Book Review: Fools’ Apocalypse by Anderson Atlas

31441018AuthorAnderson Atlas
Release Date: August 26, 2015
Series: The Extremist Edge
Genre: Horror
Edition: mobi
Pages: 392
Publisher: Synesthesia Books
Source: Author
Buy it here: Amazon

Rating: ★★★★

Blurb:

Betrayed by one man. Sick with Lies. As the world crumbles, rots and succumbs to chaos, Ian seeks the truth. He seeks revenge. He needs his hands around the throat of the mastermind, the 6th Horseman.
6 other survivors learn they were the pawns of the 6th Horseman; who has left them to be torn apart by the puppets, the undead, who were their neighbors, friends and once beautiful strangers.
For hundreds of years, a ninth century mosque guarded a secret, an artifact covered with strange spores. Zilla tinkered with the spore’s DNA until a biological weapon emerged, one that obliterated all but a fraction of humanity. A new creature spawned inside the rotting corpses. In symbiosis, they attacked, adapted and learned. They were poised to inherit the Earth when they met Ian Gladstone.

Review

Plot/Story: I really enjoyed the plot. I like the idea that these zombies could not be killed by simply shooting them in the head. It was fun…in a horror sort of way. I will not say it was fast paced, because it did take it’s time to getting to the zombie part. But, I was okay with that because the author was just building the scene and showing how all these people played a part in the end of the world. Everyone had their valid reasons of why they participated and I loved it.

Characters: I felt like we got more of a sense of who Ian was more than anyone else. He seemed to be the main character in a story that had several main characters. He was also my favorite character from them all. I seemed to connect with him better than the rest.

Romance/Kills: There was no romance, at least not an obvious one. I felt like there was a budding romance between a few characters (Ian and Hannah), but nothing outwardly forward. As far as kills…it’s a zombie book, the end of the world. There are a million bloody kills. The descriptions of some of the killings were rather brutal and enjoyable to my horror loving heart.

Writing: The writing was fair. I feel like the novel could use a few more look throws for grammatical and spelling errors. I did notice a lot of words that were missing a few letters and a few places where the word was missing completely or there were extra words.

There was also an issue with switching the perspective of the story. I had a hard time keeping up with which character’s POV I was reading from. This could be a mistake of my own as I sometimes don’t even pay attention to the title of chapters half the time. But even when I did remember to read the chapter title to see whose POV I was reading from, I still got a little confused.

Beginning: The beginning was slow going and at one point I was a little bored. But once you get to the meaty part of the story, you understand the purpose of the slow beginning.

Ending: I enjoyed the ending. I felt like there was enough closure to end the book, but open enough to continue on to the next book.

Cover Art: The cover is simple and tells a story. It’s the picture of a world at its end and that is exactly what this book is about.

Blurb: The blurb is right to the point of the story. It doesn’t prepare you for the gore that riddles this book, which is great.

Other Stuff

Opening Line: I ran barefoot through deep, thick mud, not caring about the chill that was creeping into my skin, or the searing pain at the stump of my phantom arm.

Highlights: ZOMBIES!

Lowlights: A few errors.

Final Thoughts: This book is totally worth the read, even in its rough state.


 

You can also read this review at Goodreads and Amazon.

Book Review: The Nth Day by Jonathan Huls

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Author: Jonathan Huls
Release Date: November 11, 2015
Series: 
Genre: Fantasy
Edition: E-Book (mobi)
Pages: 330
Publisher: Duvinchi Media Group
Source: Author
Buy it here: Amazon

Rating: ★ – DNF

Blurb:

Justin is an immaculately conceived deity who roams the earth wreaking havoc as an adolescent. As his supernatural powers become catastrophic for the whole world, Cassie and Theodore must learn how to cope with the changes he has inflicted. Living as a vagrant on the streets, attempting to avoid the problems that come with millions of dollars sitting in his bank account, Theodore is suddenly thrust into a new-world leadership role, even after botching his own life early on. Abused by her drug addict mother then tossed from one foster home to the next, Cassie has been able to survive in a world that gobbles up little girls with a side of ranch dressing – but barely, and only after being miraculously revived after dying the first time.

Review

The synopsis of the book sets up an intriguing premise: a child, who may or may not be God but does have supernatural abilities, is born which causes certain events to be set into motion. Despite the seemingly original idea of this book, I had a very difficult time reading it and gave up halfway through it.

