SPR’s book reviews of new self-published books
Open Your Heart by Ruth Cherry, PhD
Open Your Heart by Ruth Cherry is an uplifting work of fiction about embracing one’s life and purpose. Anne, a middle-aged psychotherapist, feels restless and unfulfilled. Desperate, she voices a prayer for help, and a spirit guide named Hannah, in the guise of a crusty crone, appears to help. Hannah introduces more spiritual advisors: Maggie inspires Anne’s artistic vision, while Theresa reminds her of the youthful happiness and passion she has long repressed.
The guides advise Anne to stop trying to control her life, to let go, to fly. Once Anne absorbs these messages she meets Alex, who blesses her […]
Poor David Tan. Things have not gone well for the harried protagonist of Chandra Shekhar’s novel Mock My Words. His position at Steinbeck University, one he thought of as a dream job, leaves him unfulfilled and struggling to connect with students who don’t take him seriously due to his accented English. His colleagues are brusque and cold. His wife, Laura, doesn’t give him enough attention or affection. Melissa, a brilliant student with whom he shares a cultural and emotional connection, suddenly ignores him as well.
Turf wars and unlikely alliances are hardly novel concepts in fiction, but add gangs of vampires and a 2,000-year-old conspiracy to the mix and you’ve got yourself a well thought-out tale in Akeldama that goes far beyond your typical vampire fare.
Ancient beliefs and modern madness converge in Before the Sun Goes Down, a military thriller from Clif Petty that touches on everything from Native American traditions to the looming threat of global war.
Moriarty Meets His Match by Anna Castle is a mystery novel woven and detangled by Sherlock Holmes’ famous nemesis, James Moriarty, and his complicated love, Angelina Gould.
Anna hates New York. She especially hates her new life, her new home, and her new stepfather, and if it weren’t for still being able to ski, Anna probably wouldn’t be able to handle it at all. When a chance encounter with another young skier leads fourteen-year-old Anna into another world – one of elves, sorcerers, monsters, and more – maybe New York isn’t so bad after all…
The Spoon Knife anthologies are an annual open collection run by NeuroQueer Books to give exposure to upcoming writers of neurodivergent, queer, and Mad literature. Spoon Knife 2: Test Chamber is, as the title suggests, the second such collection, and intends to stand as as a defiant monument to the experiences and efforts of marginalized communities who are bound to suffer in the midst of recent and current geopolitical climates.