Book Review: Infernal Relations: A Quintessential English Comedy by P.S. Rover

14/05/202214/05/2022Comedy, Humor, Literary Fiction, P.S. RoverLeave a Comment

Book Details:

Author: P.S. Rover
Release Date: 4th April 2022
~~Series~~:
Genre: Literary Comedy, Humour
Format: E-book
Pages: 270 pages
Publisher: Forte Books
Blurb:
Eloping Has Never Been So Criminal
Another academic season is in the offing at Lockwood Institute, the eclectic finishing school for those who’ve been barred elsewhere. When Spencer and his interloping cousin, Monty, are summoned back for a special assignment they quickly find themselves in the thick of it with a trophy-hunting Brigadier on a quest to slay a mysterious beast, while his daughter, Natalia, proves a temptation too much for the fantastical Monty. This heady concoction provides the perfect ingredients to rock institute life to its foundations.

As one staggering revelation unfolds after another, does Spencer have the fortitude to cope? Monty couldn’t possibly have done what people think, could he? Is he culpable? Is he capable? As Spencer desperately tries to pull Monty’s chestnuts out of the fire, a head-spinning discovery awaits them. Skulduggery is afoot!

“It IS funny. Just what we all need”

Cassandra Clark (Acclaimed author of the Brother Chandler trilogy and more.)

“A great story.”
– LoveReading

“An intricate and well-written book. Filled with atmosphere … I enjoyed reading it and would recommend it to other literary fiction fans.”
– LoveReading

“The beauty of this book is in the writing. Rover has a wonderful way with words and I found myself laughing out loud at several lines where Spencer gave his unusual views on life around him. I thoroughly enjoyed Infernal Relations by P.S. Rover which I have awarded 4.5 stars.”
(Whispering Stories)

“Rover is excellent at crafting unique sentences … with a poetic touch… Readers will leave the book impressed by his ability to squeeze all the juice out of the English language.”
(Independent Book Review)

“A rollercoaster ride”
(Independent Book Review)

This book will especially delight fans of:
The Ransom of Red Chief (O’Henry), The Harpole Report (J.L. Carr), The Ascent of Rum Doodle (E.W. Bowman), Diary of a Nobody (Grossmith), Augustus Carp Esq., James Thurber, Mark Twain, Wodehouse.

Review

Infernal Relations by P.S. Rover is a brilliantly crafted booking roaring with intricately woven English humour.

I recently happened to re-read The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer for my book club’s genre challenge and reading this book right after that one was like stepping into a different version of the same book. I don’t mean that both the books are the same, but what I do mean is that the author of Infernal Relations heavily draws from the sense of nostalgia that is invoked while reading Mark Twain’s masterpiece. I might not have noticed it so acutely had I not just finished re-reading TDOTS right before picking up this one! But I am glad that happened because it made the reading experience of this book even more enriched. The differences in both the books were pretty evident and both the books are very different, yet they are very similar (again you’d notice it only if you’re very observant or, like me, had recently, read both the books so close to each other.)

Moving on from comparing the two books, I loved this book a lot. The writing was marvellous and I enjoyed the lyrical quality of the prose, which is so rare these days, to find in contemporary fiction. I liked how the author used his brilliant sense of humour and an acute sense of using phrases to his advantage to bring out the subtlety of satire in the best possible ways. I chucked more than I was expecting and giggled probably more than I should have. The story had a great flow and the pacing was really good and kept the flow very smooth. I enjoyed reading this book right from the beginning to the very end.

I am not a literary expert, although I am somewhat of a self-proclaimed book aficionado, and hence I’d like to say that, for me at least, the author’s style resembles a lot to that of the revered Mark Twain and therefore, I really really enjoyed his writing and in fact, I am looking forward to reading more of his works in the future (hopefully soon!)

