Book Review — Left to You

Title: Left to You
Author: Daniel J. Volpe
Genre: Horror
Pages: Oversize paperback 228
ISBN: 9788755781435
Opening Lines: "Robert Sinclair pushed the wobbly shopping cart down the aisle. The good ones, which the employees hid for themselves, were gone."

 

Rating

"Robert's mother, Helen, is ravaged with cancer. Every day could be her last, and Robert dreads losing the last member of his family. Robert's friend and Holocaust survivor, Josef, tells him an unholy story and leaves him. way to save his dying mother. But, as with everything in life, the salvation comes with a steep price.

"Will Robert accept what's left to him and save his mother? Or will the cost be too high, weighing Robert's soul down to the depths of Hell?".

~ Jacket copy

"What would you do to save a loved one?" Is there any cost too high? Any line you refuse to cross? All of these questions play through the book as the reader follows the agonizing journey of Robert Sinclair, a young man watching his mother die from stage four cancer. Working two jobs to make ends meet and keep in-home hospice for his dying mother, all Robert can do is dread coming home to find his mother dead. However, when a friend (and friend from the local L-Mart) tells Robert a story from his him in Auschwitz, Robert finds himself asking these same questions: Is there a price too high to save his mother's life?

Book Review — Spinning Silve

Title:  Spinning Silver

Author: Naomi Novik

Genre: YA Retelling/Fantasy

Pages: Hardback, 466

ISBN: 978-0-399-1809-9

Opening Lines: "The real story isn't half as pretty as the one you've heard."

Rating:

Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of money-lenders, but her father's inability to collect his debts has left his family on the edge of poverty—until Miryem takes matters into her own hands. Hardening her heart, the young woman sets out to claim what is owed and soon gains a reputation for being able to turn silver into gold.

When an ill-advised boast draws the attention of the king of the Staryk—grim fey creatures who seem more ice than flesh—Miryem's fate, and that of two kingdoms, will be forever altered. Set an impossible challenge by the nameless king, Miryem unwittingly spins a web that draws in a peasant girl, Wanda, and the unhappy daughter of a local lord who plots to wed his child to the dashing young tsar.

But Tsat Mirnatius is not what he seems. And the secret he hides threatens to consume the lands of humans and Staryk alike. Torn between deadily choices, Miryem and her two unlikely allies embark on a desperate quest that will take them to the limits of sacrifice, power, and love.

~ Jacket copy

In a small town forty minutes away from Vysnia, a young Jewish girl and her family fight for survival. Despite being the daughter of a moneylender—and the granddaughter of a renown moneylender—Miryem knows the bite of cold and the bitter sting of hunger. Unlike her grandfather, Miryem's father's generosity is his downfall. Rather than collecting the debts owed to him, he allows the townspeople to walk all over him and forgives their debts. As the town grows fat, his family goes hungry. When her mother falls ill, Miryem takes up her father's books and starts collecting the debts. Following her in grandfather's footsteps, she is rumored to "spin silver into gold". Unfortunately, the rumors find the ear of the Staryk lord—fey who are known to covet gold—and he sets a challenge for her . . . One that will ultimately mean her life.

Book Review — HorrorStör

Title: HorrorStör
Author: Grady Hendrix
Genre: Horror
Pages: Oversize paperback, 243
ISBN: 978-1-59474-526-3
Opening Lines: "It was dawn, and the zombies were stumbling through the parking lot, streaming toward the massive beige box at the far end. Later they'd be resurrected by megadoses of Starbucks, but for now they were the barely living dead."

Rating:

Something strange is happening at the Orsk Furniture superstore in Cleveland, Ohio. Every morning, employees arrive to find broken Kjërring bookshelves, shattered Glans water goblets, and smashed Liripip wardrobes. Sales are down, secuirty cameras reveal nothing, and store managers are panicking.

To unravel the mystery, three employees volunteer to work a nine-hour dusk-to-dawn shift. In the dead of the night, they'll patrol the empty Showroom floor, investiage strange sights and sounds, and encounter horrors that defy imagination.

~ Jacket copy

As a subpar employee, Amy is not surprised to find herself called into a meeting with Basil, the store manager. However, upon meeting Ruth Anne—a well-loved and all-star employee—waiting for the same meeting, Amy starts to question Basil's motives. Amy knows sales have been down, but firing Ruth Anne seems like a calloused and stupid move. Basil, however, has another offer for the ladies—work an overnight shift with him, make some extra money, and find the person squatting in the Showroom before the regional managers and risk assessment team arrives in the morning. With the threat of being evicted from her apartment for late rent, Amy begrudgingly accepts the offer.  Besides, what could go wrong? At least that's what she thought before strange graffiti appeared in the women's bathroom, water spots started showing up on the break room ceiling, and a squatter helps them perform a seance to summon the souls of mental institution . . . 

