Book Reviews | Self-Publishing Review

Review: Hunted by LaBrie James

Hunted by LaBrie James

Author LaBrie James plunges readers into a tangled nightmare in her gripping debut novel, Hunted, a character-driven dive into dark family drama and deadly small-town secrets.

Stalked by a vengeful shadow, one with a face eerily resembling the chief of police, Lennox Rose is slowly recovering from a gunshot wound sustained during a horrific attack, but that brutal night in the snow is only the beginning. After watching her best friend violated and killed, Lennox is shattered both physically and mentally, and has to somehow find a way to rebuild herself.

Finn Holland is the young officer assigned to […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2022-09-30T09:44:47+02:00September 22nd, 2022|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Thriller Book Reviews|

Review: The Happy Valley by Benjamin Harnett

The Happy Valley by Benjamin Harnett

The Happy Valley by Benjamin Harnett is an innovative and genre-bending work that reveals startling truths about an idyllic rural community in upstate New York.

Separated into two parts – “The Farm” and “The Key” – an unnamed narrator embarks on a journey to find June, his ex-lover who has disappeared. Moving back and forth between the historical and more recent pasts (the 1800s, the 1990s) and a futuristic present (2036 and beyond), the novel is part historical novel, part science/speculative fiction, and part self-reflexive meta-fiction.

In “The Farm,” our narrator recalls junior high, where he first met and fell […]

SPR2022-10-17T16:01:09+02:00September 19th, 2022|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Speculative Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: Lady Garland Tames Her Dragons and Brings Peace to the Kingdom by Jane Garland

Lady Garland Tames her Dragons and Brings Peace to the Kingdom by Jane Garland

Author Jane Garland welcomes readers into the messy realm of her life in Lady Garland Tames Her Dragons and Brings Peace to the Kingdom, a clever, heartfelt, and deeply revealing memoir. Though pitched as a fairy tale for adults, this metaphor-laden memoir is playful and nakedly honest, but also academically appealing and philosophically rich. Garland can recount a painful anecdote in one breath, and then impartially dissect her relevant reactions and emotions in the next.

As the title implies, Garland has had a great many battles in her past, and now having found something akin to peace, she has […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2022-10-12T11:18:16+02:00September 19th, 2022|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Memoir Book Reviews|

Review: The Eagle That Drank Hummingbird Nectar by Aneace Haddad

The Eagle That Drank Hummingbird Nectar by Aneace Haddad

Reading like a long-form parable for business professionals, The Eagle That Drank Hummingbird Nectar by Aneace Haddad is like no other book in its genre. Blurring the line between fiction, allegory, and self-help, this masterfully penned book probes into the stagnation that can strike anyone, from any life path, and then gently nudges readers into revelation.

Aidan Perez had risen to the top of his industry, achieving the coveted position of CEO, but after his personal life collapsed in tragedy, it radically changed his perspective on wealth and the pursuit of happiness. With his daughter in Singapore and looming loneliness […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2022-09-29T15:49:20+02:00September 16th, 2022|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Business Book Reviews, Self-Help Book Reviews|

Review: The Devil You Knew by Mike Cobb

The Devil You Knew by Mike Cobb

Mike Cobb unravels a sinister, masterfully penned drama in The Devil You Knew. Summoning demons of the past still haunting America today, this period mystery jabs at the most painful nerves of culture and history.

The tone is grimly set in the opening chapters – the deep South of the 1960s, where religion and bigotry reign over a land already scarred by so much sin. When young girls begin disappearing, and then turning up dead, the small community at the heart of this novel is shaken to its core. Billy Tarwater would rather doodle in the hymnal than make […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2022-10-10T16:54:06+02:00September 15th, 2022|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Historical Fiction Book Reviews, Thriller Book Reviews|

Review: Earth: The Next Trillion Years by Marcy Mekleerer

Earth: The Next Trillion Years by Marcy Mekleerer

A philosophical and narrative exploration of everything from computer science and genetic mutation to sentience and morality, Earth: The Next Trillion Years by Marcy Mekleerer is an ambitious, thought-provoking, and eye-opening work of visionary science fiction.

Near the end of the 21st century, an alien life form from Alpha Centauri lands in the Brazilian jungle and begins its deadly spread – mindlessly consuming everything in its path as the world numbly watches. Dr. Kacela, the first on the scene of this extraterrestrial invasion, must set her formidable skills in biomolecular and genetic engineering to the test, even as humanity begins […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2022-10-10T11:32:52+02:00September 15th, 2022|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Science Fiction Book Reviews, Visionary Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: Brian, Created Intelligence by AJ Pagan IV

Brian, Created Intelligence by AJ Pagan IV

Asking hard questions about consciousness and playing out the dangers of synthetic life, Brian, Created Intelligence by AJ Pagan IV is a smart and thrilling novel about a not-too-distant world.

When Ellie Parsons is tasked with growing the perfect brain of a genius, her ambitious dreams come true, and with the help of a gifted team, Brian is born. This super-brain is much more than a piece of future tech; fundamentally, it is the greatest tool humanity has ever created – but he could also be turned into an unstoppable weapon. When that threat becomes too real, and outside forces […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2022-10-04T12:19:00+02:00September 15th, 2022|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Science Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: Suspected Hippie in Transit by Martin Frumkin

Suspected Hippie in Transit by Martin Frumkin

Detailing two months-long journeys across the Middle East and Asia, Suspected Hippie in Transit: Sex, Drugs, Rock ‘n’ Roll and the Search for Higher Consciousness on the International Trail, 1971-1977 (Vol 1) by Martin Frumkin is an eye-opening wander through exotic ideas, people, and experiences in beautiful corners of the world.

Beginning in India and moving west through Nepal and northern Afghanistan, some of the most riveting scenes (and images) come from Frumkin’s time in Kabul, Kandahar, and Herat, though these sections are rather brief, in comparison to his second journey, which began in 1975. In that more extended part […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2022-10-03T12:42:10+02:00September 14th, 2022|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Memoir Book Reviews, Travel Book Reviews|