When Brenda suggests that family and friends write resolutions, share them, and follow their progress throughout the year, no one anticipates the startling revelations and upheavals that follow. Resolutions come and go in The Resolutionary War, a poignant novel by Sandy Chase and Violet April Ebersole. This emotional story follows the Resolutionists' rollercoaster odyssey as they struggle to be true to their promises. Brenda's year isn't getting off to a great start. Unable to conceive, she starts looking into adoption despite her husband's objections. Not yet ready to share her ordeal with her fellow Resolutionists, Brenda publicly announces a more banal resolution so as not to rock the boat. Things start to spiral out of control, however, as Brenda begins to suspect that her husband is sleeping with her best friend, Rae. And no one is prepared for the explosive chain of events when Rae, in the course of fulfilling one of her resolutions, discovers a family secret linking her to Brenda's husband in an unsettling way. The Resolutionary War explores the idea of personal progress, ultimately asking readers: Do people change because of their resolutions ... or in spite of them?

It's interesting to note that there have been many healthy human populations throughout our history, even long before the advent of antibacterial soap. In fact, the collective fascination with adding chemical ingredients to bar and liquid soaps in order to help fight infections only began in recent decades. Since then, much evidence has emerged to suggest that antibacterial soaps don't clean us any more thoroughly than their "old-fashioned predecessors" do. What's more, they may pose health concerns both on personal and environmental levels. This is why Sandy Chase decided to write Best Tips and Tricks for Soap Making. The most disturbing concern is that these new kinds of cleansers may actually contribute to a general sanitation problem by promoting the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Antibacterial soaps don't just kill disease-causing bacteria. They kill every kind of bacteria that is susceptible to them. If resistant bacteria were then to form, they could easily dominate their surrounding environment (be it a household or larger ecosystem) due to a lack of competition. Our race survived for eons and produced many healthy men and women without the aid of our new bacteria-fighting products. Babies even need a certain level of exposure to germs in order for their immune systems to develop properly. Evidence suggests that we may be compromising our own adult systems as well through our increasing reliance upon antibacterial soaps. In a way, this reliance reveals a certain distrust of our environment (which is seen as hostile) and our bodies (which are seen as overly vulnerable). We may need to start trusting ourselves - and the kinds of natural products that kept us clean for so long in the past - once again.