Book Reviews | Self-Publishing Review

Review: The Final Departure by Epp Marsh III

Partially based on real history, The Final Departure by Epp Marsh III tells an alternate history where Marcus Garvey’s Greater Liberia Act is put into widespread effect. In 1929, Civil Rights pioneer Marcus Garvey strikes a devil’s bargain with the Ku Klux Klan to turn the United States into an all-white nation. Congress enacts the Greater Liberia Act, arranging passage for every black American to Africa, while leaving unprotected any black citizen who choose to stay behind.

The novel tells the story of Ruth Gaines who remains in the U.S. with her true love Lance Wainwright, the eldest son of […]

Greg Rideout2019-01-22T10:54:59+02:00May 16th, 2018|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Historical Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: Jake, Lucid Dreamer by David J. Naiman

Jake, Lucid Dreamer by David J. Naiman is a charming look at a middle-schooler’s struggle to navigate grief and acceptance. With a touch of the surreal, Naiman has woven a fantastical tale with a powerful message about learning to face your demons, traversing the tricky plains of middle school, and how important compassion is in the face of adversity.

Jake wakes on his birthday after one of his lucid dreams. We see his life, a typical, moody teenager – his family, a darling little sister, and a father with patience to spare. They serve as a grounding force for Jake, […]

SPR2019-01-22T11:02:56+02:00May 12th, 2018|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Middle Grade Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: The Sow’s Ear Café by Holly Quan

Ending up in Sweetgrass, Alberta, while on a drive to clear her head of thirty-nine years of bad decisions and emotional baggage, Lucie slowly finds love and acceptance in her new town. The Sow’s Ear Café by Holly Quan transports the tough and damaged Lucie from her shallow life in Vancouver to Sweetgrass’s potential for deeper human connections.

Staked to her journey by a friend, Lucie’s car breaks down in Sweetgrass. She soon finds herself renting a room from a goodhearted ranching couple, working as a waitress, and then dating Ray, the mysterious chef of the Sow’s Ears Café. The […]

Greg Rideout2019-01-22T10:59:32+02:00May 11th, 2018|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Literary Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: Lady of the Lake by Jennifer Wherrett

There are countless stories of King Arthur and the Age of Camelot, and with Lady of the Lake, author Jennifer Wherrett adds a wonderful new chapter to this long and rich tradition. Taking a much more feminine perspective on this particular element of our collective culture, this book does away with the notion that women in Arthurian legend were merely love interests. Instead, in this world, they are holy accomplices to the epic tales we have known since childhood.

The story of how Arthur came to be the King of the Britons has taken many forms, as has the […]

SPR2018-05-16T11:57:58+02:00May 9th, 2018|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Fantasy Book Reviews|

Review: The Darziods’ Stone by Richard Smith

The Darziods’ Stone by Richard Smith is a fun middle grade adventure, reading like “The Goonies” set in Cornwall, which will certainly inspire young readers’ sense of adventure.

The book begins with a prologue, which sets the scene nicely, giving the adventure to come a sense of real history – namely Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt and the British swift response to it. The reader then finds themselves stranded in Cornwall with a mystical stone that is being desperately hidden by members of the crew, which sets the story for a group of teenagers to crack the code of the missing […]

SPR2019-01-22T11:03:10+02:00May 8th, 2018|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Action and Adventure Book Reviews, Middle Grade Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: Footsteps in the Dark: Stories of the Bizarre and Unusual by Carlo Armenise

Although a collection of short stories, Carlo Armenise has managed to make Footsteps in the Dark: Stories of the Bizarre and Unusual a cohesive whole by creating an atmosphere that radiates through each page. Without delving into exaggeration or fantasy, Armenise has managed to capture what we all fear lurking in the shadows, providing a visceral experience for any reader.

The stories deal with a range of topics, from transference of consciousness to dialogues on evil itself. Reminiscent of Stephen King’s short stories, every story focuses on the human element; these are real, flawed characters who we can all relate […]

SPR2020-03-10T12:34:54+02:00May 5th, 2018|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Horror Book Reviews, Paranormal Book Reviews, Short Stories Book Reviews|

Review: Recall by R. Lawson

The Vietnam War remains one of the most controversial and tumultuous times in American history, leaving a shadowy legacy that affects politics, culture, entertainment and art to this day. Author R. Lawson takes readers back into those confusing times in his new novel, Recall, which falls into the historical fiction genre, but is also deeply influenced by his own experiences in the war.

As with many novels and films about this period in history, the human element is the most engaging and heartbreaking aspect of the story, as readers are shown the devastating effects that war can have on […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2020-02-21T06:17:56+02:00May 4th, 2018|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Historical Fiction Book Reviews, Military Book Reviews|

Review: Tai Solarin: Africa’s Greatest Educationist and Humanist by Dele Babalola

A former student writes a paean to his teacher, a visionary educator who strove to improve conditions at every level in his home country of Nigeria in Tai Solarin: Africa’s Greatest Educationist and Humanist.

When Dele Babalola attended Mayflower School, he was at first concerned that the place was too “bush,” and indeed, living conditions were bare-bones, with a rigorous curriculum and a rule: “obey first, before complaining.” Babalola quickly recognized that at Mayflower, the brainchild of charismatic headmaster and founder Tai Solarin, education was foremost.

Babalola would bond with Solarin when both were reading the works of Nigerian […]