Book Review: The Girl From The Well by Rin Chupeco

Author:  Rin Chupeco
Number of pages: 304
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Date published: 5 August 2014
Buy on: Amazon, Book Depository

You may think me biased, being murdered myself. But my state of being has nothing to do with the curiosity toward my own species, if we can be called such. We do not go gentle, as your poet encourages, into that good night. 

A dead girl walks the streets.

She hunts murderers. Child killers, much like the man who threw her body down a well three hundred years ago.

And when a strange boy bearing stranger tattoos moves into the neighborhood so, she discovers, does something else. And soon both will be drawn into the world of eerie doll rituals and dark Shinto exorcisms that will take them from American suburbia to the remote valleys and shrines of Aomori, Japan.

Because the boy has a terrifying secret - one that would just kill to get out. 

The Girl from the Well is A YA Horror novel pitched as "Dexter" meets "The Grudge", based on a well-loved Japanese ghost story

Review:

So...I've been thinking of trying a new style of reviewing. It is quite simple, really. 

Why you should read the book

So, first of all the writing. What a beautiful writing. I think the best way to describe it is as a Japanese writing. While you may think me somewhat not politically correct with that phrase I will explain.

While there are all sorts of writing styles- as many as there are people on this earth, I'd say culture and roots and language affects the writing style.

For example what few books by French authors I read had the same feeling to them in the writing style- the beat wasn't fast but it was steady, the language and descriptions were matter of fact and though it was not dramatic the drama level was kept at the same level all along, hanging in the background just beyond your reach yet tainting everything.

Japanese writing style is calm, somewhat leisure and descriptive, with an emotional undertone. It has a prolonging tune that keeps you waiting to a climax that is rather disappointing and anti- climatic in its existence. It is lyrical, and in my opinion at least very beautiful. I usually look at things somewhat differently after reading such work.

"Time had taught me to temper the malice within. But for a long long time, I was a great and terrible thing. I was a creature that found pleasure in the ripping. In the tearing. I am no longer that monster. But memories of that creature still lurk within this well. There are some things that never fully die." 

Secondly this IS a horror story. True, those that really love horror stories might not feel the goosebumps while reading this book but scardy cats such as myself surely will. 

Those who are interested in the Japanese ghosts stories and culture will find this interesting enough. 

Why you shouldn't read the book

First of all, if you are one of those that wake up in the morning dreaming of Jack the Reaper and think that was a good dream, if you like horror and your room is painted in black or of you are just a horror geek then truth be told this book might be just a little anemic for you. 

Secondly, not much is happening. There is a plot and there is a climax and we are being led to something but it happens slowly. So if you are looking for a nightmare of a rollercoaster this is not for you. 

Thirdly, I'd like to point it out right now- while the story is told by the ghost, fact is she is more of an observer (some would say stalker) than a MC. Some of you might not like it. Personally, I think that the very fact that the author chose such MC has set problems to the book since a ghost can't do much but observe and scare. Which is exactly what she does - shame is for some what she observe may not be that inetresting or scary.

"It is not in my nature, to be interested in the living. But there are many things, I have found, that defy nature."

My thoughts

All that being said truth is I loved this book. From the writing style to the story to the way it ended. I was scared shitless from all the scary moments (I'm a scardy cat. when I go to a horror movie I grip my friends' hands tightly). 

I loved what was seen here from the Japanese culture and I loved the fact that Akiko wasn't good or bad but somewhere in between. 

So yeah, while I am well aware to the fact that this book is far from perfect for me it is a 5 stars read. 

An ARC was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

ARC Book Review: How We Deal With Gravity by Ginger Scott

Author: Ginger Scott
Release Date: July 6th 2014
Publisher: self published
Pages: 244
Buy on Amazon
Add to Goodreads and Leafmarks

Rating 4 stars

When her son Max was diagnosed with autism, Avery Abbot’s life changed forever. Her husband left, and her own dreams became a distant fantasy—always second to fighting never-ending battles to make sure Max was given opportunity, love and respect. Finding someone to fight along her side wasn’t even on her list, and she’d come to terms with the fact that she could never be her own priority again. 

But a familiar face walking into her life in the form of 25-year-old Mason Street had Avery’s heart waging a war within. Mason was a failure. When he left his hometown five years ago, he was never coming back—it was only a matter of time before his records hit the billboard charts. Women, booze and rock-n-roll—that was it for him. But it seemed fate had a different plan in mind, and with a dropped record contract, little money and nowhere to go, Mason turned to the only family that ever made him feel home—the Abbots. 

Avery loved Mason silently for years—until he broke her heart…completely. But time and life have a funny way of changing people, and sometimes second chances are there for a reason. Could this one save them both?

My Thoughts:

This ARC was kindly provided from the author in exchange for an honest review.

This is a heart breaking story of Avery, a single mother who struggles everyday to raise her autistic son Max. Her entire life is layed out in a checklist that she has to follow to the T for her son to be comfortable and not act out as she described. The opening scene of the so soft spoken and heartbreaking that it had me absorbed into the book immediately.

Meet Mason street, a rock band singer whose dream ended stortly after it began. In an attempt to piece his broken pieces and lick his wounds, Mason returns back home, at the house he spent most of his childhood. Ray Abbot's home, Avery's father. Everyone is pretty happy to see him there except Avery who still remembers the time he broke her heart.

As the story progresses the characters change a lot and develop into something beautiful and real, I liked that they achieved what they wanted from all along and that they did not lose their track with the pages. I came to love Mason, because he became a sweet man, that actually cared about the people around him and he is not scared to show it. As for Avery, she learned how to live her life and little more and started believing in second chances, and that the world doesnt always circle a checklist.What I appreciated about Avery even more was the fact that although she crazy in love with Mason, she did not lose focus on Max and his constant needs.

