Book Reviews | Self-Publishing Review

Review: Golden State by David Prybil

If you took a poll asking people the capital of California my guess would be that not many people would know the answer. If you continued by asking how many of them have visited the capital city of California, I think even less people would answer in the affirmative. Books and movies that take place in California play up Los Angeles, Hollywood, and San Francisco. Not many feature Sacramento, unless the action revolves around the Gold Rush. For those who haven’t guessed yet, Sacramento is the capital of California.

Given the lackluster appeal, why did David Prybil set his novel […]

Review: Tropical Temptation: A Kristen Maroney Mystery by Susan LaDue

Tropical Temptation: A Kristen Maroney Mystery, by Susan LaDue, is a short mystery involving a cast of characters residing in Placencia, a small Caribbean town in Central America. Kristen Maroney owns a beach and resort wear boutique. She’s divorced, has a sexy boyfriend, wonderful friends, and a dog named Buster. Her store doesn’t make a ton of money, but she’s no longer working in the fashion world, which was ruining her life. She hated the job and resorted to drugs to get through each day. Now she’s living in tropical paradise and is content. That is until her friend’s […]

T B Markinson2012-11-07T13:52:02+02:00November 7th, 2012|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Mystery Book Reviews|

Review: The Book of Revelations: From Bombingham to Obama by Katy Ridnouer

The Book of Revelations: From Bombingham to Obama is a book of fiction. It is, however, based on real events, and the main character, Addie Mae Collins, was a real person. She was one of the four teenage girls who were killed in 1963 in Birmingham, Alabama when the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church was bombed. Ridnouer’s novel works from the premise that Addie Mae survived the bombing, and explores the life Addie Mae might have lived had she survived.

The narrative follows Addie from her near-death at age 14 until November of 2012. The reader spends most of the book

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Avery Hurt2014-05-09T21:32:17+02:00November 2nd, 2012|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Historical Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: The Dragon Who Feared Fire by Jeff Shevlowitz

“The Dragon Who Feared Fire” is a delightful tale about two outcasts who find each other and discover the true meaning of friendship. Even before Harold’s birth, his father knew he would not be like other dragons. Percy, Harold’s father, predicts, “Growing up may be hard for you, but you’ll be a dragon unlike any other.” Percy is correct. Unlike the other hatchlings, Harold is scared of fire. When the other youngsters revel in their ability to breathe fire, Harold runs away in fear. He prefers spending his time in solitude swimming in a secret lake. Most dragons hate the […]

T B Markinson2019-01-22T10:46:06+02:00October 30th, 2012|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Children's Book Reviews|

Review: Butt Ugly by Jimmy Glenn

Butt Ugly is a story of “love and baseball.” It is the heart warming tale of the cantankerous Cole Catalpa Junior, born with a deformity to the face that is so hideous people stare and comment all the time. He proves his bullies wrong when he starts pitching his anger out on his father’s barn door with a baseball and this talent for throwing is encouraged by Cole Senior despite Junior’s indifference,” “I’ve got no taste for that game” I told him. ” Regard it as an assignment,” he insisted.” This eventually shoots Junior into the national leagues of pro […]

Cate Baum2014-05-09T21:33:33+02:00October 24th, 2012|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Men's Fiction Book Reviews, Sports Book Reviews|

Review: Tilogos: A Treatise on the Origins and Evolution of Language by Sherman P. Bastarache

This book is written by a Canadian mechanic with an interest in the origin of language. He has obviously spent a great amount of his life reading and thinking about this question, not just as a technical quandary but rather a personal one.

As a Christian with no other language knowledge past that of high school, and only English at that, he makes a grand statement with this work but sometimes he doesn’t seem to quite grasp the principle he tries to illustrate, maybe because he has not dedicated time and energy to formally studying the discipline in which he […]

Cate Baum2020-02-21T07:51:46+02:00October 23rd, 2012|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Social Science Book Reviews|

Review: Secret of the Songshell (The Spectraland Saga) by Brian Tashima

When you pick up a fantasy genre book for teenagers, you expect Tolkeinesque trekking through rocks and meeting strange hybrid creatures, right? You expect lengthy descriptions of mountains, tunnels and pathways, yes? You expect charm, betrayal, adventure and friendship across species and a hero with the odds against him, don’t you? You get all of this in the first volume of this Saga by Hawaiian author Brian Tashima, but he adds some extra ingredients to make his writing unique.

Firstly, the touch of his Hawaiian culture comes through: There is a laid back, grass roots way that Tashima writes that […]

Cate Baum2014-05-09T21:36:16+02:00October 19th, 2012|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Fantasy Book Reviews, Young Adult Book Reviews|

Review: Price of Justice by Alan Brenham

It takes a certain kind of mystery or crime thriller to hold my complete attention. The cookie cutter plot lines of James Patterson make me laugh every time I see him hanging out on the New York Times Bestseller list. I enjoyed the occasional Mary Higgins Clark or John Grisham back in my high school days, but even they don’t do it for me today. Thomas Harris has always been a fav, but he’s written all of five books in three decades. These days author Gillian Flynn has me screeching like a vamp crazed teen girl every time a new […]

shannonyarbrough2014-05-09T21:37:15+02:00October 17th, 2012|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Thriller Book Reviews|