Sawbones by Melissa Lenhardt

Outlander meets post-Civil War unrest in this fast-paced historical debut.
When Dr. Catherine Bennett is wrongfully accused of murder, she knows her fate likely lies with a noose unless she can disappear. Fleeing with a bounty on her head, she escapes with her maid to the uncharted territories of Colorado to build a new life with a new name. Although the story of the murderess in New York is common gossip, Catherine's false identity serves her well as she fills in as a temporary army doctor. But in a land unknown, so large and yet so small, a female doctor can only hide for so long. @goodreads

MY REVIEW:

 

4 STARS 

I fell in love with Catherine Bennett's character! She is such a strong woman and does all she can to be a good doctor. She worked with her father in the War dressed as a man so she could help with the medical stuff, she trained with her uncle, or she calls him uncle at any rate, and they started doing the sanitizing of instruments and wounds, etc. She cares deeply for her patients.

BUT.....

She gets accused of murdering a prominent citizen and gets called all kinds of names and a bounty put on her head! I mean really? These people are jerks and you know some jerk just set her up. Soooooo, she has to run for her life. She gets the help of her friend Camille to go to Colorado and her traveling companion is Maureen who raised her and helped her dad when her mother died. She is a sweet woman. But, when they get there, the person Camille had set them up with was not available for certain reasons so they joined a wagon train heading out to Texas to some settlement. She thought maybe she could be the first doctor there. All she wants to do is be a doctor people.



On their away, they all get attacked and she is left alone in the world. She is saved by Captain William Kindle and it turns out she saves him by doing surgery on his arm and leg. They are taken back to Fort Richardson and she is promptly set up as the temporary doctor until the new one arrives with supplies, whenever that may be. Yay! She's so happy.



Oh and she changes her name to Dr. Laura Elliston. I just love her spunk and snark and the way she treats everyone as equals. She does butt heads with some men in the fort but we know that's bound to happen. And one of the women, Harriet, who seems like a jerk in the beginning, turns out to be a great friend.

I love the relationship that slowly grows between Captain Kindle and Laura. It's so sweet and funny and I loved reading about it. But they have a lot of trials to go through. There is someone after Laura, she thinks a bounty hunter has found here when she starts getting secret envelopes with her picture and reward on it. This has her pretty freaked out, as it would anyone.

I don't want to give out any major spoilers but I loved the ending. It does get rough for a bit, actually a lot of parts of the book are gruesome. It does all seem like it's going to work out in the end and that's all that matters.

I leave you with an EXCERPT:

"Furthermore, if I wanted to attach a man, which I decidedly do not, I would not need the aid of the heightened emotions of a sickbed. I am a doctor and Captain Kindle's health is what I am interested in ministering to. My second objective is perform the duties set upon me by General Sherman, then leave this country, which--the beautiful sunset notwithstanding--resembles nothing more than the seventh circle of hell to me."
"Dr. Elliston, your language is hardly appropriate."
"There is that word again! Oh, how I have always loathed the word appropriate! It is a word used most often by women without the courage or imagination to think and do for themselves and by men who routinely engage in inappropriate behavior behind closed doors."

*I would like to thank Netgalley and Redhook Books for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.*

GOODREADS REVIEW:

 https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1563880781

AMAZON LINK TO THE BOOK:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0124TQ3Z0?keywords=sawbones&qid=1456786453&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

The Library At Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

A missing God.
A library with the secrets to the universe.
A woman too busy to notice her heart slipping away.
 
Carolyn's not so different from the other people around her. She likes guacamole and cigarettes and steak. She knows how to use a phone. Clothes are a bit tricky, but everyone says nice things about her outfit with the Christmas sweater over the gold bicycle shorts. 

After all, she was a normal American herself once.  

That was a long time ago, of course. Before her parents died. Before she and the others were taken in by the man they called Father.

In the years since then, Carolyn hasn't had a chance to get out much. Instead, she and her adopted siblings have been raised according to Father's ancient customs. They've studied the books in his Library and learned some of the secrets of his power. And sometimes, they've wondered if their cruel tutor might secretly be God. 

Now, Father is missing—perhaps even dead—and the Library that holds his secrets stands unguarded. And with it, control over all of creation.

As Carolyn gathers the tools she needs for the battle to come, fierce competitors for this prize align against her, all of them with powers that far exceed her own.

But Carolyn has accounted for this.

And Carolyn has a plan.

The only trouble is that in the war to make a new God, she's forgotten to protect the things that make her human.

Populated by an unforgettable cast of characters and propelled by a plot that will shock you again and again, The Library at Mount Char is at once horrifying and hilarious, mind-blowingly alien and heartbreakingly human, sweepingly visionary and nail-bitingly thrilling—and signals the arrival of a major new voice in fantasy.

MY REVIEW:

 4 STARS

Okay, I have to admit, in the beginning of the book to almost half way I wanted to stop reading and run away. I didn't like it or know what was going on half the time!



My brain is not qualified for this book!



Then I started to really like it when the kids were in Mrs. McGillicutty's house with Steve, it got comical and I started understanding an eenie meenie bit more! :-)

I loved Steve's character. I thought he was a pretty good ole dude. I kinda like Carolyn and I loved Michael and a few others. I couldn't stand David. Either way, this book is so bizarre and it goes back and forth from one thing to another just enough to almost collapse my brain!