The main problem was the language. It was too crass and crude for my taste. I normally have a good stomach for violence and gore but the kind of language used in this book made it an unpleasant read for me. The throwaway violence felt unnecessary and the descriptions of sex were cringeworthy.

Another aspect that bothered me was the scene where a little girl is almost raped by her foster father. I can understand if it adds more depth to her character further in the story. But I still don’t want to read a little girl being raped in sadistic detail.

The timeline was confusing since the age of the characters was never explicitly mentioned. But from what I understood, Cassie should be nearly as old as Justin or maybe slightly older. Which was odd considering the sort of perception and thoughts she had.

The writing felt a little flat and some of the sentences were poorly structured. At times, the paragraphs were too long, sometimes as long as two pages. There were a few grammatical errors, and some of the phrases and metaphors made no sense.

If you don’t mind gore, violence, and can overlook the language, you can definitely give this book a shot. It’s simply not my cup of tea.

Other Stuff

Opening Line: “And on the 8th day, as foretold by the Bible, God was reborn.”

Highlights: –

Lowlights: Writing and descriptions.

Final Thoughts: A very intriguing premise and an original idea but it lacked finesse.


This book is reviewed by Mythili Hariharan.

You can also read this review at Goodreads and Amazon.

Book Review: Baggage by S.G. Redling

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Author: S.G. Redling
Release Date: February 9, 2016
Series: 
Genre: Psychological Thriller, Suspense, Mystery
Edition: E-Book (mobi)
Pages: 229
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Source: 
Buy it here: Amazon

Rating: ★★★★

Blurb:

Over the years, terrible things keep happening to Anna Ray on February 17. First, there was the childhood trauma she’s never been able to speak about. Then, to her horror, her husband killed himself on that date.
A year later and a thousand miles away, Anna tries to find solace in the fresh start of a new job in a new place. She takes comfort in her outspoken cousin Jeannie, the confidant and best friend who’s there whenever she needs help. On the day of the dreaded anniversary, Anna and Jeannie hit the town, planning to ease the pain with an alcohol-induced stupor and then sleep.…
When Anna awakes the next morning, she thinks she can put one more February 17 behind her, but fate is about to intervene in the form of two gruesome murders with eerie similarities to her violent past. This time, however, she won’t be an abandoned daughter or a grieving widow. This time, she’ll be a suspect.

Review

The book started off really great. The dysfunctional life of Anna is portrayed beautifully and her willingness to drown out her sorrows in wine makes her come across as a completely vulnerable lead, which serves just right for the foundation of the story. The initial plot built-up sets a really interesting premise for the mystery that lingers over the alternate chapters like a heavy cloud. These chapters are often mixed with Jeannie’s 17-year-old self and Anna’s 12-year-old self. The author keeps the book really interesting with these mixed POV chapters and lays a brilliant foundation for a great psychological thriller.

The story build-up was great, and the alternating POVs and the time frames really kept it interesting. I loved reading this book and really enjoyed reading it. The pace of the book was good and I found some or the other interesting bits happening in every chapter which kept me glued to the book.

Like a good suspense novel, there were a lot of suspects that the reader could zero in on, but the ending was truly surprising. I only wish that the author would have made the motive of the murderer a little more solid as it felt a little week and it really didn’t add up with the blurb’s mysterious tone. And the fact that the date mentioned so clearly in the blurb really had no significance was a little disappointing. Nonetheless, I was totally baffled when the killer was revealed as I really liked that character. a lot!

The characterisation is excellent and all the characters have really good depth and layers and layers of traits which make them come across as real people. They are extremely relatable and likable.

The writing is also really good. The easy flow made the book a quick as well as an enjoyable read. The pace of the story was great and made it difficult for me to put down the book after every chapter. The author did a fantastic job in keeping the reader busy in the possible-suspect-guessing-game and, at the end, she really nailed it with a surprising ending.

This book is a quick read and the blood and gore were minimal, so it was a good change to read a relatively clean psychological thriller.

Other Stuff

Opening Line: “I would already be home if I would stop turning around to stare.”

Highlights: Plot build-up.

Lowlights: None

Memorable Quotes:

“Sometimes all it takes for us to see things the proper way is for someone else to see them wrong.”

Nothing takes the glory out of a victory like passive surrender.

“Welcome to the Fucked Up World of Anna Shuler Ray. There’s a small, pissed-off, hand hacking butcher running around the edges of my world, and it’s the cop I’m afraid of.”

