Book Reviews | Self-Publishing Review

Review: The House on Tyner by Matthew O’Connell

The House on Tyner by Matthew O'Connell

Eerie, surprising, and profoundly emotional, The House on Tyner by Matthew O’Connell is a beautifully written ghost story with the structure of a mystery, plunging the reader into the snowy atmosphere of Nevada’s winters, and into the chilling outcomes of a murder case that challenges the reader’s sense of the rational.

Since losing his wife and children and quitting his baseball career, Jackson retrained as a chef and decided to pursue what once had been his wife’s dream – to leave Napa Valley and open a restaurant on Lake Tahoe. Looking for properties to rent nearby, Jackson stumbles across the […]

Marina Dora Martino2023-06-21T12:22:39+02:00April 6th, 2023|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Paranormal Book Reviews|

Review: The Surreal Adventures of Anthony Zen by Cameron A. Straughan

The Surreal Adventures of Anthony Zen by Cameron A. Straughan

Taking readers beyond the pale of comedy, decency, and reality itself, author Cameron A. Straughan delivers a gobsmacking adventure of weird whimsy with The Surreal Adventures of Anthony Zen. Following the banal yet brain-boggling events of one man’s larger-than-life existence, this collection of loosely-linked vignettes bends the limits of normality in an outlandish spree of storytelling.

The bizarre nature of the world that Straughan has created transcends the lines of farce in some ways, but there is always some strange sliver of reality that draws readers back. The idea of colleagues growing accustomed to Anthony forgetting to wear pants, […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2023-06-06T16:38:10+02:00April 6th, 2023|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Fantasy Book Reviews, Humor|

Review: Jetsam by Tracy Grogan

Jetsam by Tracy Grogan

Death-defying drama and an intimate character portrait make Jetsam by Tracy Grogan an addictive thrill for fans of the Divemaster Ricky series.

Leaving behind trauma and a shocking loss in North Africa, Ricky is eager to start a new job thousands of miles away, and turn a page in her unpredictable life. A three-month break on a luxury yacht seems like a dream job – an impressive salary and a string of cushy dives should be the perfect salve for her aching soul, but peace is not on the ship’s manifest.

As the scope and true expectations of her employment […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2023-05-12T13:51:31+02:00April 5th, 2023|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Thriller Book Reviews|

Review: Sometimes You Just Know by Bill VanPatten

Sometimes You Just Know by Bill VanPatten

Sometimes You Just Know by Bill VanPatten is a tender, warmhearted work of LGBT romance that is unafraid to tackle challenging questions or pack emotional punches. With its closely observed realism, sensitively drawn characters, and highly believable dialogue, this is a beautifully naturalistic story of love and loss, which is in turns funny, surprising, and heartrending.

As the title suggests, the big theme of the novel is that of intuition, the strange way one can know something without consciously knowing the reason why. The novel is a careful examination of this idea in respect to love, death, and family – […]

Marina Dora Martino2023-05-11T12:34:12+02:00April 5th, 2023|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: LGBTQI+ Book Reviews, Romance Book Reviews|

Review: Prince of Blue Flowers by Ryu Zhong

Prince of Blue Flowers by Ryu Zhong

The roots of evil run deep in Prince of Blue Flowers by Ryu Zhong, a sprawling and fantastic opening chapter to the Adventures of Takuan from Koto series.

Demons, gods, emperors, and fatal negotiations with otherworldly beings populate these pages in a relentless weaving of magic, legend, and indigenous folklore. At the same time, the focal characters are unassuming and simple heroes on their own journeys of self-discovery. Whether it is Ta-Guan’s bizarre capers while hunting down the sun, or Hatsukoi pilfering melons, pranking blacksmiths, or artfully acquiring a governor’s horse, there is a childish pleasure imbuing nearly all the […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2023-05-09T10:02:09+02:00April 4th, 2023|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Fantasy Book Reviews|

Review: Univirtual by Charles O’Donnell

Univirtual by Charles O'Donnell

More than 50 years in the future, the integration of technology, biology, and psychology reaches a fever pitch in Univirtual by Charles O’Donnell, a prescient and thought-provoking work of science fiction.

The division between real life and virtual reality has practically disappeared in this tech-obsessed world of tomorrow, but when the leaders of the Millennium Republic attempt to blur that line even further, unexpected heroes will rise to defend their humanity, and reality itself. Thematically, this novel is rife with details for tech enthusiasts to dive into, not to mention political junkies, and fans of dystopian fiction.

On the University […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2023-05-04T11:25:47+02:00April 3rd, 2023|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Dystopian Fiction Book Reviews, Science Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: Project Manager’s Handbook by Valentyn Bannikov

Project Manager's Handbook by Valentyn Bannikov

A matter-of-fact breakdown of a complex, dynamic, and essential position, Project Manager’s Handbook: Walkthrough for Beginners by Valentyn Bannikov is a comprehensive guide with an original lens.

Beginning with the most basic definition of a project and scaling up the discussion to the innumerable nuances of running an effective project team, this book is intuitively structured and designed for all levels of experience. Even the simplest concepts are illuminated with a fresh rhetorical perspective, from the unique aspects that define a project, versus a basic act of production, to new frameworks for conceptualizing scope, time, and cost for individual situations.[…]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2023-04-18T14:48:40+02:00March 30th, 2023|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Business Book Reviews|

Review: Scar Songs by W. Royce Adams

Scar Songs by W. Royce Adams

Exploring the complex and commonly overlooked emotional experiences of men, Scar Songs by W. Royce Adams is a bold and unabashed collection of stories that looks at fraternal friendship, along with grief, growth, love, and purpose.

These vignettes are candid glimpses into the lives of ordinary people, in large part, but they reveal that even the most forgettable interactions can have long-lasting impacts and echoes. Using an impressive economy of language, Adams captures the psyche and struggles of each story’s protagonist with a compelling rawness.

In “Thief Catcher,” a young man must pit his sense of duty and need for […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2023-03-29T10:55:32+02:00March 28th, 2023|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Short Stories Book Reviews|