Book Reviews | Self-Publishing Review

Review: Everything I Know About Zombies, I Learned in Kindergarten by Kevin Wayne Williams ★★★★★

Everything I Know About Zombies, I Learned in Kindergarten by Kevin Wayne Williams follows 9-year-old Leticia leading a terrified band of elementary school students through the perils of a zombie apocalypse. As the promo materials make clear: this is emphatically not a book for 9-year-olds. However, for adults, and perhaps young adult readers, it is a stellar addition to the zombie genre, at once page-turning and lyrical.

Without scaring off genre readers, Everything I Know could be classified as a literary novel. Williams is an expert with dialect and the inner city setting. Leticia is a fully-realized protagonist, both mature […]

Review: A Better World by Belangela G. Tarazona

A Better World, by Belangela G. Tarazona, is a difficult, but uplifting, read about three women who have to endure harsh realities.

This is a collection of three novellas. In the first, Saja, flees from Sri Lanka, which is in the midst of a civil war. Most of her family and her husband are lost, leaving her alone when she seeks asylum in Denmark.

The second story focuses on Yonna, a Venezuelan. Her entire family has been murdered by a rival clan and she is captured and raped repeatedly, until the rapists grow tired of her and toss her […]

T B Markinson2015-01-13T04:59:27+02:00January 12th, 2015|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Women's Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: Masque: Choices by Caridad Martin

Billed as a “fresh retelling” of the classic book The Phanton of the Opera by Gaston Leroux, Caridad Martin has tapped into the public domain treasure trove and settled on adding to the overflowing list of Phantom “adaptations” available online.

It’s a given that any book that retells a classic story must be incredibly different from the original in order to be acceptable as a work of the author. With Masque:Choices, it’s hard to really say that this has been achieved with the overall plot as such, but certainly the style and writing itself is lively and entertaining, adding […]

Naka Jackson2015-01-09T02:34:02+02:00January 9th, 2015|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Horror Book Reviews, Romance Book Reviews|

Review: Venus Lionheart: The Witch and The God by Dino Costi

Venus Lionheart: The Witch and The God by Dino Costi is an action-packed Young Adult fantasy novel.

Venus Lionheart isn’t like the other kids in her small sleepy town. At the age of twelve she’s experiencing visions and out-of-body experiences. This troubles her. But when a mysterious man shows up at her house on the last day of school Venus’s life is about to get much more complicated. Galahad tells Venus that she is indeed different. In fact, she’s a witch and there are people who want to harm her.

The hunters are the Grey Men, who are merciless in […]

T B Markinson2015-01-08T07:01:41+02:00January 8th, 2015|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Fantasy Book Reviews, Young Adult Book Reviews|

Review: It’s Like Here Only Better by Robin Landry

It’s Like Here Only Better by Robin Landry is a telling of real events of a lost son whose inspiring messages from the afterlife continue to give his family and friends hope and comfort about his unexpected and devastating fate.

Landry describes how after her son Tim’s premature passing in a tragic traffic accident, he returned to his loved ones in their dreams in time to deliver news of his time on ‘the other side’, and how he continues to watch over those left behind, speaking of other loved ones, and passing advice down to his living associates.

Otherwise unexplainable […]

James Grimsby2015-01-06T08:59:46+02:00January 6th, 2015|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Non-Fiction Book Reviews, Spirituality Book Reviews|

Review: Want by Magus Tor

Want, by Magus Tor, is a Young Adult dystopian pageturner.

Aurelia Cole is only seventeen when the story starts. She’s just finished school and has been hired by Lunar City Hospital as a med worker. She’s bright, kind, scared, and ambitious. When the shuttle she’s on is attacked, her entire life changes. Nicholas, a Clone she met hours before the attack, rescues Jonathon Hansen, who many think will be the next Earth Empire President. Aurelia is torn between Nicholas and Jonathon. Who can she trust and who should she believe. When the Resistance movement approaches Aurelia she has to […]

T B Markinson2019-01-21T09:39:48+02:00January 6th, 2015|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Dystopian Fiction Book Reviews, Young Adult Book Reviews|

Review: Cicero’s Dead by Patrick H. Moore

Cicero’s Dead by Patrick H. Moore is hard-boiled Noir at its finest. The book introduces private investigator Nick Crane, who’s investigating the death of drug kingpin Cicero, a victim of a hit and run. His vixen-like daughter, Jade is searching for her brother, Richard, who’s now missing. The case leads Nick Crane to the bowels of crimeridden Los Angeles and face to face with outlaw biker gangs, Hollywood cast-offs, seamy lawyers, and a host of other offbeat characters from L.A’s underbelly.

A Noir thriller needs to have a solid protagonist, and Nick Crane is a very fine addition to the […]

Henry Baum2014-12-29T09:53:53+02:00December 29th, 2014|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Crime Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: Boysie Blake: Problem Solver by Max Myers

Boysie Blake: Problem Solver by Max Myers introduces fix-it man Boysie Blake, a complicated man with a tragic past who isn’t in it for the money. He’s a bit like a way tougher Batman without the gadgets. An amateur boxer, bar owner and general bad-ass, Boysie Blake will help deserving people in need. In Boysie Blake’s first book (this is Volume 1), he has to uncover the mystery of a counterfeit Jackson Pollack painting (hence the cover, which doesn’t really scream out “crime fiction”). The art deal gone bad takes him to power brokers in Los Angeles, the Vatican and […]

Henry Baum2014-12-29T09:07:44+02:00December 29th, 2014|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Crime Fiction Book Reviews|