This book . . . First of all, Hendrix does a brilliant job of balancing horror and humor. The names of the furniture, the comments about IKEA, and the slowly building suspense is priceless.  I had a hard time putting this book down to sleep. 

The Good:

-- The ghost hunting TV show

-- Everything surrounding the beehive (it was downright creepy)

-- The setting

-- The characters

The Bad:

-- The ending. While it made sense, it felt as though it fizzled out. It left me wanting more.

If you ever wonder what it would be like to cross an horror movie with an IKEA store, HorrorStör is definitely that book! Grady Hendrix never ceases to entertain!

Book Review — The Final Girl Support Group

 

Title:  The Final Girl Support Group
Author:  Grady Hendrix
Genre:  Mystery, drama
Pages:  Hardback, 339
ISBN:  978-0-593-20123-7
Opening Lines:  "I wake up, get out of bed, say good morning to my plant, unwrap a protein bar, and drink a liter of bottled water.  I'm awake for a full five minutes before remembering I might die today."

Rating:

In horror movies, the final girl is the one who's left standing when the credits roll. The one who fought back, defeated the killer, and avenged her friends. But after the sirens fade and the audience moves on, what happens to her?

Lynnette Tarkington is a real-life final girl who survived a massacre twenty-two years ago. and it has defined her every day of her life since. And she's not alone. For more than a decade she's been meeting with five other actual final girls and their therapist in a support group for those who survived the unthinkable, putting their lives back together, piece by piece. That is until one of the women misses and meeting and Lynnette's worse fears are realized—someone knows about the group and is determined to take their lives apart again, piece by piece.

But the thing about these final girls is that they have each other now, and no matter how bad the odds, how dark the night, how sharp the knife, they will never, ever give up.

~ Jacket copy

The Final Girl is a common trope in the slasher film genre.  After seeing all of her friends and/or family members killed by a ruthless male killer, the Final Girl (always a good, virgin girl) must fend off—and oftentimes—kill the monster while waiting for the police to charge in a save her.  Audiences are familiar with the killer being reincarnated (or another killer) and coming back to finish the initial job—killing the sole survivor of his murderous rampage.  However, as seen with Nancy, Laurie Strode, Kirsty Cotton, etc., audiences never see the Final Girl after she has tangled with the monster.  No, we are only privy to her fight for survival.  The Final Girl Support Group puts a human spin on the Final Girls and allows the audience a backstage pass to the aftermath of the carnage.  

Book Review — Disco Deathtrap

 

Title:  Disco Deathtrap
Author:  Cameron Roubique
Genre:  Horror
Pages:  283, paperback
ISBN:  9781729122983
Opening Lines:  "Almost no one knew about the bodies lying less than four feet beneath the polished hardwood floor of the Rollerville Disco Skating Rink."

Rating:

It's New Year's Eve 1980, and the students of DeAngelo's High School are lacing up theor skates for the All-Night New Year's Lock-In at the Rollerville Roller Disco. Some of them just want to skate and dance the night away to the pounding disco music. Some want to pull a few pranks and have a few laughs. For others, like Dan Parsons, tonight is a chance to move on and forget about his ex-girlfirned, maybe even flirt with Denise, that cute girl behind the snack counter. It seems like nothing can go wrong.

But there's a massive blizzard raging outisde, thick snow and ice are piling up against all the doors. There are those rumors that Rollerville was built over part of the old graveyard next door, and someone out there is watching. Also, a strange homeless man in theparking lot says that tonight will be the start of the so-called "Year of Blood."

A night of skating and New Year's fun is about to turn into a night of violence and bloody mayhem in Disco Deathttrap. Slasher fans rejoice, old school horror is back!

~ Jacket copy

In the 1970s and into the 1990s, the rollerskating rink was the place to be!  Filled with the smells of cheap concessions and old carpeting, somehow kids would find themselves lined up to get into the rinks.  It was the place to request the newest hits, beat the high score on Donkey Kong, or spend your money on zombies.  As a kid, the biggest danger was catching your wheel on your boyfriend/girlfriend's skate during couples' skate and nose diving it into the cement or hardwood floor.  Or maybe it was the embarrassment of the Hokey Pokey.  Disco Deathtrap takes the sanctuary of the rollerskating rink and turns it into an old school slasher film. 

