Guest Review: This Book Does Not Exist by Mike Schneider

Once again my awesome husband, Jason, from Invasive Species Radio and Dead Man'z Kassette has stepped up to the plate and provided me with a review (because I have been seriously slacking lately!).  I'm going to start integrating more of Jason's reviews because he and I have different tastes when it comes to reading and that will provide you (my wonderful followers) with reviews for a larger variety of genres.  Jason also does music reviews on his blogs (check out the links above) if you care to take a peek.

On to the review......

Ok you know that whole “recommended for you” section on Amazon? Within this advertising assault on my wallet was a blurb for a $0.99 self-published titled This Book Does Not Exist by Mike Schneider. The title and the cover depicting a Polaroid style photo with the eyes and mouth obscured by what looked like a vandal's marker intrigued me. Plus, it was cheaper than the 44oz Diet Pepsi at the local gas station, so what the hell.

This book is your standard 20-something love story. Boy meets girl, boy starts long distance relationship with girl, boy loses girl in alternate dimension which then spills out into our reality inadvertently causing WWIII.

Ok maybe it's not that standard.

The story starts off with a first person account of how the author met a girl named Naomi (by the way, witnessing a suicidal idiot jump off a roof together is not a great omen for romantic success) and continues on for the first ten percent of the book detailing the troubles and tribulations of trying to get on the same page. When finally Naomi agrees to move into the author's apartment in L.A. (he's a struggling screenwriter), he goes to meet her at the airport and she doesn't get off the plane. Worse, she doesn't answer her phone, and anyone the author texts, Facebook messages, or tweets about it has no idea either. Then a few days later he gets a friend request from a mysterious gentleman named Geppeto W with the message: “I can help you find Naomi, but not unless you come to Ohio.” Which happens to be where the couple grew up.

Geppetto turns out to be the keeper of something called The Door, which I type in bold here because The Door for some reason is always typed in bold in the book. The Door appears for people when they “are falling in or out of various stages of love”. Seems like Naomi had some doubts and wandered through, and Geppetto found her suitor to test his resolve about the relationship. Thus begins a whole bunch of screwy scenarios involving the author trying to find Naomi, or find out if he's even really in love with her, or find out if he's just been slipped some really bad hallucinogens.

The book has some really interesting concepts about perception and reality, and had at one point a really interesting e-book technique of breaking down the “fourth wall”, where the author/protagonist talks about posting a YouTube video, and instead of describing it, the link for the video is right there on the page, just a finger tap away on my Kindle Fire. These technical and conceptual ideas however, are sadly more thought out than any emotional storytelling or character development. The author always drops cultural references in the story. What music he's listening to, or movies he's seen, as if what a person likes is the same as what a person is like. Also I wish the nightmare scenarios of The Door were more creative and tied to the character's past, but instead the author uses some recent historical incidents as a backdrop. I can only guess this was done as a way to make us identify with the character and recognize what he's going through, but it feels to me as a lost opportunity to define the character more.

Overall it was an interesting book, but nothing to really rave about. It was a great idea, but a great idea does not make a great story. Whatever door the author decides to go through next, I can only hope he decides to take a different hallway.


Two red-white-and-blue Bic lighters out of five.

Gratitude Giveaway Hop

Hi everyone!  I am hosting a giveaway as part of the Gratitude Giveaways Hop hosted by I Am A Reader, Not A Writer.  This is just my way of saying Thank You for checking out my blog, especially since the posts have been few and far between lately.  

There are over 200 awesome bloggers taking part in this hop.  Do yourself a favor and check them out!  You can find the list of participating blogs here.

What's up for grabs you ask?  A purchase up to $15 at The Book Depository.  Who is eligible?  Anyone living in a place that The Book Depository ships to.

Winners will have 48 hours to respond.  If I don't receive a response, a new winner will be chosen.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I've Been MIA

Hey guys. The bad news, I've totally been stuck in my everyday life and unable to get much reading and blogging done. :(  The good news, that will change shortly. I am going to have some reviews and some giveaways posted in the near future so please stay tuned!

