101 Very Short Stories by 101 Authors – STORIES ON THE GO – Review

Title: 101 Very Short Stories by 101 Authors – STORIES ON THE GO

Author: 101 Different Authors

Type: Fiction

Genre: Every genre imaginable

Format: eBook

Pages: 464

Owned/Borrowed/Given Etc: Owned – Kindle eBook

Rating: 3/5

Blurb: This anthology aims to be a showcase of recent indie writing.
Hugh Howey launched the idea on Kboards, a forum for Kindle readers, but also the meeting place of an active community of indie writers.
The result is this anthology of 101 very short stories by 101 authors.
To make it more attractive for you, the reader, we set ourselves a limit of a thousand words. You should be able to read each story in under five minutes — on your desktop computer, laptop, or tablet at home or in the office, but also on your smartphone, on the go, while you are commuting or waiting at a coffee shop for your significant other to arrive.
We included as many genres as we could. We hope that maybe, with only five minutes of your time on the line that would otherwise be wasted anyway, you’ll be tempted to venture outside your comfort zone and try out some new genres and new authors.

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This review is going to be a little bit different due to the fact that there are 101 different stories by 101 different authors and all of the different genres. Instead of a full book review, I’m making small notes after each story and I will summarise what I thought. As the stories are limited to one thousand words or less, I will not be going into too much detail because it would be really easy to spoil the story for others.

As a whole, I’m giving the book 3/5 purely because, as with most story collections, there were some good ones and some bad ones. It did take me rather a long time to read, around 40 days, but it was manageable as the stories were five-minute reads, some of them even quicker.

There was a good chunk of the stories that I opted out of reading, this was either because of the genre (I can not read pure romance stories of any sort – they are not my thing) or because the story didn’t grab me within the first few lines.

One of the stories, I had already pre-judged before reading. This was called “The Witching Well” by Sarra Cannon. I did this because I am an avid fan of Cannon’s work so I figured I was going to love it. I was correct.

Stories I Liked (in no particular order)

Purple Passion by Lanette Curington
Buck Hunt by Livia Harper
Wild by Selina French
Choose Peas by Ellisa Barr
Thursday at the Ritz-Carlton
The Oak Tree – EelKat’s Twisted Tales by Wendy C. Allen a.k.a. EelKat
The Little Chill – A Three-Minute Mystery by Lindy Moone
Last Words by David J. Normoyle
Masked Attraction by Jamie Campbell
The Birds of Winter by Amelia Smith
Buttrock by Nicolas Wilson
Beyond by Keith Rowland
Embracing Sorrow by Ruth Nestvold
Mechanical Advantage by Quinn Richardson
Indy-San by Misti Wolanski
The Witch in the Woods by Nadia Nader
Death’s Door by R.M. Prioleau
Living Bride by Joel Ansel

OtherEarth (Last Reality #2) – Review

Title: OtherEarth

Series: Last Reality (#2)

Author: Jason Segel, Kirsten Miller

Type: Fiction

Genre: Science Fiction

Format: Paperback

Pages: 320

Owned/Borrowed/Given Etc: Borrowed from the library

Rating: 3/5

Blurb: Simon saved his best friend, Kat, from the clutches of the Company and their high-tech VR gaming experience, Otherworld. But it was at a steep price. Now he, Kat, and their friend Busara are on the run. They know too much. About the Company’s dark secrets. About the real-life consequences of playing Otherworld. And about Kat’s stepfather’s involvement in everything. The group is headed to New Mexico to find Simon’s old roommate, who is a tech genius and possibly the only person who can help them reveal the truth about the Company before it’s too late and the line between what’s real and what’s fantasy is erased… forever.

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I borrowed this book from the library following my read of OtherWorld (Last Reality #1) by the same authors. I had to reserve it AND wait for it to be transferred from a different library to my local one. I paid a grand total of 75p for this pleasure. The cost didn’t really bother me, it was definitely cheaper than buying a copy of the book – especially since I wasn’t really sure whether I would like it or not.

Set in the same video-game/virtual reality world(s) as the first book in the series, we meet Simon and Kat again, along with some other key characters from the first story. This book picked up EXACTLY where the first book left off. This is not something that always happens in sequels, often you find that there has been a certain length of time passed between books but this did not. It was super easy to dive back into the story, continuing along the journey with Simon. Following him from the real world to the VR world and wondering what they were going to do in order to overcome the predicaments facing them. After reading some of the reviews on Goodreads, it seems I was not the only one able to easily continue with reading the story at the beginning.

