Review: Shelter for the Damned

Shelter for the Damned by Mike Thorn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

DNF @ 62%

I'm finally deciding to part ways with this book.

I really wanted to get through it, as I received a copy from the author in exchange for a review.

However it's just really dragging for me and becoming such a chore to read so I'm finishing up just past the halfway mark.

The story follows delinquent Mark, who is always getting into trouble. He's a troubled boy, so when he finds a shack in the middle of nowhere that seems to call to him, he finds it hard to stay away. But evil is at work, here, and things are not going to end well for Mark and his friends ...

It's actually not a bad story. The writing is pretty decent and invocative and the characters are fleshed out well. I just found it all terribly slow and dull, and there was more about Mark's personal problems than anything particularly spooky so I just got a bit bored by it all. By the time things started getting a bit creepy, I was skimming too much to be properly affected by it.

I fully admit that I'm notoriously terrible with e-books, though, so the format definitely affected how slowly I read it, and reading it over a longer period of time may have likely influenced how drawn out the story felt.

It's probably worth a go to most horror lovers, as it seemed a unique concept to me. However be prepared for a slow build up to the horror.

With thanks to the author for a copy

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Review: Twilight: Doors X

Twilight: Doors X by Markus Heitz
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a solid 4 mysterious stars until the ending when everything was still a mystery and I was left feeling very, very confused.

It's a unique setup over the course of several books, but without knowing that this would probably be less confusing.

Plot: There's a rich man's daughter lost in an unusual system of caves, with doors that lead to strange places. A unique team of experts from different fields is sent in to find her.

The first 95 pages assembles the team and sends them into the caves until they end up in front of a bunch of doors, and this first 95 pages is identical in subsequent books in the series. What changes is the door they choose, leading to alternate stories.

Knowing this, I wasn't quite sure how it would play out, but I assumed something like a 'Choose Your Own Adventure' story spread across a series instead of just one book. It's an interesting concept, but personally I feel it didn't quite deliver.

The story is certainly mysterious - everyone has secrets, and the caves with the doors are quite fascinating. There's no telling where everyone is going to end up, and I rather liked that.

However, the delivery was messy and jumped around all over the place. The idea is that each book takes us through a different door, but that's not quite how it worked out in this one. Hopefully the second book is a little more clear cut.

I really like the idea of it, and it's quite fantastical, but it fell short in the end. There was too much confusion, and while I liked all the secrets and different personalities of the team members, even they never really came together enough for me to appreciate their individual roles.

Super curious about the second one, though, so I wonder how it will change my thoughts on this one!

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Review: City of Vengeance

City of Vengeance by D.V. Bishop
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Wowwww this took me so long to read so by the end I was kind of done with it, but it was still pretty good!

The plot involves a murder in Florence, 1536, which leads to the unravelling of plots that our officer Aldo must solve before more people get hurt.

Spoiler alert: More people get hurt.

I really liked the way the two plots twined together, though I'm still a little unsure why the second was necessary. This is a long story, and the second plot line seemed to serve no purpose other than bringing Also and Strocchi together. I enjoyed it, but it definitely made the story longer than it had to be.

At the same time, it reads as though it's been heavily edited. Some scenes are completely cut in favour of just telling us what happened in a few words, and at times it caused quite a separation from the story. It's hard to get invested when you're not properly experiencing the story.

I did enjoy the setting, and I feel it created a great image of Florence at this time. I believe those interested in historical fiction will have a lot of fun with the rich detail in this story.

An interesting story with a lot going on, and it's not afraid to detail a little blood and carnage. I enjoyed it, though don't know if I'll continue with the series. A little too political for me.

With thanks to Macmillan for a copy

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Review: Before You Knew My Name

Before You Knew My Name by Jacqueline Bublitz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A profoundly moving, heart-wrenching story that will have women nodding their heads as they ache with sadness. I felt this story in the depths of my soul.

How do I even begin to explain how brilliantly insightful this novel is?

You know the story: A girl runs away to New York and, not long after, a body turns up. The girl has been raped and murdered and now the cops have to figure out the who, and the why.

But have you ever heard the story told by the dead girl? Or by the jogger who found her? Have you ever stopped asking, 'who did it?' in favour of asking, 'who was she?'

This novel is a lament for all those who have had their futures stolen from them by violence. By getting to know the dead girl, we're forced to confront all that was lost - her hopes and dreams, the connections to others, the impact she would have made on other lives. We get to think - really think - about who she might have become.

It's a powerful exploration of all the things we generally forget to consider in favour of morbid curiosity.

There's also the feminist angle - the stark reality of women all over the world, woven into the narrative. The fragile egos we must carefully manage or risk violent retribution; the unwanted advances that can lead to spiteful words like, 'uptight' or 'tease'; saying yes because the consequence of saying no is terrifying. Walking alone, being out late, wearing specific clothing - all these things and more will have women reading this story nodding along, remembering all the times they, too, have found themselves in similar situations. Just because a situation doesn't end in violence, it doesn't become any less terrifying a situation to experience. This novel explores it all so cleverly, honestly, and with great heart.

