Anna Dressed In Blood, by Kendare Blake

Anna Dressed in Blood

Written by Kendare Blake, Narrated by August Ross

Reason for Reading: I wanted to check off category 12 in Reading Outside the Box

Genre: YA Paranormal Romance / Horror

Review

Cas Lowood has always worked alone on his quest to dispatch murderous ghosts and discover the demon who killed his father. But when he moves to Thunder Bay everything changes – first, he has an explainable fascination with Anna, the ghost he’s come to kill; second, he accidentally picks up a team of teenagers who insist on tagging along as he rids the world of Anna’s horror. And Cas isn’t quite sure he wants to kill Anna anymore…

I picked this book up because of the fascinating cover art. (Yup! I’m one of those people.) I’m glad the cover was so awesome, because I enjoyed the book. Yes, it was sort of a copy of the TV show Supernatural, but that’s ok. Every story has its origins in another story, right? This book was fun and quick – I enjoyed the mystery and characters. If you like teen ghost stories, this would be a good book to pick up. But I recommend you pick up the physical book and not the audio book. Ross annoyed me with his too-clear annunciations, his pauses, and his slow reading. It ruined the rhythm of the narrative, and made the dialog fall flat. There were several times I wanted to give up on the book just because the narration was annoying me – and I generally am pretty laid back about audio books.

John Dies at the End, by David Wong

John Dies at the End

Written by David Wong, Narrated by Stephen R. Thorne

Reason for Reading: Real Life bookclub

Genre: Quirky adult horror

Review
This book is the king of unreliable narration. Presumably, this book is about David and John, two friends in a Midwestern town who need to fight off evil forces when a new drug (soy sauce) opens a door to a parallel universe. Although it’s clear that David exaggerates a good deal for the sake of story-telling, it is up to interpretation whether David and John are really kicking the EF from PU butt, or if they’re hallucinating. Either way, it’s a wild, crazy, and very humorous ride. The humor is very dark, dry, and sometimes witty. It was my favorite part of the book. The plot was fairly non-existent, though. The book was more about action and weirdness – the story was just too wild to actually have a coherent plot. During the middle of the book, I was starting to regret that it was so long because I’m more of a plot-driven than situational-driven reader. But I’m glad I hung in there, because I got some great laughs and may view the world a tiny bit differently after listening to this book.

You wouldn’t think this book would lend itself well to audio format, but Stephen R. Thorne did an amazing job. His delivery of the dry humor and action was spot on. I’m happy that I took the risk on audio. 🙂

Deadly Offer, by Caroline B. Cooney

Deadly Offer, by Caroline B. Cooney

Reason for Reading: This book was provided by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. When I was a teenager, I read the second book in this trilogy, and I was curious what I would think of the first.

Review

Althea craves popularity. She wants to be a cheerleader – swooned over by all the jocks and the envy of all the girls. When, against custom, she opens the shuttered tower room in her house, she releases a vampire who makes a deal with her: If she brings him victims, he will give her popularity. Althea finds herself spiraling out of control as the vampire asks for more and more – and she feels she has to give it to him or suffer public humiliation.

Looked at from a superficial point of view, there’s really not much to this book. It’s barely 200 pages long, and has little plot or character development. It’s pretty standard for those Point Horror books that were being pumped out in the ’90s. Teen readers should be wary – this is a quick, fluffy read with a (how dare Ms. Cooney?!) BAD vampire. Yes. That’s right. His skin looks and smells like soggy mushrooms. He feeds on the weakness of teenagers. And he doesn’t sparkle. He is in no way, shape, or form romantic. It was SUCH a wonderful change. 🙂 As long as bad vampires don’t insult your intelligence, you’ll enjoy this book if you’re 11-14ish. Or you might enjoy it if you’re older and enjoy exploring ideas.

What I liked about this book was that it was more meaningful on a deeper level. There were hints all along that Althea could have made herself popular on her own – that her own attitude ensured her unpopularity. She assumed no one knew she existed, so she hid from everyone. Result – nobody paid her any attention. This is also a story about how far some people are willing to go in order to gain what they want. She sacrificed her morals and trampled on other people in order to achieve her goals – and then she was dissatisfied with the results. It’s a story about being true to yourself and how your goals will be more lasting when you achieve them through hard work instead of back-stabbing. Any book that makes me think earns points with me! 🙂

Another thing that made me think: where the heck were her parents through all of this?! They weren’t mentioned even once! Did Cooney mean to do that? I read the second book in the trilogy many years ago, and I remember THAT protagonist had parents…

Wanted! by Caroline B. Cooney

Wanted! by Caroline B. Cooney

Reason for Reading: This book was provided by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Review

When Ally gets a phone call from her dad asking her to grab a couple of discs and drive (without a license!) in his corvette to “the place where she gets ice cream,” she knows something is wrong. But when someone breaks into the house while she’s in it, Ally makes a run for it – only to find out that her dad has been murdered and she’s the prime suspect. Will she be able to evade the police AND prove her innocence?

