Book Reviews | Self-Publishing Review

Review: The Cufflink by Susan Bolch

Deceit, sacrifice and honor are at the heart of The Cufflink, a riveting multi-generational family saga by Susan Bolch.

Frederick “Fred” Maier Green is the third child born to a Latvian immigrant and his wife in Philadelphia in nineteen twelve. Life for young Fred is a series of resentments aimed at his much older siblings, both musical phenoms, as his parents lavish most of their attention and hopes on them.

However, things take an unexpectedly tragic turn when Fred’s brother dies from tuberculosis, perpetuating his sister’s downward spiral into an abusive marriage. Suddenly, Fred becomes the symbol of hope […]

Marta Cheng2019-05-23T10:01:59+02:00April 9th, 2019|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Contemporary Fiction|

Review: Splitting Bits by Joseph Gelet

For the better part of a century, our economic system has remained largely unchanged, and given the dynamic nature of modern society, the evolution of currency was a natural and unavoidable outcome. In Splitting Bits: Understanding Bitcoin and the Blockchain, author Joseph Gelet brings this fascinating and ever-changing new area of finance into clearer focus, and also explains where it is headed.

For many people, Bitcoin registered barely a blip on the radar 5 years ago, and largely remained that way until the past year or so, when this new financial paradigm hit international headlines with massive value increases […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2019-04-08T08:07:15+02:00April 7th, 2019|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Finance|

Review: Cajun Chameleon by Jimmie Martinez

Jax Badeaux slowly finds his way through the complexities of racism while growing up in New Orleans in the Sixties and Seventies. A self-described poor Cajun, he doesn’t expect to amount to much more than his drunken father or beleaguered but loving mother. Yet change begins with his friendship with a young man, Mike Guidry, who suddenly has the race laws labeling him black instead of white.

Cajun Chameleon: Reflections of a Recovering Racist tackles weighty issues with a light, straightforward touch. When best friend Mike suddenly can’t attend the same junior high school as Jax because he lacks a […]

Greg Rideout2019-04-08T08:03:18+02:00April 6th, 2019|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Coming Of Age, Contemporary Fiction, Jimmie Martinez|

Review: Ripple Effect: Because of the War by Jenny Ferns

Some of the most traumatic and impactful events in human history are tied to war, which tears apart families, history, ideas and entire continents with their senseless brutality. In Ripple Effect: Because of the War, the first book in the Ripple Effect series, author Jenny Ferns steps down from the macrocosm of the battlefield to the peripheral effects of violence and chaos away from the frontlines. As this book’s title implies, the long-term results of war go much further than those who were wounded or killed.

Veronica and Rachel are sisters, although they both fell on opposite sides of […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2020-05-20T05:17:04+02:00April 4th, 2019|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Historical Fiction, World War II|

Review: The Last Surviving Dinosaur by Steven Joseph, Illustrated by Andy Case

The Last Surviving Dinosaur: The TyrantoCrankaTsuris is an imaginative picture book written by Steven Joseph, with vivid illustrations by Andy Case.

As a young boy, the father in the story grew up in his tight-knit Bronx neighborhood listening to his large group of relatives ranging from his Aunt Zaydie and Aunt Ruthie, his second cousin Dottie, and his Uncle Mottie and Uncle Shmukie out-do one another by “kvetching” about their “tsuris,” Yiddish for complaining about their problems. One had green fungus growing between her toes, another had a foot bitten by an alligator and was turning into a reptile, one […]

Marta Cheng2019-05-22T07:28:31+02:00April 4th, 2019|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Children's Books|

Review: The Promise (Book 1 of the Piecer Chronicles) by Maxx Powr

In The Promise, a futuristic new thriller by Maxx Powr, readers are dumped onto an Earth of the future, where the scars of an attempted alien takeover 20 years earlier have barely stopped bleeding. When that same threat returns in even more devastating style, a young band of unexpected heroes must rise up in defense of the only home they know.

After the human population was nearly destroyed by an alien invasion, recovery has been slow, but promising. Birth rates are rising, the militarized nature of life is beginning to shift, and there is even talk of ending the […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2019-04-04T10:25:39+02:00April 3rd, 2019|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Maxx Powr, Science Fiction|

Review: The Last Defender by Travis Pearson

If you were witnessing the end of free will and life as you know it, would you have the courage to stand up and defend what you believe in? This is the gripping question that author Travis Pearson tackles in his rapid-fire new novel, The Last Defender. Seamlessly blending social commentary, dystopian science fiction and thrilling action, this novel casts a wide net in terms of a potential audience.

When a larger-than-life politician is elected to rule a sovereign nation, his constituents have no idea what horror they’ve signed up for. A shift in tactics is one thing, but […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2019-06-03T03:20:46+02:00April 2nd, 2019|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Dystopian Fiction, Thriller, Travis Pearson|

Review: Kaleidoscope of Colors by Robert A. Cozzi

In Kaleidoscope of Colors, poet Robert A Cozzi has created a new collection of his verse using the motif of the kaleidoscope, a device that fractures and re-orders reality in microcosm, just as poems reduce and revive the color and a shape of life’s situations to give them new meaning.

In the opening Author’s Note, Cozzi questions why we always seem to “explain emotions,” calling our feelings “tricky devils.” But he likes them, even when they are painful and cloud his mind. Despite this rather dark segue, his first poem, “Jumping Off the Shelf” is hopeful, using images of […]

SPR2019-05-16T10:43:05+02:00March 28th, 2019|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Poetry, Robert A. Cozzi|