Book Reviews | Self-Publishing Review

Review: The Shoes Come First by Janet Leigh

★★★★½

The Shoes Come First: A Jennifer Cloud Novel, by Janet Leigh, is a lighthearted and laugh out loud historical fantasy and romance.

In Sunnyside, Texas, Jennifer Cloud has the perfect job as assistant purchasing manager for an upscale shoe store. When her boss is arrested, Jennifer’s world comes crashing down. She ends up working for her brother in his chiropractic office. Jennifer feels like she’s the only one in her life who doesn’t have ambition.

An unexpected birthday gift opens up a whole new world for Jennifer. This gift allows her to travel in time and during her […]

Review: Afterlife by Tim Gurung ★★★★

Afterlife Afterlife by Tim Gurung follows Enos Bronte as he travels through the hereafter meeting many challenges along the way. He battles loneliness, isolation, barren landscapes, trapped souls, and other dark and disturbing visions as he attempts to navigate this difficult wilderness. Ultimately, the journey is worth it. Enos hasn’t been trapped in hell, he must fight his way through this otherwordly landscape to reach safety and redemption.

This is not a traditional view of the afterlife, and it’s more a reflection of Eastern mysticism than Western depictions of heaven and hell. At the same time, Gurung covers most of the […]

Henry Baum2017-03-24T10:24:29+02:00June 22nd, 2015|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Literary Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: Harebrained by Meg Myers Morgan

Harebrained

Harebrained: It seemed a good idea at the time is a delightfully humorous collection of essays by Meg Myers Morgan. The essays cover many aspects of motherhood, good and bad jobs, education (her own and her kids’), higher education, becoming a writer, and many more topics in spirited and engaging prose. There is also a three-act play thrown into the mix.

In a way, the collection seems like the essay version of the popular blog, “Hyperbole and a Half,” including a similar brand of irreverent wit and self-deprecation. This is high praise, rather than suggesting that its derivative of someone […]

Lysa Grant2019-02-11T09:25:35+02:00June 17th, 2015|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Essay Book Reviews, Non-Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: Human by Den Holson ★★★★

In a time somewhere after 1952, and a place often known as Dundee, a man concludes the search for his mother’s grave, failing to find any remnant of a true piece of her being in her headstone and final remains, and thus giving up on his life-long quest. Rather than being the final conclusion to a wider tale, this event is at best a mid-point.

With his father’s spirit in his ear, and his mother’s photo as phone wallpaper, the narrator continues an introspective journey of the nature of truth, humanity, being, and a few other more interesting things, maybe. […]

James Grimsby2019-01-22T15:46:02+02:00June 17th, 2015|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Contemporary Fiction Book Reviews, Men's Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: Murder Over Kodiak by Robin Barefield ★★★★

Murder Over Kodiak, by Robin Barefield, is a clever Alaskan-set mystery that will keep readers guessing until the final pages.

Research biologist Jane Marcus has a bad feeling when the floatplane she’s waiting for is late. On the plane is her young research assistant. The weather is perfect and Jane is familiar with the charter company. While Jane hopes there’s a good reason for the delay she fears the worst.

And indeed the worst has happened. A bomb has exploded on the plane she’s waiting for, and there are little remains left of the pilot and five passengers. Why […]

T B Markinson2017-03-24T10:29:21+02:00June 17th, 2015|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Mystery Book Reviews|

Review: Conversations and Adventures by Simone Diston ★★★★

Conversations and Adventures Conversations and Adventures by Simone Diston is a spirited and engaging collection of true-to-life stories about meeting different people in a city and starting conversations out of the blue. Everyone she meets on her travels is asking big questions about life, with obstacles in their lives to overcome. Together they reach new insights into big questions about the human condition, such as equality or identity, and smaller issues as well, such as dating.

The premise is a good one: it’s a bit like a road movie, only Diston’s protagonist stays in the same city and meets new people in her […]

Lysa Grant2015-06-22T10:22:31+02:00June 15th, 2015|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Women's Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: The SHIVA Syndrome by Alan Joshua ★★★★★

The SHIVA Syndrome by Alan Joshua Beau Walker is a man of unusual interests. When he’s not teaching at his local college, he enjoys rowing, he takes part in meditation, and he sometimes reads the odd paper on morphic fields, biotelekinesis, and remote genetic reorganization, something he has yet to give up on from his glory days of private research and the Air Force Research Institute. He’s also – reluctantly – an empath, making things difficult when ethics clashes with a lucrative government-funded research position.

Left in a post-dismissal career meltdown following a moral concern, things could hardly be worse for Walker, until he is unceremoniously […]

James Grimsby2017-03-24T10:29:44+02:00June 9th, 2015|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Science Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: High Road: Chasing the Yellow Jersey by David Chauner

★★★★½ High Road: Chasing the Yellow Jersey

High Road: Chasing the Yellow Jersey, by David Chauner, will make your heart race.

Kurt Dufour grew up in a world of wealth and privilege. Adulthood hits him hard when at the age of nineteen he’s accused of murder. Just when he thinks his reputation is permanently smeared by the accusation and trial, he receives a second chance. He joins Otto Warner’s American cycling team. Five years later he’s competing in the Tour de France against five-time champion, Jacques Poulain. Can Kurt overcome the obstacles and win?

Professional sports have a way of igniting passion in fans and […]

T B Markinson2017-03-24T10:30:18+02:00June 8th, 2015|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Contemporary Fiction Book Reviews, Sports Book Reviews|