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ARC Review: Pay Me To Do Nothing! How a Lazy, Broke and Tired Boy Found His Calling by Otto Bocktopus

05/04/202202/06/2022Comedy, Humor, Non-Fiction, Self-HelpLeave a Comment

Book Details:

Author: Otto Bocktopus
Release Date: 1st June 2022
~~Series~~:
Genre: Humor, Fictional Memoir, Corporate Comedy, Self-Help
Format: E-book
Pages: 142 pages
Publisher: Purple Piggybank Press
Blurb:
You probably never met anyone who thinks like Otto – laugh your way to a new life perspective!
People always told Otto that working hard would lead to being more successful and that being more successful would lead to being happy. But that wasn’t true.
Shake your head at his antics, giggle at his tales, and come away with a whole new perspective on companies and work and laziness and happiness.
At his first job, Otto Bocktopus busted ass and made $3.35/hour. Last year, like most years, he was paid about $700K and he did nothing. He does only what he wants, yet he is always getting paid. How did he get from there to here? And, can you?

If you believe that working hard will lead to being more successful and that being more successful will lead to being happy, and you find yourself planning to work hard your whole life until around the time your body starts to fail, then this book can teach you the fallacy of your thinking and help you find true happiness.
Told through the lens of his outrageous work experiences, Otto will make you laugh and make you think. You may shake your head at his antics but you will come away with a whole different way of thinking about companies and business leaders and work and laziness and happiness.
Don’t miss out on the hilarious online quizzes at the end of each chapter! Test your understanding of Otto’s perspective and laugh! Check out the quiz on Otto’s website.

Review

Pay Me To Do Nothing! How a Lazy, Broke and Tired Boy Found His Calling by Otto Bocktopus is a funny fictional corporate memoir that has tons of life lessons for its readers.

I loved reading this book, admittedly more than I had been expecting because it had so much to offer. First of all, I loved the way the story (the fictional memoir) was told through the POV of Otto, a character, almost everyone can relate to in some way or another. Secondly, the sheer value of the lessons covered in this book is simply outstanding. In spite of it being a corporate comedy, the lessons from this book can be applied to any area with a little tweaking. And lastly, I loved the humorous undercurrent that ran through the book. I appreciated the author’s clever and subtle sense of humour and it made reading this book feel like a very smooth ride.

I liked the writing style of the author. The characterisation was good and felt apt for the purpose this book was written. I loved the situations that were covered in this book and overall I think this book has a lot to offer to everyone. Therefore, I’d highly recommend it to all readers who’d like to read about a quirky character and learn tons of life lessons in doing so!

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Book Review: William Ottoway’s Utopia and other stories by Christopher Griffith

04/02/2021Christopher Griffith, Comedy, Fantasy, Historical, Short-Stories, Young AdultLeave a Comment

Author: Christopher Griffith
Release Date: 28th May 2019
Genre: Fantasy, Historical, Comedy, YA, Short Story collection
Series:
Format: E-book
Pages: 126 pages
Publisher:
Blurb:
William seeks contented ease, not tragic hardship; Rick loves simple melody, not its mysteriously melancholic effect upon him; Emily dreams of anything but having to work another day for darkly comic Carol; Saman is overcome by revenge fantasy, but the subject of his vengeance wants only reconciliation; and young Will Shakespeare’s dream is to act, not write though the latter as history tells comes eagerly calling for him instead. Each protagonist definitely planned something else when life, in form of these unfolding stories, haply intervened!

Review

William Ottoway’s Utopia by Christopher Griffith is a vibrant short story collection of diverse nature showcasing different varieties of narration.

This collection contains 5 tales and I liked reading all of them. I liked this book mostly because of the assorted nature of all the stories. They all had a very different setting, characterisation, narratives, and ever time periods and crossed different realms even. Each and every one of them was very different from each other but equally good and engaging. I liked the way characters were brought to life in a fitting way and the pacing that was set by the clever use of varied types of sentence structures.

I’d recommend this book to readers of all genre especially if they like reading experimental styles of narrative prose.

You can also read this review on Goodreads and Amazon.

