Scott Thomas: Kill Creek

In his debut novel, Scott Thomas answers the question, does a house Remember?

Every small town has a house out of town that has a story, a sinister history. The Finch house has a tragic story and for years it has remained empty, overgrown and abandoned but the house is about to have life once again. When four authors, who are all at different times in their careers, are invited to spend Halloween answering questions live in a house known as a Kill Creek, they all reluctantly agree. What begins as a publicity stunt soon becomes a fight for sanity and survival. For there is something in that house, something that has awakened and it does not want to be powerless again.

Horror is not a genre that I read in that often and I will admit that i have not read many haunted house books but Damn this was an amazing book. Even though there were times that the pace was slower I felt myself turning the pages faster and faster to see what happens next. I do not give out five stars very often when reviewing a book but this book 100% deserves five stars. From the writing, plot, characters Thomas can draw reader in from the beginning. I cannot believe that this is Thomas’ debut and he was able to craft something this amazing.

I enjoyed that this book was at a slower pace, as it really played out the slow descent into madness that the characters experience. It was also interesting getting the different POV and how the events affected them differently but also in the same way. 

I Loved Loved Loved that Thomas did not really take the easy way out for the end of the book, and he really went for it.

I do not give out 5 stars very often I am super stingy with them in fact, but this book is worth every one of those 5 stars. Kill Creek was Awesome, I wish I could read it again for the first time. I look forward to checking out other books by Thomas. What is even more crazy is that this is his debut novel.

Enjoy!!!!

If You Like This,

Check These Out Too:

    

T.J. Newman: Drowning

T.J. Newman takes readers on a flight across the Pacific Ocean that does not make its arrival destination:

Only a few minutes after takeoff Flight 1421 crashes into the Pacific Ocean. Though it may not have been in the air very long, the plane and passengers are in a lot of danger. During the evacuation of the plane an engine explodes covering the water with jet fuel and inferno is about to happen. Those still left on the plane make the decision to stay aboard, but as the plane starts to slowly think into the water, they have to ask themselves did the damn themselves to a slow death instead of a quick one.

This is the second book that I have read by Newman and I didn’t make the same mistake I did with the first one, actually reading it on a plane, not my smartest move I will admit. Though this book does have me appreciate even more the times that I was fortune enough to fly over the Ocean and make it from point A to Point B and back again. Personally, I enjoyed this book more that Newman's debut Falling as I felt like the stakes were higher in a way and you weren't quite sure who would survive. 

WOW this book was such a ride and you will go through a whole bunch of emotions throughout the book especially when you near the end of the book. You will 100% want to read this book in one sitting as it grabs you from the very beginning and won’t let you go. Newman does a great job of keeping you on the edge of your seat but at the same time keeping the story and events as plausible as possible. You can tell from her information she passes along in the book that she was a flight attendant before becoming an author

I like how there are dual POV one from the plane and one from the surface. I found this gave you a well-rounded story as well as detailing the struggles of each side of things as they try to figure out if they can get anyone out of the plane alive. I won’t lie, I totally was thinking about what I would do in that situations and I think that shows how well that Newman wrote the book. And while the book mainly focuses on the family, you feel for all the characters who are trapped in the plane and wonder who will get out alive.

This is the second book that I have read by Newman and this book was totally the thriller that I wanted it to be as it kept me on the edge of my seat. I don’t read many planes based/setting stories and I am here for what Newman is writing. I look forward to reading the next book and plane scenario that Newman comes out with.

Enjoy!!!!

If You Like This,

Check These Out Too:

    

Kelley Armstrong: The Poisoner’s Ring

This is the second book in the Rip Through Time novel, I think you could read this book before the first one, but I think get a full grasp of Mallory and the relationships in the book you should read the first book A Rip Through Time.

In the next book in Kelley Armstong's Rip Through Time series, Poison is the weapon of choice:

Modern day homicide detective Mallory Atkinson is starting to adjust to her new life as a house maid in Edinburgh. Her employers now know that she is not their original housemaid Catriona and that she is not from their time, making it easier for Mallory to exist in this world and assist Dr. Gray with his medical examinations but their latest case hits close to home. Men from all classes are being murdered, killed by a mysterious poison and the most obvious suspect is the grieving or not so grieving widows, the most recent suspect is Gray's older sister. 