Anyone can read from the blurb that these kids were adopted when their parents were killed by some bomb. They were adopted by the FATHER, he is a god, or God or something. He brought the kids to live in the library and they all had sections they were assigned to and they had to learn that all the time. Then FATHER goes missing, or is he missing? I can't even give a review it's so strange to try to do without some major spoilers.

These kids are very strange and they seem to die and come back to life a lot. The only part with David in it that I did like was when he did something to the President. Teehee, but I digress....

I loved the lions in the book as well. They were cool!



All I can truly say is if your not liking the book at first give it a bit and then see. The whole half end of the book was awesome, the beginning for me, not so much.

I'm going to leave it with some of the funny EXCERPTS from the book:



"Hello Steve," Carolyn said, her voice not quite a whisper.
"Hi!" he said, a little too brightly
"That's Mrs. McGillicutty. She speaks English."
"Yes. Yes, she certainly does."
Carolyn jerked her thumb at the couple behind her. "These are Peter and Alicia. They don't speak English. Not much anyway."
"What about the big guy out in the living room?"
"That's David. His English is pretty bad as well."
"And the other one? The one who keeps playing with the lighter?"
"That's Margaret."
"No English?"
"Hardly anything. She almost never talks."
"Can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"Can you think of any reason I shouldn't grab one of those kitchen knives and stab you in the fucking neck?"
Carolyn pursed her lips, considering. "You might get blood on the cinnamon rolls."

••••••••••••

Steve wanted to focus on the press conference, but he was having trouble. The big guy and the smelly woman were having some truly epic sex back there. It started with squeaking bedsprings, but those were eventually drowned out by bear noises and something not unlike yodeling. The smell of sex and rotting meat wafted throughout the house. Mrs. McGillicutty's bed evidently wasn't rated for stunt fucking, though. Right before the big finish it collapsed with a splintery, wrenching sound. Steve, not unimpressed, noted that the happy couple didn't so much as skip a beat.

**I would like to thank Blogging for Books for a print copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.** 

GOODREADS REVIEW:

 https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1227059976

AMAZON LINK TO THE BOOK:

http://www.amazon.com/Library-at-Mount-Char/dp/0553418629/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1456683943&sr=8-1

Saga: Volume Two ~ Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples

From award-winning writer BRIAN K. VAUGHAN (Pride of Baghdad, Ex Machina) and critically acclaimed artist FIONA STAPLES (Mystery Society, Done to Death), SAGA is sweeping tale of one young family fighting to find their place in the universe. Thanks to her star-crossed parents Marko and Alana, newborn baby Hazel has already survived lethal assassins, rampaging armies, and horrific monsters, but in the cold vastness of outer space, the little girl encounters her strangest adventure yet... grandparents.

Collects Saga issues #7-12 @goodreads

MY REVIEW:

5 STARS 

OMG! I loved this one even better than the first, although, there is one monster that will give nightmares for some time. You will see :-D

So Marko's parents get beamed on board and they are not happy to see that he married Alana who is supposed to be an enemy of their race.



And, when they get there, Marko's mom banishes our wonderful ghost friend Izabel. Soooooo.... Marko goes off through the portal to find her and his mom follows him. This leaves Alana, Marko's dad Barr and little baby Hazel. They don't hit it off at first, well Alana is being a her normal self, but then they finally bond and she finds out a secret Barr has been keeping from his family. It's sad.



Meanwhile..... Marko and mummy are dealing with this....



Meet balls.. er.. I mean Fard. Lol, yeah I thought it said fart when I first read it and dear Lord. I have no words..

Anyhoo..

We get to meet Gwendolyn in this book. She's the one that Marko jilted, he was engaged to her. She's not happy so she gets with the bounty hunter and his cat to go looking for him after they save the little girl. You have to read the first book to know what I'm talking about.



That Robot, I call TV HEAD is still looking for Alana, Marko and the baby too! All of these people want them!

I like that the book goes back and tells some back stories of how Alana and Marko met. They also show some backstory of Marko as a child.

The graphics are awesome once again, the story line is awesome, there is plenty of snark and crap being blown up, stabbed, gassed, shot and what not. I love these novels so far and look forward to the rest.

GOODREADS REVIEW:

 https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1524580495

AMAZON LINK TO THE BOOK:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1607066920?keywords=saga%20volume%202&qid=1456624370&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

Try Not To Breathe by Holly Seddon

For fans of Lianne Moriarty, Paula Hawkins, and Tana French, an arresting debut novel of psychological suspense: a young journalist struggles to keep the demons of her alcoholism at bay as she finds her purpose again in tackling the mystery of a shocking headline-making crime, still unsolved after fifteen years.

Amy Stevenson was the biggest news story of 1995. Only fifteen years old, Amy disappeared walking home from school one day and was found in a coma three days later. Her attacker was never identified and her angelic face was plastered across every paper and nightly news segment.

Fifteen years later, Amy lies in the hospital, surrounded by 90’s Britpop posters, forgotten by the world until reporter Alex Dale stumbles across her while researching a routine story on vegetative patients.

Remembering Amy’s story like it was yesterday, she feels compelled to solve the long-cold case.

The only problem is, Alex is just as lost as Amy—her alcoholism has cost her everything including her marriage and her professional reputation.

In the hopes that finding Amy’s attacker will be her own salvation as well, Alex embarks on a dangerous investigation, suspecting someone close to Amy.

Told in the present by an increasingly fragile Alex and in dream-like flashbacks by Amy as she floats in a fog of memories, dreams, and music from 1995, Try Not to Breathe unfolds layer by layer to a breathtaking conclusion. @goodreads

MY REVIEW:

5 STARS 

I cried at the end of this book, but it was a good cry. It was a somewhat happy ending....



