Book Nook Club: reviewed by beth

Showing posts with label reviewed by beth. Show all posts

February 11, 2012

Deadly Reflections by D. H. Sayer

by BethW

Deadly Reflections by D. H. Sayer is a horror book in the style of Dean Koontz or Stephen King. In other words, it's a great story.

Justin Wells in new to town and living in squalid conditions with his severly depressed father. As a result, he is self sufficient and has matured quickly. In school, he falls for Sarah Ellis who just broke up with her hockey jock boyfriend, Brandon Tate. This is the story of normalcy within the horror. Brandon is horribly jealous while Justin and Sarah slowly fall for each other.

While life continues for these high school students, a hobo is protecting a horrible secret. Once his secret gets out, people start to die. Justin and Sarah try to stay one step ahead of the horror while trying to get answers to stop it.

Sayer has done a great job intermingling a story of normalcy, teenage love, and horror. So many horror writers forget to include the personal stories of the characters invlolved while writing about whatever is menacing the same characters. Because of this, the reader gets attached to the characters, which make the loss and "horror" part of the story even better. Sayer has a great writing style that flows and captures the reader and keeps the reader hooked.

I really enjoyed this story. I would read it again and recommend it to not only my fellow horror readers but those who don't read this genre as well. He does such a great job of manifesting the scary bits without being vulgar or bloody, while being scary that anyone can read this.

I give this three stars out of five.

post signature

Widget by Css Reflex | TutZone

January 31, 2012

Pool of Souls by Cheryl Landmark

by BethW

Pool of Souls is a story of a fantasy world named Regalis where evil sorcerer, Queen Saranor is working her way across the land using magic, terror and brutality to gain control. Her erstwhile commander, General Viadon, had defected and is now battling against her to save the land.

Cazlina Narzin has left her sleepy village to chase after her brother, Gareth, who left to join General Viadon'c crusade against the queen. Along with Caz is her horse, Miris, with whom she can telepathically communicate.

During her travels, a horse thief attempts to steal Miris while Caz is sleeping. Caz chases him off but he has an annoying habit of showing up to rescue her from beasts and beastly men.

After Caz finds General Viadon and her brother, she is conscripted into the general's army to work by his side as a scout, using her telepathic abilities to help her. She encounters wonderous beasts, heroes, villans and finally the queen's army and pool of souls.

I enjoyed the book. One of the gratifying characteristic is Landmark's writing style. She has such a good command of the English language and it was a pleasure to read a book that flowed well and was eloquent. I also enjoyed the story. It is always nice to see a heroine instead of a hero.

I do wish more information was provided on the horse thief, Jorin since he plays a substantial role in the story. I also had a hard time believing a general of such a huge army would take Caz under his wing and make her part of his inner circle. Granted, much of it was due to her gift of aminal communication, but she used it sparingly and didn't use it at times it would have provided useful. The ending was a bit too nice for my tastes. I don't want to spoil it, so I won't go further, but I do wish it were a bit grittier.

The ending seemed to hint at a sequal. I would love to read it and, hopefully, learn more about Caz's gift and Jorin's past.

I give this 3 stars out of 5.

post signature

Widget by Css Reflex | TutZone

January 11, 2012

Grace by Susan Bennett

by Beth W

Grace by Susan Bennett was a fun read. The story starts off with mob wives Teresa and Isabella's misfortune at being thrown into jail for a crime they did not commit. Isabella starts off defining herself by her status as a mob wife then is thrown into turmoil in jail as she starts to discover her own identity.

Along the way, Isabella and Teresa make a couple friends in jail and learn that their lives are intertwined with some of them. Upon release, they are lost, and shadows of the women they used to be.

By pure chance, they run into Irish, an author living in New Jersey. She takes them in, cooks with them, teaches them to be strong women again while teaching them to take care of themselves. Along the way, they devise a plan to kill their husbands. This is where the training, planing and heart wrenching circumstances come in.

I enjoyed this book immensely. I found myself smiling to myself several times at the silly things the quartet of friends do. I also liked this book of friendship, mothering and companionship. I liked how just about anything could be solved by cooking a good meal and sharing it with someone you love. I do, however, wish the author had gone into a bit more detail about Irish's odd behavior. Her massive gun collection, tendency to keep to herself and addiction to keeping fit hint at a bigger story. At first blush, I thought she may be a spy, in the witness protection program or something equally exciting. The actual answer was a bit dissapointing and didn't ring true to the build up of her background story.

I give this 3 out of 5 stars.

post signature

Widget by Css Reflex | TutZone

February 11, 2012

Deadly Reflections by D. H. Sayer

January 31, 2012

Pool of Souls by Cheryl Landmark

January 11, 2012

Grace by Susan Bennett

Book Reviews

Find a Book Review

Followers

Categories

Grab our Button!