Print Length: 197 pages
ASIN: B005IHDX18
Find it on Amazon or Goodreads
My rating: ★★/★★★★★
Book Description:
What happened to Cinderella after she married the Prince? Set in the
late 1700s as Napoleon is rising to power, Cinderella embarks on a
journey of self-discovery as she tries to come to terms with her failed
marriage and her inability to have a child. Torn between the Queen's
insistence that she try all means necessary to conceive and her own
desires, she agrees to travel to Paris to consult with a witch to help
her become pregnant. Her journey leads her to find her long lost Fairy
Godmother and aids her to solve the mystery behind her mother's death.
Yet the Fey Lord, the Silver Fox, also takes notice in her and her world
is suddenly turned upside down...
This review is going to be a little short because there's not too much to say about this book. Rating this 2 stars is being extremely generous. I normally enjoy fairy tale retelling's or a follow up to the "Happily Ever After", but this "book" was just, terrible. I really hate giving books low reviews, but I had to with this. I couldn't wait for this to end & was finally glad when it did.
The
premise was okay, but could have been better with A LOT of tweaking.
Cinderella is a whiny and naive little twit throughout this whole book.
It's supposedly set in the 1700s, but certain things don't make any damn
sense. It talks about Napoleon who wasn't even around until the LATE
1700s.. it mentions him having an affair with Cleopatra (looooooooong
before that time!).. then it mentions a guy named "John" in America who
wasn't even alive in the 1700s.
Aside from it not making any sense, it was very boring. I would have stopped reading this at about 20% through if I hadn't been curious as to whether or not it would improve, which it didn't. Seriously, don't waste your time. I'm not even going to bother reading the 2nd book.
My rating: ★★★★/★★★★★
Book Description:
Alessa is just seven years old when her uncle rapes her for the first
time. As the years pass, his sexual appetite becomes more voracious and
his perversion more twisted, until the abuse has become almost a daily
ritual, with the unspoken involvement of the girl’s mother.
At
the age of sixteen, after the death of her only friend, Alessa finds
herself at the mercy of her real-life monster, with no relief in sight.
She flees her home to escape this hell, only to find herself descending
into a more dangerous one. Alone and helpless in the streets of North
Philadelphia, she encounters more human predators who want to take over
her life and devour her. About to hit rock bottom, Alessa manages to
break away from her new tormentors and finds refuge in a shelter for
homeless and abused women.
Wherever she goes, however, trouble
keeps seeking her out, until she meets three people who change the
course of her life forever. Though Alessa’s bittersweet journey is
perpetually fraught with challenges, she does, nevertheless, manage to
find fleeting moments of joy along the way. But as she begins to settle
down, a ghost from the past comes to haunt her again, threatening to
destroy the very foundation of her small world and plunging her back
into an abyss of despair, until she makes her final bid for escape.
WARNING! THIS BOOK IS EXTREMELY GRAPHIC AND SHOULD NOT BE READ BY ANYONE UNDER 18!! EXTREME DESCRIPTIONS OF SEX, RAPE & VIOLENCE!!
Now that I've said that, onto my review... This was NOT an easy book to read. Not because it was poorly written or anything, but because of the nature. This book starts off with Alessa getting raped by her uncle when she's merely 7 years old (and it's VERY graphic). I was appalled, but couldn't stop reading. I got drawn in because I wanted to know if she finally stood up to her uncle & her mother (who knew it was going on but turned a blind eye).
Alessa's uncle rapes her on an almost nightly basis until she's 16 when her best friend gets murdered & she runs away after her uncle basically tells her he's going to pimp her out to some of his poker buddies while her mom is away for the weekend. Her best friends mom helps her get away & she goes to Philly. Things are starting to look up for her until she gets raped again & then gets "owned" by a gang leader (Harlin) after he saves her (his sister became friends with Alessa). He pimps her out at a local dance club & then tries to turn her into a prostitute after she gets fired.. She runs away when she's supposed to meet her John.
After running away a second time, she gets her life turned around some more & is starting to do better. She goes to a woman's shelter where she meets Ebby, a woman who becomes her best friend. Harlin finds out where she is & she lies to Ebby about going to another shelter, but instead lives on the streets where she ends up "adopting" a little girl named Lucy whose parents abandoned her when she was little. Alessa ends up getting brutally raped & beaten one night after begging the guys to take her instead of Lucy (their intended target). Alessa needs physical therapy after that & that's where she meets Remo, a guy that really helps turn her life around & accepts her past.
I think I need to stop the review right there because if I go any further then I'll really ruin the book for anyone that wants to read it. I will say that this book takes an extremely emotional turn towards the end & I actually had tears in my eyes reading it. It's very rare when a book makes me get emotional (I threw my Harry Potter book when she killed off Sirius), but this one did.
Like I said, this book shouldn't be read by anyone under 18, but that's my opinion.
Print Length: 275 pages
ASIN: B00EX5ZORC
Find it on Amazon or Goodreads
My rating: ★★★★/★★★★★
Book Description:
After the attack at his father’s amusement park, Daniel cannot believe
what he’s capable of. He tries to lock himself away and protect those he
loves… until he finds out that the monster within did not get there by
accident, and the one responsible didn’t stop with him.
Sarah remembers the stories her mother used to tell her; of a place
where the sun shone brightly and bird songs filled the air; a place
where home wasn’t a cramped cell; a place where your own mind didn’t try
to torment you. She wants nothing more than to be free of this living
hell… even if that means she won’t get out alive.
