Survival by John Achile Yusuf

Survival is an action-adventure story as well as a tale of friendship, loss, courage, and the will to survive.

 

A group of school friends, some of whom are related, have been selected to participate in competitions in South Africa in a number of disciplines. Excited, and ready to represent Nigeria, they are devastated when their flight is not only delayed, but eventually cancelled. Luckily for them, another plane is made available and they are soon headed off, with gold medals in their sights.

 

However, the plane encounters difficulties and comes down on the path between Nigeria and South Africa, right in the Congo jungle area. Those that survived the flight will now have to survive in a place they have never been in before, hoping that they will be rescued soon. However, the signal from the plane is not working, and no one knows where they are…

 

I had high hopes for the story but unfortunately it didn’t quite deliver. Before even looking at the story itself, the book is set up (the copy I received) where POV jumps are not marked, so you’d be in a character’s head in the jungle, and the next thing you’d be in the air traffic tower or with one of the parents and you’d have to stop and reread sections to understand where you are. This happened often. Also, there were sentences that were interrupted by paragraph breaks, so you’d read half the sentence and then the rest of the sentence would be in the next paragraph. That interrupted the flow of reading and took the reader out of the story time and time again. There were a number of grammar and punctuation mistakes that could be touched up, too.

 

The author does try to bring across the sense of despair the survivors feel as well as their triumphs as they find food or defeat and enemy. He touches on the stirrings of first love as well as the anguish of losing a family member. I liked how he followed one character’s inner journey in the progression from “I’m not sure how I am going to survive” to “I’ll do anything to survive”.

 

What caught me with the story, though, was the improbability of the events. Sure, a plane could definitely go down in the jungle and people be forced to survive. But here you have a group of youngsters who have no survivalist gear and seemingly no survivalist knowledge able to spend almost three weeks moving in the jungle and defending themselves from animals ranging from hyenas to hippopotamuses to gorillas. While it’s not impossible, the odds of them meeting and defeating the number of animals they did, as well as the pygmies, seems to be pushing believable boundaries. And I know there had to be some attempt at rescue, but the signal used for communication… was that even possible in that area? Some things you could shrug off being in there for the story, but others I had a hard time believing. It would have been good to describe how they made shelter and a bit more about what they ate (without bringing in spoilers, I was really puzzled at how they brought down an animal that runs at 88 km/h) or even more on the actual survival issues.

 

I liked the idea of the glossary in the book, but I think it would have been better at the front. I wouldn’t have known about it if I hadn’t been told it was there and it would have been frustrating to get to the end and only find it then. If I recall, it also didn’t have every translation in it because there is a section where a lot of food is described that is not in the glossary and I would have loved to know the meanings.

 

This is the author’s debut novel and he most certainly has potential. He just needs to work on fleshing out certain areas and opportunities in future books as well as remembering that “show, don’t tell” is key!

 

Thank you to Fearless Storyteller House Emporium and the author for the opportunity to review the book.

It Starts with a Fish by Emily Kemme

 It Starts with a Fish is a collection of blog posts detailing events or even non-events in the author’s life. It’s a random amalgamation of experiences running from 2015 to 2020 and covers family, pets, friends, and everyday occurrences.

 

While I thank the author for the clean script grammar- and punctuation-wise, I must confess I did not finish the book. It’s very rare that I don’t finish one, especially one to review. However, about forty pages before the end, I had to give up.

 

This is not a reflection on the posts themselves, it was the amalgamation into one book that did it for me. As blog posts, these work very well as they are a glimpse into the author’s life and can be read and savoured as posted. Altogether, however, they felt like too much information all at once. I was hoping for more humour or life lessons, and maybe if these were read weekly or monthly, the “telling” of experiences would work for the reader. But this felt more like a diary. If I knew the author, this might have been different, but I guess I didn’t feel the personal connection and the posts didn’t resonate with me. Another reason the book didn’t feel right was that info was repeated. For example, if the stories were read when posted, the author may have to remind the reader of family names or other info just to bring them back to where the previous post left off. Here, reading the posts one after the other, you’d have the reader reminded each time of a family name or the fact that a certain person played this role in the family.

 

I commend the author on putting so much of herself out there for the world to see, but the format was not enough for me to hold my interest.

 

Thanks to NetGalley and Loudhailer Books for the opportunity to review the book.

Love the Dark Days by Ira Mathur

Written as a memoir and yet so much more, this story follows Poppet, a child of mixed Hindu and Muslim religion, who begins childhood living with her sister Angel and Burrimummy (grandmother). It’s a story of growing up unwanted, the prejudices against those seen as inferior, and the struggle to find an identity when no one has prepared her for life. It shows the complexities of flawed generations and the influence seemingly small decisions or actions have. The story shares a poignant look at a life that could have gone a number of ways and the choices the author faced (or had no control over) to end up where she is now. A vivid and fascinating journey that is well-written and plunges you so deeply into scenes sometimes that it is difficult to come back to the present.  