I can't believe this is the author's debut novel. I loved it so much and it really touched me. Sometimes (or a lot of times) when we are young, we do some really stupid things. Amy did a stupid thing, but she didn't deserve what happened to her.

This book tells different points of view. You have Alex, Jacob, Amy, and a little bit from Sue.

Alex is was a journalist with a happy marriage to Matt, but she drank everything away. Now she is working on her drinking (somewhat) and working on something with patient's in coma's.

--->EXCERPT<---

"How terrible to have no voice," said Alex, as she took scribbled notes and swayed, nauseated, amongst the electric hum of the hospital ward.
Alex was writing a profile piece for a weekend supplement on the work of Dr. Haynes, the elusive scientist researching brain scans that picked up signs of communication in patients like these. She hadn't met the doctor yet and was skidding toward her deadline. A far cry from her best work.

This is where she finds Amy Stevenson who has been in a coma for 15 years! Amy can breathe on her own and can do some little tests the doctor has worked on with the patients showing they can communicate. It's very sad. We get to read about Amy's story and then at some point Amy takes over and starts talking in her mind. It's really brilliant.

Alex gets obsessed with trying to find out what happened to Amy all of those years ago. Her ex-husband Matt helps her a little bit. She tracks down some people from Amy's childhood and even talks to Amy's stepdad and biological father. She also teams up with Jacob. They had a rocky start at first but then Alex explained everything she was trying to do and Jacob wanted to help. You see.. Jacob, was Amy's boyfriend at the time she was attacked and left for dead all of those years ago. He now has a wife Fiona (can't stand her) and a baby about to pop out.

I love all of the ins and outs of this book. I loved going on the hunt with Alex and I'm very proud of her for battling her demons and tracking down a killer/rapist. I love that she kept going to see Amy after it was all said and done, she would talk with Amy, listen to music with her and treat her like she could really hear her, which she could!

Oh Amy, baby girl, please come back to the real world. Stuck in a fifteen-year-old brain and a thirty-year-old body. I just love her.



I thought this book sounded good when I read the blurb, but I had no idea I would fall in love with it. This will be one I re-read many times.
**I would like to thank Random House Publishing for a print copy of this wonderful book in exchange for my honest review.**

 

GOODREADS REVIEW:

 

 https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1494588445

 

AMAZON LINK TO THE BOOK:

 

 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1101885866?keywords=try%20not%20to%20breathe&qid=1456612329&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

Clean Sweep by Ilona Andrews

On the outside, Dina Demille is the epitome of normal. She runs a quaint Victorian Bed and Breakfast in a small Texas town, owns a Shih Tzu named Beast, and is a perfect neighbor, whose biggest problem should be what to serve her guests for breakfast. But Dina is...different: Her broom is a deadly weapon; her Inn is magic and thinks for itself. Meant to be a lodging for otherworldly visitors, the only permanent guest is a retired Galactic aristocrat who can’t leave the grounds because she’s responsible for the deaths of millions and someone might shoot her on sight. Under the circumstances, "normal" is a bit of a stretch for Dina.

And now, something with wicked claws and deepwater teeth has begun to hunt at night....Feeling responsible for her neighbors, Dina decides to get involved. Before long, she has to juggle dealing with the annoyingly attractive, ex-military, new neighbor, Sean Evans—an alpha-strain werewolf—and the equally arresting cosmic vampire soldier, Arland, while trying to keep her inn and its guests safe. But the enemy she’s facing is unlike anything she’s ever encountered before. It’s smart, vicious, and lethal, and putting herself between this creature and her neighbors might just cost her everything.

***Notice: This is a special Collectors Edition, trade-paperback volume, which includes Black and White original illustrations. It is a short novel, of approximately 60,000 words in length/227 pages*** @goodreads

MY REVIEW:

5 STARS 

I fell right in love with this book! This is also my first Ilona Andrews book, but it won't be my last! I love them!

Dina Demille runs an Inn called Gertrude Hunt. She has a little Shih Tzu named Beast. There is a permanent guest living with Dina as well, her name is Caldenia and she cracks me up talking about eating people from time to time. :-)



There is something killing the dogs in the neighborhood, which ticks me off to no end. Dina asks her new neighbor, Sean, the werewolf to take care of it. Dina ends up taking care of the FIRST one herself. There seems to be a pack of these stalkers and they have someone ruling over them to reek havoc. At some point some vampires show up and some stuff goes down and they end up with one in the Inn trying to heal from a stalker attack, one of the family memebers, Arland shows up to help him heal.

There are some beautiful black and white pictures in the book done by Doris Mantair. Here are some below in color of Dina, Beast, Sean and Arland.



I love the Inn! It's magical and Dina is only strong with magic when she is near the Inn or inside of course. It does so many wonderful things for Dina, I want one! It's a beautiful looking home too. The Inn is also a neutral place for different paranormal beings (guests) to seek refuge. Dina is the Innkeeper and she can take you right out of the Inn if your being a jerk.

Anyhoo, they all find out what is going on and Dina, Sean, Arland and the house work together to defeat the monstrosity. There are some other things involved but you have to read the book :-)

I am so thrilled with this book, I love stuff like this and I look forward to getting the next one!

