Book Reviews | Self-Publishing Review

Review: The Muses: Vengeance of Time by N.L. McEvoy

★★★★

The Muses: Vengeance of Time is the sequel to N.L. McEvoy’s Escaping Montague Manor, following Sarah and Nickolas McGuire on another harrowing adventure with the mystical muses. This time, Sarah and Nickolas aren’t as intent on escaping their Great-Aunt Vivian’s clutches as they are on reentering them.

When the children’s cousin, Simon, comes down with a mysterious and excruciatingly painful illness, they have no choice but to contact the powerful muses, whom they had previously freed from the machinations of their evil great-aunt and her benefactor, Dr. James. With the diplomatic Brigitta, herculean Bard, stoic Deidre, clandestine Charles, […]

Dakota Kemp2016-09-05T10:28:27+02:00August 8th, 2016|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Fantasy, Young Adult|

Review: Rubber Match by Marcus Cootsona

★★★★

There is a clear line between comic fiction and intelligent social satire, and Marcus Cootsona’s novel, Rubber Match, treads a careful dance between the two, providing an entertaining narrative, but never letting readers forget that they are enjoying the handily crafted prose of a witty wordsmith. Peppered with clever modern allusions and sharp rhetoric, the novel is a smart, savvy, tongue-in-cheek work of fiction. Cootsona knows his audience and plays to the crowd, moving slowly at times, but always with a feeling that things will soon get uniquely interesting.

Following a few brief, tennis-heavy chapters, Wally, an ex-tennis […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2019-01-22T15:31:55+02:00August 4th, 2016|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Contemporary Fiction, Humor, Satire, Sports|

Review: The People’s House by David Pepper

★★★★

The idea of corruption in government is hardly a novel thought, and it has been tackled from every imaginable angle, but in these hyper-charged modern times, a bit of escapism to an even more tangled world can be a treat. In The People’s House by David Pepper, an unlikely reporter has one final shot at a career-making scoop, and a chance to save democracy in this generation.

The familiar scene of a campaign reporter, Jack Sharpe, drinking himself silly at bars and feeling dissatisfied with the state of the political world eases readers into the tone of the story […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2016-08-24T05:28:34+02:00August 1st, 2016|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Political Thriller, Thriller|

Review: Tesla Evolution (Box Set) by Mark Lingane

In the far-flung future, long after society as we know it has withered and decayed into only unremembered remnants, humanity will rise again from the ashes of the old. But we are not alone. Legends will tell of a mere orphan, Sebastian, who grew from obscurity into a hero of the wastes, who discovered his true talents under the keen eye of his teacher at the Academy, and gave everything for the strange, yet beautiful world he came to understand. Embroiled in an ever-evolving conflict, it’s steampunk versus cyberpunk; technology versus humanity; old versus new…versus absurd. In the “Mad Max”-like […]

James Grimsby2022-04-28T07:32:55+02:00August 1st, 2016|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Apocalyptic Fiction, Mark Lingane, Post-Apocalyptic, Science Fiction|

Review: Eternally Haunted by Luigi Santo

★★★★½

The tale of Stasya Andersson is one of love, loss, and a long-standing question of identity. Growing up with only her widowed father for close company, she lives a sheltered existence under his wing. While happy for a time, her ancestral home seems to have some kind of sway on her, with memories that belonged to her mother Anastasya, who died in childbirth with Stasya, surfacing in the younger Andersson without reasonable explanation. Soon memories become apparitions, and Stasya is driven to understand the purpose for her mother’s return.

Hoping to make sense of her unusual and troubling circumstances, […]

James Grimsby2019-01-22T09:59:15+02:00August 1st, 2016|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Horror, Paranormal|

Review: Tepid Blue by Dev Bhattacharyya

To many, the practice of yoga is purely a physical exercise; something to enhance the body, not the mind. However, make no mistake – yoga is a deep, spiritual exercise intended to work the mind, body, and soul in tandem, as Tepid Blue by Dev Bhattacharyya makes clear.

Dev Bhattacharyya is an author dedicated to helping bring out the true potential of a person in his writing through thought exercises, examination of scriptures from across the world, and ruminations on the essentials of spiritualism. He has previously written on subjects such as Vedic thought, the philosophy of Krishna, and wider […]

James Grimsby2019-02-11T09:28:59+02:00July 26th, 2016|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Health, Spirituality|

Review: Never A Choice But Always A Gift by Adam Que

★★★½

Delving into someone else’s mind can be an exhausting and exciting adventure, and in Never A Choice But Always A Gift, Adam Que artfully pulls back the curtain on the inner monologue of Max Kristoff. Once readers move past the frantic pace of the author’s thoughts, and have a chance to settle into the stream-of-consciousness style, the story begins to take on a vague shape. Max is an early 30-something with a dead-end job and a rather cynical view of life, whose attention and thoughts seem out of control, at times, but intriguing nonetheless.

Within the busy writing and […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2016-08-23T05:33:29+02:00July 26th, 2016|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Contemporary Fiction|

Review: Everything You Never Wanted to Know About Erectile Dysfunction and Penile Implants by Rick & Brenda Redner

Everything You Never Wanted to Know About Erectile Dysfunction and Penile Implants by Rick and Brenda Redner is an informative and important book.

There are certain books that may be uncomfortable to pick up in a bookstore, or leave lying about on your coffee table, even if their subject matter is completely normal, and something that affects tens of millions of men around the world. Everything You Never Wanted to Know About Erectile Dysfunction and Penile Implants has a bold title that leaves little mystery as to the subject matter, but readers might be surprised by the value and insightful […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2019-02-11T09:29:06+02:00July 25th, 2016|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Health, Non-Fiction|