In the meantime I pose the following question to you all:

How do you feel about series that have seemingly endless numbers of books in them?

 Feel free to get as detailed as you want!

Review: Blade Song by J.C. Daniels

* I was given a free copy of this book for review purposes. The review is based solely on my opinion and was not influenced by author or publisher.

Kit is Aneira, a dying breed of assassin. Well she is half Aneira, half human and that is something that her deceased mother's family just could not forgive. Her grandmother tried to beat the human half out of her until Kit was old enough to escape. Now Kit is on her own and working as a private investigator when in walks Damon with a job that she wants nothing to do with. Kit doesn't like working with shifters, especially the cats. Unfortunately Damon's boss knows that Kit's weak spot is kids and she plays on that to get Kit to work her case. Can Kit beat the clock, her inner demons and a sociopathic client to save a kid and her own skin?

I really enjoyed this book and in the beginning I wasn't sure that I would. At first it felt like being thrown into the middle of the story. The author alludes to earlier events but gives no details almost as if the reader should already be familiar them. The author does eventually go into more detail about the past in the form of dreams and flashbacks, but it was a little off-putting initially. (I also did find a short story prequel on the authors blog, A Stroke of Dumb Luck, which is free) There is a good cast of characters in this story with Kit and Damon as main characters. Kit and Damon seem to have a love/hate relationship which spirals from hate to love at supersonic speed. Damon comes off as your typical brooding, sexy shifter although he is a little too rough with Kit in my opinion, at least early on. Kit is tough and nails and can definitely hold her own. If I had to guess I would say that her astrological sign is a Taurus because she is super stubborn and most of the time just does not know when to give up. I thought the secondary characters were great and at times liked them more than the main duo! I'm hoping to see a lot more of them in the series. Even though I had a couple of concerns the story was well paced and I had a hard time putting it down. I definitely intend to find out what kind of trouble Kit can get herself into next.

As a side note, I'm not a fan of the cover art. This is not at all how I pictured Kit, she looks too soft and nothing at all like the tenacious assassin I imagined.

My Rating: 4/5 stars

Cover Reveal: 'Reaping Me Softly' by Kate Evangelista

I am super excited to be involved in the cover reveal for Kate Evangelista's highly anticipated next novel, 'Reaping Me Softly'. The cover reveal and subsequent blog tour are hosted by AToMR Book Blog Tours.  If you are interested in being part of the blog tour sign ups open today at AToMR Tours.

Now, on to the good stuff!

Synopsis:

Ever since a near-death-experience on the operating table, seventeen-year-old Arianne Wilson can see dead people. Just as she’s learned to accept her new-found talents, she discovers that the boy she’s had a crush on since freshman year, Niko Clark, is a Reaper.

At last they have something in common, but that doesn’t mean life is getting any easier. All while facing merciless bullying from the most powerful girl in school, Arianne’s world is turned upside down after Niko accidentally reaps the soul of someone she loves. This sends them both into a spiral that threatens to end Arianne’s life. But will Niko break his own Reaper’s code to save her? And what would the consequences be if he did?

Expected release date is October 30, 2012.  I can't wait!!!!!

Are you ready to see it???  

Beautifully intriguing isn't it?  You can add it to your Goodreads shelf here.  While you are at it do yourselves a favor and visit Kate at her blog. 

Guest Review of 'John Dies at the End' by David Wong

Big thanks to Jason from Invasive Species Radio and Dead Man'z Kassette (and he also happens to be my hubby!) for writing the first guest review!

I only recently learned about the book John Dies At The End by David Wong, ironically enough from a movie blog, as the adaptation was discussed finally finding distribution after a number of problems. Not even an hour later a Facebook friend mentioned the book in a status update. Said friend is a professional musician/visual artist and has an uncanny knack for digging up the weird sh!t, so I popped open the Kindle Fire, hit the buy button, and had all my free time sucked away for the next few days.

