Book Reviews | Self-Publishing Review

Review: Crop Burner by Gavin Black

Author Gavin Black plunges readers into a rich new fantasy world with Crop Burner: The Tale Of Fearn & The Deamhon, a stirring coming-of-age adventure.

Born into the world as something to be feared, Fearn is faced with a childhood filled with grief. However, as his nascent powers grow, more hands and minds seek to guide him, including those of a mysterious and widely feared Crop Burner. Fearn’s destiny lies far beyond his fiery origins, and as he learns to harness the energy of Dainua, he finds his place in a broken world not made for him.

Although there […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2022-01-25T09:12:24+02:00December 9th, 2021|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Fantasy, YA Fantasy|

Review: All That Will Remain by Richard Snodgrass

An epic American drama, All That Will Remain by Richard Snodgrass is a stunning portrait of small-town life suddenly revealed by the lights of the broader world.

This is not the first time the author has proven his ability to gracefully transport readers across time and space – his body of work is an homage to eras long past, linked through themes of industry, resilience, power, and the murky, ever-shifting idea of the American dream. This latest offering is an intimate and revealing peek into a temerarious family of rugged survivors as they navigate the rapidly changing landscape of war […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2022-01-18T09:14:58+02:00December 5th, 2021|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Richard Snodgrass|

Review: The Phantom Circuit by Austin Farmer

A reflective and frightening piece of dark fiction, The Phantom Circuit by Austin Farmer is a contemporary thriller carefully laced with classic horror themes.

Erica Westfield is dealing with the sudden loss of her international superstar sister, but a horrific slice of their past is also haunting this new grief, bringing up sinister memories of Bloody Mary, and a curse Erica thought she’d long ago left in the rear view. That twisted piece of personal history is breaking through the bounds of death, lurking on the other side of mirrors and computer screens, waiting to hack into her already troubled […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2022-01-14T05:07:03+02:00December 1st, 2021|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Horror, Paranormal|

Review: Flotsam by Tracy Grogan

Author Tracy Grogan plunges readers into an exotic and unpredictable thriller with Flotsam, the first installment of his Divemaster Ricky Mystery series. After finding one sunken corpse and witnessing a second potential murder – all in the same early morning dive – Ricky Yamamoto finds herself thrust into the middle of a deadly investigation in her personal slice of paradise.

As a scuba diving guide in a small corner of Micronesia, Ricky spends most of her days swimming with would-be adventure tourists, avoiding expats and reveling in the freedom that her nomad existence has finally granted. However, when the […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2022-11-08T18:12:01+02:00December 1st, 2021|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Thriller, Tracy Grogan|

Review: Ezekiel’s Awakening Into Light by Aubrey Wharton

Take an eye-opening journey through the trials of spiritual enlightenment with Ezekiel’s Awakening Into Light by Aubrey Wharton, a thoughtful meditation on following your own unique path.

Ezekiel left his life and love behind to become a devotee of an ashram on the other side of the world, but it didn’t take long before he struck out again on his own, to the great chagrin and rebuke of his brother monks. Leaving his two-man transcendental band behind, Ezekiel embarked on a “journey to nowhere” – more specifically, to Florida, abandoning the life of pure asceticism and brotherhood for solitude and […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2021-11-30T05:10:05+02:00November 28th, 2021|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Aubrey Wharton, Visionary Fiction|

Review: Crossing the Digital Faultline by Sri Manchala

A modern guru of technological and societal dynamism, author Sri Manchala delivers a powerful and cutting-edge leadership manual in Crossing the Digital Faultline: 10 Rules Of Highly Successful Leaders In Digitalization.

Laid out in four intuitively ordered sections that explain the new paradigm of leadership, outlining rules for success, defining the personality of a methodical innovator, and laying out a path for applying the book’s critical lessons, Manchala makes it easy to consume his wide breadth of knowledge. From shifting consumer preferences and new avenues of digital access to disruptive technologies, evolving supply chains, international competition, and startup culture, […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2022-01-05T03:08:26+02:00November 24th, 2021|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Business, Leadership, Sri Manchala|

Review: No. 7: The Date by Nandita Banerjee

Author Nandita Banerjee delivers yet another tangled knot of family drama with No. 7: The Date, the second installment of this eerie and thoughtfully crafted series.

Still reeling from her newly upended life, and the consequences of her husband’s sinister cabal activities, Priya must muddle through the aftermath of ghostly encounters, controlling relatives, natural disasters, unwanted advances, and even her son’s marriage proceedings in an endless quest to find peace. Armed with quiet perseverance, she must hold her family together on opposite sides of the world, all while juggling a dangerous and growing list of secrets – about her husband, […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2022-01-04T11:45:16+02:00November 17th, 2021|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Contemporary Fiction, Nandita Banerjee, Paranormal|

Review: The Story of You by Gerald Schaefer

In The Story of You, a brightly illustrated book for thoughtful children, author Gerald Schaefer finds straightforward yet colorful ways to help overcome many of life’s negative moments.

Schaefer opens his story with a welcome to our world of flowers, hummingbirds, and other natural phenomena, which help to build the notion of the connectedness of all life. He states that trees and flowers, for example, “appreciate” being looked at; our gaze perks them up in various ways, and makes us feel good, too. Inside each of us is another self, an “invisible you,” Schaefer reveals; though it can’t be […]

SPR2021-12-07T03:49:22+02:00November 17th, 2021|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Children's Books, Jerry Schaefer|