Pulling up into the home run, where all the major action normally takes place, this book did not disappoint. We had plenty of action and lots of major plot points seem to be coming together. I got very excited thinking of everything that would be happening and then BOOM!!! It threw me off a bridge. So dang confused. I’m hoping 100% that the third book due out later on this year will bring everything round to a close. Make sense of the bits that have left me thinking WTF.

If you have NOT read this book, please DO NOT read any further

CLICK HERE TO READ SPOILER

Simon has been in and out of OtherWorld so many times, he has no idea what is real and what isn’t. There are plenty of hints given to this effect throughout the story, particularly by his Grandfather. Busara confuses me more and more as the story goes on, her main reasoning behind this is kind of explained as we draw to a close BUT that final chapter is the one that completely left me dumbfounded. It’s rare I feel this way about a book but man I was left feeling completely betrayed. Was the whole book a simulation, or just part of it? At what part in the story did it become a simulation? Why was it not obvious to readers such as myself (and I’m normally quite good at guessing twists)? I don’t even know where that leaves us now?
I’m feeling quite nonchalant about the whole series right now, especially as it’s fresh in my mind (I finished it about an hour ago). Is this what we want from a cliff hanger? I like a book that leaves me wanting more, a need to read the next book to see what happens next but I’m just not feeling that at the moment. I am waaaayyyy too confused right now.

Otherworld (Last Reality #1) – Review

Ready Player One meets Game of Thrones meets The Lord of the Rings

Title: Otherworld (Last Reality #1)

Author: Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller

Type: Fiction

Theme: Virtual Reality/Game Based

Genre: Science Fiction

Format: Hardback

Pages: 355

Owned/Borrowed/Given Etc: Borrowed from the library

Rating: 4/5

Blurb: The company says Otherworld is amazing — like nothing you’ve ever seen before. They say it’s addictive — that you’ll want to stay forever. They promise Otherworld will make all your dreams come true.
Simon thought Otherworld was a game. Turns out he knew nothing. Otherworld is the next phase of reality. It’s everything you’ve ever wanted.
And it’s about to change humanity forever.
Welcome to the Otherworld. No one could have seen it coming.

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I loved this book. The story was just what I was looking for and it fit really well with my new found taste in genres. Otherworld is a tussle of a story between virtual and physical worlds, seeing the potential end of the world as we know it. This is definitely a science fiction book, but it centres around the video game side of science fiction and that’s why I liked it so much.

I was the first person to borrow this copy from my library so I got to read it, as new, in its hardback format. I’ve also reserved a copy of the second book in the last reality series and am hoping to collect it soon.

E.L. James’ New Book! The Mister

E.L. James has a new book due to be released in April 2019. Venturing away from her widely popular stories about the intriguing (and possibly controversial) Mr Christian Grey, James has something new up her sleeve.

London, 2019. Life has been easy for Maxim Trevelyan. With his good looks, aristocratic connections, and money, he’s never had to work and he’s rarely slept alone. But all that changes when tragedy strikes and Maxim inherits his family’s noble title, wealth, and estates, and all the responsibility that entails. It’s a role he’s not prepared for and one that he struggles to face.

But his biggest challenge is fighting his desire for an unexpected, enigmatic young woman who’s recently arrived in England, possessing little more than a dangerous and troublesome past. Reticent, beautiful, and musically gifted, she’s an alluring mystery, and Maxim’s longing for her deepens into a passion that he’s never experienced and dares not name. Just who is Alessia Demachi? Can Maxim protect her from the malevolence that threatens her? And what will she do when she learns that he’s been hiding secrets of his own?

From the heart of London through wild, rural Cornwall to the bleak, forbidding beauty of the Balkans, The Mister is a roller-coaster ride of danger and desire that leaves the reader breathless to the very last page.

(Blurb taken from Amazon)

The Kill Order (The Maze Runner #4) Review – James Dashner

James Dashner is well known for his writing of The Maze Runner series of books. The trilogy that includes The Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials and The Death Cure. I say trilogy because that was clearly all it needed to be. Sure a bit about the background and how W.I.C.K.E.D came to be would be nice (which I now believe is explained in The Fever Code, although judging by the majority of the reviews I’m not sure it actually does give us any unexpected answers) but Dashner could’ve just stopped at the end of The Death Cure.