I leave you with --->EXCERPTS<---

"Dina!"
Ha! He remembered my name. I waved my fingers in the direction of the door. "Shoo. Leave, and don't slam the door on your way out."
He planted himself, arms crossed, muscles bulging.
"Make me."
He didn't deserve a warning, but I gave him one anyway.
"I've had about enough. I'm serious, Sean. Leave or there will be consequences."
"Give it your best shot."
Fine. "Your welcome is withdrawn."
Magic smashed into Sean. He went airborne. The side door swung open just in time and he flew through it and into the orchard. The orchard was a safer bet. The bulk of the house shielded it from the passersby and traffic, which would hopefully let us avoid pain-in-the-butt questions.
I heard a solid thud, then got up, and looked out through the open door. Beast joined me.
Sean lay unmoving on the grass. Ouches.
I glanced at Beast. "I did warn him."

••••••••••



Beast barked again.
"Yeah, whatever." Sean took a step toward the house.
Beast growled. The undertone of her growl changed, gaining a vicious edge. Sean squinted at her.
Beast's long fur stood up like hackles on a cat. Claws slid from her feet. Her mouth gaped, wider and wider, as if her entire head had split in half. Four rows of fangs gleamed inside.
"What the hell...?" Sean backed away.
Beast jumped, covering ten feet in a single leap.
Sean grabbed a young oak branch and jerked it off the tree. Beast launched herself and he swung the branch like a bat, trying to knock her aside. With a sound somewhere between an upset wolverine and a pissed-off bobcat, Beast clamped down on the branch. Sean jerked it back and forth, trying to get her loose. Beast hung on and went airborne. Four rows of teeth crushed the wood -chomp-chomp-chomp -and Sean stumbled back, a stump of a branch in his hand.

Needless to say, little Beast ran him up a tree after that. :-)

Once again, I loved this book and I'm so glad I took the time to buy it and read it!!! 

GOODREADS REVIEW:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1561577600

AMAZON LINK TO THE BOOK:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00H2R11PM?keywords=clean%20sweep%20in%20books&qid=1456520941&ref_=sr_1_1&s=books&sr=1-1

Hidden Bodies by Caroline Kepnes

In the compulsively readable follow-up to her widely acclaimed debut novel, You, Caroline Kepnes weaves a tale that Booklist calls “the love child of Holden Caulfield and Patrick Bateman.”

Hidden Bodies marks the return of a voice that Stephen King described as original and hypnotic, and through the divisive and charmingly sociopathic character of Joe Goldberg, Kepnes satirizes and dissects our culture, blending suspense with scathing wit.

Joe Goldberg is no stranger to hiding bodies. In the past ten years, this thirty-something has buried four of them, collateral damage in his quest for love. Now he’s heading west to Los Angeles, the city of second chances, determined to put his past behind him.

In Hollywood, Joe blends in effortlessly with the other young upstarts. He eats guac, works in a bookstore, and flirts with a journalist neighbor. But while others seem fixated on their own reflections, Joe can’t stop looking over his shoulder. The problem with hidden bodies is that they don’t always stay that way. They re-emerge, like dark thoughts, multiplying and threatening to destroy what Joe wants most: truelove. And when he finds it in a darkened room in Soho House, he’s more desperate than ever to keep his secrets buried. He doesn’t want to hurt his new girlfriend—he wants to be with her forever. But if she ever finds out what he’s done, he may not have a choice... @goodreads

MY REVIEW:

3 STARS 

I hate to say I didn't love this one like I did the first book. The first book blew me away. But, I still love Joe <---Yes, I know your not supposed to love killers but he was just so good at in the first book. He's not so bad at it in this book either, but everyone messes up right?

We are introduced to a whole new set of characters when Joe follows Amy to LA, he doesn't want to go there, but you know Joe. He has a few trysts in LA and one serious relationship. It's kind of weird because Joe starts to want to write screenplays and stuff, I won't go into all of that, you can read it yourself.

Joe does keep stressing over the cup of urine he left in that closet. If you read the first book you will know what I mean. Lol. It's one of those moments where you don't mess up and leave said urnine behind and it's all you think about, besides the next person that is a butt crack that you want to kill!



Even though I so wanted to read more about Joe and his craziness, I wish it would have stopped at the first book. I would have liked to have read about a new nutter in a different book and left Joe safe and..sound..er.. crazy in New York :-)

I saw that ending coming, most of it and I didn't like it one bit. Even though Joe is a killer perv, I wanted to see him keep going on in his weird way and maybe fix himself up. Well, he did sort of turn himself around when he had a um.. reason.. yeah a reason, can't give out that spoiler!



I'm going to leave it with a couple of excerpts.



"JoeBro, don't take this the wrong way, but you need to chill. Have you ever done a juice fast?" He hits a pack of American Spirits against the desk. "You get so intense. That gets your cortisol going. Cortisol is not cool."
This is like getting pulled over for not using your blinker and I could kill Calvin. I could kill Amy. I could kill everyone and put them in a blender and make them into a smoothie.

•••••••••

YOU don't go to a party empty-handed and my reusable Pantry bag is stuffed with rope, my Rachel Ray knife, rubber gloves, plastic bags, duct tape, and Percocets from Dez.

••••••••••

Fin

GOODREADS REVIEW:

 https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1308890540

AMAZON LINK TO THE BOOK:

http://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Bodies-Novel-Caroline-Kepnes/dp/1476785627/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1456502559&sr=1-1

Just Some More Books To Read!

 

I thought I would do another picture post of some of the upcoming books me and my buddies hope to read! I think it would be nice if they read them to me. 