Book Review: The Great American Jew Novel by Michael Kornbluth

10/10/202028/10/2020Comedy, Humor, Michael KornbluthLeave a Comment

Author: Michael Kornbluth
Release Date:
Genre: Family Life, Humour
~~Series~~:
Format: E-book
Pages: 110 pages
Publisher:
Blurb:

The Great American Jew Novel is a religious based, midlife crisis, reinvention tale, about a 9-year old daughter who becomes her Stay At Home Comedian Dad’s Talent Agent, to ensure he doesn’t give up on making money off his special brand of funny, in his pursuit to make his Do It All Dad Year come true. Along the way, Do it All Dad develops life altering friendships with female members of the Jewy Manhattan Book Club, a Jewish Super Angel, a new age Kosher butcher from Crown Heights and his younger plant based cheese wiz inventor brother, to form the Do It All Dad Hero Kosher Cheesesteak Food Truck, which proves Do It All Dad, isn’t the last self-loving Jewish New Yorker after all.

Book Review

The Great American Jew Novel by Michael Kornbluth is a heart-warming tale of exploring relationships of a father and daughter, who’s plight is also explored in trying to help her Daddy who is seemingly different from the rest and of friendships that get tested and of finding one’s self.

This is my second book by the author and I loved reading his familiar style of writing which has the quality of touching your heart without being too overdramatic and then smoothing out the potentially heavy emotions with undertones of quality humour. The characterisation was good and I loved reading about even the secondary characters. The overall concept was brilliant and enjoyed reading this book a lot.

Would definitely recommend it to everyone, no matter the genre preference. It is about relationships so I am sure most of the readers will be able to relate to this engaging book.

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Book Review: Controlling My Kids With Comedy, A Love Story by Michael Kornbluth

30/09/2020Comedy, Humor, Michael KornbluthLeave a Comment

Author: Michael Kornbluth
Release Date: 13th June 2019
Genre: Satire, Humour
~~Series~~:
Format: E-book
Pages: 137 pages
Publisher: Stand Up Staffer
Blurb:

Controlling My Kids With Comedy, A Love Story, is a collection of essays and poems about an unplanned father of three falling for fatherhood and working from home as host of the Do It All Dad Year Podcast to score laughs with his shadow banned jokes from Twitter. Teaching us how controlling our kids through comedy, can make our kids great again. His fuss free children are living proof of it.

Book Review

Controlling My Kids With Comedy, A Love Story by Michael Kornbluth is an endearing compilation of various forms of literature that were presented with an impressive sense of humour.

I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would and ended up totally loving every bit of it! It is a short book which proved to be a very smooth read with brilliant writing accented with terrific comedy and endearing characters. The story told in pieces was excellent and had a really good sense of pacing and comic timing. I am really looking forward to reading author Kornbluth’s next book (which is already resting on my Kindle.)

I would definitely recommend this book to everyone who likes to read quality humour.

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Book Review: Tales of Adventure With Nap Lapkin by Lance Manion

22/10/201925/10/2019Comedy, Cosy, Humor, Lance ManionLeave a Comment

Author: Lance Manion
Release Date: 17th September 2019
Genre: Cosy Mystery, Humour, Comedy, Short Story Collection
Series:
Edition: E-book
Pages: 156
Publisher:
Blurb:
Finally! All of the stories under one cover. Nap Lapkin, America’s top agent, respected and feared by every agency in Washington, is both a lover and fighter and so much more.
And less.
But mostly more.
There can be no argument that this is the funniest book ever written.
No argument whatsoever.

REVIEW

★★★★

Tales of Adventure With Nap Lapkin by Lance Manion is a hilarious new book with a charming lead, who happens to be an agent, you will fall in love with! I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book mostly because of the unique way it was written. The narration is in the second person and it completely blew my mind. The author’s sense of humour was out of the world and it made me chuckle more than a million times throughout this short and sweet book.