This was a fun, fluffy, and clean teen thriller published back in the late ’90s and recently re-released. I read it practically in one sitting. There are certain aspects of the book that didn’t translate well to the 21st century. For example, this was written in a day when most people didn’t have a cellphone – is that something today’s teenager can even fathom? 🙂 Ally made some stupid choices in this book (let’s face it, it’s hard to prove you’re innocent when you’re running away!), but in the end she managed to stay true to herself. This book would be appropriate for 11-14 year olds, and could be enjoyed by either boys or girls (i.e. it’s high on suspense and low on romance). In fact, it made me miss the day in which the love triangle wasn’t a required plot device for YA. Oh, those were the days!

Warm Bodies, by Isaac Marion

Warm Bodies, by Isaac Marion

Reason for Reading: Loved the movie and trying to kill reading slump.

Review

R is an above-average-intelligence zombie (he can speak 4-6 syllable sentences!) who is living a doll-drum life in an abandoned airplane – but his un-life gets a sharp slap in the face when he meets Julie, who by all rights he should have eaten. Instead, he takes Julie home and tries to communicate with her. This small act of curiosity on R’s part ignites a chain event of new perceptions. The world must crawl out of it’s stagnant existence and remember what it was to live.

I admit that I watched the movie first. I generally don’t do that, but it just happened that way. I LOVED the movie and had to rush out to get the book. This is one example where I’d say I liked the movie and the book equally. 🙂 Warm Bodies is unquestionably a retelling of Romeo and Juliet (right down to the balcony scene), but it was certainly the most unique retelling I’ve read. Additionally, I interpreted the book as a parody of YA paranormal romance – I took it very tounge-in-cheek. So I got a LOT of laughs while reading it. But what I thought was most interesting was the allegory. The zombies symbolized passionless people who have simply accepted life as directed by the ruling body (Bonies, in this case). And R was a zombie who just couldn’t quite conform. I loved the idea that a renewal of passion (and I don’t just mean romantic passion) could revive R’s potential as an individual. One simple act of individuality could change the course of history. On the other hand, I got a little tired at the end of the book of the cheesy internal dialog (and I DO mean internal dialog and not monologue). I think Marion was laying on his philosophy a little too thick. It would have been much more elegant to leave these philosophical discussions out – anybody who was willing to see Marion’s philosophy would be able to do so without cheesy dialog. But that was my only complaint about this funny, quirky, and delightful story. 🙂

The Sandman – Preludes and Nocturnes, by Neil Gaiman

Preludes and Nocturnes, by Neil Gaiman

Reason for Reading: Group read on LibraryThing

Review
In this classic graphic novel, Dream (The Sandman) is captured by a sinister magician and remains trapped for decades. While he is gone, his kingdom falls apart and dreams on Earth are disrupted. I’m not very experienced with graphic novels, having only read Satrapi’s Persepolis before this, so reading Preludes and Nocturnes took some getting used to. But I’m glad I decided to climb out of my comfort-zone for a while – I was REALLY enjoying the book by the time it ended. Neil Gaiman’s mind never ceases to amaze me. He’s so darkly creative. There are a few issues I had with this book, though. I thought the tie-in to DC superheroes was a bit cheesy – though I recognize that this cheese was do to the development of the graphic novel as a genre. I hear these elements disappear later in the series to leave only the good stuff. 🙂 Also, I found one incident at the end of the book darkly depressing. It made me very sad to see the dark insides of humanity (as Gaiman and his illustrators see them)…but I guess my emotional reaction is exactly what Gaiman was going for. So, points to him. 😉 Overall, this was a promising beginning, and now that I am more used to the graphic novel style, I’m looking forward to enjoying the rest of the series much more – after all, it’s only supposed to get better from here!

Losing Christina: Fog, by Caroline B. Cooney

Losing Christina: Fog, by Caroline B. Cooney

Reason for Reading: I had hit a reading slump and wanted to perk myself up by reading something “exciting.” I was browsing through the ebooks at my library, and found this. I remembered how much I loved it when I was a child and thought “I wonder how bad it could be?” So I borrowed it. 🙂 I’m rather glad I did!

