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.

Diary of a Mummy Misfit – Review

Title: Diary of a Mummy Misfit

Author: Amanda Egan

Type: Fiction

Theme: Diary/Episodal Inserts

Genre: Essentially Women’s Fiction/Chick Lit, but branches out into the Comedy/Humour section too

Format: eBook

Pages: 355

Owned/Borrowed/Given Etc: Owned on Kindle

Rating: 4/5

Blurb: Ever felt like you don’t belong? 
When Libby Marchant and husband Ned made the monumental decision to sacrifice luxuries and holidays to see their only son Max through private education, they hadn’t expected to meet so many unsavoury and dislikeable personalities along the way.
Happily, the cruel jibes of the pompous ‘Meemies’ are made more tolerable by the lasting and loyal friendship they strike up with the affluent Fenella & Josh.
Follow Libby’s journey as she discovers the chasm between the Haves and the Have-Nots in her mad new world of school committees, designer handbags, bitching and botox.
With Fenella by her side, Libby is able to maintain her sanity. But what happens when the credit crunch bites, you’re desperate for another baby and your Asian neighbour is trying to match-make you with her infatuated son?

This book is COMPLETELY out of my comfort zone. I’ve never been one for books classed as “women’s fiction“, “chick lit” or even “comedy/humour” unless the theme/plot has been something that I really really love.

EVERY and I mean every school has “Meemies”. Granted they may not be on the same scale as the ones that poor Libby has to deal with, but they still exist.

The writing style is chatty and down to earth. It reads very similarly to a diary entry as you would expect given the title. I found myself wanting things to right for Libby, really hoping along with her. The entries in the diary were on a really personal level. I could relate to the main character, Libby, because she was a “normal” mum, just trying to do her best for her child.

I am definitely going to read the sequel as soon as I can.

Monthly Reading Summary – March 2019

 

March Reading

Horror At Halloween: Part One Slugs and Snails and Puppydog Tails Missing Letters (Word Nerdz) OldTimers Hell and Sebastian Kim Reaper #1 Kim Reaper #2 Kim Reaper #3

Kim Reaper: Vampire Island #4 Kim Reaper: Vampire Island #1 Kim Reaper: Vampire Island #2 Kim Reaper: Vampire Island #3 Kim Reaper: Vampire Island #4 Karlology - What I Have Learnt So Far

This month was a bit of finishing off some books by authors I started previously. I read a really good book by Matthew Cash in the previous month so wanted to finish the others I already owned. I was definitely disappointed by the other stories, they didn’t hold the same flair.
I also read and completed up-to-date issues of Kim Reaper. Kim is a lesbian teenager who works part-time for death. I found this series really fun to read and found it quite easy to run through all 8 issues.
I actually managed to read a paperback book this month too, Karlology. For British readers, you may recognise him from his own TV show with Ricky Gervais where he travels around the world and Ricky makes him do all sorts of crazy things. This book was set a bit closer to home, with Karl talking about things he has found out when visiting places in and around London.

March Stats

Total books read: 14
eBooks: 13
Paperbacks: 1
Graphic Novels: 8
Part of a series: 8
Total authors: 5

Running Totals
from Goodreads stats page (based on 2019 readings)

Pages read: 7077

Summary – Did I meet my goals?

#1 – Finish reading Once Upon A Curse: 17 Dark Fairy Tales – FAILED – DNF
#2 – Finish reading Horror at Halloween Part One – DONE – Completed
#3 – Do not buy any more books – Kindle, paperback or any format – FAILED – Bought Charity Shop Books
#4 – Only to read other books from either my Kindle or paperback pile – FAILED – Happened to read a brand-new-to-me comic series

I failed even more miserably than last month on my personal reading goals. I am determined that one month, I will definitely manage to achieve all of the goals I set for myself.

