The latest indie book reviews from Self-Publishing Review
Review: Shattered by the Wars by Hi-Dong Chai ★★★★★
Shattered by the Wars, by Hi-Dong Chai, should be required reading. This powerful coming of age memoir is a story of love, faith, suffering, and sacrifice.
Hi-Dong Chai had to overcome many obstacles in such a short amount of time. During World War II, Korea was under Japan’s control. They imprisoned his father because he was a Christian minister who refused to bow down to the picture of the Japanese emperor. His brother volunteered for the Japanese military in hopes to save his father. During the Korean War, his father was taken away by two North Korean officers. He never […]
Vihang A. Naik is an Indian poet living in Gujarat, with a prolific career in writing and translating poetry from Gujarati language into English, including his own works. His collection of poetry here, City Times and Other Poems will be fascinating to poetry lovers interested in words that explore from the inside, as these philosophical pieces capture their environment in a way that can only be crafted by a native inhabitant of an unusual creative mind many readers may not be so familiar with. However, this collection does not necessarily explore India, but more the human condition and the relation […]
Mom On The Road, by Allyson Primack, is a humorous look into the life of Maggie Stevens.
The Haunted Trail is the debut horror title by John C Lukegord, telling the tale of a streak of (fictional, or is it?) murders occurring in 1892 along an eponymous “haunted trail” in the backwoods of Dublin, perpetrated by the “crazy” and “inbred” mental patients et al that lurked within. The book covers several of these incidents, along with the actions of the community, a handful of ghosts, and an unfortunate clown. Together, the mystery of the haunted trail begins to unwind, but at what cost?
The Flying Burgowski by Gretchen K. Wing follows Joss Burgowski as she navigates life as a teenager who’s just turned fourteen, her dysfunctional family living on a small island in Washington, and…learning to fly. The Flying Burgowski is at once a sympathetic family drama and magical fantasy.
AM Madden’s latest romantic suspense novel Stone Walls is the story of NYPD cop Ben Stone. When Ben’s best friend and partner Rob’s girlfriend Andrea brings her best friend Ella Parker out to meet him on a foursome, he’s not ready for a serious girlfriend, and neither him nor Ella appreciate the matchmaking. Ella’s just out of a long-term relationship and Ben is having a casual thing that’s getting on his nerves.
What to Do on a Rainy Day by Katie Tavella is a charming children’s book about how kids can use their imaginations when it rains. Two kids trudge to the basement on a rainy day and imagine the cardboard boxes, chairs and other items are safari animals. First the kids imagine the box is a cave, with a bear inside, and their imaginations explode from there. In engaging rhyming prose, the kids realize there’s a whole lot to do even when there isn’t a lot to do outside.
Aoleon The Martian Girl – First Contact is Part 1 of Brent Le Vasseur’s wonderfully illustrated Science Fiction Saga, which begins when young astronomy fan Gilbert wakes up in the night to witness a strange light sweeping across the crop fields of his next-door neighbor, Farmer Johnson’s farm in Nebraska.