The lead character was very funny and I was able to form a connection with him right from the first story itself. I enjoyed all the story and surprisingly had no complaint from this book whatsoever. Again, the writing style is very unique and commendable and the author has done a brilliant job in keeping a tricky reader like me engaged throughout the book with the same level of interest I started reading this book. The stories were kind of cosies and I loved them all.

I’d highly recommend this book to all readers as you really can’t categorise such a good and read-worthy book.

You can also read this review on Goodreads and Amazon

Graphic Novel Review: Plagued: The Devil Did It by Shakil Somani

05/07/201907/07/2019Comedy, Fantasy, Graphic-Novel, Shakil SomaniLeave a Comment

Author: Shakil Somani
Illustrator: Mark Superales
Release Date: 4th June 2019
Genre: Fantasy, Comedy, Graphic Novel
~~Series:~~
Edition: PDF
Pages: 58
Publisher: –
Blurb:
Lukas “Kas” Green, a successful British filmmaker and billionaire living in Los Angeles, takes the wrong girl home one night – she turns out to literally be the daughter of the Devil.The Devil punishes Kas by overrunning his brain with the creativity his film career has been built upon.
Consequently, anytime Kas even thinks about sex, his mind is overcome with sketches and hallucinations.Kas attempts to cure himself of this plague of ideas and distractions, whilst balancing his movie-making career, the overpowering sketch-like stories in his mind and of course, trying to rejoin the population of Bonetown.

Review

★★★★

Plagued: The Devil Did It by Shakil Somani is a new fantasy comic book which is equal parts engaging and entertaining. The book was really engrossing and I enjoyed reading it a lot! The story was good with a nice and smooth flow, the concept was unique and interesting and the characterization was pretty good complimented well with well-written dialogues throughout the book.

The illustrations were very detailed and visually very appealing. They made the book extremely enjoyable. I’d recommend this book to all comic books and graphic novel readers and to anyone who is interested in exploring works from a new author.

You can also read this review on Goodreads and Amazon.

You can read this book for free here: WebToons
Please note that this link was provided by the author himself and is in no way an illegal or pirated source.

Book Review: Our Frail Disordered Lives by Mary M. Schmidt

26/08/2018Comedy, Cross-genre, Horror, Mary M. Schmidt, SupernaturalLeave a Comment

Author: Mary M. Schmidt
Release Date: 1st June 2018
Genre: Horror-Comedy, Supernatural
~~Series~~:
Edition: e-book
Pages: 188
Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
Blurb:
Larry Kavanaugh is an ordinary kind of guy. He’s got a nagging wife and two kids, both annoyingly gifted. No matter what he does, there is no end to what his family needs. What’s a regular, everyday guy to do? Well, he cuts a few corners, obviously—one very big corner in particular. He sells his soul to the Devil. Maybe it’s not the actual Devil, but Larry is ready to make a deal with one of the Devil’s minions. He meets some demon whose name he can’t remember. Funny, it was right on the tip of his tongue, a name of something you step on. Roach the Demon has sort of good intentions. He just wants a re-write of Dante’s Inferno with himself as the star. Roach goes after Larry as a rogue operation. He needs to make a point to his boss, Satan, so he uses the body of a human to follow Larry around and stir up trouble. He offers Larry an airtight guarantee that nothing could possibly go wrong. After all, Larry doesn’t feel like he has much to lose—or does he? Even Roach might be in over his head this time.

Review

★★★

Our Frail Disordered Lives by Mary M. Schmidt is a unique story about a guy who sells his soul to ~~the devil~~ a demon in order to make his life better and what follows is a litany of situations one could do better to stay away from.

A very unique story with lots of drama and twists and turns to keep the readers entertained throughout the book. Overall speaking, I liked the idea of the book, the main concept that is, but felt that it needed more polishing in terms of the execution of that concept. The writing was okay but the characterization, for this kind of story, felt weak, and that was my biggest issue. The pacing was good and the plot progression okay, but I really felt that if I would have been able to connect with the main character, Larry, a bit more then the story would have meant even more to me.

