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Book Reviews

The latest indie book reviews from Self-Publishing Review

Review: Grady Whill and the Templeton Codex by Carole P. Roman

Grady Whill and the Templeton Codex by Carole P. Roman

Heartfelt and uniquely heroic, Grady Whill and the Templeton Codex by Carole P. Roman is an electrifying opening chapter to a new superhero series. An average kid lands an impossible spot at the most exclusive high school in the world, and must overcome his own self-doubt, recognize his powers, and seize his birthright.

Fueled by the same YA fervor as Harry Potter, this superhuman high school series deals with the supernatural and superhuman, but also explores the deeply relatable issues of growing up feeling different. Regularly challenging the boundary between reality and fantasy, from the prologue onwards, this is […]

2022-08-16T18:04:22+02:00August 16th, 2022|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: , |
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Review: The Reject Bench by James H. Morgan

James H. Morgan pulls back the curtain on his own high school experiences during the early 1960s in his The Reject Bench, a sensitive, authentic, and eye-opening look back. Celebrating the uncertainty of youth, and acknowledging the weight of adulthood, this is a nostalgic and vulnerable read.

Setting the internal tensions of normal teenagers against the external stress of the early 1960s, this six-year memoir is an impressive glimpse into the past, imbued with the honesty of autobiography. From playing catch with his friends and chauffeuring the family to church to SoCal free thinking and the assassination of JFK, […]

2022-09-15T11:31:44+02:00August 15th, 2022|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: |
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Review: A Rakista’s 90s Mixtapes by Danna Rose

A Rakista's 90s Mixtapes by Danna Rose

Author Danna Rose delivers a spot-on dive into the struggle of teenage life in the Philippines with her first novel, A Rakista’s 90s Mixtapes. What begins as a youthful fling of garage band aspirations becomes the real deal, with real consequences, record deals, broken hearts, and a surprising number of dramatic twists.

Evie is like many other protagonists of heartfelt coming-of-age novels, but also incredibly unique, accurately referenced as an “odd boy.” The foundational loss of her father shapes her character in countless ways, most obviously her obsession with all things related to music. How that love and loss are […]

2022-09-14T18:00:38+02:00August 5th, 2022|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: , |
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Review: A Disturbing Nature by Brian Lebeau

A Disturbing Nature by Brian Lebeau

A deep, character-driven mystery, A Disturbing Nature by Brian LeBeau is a patient maze of a novel, leading readers on a grim journey through suspicion, murder, and obsession.

Mo is a quiet and mysterious young man with a mind that never caught up to his impressive size, and a lifetime of taunts and tragedies that never leave him. Even as he starts a new chapter at Bryant College as a groundskeeper, where for the first time “independence is not equated with exile,” the jagged pieces of his past are impossible to leave behind. Unfortunately, new surroundings don’t mean an end […]

2022-08-05T05:38:04+02:00August 4th, 2022|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: , |
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Review: Dreamslayers by J.W. Webb

Dreamslayers by J.W. Webb

J.W. Webb weaves a masterful standalone fantasy with Dreamslayers, the newest installment in the expansive Legends of Ansu series. Spinning the worlds of two master warriors into a deadly orbit, this story immerses readers in an unstable world of magic, ever-changing allegiances, power struggles, and the mystical pull of destiny.

When Tulomon Caze suddenly reappears in his daughter’s life, desperate and damaged, the pair must go into hiding from a host of sinister enemies. The powerful Yanturi has eradicated their family and seized their land and possessions. This deadly coup is only the beginning, as there are other powers […]

2022-08-01T05:24:46+02:00August 1st, 2022|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: |
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Review: The Mime by Tommy Tutalo

The Mime by Tommy Tutalo

The Mime by Tommy Tutalo is a fantastical middle-grade story about finding the power in your voice.

Eleven-year-old Florina is a neurodiverse girl living in Mexico, who will not speak, as she struggles to find a place in the ordinary world while taking refuge in her own wonderfully imagined one she draws in her precious sketchbook. With exquisitely inked illustrations by Mexican artist María Gabriela Guevara Sánchez showing young readers Florina’s adventures throughout, Tutalo has created an appealing narrative with fully imagined characters and motivations.

Florina lives in Oaxaca with her guardians the Mochados, who own the ramshackle Indigo theater, […]

2022-09-13T11:53:33+02:00July 22nd, 2022|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: , |
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Review: 2048: Demockracy (The Covid Chronicles) by Peter Moore

Demockracy (The Covid Chronicles) by Peter Moore

Author Peter Moore launches an entertaining series of standalone novels set three decades in the future with 2048: Demockracy, the starting point of The Covid Chronicles.

A conservative-leaning commentary on the cancel culture of today, and the slippery slope that progressive ideals can stumble down, this novel is written in the spirit of Orwell’s 1984 with caustic wit and a colorful cast of characters with names that summon visions of England’s past. In this iteration, however, Big Brother has been replaced by Mother, a character depicted as being drunk on their own “wokeness,” power, and societal control.

In this […]

2022-09-12T17:01:30+02:00July 13th, 2022|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: |
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Review: Brass (The Covid Chronicles) by Peter Moore

Brass (The Covid Chronicles) by Peter Moore

Steeped in steamy scenes and dynamic relationships, Brass is a wildly original novel from Peter Moore, the second part of his standalone series, The Covid Chronicles.

Delphine is the captivating protagonist of this steamy read – a fearless femme of the nocturnal economy, raking in duffel bags of dosh for her high-end erotic services. She keeps her income steady and her heart safe by avoiding emotional connection with her clients, but that begins to change when an Adonis-like footballer buys his way into her bed. He invites her to spend a week in Portugal on a pleasure cruise, to […]

2022-09-09T09:08:03+02:00July 13th, 2022|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: |
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