Book Review — Sherlock Holmes and the Servants of Hell

Title:  Sherlock Holmes and the Servants of Hell
Author:  Paul Kane
Genre:  Horror/mystery crossover
Pages:  Paperback, 274
ISBN:  978-7-1-78108-455-7
Opening Lines:  "The box was full of possibilities; full of answers to questions he didn't even know he'd asked.  It was a puzzle, yes, but so much more than that."

Rating

"Late 1895, and Sherlock Holmes and his faithful companion Dr John Watson are called upon to investigate a missing persons case. On the face of it, this seems like a mystery that Holmes might relish — as the person in question vanished from a locked room. But this is just the start of an investigation that will draw the pair into contact with a shadowy organization talked about in whispers, known only as the 'Order of the Gash.'

"As more people go missing in a similar fashion, the clues point to a sinister asylum in France and to the underworld of London. However, it is an altogether different underworld that Holmes will soon discover — as he comes face to face not only with those followers who do the Order's bidding on Earth, but those who serve it in Hell: the Cenobites. Holmes' most outlandish adventure to date, on that has remained shrouded in secrecy until now, launches him headlong into Clive Barker's famous Hellraising universe . . . and things will never be the same again."

~ Jacket copy

Hellraiser was my first introduction to Clive Barker.  I remember sitting on my friend's couch during our weekly "beer and pie" nights.  We were slowly working our way through 80's horror flicks.  For him, he was reliving old childhood memories.  For me, I was finally able to watch many of the movies my mother forbade.  (And, in the case of Jason X, wondering why people decided to drag out a franchise.) 

Book Review — Seed

Title:  Seed
Author:  Ania Ahlborn
Genre:  Horror
Pages:  Paperback, 221
ISBN:  9781612183664

Opening Lines:  "The Saturn's engine rattled like a penny in an old tin can."

Rating

With nothing but the clothes on his back—and something horrific snapping at this heels—Jack Winter fled his rural Georgia home when he was just a boy. Watching the world he knew vanish in the trucker's rearview mirror, he though he was leaving an unspeakable nightmare behind forever.

"Now, years later, the bright new future he;s built suddenly turns pitch black, as something fiendishly familiar looms dead ahead.

"Surviving a violent car crash seems like a miracle for Jack's family, but Jack knows there's nothing divine about it. The profound evil he uncovered as a boy has finally found him again. The thing that crouched at his bedside with soulless eyes and grinning, razor-sharp teeth is back with plans for Jack and his angelic youngest daughter, and a chilling promise: I've always been here, and I'll never leave."

~ Jacket copy

Jack has never been one for telling people about his past.  He ran away from home when he was 14 and did not have a desire to look back.  His parents—definite white trailer trash—made sure he was fed, clothed, and had a roof over his head.  However, according to him, that was about it.  All he remembers is a turbulent childhood filled an old cemetery, a shadowy creature with a Cheshire Cat grin in the corner of his room, and his mother too terrified to sleep under the same roof.  After running away, he was hopeful he had managed to outrun his life . . . Until now . . .

When Jack sees the glowing eyes in the middle of the road, he is forced to remember something he hoped was lost to the recesses of his childhood memories.  Mr. Scratch—has Charlie calls him—decided to pay Jack a visit . . . Or finally prove that Jack was never truly able to run away when he was 14 years-old. 

Ania Ahlborn has been on my radar for a bit; however, I never ventured into her books until Brother.  Either the local libraries did not have copies of her books or I was too damn broke to buy them.  After Brother, I was excited to finally dive head-first into her first novel, Seed.  And I was not disappointed!

I am a bit of a horror aficionado.  Every October, I find as many horror novels as I can and spend the entire month trying to terrify myself.  Viking and my first movie date was Rings (it sucked), and we love watching Paranormal Files on YouTube as we fall asleep every night.  Our favorite argument revolves around "who is better"—Freddy or Jason.  So, at some level, Seed is very predictable.  What Ahlborn meant as a twist, was not a huge surprise.  However, she is a master when it comes to character development and descriptions!  If not for her ability to create believable characters and use vivid details, this story would have fallen flat.  At points, I half expected to see a shadowy figure lurking in the corner of my bedroom and every creek at me jumping during the day. 

