Book Reviews | Self-Publishing Review

Review: Fathers House by C. Edward Baldwin ★★★★★

The town of Duraleigh, NC, has had an astonishing turnaround. Once a den of iniquity, with drugs and sex workers on every corner, over a decade of work by county officials and local figures has seen major improvements in every category of crime each year ongoing. Touted as an epitome of what America’s cities can strive for, the movers and shakers of the town have unspoken rules and relationships to maintain their records, and one of them concerns a certain well-renowned home for under-priviledged boys.

“Uncle” Mayo Fathers seems by day to be nothing more than a kindly man concerned […]

James Grimsby2017-03-24T11:09:29+02:00March 16th, 2015|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Thriller Book Reviews|

Review: The Lord of Salamander by T.H. Alexander ★★★★

The Lord of Salamander is the debut novel of author T.H. Alexander and is an exciting fantasy tale for the young adult crowd.

This coming of age story follows the adventures of Elijah Pendleton, a boy with a miserable home life, no backbone, and a host of unfulfilled hopes. He desperately needs to believe that more exists than the abuse of his distasteful aunts. When he first sees a strange cat in the backyard, he can scarcely imagine that its appearance will prove all his wishes to be true. Soon, Elijah is thrust into a new world of wiccans and […]

Dakota Kemp2017-03-24T11:09:15+02:00March 13th, 2015|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Fantasy Book Reviews|

Review: Shattered by the Wars by Hi-Dong Chai ★★★★★

Shattered by the Wars, by Hi-Dong Chai, should be required reading. This powerful coming of age memoir is a story of love, faith, suffering, and sacrifice.

Hi-Dong Chai had to overcome many obstacles in such a short amount of time. During World War II, Korea was under Japan’s control. They imprisoned his father because he was a Christian minister who refused to bow down to the picture of the Japanese emperor. His brother volunteered for the Japanese military in hopes to save his father. During the Korean War, his father was taken away by two North Korean officers. He never […]

T B Markinson2017-03-24T11:09:00+02:00March 12th, 2015|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Memoir Book Reviews, World War II Book Reviews|

Review: City Times and Other Poems by Vihang A. Naik

Vihang Naik Vihang A. Naik is an Indian poet living in Gujarat, with a prolific career in writing and translating poetry from Gujarati language into English, including his own works. His collection of poetry here, City Times and Other Poems will be fascinating to poetry lovers interested in words that explore from the inside, as these philosophical pieces capture their environment in a way that can only be crafted by a native inhabitant of an unusual creative mind many readers may not be so familiar with. However, this collection does not necessarily explore India, but more the human condition and the relation […]

Cate Baum2018-07-24T10:50:56+02:00March 12th, 2015|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Poetry Book Reviews|

Review: Mom On The Road by Allyson Primack ★★★

Mom On The Road, by Allyson Primack, is a humorous look into the life of Maggie Stevens.

When Maggie Stevens turned forty, something unexpected happened. She went on the road as her son’s guardian, who was part of a Broadway show touring America. Maggie doesn’t know what to expect. What she finds is herself.

The most enjoyable aspect of this novel is Maggie. She’s neurotic, insecure, energetic, and entertaining. As she tells her story, she doesn’t hold back, including sharing her experience in a hotel bathroom with a vibrator. The reader is told everything that Maggie thinks and feels. […]

T B Markinson2017-03-24T11:08:41+02:00March 11th, 2015|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Memoir Book Reviews|

Review: The Haunted Trail by John C. Lukegord

The Haunted Trail is the debut horror title by John C Lukegord, telling the tale of a streak of (fictional, or is it?) murders occurring in 1892 along an eponymous “haunted trail” in the backwoods of Dublin, perpetrated by the “crazy” and “inbred” mental patients et al that lurked within. The book covers several of these incidents, along with the actions of the community, a handful of ghosts, and an unfortunate clown. Together, the mystery of the haunted trail begins to unwind, but at what cost?

At first impressions, The Haunted Trail seems to be a a smorgasbord of mismatched […]

James Grimsby2015-04-29T08:19:50+02:00March 5th, 2015|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Horror Book Reviews|

Review: The Flying Burgowski by Gretchen K. Wing ★★★★

The Flying Burgowski The Flying Burgowski by Gretchen K. Wing follows Joss Burgowski as she navigates life as a teenager who’s just turned fourteen, her dysfunctional family living on a small island in Washington, and…learning to fly. The Flying Burgowski is at once a sympathetic family drama and magical fantasy.

Overall, the novel is much more character driven than fantasy, which is one of its issues. Wing is a great writer (not to mention having a great name for a book about flying), but she takes too long with the drama of the book at the expense of the fantasy. There are likely […]

Lysa Grant2015-03-20T05:16:08+02:00March 4th, 2015|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Fantasy Book Reviews, Young Adult Book Reviews|

Review: Stone Walls by A.M. Madden ★ ★ ★★

Stone Walls AM Madden’s latest romantic suspense novel Stone Walls is the story of NYPD cop Ben Stone. When Ben’s best friend and partner Rob’s girlfriend Andrea brings her best friend Ella Parker out to meet him on a foursome, he’s not ready for a serious girlfriend, and neither him nor Ella appreciate the matchmaking. Ella’s just out of a long-term relationship and Ben is having a casual thing that’s getting on his nerves.

Written in the first person, present tense from Ben and Ella’s point of view, this is pretty hardhitting writing: urban, gritty and realistic to the real way men […]

Lysa Grant2015-04-29T08:22:38+02:00March 3rd, 2015|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Romance Book Reviews|