Book Reviews | Self-Publishing Review

Review: Terra 12: Paradise Found by Ryan Baxter

★★★½

Given the present situation on our planet, more and more eyes are turning to space as a possible escape from Earth’s rising temperatures. In Terra 12: Paradise Found, author Ryan Baxter paints a remarkably clear picture of one possible future, as well as the dire situation Earth finds itself 300 years from now.

Near the turn of the 24^th century, humans send a dozen ships, named Terra 1-12, into the vastness of space to find a new home world for the human race. Terra 12 is where most of the action focuses in this book, along with […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2020-02-12T07:27:40+02:00September 17th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Ryan Baxter, Science Fiction|

Review: The Moonshine Wars: Or My Life in Kincaid, Georgia by Terry Lee Kincaid III

★★★½

While it is easy to look at the post-Civil War era through a historical and objective lens, the stories of the families who lived through those times are also fascinating, and vitally important. In The Moonshine Wars: Or My Life in Kincaid, Georgia, author Daniel Micko invites readers to get to know one particular Southern family, and takes the time to tell their strange side of the American story.

Stretching from the end of the Civil War through the end of the Roaring Twenties, this multi-generational tale delves into the Kincaid family business, how they rose to prominence, […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2017-09-26T02:46:42+02:00September 16th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Historical Fiction|

Review: Emboozlement (McCall & Company Book 3) by Rich Leder

Emboozlement is Rich Leder’s third novel in the excellent McCall & Company series. Kate McCall, an off-off Broadway actress has inherited her dad’s private investigator business, and now finds herself embroiled in a possible embezzlement scheme at a popular sports bar run by a former Major Leaguer, while somebody is murdering lawyers – who may just be her father’s killer – and somebody is letting her know about the murders ahead of time.

Meanwhile, Kate might be falling for the ballplayer, and also meanwhile he might just the one committing the embezzlement. As always, Leder provides a uniquely entertaining page-turner […]

Henry Baum2019-02-11T08:40:58+02:00September 15th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Crime Fiction, Detective Fiction, Rich Leder|

Review: Rented Souls by Eirik Moe Dahll-Larssøn

★★★★½

What if all the ghost stories and paranormal events that happened in the world weren’t the result of hoaxes and overactive imaginations? What if otherworldly events and creatures do exist, but science simply hasn’t advanced to the point of understanding what they are? This is the reality posited by Eirik Moe Dahll-Larssøn, the author of Rented Souls, an intensely amusing and clever novel about a world where the things that go bump in the night are actually there.

In a scenario where paranormal believers are not only taken seriously, but represent the majority of the population, a decent […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2018-08-01T10:23:29+02:00September 15th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Eirik M. Dahll-Larssøn, Paranormal, Speculative Fiction|

Review: Theologia by Stephen Pippin

A thought-provoking examination of major Christian tenets, Theologia by Stephen Pippin presents creative arguments for belief in Biblical truth.

The title means “the study of God,” and as author and evangelist Stephen Pippin reminds us numerous times, there was a time when he himself did not study God. He felt that heaven, for example, would not be “cool” because it disallowed sex, drugs, and rock and roll. But his life changed in the light of his understanding of the Bible and its teachings.

Two central points are presented in this treatise: only the story of Jesus has ever been historically […]

Barbara Scott2019-02-11T09:44:56+02:00September 14th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Religion|

Review: Maddie & Sayara by Sanjyot P. Dunung

Maddie and Sayara meet the way many new friends do – enjoying their vacations. After their time together on the water slides and in the swimming pools, however, they return to vastly different worlds.

Maddie lives in an open society where the government does not enforce severe dress and behavioral restrictions. Sayara’s home, the Kingdom, denies women the right to choose their own clothing or drive a vehicle. Everywhere Sayara goes, she must be accompanied by a man. Sayara’s vacation is, in fact, cut short after her cousin is arrested for daring to drive. Maddie struggles to understand the differences […]

Mindy Hood2019-02-11T08:51:02+02:00September 13th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: International Fiction, Young Adult|

Review: Stalker, My Love by Zack Scott

★★★★½

Small towns often provide the best settings for thrillers, as they are rife with secrets, suspicions, old grudges and hidden motivations. The process of watching detectives and suspects roil around in the same intimate space makes for high drama and excellent character development, as is the case in the excellent Stalker, My Love by Zack Scott.

In this cozy mystery, we see a town turn on some of its own, desperate for answers, in the search for a missing girl: Rosalyn Ray. Readers are first introduced to Rhett and Rosalyn in a strange way – during a confrontation where […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2017-09-15T12:55:31+02:00September 13th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Thriller|

Review: Island of the Assassin by Joseph Roccasalvo

★★★★½

Most people don’t see a moral gray area when it comes to killing other human beings, but there are certain evils in the world that must be eradicated, whether or not the public is told about it. There are also those shadowy figures in our government’s Rolodex, agents who operate in the darkness, doing what “needs” to be done to protect their country.

In Island of the Assassin by Joseph Roccasalvo, loyalty, morality, and abstract ideas of the greater good collide in a stunning and revelatory novel about the fuzzy edges of good and evil.

Kai Landrie is a […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2017-09-25T08:36:31+02:00September 7th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Thriller|