Saturday, 3 December 2016

Stacking the Shelves #158


Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga’s Reviews

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks! Click on the link under the book to find its page on Goodreads or Smashwords. 

Please note that I always leave a message on your STS/SP if you visit me, but if you use DISQUS or a similar third party I will not be able to leave a comment on your page. I don't allow any company access to my social media accounts and I certainly don't allow them to edit and take over my accounts the way DISQUS does. So if you use DISQUS, I can't leave comments on your page so I can't really follow you back, sorry! I'm noticing that some blogs set with Google Plus are trying to force you to open a Google Plus or Facebook account before you can leave a comment. Well, I have no interest in rejoining Google Plus or joining Facebook so if your blog uses this set up, I won't be following it or commenting! And sometimes, I have problems leaving messages on blogs hosted by Wordpress-they try to block me so there might not be a message from me some weeks or you might get a double message sometimes! Blame them, not me!
     
Another week has passed and we're into December which is a bit scary really. Where is the time going this year? I'm happy that I'm now finding a good balance between reading and blogging and getting lots done over the last couple of months so I have high hopes for December! I'll be online each day right through the festive period as normal so all you Scrooges out there will have a blog to visit! *grins* I have a pile of books I found online recently that I'll gradually be adding to my STS posts but at the same time I'm trying to get through books on the tbr and reducing my numbers. Not easy for a bookaholic...You might recognise the paperbacks I've bought as I previously mentioned them on STS when I grabbed them as ebooks.
 
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Friday, 2 December 2016

Book Review: Midway by Melanie Karsak (The Harvesting #1.5)


Step right up, ladies and gentlemen, for the beginning of the end.

Carnie. Ride jockey. Roustabout. White trash. Tilt girl. Gypsy. Cricket has been called a lot of things, but she never thought survivor of the zombie apocalypse would be one of them. One day she’s barking on the midway, and the next day, the world is eating itself alive.

Cricket, along with Vella, a tarot reader, and Puck, Cricket’s mangy mutt, find themselves running for their lives, but where can you hide when mankind has fallen? Cricket will need help if she hopes to survive.

Luckily for her, we were never really alone, and apparently, magical forces want to keep this tilt girl alive.

My Review: (updated)
Cricket earns a living working carnival rides along with her dog Puck and best friend Vella, who reads tarot cards. A terrible flu pandemic hits the US and the carnival workers start getting sick, causing everyone to pack up early. As they are getting ready to leave, the sick workers are now zombies and trying to kill the survivors who have to flee. Cricket and Vella find refuge with a small group of survivors but is it really safe from zombies and humans? Is there a more secure place to go in this world?

Having really enjoyed the first book in the series, I couldn't wait to grab this one. Our two female MCs are good characters that you instantly care about, which is vital for me to enjoy a story. If I don't care about the characters, then I don't fully engage with the book. So it was good to get characters I liked though I worried constantly about the safety of Puck! I always find myself worrying over the safety of the dog during the apocalypse! Cricket is a bright and perky natured carnival girl who also proves herself to be smart and brave when circumstances call for it. Vella is older and level headed with a lot more world experience and she herself is quirky, wise and kind, someone Cricket relies on as they flee the carnage at the carnival. I also liked the way that Vella tried to use her tarot cards to guide their decisions which was a nice addition to add more interest to the story, without dominating it.

The side characters were all good too, especially the couple who opened up their premises to take in strangers in need of sanctuary-Elias, Gemma and granddaughter Katy who lost her parents. Leaving a light on above their sanctuary allows the lost and weary to find refuge and safety. Although it brought Cricket and Vella to safety, Chase has doubts about the wisdom of advertising their position as he has seen the worst of human nature since the outbreak began. He is there with his cousin Darius, both former army, Ariel, John, Jess and Missy. You do get to like this group in a short period of time for the most part so another good job of character development from the author, which I like.

So what is good about the book other than the characters? It is well written with plenty of zombie action along the way, which is important, as well as tension filled moments that help you get to know the characters better. I liked the scenes revolving around the carnival escape, the sanctuary and then the exciting plot when they take refuge in an abandoned carnival where they meet the mysterious Tristan. The story flows nicely and keeps you interested in what is going to happen next. There are no dull bits to slow things down. Carnivals and zombies do make for a nice combination!

Cricket and Chase do engage in some flirting at the sanctuary but there is no actual romance going on and it isn't a big focus in the book. The main focus of the plot is finding somewhere safe to escape from the zombies and stay out of the way of dangerous humans who are going to use the apocalypse to do whatever they want to other survivors. If romance is a deal-breaker for you, take the plunge and try the book as it is focused on the survival of the characters and the zombies roaming around. There may be potential for romance later in the series for those interested in that but if you aren't a romance fan, this is an apocalypse story before anything else.

