Book Reviews | Self-Publishing Review

Review: To Hair and Back by Rhonda Eason

★★★★½ To Hair and Back by Rhonda Eason

A delightful romp through a woman’s head, the hair on it and the brain inside it, To Hair and Back is a life story told, as the author states, “one strand at a time.” In this well-conceived memoir based on Rhonda Eason’s now-overcome longing for what she saw as “perfect” hair, she demonstrates her artistic verve, cleverly aligning various stages of her life to the struggles behind the scenes with her uncooperative tresses.

African-American author Eason describes how her obsession with hair began as a girl growing up in the tough streets of Detroit. Her father was gone, and […]

Barbara Scott2021-10-15T07:09:07+02:00June 14th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Memoir Book Reviews|

Review: Deadly Trespass by Sandra Neily

Deadly Trespass Cover

When Cassandra Patton Conover, a lone nature writer and conservationist, takes to the Maine wilds with her dog Pock into private grounds for good fishing, she discovers the body of her friend crushed under a tree. Confused by the circumstances of her friend’s death, she must now risk everything she cares about to uncover the mystery behind her untimely death in Deadly Trespass by Sandra Neily.

Cassandra’s task isn’t so easy – she kind of dislikes people, and the politically motivated swarm descending on the issues of deforestation, resources, and the matter of extinct wolves finding their way back to […]

Naka Jackson2022-12-23T13:33:46+02:00June 12th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Mystery Book Reviews|

Review: Come As You Are by Steven Ramirez

★★★★

If anyone discovers a source of mysterious power that can help solve all their problems, it is probably too good to be true. That is certainly the case in Come As You Are, a chilling YA horror novella from author Steven Ramirez.

When Ivan, an often-bullied seventh grader, finds a magical notebook in an old locker at school, he thinks that his middle-school years might be salvageable after all. The list that this notebook contains doesn’t necessarily make sense, but Ivan knows that he must complete the list if he wants to unlock the full potential of this […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2018-02-16T11:45:39+02:00June 12th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Horror Book Reviews, Young Adult Book Reviews|

Review: Federal Prison Handbook by Christopher Zoukis

There is a great deal of literature written about the prison system in the United States, and given that roughly 1 out of every 100 adult Americans will be incarcerated at some point in their lives, it is a subject that deserves attention. However, books written from the perspective of an inmate, about the detailed inner workings of life in prison, are far less common. In Federal Prison Handbook by Christopher Zoukis, no aspect of prison life is overlooked, making this a deeply compelling read for anyone who has ever wanted to learn more about life behind bars.

The book […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2019-02-11T09:50:00+02:00June 8th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Non-Fiction Book Reviews, Prison Book Reviews, Social Science Book Reviews|

Review: Intrinsic by Jerry Collins

★★★★ Intrinsic

Jatara is a powerful and of course, beautiful and magical Kali-like goddess who can destroy men and cities in a moment. Her war of terror spans Ancient Greece, Egypt and the slaves of the Pyramids where her humble beginnings are revealed, to modern-day New York, with her dark magician son Kragon taking on the power of the nastiest demons to conquer all men, despite having a mortal, pregnant girlfriend.

Intrinsic, Book One of a series, follows various uber-evil superbeings through a vast amount of time, mostly following Kragon, a flawed antihero with magic skills who thrives on gore […]

Naka Jackson2017-06-14T06:04:41+02:00June 8th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Fantasy Book Reviews, Time Travel Book Reviews|

Review: Banged-Up Heart: Dancing with Love and Loss by Shirley Melis

★★★★½

Business and travel writer Shirley Melis experiences love and devotion for two amazing men in her life and suffers the loss of both in her poignant memoir Banged-Up Heart: Dancing with Love and Loss.

Honesty is the hallmark of this memoir, a paean to the best of relationships beset by the inevitability of death. Two years after the sudden loss of Joe, a fellow writer, political activist, and her husband of thirty years, Melis arranges to meet an old acquaintance and recent widower for a possible new start. She is urged on by a coterie of old friends. […]

Barbara Scott2019-01-22T11:33:30+02:00June 7th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Memoir Book Reviews, Non-Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: Nannion by Andreas Androutsellis-Theotokis

Everyone loves a cat story, and Nannion by Andreas Androutsellis-Theotokis features the eponymous off-white street cat in a surprising science fiction tale of earth sciences and Greek history. Although not a story for children (Nannion, the cat’s namesake, was in fact a prostitute in Ancient Greece) there is a childlike quality to the narration that makes the cat’s relationship with Claire, a lonely and dying marine biologist working in the Aegean Sea around Athens and the island of Dioptra, cozy reading.

As the book goes on, other characters working in marine sciences come into the story. The team learns about […]

Cate Baum2019-02-11T08:52:05+02:00June 6th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: International Fiction Book Reviews, Science Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: The Will by Benjamin Laskin

★★★★

When Josh McCain’s father dies, all signs point to this young man inheriting a fortune and continuing in his irresponsible, hedonistic and self-serving lifestyle, but his father has other plans in store. In The Will, a unique new novel from Benjamin Laskin, readers are introduced to a stereotypical playboy, with a Bruce Wayne-level of cockiness and untouchability, only to see it stripped away by a clever father with a vision of what his son’s life could be.

In order to secure his inheritance, Josh’s father composed a two-year To-Do List for his son, which will require a complete […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2021-11-29T05:56:38+02:00June 6th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Contemporary Fiction Book Reviews|