Review

Christina is excited because this year she is 13 and she gets to leave the island she grew up on and attend junior high on the mainland in Maine. Despite her excitement, she is torn by worry about whether she’ll be bullied by the mainland kids, who think islanders are stupid and poor. But those worries soon take second place when she realizes that the owners of the bed and breakfast where she and her islander friends lodge are using psychological torment to suck the souls out of girls. She’s terrified as she watches the beautiful and brilliant senior Anya fade away. And soon the psychopaths are after her own mind.

When I was pre-junior high I used to gobble up these Point Horror books like a turkey dinner. (haha. ok, I know that wasn’t funny. Just work with it.) There are very few of those books that I actually remember liking though. This is one that has really stuck with me through the years. When I found it in the library recently I thought: “I wonder…” And I’m glad I did, because I found this book terrifying. When I was a teenager, I think I found the spooky psychological aspects of going insane scary. Now, the book is even more terrifying, but for a different reason. Those psychopath adults who have FULL control over those poor children were horrible! They were charming, and fantastic liars, and those kids’ parents weren’t around to see what was going on. They just believed whatever the adults told them rather than believing their own children. And the things those psychopaths said to the kids! Ohhhhh shudder. Yes, the book lacked subtlety. But the fact that it terrified me even now gets it four stars in my blog! My only complaint (besides the lack of subtlety – which is really due to its target audience) is that it ended in a cliffhanger. This is a trilogy of short books. It really should be one longer book. Even combined, I think the book would still be reasonably short. But it WAS Point Horror, after all. They had to be short.

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs

2012 Book 163: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs

Reason for Reading: I was originally going to give it to my dad for Christmas, but it wasn’t as amazing as I thought it would be

Review

Jacob has grown up believing that his grandfather’s tales of adventure and magical children were a fantasy. However, when Jacob’s life is suddenly turned upside down, he must go on a quest to a tiny island off Wales to see the orphanage his grandfather grew up in. There, he discovers that there was some element of truth in his grandfather’s stories…and he finds out that his life is in danger. This book was a fantastic idea. Riggs used some unique vintage photographs that he’d borrowed from a few collectors and built a story around the weird images. The photos were fascinating…I really loved looking at them. And I was excited to see what sort of story was built around them. However, the story was a bit contrived. I suppose that it would have to be, given that it’s built around some randomly rescued photos…So Riggs deserves some credit for a good eye and a creative idea. His writing was a bit lack-luster…as I said, it was a bit contrived, and it leaned too heavily on formulaic fantasy. Shades of X-men, Groundhog Day, etc. abound. Nothing wrong with using old formulas, of course – no concept is every fully new – but overall the writing just didn’t hold its own. I might or might not pick up the next book in the series…we’ll see. 🙂 I’ll probably read it eventually because I imagine Riggs’ writing might improve on the second book, and it will seem less contrived if it’s based on plot development instead of photographs. 🙂

Assassin’s Code, by Jonathan Maberry

2012 Book 150: Assassin’s Code

written by Jonathan Maberry, narrated by Ray Porter

Reason for Reading: 4th book in the Joe Ledger series. Figured the brainless action would be entertaining for a long car ride. Also, it fits in nicely with the Halloween theme. 🙂

My Review

In this fourth installment of Joe Ledger’s story, Ledger kicks the @$$ of evil Iranians, a Romanian? weirdo cult, and a group of religious doomsday vampires…all while trying to figure out where the mysterious group of psychotic women fit in to this mess. This book is brainless military sci-fi/horror action at its best. I only gave the book three stars because I started to get bored of all the bad @$$ military action. And it waxed a little too political for me at times. This is also a book that you shouldn’t think too deeply about–for instance, why the heck did he bring his DOG for a mission in Iran (when clearly the dog wasn’t being used for the mission)? Certainly, the dog HAPPENED to come in handy at times, but it seems poor planning to bring a dog and then leave him pointlessly in the hotel during the mission, so that if things didn’t go as smoothly as planned, Ledger would have to go back and get his dog before getting out of harm’s way. I also felt some of the “intrigue” plot was rather overcooked. Really? Intrigue in the Catholic Church? Gasp! Never seen THAT in a book before! So, like I said, this book is great if you’re interested in some mindless action…just don’t think too much. 🙂

If you liked the rest of the Joe Ledger books, then this is more of the same. If you liked the first and felt “meh” about the rest, then this book is similar to the rest of the sequels. If you haven’t read any of the others, pick up Patient Zero (it’s good!) and then keep in mind that the rest of the books are less intelligent, but just as much pulpy action.

Blood and Other Cravings, ed. Ellen Datlow

2012 Book 147: Blood and Other Cravings, ed. Ellen Datlow

Reason for Reading: This seemed like a good book to read in October. I chose it because it’s currently being considered for the World Fantasy Award.