Final Thoughts: A really good and relatively clean psychological thriller.


You can also read this review at Goodreads, NetGalley and Amazon.

Book Review: Floor 21

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Author: Jason Luthor
Release Date: June 2, 2015
Series: 
Genre: Post-Apocalyptic, Dystopian, YA, Suspense, Thriller
Edition: E-Book (mobi)
Pages: 234
Publisher: Kindle Press
Source: Author
Buy it here: Amazon

Rating: ★★★★★

Blurb:

As humanity lives out the remainder of its existence at the top of an isolated apartment tower, young Jackie dares to question Tower Authority and their ban on traveling into the tower’s depths. Intelligent and unyielding, Jackie ventures into the shadows of the floors below. But will her strong will and refusal to be quiet—in a society whose greatest pride is hiding the past—bring understanding of how humanity became trapped in the tower she has always called home, or will it simply be her undoing?

Review

I LOVED this book. It started off pretty great and ended on the same note. Floor 21 is written in the form of recordings in alternate person and I truly enjoyed how this format took this story to a whole new level.

It was really intriguing and kept me on edge the entire time. I was constantly trying to figure out the mystery of the tower as well as that of what awaits outside it. The author has done a splendid job in beautifully carving out the story.

The pace of the story is great and the voice of the main character just wooed me! It was literally like sitting in front of a teenage girl and listening to her blabbering about her life.

I was hooked from the start to the very end. Each and every chapter or recording kept me glued to the book and made me finish the book in a day.

There were a few loose ends left at the end, but considering it was in the form of recordings, I’m ready to give this book benefit of the doubt. Though I do hope that there’ll be a sequel to follow this book so that we can finally know what really happened and that what lies outside the Tower.

Other Stuff

Opening Line: “My name id Jackie, and it’s not so bad living here.”

Highlights: Format of the book.

Lowlights: None.

Final Thoughts: A great dystopian book.


You can also read this review at Goodreads and Amazon.

2 Year Blog Anniversary (Happy Birthday TRB)

Thank you, everyone, for all your love and support! Today TRB has successfully completed 2 years ❤TRB-2

This year in numbers: (March’15 – March’16)

No. of books read: 90

No. of books reviewed: 87 (including reviews from contributors.)

Blog followers: 592

No. of comments: 1,918

No. of spam comments blocked: 6000+

Facebook followers: 1,286

Twitter followers: 235

Plans for this year:

I’m starting a different section of TRB with Emily Green (Social Media Strategist and Publicist at CP) which will focus on Book Promotions. We’ll have giveaways, cover reveals, excerpt reveals, author interviews and other promotional services. This wing of TRB will be paid and have different packages that’ll be created and looked after by Emily.

The reviews will remain free of cost as I don’t want to ruin the book reviews by making them paid.

Good News:

I’ve recently received an email from a mobile app company offering a sponsorship for TRB in which they are volunteering to create and app for TRB. How awesome is that!? If everything goes fine, we might have our own TRB app soon.

At the end I’d like to thanks all my review contributors for helping me keep TRB flooded with reviews all year round! THANK YOU!!! ❤

Book Review: Papa’s Family Recipes

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Author: Tony A. Smith
Release Date: March 27, 2015
Series: DCI Lambert
Genre: Memoir
Edition: E-Book (mobi)
Pages: 315
Publisher: Self-published
Source: Author
Buy it here: Amazon

Rating: ★★★★★

Blurb:

Papa’s Family Recipes is a true story of Alberto Petrucci, the son of emigrant Italian parents from Detroit. Alberto went on to become one of the largest contractors in the Midwest. He was a very kind, caring, and humble man who loved his family deeply. He also had a passion for cooking and was quite good at it. Alberto, know to those in his family as “Papa”, left behind a treasure trove of tasty recipes like his Italian Chicken recipe, and his recipes for Risotto. He also left behind a recipe for his secret family spaghetti sauce. Have you ever met someone you liked the first time you met them? That was the man called “Papa”.

Review

Papa’s Family Recipes is a heart-warming tribute to author Tony’s father-in-law- Alberto Petrucci aka Papa. I’m generally not into non-fiction, but this book is something entirely different.

It took me to an emotional journey and left me craving for my own father’s company. It was touching and the love and care Tony put into writing this book comes across beautifully.