 

I found this story quite difficult to read – for a number of reasons. In the beginning, when we are introduced to Poppet and her situation, it’s hard to understand how people are treated in certain ways or spoken to as they are for things not of their doing. Then, as the story continues, the interactions with Derek Walcott (while I understand help to move the story and explain her motivations) stop the flow of the story every now and then. You’d find yourself immersed in a part and the next chapter, when about Derek Walcott, would bring you out of the era you were in. Then the journey through her moving, college, and marriage left a very sour taste in my mouth – through no fault of her own. The interactions and conversations were heavy, and while there may be some who understand the history and feel the parts were normal, to me the lack of respect threw me and made me feel quite ill for a while after finishing the book. So in that respect, the author has done a tremendous job in getting the reader right into the situations.

 

Burrimummy was brought across as a character able to be hated and pitied. She was so caught up in her past that she couldn’t see changing times and changing choices and only felt validated by her possessions, connections, and perceived superiority over others. Poppet’s mummy had the redeeming feature of choice – and a backbone to go with it. Otherwise, her reliance on physical looks as validation and constant socialising in dances and visits made for a character without much substance.

 

Poppet’s struggles through life played on my mind for days. Trying to fit in as a child of mixed religion and where lighter skin than hers is preferred in post-colonial patriarchal India. Trying to fit in in the West Indies where emphasis is placed on different values. Trying to fit in in London in a modern society where she is wholly unprepared to be herself. At times, it even felt as though she was fighting the wrong fights.

 

The photos at the end of the book helped to cement how the reader envisaged the characters and settings (especially what Burrimummy looked like when she was younger), but what was missing for me though, was the connection between who and where the author is now to the last pieces of information we had. The ending felt rushed and left me asking for more information.  

 

I wasn’t sure if I would enjoy this book, and at times I didn’t. But it left something with me. Something that made me hug my family closer, something that made me feel for those whose stories I don’t know, and something that made me motivated to do and be better.

 

Thank you to Loudhailer Books and NetGalley for a copy of the book to review.

The Patient's List by James Caine

 The Patient’s List is a standalone psychological thriller.

Newly married Dr Rina Kent couldn’t be happier. She has a gorgeous husband, Jonas, loves her job as a psychiatrist at Holy Saints, and is just about to leave for her honeymoon.

With only a half-day of work ahead of her, Rina is packed and ready. But Rina is a little concerned about one of her patients, Jenny, as she had only just started opening up and her behaviour that day seemed to be regressing to her previous depressed and suicidal state.

As Rina leaves the hospital to fetch some files, Jenny manages to launch herself through a window. Straight onto Jonas’s car. And Rina realises she could have prevented it if she had reported the loose table Jenny was standing near.

A year later and Rina’s life has turned around. Having not gone on her honeymoon as she blamed herself for Jenny’s death, her marriage then unravelled and her work is suffering. She will only take on “easy” cases as she doesn’t feel confident enough to deal with others, and prefers to work late at night, keeping to herself.

Then Amy Deaver is brought in. After being suspected of trying to kill herself, Amy, who is autistic and non-verbal, will not communicate with anyone in any way. On one of Rina’s late shifts, Amy sneaks out of her room and, on finding Rina in the hospital gym, whispers a list of names to her. The last name on the list is her ex-husband’s. Then she says, “Say nothing.”

With Amy refusing to say another word, what is Rina supposed to do with the list?

 

I had high hopes for this story, as the premise sounded very intriguing. However, I struggled to feel for any of the characters as they were all remarkably unlikeable and the story very slow with things being repeated unnecessarily.

I found the characters flip-flopped a lot. The people at the hospital seemed to have no empathy for their patients, and the way they treated and spoke to each other was very harsh. They also seemed to have no issue speaking badly about each other. But then suddenly they would act like best friends. This happens with the detective’s character, too.

Spoilers ahead:

Some parts of the story seemed very out of place. The introduction of the rhyme went nowhere and didn’t create the connection necessary between Amy and Rina. Rina, too, seemed very “able” to put her detective hat on and investigate dangerous scenes, all the while completely ignoring what the real detective was telling her not to do. She outright lies about where she is going and has been and then lands up having to explain it all anyway, which seemed like a complete waste of time.

The fireplace poker… Phyllis used it to kill Marie but when Rina goes to her house the poker is not there. And then the poker is found at the bed when Jonas is hurt and the police think Phyllis hit him. Why the emphasis on the empty poker holder only for it to come back into the story?

The money issue… Jonas says they have the money. Why on earth would they have a bag of cash buried? This is money that has been embezzled from the new building, so why is it in cash? How did the four of them work together to do the embezzling? And how did Amy know where it was buried at Rina’s house to be able to dig it up?

One glaring question I had was: Why would Amy tell Rina the names on the list? Why her in particular? She hadn’t made a communication connection with her and her mom had told her not to say anything to anyone, so why go and tell Rina?

There were a few grammatical mistakes in the book but nothing to make the reader pause too long. I think if some of the characters were worked on and the story tightened a little, this could be a really good book.

