Book Review: Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

Author: Gillian Flynn
Release Date: June 10th 2010
Publisher: Phoenix
Pages: 424
Format: Paperback
Buy on: Waterstones, Barnes and Noble
Add to: Goodreads, Leafmarks

Rating: 5 stars

Libby Day was just seven years old when her evidence put her fifteen-year-old brother behind bars.

Since then, she had been drifting. But when she is contacted by a group who are convinced of Ben's innocence, Libby starts to ask questions she never dared to before. Was the voice she heard her brother's? Ben was a misfit in their small town, but was he capable of murder? Are there secrets to uncover at the family farm or is Libby deluding herself because she wants her brother back?

She begins to realise that everyone in her family had something to hide that day... especially Ben. Now, twenty-four years later, the truth is going to be even harder to find.

Who did massacre the Day family? 

My Thoughts:

Dark Places is one of those books that linger in your brain for a while. You keep thinking about it again and again until your brain bleeds from the feeling of: That was fucking amazing.

I think this is my favorite book of the year, highly disturbing and dark with a pitch of macabre and thrilling detailing of the most chilling events.

It all starts with Libby Day a survivor from the Day family massacre back in the 80's. All these year she lived off the money people donated to her because they felt sorry for her, but money run out and she is in need of those, although, not too willing to either hear her lawyer or do something about the situation.

One day she is being contacted by a guy who participates in the Kill Club. A group of people who research various murders throughout time and they believe that her brother – who is in jail for her family's murder – is innocent. At first, Libby seems reluctant enough to go there and see what all this is about, because she is sure that her brother did it but soon enough those people will make interested because they are willing to pay for any information she can provide -and she needs the money- and also because they have some interesting theories about the real killer. And that's where the awesome story takes starts.

I was thrown in a world so complex and twisted and macabre that I could not believe what I was reading. Everyone seemed like the perfect killer. The story was told in alternative points of view, from present day Libby to deceased mother and brother back in the 80's before the murders. What unraveled in front of me was a mystery so mesmerizing that had me turning the pages like crazy.

The book covers everything from Satanism and sacrifices to drugs, to child molestation, to teenage pregnancy. It covers the theme of abuse and how a troubled teen can hide so much rage inside of him but at the same time be the most quiet and shy child out there. How someone can be completely paralyzed from fear that cannot even defend his own self and can easily be manipulated to do things he doesn't want to do or seem right to him. I love the fact that people who are afraid, are not actually afraid to point fingers to people they consider to be somehow weird and turn someone innocent into a murderer, a child molester etc etc, I like how the book shows you that nothing is what it seems to be and judging by fear is the worst one can do.

The characters are all really complex even the supportive ones play a role in the story and while reading this book you need to be really careful of details because they play a huge role in the development of the story. Libby was unique to me. The complexity and development of her character was truly fascinating and the same applies to her brother Ben. I felt like the characters reached their goal in the end and found peace.

The writing was magnificent. I could not put the book down, I felt every agony, every fear and every confusion in this book because every scene was so vivid, like I was in the book. You wont see the ending coming thats for sure, it was so unpredictable and jaw dropping that I was asking where it was coming from and did not see it. It gave a great closure to the book.

If you love mysteries and suspense then Gillian Flynn is the author for you and its sure my new favorite author.

Book Review: The Unbecoming Of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

Author: Michelle Hodkin
Release Date: 27th September 2011
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Books For Young Readers
Series: Mara Dyer #1
Pages: 466
Rating: 3
Buy on: Amazon
Add to Goodreads, Leafmarks

Mara Dyer believes life can't get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there.
It can. 
She believes there must be more to the accident she can't remember that killed her friends and left her strangely unharmed. 
There is.
She doesn't believe that after everything she's been through, she can fall in love. 
She's wrong.

My Thoughts:

It had been some time since the last time I actually read a ''real'' young adult book and The Unbecoming Of Mara Dyer made me love them and hate them at the same time all over again.

The story was promising and it promised a lot to me and it had me captivated with just one small sentence. If I love something that is horror films and horror books (Stephen King) and I love the paranormal element, it's what makes me pick up a book most of the time.

The writing was magical. The author achieved an incredible description style that requires few words and leaves the rest to the imagination of the reader, letting the scene free to be comprehended and imagined different from each one of us. It was scary and the element of horror was there.

Mara and Noah as the main characters of the story were real. What I didnt like a lot was the cliché ''troubled girl meets amazingly-rich-British-womanizer-guy who of course happens to hide a secret of its own. Cliche much?(It took me a while to get to like Noah). The conversations between those two were clever and funny with a lot of humor and sarcasm hoping along on the way. The entire story plays around the same school as Twilight, Hush-Hush and every other paranormal YA book out there. Somewhere here I started noticing that the story started taking a different turn.

For me the horror element in the story had a lot of potential. It could take 15 different routes and explote 15 different things and it still would be awesome as long as Mara did not become one of those girls that kind of revolve around their crush. Suddenly, everything was around Noah. Feminism was a book  Mara closed and threw in the garbage in the name of love.