The writing is brilliant and it feels like author Tony and his wife are speaking directly to the reader.

As I mentioned, I’m not into non-fiction, hence, I have no particular example to compare or rate this book with, but as far as I’m concerned, I’m quite sure I can happily rate it 5 stars because this book is beautifully heart-warming read.

And the recipes? I LOVED them! And I’m going to try each and every one of them. I especially liked the Tomato section. What really touched me was that each and every recipe’s original photo was provided with the recipe, which made it all the more relatable. Somehow it managed to pull a string in my heart.

Kudos to a job well done, author Tony A. Smith.

Other Stuff

Opening Line: “Alberto’s parents came directly from Naples, Italy, making him a 100 percent purebred Italian descendant.”

Highlights: The love that can be felt pouring out of every line.

Lowlights: None.

Final Thoughts: A heart-warming tribute.


You can also read this review at Goodreads and Amazon.

Book Review: The Illusions of Eventide (House of Crimson and Clover #1)

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Author: Sarah M. Cradit
Release: December 14h, 2013
Series: House of Crimson and Clover
Genre: Fantasy, Paranormal Romance
Edition: Kindle
Pages: 407 pages
Publisher: Self-published
Source: Author
Buy it here: Amazon

Blurb

Nicolas Deschanel was betrayed by the only two people who matter to him. Their disloyalty stung and an overwhelming sense of loss lingers. Nicolas has lived the high life professing to not have a care in the world, and now this illusion is calling his bluff.
Determined to take control of an existence now devoid of purpose, he sojourns to his family’s holiday home on the Gulf of Mexico. Resolved more than depressed, he plans to privately say goodbye to a world which no longer needs him. Of questionable fortune, he finds a woman, Mercy, sitting alone on the shore at eventide. Nicolas is conflicted between an obligation to help, and annoyance at her intrusion.
Mercy has many layers of secrets. Deepest of all, she cannot tell this Child of Man she is thousands of years old and very powerful. In her presence, Nicolas’ own dormant powers begin to surface, triggering a sequence of events that cause both of their lives to spiral further out of control. When old friends from both sides come to help, together they all learn a painful truth: new life can only begin once you’ve set free what means the most.

Rating

★★★★★

Review

Plot/Story: The book has a weird/awesome combination of Paranormal, Fantasy, and Romance. The evolving relationships made the book a great read and not just another Romance book, it had real emotions and dark problems combined.

Characters: Each character comes with lots of secrets that made the story even more compelling and fun to read.
I loved Nicolas Deschanel a lot and his attitude, he was the main reason I stuck with the story. Loved his humor and his dark view on things, Nic may seem like pretty boy type jerk, lol and he is but I just get him, lol 😉 He has changed much throughout the story, making him even more compelling.
It was a bit hard for me to connect with Mercy but as I read further I could really see who she really is. She is such a strong Empyrean and I really enjoyed knowing her better.
Finn, Oz, Ana, and Aidrik are such wonderful addition to the story.
All the characters are so fantastically created and I enjoyed the different POVs.
Romance/Kills: Sorry, must read the book. Even the smallest hint (and I have placed a few hints here and there) will tell a lot, must keep this spoiler free 😉

Writing: This is my first ever book of Sarah M. Cradit and I truly enjoyed her writing. Even though it’s hard for me to connect to Romance type of books, her writing made it much easier for me to do so 🙂
The author wrote so well that this book can be even a standalone if you want and her world building is amazing and flawless.

Beginning: The Deschanel family has mysterious abilities and the story start by explaining all this and why the main character Nicolas does not have any abilities, but things are not as they may seem.
I was completely glued to the book from the start. The author shows us the dark side of Nic and even though he is such a jerk, he still has such complex emotions and is willing to help Mercy even though he hates the idea of helping at all.

Ending: The book ends in a perfect moment. All my questions were answered, but still making me crave for more, perfect.

Cover Art: The cover is gorgeous, just look at it. I love the colors and the burning phoenix, amazing cover.

Blurb: The blurb set the mood nicely for the beginning of the story, but the story is even better written and more gripping than the blurb.

Other Stuff

Opening Line: “Living no longer interested me.”

Highlights: Everything, from the wonderful writing to the great characters and amazing plot.

Lowlights: None.

Final Thoughts: Amazing book and I enjoyed ever second reading this book, now I must go and read the rest of Sarah’s work.


You can also read this review at Goodreads and Amazon.