If you are looking for a good demonic possession story similar to the Omen, this book needs to be on your list.  It is certainly not the scariest book I have read nor did it keep me awake at night, but it kept me reading when I needed to prepare my online classes . . . Oops! 

Book Review — Brother

Title:  Brother Author:  Ania Ahlborn Genre:  Horror Pages:  Oversize paperback, 319 ISBN:  978-1-4767-8373-4 Opening Lines:  "Michael twisted in his bed, the threadbare blanket he'd used all his life tangled around his legs.  A girl was screaming bloody murder outside."

Rating

Deep in the heart of the Appalachia stands a crooked farmhouse miles from any road. The Morrows keep to themselves, and it's served well so far. When girls go missing off the side of the highway, the cops don't knock on their door. Which is a good thing, seeing as to what's buried in the Morrow's backyard.

"But nineteen-year-old Michael Morrow isn't like the rest of the family. He doesn't take pleasure in the screams that echo through the trees. Michael pines for normalcy, and he's sure that someday he'll see the world beyond West Virgina. When he meets Alice, a pretty girl working at a record shop in the small nearby town of Dahlia, he's immediately smitten. For a moment, he nearly forgets about the monster he's become. But his brother, Rebel, is all too eager to remind Michael of his place . . ."

~ Jacket copy

To distill it down to dregs, this book is the love-child of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Deliverance, and Wrong Turn.  The Morrows are the stereotypical Appalachian hillbillies turned serial killers.  However, despite their familial bonding, one of the children dreams of a life outside of "family business" and longs for to escape the life of a rural hick stuck in the West Virginia countryside.

  Michael is unlike his brother, Rebel, he dreams of a life outside of the his old farmhouse.  He does his job because that is what is expected of him, but he looks on it with resignation.  He holds onto little postcards and pictures he's seen of far off places like Hawaii and New York City, and he dreams of one day being one of the many dreamers flocking to find his place.  However, he knows he can never leave Misty, his older sister.  So his dreams, like the many strawberry blondes, are killed and forgotten.  Until he meets Alice . . .  
When this book first popped up on my feed, I knew I was in for something extremely sick and twisted.  However, I was complete unaware of the depths Ahlborn would go with this book.  The chilling aspect of this book is not necessarily the "family business" or how the family "survives off the land," it is slow, methodical torture and grooming.
At some level, this book can be seen as a macabre version of Romeo and Juliet or even Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (it was not lost on the reader that Lucy's last name was Liddle).  However, that would almost be a gross injustice.  It is more a danse macabre.
This book horrified me with the descriptions of the methodical grooming and torture, as well as the cat and mouse.  It was predictable, but Ahlborn managed to keep my attention throughout.  Even though I knew the ending half way through the novel, I was still stunned when it actually happened.  
Do not go into this book lightly.  Expect that you will find yourself revolted, but also know that you will be sucked in.  If you find yourself near the end, by all means, please turn on The Sound of Silence by Simon & Garfunkel.  It will most definitely set the mood.  And don't forget a hearty bowl of beef stew.    

Book Review — Fragile

Title:  Fragile
Author:  Lisa Unger
Genre:  Crime fiction, thriller
Pages:  Hardback, 323
ISBN:  978-0-307-39399-9
Opening Lines:  "When Jones Cooper was younger, he didn't believe in mistakes.  He thought that every road led you somewhere and wherever you wound up, that's where you belonged."

Rating

"Everybody knows everybody in The Hollows, a quaint, charming town outside of New York City. It's a place where neighbors keep an eye on one another's kids, where people say hello in the grocery store, and where high schoo cliques and antics are never quite forgotten. As a child, Maggie found living under the microscope of small-town life stifling. But as a wife and mother, she has happily returned to The Hollows's insular embrace. As a psychologist, her knowledge of family histories provides powerful insights into her patients' lives. So when the girlfriend of her teenage son, Rick, disappears, Maggie's intuitive gift proves to be useful to the case—and also dangerous.

"Eerie parallels soon emerge between Charlene's diappearance and the abduction of another local girl that shook the community years ago when Maggie was a teenager. The investigation has her husband, Jones, the lead detective on the case, acting strangely. Rick, already a brooding teenager, becomes even more withdrawn. In a town where the past is always present, nobody is above suspicion, not even a son in the eyes of his father.

"'I know how a moment can spiral out of control,' Jones says to a shocked Maggie as he searches Rick's room for incriminating evidence. 'How the consequences of one careless action can cost you everything.'