Her mother from an annoying b*** became a lenient girlfriend that did not object Mara going out as long as it was with Noah (15 mins ago she could not even get out of the house to go to school without the usual interrogation).

Apart from the sizzling romance...ok I am joking...the emotions were strong. Fear was there, in a lot of scenes I was trembling with anticipation although, it was pretty obvious what would happen next. Curiosity on Mara's part made me cringe because she was curious about the most obvious get-the-hell-away situations ever. Ugh!

This is your classic Paranormal book that will appeal to all the fans of Hush Hush, Twilight and all the rest of this genre, despite the romance that made me gag at times I will be reading the second book of the series because the ending left me curious and I need to know what will happen.

Until next time.

Tears of Tess by Pepper Winters (book review by Efterpi)

Author: Pepper Winters
Publisher: Black Firefly
Publication Date: August 28th 2013
Series: Monsters in The Dark #1
Pages: 376
Rating: 5 stars
Buy on: Amazon
Add on Goodreads

   A New Adult Dark Contemporary Romance, not suitable for people sensitive to grief, slavery, and nonconsensual sex. A story about finding love in the strangest of places, a will of iron that grows from necessity, and forgiveness that may not be enough.

“My life was complete. Happy, content, everything neat and perfect.
Then it all changed.
I was sold.”

        Tess Snow has everything she ever wanted: one more semester before a career in property development, a loving boyfriend, and a future dazzling bright with possibility.
       For their two year anniversary, Brax surprises Tess with a romantic trip to Mexico. Sandy beaches, delicious cocktails, and soul-connecting sex set the mood for a wonderful holiday. With a full heart, and looking forward to a passion filled week, Tess is on top of the world.
       But lusty paradise is shattered.
       Kidnapped. Drugged. Stolen. Tess is forced into a world full of darkness and terror.
     Captive and alone with no savior, no lover, no faith, no future, Tess evolves from terrified girl to fierce fighter. But no matter her strength, it can’t save her from the horror of being sold.
    Can Brax find Tess before she’s broken and ruined, or will Tess’s new owner change her life forever?

Review: 

Tears of Tess ARC was kindly provided by Black Firefly books

 I only have to make one statement on this particular book.
If I was Christian Grey I would probably weep in front of Q. A lot of people related this book to Fifty Shades of Grey and to say the least: They are so so wrong. Tears of Tess is a much darker, much agonizing, much much more mature and well developed book than Fifty Shades. Q himself is a book on its own. Tess herself is a bible on her own. The Plot itself is like nothing I ever read before.

It all starts with Tess...a 22 year old university student getting ready for a vacation to unknown with her boyfriend Brax. From page one I wanted to slap her so hard so she could wake up (that changed later). We see a girl in a relationship that she is not completely happy in, she wants to try new things and then she is scared the reaction of her possessive, yet protective and sweet boyfriend. I read her fears and her thoughts while she was trying to find a way to change Brax.

The vacation doesnt go the way they planned, not because of what you may think but because Tess failed to make Brax see what she wanted the most. More action in the bedroom.
While in Mexico, Tess is being kidnapped by human traffickers, her worst nightmares simply could not be compared with what she went through. And this is where the book actually started for me. This is when Tess is being transformed to a strong human being trying to survive under the worst possible conditions, while she is beaten and degraded from animals. I loved the fact that the author did a good job describing the feelings of Tess while she was being abused,the thoughts, the ways she planned to take revenge and get the hell out of there.
Suddenly from an unknown place she found herself in France,being mocked by a rich,twisted, dark Man. A man she loathed at first sight, Q.

Meet Q Mercer ,the most broken, dark, twisted, beautiful character I ever read in a book. The most troubled creature that no one could save or so he thinks. He is a man that doesnt know how to control his feelings and urges and he is even scared of how far he can go with himself. But as the book moves on we learn that beneath every monster there is a broken man fighting with his demons, a man who cant show any emotions because behind all this armor he is too scared and vulnerable.

Tess is being troubled by the need to be touched by Q to be devoured into this twisted world of his. She wanted whips and straps and handcuffs and now she has these and an even more frightening future awaits her. She finds herself attracted to Q and again we see the genius of the author as she made Tess go back and forth in her mind, torn between her old life and the new, between Brax and Q, we see her making the comparisons, troubled and confused between right and wrong until in the end she chooses what she thinks is right.

This is a brutal love story, dont expect romance, poems or roses this is the world of a twisted man with only dark thoughts and actions to mark his life and the life of Tess. I cant say anything more in this review without risking spoiling important things to you.

Tears of Tess has everything in it, from stupid romance, to kidnapping, to violence, rape, human trafficking ,abuse and humiliation to hardcore BDSM. It gives a sense of dark masochism and how it feels to be a submissive. How deep down all of us hide a room with our darkest fantasies, fantasies that even scare us, fantasies that can be released as easily as we thought of them and either get us drowned in blood or drowned in pleasure. A book about self discovery, self appreciation, self understanding and the power of taking control of who you are and coming to terms with.

I simply cant wait for book two.