I really enjoyed this one more than the first book which i was a little bit on the fence with, but i found this one was much more entertaining, more focus on a whodunit murder mystery story/plot and less about Mallory trying to get back to her time. The Poisoner's Ring feels very different from the first book and does not have the same type of murders either. I like the idea of poison being used, you don’t see that as often these days, and poisons tend to be associated with certain people in society so there are many suspects right away that Mallory and Gray need to work through. I was able to figure out the murder part of the mystery, but why the individuals were murdered was interesting and i think on point for the time. You can tell that Armstrong has done her research in this era for what had been discovered, what has not and even the schemes of the time. 

I really enjoy the interplay between Victorian era characters as Mallory tries to fit in at times and be herself. I applaud Mallory for not wanting to change or affect history as much as she can and choosing what she tells the police and Gray. Mallory is very aware of her speech and ideas really affect how people see her, and she is not beyond using some of these 

I do wonder where Armstrong is going to take this series. Mallory can only stay in the Victorian era for so long before the story becomes stagnate. Maybe there will be a case where Gray ends up in her time, that would be quite a trip. As there seems to be a possible growing relationship between Gray and Mallory that you want them to be together, but I appreciate that Armstrong is taking the slower route to get there.

This is a case where the second book was better than the first, in my opinion. It is a well thought out, fast paced and interesting mystery with characters and time period that are intriguing, I look forward to reading the next book in this series.

Enjoy!!!!

If You Like This,

Check These Out Too:

    

Sarah Pekkanen: Gone Tonight

Sarah Pekkanen shows the length a mother would go to in order to protect their child:

It has always been Catherine and her mother Ruth. Ruth ran away when she was pregnant with Catherine as a teen and had been kicked out of the house by her parents or so Catherine thought. Catherine is ready to move on with her life and to live her own life and create a career for herself. Ruth has not been honest with her daughter, and it turns out that Catherine is not the person that Ruth thought she was. But Ruth has been protecting her daughter her whole life and will do anything to keep her by her side, she needs to keep her safe. 

I have only read Sarah Pekkanen when she is co-author with Geer Hendricks, so I was interested to see what Pekkanen was able to do on her own. This a good domestic suspense book but you need to get through the slowness of the first 30% of the book. In that first 30% you're really kept waiting as to what Ruth (Ava) ran away from when she was a pregnant teenager and why she has kept running ever sense. In the first 30% I found that Ruth's life before were the more interesting parts, the present day were more just depressing with Ruth being diagnosed with Alzheimers. Once you are past the 30% mark, things really start to pick up as more and more information is revealed.

This book is all about manipulation, and manipulation not only between Ruth and Catherine but also the other people in their lives. If you enjoy manipulation and the lengths that people will go to in order to get their way and spread lies, then you will enjoy this book.

There are some aspects in the book that really raise the concept of nature vs nature as you learn more about what Ruth is running from as well as the upbringing that Catherine has had. I kept coming back to this question as I read further and further into the book and even more so towards the end. This is also a worry for Ruth as well, for more than one reason. 

This book was good, I enjoyed all the secrets that Ruth and Catherine were keeping from each other, and it is a bit of a different take on domestic suspense as this is between a mother and daughter instead of husband and wife, which is what we normally see. I think that Pekkanen did a good job working with the story and like I said above the manipulation is on point.

Enjoy!!!

If You Like This,

Check These Out Too:

    

Annette Marie: Three Mages and a Margarita

In the first in a new Urban Fantasy series Annette Marie has a human stubble headfirst into an underground magic world:

Tori, is down on her luck, she just got fired from another serving job and she is once again struggling to make ends meet. Her luck seems to be changing when she finds a flyer that has a job for a bartender, that's on the wrong side of town, but Tori is willing to take anything she can take at this point. Though she felt really thrown off trying to enter the bar, once the gig starts, she finds her groove and puts a few patrons in their place. But during her shift there are a few questioning things that happen and showing up for her second shift it turns out that Tori is the only Human in that bar.