"As she tries to reassure him that Rick embodies his father in all of the important ways, Maggie realizes this might be exactly what Jones fears most. Determined to uncover the truth, Maggie pursues her own leads into Charlene's disappearance and exposes a long-buried town secret—one that could destroy everything she holds dear. This chilling novel is about one community's intricate yet fragile bonds will leave readers asking How well do I know the people I love? and How far will I go to protect them?"

~ Jacket copy

Since the start of last fall semester and moving into student teaching, it has been nearly impossible for me to get into a book.  Even if some shred of it happens to grab my attention, nothing is able to keep me from putting it down.  Coming home after being at the high school from 7:30am-3:45pm five days a week, lesson planning, ceaseless grading, and attending to school work, mind-numbing TV was far more appealing.  However, that did not stop my desire to read.  Oftentimes, I found myself crying in my couch to my poor husband about the deep depression I was sinking into because I couldn't read.  All the while, Pinterest kept telling me about the best horror, thrillers, and suspense books popping up all over the place.  In one last effort to force myself to read, I picked up Bone and Ink by Lisa Unger.  Even though it took me nearly three months to finish, it really grabbed my attention while I was reading it.  After that, I decided to give her other books a chance!  Since this book takes place in the same town and shares a few of the same characters, it was the one I brought home.

Charlene is a desperate, lonely girl who is struggling to find her place in the world.  Preyed upon by her stepfather and spurned by her mother, she puts on a false front of bravado, claiming that she is going to ditch town, move to New York, and make it big in the music scene.  Marshall Crosby is a troubled boy who happens to be caught in a vicious cycle of paternal abuse.  Even when he is taken out of it, he willingly goes back in one last attempt to win his father's approval.  Ricky is doing everything he can to live outside of his father's shadow—the police detective, Jones Cooper.  Unfortunately, he is doing nothing more than driving a wedge between his parents, Jones and Maggie.  While Maggie desperately tries to reunite father and son, something far more nefarious is happening in The Hollows.  Everything comes to a head when Charlene disappears.

Sitting in front of the blinking cursor and blank page, I find it extremely hard to find the words to explain this book.  As I mentioned before, reading has been nothing short of arduous on the best of days.  Something about the character driven plot of Ink and Bone was able to draw me in when other books failed.  I felt as though Lisa Unger's unique writing style, use of words, and command of prose might be the key to demolishing this blockage. 

In many ways, Fragile is very similar.  Unger takes time to artfully craft her characters and flesh out the town of The Hollows through characters' memories, small asides, and anecdotes.  The town is turned into as much a character as Jones or Charlene.  Even the secondary characters have more depth than you would expect because of the hinted backstories and history with the main characters.

When Charlene—a seemingly rebellious teen—disappears, the outwardly idyllic town of The Hollows is shaken to its core as it is forced to remember the disappearance and murder of another girl several decades before.  In an effort to right a wrong, Jones Cooper sets out on a quest to save Charlene and prove she is not merely a girl running away from a troubled home.  As he races against the clock to save her life, long-buried secrets are brought to the surface.  These secrets weave a web connecting  both parents and adults.

Looking back, I felt as though parts of this book were a bit haphazard and were possibly lost in translation.  As an example, Tommy Delano seemed a bit random.  I fully understood what Unger was attempting to do; however, she was a bit sloppy in the execution.  Also, Eloise was rather out of place.  If I had not read Ink and Bone before this, I wouldn't have been able to fully understand why she was even mentioned. 

The complex, interconnected backstories make this book a slow burn.  Yet, Unger is able to show the curses and blessings of living in a small town.  Fragile walks away with four stars because it was able to draw me in and keep me reading just to determine whether my predictions were correct.  And, if I'm honest, it gave me the chance to take my mind off of the uncertainty in my own life.

Book Review — Daughters Unto Devils

Title:  Daughters Unto Devils
Author:  Amy Lukavics
Genre:  YA Horror
Pages:  Hardback, 231
Publisher:  Harlequin Teen
ISBN:  978-0-373-21158-6
Opening Lines:  "The first time I lay with the post boy was on a Sunday, and I broke three commandments to do it."

Rating

"When sixteen-year-old Amanda Verner's family decides to move from their small mountain cabin to the vast prairie, she hopes it is her chance for a fresh start. She can leave behind the memory of the past winter; of her sickly ma giving birth to a baby sister who cries endlessly; of the terrifying visions she saw as her sanity began to slip, the victim of cabin fever; and most of all, the memories of the boy she has been secretly meeting with as a distraction from her pain. The boy whose baby she now carries.

