SPR’s book reviews of new self-published books
The book is rich in information, with facts from the real world and the author’s imaginative fictional world giving the atmosphere of the novel a wholly unique texture. This strange pastiche of […]
Sci-fi novels often give readers a distant glimpse into a potential future, but Afterlife Code by J.M. Erickson may provide a peek into future events for this generation. In this story, neural implants have been designed to treat many different diseases and disorders of the brain, but for Dr. Melanie Sage and Robert Cobb, her therapist, an unexpected malfunction of this new technology tosses them into another world…a world they each possess in their own mind.
This thrilling novel combines religious philosophy, scientific exploration, and the limitations of the human mind with brilliant clarity. Rather than giving one picture of […]
The Fat Girls Club: Paris Bound is the sequel to Lila Johnson’s Fat Girls Club, a fun and emotional novel about a group of friends who gather together to lose weight. As the title suggests, Paris Bound finds the group traveling to Europe, and all of the temptations it provides, as well as a scenic backdrop for the women to bond more deeply.
The three ladies from Kansas City hop over the pond for their first stop in London, where Lila Johnson has taken extra care to guide the reader along with William, Sissy’s brother, while he gives an […]
A divorced real estate agent and avid fisherman, Art had been reported missing by his broker ten days earlier. His missing person case lands on Detective Shanisa (Shane) Notfarg’s desk in October, 2008. A seasoned ten-year veteran with San Diego’s homicide division, Shane’s investigation is ordinary – until Art’s vehicle turns up trashed and she subsequently discovers that he was a whistleblower in a money laundering scheme. Shane becomes determined to get to the bottom of […]
Four foster sisters, on different life trajectories, are the focus in Hearts on Fire, a powerful work of women’s fiction by T. Renee.
All four young women are alumni of a state-run group home close to their current residences in a housing project just outside of Philly. Unfit mothers, Sophia and Madison, break the monotony of their meaningless existence by occasional stints in jail. Pretty Tameka (Meka) lets herself be abused in her quest to be genuinely loved, and practical Letti, who doesn’t let personal tragedy get in the way of her goals. She’s on a fast-track to success […]
In her debut collection of poetry, A Frostbitten Memory of a Stillborn Spring, Lindy Kennedy shows an admirable talent for describing life’s vicissitudes with sensitivity.
Kennedy expresses in the introduction her intention to capture “eternal pairs” – highs and lows, beginnings and ends – reflected in the book’s three sections: People and Love, Things and Time, and Places and Ambition. Kennedy uses a clever turn of phrase when she’s at her best, as in “Where Are You?” which wryly asks, “If it’s over, where did ‘it’ go?” There is the quiet exhortation in the aptly titled “Life Lived Leaves […]
Jean B. MacLeod believes in using simple supplies, tools and devices to solve a myriad of kitchen and cooking related dilemmas, as revealed in her well-organized manual, The Kitchen Paraphernalia Handbook: Hundreds of Substitutions for Common and Uncommon Utensils, Gadgets, Tools, and Techniques.
From A to Z, MacLeod has practical suggestions for substituting common, simple items as a replacement for kitchen implements, or when you run out. Suppose your recipe calls for aluminum foil and there’s none left: use a disposable pie plate, cookie sheet, plastic food lids or parchment paper. No funnel? Try anything from a paper cup […]
Amara Araujo, an international sales executive of twenty years’ experience, has organized this sales methodology manual in highly readable fashion.
In Sales Is My Passion: Sales Management Best Practices on Preparation, Negotiation, and Closing Deals with Confidence, Araujo outlines the importance of sales in daily life – not just for the salesman, but all the ways that sales can impact people’s daily lives. Though achieving the sale is of course the goal, the purpose is also to improve people’s lives in some way, even for relatively small purchases, but especially for major purchases like buying a car. Sales shouldn’t […]