New Releases | Self-Publishing Review

The Beginner’s Guide to Winning an Election by Michael R. French

The Beginner's Guide to Winning an Election by Michael R. French The Beginner’s Guide to Winning an Election by Michael R. French is a biting and prescient YA satire about big money influencing a local high school election.

It’s 2025 at a typical American high school, Hawthorn High, 120 miles from Bloomington, Indiana. Senior “Science Brain” Britain Kitridge signs up to volunteer for a fellow student’s campaign, and yes, maybe she has a little crush on him, but who doesn’t? Matthew Boltanski is near perfect: athletic, handsome, self-confident, impervious, and as Britain determines, very well funded, but by who and why? She starts asking too many questions and is ‘disciplined’ in […]

SPR2019-02-14T10:36:30+02:00February 13th, 2019|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Young Adult Book Reviews|

Finding Myself in Borneo: Sojourns in Sabah by Neill McKee

Finding Myself in Borneo: Sojourns in Sabah by Neill McKee A former volunteer for CUSO (Canadian University Service Overseas) recalls those halcyon years living and working in Sabah, Borneo in the entertaining travel memoir Finding Myself in Borneo: Sojourns in Sabah.

Author Neill McKee vividly describes his escalating culture shock as he encounters “the East” in its many aspects: sights, smells and, notably, sweltering temperatures. In the sleepy village of Kota Belud, he learns Malay and teaches various subjects in English to students barely fluent in that language, often with no textbooks. Humorously imagining exotic Borneo as the model for Tolkien’s Middle Earth, he and his friends found the […]

SPR2019-02-13T10:36:52+02:00February 12th, 2019|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Memoir Book Reviews, Travel Book Reviews|

Breast Cancer Meets Mindfulness by Cheryl Wilfong

Breast Cancer Meets Mindfulness by Cheryl Wilfong When writer, gardener, and Buddhist practitioner Cheryl Wilfong was diagnosed with breast cancer, she wouldn’t “fight” her illness, as so many urged her to do. She would experience it, “not wishing for anything different than what Life was delivering.” This is the inspiring message in her unique and poignant health guide, Breast Cancer Meets Mindfulness: Surrendering to Life.

Wilfong’s chronicle moves gently through her thought processes as she deals with the diagnosis. A dedicated Buddhist and meditation teacher, she believes that death, disease, and dying are messengers alerting us to find ourselves. After a successful surgery and radiation, and […]

SPR2019-02-12T13:43:18+02:00February 12th, 2019|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Health Book Reviews, Spirituality Book Reviews|

Tropical Doubts by David Myles Robinson

In Tropical Doubts, the third legal thrill ride from author David Myles Robinson, the lovable Pancho McMartin is back in the courtroom, and back at the heart of a tangled murder mystery.

When old friends come begging him for legal help, it’s hard for this down-on-his-luck lawyer to refuse, but this case of medical malpractice is anything but normal. As the body count begins to rise and lies become muddied with truth, this unlikely hero will have to do his own investigating to discover where the guilt should lie. With a well-balanced plot and plenty of moving parts, this […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2019-02-11T12:10:05+02:00February 10th, 2019|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Legal Thriller Book Reviews, Thriller Book Reviews|

The Request for Lambency by ileso DMC

Although there are many different belief structures surrounding religion in the world, one underlying theme remains quite constant: “You can’t take it with you.” However, what if some greater power suddenly changed that rule? In The Request for Lambency, a visionary new YA novel by ileso Dmc, readers are whisked off to a near future where people can, in fact, take one thing into the afterlife with them.

This development obviously creates a mania all across the globe, a craze that feels all too possible in this age of viral desperation to make it big, and the modern propensity […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2019-02-11T12:11:16+02:00February 10th, 2019|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Science Fiction Book Reviews, Speculative Fiction Book Reviews|

+ One by Brian Baleno

+ One by Brian Baleno Investment banker Jake seeks to reconcile his workaholic habits and his life with girlfriend Kara as they navigate their maturing relationship in modern Chicago. Jake loves the thrill of making deals for his clients, while Kara teaches and volunteers. As narrator Jake informs the reader in + One, they are soul mates. Yet Jake can’t quite put Kara ahead of his work, often arriving late to dates and missing important events, putting their relationship at risk.

Author Brian Baleno weaves a poignant story that would be familiar to most modern couples. At the heart of +One is the eternal […]

Greg Rideout2019-01-29T12:22:54+02:00January 29th, 2019|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Contemporary Fiction Book Reviews|

Becoming a Whisper by Joe Odey

Becoming a Whisper by Joe Odey Nigeria-based poet Joe Odey presents 100 poems touching on human hopes, connections and failings in Becoming a Whisper.

These short works occupy one page each, most examining what Odey calls “flawed human experience.” The five-part “Letters to Ada” laments that after a beginning in which “the whole world felt like a fairytale,” it becomes clear that “Fate had dealt us the worst of the deck.” “Our Guardian Angel” poignantly recalls an infant brother’s passing. In “That We May Live Again” a woman scorned turns to “a bottle in hand and a strange man for company.”

Odey uses language deftly […]

SPR2019-01-28T13:07:35+02:00January 25th, 2019|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Poetry Book Reviews|

Accepting Life on Life’s Terms: Taoist Psychology for Uncertain Times by Chris L. McClish

Accepting Life on Life’s Terms: Taoist Psychology for Uncertain Times by Chris L. McClish Basing his advice on the Eastern philosophy of the Tao Te Ching, counselor Chris L. McClish presents an appealing guide to self-help psychology in Accepting Life on Life’s Terms: Taoist Psychology for Uncertain Times.

An explanation of Taoism winds through the narrative, with an emphasis on accepting what is and what isn’t doing harm. McClish declares that it may be relatively easy to accept that we can’t control circumstances, but it is harder to control ourselves. Always exploring the roads less traveled, McClish has established a list of self-limiting factors he calls ACE: Avoiding, Controlling, and Escaping. He counters […]