This is the second book that I have read by Marie recently and it is the first book in the overall Guild World that Marie has created. The world building is not intense and I think that there is more to come as this really is a human stumbling in to the Urban Fantasy world and after the complete shock of the world existing but trying to figure out the world consists of. I personally enjoy a human stumbling into a new world, I think it adds a different dynamic as Tori is really a fish out of water.

I like Tori as a character, she has a temper and does not take anything from anyone. Now this does hinder her ability to hold onto a job, but it does create some entertaining senecios. Tori has a past and we get a glimpses of it in this book and i think more will come. Tori seemed almost superhuman at times, especially with an umbrella, that makes me wonder if there is something urban fantasy underlying in her heritage. And there are the times with the magic card as well, that makes me think that there is more than it seems.

I did the audiobook version of this book and it think that Cris Dukehart did a great job and I would listen to more audiobooks with her narrating.

I'm getting some vibes from this book that it may be heading towards a reverse harem type of trope, not sure if I will stick around if that is true. I think it will have to do with if this affects the overall plot of the books or is just something more on the sidelines.

This was a fun urban fantasy read, that there may not be anything entirely new here, but Marie puts her own spin on a few things that it does not seem to copy of other books I have read. This book was fast pace that is sure to keep you entertained from start to finish. I look forward to reading the next book in this series.

Enjoy!!!

If You Like This,

Check These Out Too:

    

Darynda Jones: A Hard Day for a Hangover

This is the third and final book in Darynda Jones' Sunshine Vicram series, so you will need to read the previous two, A Bad Day for Sunshine and A good Day for Chardonnay to understand the running story throughout the three books as well as the relationship between the characters. Plus, they are fund reads, so win win.

Darynda Jones is back with the third (and final) book in her Sunshine Vicram series, when a hike leads to a string of missing women:

Sheriff Sunshine Vicram would like to have one day that is peaceful and easy and just get some regular work done (which does not include chasing a racoon around the station). But the fates have something else planned for her when a woman's body is discovered by a hiker, thankfully she is alive but has been badly beaten an assaulted. Sunshine will do everything she can to ID this victim and catch who did this too her. He daughter Auri wants the same things and decides to do some sleuthing on her own. These actions lead to Sunshine and Auri to come to the attention of the would be murderer with deadly consequences.

I read this book a bit ago and I cannot remember it that well but what I do remember I enjoyed it. (this is why i have to write my opinions right after i read or during) but a few months have passed and I didn’t write a review I've completely forgotten about it....oops, and what really happened. As I write this review more aspects have come back to me but lessoned learned write things down right away. The main aspect I do remember was the whole bus scene at the end really did have me on the edge of my seat, even though you know Jones is not going to let anything bad happen, right? That was a nail biter time in the book and had me sucked in, you will not want to put the book down at this point.

Personally, I think there was something lacking in this book, at times it felt a bit rushed that Jones knew she had to wrap quite a few things up but still wasn’t able to get to everything. I found that I did not enjoy this book as much as the previous two. I think the whole secret society thing is not well played out and needed more explaining and more involvement in the story if it was supposed to be such a big deal. I mean nothing was really truly affected by that society especially in this book in regard to the missing women which means that it didn’t really serve a purpose, therefore, didn't need to be there.

As the final book of this trilogy everything does wrap up nicely and FINALLY Sunshine figures a few things out, what we have all known and been waiting for since the first book. I'm not sure if all of Sunshine or Auri's stories are over and I wonder if Jones will do a YA spin off series from this one featuring Auri. I think it would be a smart/fun idea, maybe once she is a bit older and attending college and crime happen there kind of thing.

So overall a fun book and fun series that has some laughable moments as well as some mystery to keep you entertained throughout the book. These really are easy reads and nice palate cleansers for some of the other books i read and i would read another contemporary series by Jones (before this I had only read part of her Grimm Reaper series).

Enjoy!!!

If You Like This,

Check These Out Too: