Book Review - Misery

Misery

Stephen King

Stars 8
Pages 369
Med Reading Level
Horror/ Thriller / Psychological / Dark

Being a Stephen King this has been on my TBR for a while, I have watched bits and pieces of the movie and mostly knew what the novel was about. It just didn't seem very appealing, like it was going to be one of Kings incredible character novels. That would lack on the action, too much buildup and setting, maybe a little bit anticlimactic

I was really wrong, this was an amazing book, probably one of my fastest King reads. I just couldn't put the book down, read it all in one day. There was so much action, and just a perfect balance of "this can't be happening" and "this is so real". That King added a book into the middle of this book, gave a glimpse that he could write whatever he wanted. If he wanted to write sterotype, super mainstream popular novels I'm sure he could. If he wanted to write YA I'm convinced he could and he would dominate in every field.
I am just happy he chose to stick with his own visions instead of fallowing advice I am sure he got from publishers at some point.

Book Review - Darkest Minds

The Darkest Minds
Alexandra Bracken

6 stars
Ya / Dystopia / Action / Mystery

This is the first novel in this trilogy, and I had heard amazing things about these novels.

Welcome to the USA, you cannot enter or leave the country. It has become a dictatorship instead of a democracy and the adults live in fear of the children.
All the children in the new generation where born with a mysterious x gene, there are five different classifications ordered least to most dangerous : Green, Blue, Yellow, Orange, Red. All of the children were put into government established camps, which are more like prisons.
Ruby lives at Thurmond camp from the day she turns 10 and while she has been classified a Green, she has a secret. Ruby is an Orange and she is terrified of her own powers. Escaping camp with the help of the government militia group known as the Children's League, is the beginning of her long journey of discovery.

I have just not been in a YA kind of headspace lately, so my opinion of this novel might flex a little with time. Overall I enjoyed this read, it had a few YA cliche pitfalls and hangups but the writing was good. I really liked the setting, how they explained the characters, the concept. The reason why the writing was just good and not great is : there are just too many unanswered questions. What caused the mutation? was it a gene? why the sudden onset, where did "it" come from? When exactly is all this taking place? Unfortunately not being given all the information and slowly finding out about the Colours piece by piece made the novel more confusing than mysterious.

Looking forward to seeing where this trilogy goes but not in a rush to get through them.

Book Review - Darkest Minds

The Darkest Minds
Alexandra Bracken

6 stars
Ya / Dystopia / Action / Mystery

This is the first novel in this trilogy, and I had heard amazing things about these novels.

Welcome to the USA, you cannot enter or leave the country. It has become a dictatorship instead of a democracy and the adults live in fear of the children.
All the children in the new generation where born with a mysterious x gene, there are five different classifications ordered least to most dangerous : Green, Blue, Yellow, Orange, Red. All of the children were put into government established camps, which are more like prisons.
Ruby lives at Thurmond camp from the day she turns 10 and while she has been classified a Green, she has a secret. Ruby is an Orange and she is terrified of her own powers. Escaping camp with the help of the government militia group known as the Children's League, is the beginning of her long journey of discovery.

I have just not been in a YA kind of headspace lately, so my opinion of this novel might flex a little with time. Overall I enjoyed this read, it had a few YA cliche pitfalls and hangups but the writing was good. I really liked the setting, how they explained the characters, the concept. The reason why the writing was just good and not great is : there are just too many unanswered questions. What caused the mutation? was it a gene? why the sudden onset, where did "it" come from? When exactly is all this taking place? Unfortunately not being given all the information and slowly finding out about the Colours piece by piece made the novel more confusing than mysterious.

Looking forward to seeing where this trilogy goes but not in a rush to get through them.

Book Review - Right to Life

Right to Life
Jack Ketchum

7 Stars
158 pages
Thriller / Horror / Torture / R Rated /

Sara is pregnant with her married lover's child, on her way to the abortion clinic she is kidnapped by a deranged couple. Kath is unable to have a child of her own, a baby the solution to her unhappy marriage. A child to fill the void, besides Sara didn't want the baby anyways. For Stephen she is a dream come true, a slave to his every whim, a person without rights at his mercy.
In 6 months Sara will give birth to her child, these monstrous people will keep her beautiful baby and what will happen to her? She will have served her purpose and be entirely expendable. Sara must escape if she wants to live.

This was a thrilling read, an episode of Criminal Minds put to paper! For such a short story it had lots of detail and character development. Completely unbelievable and totally realistic. Recommended read for people who like short stories.

If you liked this you might also like : 

Book Review - Watership Down

Watership Down

Richard Adams

6 stars
Fiction / New Classic / Movie / Children's book /
Medium Level Read
481 Pages

*Listened to this on Audiobook

The rabbits of Sandalwood Warren live in peace. One of the young bucks, Fiver, is psychic. He has a terrible vision of destruction coming to the Warren, most of the rabbits choose to stay but a small party including Fivers older brother Hazel, choose to leave in search of the Watership Down; the ideal place to start a warren.

