Book Reviews | Self-Publishing Review

Review: Shadowshine by Johnny Armstrong

A timely and fearless tale of courage in the face of insurmountable odds, Shadowshine: An Animal Adventure by Johnny Armstrong is a brilliant piece of creative fiction.

When Zak the “poet possum” realizes that his home and those he cares for are being threatened, he embarks on an epic journey into the unknown to rally support and find a way to protect the forest. Somehow, he must unite the Forest Folk to push back the dangerous humans and their allies, but there are secret suspicions and old enemies who stand in his way.

An incredibly intelligent and philosophical protagonist, Zak […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2020-10-30T03:42:03+02:00October 29th, 2020|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Children's Books, Johnny Armstrong, Middle Grade Fiction|

Review: Soul Seeker by Kaylin McFarren

When a corrupted child grows into an unrepentantly evil young man, he must be stopped, and that will require the investigations of a horrified father and the services of a dedicated demon, in the colorfully complex fantasy by author Kaylin McFarren, Soul Seeker.

Firefighter Benjamin Poe is fed up with his lazy, complaining son Gabe, but those feelings amplify when there’s a fire at Gabe’s workplace, killing the three co-workers he particularly despised. Poe can’t help but try to learn more until he is confronted by a strange man with bright flashing eyes. Crighton is so well acquainted with […]

SPR2020-10-27T08:10:47+02:00October 27th, 2020|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Fantasy, Kaylin McFarren|

Review: Side Steps Terrorizing Sound Bites by Amy Jean

A poetic guide for choosing an authentic life against a global backdrop of injustice, Side Steps Terrorizing Sound Bites by Amy Jean is a creative and powerful collection, accompanied beautifully by illustrations from Eric Savage.

With the underlying theme of taking control of one’s life, rather than being swept along with the systems in place, these poems are empowering, accusatory, curious, and fearless. The subject matter of these lyrical passages varies wildly, from the wonders of the natural world to inequality of all kinds, yet each of the poems in this extended “chime” feel carefully constructed, without wasting words.

Jean […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2020-12-02T09:24:22+02:00October 26th, 2020|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Poetry|

Review: K3+ by Erasmo Acosta with Gala Stevenson

K3+ by Erasmo Acosta with Gala Stevenson is a stunning piece of futurist sci-fi – a visionary story that proposes the shape of mankind’s destiny in the universe.

A wildly creative futuristic vision, this novel tracks the origins of the fictional Space Initiative and its first nascent steps among the stars, led by its unlikely and uncompromising leader, Federico. As an added twist, readers are also given a glimpse far into the future – a billion years – to the intergalactic evolution of the human race, with its population in the nonillions and energy-capturing megastructures placed around billions of stars.[…]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2020-12-01T07:30:33+02:00October 24th, 2020|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Science Fiction|

Review: Black River Lantern by Alex Grass

A surreal carnival of horrors, Black River Lantern by Alex Grass is a genre-spanning novel of dangerous powers, cruel fathers, and the secrets that shape our lives.

The Maravicos Carnival is a legendary institution in the town of Kayjigville, but so is the temper and ambition of Papa Maravicos, who will do anything to keep the family business thriving. After escaping from his father’s never-ending cycle of abuse and pain, Eddie Maravicos is dragged back to this torturous circus, armed with the surprising new power to read minds. It doesn’t take long for his father to capitalize on this new […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2020-10-23T07:13:13+02:00October 23rd, 2020|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Alex Grass, Fantasy|

Review: Plagues and Princes: The Great Mortality by Thomas Schultz

Destiny-starred lives collide in Plagues and Princes: The Great Mortality, a dark historical fiction novel set in medieval England. A powerful tale of death and betrayal boasting exquisite language, unforgettable characters, and a tangled knot of a plot, author Thomas Schultz delivers a bold first piece of his new trilogy.

Thomas de Parr is a free-thinking young man in a world that crushes such spirits; he is faithful to his maker, but also insatiably curious, and dangerously independent. Surviving human history’s most horrific plague is only the beginning of this unpredictable adventure, which pits this young nobleman against the […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2020-11-24T08:05:31+02:00October 23rd, 2020|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Historical Fiction|

Review: Just Buy Her a Dress and She’ll Be Fine by Amanda Dodson Gremillion

The emotionally charged yet sensible treatise, Just Buy Her a Dress and She’ll Be Fine by Amanda Dodson Gremillion, is the moving story of postpartum depression and OCD as it played out in the author’s own life, and how that became a medium for guiding others.

Gremillion’s mental distress seemed to begin when she had her first child. She and her husband Jay had met in their early teens, courted for ten years, and married – happily, at first. Both wanted a child and when their daughter Aubrie Lynn was born, she was welcomed.

Soon afterwards, the problems set in. […]

SPR2020-10-19T03:28:30+02:00October 13th, 2020|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Amanda Dodson Gremillion, Health, Memoir, Parenting|

Review: In the Orbit of Sirens by T.A. Bruno

Readers are thrown into two fascinating futures on a convergence course in author T.A. Bruno’s multifaceted new sci-fi novel, In the Orbit of Sirens (The Song of Kamaria Book 1).

Humanity’s last shreds of hope lie in interstellar lifeboats sailing towards Kamaria, a planet of endless possibility and mystery. Advanced alien races and desperate humans inevitable clash, but must ultimately compromise, if peace can ever be maintained. Denton Castus, a rugged everyman who rises to extraordinary challenges, and Eliana Veston, a proud and brilliant researcher, are forced into the middle of life-or-death negotiations, and a violent crossroads for the […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2020-11-18T04:57:14+02:00October 10th, 2020|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Science Fiction|