 

Thanks to the author and Voracious Readers Only for a review copy.

Playing Doctor Part Three by John Lawrence

Exhausted! That’s how I felt after reading this book. Chaos ruled in book one and when the hilarity continued in book two, I figured book three would be sedate and the shenanigans would be over. Boy, was I wrong! Book three was just as crazy, and I truly have no idea how he managed to fit so much into each day.

Book three tracks Doctor John in his third year of residency and we follow a conflicted year (After all this time in medicine he decided he might rather go into acting!) that should be easier as he has the theory and practise under his belt, but proves to be the opposite as he blanks in a code blue and continually questions himself about whether his decisions are correct.

Having done a few crazy long shifts in my time, I have the utmost respect for doctors and how they can continue to make such important decisions on a 33-hour shift. Especially in the ER with gunshot wounds, faces going through glass tables, kids accidentally getting hurt, and sutures that continually break. Even more so when dealing with patients that demand to be seen when their “emergency” is nowhere near serious.

What makes this book so relatable is how the author doesn’t gloss over the good, the bad, or the ugly. Infected abscesses, rashes, emergency births, kids with objects up their noses, and circumcisions are all on the table. We empathise with him as he deals with depressed or addicted patients. We cheer as he tries to get urology patients to admit that the main reason they came in was for Viagra. And we laugh as he regales us with stories of things that happened to him while not in the hospital. Here I’ll hint at manscaping, a rather nasty cut in the nether regions, a bag clip, and a blood spurt that made Vesuvius look weak.

A few punctuation gremlins crept in this time, but were not overly obvious enough to stop the flow of reading. The book is well written, and the style makes it personable, especially as he allows us into his relationships and we fall in and out of love with him. Thank you, Doctor John, for the ride!

Thanks to Reedsy Discovery and the author for the opportunity to review the book.

www.reedsy.com/discovery

Firestone: A Tale of the Eternal Stones Book One by Ryan Carriere

 

A Tale of the Eternal Stones: Firestone is the first in a fantasy series aimed at absolutely any age group that enjoys a good fantasy story.

 

Two stories run parallel to each other and are sure to meet up sometime within the series. On one side you have Sephonei, who has been forced into becoming a Crystal Hunter (with the barest of training), and who has set off with Ku-aya and Abil to find an eternal stone from a cavern just outside Atlantea.

 

On the other side, you have Roeg, who lives with the Great Spirit Clan but is an outsider as he was brought in as a child and looks different to everyone else. While battling to find his place within the clan, Roeg is given a quest by his adopted father and the shaman of the clan to go to the King of Gnomes, who will help him find the Land of Darkness. Along with his clanmates Tsisa and Ookum, Roeg will embark on a perilous journey to battle a fire demon and find the meaning of the firestone he carries.

 

However, the Crystal Hunters are after the same stone and their paths are on the verge of colliding…

 

First, I must apologise to the author for taking this long to write a review of the book. I only recently found it again after hardware crashed and burned and a promise is a promise! 

 

I enjoyed the book tremendously. I suspect the author has ties to South Africa as the terms “eish” and “kuk (kak)” were all too familiar! And I suspect the gnome bread had its roots in a rusk?

 

I liked how Sephonei was coming into her own, and no longer the scared child she started off as. Her quick thinking and abilities to understand her aura reading made her an excellent empath. Ku-aya was needed to ground the trio and Abil was just a nasty piece of work. However, I battled to understand their use of language sometimes with dialect words like fistler, and when I saw “yaa” my mind automatically said it was spelt incorrectly.

 

Roeg’s side spoke more to me as I felt transported along with his “growth” story and how he felt he didn’t belong anywhere, to showing his courage and being an integral part of saving the day. He showed that trying and trying again was what was needed and his empathy I think will somehow integrate with Sephonei’s. Tsisa’s bravery was fun but foolish, and I enjoyed Ookum’s perseverance in trying to find his place in the world.

 

I was intrigued by the mythical creatures, and Sephonei’s recordings of them in her journal, including the sketches. There were, however, a few grammar and punctuation errors that stopped me a couple of times within the script. Overall, a fantastic read and since the story ends in a place open for the next chapter, I look forward to reading the next one!

 

Thanks to the author for the opportunity to review the book (albeit eventually!).

Crazy on You by Christen Bensten

Crazy on You is a psychological thriller and a sad take on what jealousy and the “If only I hads” will push a person to.

 

Olivia has had a bit of a rough start. Having cared for an abusive father until he died, and still looking after a mentally ill mother has skewed her outlook on life somewhat. She knows the perfect life is out there for her. She just needs a few things to make it right.

 

She and her husband live in one of the smaller houses in Huntwood Valley. With wealth and possessions she can only aspire to. When Olivia becomes a mother, she is sure this will be exactly what she needs to make her life perfect. But being a new mother is not easy, and Olivia is battling to cope. All she has is her husband and he is often out at work. Desperate to stop feeling invisible and needing support, Olivia reaches out to three mothers in the same situation and forms a group. Charlotte has a husband in the political arena who seems very absent from their relationship, Claire and her wife are lawyers and Claire is wrestling with her own demons about keeping safe, and Beth has everything that Olivia could wish for. All three are wealthier, coping with their newborns better, and seem to have it together compare to Olivia.