Still, it proved to be a pretty quick and easy read. So if you’re looking for a fresh quick read then this might be for you if you’re okay with reading stories with not very relatable characters and care about the story more than characterization.

this review is also posted on Goodreads and Amazon

Book Review: Caina by Joe Albanese

23/08/2018Comedy, crime, Joe AlbaneseLeave a Comment

Author: Joe Albanese
Release Date: 5th July 2018
Genre: Crime Comedy
~~Series~~:
Edition: e-book
Pages: 124
Publisher: Mockingbird Lane Press
Blurb:
Twins tend to be closer than typical siblings. They often share a bond that is oftentimes unexplainable.*
For some reason that bond didn’t apply to Grant and Lee Tolan. Grant was always the responsible one. Lee, on the other hand, was always in trouble and in jail, self-destructing to the point the twins hadn’t seen or spoken in years.
In trouble with the Irish mob who wanted him sleeping with the fishes, finding Grant dead of an apparent suicide, Lee did the only thing that made sense. He switched identities.
Instead of making life easier, Lee is plunged into a world the Irish and Italian crime families, the Mexican cartel and the DEA. Pitting one against the other, Lee enlists the help of friends to save his own life. He will need a miracle.
But Grant’s secret is the biggest shock of all for Lee and he must re-evaluate his entire life.

Review

★★★★

Caina by Jow Albanese is a very entertaining crime comedy about a guy who knows only one thing – how to get in trouble.

It was a very interesting read. The narration was good because more than a book it felt like a movie running in the head. The writing was solid, the characterization was decent and the plot was very exciting. The well-placed twists and turns kept the story engaging and the high action kept me entertained throughout the book.

The ending was really good and felt apt tot he entire plot build-up. The dialogues were good and made the book, again, feel like a film.

A very quick read in which the author’s sense of humour shone through quite well. Overall, this book is a complete action-comedy package and I’d recommend it to anyone looking for an entertaining quick read.

this review is also posted on Goodreads and Amazon

Book Review: Spencer’s Risk by Andy Greenhalgh

18/08/2018Andy Greenhalgh, Comedy, Contemporary Fiction, dark comedyLeave a Comment

Author: Andy Greenhalgh
Release Date: 17th April 2018
Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Dark Comedy
~~Series~~:
Edition: e-book
Pages: 185
Publisher: –
Blurb:
SPENCER’S RISK is a dark comic novel. Burnt out and broke, university Drama lecturer Spencer Leyton is a compulsive gambler, estranged from his wife and children and driving his career over a cliff. His some-time friend Justin invites him to a high-stakes poker game. (‘Justin could sell snow to the Eskimos – literally. For some months he had sold cocaine to the Inuit community in Copenhagen’.) The game ends with Spencer owing £10,000 to Paula Malone, the head of a criminal gang.
At work, Spencer is sexually obsessed with a wealthy and glamourous student called Eva. She commits plagiarism,
an offence usually punished by expulsion, but bribes him with £3000 to keep quiet about it. Spencer has inside information about a football game, so he bets the £3000 on it, and that is when things really start to go wrong…
Eva demands the leading role in the College Showcase Production, with disastrous results. (‘Eva was not wearing the costume she had worn in the Dress Rehearsal. Eva was wearing a sporran. And very little else’)
Paula’s deadline runs out. It looks like curtains for Spencer Leyton…

Review

★★★★

Spencer’s Risk by Andy Greenhalgh is a delightful and enjoyable new contemporary read with lots of dark humour highlighted by sarcastic undertones.

It was a very enjoyable book and I had a good time reading it. The characterization was good which was a big plus given the entire story heavily depended on the main protagonist, Spencer. He was very believable and pretty relatable. Even though he landed up in extreme situations, I was able to relate to his worries and dilemmas and hence, was able to connect to him easily.

The writing was clean and good and the author’s clever sense of humour shone through the entire book nicely. I’d recommend it to anyone looking for a light and refreshing contemporary book.