"When the Verners arrive at their new home, a large cabin abandoned by its previous owners, they discover the inside covered in blood. And as the days pass, it is obvious to Amanda that something isn't right on the prairie. She's heard stories of lands being tainted by evil, of men losing their minds and killing their families, and there is something strange about the doctor and his son who live in the woods on the edge of the prairie. But with the guilt and shame of her sins weighing on her, Amanda cant's be sure if the true evil lies in the land, or deep within her soul."

~ Jacket copy

As we near October every year, I spend weeks on Goodreads, Google, and Pinterest trying to find the best horror novels that have recently been released or that I've missed.  It made me extremely ecstatic when I found a whole board devoted to new, terrifying horror novels!  I was even more excited when I was able to find the vast majority of them at my local library or available via InterLibrary Loan!  And this lovely gem happened to end up at the top of the pile.  It might have had a little something to do with the cover, but . . . Well, I prefer not to judge a book by its cover . . .  

The jack copy does a far better job explaining the story than I could.  However, in an attempt to add to it, Amanda is a young girl struggling with her demons, as well as dealing with the growing tensions in her family and herself.  And, by the end of the book, you are left wondering whether she truly did find respite from the voices in her head.

This book was chilling.

The story opens up with a young girl dealing with the residual shadows of cabin fever, a sister who was born deaf and blind, and possibly her place within her large family.  As a form of escapism—and maybe a little bit of rebellion—she enters into a torrid affair with a post boy.  What she thought was love and romance changes quickly with the discovery of pregnancy and the threat of another hard winter.  On the heels of that revelation, Amanda's pa decides to move them out of their tiny cabin in the woods to the warm prairies full of larger cabins ripe for the picking.  And that is when things turn sinister . . .

When I first started reading this book, I wondered whether it was taking awhile to get going and to catch its stride; however, after taking a few days to dwell on it, I feel as though the author fully intended it as a literary mechanism.  Throughout the beginnings of the story, the author kept dropping little details about the previous winter and what Amanda saw in the woods.  You are told that her pa has treated her differently since then and won't even look at her the same.  Her ma even has a wary on on her.  Nonetheless, the author doesn't divulge that information until later.  It was small things like this that made the overwhelming sense of dread build, and it had me feeling as though something sinister was waiting on the periphery.

There were many times that I found myself not wanting to put it down and then being forced to leave my bedside light on.  The author did an amazing job with the internal and external demons.  And the book truly has stayed with me since I finished it on Thursday.

Even given the great nature of this book, I felt that a few things were lacking and made me ask questions.  I felt as though she didn't fully answer how Pa got the map.  Amanda has a theory—which I think is correct—but it was left too ambiguous for me.  In addition, she needed to flesh out the whole backstory behind Zeke and his father.  I wanted more information about their role in the whole story, how long these issues had been going on, and even a little more about the other cabin.  And was everything inevitable?  Aside from the solution the doctor presented at the end, was there a way to keep all of this from happening?

All in all, it was chilling and terrifying on many different aspects. If you're looking for a quick, good horror story, this was should definitely be on your list.
 

Book Review — Dead Heat

Title:  Dead Heat
Author:  Patricia Briggs
Genre:  Urban Fantasy
Pages:  Paperback, 305
Publisher:  ACE Fantasy
ISBN:  978-0-425-25628-2
Opening Lines:  "The fae lord stalked back and forth in his cell of gray stone.Three steps, turn, four steps, turn, three steps."

Rating

"For once, werewolves Charles and Anna are not traveling because of Charles's role as his father's enforcer. This time, their trip to Arizona is purely personal. Or at least their visit starts out that way . . .

"Charles and Anna soon discover that a dangerous fae being is on the loose, replacing human children with simulacrums. The fae have started a cold war with humanity that's about to heat up—and Charles and Anna are in the cross fire."

~ Jacket copy

I got it in my head to finally read further into the Alpha and Omega series.  The first two books floored me, and I loved them.  Sadly, when I grabbed one of the newer ones, I couldn't fully remember what came before.  This started on a quest to read through the first books and finally catch up.  So, there you have it, that's why I picked this one up: it was the next in the series and I had to get my hands on it!

Anna has been plodding along on a gelding that she was given when she first moved to Montana.  While the worse is a good, solid animal, Charles feels that it doesn't fit her.  After receiving a call from an old friend, he decides her "need" is a good excuse to visit Arizona on the pretext of buying her an Arabian.  That, however, causes them to stumble upon a sick fae who could be threatening the Arizona pack.

