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UnderratedReads is devoted to discovering underrated books and under-represented authors. We highlight hidden gems from around the world–honest reviews only, never pay-to-play.
Category Archives: Fiction
The Proud & the Dumb – Bob Freville
(Reviewed by JD Jung) Buy the book! “Don’t get all bogged down in so-called facts. That’s the whole problem.” A gang of racist, homophobic, xenophobic, misogynistic (I could go on and on), white nationalists regularly hang out at the … Continue reading
Posted in More fiction
Tagged hate, mysogeny, novella, short books, Social satire, White-nationalism
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Law of the Jungle – Christina Hoag
(Reviewed by Don Jung) Rowena Aldus is an Oxford scholar whose passion is researching the venom in spiders to use for medicinal purposes in humans. Though she finds this fascinating, she struggles to get funding. Author Christina Hoag details the … Continue reading
Posted in Crime, Mystery and Thrillers
Tagged Amazon jungle, crime fiction, short books
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The Unwanted Dead: The Shocking End of Zorba’s Heretical Author – Yorgos Pratanos
(Reviewed by JD Jung) #CommissionsEarned Nikos Kazantzakis, a popular post WWII Cretan writer, died in October 1957. His works included Zorba the Greek and The Last Temptation of Christ. Many thought he was a Communist and a heretic, and the … Continue reading
Posted in Historical Fiction, World Literature
Tagged Greece, Greek history, journalism
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The Professor’s Wife – Marina DelVecchio
Reviewed by JD Jung) “She was not what she had promised, what she had led him to believe. And he couldn’t help but feel deceived. Tricked, somehow. Bitterness coursed through his bloodstream like an invisible worm consuming him from the … Continue reading
Posted in Modern Literary Fiction
Tagged mental illness, Romance, sex, short books
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Five-Alarm Fire (Cat Caliban Series Book 5) – D.B. Borton
(Reviewed by Pat Luboff) I have a friend named Dori. We don’t see each other or speak to each other often, but when we do get together, something special happens. We get into a rapid-fire back-and-forth that turns into … Continue reading
Posted in Crime, Mystery and Thrillers, Reviewers' Top Picks
Tagged cozy mystery, light humor
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Seven Down – David Whitton
(Reviewed by JD Jung) #CommissionsEarned Why would someone agree to participate in a clandestine operation in which they knew nothing about? Would it be for the excitement, money, or for a totally different reason? This is the premise of the … Continue reading
Posted in Humor & Satire, Modern Literary Fiction
Tagged dark humor, Toronto
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A Season in Lights: A Novel in Three Acts – Gregory Erich Phillips
(Reviewed by JD Jung) #CommissionsEarned “Less than a year ago, when the curtain fell after the opening night applause, I assumed the New York City I knew—and my place in it—could last forever.” A Season in Lights celebrates performers and … Continue reading
Posted in Modern Literary Fiction
Tagged artists., Broadway, Carnegie Hall, dancers, dreams, New York, pianists
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Finding Dorothy – Elizabeth Letts
(Review and poem by Betty Jo Tucker) #CommissionsEarned This review poem about the novel Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts is dedicated to the late JoAnne Pulcino, my dear cousin who loved watching The Wizard of Oz movie based on the … Continue reading
Posted in Modern Literary Fiction
Tagged modern literary fiction, Wizard of Oz
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The Exhumation – Nick Padron
(Reviewed by Don Jung) #CommissionsEarned Madrid, 1937 – Civil War chaos has engulfed the country as the city is under siege. Amid uncertainty, three Americans are going there to find and hopefully exhume the remains of a dead American soldier … Continue reading
Posted in Historical Fiction
Tagged espionage, Spanish Civil War
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