Let me know if anyone has read any of these yet and what you think of them. Thanks ♥

Half Bad by Sally Green ~ ALSO A GIVEAWAY FOR ALL THREE BOOKS!

Wanted by no one.
Hunted by everyone.

Sixteen-year-old Nathan lives in a cage: beaten, shackled, trained to kill. In a modern-day England where two warring factions of witches live amongst humans, Nathan is an abomination, the illegitimate son of the world's most terrifying and violent witch, Marcus. Nathan's only hope for survival is to escape his captors, track down Marcus, and receive the three gifts that will bring him into his own magical powers—before it's too late. But how can Nathan find his father when there is no one safe to trust, not even family, not even the girl he loves?

Half Bad is an international sensation and the start of a brilliant trilogy: a gripping tale of alienation and the indomitable will to survive.@goodreads

MY REVIEW:

 3 STARS 

Nathan, poor Nathan. He had it bad from the start. He is born to a mother that was a white witch and a father that was a black witch. A lot of his family hated him from birth and wanted him dead. I mean to look at a little baby and want it dead. I'm not saying his mother did, there are things about her you have to find out by reading the book.

Nathan had one sister that hated him, but he had a great relationship with his other sister and his brother. They loved him for him and not for his half blood. His sweet grandmother loved him too.

The counsel were always having Nathan come in to be assessed to see if he had more of the white gene or the black gene but they never could determine it. I'm telling you though, a lot of the white witches in this book are some evil people. I don't know where they get off calling the black witches evil when they torture the black witches for a good while before they kill them. I mean yeah, you want to do away with anything that is evil but them torturing people if they even have black witch blood is a little much. Hypocrites!

I mean me personally would only see fit to torture people that are involved in animal cruelty, pedophiles, elderly abusers, you get my drift. But someone just walking down the lane and you see they are a black witch and your ready to burn them at the stake... um.. no. The freaking white witch bullies should have been tortured. They did evil things to Nathan because Nathan and their sister Annalise were sweet on each other and God forbid two mix witches get together!

Nathan ends up with a woman the counsel set him up with when things didn't work out at his home and she puts him in a cage and makes him workout all of the time and work around the place. She does some beatings here and there, but I felt like she didn't hate him as much as she let on. She taught him self defense, martial arts and did some schooling with him. Then the jerks decide to come and take him away again and do some more beatings and mark him as a half blood.

One of Nathan's family member dies and he wasn't even told until a month later, he wasn't allowed to see his family again. I really felt sorry for him.

There are a few different characters in the book that I liked. I didn't love or hate this book and I am interested in seeing where the rest of the trilogy goes and hopefully things will..um.. look up for Nathan. I mean really, this kid needs a break, there is only so much you can do to a kid before you MAKE them bad!!!

*I would like to thank Penguin Random House Books for a print copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.*

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Strings by David Estes

Sometimes the strings that tie us down are the same strings that set us free.

Sixteen-year-old Pia has always lived in a mysterious facility where mechanical strings control her existence. She plays apprentice to her father, Gio, in performing nanotech designs for the Company, and she soon suspects there are diabolical human forces behind the manufactured reality of her world.

Though her childhood memories and the origins of the strings remain strangely elusive, she begins to find solace with the introduction of two unlikely friends: daring, irrational Sofia, and calm, tender Marco.

As the truths of the past and present unravel together, Pia must find a way to free herself from her strings and escape the facility before facing the wrath of the unstable head of security, Mr. Davis. But to gain her freedom, she must navigate the dangers posed by Davis and by her suspicious new friends to find the real identity of the puppeteer.

If Pia can succeed in revealing the secrets of the Company, she may very well find the independence she so desperately seeks. But in her controlled world nothing is as it seems, and the closer she gets to the truth, the graver the consequences. @goodreads

MY REVIEW:

4 STARS 

This was me until I got to the end game! I had to know!


***MILD SPOILERS***

Pia and her father Gio are inside of a compound, prisoners, on strings and they have to work in the workshop all of the time.

No one will tell Pia what is going on and she can't do anything she wants or her strings will attack her! Who is pulling those strings!!!



She has a little Robot friend that I just loved. Pia calls him Fig because he's really tiny and he flies around, her father put a secret mechanism in where they can hear and talk to each other without anyone else knowing. ↓ Okay, he's supposed to be tiny, but still



One day out of the blue, Pia gets to go to a garden room with a girl named Sofia and they become friends. It's really nice in the garden room, the flowers and birds, ducks. But why is Pia all of the sudden able to have a friend.

Before that she becomes a friend with a boy named Marco. He seems to be some kind of person in charge, but not everything is as it seems!

They have guards that keep things under control, not that they need them with the strings, but still. There is a real evil one named Mr. Davies. He hates Pia and her father, but why, what did they do to him?

Through out the book, Pia is slowly remembering things from her past until finally we get to the end game. We find out what is really going on, what really happened and let me tell you, it's a mind blowing moment! I was thinking there are some real freaks up in this place and you will too if you read the book! It's sad in a way though when you find out some of the reasons.

I liked going into this world of a Pinocchio retelling! It was bizarre and I like bizarre :-)

GOODREADS REVIEW:

 https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1556353299

AMAZON LINK TO THE BOOK:

http://www.amazon.com/Strings-David-Estes/dp/1523246006/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1456278503&sr=8-1

Written in Red by Anne Bishop

Enter a world inhabited by the Others, unearthly entities - vampires and shape-shifters among them - who rule the earth and whose prey are humans.

