Category: Three Stars

Room 9 and Other Stories – REVIEW

Title: Room 9 and Other Stories

Series: N/A

Author: Amy Cross

Type: Short Stories

Genre: Horror/Supernatural/Paranormal

Format: eBook

Pages: 378

Owned/Borrowed/Given Etc: Kindle Unlimited

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Blurb: A girl checks into a haunted motel room, determined to prove that ghosts exist. But what’s really waiting for her in the notorious room 9? A man meets an old friend who claims to be haunted by a figure from their past. But when that friend does, who will the ghost haunt next? A town struggles to face the horrors of its past. But no matter how hard the local people try to forget, the victim of a terrible crime is determined to avenge her own death. Room 9 and Other Stories contains the new short stories Room 9, The Ghost of Daniel Dowd and The Horror of Blackforke House, as well as revised versions of The Disappearance of Rose Hillard and The Fan.

40242936

I choose this as part of my 3 month Kindle Unlimited subscription and also because I’m loving the format of short stories at the moment. An added bonus is that this book falls into one of my all-time favourite genres – horror, supernatural and paranormal. Although, the stories in this book lean more to the paranormal side than the horror.

I’ll split this book into individual stories as I have very different feelings about them all.

The Horror of Blackforke House (⭐⭐)- This should’ve/could’ve been a fantastic trope of a story. The standard, well-known, well-loved haunted house story. However, it left me wanting something to happen. It just ended without any satisfactory conclusion. This was definitely the worst in the bunch.

The Fan (⭐⭐⭐)- This was a middle of the road story for me in the book. It was worth a read but it felt like I’d seen/read this storyline so many times before in many different ways. The title is pretty self-explanatory, a celebrity and a fan have an encounter. Not much else happens that you wouldn’t expect in a book of this genre.

The Disappearance of Rose Hilland (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)- This story is what made the book worth reading. It made the book achieve a three-star rating. The Rose Hilland story is vile and has some disturbing moments but it builds up fantastically and brings about the thrilling conclusion in an amazing and actually quite surprising way. This is a five-star story on its own, and could easily have been published by itself if the author could make it longer.

Room 9 (⭐⭐⭐)- Hotel rooms and ghosts. Think 1408 (Stephen King) but nowhere near the same level. Still, given that it was much tamer than I expected, it was still a good story.

The Ghost of Daniel Dowd (⭐⭐)- This would be the second worst story in the book in my opinion. By the time I had finished reading the story after this one, I couldn’t even remember what had happened. Even now, I only have a brief recollection of a man and a ghost but that’s about as far as it goes.

Total Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (15 out of a possible 25)

I would recommend this particular book by Amy Cross. I have read a previous book by the same author, in the same format and it was rife with editing/typing errors. This book had a couple of really noticeable ones but nothing like I had seen prior to this book.

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.

23905939

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.

36537091

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.

Frostbite: The Graphic Novel (Vampire Academy: The Graphic Novel #2) – Review

Title: Frostbite: The Graphic Novel (Vampire Academy: The Graphic Novel #2)

Author: Richelle Mead (Adapter), Emma Vieceli (Illustrator), Leigh Dragoon (Adapter)

Type: Fiction

Genre: Fantasy

Format: Paperback

Pages: 156

Owned/Borrowed/Given Etc: Borrowed from the Library

Rating: 3/5

Blurb: WHEN LOVE AND JEALOUSY COLLIDE ON THE SLOPES. WINTER BREAK TURNS DEADLY.
A Strigoi attack puts St. Vladimir’s on high alert, and the Academy whisks its students away on a mandatory Holiday ski trip. But the glittering winter landscape and posh Idaho resort only provide the illusion of safety. When three students run away to strike back at the Strigoi, Rose must join forces with Christian to rescue them. Only this time, Rose – and her heart – are in more danger than she could have imagined.

9723976

Before I start my review, I’d like to point out that I HAVE NOT YET read the Vampire Academy novels. I figured I’d try these before starting on the full-on books.

Knowing nothing of the story previously, I felt like I managed to get a pretty good idea as to what happens. It’s like a teenage saga. A group of teenagers (regardless of their species) hang around and get into all sorts of teenage trouble. The Dhampirs (half-human, half-vampire) are trained to protect the royalty of Vampire families. That’s pretty much all of it summed up in a nutshell.

I have issues with the illustrations in this (and its prior volume). Not that I don’t think Dragoon is an amazing artist, but they just don’t sit right with me in this instance. I couldn’t even really begin to tell you what it is, the characters don’t look like I imagine them to be when reading the words. That is with the exception of Rose. She is the only one in this story that seems to “fit” in with how the story works. 

That being said, I do like the story. I am definitely interested in reading more of the volumes (unfortunately, none of the libraries within my area have a copy of Shadow Kiss in Graphic Novel format and I am not all that keen to want to buy it). I think I may move onto the novels and take it from there, but I will have to start again from the beginning to make sure I get the full extent of the story and the detail that goes into a novel compared to the Graphic versions.

“Karlology – What I’ve Learnt So Far? by Karl Pilkington” Review

Image result for Karlology - What I Have Learnt So Far

I used to really enjoy watching Karl Pilkington in his TV Show – An Idiot Abroad. In this book, Karl tells us all about the things he has learnt whilst visiting various attractions in and around London.

