Book Reviews | Self-Publishing Review

Review: Shattered Treasure by Cindy Patterson

Shattered Treasure by Cindy Patterson

Betrayal and misunderstandings stoke the embers in Shattered Treasure, a superbly written Christian romance by Cindy Patterson.

On the day of her deceased twin’s birthday, a depressed Addison Morgan reluctantly agrees to meet her two-timing boyfriend at a party after school, but when she arrives, she’s just in time to see him coming out of a bedroom with another girl before stopping to kiss her. Mortified at her naiveté for trusting him, Addison runs to her car and takes off, only to black out behind the wheel a few minutes later.

When she comes to, she’s heartbroken to learn […]

Review: A Dream Come True by Andrew Ramz

A Dream Come True by Andrew Ramz

A Dream Come True is a work of inspirational fiction by Andrew Ramz that shows how something really small, wrought from one person’s love, has the power to become viral.

Nine-year-old Jaeden Phillips had neuroblastoma as a baby but was able to make a full recovery. Now, he’s back in the hospital with a lump in his stomach and he’s not feeling all that great. Even with all his relatives visiting him, and his mom and dad always there, things are not the same as being at home and being with his friends.

The only thing that gives him more […]

Marta Cheng2020-03-12T10:32:48+02:00February 17th, 2020|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Contemporary Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: Degrade (Tesla Expansion Book 1) by Mark Lingane

Degrade (Tesla Expansion Book 1) by Mark Lingane

Across the brutal landscape of a nearly parched Earth, MechRigs and MechCities vie for dominance in Degrade, the first book in the Tesla Expansion series by Mark Lingane. In a world where mobile cities wage desperate war like futuristic monsters, one young boy may hold the key to salvation – or destruction.

Arid Geiger is the seemingly hapless hero embedded at the heart of this story. While minding his own business in the blasted plains, searching for sources of precious water, he gets his small craft embroiled in a rig duel between two powerful factions. Miraculously, he manages to […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2022-04-28T07:32:35+02:00February 16th, 2020|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Science Fiction Book Reviews, Young Adult Book Reviews|

Review: Mother Stella by Ryan Baxter

Mother Stella by Ryan Baxter

A spiritual guide known as Mother Stella is the fascinating focus of Ryan Baxter’s thoughtful examination of her life and legacy.

As outlined extensively in Baxter’s lively chronicle, Stella was born in Iceland during the Great Depression. Her family lived in respectable poverty, with fresh flowing water available, but no indoor plumbing and no electricity. As WWII heated up, British forces and then American took control of their territory and occupied Reykjavik. Stella was old enough to remember the bounty of the American soldiers in Christmas gifts and candy. She married an American and immigrated to the US, winding up […]

SPR2020-03-11T10:28:43+02:00February 12th, 2020|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Biography Book Reviews, Spirituality Book Reviews|

Review: Social Work by Thomas Duffy

Social Work by Thomas Duffy

Author Thomas Duffy pulls back the curtain on mental health and overcoming trauma in a raw and challenging new novel, Social Work. The lines between any patient and healer can grow blurry, particularly in emotionally vulnerable spaces; this complex navigation takes center stage in the novel, leaning into discomfort and forcing readers to consider their own moral boundaries in authentic, thought-provoking ways.

Marc is an unemployed 28-year-old who recently failed to take his own life, while Lauren is a therapist who isn’t completely sure she has the heart for such an emotionally demanding job. Marc doesn’t think he needs help, […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2020-03-03T05:11:24+02:00February 11th, 2020|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Contemporary Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: Dark World: Genesis by A.R. Kingston

Dark World: Genesis by A.R. Kingston

Tradition, magic, fear and a sinister plot to tear a kingdom apart collide in Dark World: Genesis by author A.R. Kingston, the first book of the Dark World Saga. Blending elements of classic fantasy with recognizable themes that feel starkly poignant in today’s divided times, this is a compelling start to an expansive new series.

In a kingdom once ravaged by war, leaders now rule with iron fists, forbidding pure-blood mages from mixing with any of the “grays,” ensuring that the magical bloodlines remain untainted. Alexandra Hamilton is the defiant young princess of Manevia, sequestered in her room like a […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2020-03-02T08:10:12+02:00February 11th, 2020|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Fantasy Book Reviews, Romance Book Reviews|

Review: Where’s… Eli? by Alex S. Avitabile

Where's... Eli? by Alex Avitabile

The disappearance of a less-than-trustworthy lawyer kicks off a hectic crime-solving spree in Where’s… Eli? by author Alex S. Avitabile. This second book in the Al and Mick Forte crime series is just as authentically penned and suspenseful as the first, but can also stand alone as an entertaining piece of crime fiction.

Al and Mick are cousins who go way back, their childhoods, neighbors, lives and relatives tangled up in the complex social web of Brooklyn in the 50s and 60s. Having your bloodline brush up against organized crime is far from unusual, and despite Al now being a […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2020-02-28T04:45:24+02:00February 5th, 2020|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Crime Fiction Book Reviews, Thriller Book Reviews|

Review: A Thousand Miles to Nowhere by David Curfiss

A Thousand Miles to Nowhere by David Curfiss

Matt Tanner has already seen a lifetime’s worth of death and desiccated corpses, but his horrors are only beginning in the complex apocalyptic ride, A Thousand Miles to Nowhere by David Curfiss.

15 years after a zombie virus burns through the human population, leaving only a few scattered settlements in a gutted world, a new normal has been found, but uncertainty is the only constant left. When a wounded scavenger is brought back to Tanner’s camp deep in the Laguna Mountains, the ragtag survivors there have no idea they’ve opened the door to their own destruction.

With their bastion of […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2020-02-28T04:40:24+02:00February 5th, 2020|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Post-Apocalyptic Book Reviews, Zombie Fiction Book Reviews|