As a cassandra sangue, or blood prophet, Meg Corbyn can see the future when her skin is cut - a gift that feels more like a curse. Meg's Controller keeps her enslaved so he can have full access to her visions. But when she escapes, the only safe place Meg can hide is at the Lakeside Courtyard - a business district operated by the Others.

Shape-shifter SImon Wolfgard is reluctant to hire the stranger who inquires about the Human Liaison job. First, he senses she's keeping a secret, and second, she doesn't smell like human prey. Yet a stronger instinct propels him to give Meg a job. And when he learns the truth about Meg and that she's wanted by the government, he'll have to decide whether she's worth the fight between humans and the Others that will surely follow.@goodreads

MY REVIEW:

 5 STARS 

I just found another favorite series! Happy Dance!



There will be spoilers! I must talk! :-)



Meg has escaped from her controller. She is a cassandra sangue which is a Blood Prophet. They cut themselves and can tell prophecies by doing this so of course evil people want to keep them in a prison.


Meg finds sanctuary with The Others at the Lakeside Courtyard, this is where the Others live and run businesses. They had a help wanted sign for a Human Liasion job. This would involve accepting mail deliveries from humans and sorting the mail like any postal person but putting them in the proper pony sleigh that would come to get the mail. She would also make deliveries to some of the places that other humans didn't go and/or messed up and were eaten. Yeah, in this job if you mess up you can be eaten.

Simon Wolfgard is the leader of the community and he is a werewolf. But there are so many creatures living there that I love and am so excited to have read about. They are all referred to as terra indigene. There are vampires, elementals, owls, hawks, crows, ponies, and the list goes on.

Meg quickly befriends a lot of the terra indigene. Some it takes a bit, but most take to her quite well. Simon, Henry and Vlad are stunned that she made friends with Grandfather Erebus and Winter, the elemental.

Meg makes friends with the ponies that come around to pick up the mail by giving them treats. These ponies are also awesome when they are in their real form as magnificent ponies of different weather elements like Thunder, Lightening, Hurricane, along those lines, no those are really their names and they can bring those things down on you. The Elementals actually ride them as well since they are so connected.



I fell in love with so many of the Others, like I said before. I love Simon even though he is cranky a lot of the time :-) Then there is Henry who is a spirit guide and also a grizzly when the time fits! Henry is so sweet, well unless he is needed in taking something out!



Vlad is another important Other that helps run some of the businesses. He's a vampire and he's very nice. They have all of these shops and of course my favorite is the bookstore that the wolves run :-)

There are a few other humans besides Meg that work with the Others in the shops that I like a lot too. And then we have Nyx, another vampire and Tess, she is someone you don't want to mess with, even all of the Others are afraid of her and the elementals. Henry does find out at the end what Tess is and so do I but I'm not telling you, but she is to be the most feared is all I can say! The crows are hilarious always talking about shiny things and coming over to aggravate Meg buy messing with her office supplies. :-) The Crows, hawks and owls are always on guard around the complex.

Oh yeah and this new policeman comes around saying he will help them in any way he can, his name is Monty and he is good people. Since he's good people they didn't ever eat him :-) although Vlad had a little taste, I guess just to scare more of the crap out of him. He only had to shake his hand to get the blood, so simple these vamps are!

Anyway, one day in the beginning when Meg is starting out in the job, I mentioned that she delivers some mail. She decided she would go on over to the vamps place because they had a ton of mail that no one would ever deliver to them. Meg was a little freaked out because they were all crowded around the fence as smoke, watching her. Then... grandfather Erebus invites her in the gate to deliver his movies and makes sure they all know to never hurt Meg. It was so sweet :-) So no matter what, Meg has the vamps on her side and they will fight anyone to the death for her.



Then as she's coming back around she sees a girl skating on the pond and stops to talk to her. They talk about library books and Meg says she will bring some to her. It was a nice little chat and then Meg was on her way. Meg had no idea she had met Winter the elemental that people just don't talk to like that.



When Simon and the crew find out like I said earlier, they are like.. you know.. the crickets thing. Lol

Suddenly Simon has to go away because there is some trouble happening somewhere else and he needs to try to help figure out what is going on. He tells Meg she is going to have to watch out for Sam. Sweet little Sam, his mom was killed by humans when they were out of the compound one night and he saw it. Sam has been scarred and won't change back into human form and will only stay in a cage and out to use the bathroom when he is dragged by Simon. But.... our dear Meg gets Sam to come out by putting a buddy harness on him and connecting it to her. He seems to like this and goes outside and has fun. The wolves do not like this because they see it as being a prisoner, but Vlad and Henry watch over them and Sam even starts going to work with Meg.



Now there is this b*tch that keeps coming around and her name is Asia, she tried to get the job Meg has and Simon told her no and so she tries to be friends with Meg. She is evil and up to no good and I'm telling you now that I'm glad at the end when this little war goes down that Asia was taken care of by Tess. Oh the glory!!!!!


You DO NOT mess with Tess, she gets angry and wants you dead, you are dead. PERIOD! She is friends with Meg too. I love Meg, she is a great person.

Then while Simon is away his maker yells at Meg and takes Sam away says he wants her dead for putting Sam on a harness and leash and he hurts her arm and makes her puke from fright. This doesn't sit well with vamps and they give a warning that if Meg is touched again, there will be war from the vamps. Well after all of this fighting and Simon gets back that very night, he gets real with his maker and tells him to never touch Meg again and he has to calm things down with the other Others <---- :-) . Then.... all of the sudden... Sam is in human form talking and upset about Meg and they are stunned, just stunned. Meg got him to come out of his shell and his fur so to speak. It's all really sweet.

