The latest indie book reviews from Self-Publishing Review
Review: What to Do on a Rainy Day by Katie Tavella ★★★★
In the age of smartphones and endless TV, it’s a good reminder […]
Review: Aoleon The Martian Girl – Part 1 – First Contact By Brent LeVasseur ★ ★ ★ ★★
Worries about his parents arguing make it hard for him to sleep, and so he ventures out – only to come face to face with the friendly Aoleon The Martian Girl, who is busying herself with making a crop circle in her flying saucer. As Gilbert makes first contact with […]
Review: Robyn: Family Secrets by Glen R. Stott ★★★★
At first I was left wondering why this book was written. Why the author, as a man […]
Review: Blade’s Edge by Virginia McClain ★ ★ ★ ★★
Blade’s Edge, by Virginia McClain, is an excellent fantasy novel that will keep readers turning the pages.
The Kisōshi are elite warriors with elemental powers. They have ruled and protected the people of Gensokai for over a thousand years. The belief that there are no female Kisōshi is widespread and unquestioned by most. What the people don’t know is that the Rōjū ruling council has gone to great lengths to perpetuate this myth.
Mishi and Taka knew from a young age they were different from other girls. They also knew to keep their powers a secret. When they are […]
Review: Vaporized by Victor Levine ★ ★ ★ ★
Vaporized by Victor Levine follows the exploits of up-and-coming/down-and-out musician Jon Cells who’s looking for his big break in the New York music scene of the early eighties. In the meantime, he’s working at a perfume factory, which is under investigation by the FBI for possible drug connections. John Cell gets caught in between the rivalry between two familes, the Iranian Monsouris and Italian Pecorinos, when all that he wants to do is make music.
What makes Vaporized shine over other rock and roll novels is its authenticity. Jon Cells himself was an actual musician and the record he’s working […]
Review: Packing Parachutes by Robert H. Sarkissian ★ ★ ★
Humor is hard. Pathos is much easier. Show a character being chased by a monster, and if you’re good at your craft, readers will sweat and squirm. Show poor orphaned children dying of hunger, and you may draw tears from your readers even if you aren’t that good. But make a joke, and who knows? A sense of humor is like taste in food. What appeals to one person might repulse another. How do you feel about fried chicken livers? See what I mean? So I always admire an author who writes humor, especially the kind of humor that you’ll […]
Review: Timpanogos by Glen R. Stott ★ ★ ★ ★
Timpanogos by Glen R. Stott is the romantic saga of Randal Anderson, beginning as a young boy in the spring of 1958 as he begins to discover the world of dating and the new boundaries and responsibilities of a young adult.
Raised a Mormon, Randal’s religious life gives him great joy and purpose while creating sparks of friction with his new-found interest – respectful though it may be – in girls. When he meets his first true love in a young Catholic lady named Allyson Crawford, the differences in their backgrounds raise serious questions for Randal as their simple dates […]
Review: Just Pru by Anne Pfeffer ★★★★★
Just Pru, by Anne Pfeffer, is a laugh out loud, heartwarming story about a twenty-five-year-old woman named Prudence Anderson.
Prudence hates her name, and prefers being called Pru. One night, while sitting in her apartment in Los Angeles watching television, a fire erupts in her building and she has to be evacuated. Her apartment is destroyed. She and her cat, Chuck, are suddenly homeless. Pru has two options. Stay with Ellen, a woman who lives in the same building, or go back home to her parents who are controlling. Pru doesn’t know Ellen, but she really doesn’t want to […]