Young Adult Book Reviews | Self-Publishing Review

Review: Blowback ’07 by Brian Meehl

★★★★½

Blowback ’07 by Brian Meehl is a stunning start to an exciting new series.

Time travel is a popular theme in fiction – YA and otherwise – and Blowback ’07 stands out immediately within the sub-genre for its original plot and charismatic heroes, Arky and Iris. The context of the story is revealed rather quickly, and we soon learn that Iris is in possession of a family heirloom – the Jongler cor anglais – a musical instrument with unknown powers that their mother left to the twins before she disappeared.

Arky and Iris don’t always get along very well, […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2020-03-02T09:39:48+02:00November 6th, 2016|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Science Fiction Book Reviews, Time Travel Book Reviews, Young Adult Book Reviews|

Review: Goodbye, Rudy Kazoody by A.A. Freda

★★★★½

Growing up as a teenager in a big city is hard for the youth of any generation, but being an immigrant from Italy growing up on the mean streets of New York City in the 1960s was a bigger challenge than most. In Goodbye, Rudy Kazoody, author A.A. Freda gives us a picture of his own life as an immigrant in the Bronx from that historic time period. This semi-autobiographical tale is strikingly heartfelt and has the ring of deep truth, which makes it difficult to put down.

Joey is an innocent kid trying to make his way […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2019-01-22T04:36:41+02:00November 2nd, 2016|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Men's Fiction Book Reviews, Young Adult Book Reviews|

Review: Tomorrow We Die by E.R. Raabe

In this strange and troubling land, all young men are doomed to turn into dogs and die before they can reach the age of thirty. The curse leaves many with no hope for a future, either hoping for something great at a young age, or simply accepting an empty existence.

Seventeen-year-old Hippolyte Falcor is one such young man, caught up in a life of crime and escaped convictions. When he and his pack of fellows pick the wrong pocket, Hippolyte ends up in the mercy of the law, shackled to bodyguard duty for one Alex mac Fauks. But Alex offers […]

James Grimsby2019-02-11T08:42:44+02:00October 13th, 2016|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Dystopian Fiction Book Reviews, Young Adult Book Reviews|

The Emperor Returns by William Durkin and Shayne Durkin

In 2014, a ten-year-old girl asked her father if he could assist her in writing a book. That book was Emperor Norton’s Treasure Hunt, a “real life adventure” based in 1950s San Francisco – a local paper devises a treasure hunt with clues in their publication in order to boost sales and win the war for newspaper supremacy in the city.

The Emperor Returns is the sequel to the Durkin duo’s debut hit, starting off at the launch of Sputnik 1, two years after the San Francisco Chronicle’s infamous endeavor. The team are ripe for a new venture, […]

James Grimsby2019-01-22T06:00:07+02:00September 21st, 2016|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Fantasy Book Reviews, Middle Grade Fiction Book Reviews, Young Adult Book Reviews|

An Interview with Eli Bloom: Author of SEER: The Ghosts of Gray Fable

Eli Bloom is a mysterious young adult writer living in Los Angeles. He believes in ghosts. SEER: The Ghosts of Gray Fable is his first novel.

Tell us something about your book. The basics: what’s it about?

SEER is about 15-year-old girl, Grace Fable, who’s been able to see ghosts since she was six. When her single-father dad moves in with his girlfriend, Grace has to transfer to Willowbrook High School in California, the scene of a school shooting five years earlier. Soon she meets the ghosts of everyone involved in the shooting that day who tell her about someone […]

Eli Bloom2020-02-21T07:21:12+02:00September 6th, 2016|Categories: Interviews|Tags: Paranormal Book Reviews, Young Adult Book Reviews|

Review: Stumbling On A Tale (Time to Time #2) by Suzanne Roche

★★★★½

It all started with a book. Now three siblings are stuck together, traveling through time, once again…whether they like it or not.

Join Peri, Henry, and Max – two siblings and a half, in reverse order – as they make their way from the high spirits and high seas of an immigration ship en route to New York, and on to new adventures in the Middle Ages. Lost together in a forest after another of Peri’s bright ideas, the three find unlikely companions in a group of colorful travelers: a man and his pig, a maid searching for a […]

James Grimsby2019-01-22T11:00:57+02:00September 5th, 2016|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Historical Fantasy Book Reviews, Middle Grade Fiction Book Reviews, Young Adult Book Reviews|

Review: SEER: The Ghosts of Gray Fable by Eli Bloom

★★★★½

SEER: The Ghosts of Gray Fable by Eli Bloom is a chilling and thrilling YA novel.

With a bold plot line and an unforgettable protagonist, SEER instantly stands out as a paranormal classic. Author Eli Bloom captures youth, innocence and courage within these pages, while brushing on topical subjects that will strike a chord in readers of any age.

While the premise of the book makes it seem as though this book focuses heavily on the events of the possible school shooting, and everything Gray Fable might do to stop it, the writer is more keenly interested in revealing […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2020-02-21T07:21:20+02:00September 1st, 2016|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Paranormal Book Reviews, Young Adult Book Reviews|

Journeys of the Agenyre: Masters of the Will: The Hunt for the Golden Watch by Adrian Ray

Journeys of the Agenyre: Masters of the Will: The Hunt for the Golden Watch by Adrian Ray is a young adult fantasy novel with an intriguing premise, making for a good start to a new fantasy series. Aarron Hutches and Anna-Lisa Ammerson are Agenyre, otherwise known as Will Masters, who are able to bend elements at will. This is much more than standard elements like fire and water: they can bend spirit, heart, space, time, energy, and even more. The two teens go on a quest using their abilities to find a magical artifact split into four parts, which could […]