Well, Meg starts having these bad feelings and has Tess come over so she can cut herself to get the prophecy, yeah, that all sucks. She gets one and there is an uproar about the cutting and about what she saw, but she saved lives and now she has the elementals on her side. Lets just say everyone is on Meg's side after the prophecies, the kindness and the Sam thing.

There does end up being a war with the humans that want Meg back and they want Sam too. People die, a few Others die :-( but it all works out in the end. Meg saw this was going to happen and not one of those jerks made it out alive. They even got a doctor that wanted to provide an office at the compound to help any humans when Meg got hurt in the war and they had to take her to the human hospital.

Now none of this is over, there is a lot of other stuff going on and the controller will always be after Meg too, but that is to be continued in the other books! Yay!

I'm so happy to have found another new favorite series. I know it's just the first book but I can tell! It's one of THOSE kind.

Oh let me add a few excerpts before I close.

--->EXCERPTS<---

Vlad sighed. How had Simon endured this silence from a pup he loved?
He got out of the BOW, carrying Sam so he wouldn't have to dry off the pup. After setting him on the floor in the back room-and watching while Sam rushed into the sorting room to find Meg-he took the sacks and towel out of the BOW and carried them inside.
Moving silently, he entered the sorting room. Sam was sniffing on corner of the room, now oblivious to everything except the scent he'd found. Opening the Private door all the way, he looked at the tableau and thought, A Crow, A prophet, and a vampire walk into the office...

••••••

"Do you like movies, little Wolf?"
Meg jumped and let out a squeak. Sam responded by making puppy growls and snarls--which would have sounded more impressive if he hadn't leaped behind her and then poked his head between her knees to voice those opinions.
She looked at the old man standing at the gate, smiling gently at her. "Mr. Erebus."
"I didn't mean to startle you."
"I know. I just didn't see you." She glanced at his mausoleum. The door was open, but there were no footprints marring the fresh snow on the walk. She had gotten so used to seeing smoke drift over the snow, she hadn't even noticed it this time.
Erebus didn't comment. He just stood there smiling gently.
"Sam does like movies," Meg said to fill the silence. She closed the full delivery boxes, then went back to the BOW for another group of packages. "But I don't think he watches the same kind of movies that you do."
"I like many kinds of movies." Erebus replied, looking at Sam. "Have you seen the movies called cartoons? I especially enjoy the ones where the animals or people do the most foolish things and still survive."

••••••

"You stirred things up here." he finally said. "Why?"
"I'm not the one who-"
"You've angered the Sanguinati, and that's not going to help us right now."
"You don't know what's been going on here,' Elliot snapped. "what that monkey-fuck female has done."
"She's not a monkey-fuck, and she is not prey," Simon said, his voice a low, threatening rumble. "She is Meg."
"You don't know what she's done!"
"She gets mail and deliveries to the complexes on a regular basis. She has a routine with the deliverymen, so we get the merchandise we bought. And she got Sam out of the damn cage!"
"She put a him on a leash, Simon. On a leash!"
"It's not a leash," a young, scratchy voice shouted. Of tried to shout. "It's a safety line. Adventure buddies use a safety line so they can help each other."
Elliot stared, frozen. Simon turned, barely breathing.

•••••

Around midmorning, she got tangled in a bizarre game of tug between Nathan and Jake. She didn't know which of them had brought in the length of rope as a toy, but the Wolf, still lying on the bed, had his teeth in one end of it, and the Crow had his feet clenched around the other and was madly flapping his wings. Her mistake was thinking she could break up the game by grabbing the rope right in front of Jake's feet. Suddenly Nathan was on his feet, wagging his tail while he growled at her, and Jake's caws sounded suspiciously gleeful. Because the floor was a little snow-slick and her shoes didn't have enough traction, she was pulled from one end of the room to the other and couldn't figure out how to let go of the rope without falling on her butt.

•••••

There are so many excerpts I would have loved to have added but I figured I should only add a few :-) If you were ever planning on reading the book, I would suggest that you do it, it's awesome!

GOODREADS REVIEW:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1281026213

AMAZON LINK TO THE BOOK:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0451417909?keywords=written%20in%20red&qid=1456241977&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

Can You Keep A Secret by R. L. Stine

R.L. Stine has built his legacy on scaring children and teenagers. Now he's back with another spine-tingling tale of horror in this new Fear Street book about temptation, betrayal, and fear.
Eddie and Emma are high school sweethearts from the wrong side of the tracks. Looking for an escape their dreary lives, they embark on an overnight camping trip in the Fear Street Woods with four friends. As Eddie is carving a heart into a tree, he and Emma discover a bag hidden in the trunk. A bag filled with hundred-dollar bills. Thousands of them. Should they take it? Should they leave the money there? The six teens agree to leave the bag where it is until it's safe to use it. But when tragedy strikes Emma's family, the temptation to skim some money off of the top becomes impossible to fight. There's only one problem. When Emma returns to the woods, the bag of money is gone, and with it, the trust of six friends with a big secret.
Packed with tension and sure to illicit shivers in its readers, this new Fear Street book is another terrifying tale from a master of horror. @goodreads 

MY REVIEW

4 STARS 

Okay, so I love R.L. Stine books. I loved part of this book a lot, the other was a little meh. You have Emmy who has dreams about a black, blue-eyed wolf and then in the dreams she seems to turn into the wolf. She is so disturbed by these dreams she thinks she's a wolf or she's going crazy. The only person she has told of these dreams is her little sister Sophie. Their mom tells Emmy that she was bitten by a dog when she was little while visiting her aunt in another country. Dog.. right!



