Book Reviews | Self-Publishing Review

Review: To Never Know by Thomas Duffy

★★★★ To Never Know by Thomas Duffy

It is a curse of memory and recollection that human beings are able to ask themselves, “What If?” For some, this question can be a harmless gateway to nostalgia, while for others, this perfectly natural musing is paralyzing, haunting and life-changing. In To Never Know, author Thomas Duffy initially presents the bleak portrait of a life never fully lived, due to the perennial longing of the main character, Steven. This isn’t a story about the “one who got away,” but rather the “one who he never even took a shot with,” which overwhelms him with uncertainty and the […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2020-02-12T10:01:46+02:00November 3rd, 2016|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Contemporary Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: Goodbye, Rudy Kazoody by A.A. Freda

★★★★½

Growing up as a teenager in a big city is hard for the youth of any generation, but being an immigrant from Italy growing up on the mean streets of New York City in the 1960s was a bigger challenge than most. In Goodbye, Rudy Kazoody, author A.A. Freda gives us a picture of his own life as an immigrant in the Bronx from that historic time period. This semi-autobiographical tale is strikingly heartfelt and has the ring of deep truth, which makes it difficult to put down.

Joey is an innocent kid trying to make his way […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2019-01-22T04:36:41+02:00November 2nd, 2016|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Men's Fiction Book Reviews, Young Adult Book Reviews|

Review: A Killing Too Close to Home by Karen Berg-Raftakis

With a sassy, case-cracking heroine in the form of Arianna Archer, A Killing Too Close to Home is an amusing and suspenseful mystery. Bored from a long break between cases, Arianna is a new consultant for the Meadowville Police Department and eager to sink her teeth into a new case, but what she doesn’t expect is for one of her closest friends to be the next murder victim. This emotional case is fast-paced, like the majority of the prose, and it is important to pay attention to the details, because Berg-Raftakis includes plenty of red herrings and classic tricks of […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2019-02-11T09:09:15+02:00November 2nd, 2016|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Mystery Book Reviews|

Review: Biological Youth by Todd Ewing, Ph.D.

In Biological Youth, the first book of the Total Recovery series, author Todd Ewing, Ph.D. introduces readers to his unique approach for improving overall health. While many health books focus on the dual nature of health – body and mind, diet and exercise, etc. – this book takes those classifications one step further. It combines a wide variety of approaches to fitness, such as the Paleo Diet and other fads/beliefs. The book doesn’t recommend a specific method of becoming healthy, but rather outlines a comprehensive overview of what people should consider with every decision they make regarding fitness.

The […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2020-02-21T06:37:08+02:00November 2nd, 2016|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Health Book Reviews|

Review: Cat Born to the Purple (Yeshua’s Cats Book 4) by C.L. Francisco

Although biblical tales and religious history have been retold many times and in many forms, there are few depictions as unique and insightful as the books written by C.L. Francisco. Cat Born to the Purple is the 4th installment of the series, in which the lives of Jesus of Nazareth, Mary Magdalene, Paul, and other historical/ancient figures are shown through the eyes of cats. While the premise initially sounds strange, the concept works, evidenced by the praise for her earlier books.

In this most recent sequel, readers are introduced to Eliana, a young woman who has been brutally treated by […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2019-02-11T09:14:29+02:00October 27th, 2016|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Religious Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: Tomorrow We Die by E.R. Raabe

Tomorrow We Die by E.R. Raabe

In this strange and troubling land, all young men are doomed to turn into dogs and die before they can reach the age of thirty. The curse leaves many with no hope for a future, either hoping for something great at a young age, or simply accepting an empty existence.

Seventeen-year-old Hippolyte Falcor is one such young man, caught up in a life of crime and escaped convictions. When he and his pack of fellows pick the wrong pocket, Hippolyte ends up in the mercy of the law, shackled to bodyguard duty for one Alex mac Fauks. But Alex offers […]

James Grimsby2019-02-11T08:42:44+02:00October 13th, 2016|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Dystopian Fiction Book Reviews, Young Adult Book Reviews|

Review: Explosive Decompression by John L. Sheppard

★★★★ Explosive Decompression by John Sheppard

Explosive Decompression by John L. Sheppard is an intense, wry and wonderfully written novel.

From the very start of Explosive Decompression, author John Sheppard welcomes readers into a fantastical new world, hundreds of years into the future, and proposes a unique premise – a dystopian Earth that has experienced and persevered past the Great Collapse, a period of nuclear war, environmental disaster and global chaos. Canada, an unlikely national hero, has become one of the strongholds of humanity, and has now extended into what was once the United States of America, ravaged by soaring sea levels and rimmed […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2016-11-15T06:14:30+02:00October 13th, 2016|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Science Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: Bridget’s Hanging by Sheila Duane

Bridget’s Hanging by Sheila Duane

Bridget’s Hanging by Sheila Duane is the author’s presentation of the historical account of the life and times of Bridget Deignan (a.k.a. Durgan or Dergan) who was sentenced to hang in the town of New Brunswick, New Jersey in 1867. An Irish immigrant from a Catholic upbringing ousted from her home at the age of 22, she became a domestic worker for Coriell in 1866, and she would be charged with the murder of Mrs. Coriell the following year – a crime of which the local community would unerringly find her at guilt for, with or without substantial evidence.

The […]

James Grimsby2019-02-11T09:32:47+02:00October 11th, 2016|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: History Book Reviews|