This has been on my TBR list for years; I picked up the book several times and just couldn't get into the novel. I decided to give the audiobook a go, and finally I got through it.
The story is simple but beautiful, a novel worth reading, something I will one day read to my kids, the story has lots of great morals, and lessons.

Series Review - Divergent

The bookworms archenemy ; the popular books you HAVE to read, that you know are SO over hyped and media inflated (especially when there are movies involved), that you want to read but don't at the same time. Then you read the darn thing and its only OK. It's the OK that I really have a problem with, I am very rarely in the "grey area" with novels, I am a love it or hate it kind of person. All of the YA trilogies lately have been falling in the grey area and its driving me crazy.

Divergent Trilogy

Veronica Roth

Dystopian/ YA
Easy Read

Divergent
5 stars

Introducing our setting, five factions based on the five evils that cause war. Abegnation that believe it is selfishness, Erudite that believe it is ignorance, Dauntless that believe it is cowardice, ect. Amity and Candor are the other two factions. Four factions live together in a  city, Amity the fifth lives just outside the fence. The factions do not interact with each other on base levels, they do not work together, go to school together, or get married outside of their own faction. When the teens of the city turn 16 they take an aptitude test and then there is a choosing ceremony, each person is born into a faction, the choosing ceremony is the only time when a person can decide to change factions. Hence the name during the choosing ceremony each person will choose what Faction they want to devote their lives to *the Factionless also live within the city, they are essentially the homeless. To be Factionless is considered a fate worse than death.
Tris is our main character, she was born Abegnation but her aptitude test is inconclusive which makes her Divergent (she could join Dauntless, Erudite or Abegnation equally). Divergence is dangerous, although the majority people don't know of its existence and those who do don't know why it is dangerous. Tris becomes Dauntless where she meets Four who has secrets of his own... and suddenly the world as they know it begins to unravel at the seams.

I don't have much to say about this book, its a good read, its not original, there are movies. Its a dystopian YA.

BEWARE SPOILERS!!!

Wrap Up - September, October, November 2015

This list is pitifully small, I have not picked up very many new novels, although I did do quite a bit of rereading lately.

September

Off Spring, Jack Ketchum

October

Daddy's Little Girl, Tee Morris

The Doll, JC Martin

November

The Woman, Jack Ketchum

Divergent, Veronica Roth

Insurgent, Veronica Roth

ReRead's

Under the Dome, Stephen King

The Hills Have Eyes: The Beginning, Jimmy Palmiotti

 The Doorkeepers, Graham Masterton

I have also started quite a few novels, with this reading block I haven't really been forcing myself to continue anything so I have a long list of partials right now.

Darkest Minds, Alexandra Bracken

The Stand, Stephen King

The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien

Watership Down, Richard Adams

Series Review - Dead River Trilogy

Dead River Trilogy

Jack Ketchum

SPOILERS !!!

7 Stars
Horror / Thriller / Cannibal / Shocker / Realism /
Easy Reads

Off Season
9 stars

Ketchum balances the impossible with the believable, the realism of the setting and the situation makes you want to lean towards the improbable. That a family of nomadic cannibals roaming the hills and coastlines between Canada and the USA, created out of the necessity to survive, could exist. Although there are a few notes that tipped the story back into fiction.

Needless to say I loved this book, its a definite recommendation for anyone who likes horror. It is an easy, quick, draw-you-in action-packed read. Lots of blood, guts and gore in revolting detail.
\There are two versions of this novel, the original and the uncut. I have read both and as with most things the uncut is much more to my taste. The "original" was modified to appeal to mass market more so than a horror fan, suggested for those faint of heart types.

Off Spring
7 stars

This kicks off years after Off Season. In a world where most sequels have taken to picking up where the last sentence of the first booked left off this is a welcome change. The Family, destroyed in the final pages of Off Season have returned. They are the new generation; the Woman, First Stolen, Second Stolen and their offspring. A couple of mothers fight for their lives and lives of their children as they literally watch other family and friends get eaten alive.

This book did not live up to its predecessor, the characters, the setting, the story is all brilliant. The downfall was lots of repetition from Off Season. Definatly still something I would recommend, its good just not great.


The Woman
5 stars

This novel picks up right where the Offspring left off. The Woman, gravely wounded, is the only survivor of the OffSeason clan, after First Stolen, Second Stolen and the offspring are all killed she wanders the beaches.
The Cleek family appears fairly average until you get a look into their dark secrets.
Patriarch Christopher Cleek captures The Women, she is an experiment to him (one of many), can he domesticate her? and what effect will having a feral cannibal in their lives have on Cleeks wife and children?

