Book Reviews | Self-Publishing Review

Review: Carpenter’s Bluff by James Sanders

★★★★

Our adult lives are largely influenced by the uncharted events of our youth and nowhere is this more evident than in Carpenter’s Bluff, James Sanders’ moving literary tale of youthful indiscretions and dark secrets.

Henry “Hank” Anawatty is a young attorney with some serious problems in his life, the most pressing one being that the woman he’s been seeing has disappeared. In desperation, he goes to see a shrink and little by little, her pointed questions chink away at Hank’s armor, revealing a less-than-idyllic childhood spent dodging an abusive father, not to mention harboring lingering guilt over his […]

Marta Cheng2018-01-10T11:03:53+02:00January 6th, 2018|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Literary Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: The Believers in the Crucible Nauvoo by Alfred Woollacott III

Blending family documents, historical records and a strong imaginative gift, author Alfred Woollacott III depicts the travails of a young woman joining in the founding of the Mormon faith in The Believers in the Crucible Nauvoo.

Woollacott’s book opens in Peterborough, New Hampshire, where one of Mormon founder Joseph Smith’s disciples has converted many townspeople. These believers are caught up in Smith’s challenging and inspiring message. According to teachings from the Book of Mormon, converts must be baptized, and then have the certainty of sharing the life of Jesus while here on Earth. Some feel strongly called to Nauvoo, […]

Barbara Scott2019-02-11T09:15:26+02:00January 5th, 2018|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Christian Fiction Book Reviews, Historical Fiction Book Reviews, Religious Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: The Gods Wait by John von Dorf

★★★★

In The Gods Wait by John von Dorf, you’ll find pessimists fighting to be optimistic about romance, a waitress’s vivid inner world, an internet troll’s thoughts on philosophy, and many other slices from diverse, scattered lives.

A collection of well-drawn characters seek fulfillment and meaning through various mediums, including film, insults, and food. Each obsession demonstrates the individual’s need and desire for grander meaning than their obsession actually delivers. The only voices with new ideas are shut down by the intentional defamation or self-congratulatory ignorance of other would-be intellectuals. Each character is defined as much by their hates as […]

Mindy Hood2018-02-06T07:05:04+02:00December 21st, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Literary Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: The Prize by Geoffrey M. Cooper

★★★★

Deceit…scientific fraud…betrayal…murder. The highly-competitive world of medical research is exposed in The Prize, a gripping page-turner by Geoffrey M. Cooper.

Thirty-six-year-old Pam Weller is a junior faculty member at Harvard’s prestigious Langmere Institute for Neurological Disease who, along with her team, are looking for an effective drug that prevents the development of Alzheimer’s disease. The stakes are high as it could mean a Nobel Prize but more importantly for Pam, it would mean guaranteed tenure. There’s just one problem, though: Eric Prescott, a leading neuroscientist at the Institute for Advanced Neuroscience is also trying to discover an Alzheimer’s […]

Marta Cheng2020-02-21T06:27:10+02:00December 20th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Medical Book Reviews|

Review: Serendipity by Thomas J. Thorson

The big picture that we’re taught in school is rarely the completely accurate picture, and curiosity can bring you down some fascinating and unforgettable rabbit holes. In Serendipity: Seemingly Random Events, Insignificant Decisions, and Accidental Discoveries that Altered History by Thomas J. Thorson, readers are welcomed into a long and disparate list of historical tales that exemplify the uncertainty of life, and the unbelievable ways that luck has influenced our common existence.

The book is a series of stories about well-known historical events and figures, but these are stories that few have ever heard before. Did you know that Handel, […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2021-12-22T03:32:20+02:00December 18th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: History Book Reviews, Social Science Book Reviews|

Review: The Last of the Sages (The Sage Saga Book 1) by Julius St. Clair

★★★

When the world is threatened by the sinister forces of evil, heroes always rise from unexpected places. In The Last of the Sages, the first book of the epic Sage Saga by Julius St. Clair, readers are pulled into the mystical world of Allay, where magic and danger are everywhere, and where the life of young James is about to change forever.

After being told by his father that he is being sent to the Sentinel Academy – the mysterious training center that shapes young men of the kingdom into warriors – he decides to run away, but […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2018-01-31T10:05:59+02:00December 18th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Fantasy Book Reviews|

Review: The Colonials by Tom Durwood

★★★★

The Colonials by Tom Durwood is an exciting and ambitious work of historical fiction for young adults, where teenagers come of age during a violent time, ultimately changing the course of history.

The year is 1775 and a large number of complex characters are at play: young Will Oldenbarnevelt is the second-born son to a wealthy Dutch shipping merchant, Jiayi Wei Ying is Yunhe jiating of the Chinese Grand Canal clan, Countess Clotilde Ushakov is the eldest niece of Ekaterina Alexeevna, Empress of all Russia, Leo Krummensee-Grabmaler is heir to the House of Hohenzollern…and many others, giving a sense […]

Marta Cheng2017-12-15T10:34:29+02:00December 14th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Historical Fiction Book Reviews, Young Adult Book Reviews|

Review: HARDBARNED! by Christopher J. Driver

In Hardbarned!: One Man’s Quest for Meaningful Work in the American South, an amusing and insightful memoir by Christopher J. Driver, readers are invited to commiserate with a hardworking American in a tough world, trying to pursue the happiness of writing over potential riches doing anything else.

Before this book was born, Driver spent years staring down some of the hardest questions of the last generation, namely: What am I supposed to do with this degree? What do I want to do with my life? Am I ever going to find a job that makes me happy? While these […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2019-02-11T09:36:08+02:00December 14th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Memoir Book Reviews, Non-Fiction Book Reviews|