Max, was always in the background BUT the author did a great job of somehow centering him. Everything involved around him no matter he wasnt talking a lot, or was just playing on his ipad, I got to give her credit for this. It was just amazing, and something not all author can actually work around.

The writing was brilliant, with a double POV, I felt like I knew everything that was going inside Avery's and Mason's head, the feelings where strong and the ride was hard. The plot is really down to earth, dealing with real life issues, autism, acceptance and second chances.

I gave How We Deal With Gravity four stars because I would like to read a little bit more of Max since he was the center of attention of everyone.

Book Review: Wallbanger by Alice Clayton

Author: Alice Clayton
Release Date:  November 27th 2012
Publisher: Omnific Publishing
Series: Cocktail
Pages: 384
Buy on: Amazon
Add to: Goodreads, Leafmarks

Rating: 4 stars

The first night after Caroline moves into her fantastic new San Francisco apartment, she realizes she's gaining an intimate knowledge of her new neighbor's nocturnal adventures. Thanks to paper-thin walls and the guy's athletic prowess, she can hear not just his bed banging against the wall but the ecstatic response of what seems (as loud night after loud night goes by) like an endless parade of women. And since Caroline is currently on a self-imposed dating hiatus, and her neighbor is clearly lethally attractive to women, she finds her fantasies keep her awake even longer than the noise. So when the wallbanging threatens to literally bounce her out of bed, Caroline, clad in sexual frustration and a pink baby-doll nightie, confronts Simon Parker, her heard-but-never-seen neighbor. The tension between them is as thick as the walls are thin, and the results just as mixed. Suddenly, Caroline is finding she may have discovered a whole new definition of neighborly...

In a delicious mix of silly and steamy, Alice Clayton dishes out a hot and hilarious tale of exasperation at first sight...

My Thoughts:

This book is hilarious...the most extremely amazingly funny book ever. Every sentence was packed with funny lines and sarcasm and a lot of innuendos that ad me laughing my ass off.

It all starts with Caroline a twenty something successful interior designer and her anguish over her long lost O -as in Orgasm. Caroline, is not your usual character. She is driven, focused, sweet and serious, with a great sense of humor. She moves into her new apartment, arranges all her clothes and things and when she is completely satisfied with the deco of her apartment she goes to bed. And she wakes up a few hours later to the sounds of meowing and a bed banging on the wall. That goes for some time and we get to know the meow, the spanx and giggles, oh and of course all mighty of them all Mr. Wallbanger himself.

Meet Mr. Wallbanger or Simon, a promiscuous guy, promising nights of lust and incredible sex but with a sweet personality that no one saw coming. He is sweet and caring and although initially he gives a bad boy vibe, he is anything but. He is a photographer that travels and a lot and he values his work but he is a down to earth guy.

Caroline and Simon as neighbors built a relationship both sweet and lusty, sometime around the ride dinners, movies, sleep overs and nooking jump in along the way and tha made the entire ''friendship'' a lot more enjoyable that from what we are used to. The author did a really good job with the writing and the development of the characters but I felt that something was missing. I did not cry over them in anguish, to get together or move their relationship to the next level. And a book like that should actually have that something.

That aside, it was a really enjoyable book, with protagonists that came to be, a plot that had a purpose and a great sense of humor. Just, a small note: Wallbanger,although it revolves around sex it hardly contains any, so it is not your usual NA or Erotica story and for that only I suggest you read it.

Book Review: A Tale Of Two Centuries by Rachel Harris [Review by Sharon]

Author:  Rachel Harris
Series: My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century
Number: 2
Number of pages: 320
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Date published:  6 August 2013
Buy on: Amazon, Amazon UK

Rating: 4 stars

"Alessandra D’Angeli is in need of an adventure. Tired of her sixteenth-century life in Italy and homesick for her time-traveling cousin, Cat, who visited her for a magical week and dazzled her with tales of the future, Alessandra is lost. Until the stars hear her plea.

One mystical spell later, Alessandra appears on Cat’s Beverly Hills doorstep five hundred years in the future. Surrounded by confusing gadgets, scary transportation, and scandalous clothing, Less is hesitant to live the life of a twenty-first century teen…until she meets the infuriating—and infuriatingly handsome—surfer Austin Michaels. Austin challenges everything she believes in…and introduces her to a world filled with possibility.

With the clock ticking, Less knows she must live every moment of her modern life while she still can. But how will she return to the drab life of her past when the future is what holds everything she’s come to love?"

Review

Between This and the first book in the series I liked this one better. Maybe because it's heavier on the romance, but even then the romance is quite light, and so very cute :)

I really liked Alessandra with her self discovery, and the way she saw modern days through her 16th century maiden eyes.

I loved the friendship between her and Cat, I loved her relationship with Austin- the supposed and self proclaimed bad boy.

But even more than that, what I love most about this series is that Cat and Alessandra and their friendship and their relationships with their boyfriends are an example to how you CAN be yourself, and how friendship and relationship SHOULD BE.

In a world where there are so many insecurities, self doubts and stupidity is celebrating more than ever. Where most MCs in books are TSTL and dependant on men, where a hot guy that stalks you is a hot guy so WHAT do I care if he stalks me when he's hot? where many of the relationships portrayed in books are abusive to some degree. I think that Cat, Alessandra, Austin and Lucas are a role model as to how to have friendship and a relationship between partners. As to how to be kind, supportive and yourself. How to deal with real life issues- from fitting in to family issues. 

I loved it. Someday, when I'm older and have kids I'd like my kids to read this series.