I am so sad to write that I was not impressed with this novel. I feel like it was a publisher pleaser, its not something I would expect from Ketchum. The development is sloppy, the plot has huge holes and the whole thing is really unbelievable (which is what made the first book so great!). Filled with lots of shock factors and gore but thats about it :(


+ My Previous Posts for Off Season - Book Review Published August 19/2015

Book Review - Twisted Imaginings

Twisted Imaginings Vol's 1-4

By Gary Charles

Horror/Short Story/ Thiller/ Killer/ Gore/ Graphic
8.5 Stars


I had never heard of Charles before although once I did a little googling he is somewhat of a big name in the UK. They should promote him in Canada and the US like crazy! These are such amazing stories, I grabbed all four volumes for free off of I-tunes and I am so happy that I did. If you are a fan of Stephen King or Clive Barker (I have the Books of Blood in mind) then you have to read these stories. They are so creepy and wonderfully thrilling.

1. The Circus
2. The Tunnel
3. Gypsy's Revenge
4. Mother
5. The Greenhouse
6. The Messiah
7. Voices in Shadows
8. Vomit Baby
9. The Pleasure in Pain

Sorry if I got these in the wrong order but I recommend each and every one of them, the Circus and The Greenhouse were my two favourites, can't wait to read more by Charles. Such an amazing author find!

Book Review - The Unwelcomed Child

The Unwelcomed Child
Ghost written by Andrew Neiderman
Published Under VC Andrews

373 Pages
Contemporary/ Memoir / Teen / New Adult/  Religion
Medium Read
5 stars

I have never read a VC Andrews novel or anything published by Andrew Neiderman who took up her pen name after her death. I have made up a list of authors with over 50 books and decided to try and read at least one book from each of these authors as a challenge.

"My mother had looked into the face of evil so many times she knew what it was. It was me. I was born without a soul. . . .

Elle Edwards grew up believing that because of her mothers sinful ways she was born without a soul; thats why she was abandoned and left in the care of Grandmother Myra and Grandfather Prescott, who try to ensure her evil will not infect them;by raising her in a virtual prison. Because her days are occupied with homeschooling, strict religious studies, and vigorous housekeeping in their upstate New York home, Elle knows practically nothing of the outside world, even as she emerges as a young woman with impressive artistic talent. But when she makes a secret, forbidden connection to vacationers at the nearby lake;a handsome boy and his precocious twin sister;Elle's world will shatter. Will discovering the truths about her past send her future plummeting to hell"

That was the synopsis for the novel copied and pasted off of goodreads, I really disagree with the way its worded and the message that it sends it way to harsh for what the book is. This novel feels like it is told almost as a memoir from the point of view of Elle looking back upon her younger years from some unknown age. In the beginning of the book I was very critical and judgemental of her grandparents (partially because of the synopsis) as the book progressed however that changed drastically while I don't agree with everything I don't think that her grandparents where bad people or that they meant to harm Elle in any way, the opposite in fact. I think that they loved Elle very much and where honestly trying to do what they thought was best for her. Elle realized this as well, she did express some regret and frustration more than anger. The only issue I found with this novel was the twins, I liked there personalities and most of there relationship but I felt like maybe there where some overly sexual innuendoes injected into the story that where totally uncalled for. The oversexualization of both Elle's relationship with Mason and Mason's relationship with his sister took this book down from a 7 star read to a 5 star.

This is not really my kind of read, not what I thought I was going to be reading. Good writing but not my cup of tea. Don't think I will be picking up any other VC Andrews novels.

Book Review - The Nightmare Affair

The Nightmare Affair
Mindee Arnett

5 Stars
YA/ Supernatural

I picked up this book for a couple of reasons, Id never heard of the book or the author but the cover was pretty cool and it has a Marissa Meyer (Cinder/Lunar Chronicles) recommendation printed on the front cover of my copy.

All in all, I was pretty disappointed with this book. The concept behind nightmares as a supernatural creature was great so much potential. Unfortunately the author over used so many of the YA writer crutches that it wasn't an enjoyable read for me. I am glad I finished the book (I was really close to putting it down) but I will not be continuing with this trilogy.

Book Review - NOS4A2

NOS4A2
Joe Hill

8.5 Stars
686 Pages
horror/ thriller / supernatural /

Vic McQueen is a finder, using her bike she can almost always find anything that has been lost. Welcome to the world of inscapes, where Miss Maggie's tiles can answer any question, and  the immortal Charlie Man hides away his stolen children in the magical inscape of Christmas-land, a peaceful world filled with all the joys of christmas all year round a paradise... as long as you don't mind the fine print.

