Book Review: Hickey of the Beast

Katie November 24, 2012 0 Comments

This book starts out innocently enough.  Connie is writing a letter to her friend Amanda.  Connie lives in New England and Amanda lives in Pennsylvania.  She is telling her all about her freshman year at Springden Academy.  She mentions that there may be some stuff in the letter that Amanda won’t believe.

She keeps having weird nightmares.  Her younger brother is having nightmares too.  Whenever she sees a classmate in her dream, the classmate ends up falling ill the next day suspiciously.  It takes her a while to put two and two together.

Next thing we know there is some sort of strange creature that is preying on her classmates and it seems like the next one on her list is her best friend!  Connie seems to be the only one to stop this… thing.  Can she do it or will she become it’s next victim?

I thought this was a great young adult novel, using the supernatural that seems to be so popular lately as a part of the story as well.  It is well written and easy to read – 30 chapters, almost 200 pages and I had no problem reading it in a day.

I received a free e-copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in order to write this review. I was not otherwise compensated.

About the Book

Connie thought freshman year might suck. She never thought it’d be literal.

Bad dreams? No big deal. After all, Connie Perez is starting her first year in the prep school her mom runs. Anyone would be a little stressed, right? When she starts dreaming about strange creatures and places that don’t make sense, she doesn’t think much about it: there’s other stuff on her mind. Then she starts noticing that the people she dreams about get sick right afterwards.

Then everything gets weird.

There’s something bad on the campus of Springden Academy. Something that feeds on students and warps their minds. And, as Connie and her friends try to figure out what’s going on, it starts to look like she’s the only one who can stop it. Freshman year was hard enough without having to fight evil after class.

Hickey of the Beast is a hilarious look at coming of age in a school where there are no secrets, but plenty of mysteries, and where supernatural studies take on a whole new meaning. It’s a story about all the things that make growing up hell: boys, history class, annoying little brothers, and saving the world from evil. When the supernatural comes to school, it’s no field day – and that’s before you factor in homework.

Book Review: Dear Jack

Katie November 19, 2012 0 Comments

Dear Jack is a novella that goes along with the book I read and reviewed a few months back, Finding Emma. Dear Jack is supposed to tide us over until Emma’s Secret comes out and an excerpt is even included from the sequel.

The book is a series of letters written the Jack as he is away at war.  It is all written in a journal, so Jack never sees them.  She tells Jack what is going on at home, with Mary, and other things going on while he is away.

The letters seem to get angrier and angrier the longer Jack is away.  We find out that Jack went missing in action and his best friend Doug (“Uncle Doug” to Mary) is told that if he is MIA for more than 3 months to take care of the family.

At first, Dottie isn’t too interested in this – she just wants Jack to come back and doesn’t believe he is dead.  But as more months pass, she thinks that she will agree to marry him…

The book gives more insight in to Dottie – a character that was in and out of the “real world” in Finding Emma.  It is nice to see some back story to her from before her medical issues began.  She is a very strong person and tried her best to keep things normal for Mary while her dad was away.

I purchased this book from Amazon in order to write this review. By posting this review I am entered into a prize drawing.  I was not otherwise compensated.

About the Book

Dear Jack…the journal of a woman unwilling to let go.

Dottie is a woman with a heart full of emotions but unable to express them unless through her journals. When Jack goes off to war, Dottie is left behind having to be strong for their young daughter, Mary.

While Jack is away, she keeps a journal full of letters for Jack, for him to read when he comes home. Except, word comes that Jack has gone missing and leaves Dottie to fend for herself. She keeps hope that her husband is alive and will be coming home, until Jack’s personal effects are returned to her by a member of Jack’s unit.

When Doug shares with her a letter Jack wrote for her in case he never came home her world falls apart and it’s all she can do to hold herself together for Mary.

Were you one of the readers who wanted to know about the story behind Dottie and Doug? This is where you’ll find out.

BONUS MATERIAL INCLUDED — Excerpt from Emma’s Secret!

Book Review: The Shadow Man

Katie November 18, 2012 0 Comments

I’ve been on a bit of a murder mystery kick lately, though I really need to stop because they’ve been leading to some crazy nightmares!  Here’s hoping I don’t get another one tonight based on The Shadow Man, but there were some creepy moments so it is a definite possibility.

The story is about Malcolm King, a successful surgeon with a loving wife and daughter.  He goes to Miami for a meeting and that is when things start to get interesting.

He is hit by a car in the parking lot and speeds after it.  Unfortunately he gets pulled over by the cops and can not catch the guy that hit him.  Later this links him to a murder.

Fortunately for Mal, his best friend since childhood, Ben is a police officer.  Mal swears he is innocent, but the body was dismembered in such a way that it had to have been the work of a skilled surgeon.

More and more people are turning up murdered in the same fashion and it seems that all of them somehow have some link to Malcolm.  He swears he is innocent, and his family and police officer pal believe him, but unfortunately not many others do.

A man is creeping in the backyard at the Kings and Malcolm finds out that he is Billy Littlebear – one of the only people he thinks he can trust.  Billy’s brother was framed years earlier in a similar situation and Billy is convinced it is the same guy framing Malcolm.

Malcolm and Billy try to figure out how to clear Malcolm’s name and how to catch the killer.  Of course, it is all much easier said than done – which you will find out if you read The Shadow Man.

The book took me a little bit to get into in the beginning, but once I was about a quarter of the way through it, I didn’t want to put it down.  I never would have in a million years guessed who was doing the killing and I definitely picked up on a couple of the red herrings placed in there by the author and was all over the place with who I thought was doing it.  The book is definitely recommended but the verdict is still out on whether or not it’ll give me nightmares!

I received a free e-copy of this book from NetGalley in order to write this review. I was not otherwise compensated.

About the Book

Savannah surgeon Malcolm King had a perfect life–a loving wife, devoted daughter, and a thriving medical practice. But when a random airport parking lot hit-and-run links him to a dead body in a Florida hotel and an acquaintance is found dismembered and stuffed into a garbage bag, Malcolm finds himself on the run as a suspected serial killer. But he’s no murderer. Or is he?

Who is the mysterious Thin Man who lurks at the edges of his vision? Are the ravens that crowd the skies overhead a warning of impending doom–or do they exist at all?

With the help of Seminole tracker Billy Littlebear, Malcolm tries to untangle the web of clues left behind by a mysterious chameleon-like killer known as the Shadow Man. But will he be too late? The Shadow Man is a complex, atmospheric thriller in the tradition of Stephen King. Darkly evocative and relentless in its twists and turns, it dares the reader to put it down–even for a minute.

Book Review: The Wonderland Alphabet

Katie November 17, 2012 0 Comments

The Wonderland Alphabet is a short book chronicling the characters of Alice in Wonderland (and other important pieces of Wonderland) from A to Z.  Each letter is devoted to one topic and one page in the book.  There is a short write up about each of the items on each page as well.

The book is wonderfully illustrated and really captures the true essence of the characters, I think!  The Illustrations are by Janet K. Lee and the verses are written by Alethea Kontis.  Of course, the characters are inspired by Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll.

The Disney version of Alice is one of my favorite movies, I’ve also seen the Tim Burton version but shockingly enough have not read the books.  I think that this Alphabet would be a great precursor to anyone looking to read the books that might not know anything about the story.  Or of course for anyone who loves the character and the story and wants to check out an additional version.

I received a free e-copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in order to write this review. I was not otherwise compensated.