Jack is fed up of chasing the serial killer with no name, whose
favourite game is creating monsters out of living people. He just wants
to catch him before anyone else gets hurt… but reaching that goal
becomes much more dangerous than anyone could have guessed.
When these three strangers find their lives colliding on an island
from which there is no escape, they must work together if they want to
survive; but how do they fight against a force that doesn't really
exist?
So first off let me say that YES, this book jumps between 4 characters but it DOES not switch them off mid-chapter like some books do. At the start of every chapter it lists the characters name so you know whose viewpoint you're reading from. Your 4 main characters are Daniel, Jack, Tez & Sarah. Well, you don't read through Tez's viewpoint, but I still consider him a main character.
This book is about a crazy psychopath that does experiments on people that turn them into Werewolves. These aren't your typical "full moon" Werewolves.. These ones can change depending upon what's going on. It doesn't explain what happened to make the others change, but Daniel apparently changes when he's scared/mad.
Daniel's father knows what he is & apparently rarely lets him do anything. But for once, he let Daniel go to their amusement park (father owns it) at night on Halloween with a few friends. Everything is going great until Daniel & Beth get scared on a ride.. Once they finally get off, Daniel is so scared & angry that he starts to change & yells at his friends to run.
Sarah is a girl trapped in a house full of confusing corridors on a supposed island. Her father kept her & her mother locked up in a cell until one day he took her mother away & Sarah never saw her again. Sarah's father likes to play "games" with her.. He lets her have a chance at escaping but ALWAYS catches her. He lets her think she might have a chance at getting free only to drag her back into her cell to await another time.
Jack & Tez are paranormal detectives, AKA P.A.D.S (paranormal agency's detective service). They show up at a "paranormal" scene before anyone else to get things under control before the "serva" (what they call non-paranormals) arrive. Jack can read minds and can also see and manipulate memories of people. Tez is a telekinetic; can control things with his mind.
Jack lost his mother when he was 7. She just suddenly vanished into thin air. His father went crazy soon after. Jack went to live with his aunt & his father also suddenly vanished. Jack is determined to find & catch the man he refers to as "The Doctor". A few months go by without any more werewolves popping up, until Jack finds out about Daniel & what happened at the amusement park.
Can Daniel control his inner-wolf? Can Jack catch The Doctor? Can Sarah finally be free? You'll have to read the book to find out!
Print Length: 535 pages
ASIN: B009OKRB3Q
Find it on Amazon or Goodreads
My rating: ★★★★★/★★★★★
Book Description:
After shooting her
little brother dead, Annie Radford is sent to a psychiatric hospital for
treatment. Hearing voices in her head, Annie is forced to undergo
experimental new treatments devised by a mysterious old man who lives in
the hospital's attic. It soon becomes clear that the hospital's staff,
led by the vicious Nurse Winter, are involved in some dark and horrific
plans.
As Annie struggles to survive the hospital, she learns
more about Nurse Winter's own story. Once a promising young medical
student, Nurse Winter also heard voices in her head. What kind of
signals are being transmitted from the basement of the hospital? Who is
the old man in the attic? Why are living human brains kept in jars? And
what is the dark secret that lurks at the heart of the hospital?
This volume contains all 8 books in the series.
Book 1: The New Girl
Book 2: Doctor Lava
Book 3: Husk
Book 4: A Case of Crows
Book 5: Life of Horror
Book 6: The Nun and the Janitor
Book 7: Tragedy Day
Book 8: Burning Down the House
As some people have griped about (especially on Amazon), this book DOES jump around quite a bit but as long as you read the chapter titles, you'll know whose POV you're reading about.
People complain about books where you don't learn much about the main characters & then they complain when you DO actually learn a fair bit about the main characters.
This book lets you know some back-story to the main characters & then lets you see their POV when certain things are happening.. Yes, this means there's some repetition to it, but it works for the story.
For example (no, this isn't in the book).. You have Nurse Winter & Eddie eating lunch together & it's Nurse Winter's POV. She sees Morris walking down the hallway & sneers at him. Then in the next chapter you're reading Morris' POV & he's walking down the hallway, sees Nurse Winter & Eddie eating lunch & then sees her sneer at him & thinks she's a bitch. (If any of that made sense)
These books draw you in & have you wanting to know whats going on. This is the first series (or book in general) that I've read in a LONG time where the entire story isn't predictable. Every time I though I had something figured out, I soon found out I was completely wrong!
These books are twisted & disturbing. The main disturbing part of them is that some of the treatments of these patients used to happen awhile ago & most likely STILL do. Mental hospitals used to take advantage of their patients & do inhumane experiments on them because well, whose going to believe them?
If you want to be left wondering what's going on until the very end, I highly suggest these books!
I'm going to be kicking off 2014 with starting a book review blog. I
know many other people that have book blogs, so figured I'd start my
own.. Plus, it may give me enough incentive to start writing book
reviews.
Now, my reviews aren't going to be overly technical nor overly critical.
I'm not going to count out all the typos and/or grammar/punctuation
problems in a book (yes, I have seen a blog that does this). I'm not
going to spoil 90% of the book with my review. These reviews are going
to come from a girl that enjoys reading for fun. None of my reviews will
be paid for.. You will not be able to "buy" a good review from me. Yes,
I will gladly read a book in exchange for an HONEST review.. But if I
don't like it, then I wont hesitate to say so. BUT! Unlike many others,
if I do not like the book, I wont slam it & insult the author like
others have.
Also, please bear with me as I slowly set up my blog & get things
looking "pretty" or rather, more "organized". I do hope my reviews may
help you find a new book to read and/or a new author to love.
