The cover of this book is amazing; it looks like an ad for a CW show. Actually, the plot of this book is a lot better than any of those teen shows on the CW. The book is about a girl named Bristol and she can see ghosts. Funfact, I wrote a book about a girl named Bristol who could see demons. Anyways, early on in Chapter One we get to see her ability at work, as she chats with a ghost in a diner. They watch as the ghost's daughter gets engaged.
After an unfortunate accident, Bristol moves to Spirit to live with her uncle and his family that only makes the story more entertaining. While in Spirit she also meets the boy from her dreams named Payne and he’s more than just a handsome face. He’s actually from the family that’s sort of feuding with Bristol’s.
This book has it all, action, comedy and of course teenage girls and their high school dramatics. I like Bristol, and even though she has this scary ability she never stops being a true teen. A scene with her and a shirtless Payne is the perfect example of that.
I wish I could say more about this book, mention more characters BUT this little book is filled with so many twists that’s it’s impossible to do so.
Basically, if you enjoy shows like Roswell or Vampire Diaries, read this book. It’s easily on par with them. Light when needed, dark when needed, very entertaining book.
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Seed of Evil by Robert Friedrich
We meet our main character Corey in the hospital. I like hospital character intros, Walking Dead, Kill Bill and even my work introduces the main character in the hospital. It creates a lot of suspense early on. But before meeting the main character we also get a quick info dump of where the story is set and what type of world its set in and I liked how it was executed via the computer we had to wait for while it loaded.
A squad, including Corey, is sent to Mars to…”check things out”. I think we all know sending soldiers into space leads to violence. The author sort of throws in a character manual that list the name of the soldiers and their profiles. It came off a bit video game-ish, but this reads like a video game and it’s a short so he didn’t have enough space to drag out character intros.
Violence erupts on the planet and if you’re a gamer, I suppose you can say they encounter boss fight after boss fight.
The author included Corey’s thoughts throughout the chapters and I enjoyed those parts the most. It was a moment of calm and I got to learn a bit about the main character. Hell, I even liked the font style he used for the thought entries.Chapter five does a great job building up for a second part. Corey’s badass.
A squad, including Corey, is sent to Mars to…”check things out”. I think we all know sending soldiers into space leads to violence. The author sort of throws in a character manual that list the name of the soldiers and their profiles. It came off a bit video game-ish, but this reads like a video game and it’s a short so he didn’t have enough space to drag out character intros.
Violence erupts on the planet and if you’re a gamer, I suppose you can say they encounter boss fight after boss fight.
The author included Corey’s thoughts throughout the chapters and I enjoyed those parts the most. It was a moment of calm and I got to learn a bit about the main character. Hell, I even liked the font style he used for the thought entries.Chapter five does a great job building up for a second part. Corey’s badass.
Nothing Can Tear Us Apart by Wyatt O'Brian Evans
I applaud this author for using realistic dialog and sticking to it throughout the entire book. Sometimes writers forget how their characters spoke in earlier chapters. The writer also did a wonderful job with the character descriptions. I do believe he went overboard at some points, like telling us the age or exact height of everyone.
He also was great at giving us backstory with few words. Sometimes authors would drone on and on about past events, but he worked the info dumps into the plot and moved on from them quickly. As for the plot, it’s basically about a rich guy and his abusive relationship. The author does a good job keeping us interested in Wes’ love life, but I loathe reading about rich people. I sort of paint them with “Rich People Problems” syndrome. Wes’ issue was all about finding his romantic happiness, so it was tolerable.
I wasn’t a big fan of the constant pop culture references. Yes, it made imagining certain characters and settings easier but doesn’t always work. He mentioned one home looking like the Cosby house, if a reader never saw the Cosby show, he would have no idea how that home in the story looked.
My final problem, NO LOVE FOR THE TWINKS?!? I’m joking, but I definitely know how the writer likes his men…built.
He also was great at giving us backstory with few words. Sometimes authors would drone on and on about past events, but he worked the info dumps into the plot and moved on from them quickly. As for the plot, it’s basically about a rich guy and his abusive relationship. The author does a good job keeping us interested in Wes’ love life, but I loathe reading about rich people. I sort of paint them with “Rich People Problems” syndrome. Wes’ issue was all about finding his romantic happiness, so it was tolerable.
I wasn’t a big fan of the constant pop culture references. Yes, it made imagining certain characters and settings easier but doesn’t always work. He mentioned one home looking like the Cosby house, if a reader never saw the Cosby show, he would have no idea how that home in the story looked.
My final problem, NO LOVE FOR THE TWINKS?!? I’m joking, but I definitely know how the writer likes his men…built.
The Hollow March by Chris Galford
I’ll be honest; this book was a challenge for me. I’ve never completed an epic fantasy book in my life time. I’ve began many of them, but mid-way through would tap-out. This book is beautifully packaged, from the cover to the formatting. The writing is great, but in the end it’s all about the plot.
As some other reviewers pointed out, it starts slow, but honestly to me I enjoyed that. It gave me a chance to get familiar with the characters and verbally struggle to pronounce their names in my head. I love that there was a map provided, it made it easier to keep track of where they were and the terrain of the settings.
I did find myself skipping chapters, mainly searching for battle scenes which were handled very well. I think the only issue with this book was its size. I once read in the Fantasy genre, it’s better to start a series with a shorter piece that would convince new readers to commit to the bigger books that will follow it. It was a lot for me to handle, but I cannot deny it was well written and packaged. Hands down one of the most beautiful indie book covers out there.
