives out to be used like breeding stock. The government gives scientists almost complete autonomy to experiment as they wish, which leads to the discovery that, sometimes, people with disabilities or terrible genetic illnesses can produce children who score as high as 12, which, in turn, leads to more of the aforementioned atrocities, now specifically targeting people with these diagnoses. Families fall apart. People kill their partners and children. Mass suicides abound. If you think that all sounds pretty awful, I would agree with you! And so, it seems, would the narrator of this story, Dr. Charlie Tannehill, a young woman who agreed to become a Mendel not out of a desire to help stop the Limit, but to continue to live a life as close to the one she believes she would have had if the Limit had never been discovered. Goods have become so expensive, and the social expectation for women to reproduce is stronger than ever, so she sees becoming a Mendel as a way to both continue to afford food and the ability to live as a single woman, and to not have to reproduce. Because the Mendelia, the organization that trains Mendels, takes your ovaries when you join in lieu of tuition. Over time, however, as she witnesses the horrors endured by her patients at the hands of her colleagues, and the way her sister and brother-in-law's lives are destroyed by their and the Mendelia’s ambition, she begins to fight back against what society has become. This book was pretty heavy in terms of content, but I thought it was a fascinating thought experiment and I enjoyed the speculative aspect of it because it seemed like something that could potentially happen. The last couple of chapters really lost me, but I think that had more to do with my personal preferences than anything to do with the way it was written. I would definitely recommend this one to any fan of speculative science fiction. ...

New Favorite Author: Jessica Peterson

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