Book Reviews | Self-Publishing Review

Review: Olga by Ted Kelsey ★★★★★

Olga, written by Ted Kelsey and illustrated by Dillon Samuelson, is an exciting novel for children that will captivate readers of all ages.

Jack and Sally are typical twelve-year-olds who experience the most extraordinary journey when they see a strange figure dancing in a dark field near their homes. They decide to investigate, and are whisked away to a mysterious cloud castle where they discover unfriendly giants who are plotting to invade Jack’s and Sally’s world. Can they escape from the giants and stop their nefarious plan?

Ted Kelsey has done a marvelous job crafting a story that will […]

Review: A Bed of Barley Straw by Sam Russell ★★★★

barley A Bed of Barley Straw: Volume 1 of the Draymere Hall Series, by Sam Russell, delves into her characters’ minds exposing their innermost thoughts, fears, and desires.

Hettie Redfern tends the stables of Lord Melton’s English estate. A traumatic relationship left her scarred and mistrustful of men.

Alexander Melton, the middle brother, returns home after serving in Afghanistan. His rocky relationship with his mother has turned him into a mistrustful and jealous man.

When their worlds collide, there are sparks. But will it lead to romance or destruction?

Alexander is a tough nut to crack, and even harder to […]

T B Markinson2015-08-18T06:30:32+02:00July 30th, 2015|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Romance Book Reviews|

Review: She’s All Caught Up by Jamila T. Davis ★★★★★

Jamila This memoir of a childhood and young-adult life spent advancing inexorably toward disaster was written from federal prison. Jamila Davis is currently serving a 151-month sentence for bank fraud. This memoir serves as both cautionary tale (for young people as well as their parents) and sociological profile. The cautionary tale is powerful, the sociological profile perplexing.

After an exciting opening that shows what is to come, the book is an extended flashback of Davis’s childhood, even giving some background on her parents’ origins. The book is well-written and engaging. Davis is a spunky and charming child, and her family is […]

Avery Hurt2019-01-22T18:25:10+02:00July 30th, 2015|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Memoir Book Reviews, Non-Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: Finally, For Me by Roseanne Burke ★★★★

Finally, For Me, by Roseanne Burke, is the smoking hot start to the Finally Book Duo series.

Lacey Singer has uprooted her life after college and moved away from her family to live with her boyfriend. There’s one problem. Her boyfriend isn’t nice and is controlling.

Ben Anderson, a young and successful lawyer, is dating a woman his parents approve of. Yet he isn’t happy. His girlfriend gives him an ultimatum: she wants an engagement ring or she’s walking. Ben doesn’t know what to do.

Then Ben meets Lacey and sparks fly. Can they be just friends? Or are […]

T B Markinson2015-08-11T04:36:28+02:00July 30th, 2015|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Romance Book Reviews|

Review: A Draemorian Chronicle: The Western World (Fated Book 1) by Sebastien Leonard ★★★★

A Draemorian Chronicle: The Western World (Fated Book 1) by Sebastien Leonard In the beginning, there was a tribe of nomads that took only what they needed and lived as one with the world. As time grew, the tribe became the tribes, and the tribes’ three wisest argued the nature of things: one argued light was the true creator, one argued dark, and one argued both were unreasonable and would only believe in what could be proved. They split the tribes into factions and distanced each other to far corners, leaving the undecided to rot in the fields.

To each group of believers, something new emerged: light earned the dominance of angels, […]

James Grimsby2015-07-27T08:32:29+02:00July 27th, 2015|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Fantasy Book Reviews|

Review: Death by Romance by Anne Kennison ★★★★★

Death by Romance, by Anne Kennison, is a clever whodunit that’ll keep you turning the pages frantically to uncover the murderer.

The night Gordon Taylor, a prominent businessman and philanthropist, is murdered changes the lives of many people. Detective Ryan Hamlin is about to retire from the force when he’s handed this high-profile case. Gordon’s wife is devastated by his death. To complicate matters, Gordon’s company was about to go public, which would have made many of his associates rich.

At first, there are no leads in the case. A chance conversation months later uncovers a long list of […]

T B Markinson2015-08-10T08:23:04+02:00July 27th, 2015|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Crime Fiction Book Reviews, Mystery Book Reviews|

Review: Major Frog by J. Albert Griffiths ★★★★

Major Frog, by J. Albert Griffiths, whisks readers back in time to the Vietnam War.

Charlie Albright had a short stint in the air force when he was younger. He’s older now, but is he wiser? He signs on to an Army contract and ends up in Vietnam during the war.

Two North Vietnamese sisters are secretly employed by the enemy. Both enter Charlie’s life and entangle the American into their nefarious schemes.

Charlie, a good guy who understands the shades of gray, knows the Army CID and local police are watching. That doesn’t stop him from entering dangerous territory […]

T B Markinson2015-11-19T05:34:42+02:00July 24th, 2015|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Action and Adventure Book Reviews, Historical Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: The Outworlds: War Torrent by Daniel P. Douglas ★★★★

Set in an alternate time-line of the 24th century, humanity’s reach has extended far beyond Earth, into the deep recesses of space in search of resources, colonization, and the hope of extra-terrestrial intelligent life. Unexpectedly, all three are achieved, to some extent. On the fringe of colonization, a world is discovered with the first recorded alien settlement, known as Mokisia. Research shows that it was at one point populated by a complex reptilian race known as the Angorgal. While apparently long-extinct, signs point to these creatures having made contact with Earth long ago, to unknown ends.