As some other reviewers pointed out, it starts slow, but honestly to me I enjoyed that. It gave me a chance to get familiar with the characters and verbally struggle to pronounce their names in my head. I love that there was a map provided, it made it easier to keep track of where they were and the terrain of the settings.
I did find myself skipping chapters, mainly searching for battle scenes which were handled very well. I think the only issue with this book was its size. I once read in the Fantasy genre, it’s better to start a series with a shorter piece that would convince new readers to commit to the bigger books that will follow it. It was a lot for me to handle, but I cannot deny it was well written and packaged. Hands down one of the most beautiful indie book covers out there.
Poetic Justice by Lori James
The moment this book began I fell in love with the setting and the characters. Even though they weren’t experiencing the best moment of their lives, I wanted to be in this story just to meet and work along some of these characters. The author did a great job of creating three main characters who you will love for different reasons, Sean, Mark, and Beverly.
This book is a murder mystery and we get to experience it from a lot of different POVs. It worked well, the only thing that made it confusing sometimes was when the author would switch POVs mid chapter, but if you take your time to read you will rarely find yourself getting lost.
I love how much attention animals got in this book, Pepe and Buddy helped humanize some characters. I’m also a big fan of the short chapters, though it doesn’t mean the book is short, it just makes reading seems swifter. Also, if you’re a fan of romance…this book is for you also. The author excels at building relationships. As for the climax, the big answer to the murder mystery, I didn’t see it coming yet it didn’t leave me with my jaw on the floor.
I would read this again mainly for the entertaining cast of characters. Favorite character, Sean.
This book is a murder mystery and we get to experience it from a lot of different POVs. It worked well, the only thing that made it confusing sometimes was when the author would switch POVs mid chapter, but if you take your time to read you will rarely find yourself getting lost.
I love how much attention animals got in this book, Pepe and Buddy helped humanize some characters. I’m also a big fan of the short chapters, though it doesn’t mean the book is short, it just makes reading seems swifter. Also, if you’re a fan of romance…this book is for you also. The author excels at building relationships. As for the climax, the big answer to the murder mystery, I didn’t see it coming yet it didn’t leave me with my jaw on the floor.
I would read this again mainly for the entertaining cast of characters. Favorite character, Sean.
Saturday, March 1, 2014
The Family Fang - Kevin Wilson
I decided to read The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson. Not only was I drawn in by the cover of a family wearing weird masks, but the book description drew me in also. I consider myself a family man and I’m very close with my sister. Once I discovered this book would be about two adult siblings, a plotline that’s very rare, I had to start reading right away.
The book focused on Buster and Annie Fang or as their parents call them, Child A and B. Their parents are famous performance artists and usually had included their children in all of their weird stunts. The story picks up with a grownup Annie who’s now an Oscar winning actress and Buster, who’s popular for a novel that he wrote. After some unfortunate events, one involving a potato gun, Buster and Annie find themselves returning home to their odd parents.
I’m not a big fan of flashbacks, but this book contained many flashbacks that went into detail of their parents’ stunts and how they met and overall decided to use their children in their work. The writing in this book was surprisingly simplistic and the length was short, overall taking me two hours to complete it.
I enjoyed this book from start to finish, laughed many times and I’m glad to learn Oscar winning actress Nicole Kidman will be directing a film based on the movie.
The book focused on Buster and Annie Fang or as their parents call them, Child A and B. Their parents are famous performance artists and usually had included their children in all of their weird stunts. The story picks up with a grownup Annie who’s now an Oscar winning actress and Buster, who’s popular for a novel that he wrote. After some unfortunate events, one involving a potato gun, Buster and Annie find themselves returning home to their odd parents.
I’m not a big fan of flashbacks, but this book contained many flashbacks that went into detail of their parents’ stunts and how they met and overall decided to use their children in their work. The writing in this book was surprisingly simplistic and the length was short, overall taking me two hours to complete it.
I enjoyed this book from start to finish, laughed many times and I’m glad to learn Oscar winning actress Nicole Kidman will be directing a film based on the movie.
The Root of All Evil - Sonya Dodd
The Root of All Evil has a really dark cover and title, but to be honest it isn't that much of a dark story. Well, it's starts off very dark and then in chapter one we are introduced to Lily. She's a normal woman living in London with a deadbeat artist boyfriend named Daniel. Her boyfriend transforms a lot throughout the story, doing some good and bad.
We also get to meet her friends and a man named Andrew aka the rich, cocky dude who's in love with her. I thought his character would play a bigger role in a romantic way but surprisingly the author had other plans for him.
After a grave event, Lily's brother Simon returns to her life after ten years. He brings all the mystery and drama into the story and eventually becomes the main focus. His plot takes over the story up until the ending. The author does a good job of reconnecting Simon and Lily's plot, overall giving us a clear and logical ending.
I wasn't a big fan of how the story was broken up into three Parts but I guess it was done to smoothly transition from one main character to another. This is another book I've read that dives into many genres. Some authors butcher the attempt but this author did a really good job stepping in and out of multiple genres.
We also get to meet her friends and a man named Andrew aka the rich, cocky dude who's in love with her. I thought his character would play a bigger role in a romantic way but surprisingly the author had other plans for him.
After a grave event, Lily's brother Simon returns to her life after ten years. He brings all the mystery and drama into the story and eventually becomes the main focus. His plot takes over the story up until the ending. The author does a good job of reconnecting Simon and Lily's plot, overall giving us a clear and logical ending.
I wasn't a big fan of how the story was broken up into three Parts but I guess it was done to smoothly transition from one main character to another. This is another book I've read that dives into many genres. Some authors butcher the attempt but this author did a really good job stepping in and out of multiple genres.
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