Reader Assessments

Posted by Awesome Indies Book Awards

Reader Assessments

As from September, 2025, any writer submitting a book for Awesome Indies Book Awards approval will be asked to read and honestly review a book from this list and return the review to admin@awesomeindies.net before their book is added to the list.

This page includes an up-to-date list of books requiring an assessment. If you have submitted a book which is not on the list, please contact admin@awesomeindies.net 

If you recommend a book for approval, please complete a short appraisal or review and allocate 4, 4.5 or 5 stars. This is will prevent the Google search engine from returning a 1-star rating against the books on the website. If you need further advice, please click this link: General advice for Assessors:

Please select at least one book from this list. Admin will send you the Epub.

Assessment Requests:

Soulwinder

  • Submitted:07-Sep-21
  • Author Name:Travis Daniel Bow
  • Category or Genre:Sword and Sorcery
  • 2nd Category:Fantasy
  • Reader Age Group: Adult
  • Number of Words:119500
  • Link to Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09FHTFTNH/
  • Link to Goodreads:https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58913399
  • Formats available:.mobi, .epub

SYNOPSIS:

Three strangers.
Two plots.
One champion.

In the crater of a volcanic island, musical magic and enchanted swordplay rule society. Every seven years a champion from each caste climbs the tournament ladder for a chance at a new life. This year three apparent strangers—a sabotaged craftsman trying to save his mentally disabled father, a legendary duelist resisting the machinations of her master, and a Magistry janitor fighting an empathy-sapping talent—are desperate to reach the final battle. But a web of strange coincidence connects them, the city is on the brink of collapse, and nothing is as it seems.

Everyone’s a puppet… but who holds the strings? 

This author’s previous Approved/Seal Book(s):

  1. THANE (Everknot Duet #1) http://j.mp/AwesIndBk211
  2. KING’S TABLE (Everknot Duet #2) http://j.mp/AwesIndBK280

(Click here to return to index.)

The Margins (The Commons 2)

  • Submitted:       09-Nov-21
  • Author Name:  Michael Alan Peck
  • Category or Genre:    Contemporary Fantasy
  • 2nd Category: Metaphysical Fantasy
  • Reader Age Group:    Adult
  • Number of Words:      180000
  • Link to Amazon:          https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09DDJ2VJD
  •                                        https://amzn.to/3EZNecM
  • Link to Goodreads:     https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58886102-the-margins
  • Formats available:      .mobi, .epub

SYNOPSIS:

“I think I did something. Something someone really bad was counting on me to do. And I think you helped me.”
Ray-Anne Blair isn’t buying it. She just wants Paul Reid to forget about the imaginary place he says he needs to return to—and to stop calling her Rain.
Everyone wants something. Jeremy Johns wants to do well at his job, but the new office is strange. So is his boss, Mr. Truitt. Annie Brucker wants to understand how she ended up back with her abusive ex. Zach, her son, wants to know if he should trust whatever it is that speaks to him from the darkness of his closet. Jonas Porter, Audra Farrelly, Po the silent monk, and Charlene Moseley want to know why their colleagues and prospective Journeymen have disappeared.
Welcome to The Margins, a place that shouldn’t be—but is, thanks to Paul and his friends. They thought they’d won. But they played right into the hands of an evil that anticipated their heroic act. Now realms are crossing over, the universe is collapsing, and it’s up to those who created the danger to neutralize it.
No one said it would be easy. No one’s sure it’s even possible.
But this is where the difficult and the impossible abound.This is The Commons.

This author’s previous Approved/Seal Book(s):

  1. THE JOURNEYMAN (THE COMMONS #1) http://j.mp/AwesIndBk097

Dawn of Unity

Epub available on Dropbox Click here to view or download

  • Submitted:25/01/2023
  • Author Name:Nitish Sharma
  • Category or Genre:Fantasy
  • 2nd Category: Historical, YA/Adult
  • Reader Age Group:Adult
  • Language:English (Can)
  • Number of Words:192000
  • Link to Amazon:https://www.amazon.ca/Dawn-Unity-Last-Seekers-Book-ebook/dp/B0B6Y9ZFVJ
  • Formats available:.epub

SYNOPSIS: (From Amazon)

A boy despised by society, another elevated to prominence, both linked by a war.

