Chuckles Goes Sampling

Seeing Kermit surrounded and almost buried in leaves kind of reminds me of my relationship with books. I'm pretty much buried in them too! I have no more space in my house for the books I buy and piles are sitting on the floor which isn't good and I can't read them quick enough because I keep buying!!! I've battled to reduce the tbr without success this year but now Kermit and I are embarking on a new plan to reduce the book buying and give me a chance to reduce the tbr at last. The Plan? Download samples and read them and only go on to buy those I liked instead of grabbing everything!

This is what I read last week:

1) Justen Hunter-West Coast Witch 
Eric would rather be reading than going to the beach party with Matt but once there, he plays peacemaker with a group of brooding werewolves who want to use the moonlit beach. Eric invites them to party with them for a few hours before the party leaves the beach to them. Next day a PI comes into the bar asking about Sam, an ex of Eric who has gone missing. The PI turns up dead outside shortly after and then Eric is attacked by a vampire, saved by Amy, the new girl working at the book store.

I didn't find anything wrong with the writing. It opens with girl obsessed party boy Matt who I disliked and the brief party scene certainly didn't get me into the story. It briefly introduced werewolves but the scene felt underdeveloped and it would've worked better to introduce them in the book store instead along with Amy. I like that Eric is a reader but he needed more developing for me to be interested in him as an MC. It's not a sample that really grabbed me and felt like a few bits and pieces of story put together without full cohesion. After checking out a few Goodreads reviews, it doesn't seem like my kind of read so I won't buy it.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22337716-west-coast-witch 

2) William Burke-Voodoo Child
In the jungle, brutal killer Manuel leads his Death Squad to murder Sarafina, a Voodoo Priestess. His uncle is General Ortiz, despot leader, who is demanding an alliance with evil spirit Baron Kriminel, and Sarafina's sacrifice is part of the deal. Ortiz will marry washed up US model Lavonia to himself and the Baron as part of the ceremony. Things go wrong, with spirit Gira, former lover of the Baron, saving Sarafina and the Baron murders Ortiz for the unfinished deal. Lavonia takes over as ruler and agrees to a deal with the Baron. The Baron and Gira are now locked in a battle for power that will cause misery for the people.

This was a pretty long sample which goes on about the change of power from Ortiz to Lavonia, the sad life Lavonia led, the history between Baron and Gira. It was ok and I suppose it set the scene for the future story but I can't say that I was greatly interested. I didn't like Lavonia or feel sympathy for the self obsessed woman who'd agree to anything if it meant money. There was nothing in the sample about the MC Maggie or her story and there was no sign of any zombies. It seems to be more about evil spirits battling and corrupt political leaders than rampaging zombies so I'll be giving this one a miss.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30646744-voodoo-child

3) Arthur Mongelli-Harvest of Ruin 
Tim, Laura and young daughter Luna are on a trip when the way between them and their car is filled with hungry zombies. At the clinic, Linda and Betty have to restrain a sick teenager but not before he bites two members of staff. A man has to kill someone who is trying to eat his mother and Will won't let anything including zombies let him get to class.

The problem with this is definitely the characters. Firstly there is Tim who stands and gogs at the lumbering zombie while his wife grabs the baby stroller and runs. Several times she has to yell at him to get him moving or he would be dead. Yet seconds later, he becomes take charge guy and it is him suddenly getting an immobile Laura to move. A very sudden turnaround in character personality. But the biggest issue I had was with the student Will. We know that he is in danger of being kicked out as he can never seem to get to class on time but his actions on this day are beyond stupid. His train arrives and a group of screaming panicked people fight to get out of the train and run. Will decides to get on, dismisses the blood all over the place as hydraulic fluid leaking, goes to look at it and sees a zombie chewing on someone's guts. So he leaves, tries to report a murder then tries to get a taxi to class! Everyone is running screaming to get OUT of Manhattan but Will on foot decides he's going in, thinking it might be a terrorist attack(???) So he wanders around until he finds a frazzled cop to ask. He is somewhat shocked when he sees a cop shoot a zombie instead of handcuffing it! And of course weaponless Will then decides to help the cops man a barrier at the edge of the bridge and then goes into the city with a cop to find the missing SWAT team. This guy is way beyond 'too stupid to live' and that whole scenario was just dumb. I won't be reading on with that. 
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34850056-harvest-of-ruin   

4) CA Rudolph-What's left of my world 
After the apocalypse, Lauren's remaining family fled to the mountains of West Virginia to start a small community where they rely on and defend each other from the takers who want what they have. Every morning Lauren goes on patrol above where they live to check for threats-and today she can hear gunfire and explosions which she has to investigate before returning home to report on the trouble. 

I do prefer seeing how the collapse happens and join the family as they flee to the safe haven as it helps to get to know the characters, and as they adapt to the new situation we see them develop and grow. This was all missed out and a year or so has passed since the apocalypse so everyone is settled into a routine now. However, this was a decent sample and I quite liked that Lauren was a tough teenager as opposed to the whiny and useless females we so often see in the genre. My one issue is how can a girl brought up learning survival skills be taken by surprise by two people following her? Anyway this was decent so I might go ahead and get a copy of this one at some point.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33404779-what-s-left-of-my-world