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Lead stories from SPR’s ever-growing independent book portal

Review: True North by Roger Rooney

Review: True North by Roger Rooney

While Vietnam has been a part of popular culture for more than five decades, there has always been a shadow hanging over that conflict, and many of the books, movies, commentaries, and documentaries haven’t always focused on the personal element of this savage period in Vietnamese and global history. In True North, author Roger Rooney tackles the Vietnam War with a fearless blend of history, romance, philosophy and, most importantly, brutal truth.

The unique approach to this conflict comes in the form of its two main characters, star-crossed accidental lovers on opposite sides of the battlefield. Rooney chose unusual […]

2020-02-21T06:17:50+02:00July 24th, 2018|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: , |
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Review: Only Everything by Keith Martin-Smith

Only Everything by Keith Martin-Smith

Broken dreams shroud middle-aged Logan, once a promising novelist, as he stiffly settles himself into a nine-to-five corporate life. Logan marches forward with a beautiful and brightly positive fiancé. He writes marketing copy. He pays his bills. He lives in a well-appointed home. But Logan feels weighted by a past that might be an anchor or a lifeline.

Only Everything by Keith Martin-Smith is a profoundly affecting work of fiction that explores deep truths. With the narrative opening between the present and twenty-something Logan’s life in New York City as he writes his first novel, we get bright future and […]

2019-01-22T10:58:58+02:00July 23rd, 2018|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: , , |
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Review: The Last April by Belinda Kroll

The Last April

Split-second decisions have life-changing consequences in The Last April, a gripping and thought-provoking work of YA historical fiction by Belinda Kroll.

It’s April, 1865 and in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War, fifteen-year-old Gretchen Miller is in the garden of her family farm in rural Ohio when she’s startled by a Confederate soldier who falls in a dead faint literally steps from her feet. As Gretchen reaches his side, the feverish soldier mutters about his escape from Camp Chase, a training barrack/Confederate prison outside of Columbus. Realizing that the young soldier will die without her help, Gretchen reluctantly […]

2019-01-22T10:54:07+02:00July 15th, 2018|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: , |
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Review: Sex and God and Other Essays by William J. Cataldi

Sex and God and Other Essays by William J. Cataldi

Sex and God and Other Essays is a curious collection of writing that sticks long after closing the book. Some of the subjects are so outrageous and so taboo, that at times it’s hard to believe they have been written. But thankfully, Cataldi has, given the instant impression of a brave author.

Considering the background of the writer, which he explains in the prologue in detail, the work is shaded with a whole other quality. A gay-Christian-Taoist-Leatherman who doesn’t agree with vegetarians? That’s about as niche a viewpoint you’ll ever get.

Never once does it feel thoughts are disingenuous, and […]

2019-01-22T11:37:17+02:00July 14th, 2018|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: , |
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Review: The Foundry: Dianis, A World In Turmoil by Frank Dravis

The Foundry: Dianis, A World In Turmoil by Frank Dravis

There is a certain appeal to sci-fi that bridges both time and space, with the genre containing relatable characters, as well as fantastic elements of which humans can presently only dream. In The Foundry, author Frank Dravis has constructed a marvelous new sci-fi and fantasy adventure, perfectly in balance between reality and imagination, establishing a rich new universe in this genre-bending series.

Dianis is a small, out-of-the-way planet, easily overlooked on the galactic scale, but what it holds within – an incredibly rare and valuable mineral – puts it on the front line of an all-out war for domination […]

2020-02-17T12:04:16+02:00July 9th, 2018|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: |
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Review: The Perfectionist: Peter Kilham and the Birds by Larry Kilham

The Perfectionist: Peter Kilham and the Birds by Larry Kilham

A paean to a father by an admiring son, The Perfectionist: Peter Kilham and the Birds is a remarkable chronicle of invention, exploration, and a lifelong search for perfection.

Author Larry Kilham’s childhood was idyllic, living on a homestead with his parents and siblings. His father Peter ran a thriving business, Tekton, designing and selling innovative metal furniture to wealthy clients. When his products began to be supplanted in the 1950s by mass-produced items like aluminum-tubing lawn chairs, Peter switched to the manufacture of metal-bending machines, on which he held significant patents.

Peter Kilham concentrated so minutely on the perfection […]

2019-01-22T11:37:39+02:00July 8th, 2018|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: , |
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Review: The New Holy Warriors by Alice Sandoval

The New Holy Warriors by Alice Sandoval

An international thriller based around the events of September 11, 2001, The New Holy Warriors combines a rich mix of fact and fiction.

Just two days after the horrific happenings of 9-11, a California-based Mexican-American lawyer, Marc Bravo, gets word that his physician father and nurse mother have been missing for three days in Mexico, where they were working as volunteers for Doctors Without Borders.

Shaken by the attack on the US, Bravo is doubly unnerved when he hears this news and quickly enlists the assistance of his younger brother Richard, an archeology student, and an old friend, Paul Levy […]

2018-07-10T05:27:15+02:00July 7th, 2018|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: , |
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Review: Songs for Lucy by Philip Wilson

Songs for Lucy by Philip Wilson

Songs for Lucy, a poignant work of women’s fiction by Philip Wilson, conveys the heartfelt message that a death sentence doesn’t mean one should stop living.

Allison “Allie” Connelly has a bright future ahead of her: she’s Valedictorian of her graduating class at Boston Highlands University and has been accepted to Harvard Law. Best of all, she’s also been offered a summer job teaching tennis at a club in Providence, Rhode Island, allowing her to spend the summer with her widowed father.

Then the unimaginable happens. Her father is killed by a drunk driver on his way home from […]

2019-01-22T11:16:32+02:00June 26th, 2018|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: , |
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