This book was on par with the others.  I found myself tearing through it and enjoying it just as much.  Briggs did a wonderful job showing that Charles and Anna are finally getting to a point of being comfortable in their relationship.  In addition, it was nice to see that Charles had a life outside of being Bran's enforcer and pack treasurer.    Even though the book was as engrossing as the others, something felt a little off and forced about it.  I loved the concept of the fae Briggs created and the inherent tension after the events of the last book.  However, Briggs' love of horses seemed to overpower the actual plot.  Joseph's character and everything surrounding the Arabian ranch wasn't a vehicle that was used well.  In some respects, it felt forced and almost as though it was a side thing.  The other books felt completely seamless and all the elements blended together smoothly.  For me, this was one did not.  The characters were great, the felt fairly well developed, but . . .  My reservations aside, it was a good book and a fun read!  It helped continue to story and gave good introduction into the new issues with the fae.  It will be quite interesting to see how that turns out in later books.  It makes me wonder whether the new focus will be the publicity of the werewolves, or whether that will be completely glossed over by everything else!  

Book Review — The House of Small Shadows

Looking back, I find that it has been over a year since my fingers lovingly touched the keys on this laptop to pen a new review.  So many things have happened since then, and life has brought me to new and exciting places.  I would love to say that I shall remain faithful to updating this site, but—in all honesty and disclosure—who am I kidding?  The changes have meant that I find myself reading less, while desiring/needing the respite and escape tendered in the pages more than the air I breathe. 
So, dear readers, while I will not give you platitudes of my steadfast endurance to update this regularly, I shall endeavor to try.  
And now, with that gracefully penned (or typed, as the case may be) introduction, the stage is set with another chilling tale of horror.  Since it was left with horror, it seems apropos to start again with the ghastly, grisly, and macabre tale of chilling memory.

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Title:  The House of Small Shadows Author:  Adam Neville Genre:  Horror Pages:  Hardcover, 371 Publisher:  St. Martin's Press ISBN:  978-1-250-04127-2 Opening Lines:  "As if by a dream Catherine came to the Red House.  She abandoned her car once the lane's dusty surface was choked by the hedgerows, and moved on foot through a tunnel of hawthorn and hazel trees to glimpse the steep pitch of the roof, the ruddy brick chimneys and the finials upon its sharp spine."

Rating

"Catherine's last job ended badly. Corporate bullying at a top antiques publication saw her fired and forced to leave London, but she was determined to get her life back. A new job and a few therapists later, things look much brighter. Especially when a challenging new project presents itself—to catalogue Britain's greatest taxidermist, the late M.H. Mason's wildly eccentric cache of antique dolls and preserved animals posed in elaborate dioramas. Rarest of all, she'll get to examine his elaborate displays of posed, costumed, and preserved animals, depicting bloody scenes from World War I.

"When Mason's elderly niece invites her to stay at the Red House itself, Catherine believes that her luck is finally changing. She's thrilled to maintain the collection until his niece exposes her to the dark message behind her uncle's 'Art.' Catherine tries to concentrate on the job, but Mason's damaged visions begin to raise dark shadows from her own past. Shadows she'd hoped therapy had finally erased. Soon the barriers between reality, sanity, and memory start to merge and some truths seem too terrible to be real . . . "

~ Jacket copy

One ordinary day, I was reading Gothic Beauty in the local bookstore and stumbled upon Adam Neville mentioned in one of their top horror novels listings.  Neville then became a curiosity of mine for quite awhile; however, I was never able to get my hands on any of his books.  Partly due to the lack at any bookstores and availability at the library.  When I chanced upon this title listed on the top horror novels, I decided to give my local library another go.

To add a cherry to the discovery of the book, it dealt with China dolls—one of my biggest fears!

To be quite honest, I'm not entirely sure what this book is about.  Simply put, I would say that it's about memories and forced self discovery.

I'm still torn as to what I think of this book.  Elements of it are amazing!  The ghastly and macabre air of mystery and the unknown lent to Gothic feel.  Neville was able to take the seemingly ordinary and twist it ever so slightly to make innocuous things turn sinister.  This gave it an overriding creepy feeling to the whole experience of the book.  And, to be quite honest, a book that forces me to look up words is truly amazing and worth a look!

