SPR’s book reviews of new self-published books
Blue Sky (The Morrow Girls Series Book 2) by D. Bryant Simmons
Their intertwining stories are harrowing and tragic in many […]
How I Made $3,200,000 from My Hobby By Michael Bernhart
Don’t let the title fool you: this isn’t non-fiction, you won’t find any get rich quick schemes here. But it does speak to how Bernhart’s lead character, the regally-named Maxwell Smythe Brown IV, doesn’t take much of anything very seriously. A funny and engaging voice, Brown has a very good knack for getting himself into trouble. He’s a pretty dynamic guy: a professor, an Air Force pilot, married to a difficult but beautiful student. And then Brown’s life takes a turn for the fantastic: a collector of antiquarian maps, he learns the location of a treasure from the 17th century […]
Lucid Dreams and the Holy Spirit by Maria Isabel Pita
The book is not necessarily a handbook on lucid dreaming – telling you how to strengthen your perception in your dreams on a nightly basis. Books about that subject have already been written, as Pita references early on. Instead, Pita goes through her dreams one by one and attempts to disseminate their meaning, often with […]
Juliet’s Journey by Kathy Gates
Juliet’s Journey by Kathy Gates is a delightful and comforting novella about traveling outside your country and your comfort zone. Juliet is a thirty-year-old graphic designer who decides to volunteer at an art school in the tiny village of Baiardo (a real place, the pictures of Baiardo are astounding). As sometimes can only happen in an exotic locale, Juliet learns to open up and be more comfortable with herself and her past.
The journey is one for the reader as well. Some books are beach reads because they’re page turners that quickly pass the time. Juliet’s Journey is like a […]
The Dark Side of the Window by J.N. Brown
On the surface, The Dark Side of the Window is a fairly straight-forward ghost story. However, the premise of the novel is the springboard for a richly character-driven suspense novel. The book is written in […]
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 […]
Insanity By Increments by Alaric Cabiling
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 […]
3volve by Josefina Gutierrez
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 […]