Book Reviews | Self-Publishing Review

Review: Firebrand by Sarah MacTavish

★★★★½

Firebrand by Sarah MacTavish is an historical young adult novel centered around the American abolition of slavery in the mid 19th century. Saoirse Callahan emigrated from Ireland with her family and ended up in Texas, where their fortunes may not be any better. When a series of fires crop up all over the state, it’s thought to be the result of a slave rebellion, which may only be rumor, and Saoirse wants to get to the bottom of what’s happening, which may just put her in danger.

In a parallel story, Westleigh Kavanagh, a Pennsylvania abolitionist, is sheltering a […]

Lysa Grant2019-05-14T09:58:56+02:00May 15th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Historical Fiction, Sarah MacTavish, Young Adult|

Review: Tipper Lake: A Tyler Monroe Mystery by Walter Thomas Geer

There is a strange allure to the Deep South that has captivated authors and readers alike; life moves slower, but mysteries seem to run deeper. In that beloved tradition, author Walter Thomas Geer presents a new halfhearted hero, Detective Tyler Monroe, in Tipper Lake. This novel unrolls like a slow Southern drawl, but the scenes and characters are edged with danger, betraying something more menacing just below the surface.

After a judge is murdered in what appears to be an open-and-shut case, Tyler Monroe moves down to a temporary post in Georgia, where his New York background is far […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2019-02-11T09:11:04+02:00May 10th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Crime Fiction, Detective Fiction, Mystery|

Review: Cubicle to Cuba by Heidi Siefkas

Cubicle to Cuba: Desk Job to Dream Job is an engaging travel memoir about Heidi Siefkas leaving her job at an internet start-up, dropping everything, and working as a tour guide in Cuba. Siefkas gives the nuts and bolts about adapting to life in Cuba, as well as traveling to Australia, Italy, Peru, and other points around the world. As with her previous memoirs, it’s a spirited and page-turning read.

Siefkas has lived quite an interesting life – after nearly facing death after being crushed with a falling tree branch, which also saw the dissolution of her marriage, she’s always […]

Lysa Grant2019-02-11T09:54:45+02:00May 5th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Memoir, Non-Fiction, Travel|

Review: Bless the Skies by Julie Elise Landry

★★★★½

Bless the Skies by Julie Elise Landry is a riveting and provocative work of dark fantasy, which follows the lives of three girls, Laeli, Sophia, and Elaina, who must navigate a bleak and desperate world. When Elaina is kidnapped and enslaved by the twisted High Lord Lawrence Anderton, Laeli and Sophia risk their lives to save her, through a dangerous and unforgiving landscape.

Although the journey narrative of the novel might suggest Lord of the Rings fare, Landry takes her characters to much darker depths than Tolkien, or even Game of Thrones. So much of fantasy fiction […]

Lysa Grant2017-05-10T08:25:22+02:00May 4th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Fantasy|

Review: Ravenwood Risen by W.C. Maher

★★★★

Being wrenched from a life of pastoral normalcy and forced into a destiny fraught with sacrifice and struggle is a common foundation for many fantasy novels, but in Ravenwood Risen, author W. C. Maher takes a new angle on this classic theme. Although the rumors swirl and dangers appear to be creeping in at the edges of Aman, the small region of Colore seems relatively untouched. Ephraim and Jules Ravenwood unwittingly go about their daily lives, ignorant – but not unprepared – for what the world will soon demand of them.

In the same vein as the Shannara […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2017-05-11T03:32:05+02:00May 2nd, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Fantasy, YA Fantasy, Young Adult|

Review: The Ephialtes Shorts Collection by Gavin E. Parker

Following on the heels of the first book in the epic space opera Ephialtes, author Gavin E. Parker brings readers a collection of shorts from his carefully crafted world, with the intention of bridging the first and second installments of the trilogy. The second installment of the epic is planned for a fall release in 2017.

The Ephialtes universe is a rich tapestry, with the first book in the series based around the end of World War IV in 2241, where the huge and powerful air warship Ephialtes is refitted for interplanetary space travel by the dominant ruling forces […]

James Grimsby2019-02-11T09:19:07+02:00May 2nd, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Space Opera|

Review: Crossing Xavier (The Storytellers Book 1) by Hugh Dudley

★★★½

Deep in the far-flung stretches of the universe, The Storytellers reside. Collectors of the tales of the many worlds, a presentation is made of the story about the human colony of Xavier, and one man who comes to expose his home’s disquieting secrets. With the discovery of the near-infinitely adaptable lifeforms known as xavirytes, the emergence of the secretive Conspirators, and a chance to return to Earth, the story of the human Devon’s rise from the UnderCity to intergalactic legend is about to be told.

Crossing Xavier is a science fiction romp that utilizes “Greek chorus” framing of The […]

James Grimsby2017-05-30T09:35:17+02:00May 2nd, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Science Fiction|

Review: Stories of Yesteryear: Horse & Buggy Days by Harry H. Brown

Stories of Yesteryear: Horse & Buggy Days by Harry H. Brown is a charming reprint of Harry Brown’s tales of Halifax, Massachusetts and New England at the turn of the century and earlier. Harkening back to days before cars, or even electricity, these vignettes are in turns amusing and moving, as it tells an important story about a bygone era. Much of what Brown writes about is lost to history, which makes this reprint by his family and important and worthy enterprise.

At only a page or so apiece, these stories are easy to read and ingest, and have a […]

SPR2019-02-11T09:18:32+02:00May 1st, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: History, Short Stories|