My goal for this year was to read at least one Stephen King book every month, but they started to get repetitive. So to change things up a bit I said one adult horror novel much like King each month and the next best thing to King? His son Joe! I find Joe Hill to be an easier quicker version of Kings novels with a lot of the same writing style (understandably). I raced through Horns last month (and have not yet watched the movie...still) and decided to grab this next.

This is one of those reads that I cannot say enough good things about. I loved this book, such a great read I had hard time putting it down. I really felt for these characters; liked the good guys, loathed the bad guys, associated with Vic and her family. I loved Lou's character to pieces. I was close to tears when Hooper died. Despite the fact that we jumped around in time a bit it was easy to fallow, pages 404 & 511 referenced Derry and Pennywise (it, 11/22/63, insomnia - King), The Tree house of the mind (Horns -Hill), The True Knot (Dr. Sleep - King) I was in my element knowing I had read all these associated novels!

If you liked this I would recommend

        

Book Review - Ella Enchanted

Ella Enchanted
By Gail Carson Levine

7 Stars
Fairy Tale/ Retelling/ YA/ Grade School/
Easy Read

So I have seen this movie (which I thought was alright but not great) and I had no idea that there was also a book. I have to say that the story in the novel is quite a bit different and much more enjoyable than the movie. I wish the movie fallowed the books story closer because it would have made it way better. I was also unaware of the fact that this is a Cinderella retelling, which seems to be the theme of the month. This is the authors first children's book, I won't be seeking out anything else by her any time soon although goodreads informed me there are other retelling books for people who would be interested. I found this book very sweet and cute but the writing style was too young for me to want anything else in the same style. Very quick read for anyone with children, or I recommend this for a one sitting, light easy reading novella (good for a read-a-thon).

Book Review - Dani's Story

Dani's Story
Diane & Bernie Lierow
with Kay West

266 Pages
Non-Fiction
Easy Vocabulary, Emotionally Devastating

I want to start by saying that I don't rate this kind of book (involving someones life story particularly if is involves trauma) in the traditional manner. I have found that people are interested and able to read this type of thing (its not something thats easy to read) or your not.

When I picked up this book, I had never read anything on the topic of child neglect, I had no idea of the severity of this issue or the outcomes. I considered neglect to be more along the lines of ignoring a child, distancing it from loving connections, maybe so far as to say malnutrition in a grubby home. Because of this opinion I went into this thinking that it would be an easier topic than say, physical abuse or sexual abuse. I was incredibly wrong, I am now aware that children who suffer from this kind of abuse could be considered worse off than children who are subjected to more common forms of abuse. I find it to be such a terrible thing that people even have to write these kinds of books, as a reader it is comforting to tell myself that these are just stories, but they really are not. They are people who have been put on paper, these actions and this suffering is something these children have honestly been through. I don't think anyone can even imagine what those horrors would be like.

Dani was nearly starved to death when she was removed from her mother's care, often left alone (over night possible for days) with her disabled older brother. There where no signs of sexual or physical abuse (not to say they didn't happen). Her neglect was so sever it handicapped her, unless we learn how to turn back time we will never know if she could have been a perfectly normal person. Her mother had been reported to child services multiple times since Dani was 3 but she wasn't removed from that home until she was 7. Unable to speak, unable to feed herself and still in diapers. Her mothers home was uninhabitable, with the amount of garbage in the house it was filled with mice, cockroaches, spiders, lice, and mould.

My Youtube Review of Dani's Story

Dani's Website
'The Girl In The Window' - CBN.com
Update on Danielle's Horrific Story of Child Neglect | Where Are They Now? | Oprah Winfrey Network

Book Review - The Coldest Girl in Coldtown (Spoilers)

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown
by Holly Black

I liked this cover but it isn't really anything special. Doesn't really have anything to do with the novel. 

419 Pages
Easy Read

Vampire/ Paranormal / Post Apocalyptic/
Ya novel
7.5 Stars

So I picked this book up from the library on a whim, I was just looking for books that I thought I would be able to finish in one maybe two sittings (three at the most). I hadn't picked up anything paranormal in a long time and the cover caught my eye.  I have never read anything by Holly Black, I knew the name but it didn't thing to me so I didn't have any expectations. This was a good read, took me two sittings and I enjoyed it. It was more complex and in-depth than what I expected. There wasn't a love triangle or too many overwhelming little irritating things that seem to be in most YA nowadays. Holly Black really didn't throw in tons of unnecessary things that I find authors have been putting in their books just to crowd please. Overall something I would but on my TBR if your a paranormal fan, vampire fan its  good summer read, read-a-thon read. But its not a MUST read.

SPOILERS BELOW BEWARE! +  character list, general story overview, random notes, extra stuff more something for memory or school (not that i'm in school but...)