My Review

This is an anthology of vampire stories…but not just ANY vampires.Vampires are inundating the market these days, and they’re beginning to get a tad predictable and boring. This new collection is meant to delight the reader by displaying the variety of thirsts that plague vampires (and humans). There are your classic blood-sucking varieties, but there are also soul-sucking vampires, and vampires from different folkloric traditions, and vampires that…well, ARE they vampires, or are they humans…or…are humans really vampires at heart?

Although I thought the theme of this anthology was creative, and I generally enjoyed the stories, I wasn’t wowed. I’m not a huge short story reader because I really like plot and character development, and short stories simply don’t have the space for such development–unless they really pack the info in. And in the case of THOSE stories, I tend to feel a little bogged down and need to read very slowly to pick up all the information. For me, these stories were either too insubstantial or too substantial. 😉 Being unaccustomed to reading anthologies, I don’t know if this issue was because I have difficulty with short stories, or if it was because the anthology was less than fantastic. Either way, I thought the anthology was interesting, but I’m glad to be moving on to other books.

I was originally going to share a mini-review of each story. But these stories are so short, and the joy (for me) depended entirely on not knowing what sort of “vampire” I was reading about. There’s just not much to say about the individual stories without giving spoilers.

All You Can Do Is Breathe, by Kaaron Warren: When a mine collapses, a minor is trapped for several days. He keeps himself alive by remembering the good things in life. But he keeps a dark secret from the media-craze that descends upon him when he is rescued. A scary “long man” came to him while he was trapped…a man who didn’t want to rescue him.

Needles, by Elizabeth Bear: Two vampires descend upon the home of a tattoo artist. Do they want more than just a tattoo?

Baskerville’s Midgets, by Reggie Oliver. A boardinghouse landlady befriends a set of 7 midgets and pays a dire price. ***This one was darkly funny. One of my three favorites.

Blood Yesterday, Blood Tomorrow, by Richard Bowes: A woman in need of money seduces her rich ex-lover to come back to the dark-side.

X for Demetrious, by Steve Duffy: This is a fictional story based on the true-life news story of a man who, in January 1973, was found dead on his mattress–having choked on a bulb of garlic. The room was filled with crucifixes, sprinkled with salt, and “protected” with salt-laced urine and garlic-laced excrement. ***This was one of my three favorite stories in the anthology. It was thoughtful and a bit frightening.

Keeping Corky, by Melanie Tem: A mentally disabled woman who believes that she has the power to “punish” people by sucking away bits of themselves becomes angry when she is not allowed to write a letter to her biological son Corky, who’d been adopted by a couple years ago. But does she really have the power to punish?

Shelf Life, by Lisa Tuttle: While rummaging through her parent’s attic, a woman finds a dollhouse that she’d become obsessed with as a child. She takes it home and gives it to her daughter–with disastrous results. Some people just shouldn’t have dollhouses.

Caius, by Bill Pronzini and Barry N. Malzberg: Caius is a radio talk-show host who has an almost magical power to resolve people’s internal conflicts and make them feel satisfied. They flock to him. But what’s really going on?

Sweet Sorrow, by Barbara Roden: When a little girl disappears in a quiet neighborhood, her friend Brian feels that his elderly neighbors are acting suspiciously. They seem to thrive on the grief around them.

First Breath, Nicole J. LeBoeuf: A mysterious narrator goes on a trip to “find herself.”

Toujours, Kathe Koje: After dedicating the later years of his life to help a young fashion designer become famous, Gianfranco jealously guards the young man from encroaching threats–like love interests.

Miri, by Steve Rasnic Tem: Ricky is a devoted husband and father, but something is lacking. He constantly seems drained and distracted. He spends a lot of time thinking about a woman from the past…

Mrs. Jones, by Carol Emshwiller: Two old-maid sisters entertain themselves through a long, dreary life by intentionally annoying one another. Then one day, a little demon shows up in their lives…and everything suddenly changes.

Bread and Water, by Michael Cisco: The story of a vampire plague from the perspective of one of the original hospitalized patients.

Mulberry Boys, by Margo Lanagan: Fifteen-year-old John helps hard-hearted Phillips track down and surgically care for a Mulberry Boy. As talks to Phillips for the first time in his life, he learns more about who the Mulberry Boys are and begins to wonder who’s the REAL monster. ***This was my third favorite story…and it was definitely the most memorable for me. I’ll probably look for more works by this author.

The Third Always Beside You, by John Langan: Weber and Gertrude suspect that there is another woman involved in their parent’s marriage. When curiosity finally overcomes Gertrude and she asks a family friend, she finds out much more than she’d bargained for.