 

So Olivia begins the “If only I hads” game in her quest for the perfect life. Little by little she becomes more and more interfering in Beth’s life, trying to make her the invaluable friend while doing everything she can to isolate Beth. Her persistent and uninvited visits, calls, texts, and emails become obsessive, and the three mothers are trying to pull away.

 

But Olivia knows what she wants to make her life perfect, and no one will stand in her way…

 

The book starts with the end, so the author skilfully draws you in from the first chapter and makes you aware that something epic will finish the story. I was fascinated/horrified by Olivia’s deeds and thought processes. The problems she went through as a new mom were intense and certainly give the reader pause to try to empathise with her, but her selfish actions were dreadful.

 

I enjoyed the friends’ stories as they showed the real issues behind the facades you see and how everyone faces hardships of varying degrees. It is scary that there are people like Olivia who only see the perfect façade and think that in order to have it, they need to take it and not make their own way in life.

 

I do agree that the events leading up to the finale were a bit suspect as I’m sure they wouldn’t have been allowed to slide like that, but just the depths to which Olivia was prepared to go (and believed was right) was crazy.

 

The book was written with an easy flow and definitely had you saying: “just one more chapter”. No major editorial mistakes interrupted the reading and the author had a fabulous way of describing scenes in such a rich manner that you felt as though you were in the room or even experiencing the emotions the character felt. I look forward to more by this author!  

Soulstealer Book Two by Shane Bouleware

The once mighty Ordo Solis – the Order of the Sun – has lost its following. Created to fight a demon who inhabited people and ate the souls of its victims, it no longer wields the power it had. People don’t believe the demon exists anymore. So, the American chapter of the Order now only consists of two members. Yes, two members in the form of Steven and Jeff, who still keep up traditions and faithfully watch the Raptor Gatekeeper each night for one hour in the hopes of clues to catch the demon.

 

But Jeff is struggling with keeping his commitment to his day job, his Order work, and spending time with his wife and daughter. And Steven feels he needs a holiday. Maybe permanently. They decide to watch one last viewing together, when they notice a person approaching the Gatekeeper. It’s almost like he knows the secret signal, but not quite.

 

With the Raptors, Unas, and Sanhe cults still out there and waiting for the Soulstealer’s return, there is a huge task awaiting Ordo Solis as the cults have no mercy and will stop at nothing to defend him. Unfortunately, Steven is about to find out the depths they will go to. After teaming up with Adeline from the European chapter, they land up going to different countries and working with different Orders. Orders who have had so little to do over the years that they have forgotten traditions. Most don’t believe the Bane is back and others just don’t know what to do. Steven takes matters into his own hands and, with evidence he has cleverly hidden, he plans to use someone with influence who will present the evidence as valid and back it. Will the government agree with this ruse, or will he and his evidence disappear without a trace?

 

The Soulstealer is able to siphon millions of souls at a time. But working out where and when he will attack leaves a whole planet to keep an eye on. This ancient evil will take a lot to beat… 

 

This is a very clever “side-story” in that it is written in the same time frame as the first book but from a different character’s perspective so we get to see how the other side felt about what happened and how they dealt with it. The books fit together so well and a side-by-side comparison will remind you of many small details you may have forgotten.

 

Steven is not your average hero, and the author allows you to feel his frustration and cheer when he defies orders in order to put plans in motion. In book one, you feel empathy for the Soulstealer as you understand the reasons why he is forced to do what he does, yet in book two you can feel the pain that his actions caused. Characters that were only briefly mentioned in book one now have their time to shine as you understand their role in the big picture.

 

The author has a lovely fluid style of writing and while there were a few small punctuation mistakes, they were not enough to play a major distraction. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, both in the manner of construction and the content, and am keen to see the direction the story will go.

 

Thanks to Reedsy Discovery and the author for an advance copy…

A Killing Game by Jeff Buick

 Renee Charlebois has been kidnapped. Or so her father believes. And he is certainly rich enough to make a stink about it to get something to happen. Curtis Westcott is the unfortunate Boston Chief of Homicide who is about to receive his demands, but with no ransom or evidence to indicate she has been kidnapped, he is flummoxed.

 

Having picked up an odd clue at a party he attended, he and Aislinn, a colleague of his, have the first part of a very specific puzzle set by someone out for revenge. No part of any clue can be ignored, as each random thing mentioned points to deeds done in the past and deeds still to be carried out. There is, of course, a time limit and if Curtis doesn’t stick to the schedule precisely, Renee will be another tick on the list of victims. But so many clues just don’t make sense, and when Renee’s father puts out a massive reward, this throws everything into chaos as multiple dead ends are thrown at the police.

 

Who is doing this? Why are they doing it? And most importantly, can they be stopped?