There is certainly the mystery associated with who committed the murder and why, but this novel takes great pains to focus instead on the woman whose life was ended, and the woman whose life was altered by finding the body.

This is a book that will stay with me for a long time, and not only do I recommend it, I URGE people to read it. Particularly women, but men also. There is so much here that deserves our attention, and I will be recommending this one to everyone in the hopes that others will be moved as much as I was.

Many thanks to Allen & Unwin for an ARC

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Review: Tokyo Ever After

Tokyo Ever After by Emiko Jean
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Mostly predictable, full of cliches, but also pretty stinkin' adorable.

Izumi definitely has some Lara Jean vibes, so it's hard not to get behind her. She can be ridiculous and make mistakes, but she's the first person to call out her own bs which you kind of have to appreciate.

So, here's the deal: Izumi has never known who her father is, but a clue leads her to the discovery that she's actually the daughter of Japan's crown prince. Naturally, the lost princess wastes no time before flying to Japan to get to know her father, also hoping to discover a little more about who she is and where she belongs.

Now, I am not kidding about the cliches. You have obscenely rich people doing obscenely rich people things, and you have snarky royals who look down on the 'outsider' and you have all the outsider faux pas, and there's of course the forbidden love and the goddamn 'dancing with no music' scene which BOILS MY BLOOD. But even with all of these cliches, it's not an easy story to hate. Ultimately, Izumi is just looking for somewhere to call home - somewhere she doesn't feel out of place, somewhere she can be loved for exactly who she is. And don't we all kind of want that, in the end?

I liked that angle most of all. The 'lost princess' angle was sweet but entirely predictable, whereas the stuff about race and finding a place she belonged felt more genuine and heartfelt to me. I wish more had been done with that - I think it would have made for a more authentic story.

The romance didn't do a lot for me, and I wasn't particularly horrified by the behaviours of anyone, even though the bullying was a bit much at times. It was all just too cliche and predictable for me to really feel anything. It really just wasn't anything new at all.

I liked Izumi as a character, though, and I enjoyed the closeness of her friendship with the AGG. I loved the fierce protectiveness of her mother coupled with that love that allowed Izumi her freedom. Mum just wants her daughter to be happy, and that was really beautiful to me.

Overall, it wasn't anything particularly special, but Izumi made it a cute story that I enjoyed in spite of its predictability. This will be one for the cheese-lovers; for those who love love. It's a comfort read for people who like fluff.

And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

With thanks to Macmillan for a copy      

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Review: FantasticLand

FantasticLand by Mike Bockoven
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

OH MY GOD THIS WAS SO MUCH INSANE FUN.

A+ for the audio!

This was another audio I listened to working 'Dark Store' - on my own, in a locked up retail store, in the basement of a deserted shopping centre - also, coincidentally, the day(s) that storms raged outside. COULD THE SETTING HAVE BEEN MORE PERFECT?!

Because this story begins with a storm. A storm that sees just under 400 theme park employees trapped for around 5 weeks. They've got plenty of food and water, and they're supposed to be looking after the park, but things don't quite go to the plan of the exhaustive safety manual designed for this specific kind of scenario.

The book is a series of interviews, and the good stuff starts coming hard and fast once we get to the interviews of those who found themselves as part of one of the 'tribes' that formed during the FantasticLand fiasco. I LOVED the format, and it made the audio that much more entertaining, because you get so many different voices and perspectives of what went down, and you get the classic variations that come from different people telling the same story, and I honestly didn't care that it all seemed a bit far fetched. I felt like, no matter how the situation itself came about, the way these kids dealt with everything seemed pretty real. People taking charge, people cowering, people trying to remain neutral, people just wanting to keep to themselves and stay safe, people trying to pretend it was all a bad dream.

The violence was insane, but as soon as it was told by someone who experienced it first-hand it suddenly seemed more tame, or more reasonable. I LOVED that aspect. Some of it was chilling, but more was just terrifyingly understandable.

This was such a unique, messed up story and I just loved the experience of reading/listening to it. I find myself going back through it to highlight passages that really stood out. I'll likely re-read it at some stage.

A LOT of fun, totally crazy, brilliant characters and variety. Not totally believable, but who cares when you get to have this much fun? Highly recommend.

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Review: The Perfect Family

The Perfect Family by Robyn Harding
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was super addictive and fast-paced but ultimately a little light on with the drama.

The story is about a family who seem perfect on the outside but who are all hiding secrets from one another.

As far as those secrets go, they were pretty bland. Nothing particularly new and original, so nothing particularly captivating. I was curious about them, but they all came out pretty fast so there wasn't a lot of tension in that respect.

I enjoyed how the pranking on the family started small and slowly started to escalate, but it never quite got as intense as I hoped for. It was also a bit bizarre that those responsible were called out early on but it was still somehow drawn out into a mystery? It felt a bit messy to me. I wanted this story to go so much further than it did.

The story was written well enough to draw me in and keep me reading addictively, but there just wasn't quite enough substance to leave me satisfied. A decent read, but not quite as clever as I had hoped for.

With thanks to NetGalley for an ARC.

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