“Die a criminal or serve your country in this war,” the knight who recaptured seventeen-year-old Will Farmer told him. Locked away for murder, Will escaped only because of a powerful object he found. He takes the knight’s mercy to prove he’s not the monster they say he is. A battle later he’s captured by a boy from the opposing side who holds an object like his.

“Capture an enemy, bring him to the capital, and you will be grand vizier,” the sultan told sixteen-year-old Ahmed Sharfi. He’s improved over nine years at the University of Magi, since the day he accidentally burned down his town’s souk. To sit by the sultan’s side, it’s everything he thought he wanted. Thus he heads to war. Yet, a powerful object, found during his studies, points him to someone in the aftermath of a battle.

Their nations say they should be enemies, but it isn’t so. They don’t understand the war, but for different reasons. Will wants redemption, while Ahmed cared only about his studies, yet they seem to get along so well. They realise their powerful objects may be able to guide them. But who are two boys to change a war others failed to stop?

Pulstar I – The Swan Barely Remembers

 

  • Submitted:13/03/2023
  • Author Name:Giancarlo Roversi
  • Category or Genre:Science Fiction
  • 2nd Category: Mystery
  • Reader Age Group:Adult
  • Language:English (US)
  • Number of Words:107809
  • Link to Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BXJZ14P

SYNOPSIS:

Three strangers who share a forgotten past confront a vengeance they incited when their bodies weren’t human.In Astralvia, a nation on the brink, astronomer Jeral Murh’s life is in limbo.She’s woken from a coma with fresh memories and is certain of two things:

  1. Her past actions are already haunting her present.
  2. She is not entirely human.

She must abscond from Astralvia before an ancient enemy wreaks revenge. Everything is against her. Also, she must find Aris Castilho, her former ally, and make him remember what they once meant to each other. She can’t leave without him.

Will she find Aris and convince him of their common past?

Will they reach Esther, their third ally?

Time is short … the ultimate reckoning is coming … and it’s unthinkable, indescribable—the worst thing that can happen to any human being.

Pulstar I took over ten years to make and has a soundtrack in production.

(Click here to return to index.)

The Blue Man

  • Submitted: 15/03/2023
  • Author Name: Leilanie Stewart
  • Category or Genre: Ghost horror
  • 2nd Category: Psychological literary fiction
  • Reader Age Group: Adult
  • Language: English (UK)
  • Number of Words: 80306
  • Link to Amazon: https://amzn.to/3JJekdy

Synopsis

Two best friends. An urban legend. A sinister curse.

Twenty years ago, horror loving Sabrina told her best friend, Megan, the terrifying Irish folk tale of the Blue Man, who sold his soul to the Devil in vengeance against a personal injustice. What should have been the best summer of their school days turned into a waking nightmare, as the Blue Man came to haunt Megan. Sabrina, helpless to save Megan from a path of self-destruction and substance abuse as she sought refuge from the terror, left Belfast for a new life in Liverpool.

Twenty years later, the former friends reunited thinking they had escaped the horrors of the past. Both were pregnant for the first time. Both had lived elsewhere and moved back to their hometown, Belfast. Both were wrong about the sinister reality of the Blue Man, as the trauma of their school days caught up to them – and their families.

Why did the Blue Man terrorise Megan? Was there more to the man behind the urban legend? Was their friendship – and mental health – strong enough to overcome a twenty year curse?

(Click here to return to index.)

True Course – Lessons From a Life Aloft

  • Submitted: 27 October 2023
  • Author Name:Brigid Johnson
  • Book Title:True Course – Lessons From a Life Aloft
  • Category or Genre:Non Fiction
  • Second Category or Sub-genre:Biography
  • Reader Age Group:Young Adult
  • Number of Words:70290
  • Language:English (US)
  • Format: Epub
  • Link to book on Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/True-Course-Lessons-Life-Aloft/dp/1977211151/

Synopsis:

From award-winning, best-selling author Brigid Johnson comes the tale of how one woman’s life in the sky forged an unforgettable destiny. As a teen in a small factory town in the 1960s when aviation was predominantly a male profession, with parents who didn’t support her ambitions, Brigid nevertheless learned to fly. Hers was a busy life of setting limits and learning philosophies of growth and risk well beyond her years, even as she juggled two jobs, college, and a rescue Siberian husky whose wandering spirit put her own to shame. From first solo to an airline career, and finally a decision to hang up her wings for another profession when her elderly father needed her care, Brigid captures with understanding, humor, and grace the moments that change the path of our lives as we come of age.

This author’s previously Approved/Seal books:

  1. THE BOOK OF BARKLEY  http://j.mp/AwesIndBk172

(Click here to return to index.)

Saint Bloodbath

  • Submitted: 27/10/2023
  • Author Name:Frederick Douglass Reynolds
  • Category or Genre:True Crime
  • Second Category or Sub-genre:
  • Reader Age Group: adult
  • Number of Words:96000
  • Language:English (US)
  • Format: .pgfLink to your book on Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/dp/0578277328

Synopsis:

Two homicide detectives take on a gruesome homicide case in Long Beach, California, and navigate the complex role of being the murder police in an area marked by homelessness, drug abuse, and gang violence. With little but their combined decades of detective experience to go off of, they investigate personal and gang-related motives in an attempt to identify and arrest their suspect. When a severed hand is found in the desert close to 100 miles away, their years-long investigation crosses jurisdictions, and they must connect the dots before the bloodbath continues.

(Click here to return to index.)

Cremains – A comedy crime caper

  • SUBMITTED:Friday, 3 November 2023
  • Author Name:Rob Johnson
  • Category or Genre:Crime
  • Reader Age Group:Adult
  • Number of Words:70000
  • Language:English (UK)
  • Format: .epub
  • Link to book on Amazon:https://viewbook.at/Cremains

Synopsis:

Seeing an elderly woman crushed to death under a baby grand piano is not the best start to anyone’s day, and Max Dempsey’s is about to get a whole lot worse.

When sacked bank manager turned bank robber Max Dempsey finds himself deep in debt to dodgy undertaker Danny Bishop, he’s prepared to do almost anything to pay it off and keep all of his fingers.

But he’s likely to lose a lot more than his fingers when he agrees to do a “little job” for Danny and unintentionally crosses psychopathic Greek gangster, Nikos Spiropoulos.

Meanwhile, Bernard Pemberton and his granddaughter Tess are on a road trip to scatter their beloved Dottie’s ashes on a Scottish hilltop, but is it really her ashes in the cremation urn or something else altogether?

 (Book 1 in the ‘Cremains’ comedy caper series)

This author’s previous Approved/Seal Book(s):

  1. QUEST FOR THE HOLEY SNAIL https://j.mp/AwesIndBK276
  2. LIFTING THE LID – A COMEDY THRILLER https://j.mp/AwesIndBk386
  3. HEADS YOU LOSE (Lifting the Lid #2) https://j.mp/AwesIndBK287

Sky of Ashes, Land of Dreams

  • SUBMITTED: Saturday, 11 November 2023
  • Author Name: Erin Jamieson
  • Category or Genre: Historical Fiction
  • Second Category or Sub-genre: Historical Fiction
  • Reader Age Group: Adult
  • Number of Words: 66000
  • Language: English (US)
  • Format: .pdf
  • Link to book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/46bZ2Wo

Synopsis:  

The enthralling story of three unforgettable young adults living on the cusp of great change in early 20th-century Mongolia. A captivating, beautiful saga from debut novelist Erin Jamieson about having dreams, finding love, and learning to survive in a harsh, ever-changing place.

(Click here to return to index.)

Living Green and the Smoke

  • Submitted   Sunday 3 December 2023
  • Author:  Florian Bushy
  • Book Title:        Living Green and the Smoke:
  • A Story About Air Pollution, Global Warming, and Teamwork
  • Category or Genre:    Children’s Environment Books
  • Second Category or Sub-genre:      Children’s Magical Realism Book
  • Reader Age Group:    Children
  • Number of Words:      700
  • Language:        English (US)
  • Link to your book on Amazon:         https://www.amazon.com/Living-Green-smoke-pollution-environment-ebook/dp/B09R7TNMZ5

Synopsis:

Living Green and the Smoke by Florian Bushy

Embark with your child on an enchanting adventure with the Award-Winning children’s book Living Green and the Smoke, a story about the principles of teamwork, environmental conservation, and community values.
Transport your child to the early days of Earth, a time when the planet was pristine, allowing plants to move like people. Join the heroic duo, Mrs. Florence and Mr. Florian, as they tackle the mysterious pollution invading their forest. Through friendship, and teamwork, the plants and trees come together to save the planet from the effects of climate change.

(Click here to return to index.)

 

Tally and the Angel Book One

  • Author Name:Eleanor Dixon
  • Category or Genre:Middle Grade
  • Second Category or Sub-genre:Action and adventure
  • Reader Age Group:Children
  • Number of Words:38778
  • Language:English (UK)
  • Link to your book on Amazon:https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B093WN5VYR
  • Submitted: Tuesday 4 June 2024

Synopsis:

Grief explodes into adventure for Tally, when her mother leaves behind a mysterious pendant and a fiery secret. The pendant holds Jophiel, an angel with more than just a sense of humour. Tally convinces her dad to let her accompany him travelling the world instead of packing her off to boarding school, and their first stop is India. There, Tally meets street-smart Balvan and his sister Aditi. She also discovers that all is not as it should be in the city of Agra: children are disappearing. Aided by Jophiel, who teaches Tally to channel her anger into an ordinary dressmaker’s pin (with extraordinary power!), Tally and Balvan uncover a sinister plot to destroy India. In a race against time, in ancient tunnels under the city, they face the legendary dragon demon, Vritra. Tally’s flaming pin becomes her only weapon in a perilous showdown, leading to a victory shrouded in secrecy. Returning home, Tally grapples with the loss of Jophiel’s presence in the pendant, but a final surprise ignites the promise of more adventures to come.

 

Covenant

  • Author Name:  Nelsyn N Carlson
  • Book Title:        Covenant
  • Category or Genre:    Fantasy
  • Second Category or Sub-genre:      Historical Fiction
  • Reader Age Group:    Adult
  • Number of Words:      78000
  • Language:        English (US)
  • Link to your book on Amazon:         https://www.amazon.com/Covenant-Nelsyn-N-Carlson/dp/1963611268/
  • submitted   Friday 7 June 2024

Synopsis:  

Peer into the celestial realm, where Lucifer, once favored among angels, now grapples with a deep-seated discontent. Tempted by the promise of a greater destiny, he wavers on the edge of defiance. Plotting amidst the ever-changing landscape of Earth, while humanity flourishes under his watchful eye, he is determined to shape the fate of these newcomers who have intruded upon his domain.

While mankind multiplies across the Earth, Enoch, a scribe entrusted with divine knowledge, must grapple with an ever-looming darkness that engulfs their world. With every heartbeat, the world teeters on the brink of chaos, and amidst the tumult, a question lingers: Can humanity, severed from the divine, discover the path to redemption?

Covenant is a fantasy action story that intertwines biblical and historical fiction, weaving a tale of intrigue, faith, and the spiritual struggle between light and darkness.

(Click here to return to index.)

Perestroika: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth

  • Author Name:  João Cerqueira
  • Submitted:   Saturday 8 June 2024
  • Book Title:        Perestroika: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth
  • Category or Genre:    Historical
  • Second Category or Sub-genre:      Multicultural
  • Reader Age Group:    Adult
  • Number of Words:      420
  • Language:        English (UK)
  • Link to your book on Amazon:         https://www.amazon.com/Perestroika-Eye-Tooth/dp/1926716779

Synopsis

Perestroika overthrows communist regimes in Europe.

In the People’s Republic of Slavia the former leaders are trying to survive the new times, while their victims seek revenge.

Former President Alfred Ionescu is placed in an asylum he himself built. Zut Zdanov, the head of culture, is confronted with his child abuse. Helena Yava, responsible for education, wants to avenge her lover’s death. Igor Olin, responsible for the economy, fights for his disabled son to have a dignified life. Art historian Silvia Lenka wants to know who her parents are. Lia Kirchner, the daughter of a painter who died in a re-education camp, wants to know the truth.

Having as a binding element Pilate’s question to Jesus “what is truth?”, Perestroika is a novel of revenge, redemption and catharsis inspired by recent European history.

 

(Click here to return to index.)

The Assays of Ata

  • Submitted        22/08/2024 19:38
  • Author Name:  K.I.S.
  • Category or Genre:    Fantasy
  • Second Category or Sub-genre:      Epic fantasy
  • Reader Age Group:    Adult
  • Number of Words:      130000
  • Language:        English (UK)
  • Have you submitted this book before?       No
  • Link to your book on Amazon:         https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CPYYGHQP

Synopsis:

Bitch. Bastard. Orphan.

Ata had become inured to these epithets – her self-directed labels cut much deeper:

Spy. Liar. Traitor.

Their accuracy rent to the bone… But all people had their roles to play and hers was one of secrecy and survival-driven destruction. For the greater good.

Follow Ata’s travails through royal intrigues, violent invasions, and hard-forged alliances as she fights alongside friend and foe for the survival of the continent of Áitarbith. She questions old relationships and forges new whilst navigating treacherous courts and brutal battle landscapes, possibly finding love along the way. In the face of an implacably ruthless enemy, as well as uncertainty as to who can be trusted, the final outcome of this struggle is anything but certain.

This is Book 1 of a trilogy titled The Chronicles of Áitarbith.

Wilt

Short Synopsis:

Wilt is a collection of rousing poetry on transience, human absurdity, and the struggle to find meaning in an uncaring world.

Seginus: The Eternal Time Traveller

Synopsis:

In a universe where time bends and stars remember, Seginus, the Eternal Time Traveller follows a ranger of the United Human Settlements on a perilous quest across epochs. Tasked with rescuing lost time travellers, Seginus is drawn into a haunting mystery when his childhood friend Aleksy and the enigmatic Diantha vanish. As secrets unfold and destiny beckons, Seginus trains under the finest minds—honing ancient arts, wielding divine weapons, and even receiving guidance from Jesus himself. Love, betrayal, and cosmic forces entwine as Seginus confronts a powerful rival, faces exile on the desolate moon KG-17, and ultimately discovers that purpose is born not just of power, but of faith. Reunited with Diantha, whose bond with him spans lifetimes, Seginus dares to forge a new legacy—one that transcends time itself. A sweeping tale of love, sacrifice, and transcendence, this is a journey that redefines what it means to be eternal.

The Pastors Son

  • • Book Title: The Pastors Son
  • • Submitted 29/08/2025 09:01
  • • Author Name: Hezekiah Morris
  • • Category or Genre: Romance
  • • Second Category or Sub-genre: Christian
  • • Reader Age Group: Adult
  • • Number of Words: 21379
  • • Language: English (US)

Synopsis

Eugene had thought he was done with his old life. After leaving his small hometown, he found a new home and a new identity in the big city. But now his father has summoned him back, shattering his hopes that he had seen the last of the small town life and secrets that he had left buried there. He dreaded returning both because of what of what he would surely find and because he knew he could not ignore his father’s wishes even if it meant sacrificing his dreams and everything he had tried to built for himself. He had to go back to face his past even if it meant facing the ghost of his former life.

(Click here to return to index.)

Mavi, My Dearest: An Extraordinary Journey to Motherhood

  • • Submitted 02/09/2025 16:27
  • • Author Name: Duygu Mengioglu
  • • Category or Genre: Non-Fiction, Memoir
  • • Second Category or Sub-genre:Non-Fiction, Drama
  • • Reader Age Group: Adult
  • • Number of Words: 51825
  • • Language: English (US)
  • • Link to your book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Mavi-My-Dearest-Extraordinary-Motherhood/dp/B0D7HYX13

Synopsis

Mavi, My Dearest is a true story of love, sacrifice, and resilience. For years, I dreamed of motherhood, but psychological challenges made pregnancy impossible. Determined to build our family, my husband and I turned to surrogacy—a journey that began in Georgia and ultimately took us to Ukraine.

Just weeks before our daughter Mavi was born, war erupted. With bombs falling and borders closing, we faced the unthinkable: reaching her in a country at war. Against the backdrop of chaos and fear, every step was filled with uncertainty, yet our resolve never wavered.

Through danger, loss, and countless obstacles, one truth guided us—the unbreakable bond of family.

This memoir captures the courage it takes to hold onto hope when the world is collapsing, and the extraordinary lengths parents will go to for the love of their child.

(Click here to return to index.)

Stories of a Harlem Resident

  • Submitted 03/09/2025 15:15
  • Author Name: Javier Sarmiento
  • Category or Genre: Poetry
  • Second Category or Sub-genre: Inspiration
  • Reader Age Group: Young Adult
  • Number of Words: 1343
  • Language: English (US)
  • Link to your book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Stories-Harlem-Resident-Javier-Sarmiento/dp/B0B3NJYTJ7

Synopsis

My name is Javier Sarmiento, I am the author of the poetry book “Stories of a Harlem Resident”. The book describes my childhood journey in poetry form. It details my journey of overcoming various obstacles to become a success. It’s emotional, inspirational and motivational.

(Click here to return to index.)

 

 

44112

Quick Links:

 

Loading

Leave a Reply