Book Reviews | Self-Publishing Review

Review: Freeing Linhurst by Al Cassidy

★★★★½

Targeted at younger readers, Freeing Linhurst is a thrilling mystery that follows the adventures of Jack Alexander, an intrepid young investigator who is following in his mother’s footsteps – determined to uncover the truth about Linhurst State School and Hospital – an abandoned mental asylum in town.

Jack doesn’t know exactly what happened at Linhurst, but after choosing to write a school paper on the subject, his curiosity leads him down the proverbial rabbit hole. The scars of the asylum can still be seen all around, particularly in the ex-residents who still populate the town of Spring Dale. There […]

Review: It Is Myself That I Remake by Jaclyn Maria Fowler

From great heartache comes even greater happiness and fulfillment…such is the message beautifully conveyed in It is Myself That I Remake, a hauntingly evocative love story by Jaclyn Maria Fowler.

Sophie O’Connor is the only child of Kerry O’Connor, an Irish-American high school English teacher, and Maggie O’Connor, an American professor of literature. With both parents being literary academics who revere the classics, especially Yeats, it’s no surprise that Sophie is able to finish lines from her father’s favorite Yeatsian verses by age six. From a very young age, Sophie has an imaginary friend who she speaks to all […]

Marta Cheng2019-02-11T08:52:24+02:00July 13th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Contemporary Fiction Book Reviews, International Fiction Book Reviews, Literary Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: Girl Unseen (Beyond the Grave Book 3) by Athena Daniels

Writing a great mystery, capturing the soul of true romance, and driving the imagination beyond the world we understand are all tough tasks that certain authors face, but managing to combine all three in the same unforgettable novel is a rare feat. In Girl Unseen, the third installation of the Beyond the Grave series by Athena Daniels, readers are pulled into a paranormal tale of mystery and danger, peppered with plenty of heart-pumping romance and action.

Pia Williams is a key part of the first two novels in this series, but here she takes center stage with her unusual […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2019-07-12T03:10:23+02:00June 30th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Paranormal Book Reviews, Romance Book Reviews|

Review: Footsteps in the Dark by Carlo Armenise

★★★★½

The most terrifying stories are those that strike close to truth – those that make you question your understanding of the world and your grip on reality. In Footsteps in the Dark: Stories of the Bizarre and Unusual, author Carlo Armenise manages to capture the best elements of strangeness, teasing them out into brief, dark stories that are recognizable, and so all the more chilling.

From gruesome murders and strange bedfellows to magical potions and nightmares that can kill, the book is a fast-paced collection of scary stories that brush against the paranormal, but don’t quite leap over […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2020-03-10T12:34:44+02:00June 30th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Horror Book Reviews|

Review: A Killer’s Grace by Ronald Chapman

Many people seek out books as a form of escape – a chance to leave the world behind and live in another person’s thoughts for a time. In A Killer’s Grace, author Ronald Chapman introduces readers to a life they probably don’t understand, but the difficult, probing and personal questions raised throughout this book don’t leave readers much room to escape.

From the very first chapter, we are introduced to Kevin Pitcairn and Daniel Davidson, a journalist and a serial killer, the two key characters that drive this story forward. It all begins with a letter from Davidson, pleading […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2019-02-11T08:40:41+02:00June 28th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Contemporary Fiction Book Reviews, Crime Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: Back Side of a Hurricane by Robert Schwab

★★★★

Tucker Nash’s life is about to be hit by a hurricane. As an actual hurricane heads towards South Carolina, Tucker learns that his wife is suffering from a crippling depression that could upend his marriage. When they go to couple’s therapy it unearths more than issues with their marriage. Tucker remembers one of the only good times he had with his father, which sends him on a journey to mend his life. When he meets a car mechanic named Earl Pitney on his travels, he might just bring another man down with him. Like a hurricane, if the wind […]

Lysa Grant2017-06-28T04:31:48+02:00June 27th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Contemporary Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: Terror Trip by Delaney Landon

★★★½

If you have a thing for British suspense novels, Terror Trip by Delaney Landon is for you, especially at a time when the UK is facing its biggest challenges with domestic terrorism since the IRA attacks of the last decades.

Gabriel, a young black man, and his female companions board a train in London, going to Brighton, a seaside town on the South coast, in good spirits. As the journey progresses, they reveal that there are tensions and feelings between them no so obviously apparent. But when they are faced with a terror attack from a group of extremist […]

Naka Jackson2017-08-14T11:05:30+02:00June 22nd, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Literary Fiction Book Reviews, Thriller Book Reviews|

Review: The Digital Rabbit Hole by Larry Kilham

In the digital age, we might not know everything, but we generally feel sure we can easily find all the information we need. In The Digital Rabbit Hole, Larry Kilham, experienced businessman and author, suggests that our choice to constantly seek answers in cyberspace may be our worst obstacle to true knowledge and wisdom.

Using the imagery of Alice in Wonderland as Alice descends into a mad and unpredictable world, Kilham illustrates how the digital age poses potential unseen dangers. Smartphones and other devices take away our willingness to solve problems on our own while demonstrably shortening attention spans. […]

Barbara Scott2020-02-21T07:48:04+02:00June 17th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Social Science Book Reviews|