I cannot even begin to explain how disappointed I was in this book. I thought the concept was fun, the synopsis made it sound so interesting but it fell flat for me. Did the author do a good job making Peter Pan unlikeable? Yes, she did. The problem was that she didn’t make James Hook likable. The only character that was remotely interesting was Tiger Lily but she ended up being nothing more than a love interest for Hook and a plot device.
Continue reading “Never Never by Brianna Shrum”
Seeds in the Wind was one of those books that I read a few years ago and just knocked me off my feet. You have Alfred, a Baron who was living a happy life until Emperor Nebulus comes with his army and invades his barony on behalf of his God Metheld. In one fowl swoop all of Alfred’s family and land are gone. Alfred goes to the capital to get help from the king, only to find Prince Colin in his place and unwilling to help him. So he sets off to a bar to drown himself in his sorrows. While bashing the head in of a bar patron (yes you read that right, he was bashing a guys head in because he said the wrong thing) a woman by the name Dandelion stopped him and agreed to help him take down Nebulus and the God that sent him there.
Continue reading “Seeds in the Wind by Billy Wong”
This book left me on the edge of my seat! Everything was far from what it seemed to be.
I can honestly say that I am so happy that I borrowed this book! At first I thought we were going to get another version of “Fifty Shades of Grey” (not that there is anything wrong with that) but this book was so much more! The book isn’t just about an Architect who seduces vulnerable women, this book goes deeper than that. You have Emma whose part of the story is always titled “then” and Jane who is the “now”. Both of these women have had a trauma in their lives that make them agree to move into a house created by Edward Monkford. Jane was robbed and sexually assaulted and Jane had a stillborn baby girl. These things are the reason these women are drawn to this strange house. By strange I mean that in order to live in this home they had to fill out a bunch of questions that might get them to the next phase, get approved for an interview with Edward Monkford, and agree to hundreds of rules in order to live there.
Once living there the house would record all of their daily data etc etc, Imagine a smart home on steroids. What really got my attention was when Edward started making passes at Jane and then finding out that everything he did with her he did with Emma. Then throw in that both of these women looked exactly like his dead wife, and you start getting this really uneasy feeling about Edward. What made it even more curious is when Emma’s ex-boyfriend approaches Jane at the home and tells Jane that Emma died in that house and that he believed Edward had something to do with it. Jane starts to wonder about Edward and what really happened with Emma. Was he involved in her death? Was it an accident? Was it suicide? The answer is far darker than you can imagine.
Seriously, the author did an amazing job weaving together Emma and Jane’s stories together. You start off seeing slight similarities between how Edward treats both Emma and Jane, but immediately you see that these two women are actually very different. Jane seemed to be a strong woman dealing with sorrow and Emma seemed like a broken woman who needed something more. But the thing is, the person they begin as are not who they actually who they are. There are several times when you think you have something figured out only to have rug pulled out from under you.
There was just so much that I loved about the way this book was written. Before each chapter you got to see the questions that both women had to fill out in order to live in this home and I found myself thinking about my own answers and wondering what Edward would have chosen. This helped to start painting a dark feel to this book and it revealed a darker current under the surface of Edward. With each chapter you found out a little bit more about Edward and his bizarre relationship with Emma and how he was trying to replicate that relationship with Jane. But you would not find out the truth of what was going on until the very end. Overall, this book was a wonderful mixture of mystery and suspense without the need to start a new series. I definitely recommend you give it a read.
A reimagining of Scooby Doo by for a adult audience.
All of the characters in the book have the feel of the original characters, but of course they are a lot more edgy. You had Peter (aka Fred) the leader, Kerri (aka Velma) the brains, Andrea “Andy” (aka Daphne), Nate (Shaggy), and Tim (the great grandson of Sean aka Scooby). The book starts off with the newspaper clipping if the Scooby gang (yeah, no matter what that is how I am going to refer to them) and a crime they solved in 1977. Then we are taken 13 years into the future where the masked villain is at his parole hearing. The way this transition was done was pretty brilliant. They allow the bad guy parole and he goes to a bar where he is confronted by Andy (Daphne) and she kicks his butt and then makes him admit that there was more out there that night 13 years ago.
Continue reading “Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero”
Tea never intended to raise her brother from the dead but when she did her entire life changed.
Rin Chupeco does a fantastic job creating this magical world with strong Asian influences. You have the magical Asha’s who are very reminiscent of Geisha’s. Even the Hua’s that the Asha wears brings to mind a kimono. She even goes so far as to fully describe one of the performances that took place during a very important part of the story. I will be honest, that was an interesting part of the story but it dragged on longer than it needed to. The story jumps between the present and the past seamlessly through Tea’s interactions with the Bard. He pleads for her to tell him her story and she agrees. This interaction allows you to see how she was trained as well as seeing her working her dark magic in present time (when she is 17). I am trying my best not to give away any spoilers because the interactions in present time are what made me really want to read the sequel.
Continue reading “The Bone Witch Review by Rin Chupeco”
The Owl's Book Nest 