 

I picked this book up on a giveaway, and from the first page was hooked. The action is non-stop and the puzzles very cleverly put together. So clever, in fact, that sometimes you had to wonder how anyone could work them out. And this is where the book had me divided. On the one hand, you have an intricate plot with police deductions that are genius. On the other hand, you have a really dubious reason for the killer to be doing this, and the fact that Westcott (who has not been introduced as having a photographic memory for images or words) is able to recall conversations word for word – even to the smallest pronoun.

 

So I chose to suspend disbelief and read it for the story it was meant to be read as! It went along very quickly and it was a case of “just one more chapter” as I finished one. The cast of characters were all necessary to drive the story forward, and the conflict between some of the police departments made it seem more real. There were some silly punctuation mistakes, but they did not detract from the overall experience. A great read where you can put your feet up for the afternoon and dive into a world of “will they figure it out in time?”

The Puzzle Maker (Book 13 in the Abby Kane series) by Ty Hutchinson

This is a crime thriller and the 13^th (to my sorrow) in a series.

 

The fog is thick. Crazy thick. So for the fisherman to have found his body was luck. It looks like another victim who has been tortured, had the skin removed from their back, and been dumped. Well, if it’s the work of a serial killer, then the number one expert needs to be called in.

 

Cue Agent Kane, she who has solved similar odd mysteries. Agents Kane and Kang head off to Yuba City to assist the local police department with this new victim. And their enquiries will lead them to many dead ends that always land up in the fog. It seems the killer needs the skin from the victims’ backs for something, but with the number of possibilities out there, narrowing it down seems hopeless. Until hard work and intuition leads them to a possible suspect, who may be blind, which sets in motion a chain of events that could be the undoing of one of their finest. And bring home someone they thought dead…

 

So yes, it was to my sorrow that I found out this was in a series. Sorrow because I picked the book up on a giveaway and now, like Robert J. Crane’s books, I’m going to have to work the series into my budget to find out what happens next!

 

The book’s main section finished quite a bit before the end so I wondered if there was a section to the next book, only to find out the parallel story within the book led to a cliffhanger for the next one. The writing in the book was really easy and comfortable to read in that I could just get lost in the story and not be stopped by major proofing errors or story inconsistencies. The story itself is (unfortunately) not that far-fetched and people have killed for ideas like this. So it was one of those reminders to be careful and also thank the members of law enforcement for their skills.

 

While not on my list of best-sellers, this definitely made some reading time go by quickly, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The Girl in the Box Series Books 1 - 3 by Robert J. Crane

 These are the first three in a “superhuman” series that will grab you and make you say, “And then???”

 

Sienna knows she is different and lives by a set of rules her mother has enforced. Sure, they are incredibly restrictive and she kinda doesn’t have a life because of them, but hey. Her mom knows best, right? Until one day someone tries to abduct her from her house with her mom having been missing for a while. And speaking to anyone else, let alone leaving the house, is against the rules. And going against the rules gets you punished (this was a bit of a dodgy one Mr Author). So… what to do?

 

After a big fight and a shootout and help from a stranger, Sienna wakes up to find herself in a strange place. One where they say they can help her. Turns out she is a metahuman and is super strong, with other powers that are just beginning to make themselves known. So what’s a teenage girl to do when her mother and the rules are not around? Fight villains, of course! But who’s to say who are the real villains?

 

As Sienna learns about team and self, and meets more of her family than she realised she had, she needs to learn about boundaries and lines and how and where to cross them. Because even if she is super strong, she is not immortal…

 

All I can say is, damn you Robert J. Crane! My hubby had gotten the first three books in a box set, so I had no clue there were more (yes, I’m late to the party) until I got to the end only to find there are another forty-seven books in the series available! My poor budget is going to take a hit here…

 

So even though there are bits in the books you kinda raise an eyebrow at or look at your kindle with a furrowed brow, you go, “Okay, I’ll buy into it.” Cause the story and the action are just that good. Sienna is one kickass meta and her powers are wow (even when some are not). The author has made me love and hate her at the same time and I sense her frustration yet desire to be part. His villains are interesting and Wolfe creeped me out. Okay, there are some sticky bits in the books, but skip over them if you must! I don’t want to say too much, as you have to start at the beginning and see where it’s going. But it’s a helluva ride and so easy to read that you can sit down, grab a cuppa, and just go until you need to load the next one.

 

Good job!!!

Of Flame and Ember Book One Resistance by CE Ord

Resistance is a YA fantasy novel and is the first in a series.

 

Lia is sitting in detention. Okay, maybe she shouldn’t have said what she did, but life is unfair and she feels angry a lot lately. She and her twin, Tyler, lost their parents recently and had to move from New York to Australia to live with their grandmother. She’s good to them, but it’s not the same.

 

So now school is out, and she and Tyler have gone to meet some friends. Lia feels as though she is being watched. She doesn’t know how she knows… she just does. Soon she is approached by someone who calls himself Coen. And he comes with a tale that she and Tyler are going to have a hard time believing.