Immediately, the book was engrossing and kept me wanting more.  I found myself staying up far later than I should just to read "one more page".  It would even ride along with me to work, so I could find a few extra minutes to read before I had to clock in for the day.  Truly, it was engaging and extremely hard to put down.  All of that being said, however, I felt as though many things in the book were not fully explained.  Yes, the reader guesses that something happened in London (you're finally told a little bit), but we never really know was fully happened.  And, with the little details that are given, I was questioning why she would be hired later on.  Yes, yes, we are told and it makes sense in the end, but I was still baffled through the vast majority of the book.  In addition to which, not only was I left with unanswered questions at the end, I found the end raising even more questions.  For me, that left me completely disheartened by the reading experience.  Even days later, I am disquieted when I think about it.

It is hard for me to write a proper review of this book when I have such a lackluster attitude walking away from it.  In some ways, it is hard for me to put down and let the questions rest.  All of that aside, it is worth a read!  The narrative style and the captivating mastery of the Gothic novel make it worthwhile in the end!

Book Review — Succubus Blues

Title:  Succubus Blues
Author:  Richelle Mead
Genre:  Urban fantasy
Pages:  Paperback, 360
Publisher:  Zebra (reprint edition), August 2010
ISBN:  978-0-8217-8077-0
Opening Lines:  "Statistics show that most mortals will sell their souls for five reasons: sex, money, power, revenge, and love.  In that order."

Rating

"When it comes to jobs in hell, being a succubus seems pretty glamorous. A girl can be anything she wants, the wardrobe is killer, and mortal men will do anything just for a touch. Granted, they often pay with their souls, but why get technical?

"But Seattle succubus Georgina Kincaid's life is far less exotic. At least there's her day job at a local bookstore—free books; all the white chocolate mochas she can drink; and easy access to bestselling, sexy writer, Seth Mortensen, aka He Whom She Would Give Anything to Touch but Can't.

"But dreaming about Seth will have to wait. Something wicked is at work in Seattle's demon underground. And for once, all of her hot charms and drop-dead one-liners won't help because Georgina's about to discover there are some creatures out there that both heaven and hell want to deny . . ."

~ Jacket copy

This has been on my to-read list for quite awhile.  However, I never remember to pick it up when I'm shopping for books, and it has never crossed my mind to track it down at the library.  Despite the fact that I adore our library, it would be a miracle if they had it.  While I was at our local used bookstore with my mom, I discovered the vast majority of this series on the shelves and decided to finally take the plunge.  Plus, $3.50 was not that bad of a price.
 

Georgina has been in a slump lately.  She is only willing to feed on the less than savory characters when she needs a fix.  And even that is rather grudgingly.  Unfortunately, because of her nature as a succubus, she refuses to date, get close to men, and tries to keep her male interactions to the local immortal population: demons, vampires, angels, etc.  However, she doesn't expect to fall for her favorite author or get swept off of her feet by a dashing linguistics professor.  Of course, since even kissing someone means sucking their life force, this really spells trouble for Georgie.  And, if that isn't enough, some of the local immortals are being killed and beat up by some unknown assailant.

With all of this on her plate—and working at a local bookstore with tons of wonderful books to read—what is a girl to do?
  

I'm not really sure what I expected when I started this book.  To be honest, it wasn't necessarily what I got.  The author put an interesting spin on the succubi and their possible dilemmas.  In a lot of ways, it reminded me of Highlander and asking whether immortality was truly worth it.

It was rather interesting that the book wasn't full of torrid sex scenes.  The title and main character would suggest otherwise.  That being said, however, there were a few steamy scenes later in the book.  To me, it seemed as though the author wanted to make the less a part of Georgina's story.  Further, she really focused on character development and didn't race through the plot.  It was a neat turn.  

The little snippets of Georgina's past were really neat, and it was able to give a lot of depth to the character.  I found myself desperately wanting to know more of what happened; however, it might completely ruin the story.  The other characters were mostly sideliners and didn't have a large role.  They might end up playing bigger parts later in the book.

The relationship between Jerome and Carter reminded me an awful lot of Crowley and Aziraphale.  Granted, it was less comedic and reminded me of a longstanding bond/brotherhood, but the similarities were there nonetheless.  It makes me wonder how the author is going to play with that one.

My biggest beef with this book was the killer's true identity.  For me, when the audience first meets them, it was obvious to me.  At some level, I'm not really sure why Georgina didn't figure it out before.  However, the twist involving the killer was a bit too farfetched for me, so that one kind of blindsided me.

All in all, this was an enjoyable read.  If you're looking for a good, light urban fantasy, this one should definitely be on the list!

Current Pages: 9196
Current Progress:

32/50 books