New Releases | Self-Publishing Review

Emperor’s Shadow (Elite Book 1) by Yi Zhu

Emperor’s Shadow (Elite Book 1) by Yi Zhu is a very fine beginning to an exciting new fantasy series. The novel follows two orphans born into a strict caste system. To go up in class is a virtual impossibility in the Glorious Empire. Only those who graduate from the Academy are granted Highborn status. As with other unjust civilizations, revolution is not far behind…

Unlike other fantasy books, which work in their own self-contained fantasy universe, Emperor’s Shadow seems like a contemporary fantasy, a reflection of our current times, as well as past dynasties. This makes the book seem more […]

Henry Baum2015-07-09T11:30:36+02:00July 9th, 2015|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Fantasy Book Reviews|

Insanity By Increments by Alaric Cabiling

Insanity By Increments by Alaric Cabiling Insanity by Increments by Alaric Cabling is a work of Gothic literary short fiction about people on the edge – isolated from other people, and from themselves.. No one acts predictably, nor does the world around them. It’s not just the characters who have dark impulses, the world they inhabit is just as sinister.

The collection is moody, cerebral, and ultimately very affecting. In each of the stories, men grapple with isolation and abandonment. Some of their lives are mundane and ordinary, while some are truly outcasts, but they all share a similar sense of alienation. The collection could have […]

Henry Baum2015-07-09T07:46:34+02:00July 9th, 2015|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Short Stories Book Reviews|

3volve by Josefina Gutierrez

3volve by Josefina Gutierrez 3volve by Josefina Gutierrez is the spirited and engaging New Adult novel about Cristal Escobedo, an almost-dysfunctional twenty-two-year-old who has to grow up very fast taking care of her two younger brothers. She’s also got this problem of falling for her best friend. Though 3volve is part of a series, it works well as a standalone novel.

A self-described “mess,” Cristal is a highly entertaining character. Her voice is at once loose and driven, and brazen in her opinions about herself, and everyone else around her. She’s vulnerable without being weak, and never pathetic. She doesn’t magically become adept overnight […]

Lysa Grant2015-07-09T05:10:25+02:00July 9th, 2015|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Contemporary Fiction Book Reviews, New Adult Book Reviews, Romance Book Reviews|

Puzzle Trees by Thom Mark Shepard

Puzzle Trees by Thom Mark Shepard is an entertaining coming of age novel with a bit of horror thrown into the mix. Joe Sheffield is an awkward but thoughtful high school freshman whose best friends move away. Entering high school is hard enough without having to tackle it alone. Joe begins looking for the principal’s missing cats in the area of the “puzzle trees,” a forbidding forest where it’s thought to be the home of strange aggressive primates. Along with his equally-tormented brother, Joe sets out to find the missing cats and locate the mysterious denizens of the Puzzle Trees, […]

Henry Baum2019-01-22T11:01:34+02:00July 2nd, 2015|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Middle Grade Fiction Book Reviews, Young Adult Book Reviews|

Heart Break by MF Moskwik

Heart Break by MF Moskwik Heart Break by MK Moskwik is a fun and spirited tech-driven mystery with a likable central character, Isabel Swift, an engaging protagonist for a new series. Swift is an up and coming police officer and human lie detector who dreams of making detective. Her mentor, Ben, dies mysteriously and Swift learns there may be a connection with his death and her latest case about stolen technology. She’s paired with a surly data scientist who’s making her job more difficult. When other cops are found murdered, Swift has only 48 hours to connect the dots, solve her mentor’s death, and make […]

Lysa Grant2015-06-30T07:15:54+02:00June 30th, 2015|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Mystery Book Reviews|

Apple of My I: The Four Practices of Self-Love by Yudit Maros

Apple of My I: The Four Practices of Self-Love Apple of My I: The Four Practices of Self-Love: Tools for Authentic Living in a Chaotic World is a self-help book to help people live a healthier life, both mentally and physically. The latter is the most important part of the book’s premise, as Maros’ emphasis is on looking to the body’s signals to understand the workings of the mind. If you hate yourself, your body will suffer. If you hate your body, the reverse will happen. Only when the two facets of a person are in alignment will a person fully realize their potential.

Apple of My I practices […]

Lysa Grant2015-06-22T10:01:09+02:00June 22nd, 2015|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Non-Fiction Book Reviews, Self-Help Book Reviews|

The Age of Amy: Behind the Fun Zone by Bruce Edwards

The Age of Amy: Behind the Fun Zone is the fourth novel in the “Age of Amy” series by Bruce Edwards. The Amy books put Amy, a rebellious and precocious teenager, into some fantastical scenarios. In the first book, she comes toe to toe with a farm animal that can manipulate time and space. Behind the Fun Zone is more sci-fi than fantasy, and puts Amy against a creepy new technology called the Jimmie, which implants cell phone technology into your head. Amy, who’s already averse to technology, is having none of it, and her aversion to the Jimmie is […]

Lysa Grant2015-06-22T07:39:04+02:00June 22nd, 2015|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Young Adult Book Reviews|

Thought Shredder by Chris Elliot

Thought Shredder Thought Shredder by Chris Elliot is a powerful and unflinching look at Elliot’s damaged relationship with his father and how that has affected his behavior throughout his life. Far from this being a story about one man’s problems, Elliot’s story could apply to anyone, as everyone has at least some problems with their upbringing, no matter how idyllic their childhood. That Elliot’s childhood was horrific at the hands of an abusive parent makes his book all the more effective, albeit a difficult read. It’s raw and unnerving, but make no mistake: this is core to what makes the book so […]