This is a really good zombie series but anyone who read the first book knows that it is so much more than that and I'm looking forward to the second full book where I hope that both groups join together for the next part of the story. This author knows exactly how to mix action and tension with character development and I find myself pretty excited by this series! 
Read March 2015.
star rating photo: 5 Star Rating 5stars.jpg
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Book Review: The Harvesting by Melanie Karsak (The Harvesting #1)


It's all fun and games until someone ends up undead.

Layla Petrovich has spent her whole life running away from her hometown of Hamletville. Raised by the town's medium, and dubbed the "weird" girl for her fascination with swords, the last thing Layla wants is to go home. But when she receives a desperate call to return just as a mysterious outbreak sweeps the country, Layla's instincts urge her to go. Good thing, because the dead are rising.

Layla, however, isn't entirely on her own. With her psychic powers growing, surely everything will turn out okay, right? Not so fast. Just when Layla believes she might survive the apocalypse, a sinister and ancient force rises from the shadows to finish mankind for good.

Because the truth is, we were never alone in this world.

My Review: (updated)
Layla's grandmother calls her back to her hometown, where she has been making preparations for a zombie apocalypse that hasn't happened yet. Layla knows all about ancient weapons and her grandmother's gifts, so agrees to go and help, even if it means having to see Ian, who cheated on her and married his pregnant mistress. Then the zombies come one morning and town is in chaos as everyone tries to survive with Layla leading the fightback. But the zombie outbreak is just the beginning of this town's problems...

I had seen mixed reviews of this online so I wasn't sure what to expect but I was pleased to enjoy it. I liked the zombie parts-there was plenty of action, tension and death to enjoy which kept me quite happy. It was interesting to be in a small town and to watch how they cope with the outbreak and then plan to protect themselves from the outside world. Layla and some of the others living there are pretty capable and you think that the town has a chance of surviving, despite a few setbacks. You always need to have a few disasters or near misses to keep the tension up and have you worrying about the characters you like. I mean, who doesn't love a good old zombie attack!  I liked that they made mistakes and let their guard down at the wrong times which gives a sense of realism to the story. People are going to be lulled into thinking things are safe, they will be plagued by doubts and they will do dumb ass things at the wrong time. We are human after all and most people have not planned for how to live in a zombie apocalypse!

The book then takes the most unexpected twist when the people make contact with the outside world and the offer of a safe haven on an island appears. Do they trust these strangers and escape the fear of more zombie attacks and the town being overrun or running out of supplies? Or should they stick it out and stay together in their fortified town? The direction that the story takes here is a HUGE plot twist which should never have worked but I loved it! Erk, it's so hard to say anything without giving a spoiler! And I want to talk about it because it is so cool a twist! The action switches to a new challenge for our survivors, which is full of danger, intrigue and trauma. The characters are well developed so that you actually give a damn about them and there are a lot that I liked. There are lots of good action scenes and a ton of nerve shredding tension to enjoy. It was also refreshing to see an MC not reliant on guns, who was skilled in using blades and swords, and characters using a bow as well.

Layla is a good character, trying to deal with the humiliation of seeing Ian every day, while forming a friendship with his brother Jamie. Now I'm the first one to scream about how much I hate love triangles but this is not my pet peeve of 'every hot guy in the country loves the new girl at school sort of thing'. Layla and Jamie already knew each other and had a connection which gets stronger as the outbreak begins, so thankfully they had the basis for a relationship. Jamie never liked seeing how Ian treated Layla and had a crush on her, something that can be common-an attraction to your brother's girl. Layla and Ian have a shared romantic history and differing views on current morality, ie him being a slimeball, but it was logical that she would be a bit conflicted facing him after all these years. Ian was quite happy to pick things up as if he never broke her heart with no thought that she has moved on in her life. It didn't bother me the way that it all unfolded, which makes a change. It also quickly developed both Ian and Jamie as characters.

There were lots of interesting characters amongst the people in the town. I liked Buddie as he was capable, rational thinking and viwed everything with suspicion. I could see a bit of a prepper in him and he was vital to the group survival. Layla's grandmother has known what was coming and tried to prepare carefully to give Layla a good chance of securing the town. We also have Frenchie and her two young daughters who Layla swears to protect at all costs.

I wish I could say more about the second half of the book but I'm determined not to put any major plot spoilers in this review. So if you like the sound of zombies and other nasties with death, disaster and romance, you'll just need to read it for yourself!  
Read February 2015.
star rating photo: 5 Star Rating 5stars.jpg
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Thursday, 1 December 2016

Book Review: Zombie Patrol by JR Rain


Los Angeles County park ranger, Jack Carter, is about to discover that not all is as it seems in his tranquil life. Once responsible for patrolling the many public parks, in particular the popular Griffith Park with its famous observatory and zoo, Jack is about to discover that a whole new kind of animal roams his woods. The undead kind.

