Marta Cheng | Self-Publishing Review

Review: A Week is Not Forever by Firie Mhèné

The heartfelt emotions and thoughts of a lonely woman are laid bare in A Week is Not Forever, a multicultural romance debut by Firie Mhèné.

Having left behind her family and an emotionally-barren marriage in Europe, Gazina has been working on her doctoral research on a small island in Asia. Prior to arriving on the island, Gazina had filled the void caused by her husband’s indifference to their relationship with study, work, learning languages, buying herself clothes, going on holiday, and dining out, but here on the island, with no close friends to speak of and nothing in the […]

Review: The Cat That Ate a Thousand Bananas by Hank Mancini

Musings and delightful vignettes, served with a healthy dose of humor, form the basis for The Cat That Ate a Thousand Bananas: Musings of a Nerd by Hank Mancini.

Without a doubt, Mancini’s title immediately draws in the reader, though the book has nothing to do with a cat that has a penchant for eating lots of bananas, which speaks to the book’s looseness and fun sense of whimsy. Part memoir and part musings, Mancini admits that the stories he tells are about events in his life that he hopes his family will find funny – though that is not […]

Marta Cheng2020-10-01T02:10:15+02:00August 27th, 2020|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Memoir Book Reviews|

Review: Finding Fate (Tied by Fate Book 1) by Keelan Storm

Seemingly innocent teenage pursuits turn into some very serious adult issues in Finding Fate, an emotional tale of young adult angst by Keelan Storm.

Life has more or less returned to normal since the death of Isabel “Izzy” Dearly’s father. Izzy has her beloved dance and babysitting to keep her occupied, and her friends to hang out with. She’s also enjoying the attentions of the handsome new guy, Wesley, who’s a lifeguard in their coastal Texas tourist town along with her twin sister, Annie, and her good friend, Tucker Patterson.

Although Wesley and Tucker are both hot, Wesley’s kind […]

Marta Cheng2020-09-22T03:10:16+02:00August 13th, 2020|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Young Adult Book Reviews|

Review: Once You Know by Madeleine Van Hecke

Once You Know is a gripping work of women’s fiction written by Madeleine Van Hecke whose message is as stark as it is unrelenting: once you know, there’s no going back to the way things once were.

Colleen Moretti is a devout and devoted housewife and mother to her eight-old-daughter, Izzy, and her older daughter, Rachel, who’s just finishing her first year of college back home in Chicago. Colleen’s life is turned upside down when her husband, Derek, announces that work operations are shutting down in Arizona, with him being called back to the office in Chicago. Anxious over having […]

Marta Cheng2020-08-12T01:52:50+02:00July 2nd, 2020|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Contemporary Fiction Book Reviews, Women's Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: A Completing of The Watsons by Rose Servitova

Jane Austen started The Watsons in 1803, abandoning it after writing just a few chapters because, it is said, it was too close to her own life. Author Rose Servitova has effortlessly picked up where Austen left off, producing a delightful English Regency-period novel in a manner intrinsically true to Austen’s style and wit.

Sisters, suitors, and choices are at the heart of The Watsons. Nineteen-year-old Emma Watson is the youngest child of an impecunious clergyman. For the past fourteen years, she’s been the ward and expected heir of a wealthy aunt and uncle, but is returned home penniless […]

Marta Cheng2020-06-30T05:53:32+02:00June 5th, 2020|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Historical Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: A Thin Porridge by Benjamin J. Gohs

A search for truth fuels A Thin Porridge, a powerful historical coming of age adventure by Benjamin J. Gohs.

On the morning after the death of publisher, Jon Browne, a rival newspaper publishes a scandalous article about his past. The article has the potential to ruin Jon Browne’s name and his good works as a fiercely-passionate abolitionist, rumored to have had Abraham Lincoln’s ear.

His daughter, Abeona Browne, furiously marches into Terence Swifte’s office, demanding that their lawyer sue the rival paper for slander and libel – and is dumbfounded when Terence reluctantly admits that there’s some truth to […]

Marta Cheng2020-06-25T07:51:57+02:00June 4th, 2020|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Historical Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: Colors by J.M. Ferreira

Colors, J.M. Ferreira’s stunning literary debut, paints a startling picture of race and sexual discrimination in a not-so-distant future Hawaii.

The year is 2026. Thirty-six-year-old Pualani “Pua” Kahahawai is an educated native Hawaiian living in the shadow of her older brother, Kalani, the “jailbird sovereignty messiah of the Kahahawai clan,” now doing 30 years in state prison. Having lived the first half of her life in a tent on the beach, Pua now lives in an old plantation-style house with her parents, her aunty and her aunty’s son and wife, and their son. Her father is confined to a […]

Marta Cheng2020-04-17T04:57:16+02:00April 16th, 2020|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Literary Fiction Book Reviews, Speculative Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: The Lighthouse by Elaine Kozak

Past traumas, dark secrets and reconciliations are at the heart of The Lighthouse, a wonderfully engaging work of women’s fiction by Elaine Kozak.

Driven by a need to reconnect with her estranged father after learning of the death of her mother, a stricken Leah Larsen returns to the family ranch founded by her deceased grandparents in Taos, New Mexico. Her father is less than thrilled by Leah’s arrival and gives her the shock of her life when he tells her that he and Leah’s mother had kept the baby son Leah had given birth to ten years earlier. Even […]

Marta Cheng2020-04-27T02:30:41+02:00March 19th, 2020|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Contemporary Fiction Book Reviews, Literary Fiction Book Reviews, Women's Fiction Book Reviews|