Chuckles Mini Reviews Catchup

I review everything I read, on my blog and on Goodreads. Most reviews are of a decent length but sometimes you don't have much to say about the book because of its length or you DNFed it or various other reasons. In cases like that it makes sense to write a few mini reviews in one post and clear them out your way! So lets catch up with reviews from through earlier this year.

1) Bobby Akart-The Loyal Nine 
The series introduced The Loyal Nine, direct descendants of the Founding Fathers whose mission is to protect America, and the republic, from those who would inflict tyranny upon her.  

The President and his friends plan a series of false flag attacks so they can enforce martial law and take guns, land and supplies from Americans, ensuring he can stay in power without an election. The book starts by introducing different people-a man sent to ally with an anti-Russian group in Ukraine, a professor talking to his class about cyber attacks and retaliation, a prepper who accepts jail time to protect a rich client in return for payment and of course the corrupt President who thinks he is actually a good guy. 

It seems to be full in the beginning of introductions to a lot of people but I can't say that any of them appealed to me. I found this very slow to get in to. There seems to be a lot of talk about things but nothing much in the way of action, tension or excitement, just lectures. I found myself getting bored very quickly as this is not my kind of book at all.

DNF January 2019 
1 star

2) Bobby Akart-Axis Of Evil
Military analysts agree that the United States can't start World War III. Why? We might lose. Sabers are rattling and the war of words escalate between America and her enemies, but the rhetoric has done little to stop the nuclear proliferation of North Korea and Iran. When the deep state, a close-knit group of powerful, influential people within our government challenges a new, untested President, things go awry.

The decisions made in the darkened rooms of Washington have a profound impact on ordinary Americans like the Armstrong family, Texas ranchers who spend their time making a living, but also preparing for the worst. As most of the family lives their life in Texas, one of them will unknowingly be the catalyst for World War III.

I decided to give the author another try but again I wasn't really enjoying it much. The first 20 pages are full of information about EMPs which I skipped but might be interesting to those wanting to learn more about them or someone new to the genre.

The book follows a family led by retired ranger Duncan. His oldest son died in military action which he has never got over. Duncan Jr is a former Navy Seal now working for the CIA and based on the USS Jack H Lucas near Iran. Cooper and his other siblings do bull riding. I found the actual characters around the ranch to be interesting enough but the plot again was very slow. We also follow female President Alani Harman who struggles to control rival Defence Secretary Monty Gregg, who wants to assassinate the North Korean leader in a plot with Kim's sister. After 125 pages the biggest excitement were the Iranians trying to get the Americans to shoot at them and a beaver dam at the ranch. It was just too slow getting into the story again for my tastes.

DNF January 2019
2 stars.

3) Annie Berdel-Alpha Farm
From the beginning, Emma was always looking for modern ways to becoming self-sufficient. Following the signs of a faltering economy and a nagging in her Spirit to return to her family farm, Emma begins rebuilding a life independent from The Grid and away from her high stress corporate job. Is it any wonder that when a localized Electromagnetic Pulse is detonated over the New Madrid Fault Line and The Grid is taken down, that Emma immediately goes into action? Well, at least until Senator Varga and her personal Army shows up at Emma’s door. That is one curve ball that Emma was not expecting.

Calling her fellow Prepper Chicks into action, follow along as a Modern Day Underground Railroad is formed, a long forgotten way of life is pulled back into action and they all adjust to A World without Rule of Law.
 
I hate been overly critical of a book these days but this one was all over the place. Firstly it takes the EMP 182 pages to finally arrive-I only know this because I skimmed ahead to see if it ever does happen. Prior to that it is basically a rape novel on hispanic women with a few wolf attacks thrown in. The wolf attacks are described in a strange manner which makes the wolf sound more like a violent lover than an animal. I found it weird to read. As for the rapes, well it starts with Angie being raped and saved by Emma but it then focuses on Angie's recovery and the attitudes of the police to the rape. Then the rapists, who happen to be cops try to attack Elsie, shooting her as she escapes with two kids that she is driving with. She dies in the woods and is found by Emma. Then the pregnant Sonya is raped by the cops. To say that I was getting a bit mad with the content was an understatement and this is before society breaks down.

There is also no cohesion in the book. In the space of four pages the subject matter leaps from how tornados destroy prepper houses, Emma taking a walk, description of her comm tower, mocking the Scottish accents they once heard on the radio, Prepper instructions and a website ad and an anti government rant about using the weather as a weapon. It was so disjointed and the plot just jumped around with no direction. There are also page long bible quotes and long prepper lists but no real sense of any impending doom, just the odd vague comment on society being a mess. I hated that the MC kept calling Emma 'doll' all the time and I found the comments about Europe being taken over by muslims insulting. Perhaps she needs to take a long look at her government and the problems America has before passing judgement on other countries. The other thing was the dreadful formatting which had gaps in between every line of dialogue, big spaces between paragraphs and poor punctuation-and this was the paperback copy. Not impressed with this book at all.

DNF January 2019
1 star. Lucky to even get that. 

4) Christopher Coleman-They Came With The Snow
The fight for survival started with a blast. Then it started snowing in May and the grid failed. Then they came. Who are they? And what do they want? When a mysterious blast goes off in a small college town, triggering a blizzard, the few survivors must decide whether to stay or leave and face the monsters who came with the snow.

Dom and Naia were having an affair behind his wife's back which is why when the snow came, they were stuck at the college where she was his student. Outside in the snow, watching and waiting are the crab like creatures, cutting off their chance at escape but with food and fuel running out after five weeks, a run to the nearby mall through the trees might be their best bet. 

The actual story was interesting if a little far fetched but I don't mind lack of realism in this kind of tale. What I didn't like was Dom. I don't greatly care about him cheating on his wife and I certainly liked Naia a lot better than him. Dom is rude, obnoxious, dismissive of any idea that isn't his own and likes to interrupt people who are talking so he can be heard. Frankly, the guy is an arse! He is constantly sarky and likes making smart retorts and I wish the crabs would just eat him. I have no plans to continue with the series.

Read January 2019
2 stars.