It begins when his brother, on leave from the military, arrives sick. Deathly sick. Jack's concern turns to alarm when his own flesh and blood turns on him, forcing the park ranger to take drastic measures. Now searching for answers and help for his brother, Jack finds himself on the run from a lethal group of government agents — and from something monstrous that stalks his woods. Something not of this world... and hungry for flesh.

My Review: 
The actual idea of this story was interesting and the fact that these were a different kind of zombie was interesting. What ruined it were the stupid and unrealistic decisions taken by the characters, none of whom I greatly liked or cared about. There were too many things that didn't make sense and that left me disengaged from the book.

Two high ranking officers on a military base see a meteor landing nearby and go to look at it. Instead of doing what they are trained to do and stay away from it and raise the alarm, they both decide to handle the thing. As you do. So they alert the authorities and now appears the Agent in Black who is the steriotype of weird and obnoxious special agents but without the brains. Lets review his stupidity-you have a space meteor on the base and the two men who find it have suddenly become sick. You follow protocol and lock down the base to ensure any contagion can't get out and isolate the men, right? Um no. Agent guy instead lets the two guys go and decides to follow them. WHY? What are they going to lead you to, pirate gold? Then the Agent interviews another sick guy on base who was infected and he manages to get close enough to be bitten. Oh come on!!!

Then we have Anna, the sulky fourteen year old who drives me crazy. We keep getting told how smart and brilliant she is but she seems incapable of following simple instructions. Your uncle is very sick so don't go near him because I chained him up in the cellar when he tried to bite me-so Anna keeps trying to visit him and thinks daddy is mean to do this to his brother. What age are you, three??? She cries every time she doesn't get her own way. I outgrew that when I was seven. She agrees not to tell anyone their secret then blabs it to the guy she has a crush on. Mind you, her dad decides to tell the secret to the cop he fancies so we can see how good they are about keeping it quiet.

When you see the title of the book you might expect the usual zombie plot but you don't get that in this book. The men are not true zombies but the virus does make them bite people to pass the infection, though at times their own personality keeps showing through. It is slow to get into the men going zombie, following the two men as they get sick and try to find Joe's brother. We have a lot of the deteriorating mind of the men and the different changes they go through. It was interesting enough in its own way and I'm not going to be critical about an author doing something a bit different. I just wish the silly things had been removed and that characters like Anna were not so annoying.

I think there was some potential in the story but having the men just walking off base when sick after touching space debris is silly and would not happen. Perhaps civilians finding it in a field would have been a better place to start. A lead agent would never be as stupid as this one. My other issue was the revelation at the end considering a possible cure-that just did not compute for me when dealing with people similar to zombies.

No there was too much in this book that annoyed or frustrated me.
Read November 2016 
star rating photo: Two Star Rating 2stars.png
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Chuckles December Preview


Welcome to my December preview! I will be sharing my plans for what I intend to read this month along with any TV series or films I hope to get to. I have planned three shorter book series which I hope is achievable in the time, along with a selection of apocalypse, monster and zombie ebooks! I had to leave time for that Patricia Briggs anthology of course. It is going to be a tougher ask this month but I really want to get a big pile of reading done this month, so I'm not choosing any films though I hope to maybe fit in a couple. Overall lots of urban fantasy, zombies and monsters to enjoy!

 EBOOKS:
Noah Mann-Bugging Out
Lou Cadle-Saber Tooth
Scott M Baker-RotterWorld
Glenn Bullion-Dead Living
Peter Cawdron-What we left behind
Matthew Dennion-Polar Yeti
Rich Hawkins-The Last Plague
Rick Chesler-Landing Party
Viktor Zarkov-Jurassic Sea
TN Uner-Kill Zombies
ZJC & GTC-The Undead Plague 
Joshua Guess-With Spring comes the fall

BOOK SERIES 
(Deacon Chalk by James R Tuck)
#0.5 That thing at the zoo (previously read-4 star)
#1 Blood and Bullets
#1.5 Spider's Lullaby
#2 Blood and Silver
#2.5 Circus of Blood
#3 Blood and Magick
anthology-Special Features

 (Yancy Lazarus by James A Hunter)
#1 Strange Magic
#1.5 Flashback:Siren Song (previously read-4 star)
#2 Cold Hearted
#3 Wendigo Rising
#3.5 Flashback:The Morrigan
#4 Savage Prophet

 (Alpha and Omega by Patricia Briggs)
#0.5 Alpha and Omega (previously read-4 star)
#1 Cry Wolf
#2 Hunting Ground
#3 Fair Game
#4 Dead Heat

 BOOKS:
Patricia Briggs-Shifting Shadows

 TV SERIES:
Game of Thrones series 6
Masterchef The Professionals series 9
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