Book Reviews | Self-Publishing Review

Review: It’s All Coming Back: On Love After the War by Jon Kahn

★★★★ It Is All Coming Back - On Love After The War By Jon Kahn

When Anne-Marie and Helmut marry in London just a year after World War II, they are young, in love, and glad to be finally free of the deep tragedy Hitler had brought to Europe. Swedish Anne-Marie is sweet, educated, and emancipated, but Helmut is from Germany, and Jewish. He has lived through many terrible family losses, and there are many divides in their knowledge of world events recently passed.

Through their love, they must now get to know each other, and heal the rifts in understanding between their families, both culturally and emotionally. The awful truth is almost to […]

SPR2018-02-16T10:10:26+02:00January 9th, 2018|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Historical Fiction Book Reviews, World War II Book Reviews|

Review: Soul Census by AJ Vega

★★★★ Soul Census by AJ Vega

Finding purpose after a life-changing event is something to which all readers can relate, and such is the fate of WWI veteran Willem Maddock, feeling the sense of despondency and alienation following the impossible tragedy of war. However, in Soul Census, written by AJ Vega, the story delves much deeper than a standard novel about post-war America. Instead, it penetrates the veil between mortality and spirituality, hinting at a form of existence that doesn’t end, but simply transcends.

Returning to find a cold world that doesn’t worship the right heroes, the tone is set for Maddock to be granted […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2019-01-22T15:17:08+02:00January 8th, 2018|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Science Fiction Book Reviews, Visionary Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: Salvation Day by RD Meyer

★★★★

Mike Faulkner has just attended the second funeral he never thought he’d have to experience: first, his daughter Samantha, taken far too young, and now his wife, who has taken her own life from grief.

Mike is more than a grieving father, and more than a fresh widower – he’s emotionally detached, yet intellectually brilliant. Currently, he is working as part of the team on the verge of a groundbreaking discovery that could revolutionize energy production forever, and his family tragedy will soon affect his work dramatically.

Despite his colleagues’ hesitance, Mike’s pain becomes fuel for his work, spurred […]

James Grimsby2018-05-09T10:47:52+02:00January 7th, 2018|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Science Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: Carpenter’s Bluff by James Sanders

★★★★

Our adult lives are largely influenced by the uncharted events of our youth and nowhere is this more evident than in Carpenter’s Bluff, James Sanders’ moving literary tale of youthful indiscretions and dark secrets.

Henry “Hank” Anawatty is a young attorney with some serious problems in his life, the most pressing one being that the woman he’s been seeing has disappeared. In desperation, he goes to see a shrink and little by little, her pointed questions chink away at Hank’s armor, revealing a less-than-idyllic childhood spent dodging an abusive father, not to mention harboring lingering guilt over his […]

Marta Cheng2018-01-10T11:03:53+02:00January 6th, 2018|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Literary Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: The Believers in the Crucible Nauvoo by Alfred Woollacott III

Blending family documents, historical records and a strong imaginative gift, author Alfred Woollacott III depicts the travails of a young woman joining in the founding of the Mormon faith in The Believers in the Crucible Nauvoo.

Woollacott’s book opens in Peterborough, New Hampshire, where one of Mormon founder Joseph Smith’s disciples has converted many townspeople. These believers are caught up in Smith’s challenging and inspiring message. According to teachings from the Book of Mormon, converts must be baptized, and then have the certainty of sharing the life of Jesus while here on Earth. Some feel strongly called to Nauvoo, […]

Barbara Scott2019-02-11T09:15:26+02:00January 5th, 2018|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Christian Fiction Book Reviews, Historical Fiction Book Reviews, Religious Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: The Gods Wait by John von Dorf

★★★★

In The Gods Wait by John von Dorf, you’ll find pessimists fighting to be optimistic about romance, a waitress’s vivid inner world, an internet troll’s thoughts on philosophy, and many other slices from diverse, scattered lives.

A collection of well-drawn characters seek fulfillment and meaning through various mediums, including film, insults, and food. Each obsession demonstrates the individual’s need and desire for grander meaning than their obsession actually delivers. The only voices with new ideas are shut down by the intentional defamation or self-congratulatory ignorance of other would-be intellectuals. Each character is defined as much by their hates as […]

Mindy Hood2018-02-06T07:05:04+02:00December 21st, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Literary Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: The Prize by Geoffrey M. Cooper

★★★★

Deceit…scientific fraud…betrayal…murder. The highly-competitive world of medical research is exposed in The Prize, a gripping page-turner by Geoffrey M. Cooper.

Thirty-six-year-old Pam Weller is a junior faculty member at Harvard’s prestigious Langmere Institute for Neurological Disease who, along with her team, are looking for an effective drug that prevents the development of Alzheimer’s disease. The stakes are high as it could mean a Nobel Prize but more importantly for Pam, it would mean guaranteed tenure. There’s just one problem, though: Eric Prescott, a leading neuroscientist at the Institute for Advanced Neuroscience is also trying to discover an Alzheimer’s […]

Marta Cheng2020-02-21T06:27:10+02:00December 20th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Medical Book Reviews|

Review: Serendipity by Thomas J. Thorson

The big picture that we’re taught in school is rarely the completely accurate picture, and curiosity can bring you down some fascinating and unforgettable rabbit holes. In Serendipity: Seemingly Random Events, Insignificant Decisions, and Accidental Discoveries that Altered History by Thomas J. Thorson, readers are welcomed into a long and disparate list of historical tales that exemplify the uncertainty of life, and the unbelievable ways that luck has influenced our common existence.

The book is a series of stories about well-known historical events and figures, but these are stories that few have ever heard before. Did you know that Handel, […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2021-12-22T03:32:20+02:00December 18th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: History Book Reviews, Social Science Book Reviews|