Our main protagonist is David Wong. Yes. Same as the author, and fittingly enough is told in first person flashback. Dave and his best buddy John, live in a southern Midwest town near the Kentucky border that they never refer to by name, working crappy jobs, playing video games, and indenting the seat cushions at the local Denny's. Until one night when John's half-assed band plays a party that gets slightly outta hand, when Dave is questioned by a dread locked guy who knows way more about Dave than he should. And it's not just Dave, he seems to have all the secrets on everyone at the party. Well, John and some more of the party people head over to the mystic Rastafarian dude's place and Dave, rightly getting a bad vibe, doesn't.

That's when he gets called by a freaked out John the next morning (several times actually, and receiving them not exactly in the order dialed), about some beast in his apartment, and that they need to get to Las Vegas as soon as possible. And this, dear reader is just the tip of the weirdberg. At the party, Rasta boy came clean about how he came by his knowledge. Seems he came by an illicit substance that they nicknamed Soy Sauce, that alters your perceptions, and shared it with his guests. However, it's not a hallucinogen. The user gets a window into things mankind was not meant to see, and the problem with windows is that while they let you get a good look out, they also provide ways for nasty things to get in.

This is a book of twisted ideas that throws a lot of horror conventions on it's head. For one thing it's pretty damn hilarious at times, which makes the horror more horrifying when facing our loveable losers. Try imagining Jay and Silent Bob wandering into a Clive Barker story, or H.P. Lovecraft's take on Bill and Ted's excellent adventure and you can kinda get close to the feeling this novel evokes.

There's a lot of things left unexplained (the bratwurst, and Molly the car driving, immortal canine for starters), which makes sense if you consider the characters. Not elite paranormal investigators, or centuries old children of the night, just a couple of foul mouthed f*ckwits living in nowhere America, trying to make sense of what strangeness has set up camp in their lives. I loved this book, was gobsmacked at the twists in the story, and the black humor spread throughout kept me laughing out loud and wanting more. On October 2nd, I'll get my wish, when Wong's next book comes out: This Book Is Full of Spiders (Seriously Dude, Don't Touch It).

Jason's Rating: 4 trans-dimensional jellyfish outta 5.

Pledged Trailer, Review and Giveaway

Pledged was finally released on September 1st!  To help promote the release I am posting the book trailer along with my review.  And to celebrate the release I have two e-copies of Pledged to give away.

The Trailer:

* Just a comment on the trailer- not how I pictured Erin and Seth at all! LOL

My Review:

* I was given a free copy of this book for review purposes. The review is based solely on my opinion and was not influenced by author or publisher.

Wow, there is a lot going on in this story, there really isn't a dull moment. There are a few elements of the story that are common to young adult novels but in Pledged they are anything but typical. There is no shortage of romance, but it is in no way sappy which I was thankful for. And the love triangle makes an appearance but it masquerades as more of a love square. The characters are definitely colorful, I was worried that Seth was going to fit the mold of tortured soul, miserable, teenage boy but he doesn't. Sure, he has his moments but his 'up' moments break those up nicely. Erin is a strong, fairly independent female character and she compliments Seth's character nicely. The supporting cast is well rounded, filled with people you love and people you love to hate. There is a classic Good vs. Evil conflict, but there are so many twists and turns to the plot that sometimes you have to wonder if the Good guys are really good. There is no question that the bad guys are evil.

The stage has been set for book 2, Sacrificed, which is due to be released January 2013. I am definitely looking forward to finding out what is in store for Seth and Erin.

My Rating: 4/5 stars

The Giveaway:

• Giveaway is open to everyone 13 years of age and older.
• Prizes will be provided by author, winners' information will be provided to author or her representative.
• Winners will be chosen on September 12, 2012.
• Winners will be contacted via e-mail and will have 48 hours to respond, if there is no response after 48 hours a new winner will be chosen.
• Entering is easy, leave a comment on this post explaining how you feel about soul mates.  Also leave your e-mail address for contact purposes. It's that easy!

Good Luck!!