The the story takes off on the main story where Emmy, her boyfriend Eddie and several of their friends are going to stay the night in the Fear Street woods. Well here I am thinking, this is going to be a great creepy camp out, no! Emmy and Eddie end up finding some money in a briefcase stuffed in a tree and that ends that little party when all of the friends go off to hide it in the cemetery where Eddie works until they make sure it's not on the news. <---- IDIOTS. After a little bit I knew who the person was that stole the money in the first place and I figured out about the wolf stuff. Ha, okay, it's a kids book, it's supposed to be easy!

So, the crew are out running around trying to keep this money hidden while the wolf is out killing things and people. I have to admit I wanted to smack a good portion of teens in this book b/c they are teens and they do stupid things. I know I did!

Anyhoo....

This person starts following Emmy around and finally trap Emmy and Eddie and make them take the person to the money, but the money isn't there... it was stolen.. AGAIN! Emmy figures out who she thinks did it and she was right on the money.. <---- no pun intended... and that person gets in a world of hurt when they ALL run into the wolf!

It was a fun book for me because I really loved the wolf part and the two sisters. I wish they could have had some big creepy camp out in the woods for a period of time and crazy stuff happened, but I digress.

*I would like to thank Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.*

GOODREADS REVIEW:

 https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1551925859

AMAZON LINK TO THE BOOK:

http://www.amazon.com/Can-You-Keep-Secret-Street/dp/1250058945/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1456098603&sr=8-1&keywords=can+you+keep+a+secret+by+r.l.+stine

The Vegetarian by Han Kang

Before the nightmare, Yeong-hye and her husband lived an ordinary life. But when splintering, blood-soaked images start haunting her thoughts, Yeong-hye decides to purge her mind and renounce eating meat. In a country where societal mores are strictly obeyed, Yeong-hye's decision to embrace a more “plant-like” existence is a shocking act of subversion. And as her passive rebellion manifests in ever more extreme and frightening forms, scandal, abuse, and estrangement begin to send Yeong-hye spiraling deep into the spaces of her fantasy. In a complete metamorphosis of both mind and body, her now dangerous endeavor will take Yeong-hye—impossibly, ecstatically, tragically—far from her once-known self altogether.

A disturbing, yet beautifully composed narrative told in three parts, The Vegetarian is an allegorical novel about modern day South Korea, but also a story of obsession, choice, and our faltering attempts to understand others, from one imprisoned body to another.@goodreads

MY REVIEW:

 5 STARS 

I'm almost at a loss for words on how to review this book. I loved it, it was sad and bizarre, but when dealing with mental illness, not that much is bizarre. I have my own mental illnesses so I don't put too much into what people think because there are those that support you and those that don't. And to me, in my opinion, I think Yeong-hye might not have slipped into this world as far as she did if she had support from her family. One can never tell.

I wish we could have heard Yeong-hye's thoughts, there were snippets here and there, but this story is told through her husband's eyes, her brother-in-law's eyes and one of her sisters eyes.

I think her husband was a jerk. He married Yeong-hye because she was plain and wouldn't outshine him. She would be a decent woman to take care of him and she worked her own job without any fuss. But, one night he wakes up and finds her in the kitchen, she's just standing there. He's fussing at her and all she finally says is I had a dream. The whole story line where she is just standing there in the dark like a statue was very creepy to me!

The next thing her husband finds her throwing out all of the meat and saying she is a vegetarian now. She had a very disturbing dream of blood and death, it doesn't go too much into the dream, but it was enough to change how Yeong-hye saw the world. I really don't know if this was just a beginning of mental illness or something that was just a decision after a dream.

The sad part is that her husband never supported her, he abused her a few times, her family didn't support her and even abused her. I despised her father for the abuse of an animal and his own daughter. He should have been taking to the gallows, but I digress. I'm not sure, but I'm thinking if they would have supported her and not acting the way they did at a dinner that she might not have ending up in a psych ward for suicidal tendencies. Well, her sorry husband who didn't support her anyway, and was secretly in love with her sister, divorced her.

I think after Yeong-hye got out of the hospital and lived in her own little flat, that she was getting better. She stopped looking so emaciated because she got to eat all of the veggie food that she wanted. She seemed to be somewhat happy. I was beginning to feel like her luck might be turning around. THEN... her brother-in-law starts coming around, he has a secret lust for her. What is with this family!!!

I felt like he used her to bring him into his world, to get what he wanted. He was an artist and all of that had to do with body painting. Even still, I'm not sure that Yeong-hye would have went to the extremes she did if her sister didn't walk in on them and have them both carted off to the mental ward because of her jealousy. From this point on, Yeong-hye went downhill... she wouldn't eat, she wanted to be a tree.



I'm really not sure if any of my thoughts on the book are right. I'm not sure if this was something else entirely, but I do know what I took away from the book is that people are cruel. Your own family can be cruel. Sometimes people just need a little help and acceptance, who knows what would have happened. This book is both sad, sensual and yes, a little crazy. But, I loved it. There is just something about it that I loved.
*I would like to thank The Reading Room and Penguin Random House LLC for a free print copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.*

GOODREADS REVIEW:

 https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1481440477

AMAZON LINK TO THE BOOK:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0553448188?keywords=the%20vegetarian&qid=1456063192&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1