 

It turns out that there is another world, similar to Earth, called Gaea, that is in desperate need of a hero to rescue it from war and a coming evil in the form of Samael and Achlaya. And, as it happens, she and Tyler have familial bonds with the royalty of Gaea. So, if she and Tyler go with Coen and allow him to help her unleash her hidden magical powers, well, they have a chance at defeating their foes.

 

Alrighty then… just another day at the office…

 

Hmmm. Not sure where I stand with this book. I read it in fits and starts the first time, so read it again to make sure I got everything. I liked it, but it wasn’t a standout for me. There was a lot of explaining about things – history, the worlds, feelings, and powers, and this slowed the story somewhat. Lia only has a short time to get ready for what will ultimately be a battle, and while the tasks have their necessity explained, it just felt like she went from no powers to full powers in a few days far too easily. And for a fifteen-year-old, she seemed to make decisions that were more mature than we were led to believe about her.

 

I also found it strange that the twins leave for Gaea after they get permission from their grandmother to go on “vacation” and yet since Gaea has no technology and they can’t use their phones, they don’t contact her to let her know they have arrived at their “destination” safely. Would she not be worried? And seeing as they have an important birthday in Gaea but are not able to be contacted, would this not compound things if she phoned them to wish them happy birthday? It just stuck in my head.

 

Tyler has a very small role to play in this book, which makes me think he will come into his own in the next one. At least there is a glimmer at the end of the book to signal this.

The ending of the book and the climax was very rushed. In fact, the most important part was over in 2% of the book and just as you thought it was about to get going, it finished. And with a conclusion to the climax where I went: “Oh, really????”

 

At least the story was written comfortably without glaring grammar and punctuation errors, so that reading was smooth and easy. I’m sure others will love this as there is nothing wrong with the book… it just didn’t make me go “Wow!”.

 

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book.

Horrificata: School’s Dead Boring by DI Russell

 

Horrificata School’s Dead Boring is the first in a series and is a comedy/horror suitable for ages 12 – 18.

 

Desmond is having one of those days. School is bleuch, and he has football on his mind. The teachers suck and it’s certainly not his fault he got detention! So you can imagine his horror when he learns that there is a secret experiment taking place at the school where a gas is used to make the pupils into flesh-eating zombies. He and the others stuck in detention either need to evade the zombies and escape from the school, or figure out what is going on and stop it all before the zombies get out.

 

What follows is a mix of scares, humour, and a bunch of questions about “who”, “why”, and “how”. And this leads nicely into the next book where the question is “what next?”

 

The book is more than just a story about zombies and experiments. It also focuses on bravery, friendship, and doing the right thing. The story moved well and was easy and comfortable to read, with no major grammar and punctuation mistakes to interrupt. The only thing that happened in my kindle version was that sentences were cut in the middle and made into new paragraphs with an indent, which was confusing as you weren’t sure if the same person was speaking.

 

All in all a fun read, so thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review the book.

House of a Thousand Lies by Cody Luke Davis

 Diana Wolf has woken up from an alcoholic blackout regretting it again. And, as usual, she has spent an exorbitant amount of money on something she doesn’t need. But since she can’t remember what she bought, this could be interesting.

Cue Kerry Perkins, the cartographer she hired while in her haze to map out their estate. Kerry arrives and realises it will take some time, as the estate is very large. Diana needs to hide him somewhere for the week to do the work as her rock-star husband won’t be happy with her latest drunken purchase.

On the first day, Kerry comes across a buried skeleton, and carved into the skull is a picture of two wolves. When he calls Diana in to see this, she feigns surprise, but Kerry can see that she has recognised something. Enter the police and investigators and things start getting very weird when family secrets involving the sons, Cy and Jonah, are revealed for the deep lies they are. Not only in actions, but also in bonds.

Kerry becomes suspicious that the body was not just a random stranger and starts doing some investigating of his own. This leads him to Pink, an obsessed stalker of the Wolf family, who knows far too much about them. Together, they uncover horrifying information about the family as very often, where there is one body, others might follow.

 

I have to admit that I pushed through this book. It started off well and grabbed me, then in places I’d want to skim as the jumps between characters and time became confusing. This made the book feel longer than it actually was, and not in a good way.

I did enjoy the constant questioning of what was real and what wasn’t, whether it was an incident or a connection to someone. However, the main plot that held the book together branched out so much at the end that it went from being believable to being too far-fetched. I was with it through most of the way, nodding my head, and then went NOPE. Just NOPE. Plus, added to that, the ending came so suddenly it was like the author knew where he was going, but had spent so much getting there that he ran out of steam to bring it together smoothly. There were two parts to the ending that I felt stretched believability too much. This was disappointing, as in places I thought I had the tone of the book and felt comfortable knowing that the ending would be plausible.

I didn’t connect with any of the characters and I felt as though the author made them deliberately not likeable so that there were no “heroes”. I think the part I felt the strongest about involved a dog… I’ll leave it at that. I was glad that the story had no major grammar and punctuation errors, as this made for an easy reading experience.