Each chapter is a section on a specific visit, from an Egyptian display to a museum, various different places are explored. Karl tells us about the place he visited and provides his insight into a lot of what he learnt.

I didn’t find this book as entertaining as his TV show, I felt like it was lacking in the usual flair I had come to expect from Karl but there was just enough “Karlology” to keep me going at a fairly quick speed.

Title: Karlology – What I’ve Learnt So Far

Author: Karl Pilkington

Pages: Unsure at time of writing review

Genre: True Life

Format: Paperback

Owned/Borrowed/Given Etc: Owned

Rating: 3/5

Review: OldTimers

26054283

Title: OldTimers

Author: Matthew Cash

Pages: 22

Genre: Horror

Rating: 3/5

Blurb: Sandy thinks there’s something wrong with her resident’s new hearing aid. It’s picking up numbers that only he can detect.
Evil carer Lisa thinks he’s just an attention seeking senile old imbecile.
They’re counting down, but to what?

OldTimers is my second Cash book in two days (I enjoyed the first one that much I decided to read one of his other books as soon as I could).

First of all, I’d like to comment on something I didn’t mention in my previous Cash review – the covers. They are short stories and they are reasonably priced on Amazon UK so I don’t expect them to have overly fantastical covers but I do feel that they are on the basic side. A cover is generally the first reason I would even consider a book, so while that doesn’t reflect the story inside, I do think it is an important factor.

As with Slugs and Snails and Puppydogs Tails, this book is short. 22 pages in total, but again, Cash managed to set the scene, tell a story and come to a suitable conclusion.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this story but the ending was a surprise yet again. So on two separate occasions, Matthew Cash has managed to surprise me with the ending to a short story.

I would still recommend that you do not read this is you are squeamish.

Review: Horror at Halloween – Part One

12766572

Title: Horror at Halloween – Part One

Author: John Gordon

Pages: 77

Genre: Horror

Rating: 3/5

Blurb: In his new hometown, British teenager Sam Jones discovers that a legendary backwoods bogeyman has risen from the grave to seek revenge against those who put him there

This book is the first part of a six book series. Each book is around a similar amount of pages and they follow a similar Halloween theme. From looking more into the series, it seems that each book follows a different main character and is written by a different author. I’m not sure how I feel about that but as I manage to read more of them I’m sure I’ll be able to form an opinion. I’ve just added the remaining five onto my wishlist on Goodreads though so that must say something about me wanting to continue on with the reading.

At only 77 pages this book was a quick read. I read it in two sittings (around half an hour each) and I actually liked how the story was written. There was enough detail to make the characters relatable and likeable without actually putting too many words in. Short stories seem to be one of my favourite things at the moment, I love a good book with a collection in.

I’d say it was written for a young adult, it had horror but not the kind you would expect in an adult book. This book is easily something I would recommend to a teenage horror fan.

Y: The Last Man Review – Brian K. Vaughan

3 stars (1)

I read it because it was described as having a magician and “The Walking Dead but with Women” and also because of the impending TV show.

Whilst there is a hefty 10 volumes (around 60 issues), I actually found that it was quite an intriguing story. Y (aka Yorick) is as the title says “The Last Man” on Earth. Following some kind of unknown event all men cease to be (including animals etc).

It’s interesting to see how the women continue on without any men in the world (I’m pretty sure we’d cope just fine if it happened in the real world lol).

The art work wasn’t anything special, but it wasn’t that bad that I couldn’t read it.

y_-the-last-man-wallpapers-27741-3235469.jpg

Behold! Oddities, Curiosities and Undefinable Wonders Review

35516664.jpg

Where do I begin with this weird book? It attracted me initially because of a few factors – the inclusion of a story by Neil Gaiman (a recently found (new) favourite author of mine), the appeal of multiple short stories and the title sounded like I was going to get a wonderful array of weirdness.
It definitely didn’t disappoint on the weird factor – every single story was weird in various ways, some more weird than others. Nor did it disappoint on the amount of short stories, with 18 in total. 

As I expected, the Gaiman story was fantastic along with a couple of others but the ratio of good to poor stories was rather lacking. I’m definitely thinking of around an 80/20 split of poor/good tales. When I refer to a story being poor, I’m simply commenting on whether I enjoyed it. There wasn’t anything specifically wrong with them, just that I wasn’t as impressed by it.

I decided that for a short story collection I’d only name ones that stuck out/in my head. For this book, I’m only talking about Knitter by Christopher Coake. The story describes a being of unknown description and race (maybe human, maybe not) that has the ability to change reality through removal or creation of things and people. Like a sprite or imp that can remove something or implant something as though it has always been there or never existed. The idea of a Knitter is an intriguing concept and I’m very interested in finding out whether there are any similar stories out there of this kind.

3 stars (1)

American Vampire, Vol 1 Review – Scott Snyder and Stephen King

13112474

Scott Snyder and Stephen King come together for the first volume in American Vampire. Bringing the story of Skinner Sweet to the world, Snyder’s story tells us what happened in 1920’s LA while King’s story takes us back to the Western world, taking place before Snyder’s story. Both stories are about Sweet, showing us how he became who he became.

I read this because of Stephen King. He’s one of my favourite authors so I was automatically drawn in to wanting to read this but I don’t know if I’ll be moving on to volume two. Whilst it was a decent read, I wasn’t all that invested in the story and I don’t really have much to say about it.

3 stars (1)