Book Reviews

The latest indie book reviews from Self-Publishing Review

Review: The Last Defender by Travis Pearson

The Last Defender by Travis Pearson

If you were witnessing the end of free will and life as you know it, would you have the courage to stand up and defend what you believe in? This is the gripping question that author Travis Pearson tackles in his rapid-fire new novel, The Last Defender. Seamlessly blending social commentary, dystopian science fiction and thrilling action, this novel casts a wide net in terms of a potential audience.

When a larger-than-life politician is elected to rule a sovereign nation, his constituents have no idea what horror they’ve signed up for. A shift in tactics is one thing, but […]

Review: Kaleidoscope of Colors by Robert A. Cozzi

Kaleidoscope of Colors by Robert A. Cozzi

In Kaleidoscope of Colors, poet Robert A Cozzi has created a new collection of his verse using the motif of the kaleidoscope, a device that fractures and re-orders reality in microcosm, just as poems reduce and revive the color and a shape of life’s situations to give them new meaning.

In the opening Author’s Note, Cozzi questions why we always seem to “explain emotions,” calling our feelings “tricky devils.” But he likes them, even when they are painful and cloud his mind. Despite this rather dark segue, his first poem, “Jumping Off the Shelf” is hopeful, using images of […]

2019-05-16T10:43:05+02:00March 28th, 2019|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: |

Review: Warrior Monk: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel by Ray Keating

: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel

There are those who say that all acts of service come from the same place, but in the case of Warrior Monk by Ray Keating, all acts of service can also come from the same person. After living an entire life as a warrior, serving his country as a CIA agent and NAVY Seal, Stephen Grant decides to wear a different uniform in the next chapter of his life – the robes of a pastor.

With this unique scenario to start off this entertaining series, Keating tosses readers headfirst into the crossfire. When a deranged woman comes into […]

Review: Forsaken Wrath (The Scorpio Files Book 1) by Alexander Ferrick

Forsaken Wrath (The Scorpio Files Book 1) by Alexander Ferrick

The life of a treasure hunter is never boring, and that’s certainly true of the hero in Forsaken Wrath, the first book in the Scorpio Files series by Alexander Ferrick. When professional fortune hunter Nick Reed, also known as Scorpio, sets his gaze on the ultimate treasure hunt in history, he isn’t going alone. In search of the ancient city of Atlantis, one of the “Gates to Hell” – and endless wealth – there are few things this swashbuckling adventurer won’t do.

Driven by the narrator of the story and Nick Reed’s sidekick, Bartimaeus, this novella whips through a […]

2020-01-30T12:24:06+02:00March 25th, 2019|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: |

Review: Across the River (Furnass – The Civil War Years) by Richard Snodgrass

Across the River (Furnass - The Civil War Years) by Richard Snodgrass

In Across the River, author Richard Snodgrass creates a vivid and intensely personal story couched within the chaos, madness and sacrifice of the Civil War. The two main characters are involved in a clever plan to turn the tide of the war for the South, but there are countless obstacles that stand in their way, including one another.

Walker and Reid are an unlikely pair who don’t seem to like one another all that much, but they’re both driven by loyalty and sincere belief in their cause…at first. They have been tasked to cross into enemy territory and acquire […]

Review: To You with Love by Gary W. Burns

To You with Love by Gary W. Burns

Loving relationships in a multitude of aspects and progressions form the focus of this new, emotive collection of works by poet Gary W. Burns.

The poems in To You with Love are divided into four segments: “Woven,” “Ins and Outs,” “Serenities,” and “Amore.”

“Woven” expresses the lover’s longing for as-yet-unrealized interconnectedness with his beloved. He imagines “The fabric of me, you: Tapestry.” The poet invites his cherished friend to share in experiences of summer’s natural bounty, recalling the tulips that grew in his youth (“The Songsmith”), picking “The First Marigold,” and often comparing his feelings to light and the warmth […]

2019-05-01T10:44:41+02:00March 23rd, 2019|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: |

Review: Sophia’s Storm by Cara Skinner

Sophia's Storm by Cara Skinner

The past meets the present in Sophia’s Storm, a gripping historical novel written for young adults by Cara Skinner.

It’s fourth of July week during the summer of 79. Sixteen-year-old Sophie Reiter and her extended family have assembled at her grandparents’ Galveston beach house for their annual week-long get together, but this year’s gathering is bittersweet, due to the passing of Sophie’s beloved Great Aunt Sophia last November at the age of eighty-nine. Her great aunt had died before she could tell Sophie about the most terrible time in their family’s history: a time when Galveston was nearly destroyed […]

2019-04-18T12:27:55+02:00March 22nd, 2019|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: , |

Review: Leverage the Field for Success by John Jay McKey

Leverage the Field for Success: Using Quantum Reality to Succeed in the Corporate World by John Jay McKey

A data analytics expert has created a new way to look at success in business, both in microcosm and from a universal perspective, in Leverage the Field for Success: Using Quantum Reality to Succeed in the Corporate World.

John Jay McKey invites the reader to examine work life, and indeed the whole of life, from the viewpoint of “the Field,” referencing scientific principles that have established that all matter is essentially not cells, but waves of energy. Many experiments have shown that phenomena such as shared and instant communication – as seen, for example, in the group behavior of […]

2019-03-22T10:37:24+02:00March 22nd, 2019|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: , |
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