 

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the opportunity to review this book. 

      

Zoe's Haunt by Augustine Pierce

Zoe’s Haunt is a short horror story.

 

Zoe and her friends love doing crazy things for Halloween. This year Zoe has promised them something new. She has tested out an app that leads you around a haunted house – all in the comfort of your own home and plans on blindfolding her friends and taking them on the journey. As the app begins and the story deviates somewhat from what she remembers, she blames it on AI. However, as friends start disappearing and then turning up dead, this Halloween is going to be the one that tops them all.

 

I grabbed this one night to read during loadshedding and was disappointed that it was so short (I didn’t realise it was a short story when I started reading as it ended at 64% of the total space). The premise was interesting and the idea that the app was taking them to a different place, while not plausible (but then again what is on Halloween), was something to look forward to. However, I felt really let down at the end of the book.

 

Some of the scenes are very dialogue heavy, and it seemed as though in certain sections each character had to add a line in turn to the conversation. So, you’d find line after line of Zoe said, Ben replied, Juan added, Rina said, Darren exclaimed, etc. etc. It started to remind me a bit of The House of Twelve by Sean Davies but didn’t quite have the reasoning behind it. Unfortunately, I felt a bit flat about the story as it wasn’t long enough for me to build a connection with any of them. I wish what the app takes them to had a bit more of a backstory to it, but it was more like this happened and then this happened. And since the paragraphs were very short (many pages with just one line or going directly between speech), the action felt very choppy and didn’t lead up to enough suspense. I also think that because some of the characters irritated me, I didn’t feel anything when they disappeared.

 

I was a great attempt at a horror story with a good basic idea but it left me hanging and feeling somewhat unfulfilled. I’ll have to try another of the author’s stories to see if a longer one draws me in more…

Face the Night by Alan Lastufka

 Face the Night is a horror thriller and a tale of long-awaited vengeance.

 

Adriana is a mother desperately trying to keep custody of her son, Dylan, while her father, the mayor, wants to remove him as he feels Adriana is an unfit mother. Currently without a job, and trying to make ends meet as a now-and-then tattoo artist, Adriana has asked her ex Eric, a deadbeat druggie, to help plead her case in court. With a month to find something permanent, she must make a plan ASAP.

 

After a mishap lands her at the police station, Adriana uses her sketching skills to snag a temp gig as a sketch artist. And she meets Officer Hinkley, who seems a little sweet on her. Unbeknown to the officer, Adriana suffers from terrible nightmares where she sees a terrifying face coming for her while she is underwater. These have been happening for years, but the face never gets clearer.

 

As her father campaigns for re-election, as well as to take her child, Adriana must delve into the meaning behind the face as well as put everything she has into securing her child’s future. But as with many small-town secrets, some things do not want to remain buried…

 

I was hooked by the promise of an early Stephen King-type book and I’ll say that I enjoyed the book and also didn’t enjoy it. While there is nothing inherently wrong with the book, nothing new came out that made me go – wow, I’d never have thought of that. Lots of strange decisions made and some directions not quite explained/closed.

 

(Spoilers ahead)

Adriana was a likeable character at times, and her desperation at trying to do the right thing for her son came through. Then she’d do something stupid like leaving her ex to look after her child while she decides a “few drinks won’t hurt” and goes out. This with her ex never having looked after the child before.
Then there is the issue with her seeing the face – when she eventually figures out what it’s about, it’s not really something that couldn’t have been guessed earlier. All the clues were there. It was just a case of whodunnit. But why did the face take so long to really make itself known?
The neighbour’s deaf daughter gets used to protect Adriana from doing something bad while possibly under the influence of the face. This seemed very irresponsible on her part and puts everyone in a potential dodgy situation there.
While I get that her new love interest was rebelling against what was happening in the police station, the risks he took for Adriana seemed extreme.

 

I’d call this a small-town thriller rife with “anything-to-win” politics and a dash of supernatural horror. It needed a lot more to call itself a genuine horror story. It was one of those where, after I turned the last page, I just said, “Oh.” Kinda fizzled out at the end with too many tangents. It was a good effort for a first-time novel, but one I wouldn’t read again, even if to try to pick up more details.

 

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review the novel.

The Rise of Jonathan Flite by Matthew J Beier

The Rise of Jonathan Flite is the third in the series and starts off directly where book two ends, so will be confusing if you have not read at least the one before this. It continues with the theme of life being not quite as we know it.

 

Jonathan’s memories of the Idle County seven are still hot news, and after the suicide bombings at his mother’s press conference the previous year, the extremists against his suggestions of alternate lives and realities are out in full force. Through Jonathan, we learn how two of the “seven”, Elijah and Molly, became friends, and discoveries that are made regarding family and a missing body. We also share Lyndsey’s out-of-body experience, and clues from the previous book begin to make more sense. These memories of life paths only add fuel to the fire of those who refuse to accept the possibilities of the type of reincarnation Jonathan is proposing.