April Goals

#1 – Read three library books borrowed on 30/03/2019
#2 – Read at least ONE completed Graphic Novel series that is new-to-me
#3 – Read two or three from either my Kindle or paperback collection
#4 – Buy no books in any format

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

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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

Raising Non-Reading Kids

As I’ve mentioned once or twice before I love reading. I’ve always loved reading. Even as a child, I was forever stuck in a book. From Enid Blyton and Malory Towers to Stephen King (as I got a little bit older of course), everything about a book was wonderful. The smell of the pages, the tales told within, the magical worlds created and much much more (as I’m sure most readers will agree).

Now I have two children of my own. As with most children, they have to read a certain amount for school but that is about as far as they go. My youngest reads considerably more than the 10-year-old, but even then she doesn’t really have the interest I had at her age (she’s 6). I’ve tried reading to them, with them, letting them read on their own, children’s books, adult books (with child-friendly themes e.g. Harry Potter), comic books, fact books, everything you could possibly think of, I’ve tried it. I’m starting to realise that I may have to face up to the fact that they just don’t like reading.

As a fully paid-up member of the “I Love Reading” club (the one that doesn’t even really exist but I know that every single reader on the planet considers themselves a member) reaching the realisation that my children don’t like reading hurts. It hurts almost as much as stepping on a Lego brick or walking on hot coals (of which I have no experience but could imagine the pain).

It doesn’t mean that I love my children any less, just that they aren’t the same as me. I have to adapt to their abilities. I’m learning things that I never knew I’d learn. Luckily, both of my kids have passions in other areas that I already consider myself to be quite knowledgable (on a scale of 1-100 with 100 being the top, I’d place myself around the 70% mark in both areas).

My daughter is crafty, she loves anything craft related. Her passion (at the moment) is definitely expressed through art. I’ve always considered myself a bit of a crafter so I’m quite happy to go with the flow on this one. We have a plethora of craft materials (I have my drawer and she has hers) we spend many hours making things of little to no value or reasoning to anyone else other than us.

My son, as with most children these days, has well and truly grown up in the age of technology. I’ve always been a gamer. I’ve had consoles and computer games all my life but today’s games are a completely new ball game. I don’t remember games ever being this difficult. The other thing, which we didn’t get taught at school (I’m not even sure we knew it existed) was coding. My son comes home from school with coding websites and coding games to play. I’ve definitely advanced in this department, I can do basic coding using the childrens coding apps and websites (simple things such as creating a character and making them move) which is an achievement for someone like me growing up without technology.

The whole point of my post today really is to say that as much as it upsets me that my kids don’t love reading like I do, they both have their own things that they love and that makes them even better. It shows that they have their own personalities and are developing ways to find what they love. One of my favourite sayings (not sure if it’s a genuine one or just another internet fad) at the moment is:

You Be YOU

and

I’ll Be ME

because I want my children to be who they want to be.

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Kindle Cull March 2019

Today was a happy-sad day in my world of books.
I’ve been contemplating downsizing my Kindle TBR pile for a while now. I’ve been collecting “Free” books since 2012 and for the first three or four years I went on mass downloading binges under the idea that they were free and if I didn’t like them it didn’t matter.
In fact, the vast majority of them were downloaded based on the cover and nothing else. 7 years later and a lot of them have changed covers, to ones that don’t seem as appealing. There was a large quantity of unknown-to-me authors, mostly within the “fantasy/paranormal” style genres.
Now I’m not saying I haven’t found new-to-me authors through Kindle freebies (Sarra Cannon for one) but it was getting beyond a joke.
I cleared them out.
At 9am, I started at: 1745 unread kindle downloads
At 3pm, I was at: 1402 unread kindle downloads
At 10pm, I’m finally finished with the “cull” at:

1129 unread kindle downloads

That’s a total of 616 books deleted because there’s very little chance I will ever read them

Edit 10/03/2019: I decided to take another look today in-case I missed any books that I wouldn’t read and I found a further 202 books to delete, bringing my finished total of unread books to:

927 unread kindle downloads

The feeling of achievement and the lack of over facing amounts of books actually feels pretty good, but it also makes me feel sad as there are 818 books out there that I once wanted to read.

