Book Reviews | Self-Publishing Review

Review: Maybe God Is An American by Bernie Donnelly

Following the thrilling events of Maybe God Was an Irishman, author Bernie Donnelly brings readers back to the surreal premise of a 21st century Second Coming, where there is still much work to be done, in Maybe God Is An American. With the same blend of religious philosophy and off-the-cuff humor, this new book reveals what happens after Father Sean disappears, and welcomes readers into a new adventure on the other side of the pond.

Father Sean may have disappeared in the eyes of the world, but his disciples, Linda, Miguel and Anna, know that he is very […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2020-05-28T10:12:27+02:00May 26th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Bernie Donnelly, Religious Fiction|

Review: Breaking the Fourth Wall by Michelle Sevigny

“Even with ropes, a fall in the wrong place could be fatal.” So reads the guidebook for the trail that author/adventuress Michelle Sevigny traverses.

After confronting some painful events in her middle years, most recently the loss of her beloved dog to cancer, Sevigny seeks comfort through her longtime enjoyment of hiking. Walking the Likya Yolu, the Lycian Way, with its 500+ kilometers of winding paths on the southern coastline of Turkey, seems the ideal antidote to her nagging sense of emptiness. The trail is marked…sometimes. In other places, she needs to rely on a technology that even she found […]

Barbara Scott2019-02-11T09:54:33+02:00May 24th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Memoir, Non-Fiction, Travel|

Review: Among the Branded by Linda Smolkin

★★★★

Finding hidden treasures in forgotten relics of the past is a romantic notion that has played out in countless books and films, yet the thrill of the mystery never seems to lessen. In Among the Branded, a new novel by author Linda Smolkin, readers are thrown into a slowly unfurling mystery surrounding a sheaf of “Love Letters From the War.” Stephanie Britain, a bold and impulsive art director, is the narrator and focal character of the novel, as well as the person who stumbles across the love letters at a flea market.

When she shares her exciting discovery […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2017-06-30T09:50:48+02:00May 18th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Contemporary Fiction, World War II|

Review: Winchester’s Bargain (Bart Northcote #4) by Murray Lee Eiland Jr.

Taking on the world’s financial elite – and threatening the one thing they hold dearest in the world – is no small task, but Bart Northcote never backs down from a challenge. In Winchester’s Bargain, the fourth installment in this PI series by Murray Lee Eiland Jr., the stakes for Northcote and his investigative team have never been higher, and the writing itself has never been better.

A mysterious man named Winchester Lee approaches Bart Northcote with some disturbing news: the New York Stock Exchange is being controlled by a shadowy Chinese cabal with trillions of dollars at their […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2019-02-11T08:40:16+02:00May 16th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Crime Fiction, Detective Fiction|

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 […]