Review: Year of the Cat by Carroll Bryant

Title: Year of the Cat
Author: Carroll Bryant
Format: e-book (Kindle edition)
Read: Dec 9 - DNF
Rating: 1/5
Recommend: No

Summary: Lancaster Parks, an American Detective is sent to a tourist city in Mexico.  What exactly he's investigating is a string of deaths of male tourists over the past years.  The case he's on currently has 16 unsolved murders, all the victims American males and murdered between Spring Break and Memorial Day Weekend (the city's two biggest tourist times).  Oh, and there is this mysterious woman too.

Review: I am so usually not one to give into hype, drama or let other people's reviews color my opinion of a book.  So, up on receiving this book as a gift (which I usually do not turn down, but in this case I probably should have).

I could not even finish it, I have no desire to finish it.  Nor do I think any amount of money could make me finish this book. This author reminds me of Vizzini in <i>The Princess Bride</i> with his use of words improperly.

The on that made me giggle, seriously, was apparently the main character was going to spend "the next ions" of his life in the city he was transferred to in Mexico.  Dear Author, you are aware that the word that you should have used in that sentence was EONS.

Ions do not measure time.  Ions are an electrically charged atom, and is a term used in physics or chemistry.

Eons measure time.  They measure an indefinite amount of time.

So, your character would not be spending electrically charged atoms in a place, instead he would be spending eons (an indefinite amount of time) in the city in Mexico.

Then, there is this mystery woman.  I don't get entirely where she comes from (maybe I would if I finished the book) but to have her simply show up in this one mini flash back toward the beginning of the book is kind of disjointed and really doesn't make things flow nice and neatly in my opinion.

Anyway, that is my two cents and I bid you all a good day and happy reading.  Please do not bring your hate, drama and various other trivial things to my page.  I've now read the drama and the whirlwind of a shit storm that this book and the author has produced.  I do not want any part of it, and you will not hesitate to find yourself blocked, banned, or reported for bringing the drama here.

Review: Innocent Darkness by Suzanne Lazaer

Title: Innocent Darkness
Author: Suzanne Lazear
Format: E-book - Galley
Read: May 13-14 2012
Rating: 3.5/5
Recommend: Maybe.

Summary: This book has a unique premise: Steampunk faerie tale.  Magnolia has been sent to a school for troublesome girls, but ultimately she is broken out of the school with the aid of a Faerie.  She is slated to be the sacrificial lamb to save Otherworld.

Review:  I was given this book as an ARC/Galley copy from Netgalley, and the prospect of Steampunk mixed with faerie did seem intriguing especially since it raises so many questions about how the two would intermingle especially with Fae being known for having a strong allergic reaction to all things iron and frowning on the inclusion of too much mortal world technology.
There were things that I liked in this book and things that irritated me with this book.  Multiple names for each character tended to get confusing, especially since each character had a nickname and their actual name but went by one or another name throughout the entirety of the book.  That was one of the things that rubbed me the wrong way, and I also disliked the sudden drop off of the steampunk part of the story.  The devices that were used at the beginning of the story were among my favorite and it upset me that once things shifted there was little to no more steampunk influence on the story.
Okay, so Noli is a hoyden, but there was no closure given to the harsh and unacceptable treatment she'd received at the school.  It kinda irked me that there were no lasting, lingering effects (as their should have been from such treatment) and everything was suddenly overshadowed by the fact that she had to be sacrificed to save Otherworld, and ultimately the romance took over as well.  While, I do like a good romance, it to me is not something that should have taken center stage when there were more pressing issues that needed to be dealt with.
Will I continue to read this series? I am on the fence about picking up the second book simply because there was a lot that had left me wanting with this one.  We will see, I may pick it up just to see what twists are in it and if there is further inclusion of the steampunk or if it has merely turned into another faerie story.

Review: Dark Passage by Griffin Hayes

This is the second work I've read by Griffin Hayes and I fall in love with the twisted thrillers all the more.  This story, about a man named Tyson Barrett, who is tortured by nightmares of his traumatic childhood, receives a miracle cure for his insomnia.  However, as we've learned, if it sounds too good to be true it usually is.  That is the case with this so called "miracle cure" that Tyson hopes will not only solve his medical problems but his personal ones as well (considering he has become estranged from his wife and young son) and his business is on the verge of collapse.

However, this miracle cure is not without its dark side.  Tyson still dreams, however, when he wakes, something returns with him.  Something spawned from the deepest, darkest depths of his psyche, however there is something bigger, something more evil than what has already come through.  However, this evil isn't after Tyson - it wants his son.

This book is a fantastic lesson that not all dreams were meant to come true.  This book had me on the edge of my seat most of the time, and more often than not I would only read it during day light hours because I've read Stephen King before bed, and Griffin Hayes has managed to have a Stephen King like effect on me with his thrillers.  My dreams are not a safe place when I read his thrillers, so I highly recommend not reading this before a nap, before bed...broad daylight, outside, where you stand no chance of falling asleep is definitely good!

Vividly descriptive characters weave a web of horror and mystery that will keep you intrigued until the very end.  It will keep you on the edge of your seat and ultimately is one that I would recommend to anyone who is a fan of horror or if you occasionally like to indulge in the "darker" type of stories...read this one!  The pace is perfect and the story won't feel rushed at all.

I received a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for an unbiased review.  Thank you Griffin Hayes for the opportunity to read yet another one of your fantastic thrillers. 

Review: Beneath the Shadows by Sara Foster

Title:  Beneath the Shadows
Author:  Sara Foster
Rating: 4/5

Summary:  A year after her husband, Adam, vanishes outside their Yorkshire moor cottage, Grace returns with her infant daughter Millie.  However, when the weather turns nasty and the winter storms threaten to cut her off from the rest of the world Grace makes a discovery and now must attempt to get her daughter back from the one person intent on taking her away, praying she can get to them on time.


Review:  North Yorkshire has been setting to some of my favorite stories throughout my reading career Dracla, Wuthering Heights, and that in and of itself gives this story brownie points in my book.  After Adam’s mother dies of cancer, he moves in with his grandparents, after attending University and meeting Grace, he marries her, their daughter born within their first year of marriage.  Adam’s grandparents die, and leave him the cottage, so they move from London to the cottage in North Yorkshire.  After they move into the cottage, Adam takes Millie for a walk – Millie is returned, Adam however is not found. 

The tiny village near the cottage is pretty much deserted; however, there is still an old schoolhouse where Meredith and her daughter Claire live. Claire is fine, however, there is something being masked by Meredith’s perfectly polite demeanor.  Ben, the handyman/contractor Grace hires to renovate the cottage is also hiding something…and no one is willing to divulge their secrets.  Winter’s approaching, and this often means snowstorms that keep drivers from being able to see the road, along with a grandfather clock that stops and starts at 3am, and we can’t forget the stories in Ghosts of the Moors – all of these things are slowly doing their best to drive Grace slightly mad. 

The sense of menace is real in this story, and the setting only adds to it and brings it more into being.  The mysteries surrounding Adam’s disappearance, Ben’s secret, and Meredith’s less than honest welcoming attitude are all eventually revealed.  My only disappoint me is that it didn’t have a bit more touch on Wicker Man/Harvest Home theme to it.  My only complaint that dropped this down from a five star review was the constant use of “tears streaming down her face” in reference to Grace when she was crying (which happened frequently).


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