Book Reviews | Self-Publishing Review

Review: Stalker, My Love by Zack Scott

★★★★½

Small towns often provide the best settings for thrillers, as they are rife with secrets, suspicions, old grudges and hidden motivations. The process of watching detectives and suspects roil around in the same intimate space makes for high drama and excellent character development, as is the case in the excellent Stalker, My Love by Zack Scott.

In this cozy mystery, we see a town turn on some of its own, desperate for answers, in the search for a missing girl: Rosalyn Ray. Readers are first introduced to Rhett and Rosalyn in a strange way – during a confrontation where […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2017-09-15T12:55:31+02:00September 13th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Thriller Book Reviews|

Review: Island of the Assassin by Joseph Roccasalvo

★★★★½

Most people don’t see a moral gray area when it comes to killing other human beings, but there are certain evils in the world that must be eradicated, whether or not the public is told about it. There are also those shadowy figures in our government’s Rolodex, agents who operate in the darkness, doing what “needs” to be done to protect their country.

In Island of the Assassin by Joseph Roccasalvo, loyalty, morality, and abstract ideas of the greater good collide in a stunning and revelatory novel about the fuzzy edges of good and evil.

Kai Landrie is a […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2017-09-25T08:36:31+02:00September 7th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Thriller Book Reviews|

Review: Native Girl Rites by Indigo Cox

Native Girl Rites by Indigo Cox

Tragedy and loss are inescapable, especially for women at the bottom of the social pecking order, which is movingly portrayed in Native Girl Rites by Indigo Cox.

Mari is no stranger to pain. She lost her mother, a nurse, to a botched procedure after the color of her skin and gender forced her into an inescapable position. Her grandmother passed down native traditions to give her strength as a woman. Her father offered safe abortions so no one else in their town would have to grieve such as senseless loss, as he had. But Mari’s grandmother passes on, and her […]

Mindy Hood2019-02-11T09:20:42+02:00September 4th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Contemporary Fiction Book Reviews, Women's Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: Incognolio by Michael Sussman

★★★★½

For readers who are eager to have their imaginations shattered into a thousand pieces, this bizarre and fascinating novel by Michael Sussman is sure to please. Incognolio, both the title of this novel and the ultimate goal of anyone trying to shed their conscious mind, is a strange journey with unreliable narrators who seem to be having a perpetual identity crisis.

From the very first page of this novel, you can tell that the read will be an unusual one to say the least. The subtle style of writing in surreal details, or breaking the fourth wall of […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2018-08-20T11:22:25+02:00September 2nd, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Literary Fiction Book Reviews, Science Fiction Book Reviews, Visionary Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: The Demon King and the Boy Who Hardly Knew Anything by Pat Ellis

★★★★

Although fantasy worlds are in abundance at the moment, there is always room for fantasy fiction as fresh and smart as The Demon King and the Boy Who Hardly Knew Anything. Pat Ellis may be a first-time writer, but this debut novel has the echoes of a much more mature and seasoned author.

In the generations-long struggle between the magic of Aranfeit and the technological brilliance of Morandia, there are countless stories to tell, and the riveting chunks of exposition throughout this novel welcome readers into this new land – one where “traditional” fantasy and futuristic sci-fi elements […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2017-09-21T03:33:51+02:00August 24th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Fantasy Book Reviews|

Review: Window Spit by Alan David Pritchard

In Window Spit, poet Alan David Pritchard expresses how reflections through an imagined window can reveal the way a poet sees the world outside, and the way he sees himself.

Pritchard is an author, educator, and poet who has chosen in Window Spit to depict himself as both observer and the observed. Part I of the collection – “Looking Out” – details in verse his view of humanity through a hypothetical glass. He warns, “Beware the poet who spits in your eye.”

In several poems, Pritchard laments that people choose to communicate with unseen others on their wifi devices […]

Barbara Scott2020-12-18T05:31:47+02:00August 23rd, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Poetry Book Reviews|

Review: The Worst Pet Peeve Ever by Anne Marie Hanlon Cook

Defining a “peeve” as something that annoys you, and a “pet peeve” as something you just like to be annoyed about, writer and illustrator Anne Marie Hanlon Cook has created an engaging, readable fable for children, though there is a message In The Worst Pet Peeve Ever for readers of all ages.

The narrator’s plaint in this colorful tale is that her mother’s determination to keep the house clean means no company and no pets. The little girl lives happily enough with mother, father, sister and brother, but no human visitors and definitely no animals are allowed. Pets are her […]

Barbara Scott2019-02-11T08:37:55+02:00August 21st, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Children's Book Reviews|

Review: To Seduce an Assassin (The Omaja Series Book 2) by Jayla Jasso

To Seduce an Assassin by Jayla Jasso, the second book in her Omaja series, is an electrifying romantic adventure that manages to improve on its predecessor. In Book 1 of the Omaja series, the rugged Yavi lost his love and has sworn off entering into another torrid affair. The younger sister of Jiandra – the heroine of the first novel, married to Yavi’s brother – has had a crush on Yavi since her teens. Now twenty, Graciella has her sights set on him, even though he’s taken an oath of celibacy so he can concentrate on his duties as Emperor.[…]

Lysa Grant2019-10-04T07:35:31+02:00August 18th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Fantasy Book Reviews, Romance Book Reviews|