Literary Fiction Book Reviews | Self-Publishing Review

Review: It Is Myself That I Remake by Jaclyn Maria Fowler

From great heartache comes even greater happiness and fulfillment…such is the message beautifully conveyed in It is Myself That I Remake, a hauntingly evocative love story by Jaclyn Maria Fowler.

Sophie O’Connor is the only child of Kerry O’Connor, an Irish-American high school English teacher, and Maggie O’Connor, an American professor of literature. With both parents being literary academics who revere the classics, especially Yeats, it’s no surprise that Sophie is able to finish lines from her father’s favorite Yeatsian verses by age six. From a very young age, Sophie has an imaginary friend who she speaks to all […]

Review: Terror Trip by Delaney Landon

★★★½

If you have a thing for British suspense novels, Terror Trip by Delaney Landon is for you, especially at a time when the UK is facing its biggest challenges with domestic terrorism since the IRA attacks of the last decades.

Gabriel, a young black man, and his female companions board a train in London, going to Brighton, a seaside town on the South coast, in good spirits. As the journey progresses, they reveal that there are tensions and feelings between them no so obviously apparent. But when they are faced with a terror attack from a group of extremist […]

Naka Jackson2017-08-14T11:05:30+02:00June 22nd, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Literary Fiction Book Reviews, Thriller Book Reviews|

Review: Accidental Exiles by Bruce W. Perry

★★★★½

In Accidental Exiles, author Bruce W. Perry wrangles his readers through the horrors of war, the empty apathy of expat life, the terrors of love and the impossibility of ever truly moving on. Weaving romance and philosophy into emotional narration and suspensful flashbacks, this is an unpredictable and gutting novel – one that will almost certainly leave you searching for the next book by Perry.

Jesse is the core of this novel – an Iraq veteran who couldn’t bear the normalcy of home, nor the insanity of combat. Caught in his own form of limbo, he embarks on […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2018-09-10T03:44:32+02:00April 25th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Contemporary Fiction Book Reviews, Literary Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: Once Upon a Lie by Michael French

★★★★½

In Once Upon a Lie, author Michael French takes a long, hard look at the binary universe in which we live – rich or poor, black or white, woman or man – and explores how those ideas change and grow within two young people on the cusp of adulthood. It’s a timely and powerful tale of race and love.

These two characters, Jaleel and Alex, couldn’t be more different than one another if they tried, and the early chapters paint starkly different portraits of their lives in the same overlapping bubble of a city. The marvelously detailed and […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2017-04-04T10:24:10+02:00April 4th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Literary Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: The Game Changer by Dave Dröge

★★★★

The Game Changer by Dave Dröge is a complex, character-driven portrait of individual revolution. To say this novel is unusual is an understatement, but certainly not a critique. The Game Changer has countless different angles and subplots for readers to devour, ranging from visceral descriptions of Rotterdam to complex familial relationships and tough moral quandaries.

The crux of the novel is the connection between Henk van Wijnen-Swarttouw, prominent businessman and entrepreneur, whose empire stands in stark contrast to his daughter’s progressive outlook on life. Julia is a passionate focal point, freshly graduated from high school, and using her interim […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2018-10-11T10:53:52+02:00February 3rd, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Literary Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: Don’t Go, Ramanya by Rush Leaming

★★★★½

Transporting readers to another world, a different time, or a new way of looking at things is the great task of an author, and in Don’t Go, Ramanya, author Rush Leaming does a marvelous job of doing all three. Packed with vivid descriptions and unique, unforgettable characters, this novel grabs readers within the first few pages.

The story centers on three men, Father Bob, Michael Shaw and Ramanya, an ex-rebel soldier from Burma, as they serendipitously join forces and attempt to smuggle Ramanya back into his home country. This simple premise goes far deeper, as Ramanya is also […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2017-02-17T04:43:17+02:00February 3rd, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Literary Fiction Book Reviews|

Review: The Oarsman by Zubin Mathai

★★★★★

Many authors attempt to bridge the gap between metaphysical, philosophical and narrative elements, but few succeed as effectively as Zubin Mathai in The Oarsman. This is a novel that stands out of time and space, and brings readers on a surreal journey back up the long river of the Man’s years, a nameless protagonist seeking meaning and validation as he nears the end of his life.

At the behest of the god-like Judge and with the help of the mysterious, titular Oarsman, the Man sails back upstream, through the many different lives he has led, including those abandoned […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2017-02-17T05:38:24+02:00January 19th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Literary Fiction Book Reviews|

Wayfarers Highway by Peter Petrack

Wayfarers Highway by Peter Petrack is an intriguing and wildly entertaining novel following the life of Orson Gregory, a man who finds a magical gemstone hidden in a factory. He tells the story from a hospital bed about how he’s been on the run ever since – pursued by terrorists, bounty hunters, sinister forces, and more, who are all after the gemstone’s mystical power. Orson teams up with a group of adventurers so he might escape with his life, but even as he tells his tale, he may still be in danger.