The Kill Order, book #4 in the series is a prequel. Set not long after when the sun flares have finished but left the entire planet in disarray, The Kill Order takes us to a time when people were trying to stay alive and survive. Not to end up with the “madness” that so many have already succumbed to.

In The Kill Order we meet BRAND NEW characters. NONE, and I mean, NONE of the characters from any of the original trilogy are in this story. Whilst I appreciate, that the previous characters are of YA age, it would have been good to have been able to connect the characters in this story to the original trilogy. The only connections between this book and previous books are 1) the crazies (people affected by the madness) and 2) the sun flares.
I think I understand what Dashner was trying to do, by telling us more about the world before the “maze” it would give us a clearer picture of what was happening but to be honest, I didn’t feel that at all. We didn’t learn anything in this particular prequel that we didn’t already know from previous instalments.
I not only had issues with the story, but with reading this book. I started reading it back in August 2018 but due to having difficulties (which I’m not sure was due to myself or the book) it took until today to finish it. I couldn’t read more than a few pages at a time.

While I did have issues with it, when reviewing I try and provide some positives as well as negatives. Had this been a stand alone story, it could have worked as a good old apocalyptic action story (there was definitely plenty of action).
I had a favourite character, I usually do, even in books I don’t like. Alec an older ex-forces gentleman, leading the charge throughout the book, he made it worth sticking with. I liked him.

James Dashner, I’m disappointed in this particular book. Not only did it not deliver what I thought it would, I’m not sure that it delivered what you wanted it too either.

Graphic Novels

In 2017 I found graphic novels.

Before creating my Facebook group, I’d never read a graphic novel (or a comic) as an adult. I purely read written books. The appeal of seeing the story in pictures never really came to me. I used to think that they were aimed at children for the most part.

A friend of mine, (and fellow admin in the group), was a big big fan of graphic novels and would regularly post about whichever one she had been reading. After a while I started to notice that some of them definitely were NOT for children and actually, they had a little more substance to them than I had originally thought.

So sometime during last year, I started on a massive binge of graphic novels. I had one main rule (and one smaller, less significant one) – no superhero comics or graphic novels. I’m not really sure why I said that because I love the superhero world of films but the idea of reading a superhero comic just didn’t appeal.
The other smaller, less significant rule is that it has to have a decent amount of pages before I will consider reading it (unless I am knowingly going into a series released as issues).

Now I am obsessed with graphic novels and as they are generally a quick read, they give me a good boost to my total books read for the Goodreads challenge too.

Do you read graphic novels? Can you recommend any?

My “Goodreads” Year in Books 2018

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2018 was my second hardest hitting year in a long while as far as numbers go.

I ended 2017 with a total of 237 books read and was really unsure whether I’d be able to pull it off for a second year running. To see that I came out with 196 books in 2018 actually felt really good. I read a good selection of tiles and genres from children’s books to massive graphic novels.

The following books are some of my favourites, for various reasons.

This book stands for the entire #VampiresAssistant series, loved ALL them

A new release by one of my favourite authors #SarraCannon

This was a fantastic, yet harrowing read, the first in a long time that I read in just 2 hours

This was a manga that I had tried to obtain from everywhere I could think of, then it popped up in a local charity shop

I went into this hearing mixed reviews but ended up loving the series

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How was your 2018 in books?

NEW Charlie N Holmberg Series 2019

The author of the hugely popular Paper Magician series has a new series coming out in 2019.

Book one is currently available as one of this months Amazon First choices for Prime members, or to pre-order (Link at the bottom of the page).

Smoke & Summons is a captivating world of Monsters and Magic.

As a human vessel for an ancient spirit, Sandis lives no ordinary life. At the command of her master, she can be transformed against her will into his weapon—a raging monster summoned to do his bidding. Unlike other vessels, Sandis can host extremely powerful spirits, but hosting such creatures can be fatal. To stay alive, she must run. And in a city fueled by smoke and corruption, she finds a surprising ally.

A cunning thief for hire, Rone owns a rare device that grants him immortality for one minute every day—a unique advantage that will come in handy in Sandis’s fight for freedom. But Sandis’s master knows how powerful she is. He’s determined to get her back, and he has the manpower to find her, wherever she runs.

Now, to outwit her pursuers, Sandis must put all her trust in Rone and his immortal device. For her master has summoned more than mere men to hunt her down… (Blurb taken from Amazon UK).

Make sure you get on over to Amazon and get your copy pre-ordered, or like me, download your FREE copy.

Smoke & Summons Amazon UK

Stay tuned for my review in the coming weeks.