My Kindle Drama #3526854

Some of the following post may seem repetitive but I’m feeling an urge to rant again.

Before I bought my first kindle I was 100% dead set on never having one, I would never be able to give up paperback books. Eventually, in 2012 I caved in and purchased a Kindle Keyboard 3G. I fell in love with it. I also fell in love with the ‘free’ books on Amazon. The free books are dangerous as I’ve written about before.

The thing I loved most about the KK was the ability to delete a finished book from the device and not still have it hanging around. Of course, if I wanted to read it again I just needed to re-download it from Amazon. That was great.

As with all things electronic, they don’t last forever, it eventually broke and I needed a replacement. Being pretty short on cash, I opted for a Kindle Fire 7. Unbeknownst to me, Amazon had done away with this delete and be gone (temporarily) feature and introduced the ‘cloud’ onto all devices.

My rant right now is about the cloud.

So the pro (I say pro because there is only one): I can view every single book I’ve ever purchased from Amazon on my device without having them actually stored on my device.

And the cons: If I read a book and delete it from my device, it’s still there in the cloud. Hanging around like a bad smell (especially if I didn’t like the book).

If I go to the Amazon “manage account and devices” page on a web browser or pc, I can permanently delete a book BUT if I do want to read it in the future I have to PAY a second time because I essentially deleted any knowledge Amazon has of my original order.

When a book I have downloaded in the past 7 years is still stored in my cloud (before deleting) and I essentially attempt a ‘new purchase’ Amazon tells me that I bought it already. It even tells me the date. I do this a lot with free books I haven’t yet gotten around to reading.

The collections feature is ok, I have two. One for books I’ve read and one for books I haven’t. However, this never ever updates on real time, nor does it even load correctly EVER. Sometimes I only get one collection that appears and other times, I get nothing.

The cloud books that show on my device DO NOT show the percentage read until AFTER I’ve downloaded the book to my device. So to check if I read a book already (which may well have been read in 2012), I have to download it first (which with my sucky internet is a rigmarole all on its own) then remove it if I’ve already read it.

In short, I hate the cloud function on newer Kindle devices. Yes Amazon I bought a book, Yes I have read it, Yes I still want to read it again one day, No I don’t want to delete it and pay again when I’m ready (I probably bought it at that time as it was free/reduced/on sale etc), No Amazon I don’t want to see it every time I look for something new to read but there’s no escaping that book AND absolutely no way in the KF to know I’ve read it already without downloading it. If I have to keep doing that for books I’m seriously considering heading to the car boot, stocking up on paperbacks and boycotting the kindle.

Review: OldTimers

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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: Slugs, Snails and Puppydogs Tails

slugs and snails and puppydog tails

Title: Slugs and Snails and Puppydogs Tails

Author: Matthew Cash

Pages: 13

Genre: Horror

Rating: 4/5

Blurb: Gerald loves creepy crawlies. He likes to catch and torture them. He’s caught something a lot bigger this time though.

I honestly don’t even remember downloading this book onto my kindle, it must have been one of the millions that I got as a free book. I was searching through my kindle library for all the books that I have paid for and came across this (and a few others by the same author). The first thing that stuck out was the length – thirteen pages, a whole thirteen pages of story – a small page number like this usually goes one of two ways: really good to really bad. The second thing and the reason that I decided I had to read it now, was that the cover said the story was “sick”.

I went into the story not knowing what kind of “sick” I was going to be reading. It could’ve been an ill kind of sick, a disgusting kind of sick or the kind of sick that the kids are all talking about these days. I was hoping for one particular kind of sick and it didn’t disappoint.

With it being such a short story, I daren’t say too much because I don’t want to give it away, but I will say that you really should read it. However, I will offer the following advice:
Do not read it if you are at all prudish/squeamish/easily offended etc
This book is not the faint hearted

Review: Horror at Halloween – Part One

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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.