SPR’s book reviews of new self-published books
A Spiritual Journey by Susan Kapatoes
A Spiritual Journey is Susan Kapatoes’ memoir about communing with the divine, and finding evidence of the divine in her life, such as in friendships and love. The book is not so much a spiritual treatise investigating different spiritual traditions, so much as a personal memoir about personal spiritual growth. Though she has her first spiritual awakening after picking up a Christian Bible, her story is not centered around Christianity specifically, but a more-universal take on the meaning of God.
Kapatoes’ story is gripping because she perceives an absolute reality to her spiritual awareness. Her awakening is not merely intellectual, […]
The Life Engine by Rick Baker is a pulse-pounding and thought-provoking thriller about two mismatched people on the run from the American government and a sadistic killer. Ian Wolfe is a down-on-his-luck former CIA agent who is tasked with investigating April Gentry, a female Indiana Jones and then some, who has access to a life-saving plant in the Amazon rainforest. Pharmaceutical companies aren’t so interested in having this come to market, and send an assassin to rectify the problem. Meanwhile, an associate of April hacks into a government database and downloads top secret information. Ian and April become closer as […]
B The EXXtinction by Santiago Mantilla is a dystopian science fiction novel proposing the provocative question: what would happen if men go extinct? Despotic ruler Queen Estevez starts a civil war to exterminate the male population. What she didn’t count on is how many males and females are bonded together, and don’t want to join her crusade. Noah and his daughter, Talayeh, find themselves in the middle of the rebellion, and the subtitle of the novel is brought to light: “The Only Hope for Man Is a Woman.”
Twenty-somethings Ellis, Bax and Chloe set out for a roadtrip only to quickly find they have no money. Busking to get by, Ellis eventually makes his way to Los Angeles and into the cut-throat music business, and all the highs (literally) and lows you find there. A story as much about friendship as it is about the music industry, Long Plastic Hallway is a generation-defining book that’s as fun to read as it is for these characters to live.
Exile (Bloodforge Book 1) by Tom Stacey is an epic fantasy novel that heralds the beginning of an exciting new series. The Verian Empire is in shambles – on the edge of war, in the past and on the horizon – a land where heroes no longer remain. Out of this chaos, new heroes emerge to fight the Echoes, demons in a human facade, who want to claim this land for their own.
Celluloid by Holly Curtis feels like a novel written in black and white – the color of old movies, and especially Film Noir. It’s not a crime novel, per se, but it is a novel permeated with the love of old movies. This is a film freak’s novel through and through, and the veneration of film shines on every page.
My Daylight Monsters is the prequel novella to Sarah Dalton’s Young Adult Mary Hades series. Though the book is called a prequel, Dalton recommends in the beginning of the book to start with this short work, and it establishes Mary Hades as a riveting, exciting, and sensitive young adult heroine.
Golden Gloves: rap-novel is one of the most unique reading experiences you’ll have. Written in rhyming verse, it tells the story of a Jewish immigrant from Odessa who wins a Golden Gloves boxing tournament. The book covers heady issues such as anti-Semitism, immigration, poverty, and the cut-throat world of amateur boxing.