 

Add to this that Jonathan’s story is being made into a documentary and it seems someone doesn’t want this to happen. Then, of course, there is Victor Zobel, who they now believe orchestrated the Geneva attack, who seems to have links to the seven. And why is it that people have strange experiences when approaching his estate? Don’t forget Rebecca Sparks, the mind-reading physicist whose ideas about life, religion, reincarnation, and Jonathan’s memories is still in the mix and changing up opinions.

 

This book is just as convoluted and moves between past and present and between different characters’ viewpoints. Once you get into the rhythm though, the action is fierce and so much information is actually imparted that a lot of the “side” stories (which could probably have books of their own) seem to be superfluous – until they are not! There are so many questions still left unanswered and I have a feeling that in the last four books, many more will be offered too. This is a thrilling series and well worth reading.

 

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review the book.

 

Vampire Diaries: The Awakening and The Struggle Book 1 and 2 by LJ Smith

 So even though my TBR list is taller than the house, I decided to go back and read some of my old stuff again and see how close it still is to how I remember feeling about it. I think I started buying the books while watching the series, but the moment you read about Elena being blonde and she’s a brunette in the series, I wondered how different it was going to be. I’m actually glad the books and the series veered off in different directions because the books got really weird.

 

In the first two books we meet Elena (spoilt, snobby, mean girl of the school who is all about herself and writes tragic diary entries), Bonnie (her very immature and constantly prone to weeping friend who is discovering she has witchy powers) and Meredith (loyal, steadfast, logical, and the one who keeps them all together). Elena was going out with Matt (read high school football) but when she claps eyes on Stefan (broody stranger who joins their school, wears leather and sunglasses all the time, and doesn’t want to interact with anyone) she decides she HAS to have him. Poor Matt. On the sidelines are Caroline (a sort of friend who wants Stefan for herself and now can’t stand Elena’s constant need to be #1) and Tyler (dodgy, let’s get drunk and take advantage of girls). We find out a big secret later about Tyler – but with the mention of the big, bright teeth and the moon rising over his family’s grave, you can kinda figure it out already.

 

So, long story short – Stefan is a vampire (surprise) and into the picture comes his brother, Damon (also a vampire). Turns out Damon hates Stefan for something that happened a long time ago with a girl called Katherine who was in their lives. So now, in the town of Fell’s Church (apparently close to ley lines so strange things happen) there are about to be attacks on people and a murder or two. You’d think those would be the important things. But apparently not, because Elena’s diary has been stolen and she is freaking out about secrets being made public at her coming out ball.  

 

During all this, Elena manages to seduce Stefan and they go from fighting and avoiding each other, to being in love and cannot be without each other (within the space of probably three seconds), to getting engaged (she is seventeen). Add in some action sequences where Stefan and Damon are beating the @$#% out of each other, and a twist at the end where “old power” affects one of the characters in a bad way, and you have a teenage angsty recipe that could go either way. The story could get better, or Elena’s whining and the eyebrow-raising plot could spiral into a pit of despair.

 

Definitely one to read with your brain turned off.

 

 

The Release of Jonathan Flite by Matthew J Beier

 The Release of Jonathan Flite is a novel that’s hard to place as it falls into the realm of time travel, psychic abilities, action, and “fitting in.” This is the second in the series and I wish I had read the first as it was difficult to pick up what was going on seeing as there were so many characters.

 

Jonathan has the memories of seven children who all disappeared in Idle County ten years before he was born. Everyone thinks he is crazy, and now, on the cusp of his 18^th birthday, he is being released from the centre where he was kept for the murder he committed. The memories come and go, and it’s as if he was right there at the time when things happened to the seven. With parallels being drawn between the memories and a nuclear terrorist attack the previous year, things are beginning to be taken more seriously than before.

 

Jonathan will be faced with a divided public when he gets out – some will believe him, and others will fear him due to the religious and scientific implications of the actual memories. Memories that could have consequences for the company that seems to be behind so many things that are “good for the world” yet…  

 

On my second readthrough, I appreciated the book more. Initially, I had found it fascinating to start, then it hit a patch that made me slow my reading and I got confused, and then it speeded up again. There are so many character dynamics in the story and to be reminded of the angst felt when younger about fitting in to the world, it brought memories back to me too (just not the memories of the IC7 though).

 

I found the book dealt with a lot of different issues in a very open way, and covered things like bullying, homosexuality, blended families, feeling alone, where you fit in in your family, and different takes on religion. The characters came across on the page as so “real” that you could feel the emotions as they felt them. As the story progressed, you were fed bits of info that felt like they didn’t connect, and then all of a sudden, you’d realise where they fitted and it would be an aha moment. I liked that the book concentrated on certain characters and I think the same thing will happen in subsequent ones so that each main character has their own story.

 

The writing was very fluid, and the chapters being divided up between timelines didn’t interfere with the comfortable flow of reading. The chapters labelled with the infinity sign helped to join it all up.

I look forward to seeing how the characters progress in the next instalment (yes, I have it!) and where this journey is taking us.

 

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to review the book.