Review: The Whitby Witches by Robin Jarvis

The Whitby Witches by Robin Jarvis

My Rating:

I would like to thank Egmont Publishing for providing me with an advanced reading copy of this book.

I somehow managed to miss this author's books as they were originally released many years before my own children were of age to read them. Last year I happened across his newer series, The Witching Legacy and have since read both books one and two and loved them. So when I saw this one I was eager to delve into it, especially as it's set in Whitby like the newer books.

The Whitby Witches was a lot of fun. It was full of adventure, imagination, and danger. I was completely swept along with the characters and their story. The writing was easy to read and the world was vividly described. It was wonderfully dark and atmospheric and a lot of fun all round. Everything was so easily pictured in my mind as I read. It was like being a child all over again, reliving that wonderful sense of adventure, danger and anticipation.

The only negative aspect, and it's not something that's particular to this story alone but something that seems to be a trend across many children's stories and books and something I'm more aware of now as a mother, is the fact that the majority of villains or bad guys in children's stories always seem to have some kind of disfigurement or disability. They are always "ugly" scarred or disfigured in some way. Why are we portraying this kind of message to our children? How a person looks doesn't portray whether they are good or bad. Beauty is only skin deep, the outside does not reflect who a person is on the inside. "Monsters" can look just like everyone else and just because someone isn't what most would class as "normal" it doesn't make them the bad guy to be feared. Perhaps that is too scary of a concept in truth for children but it's reality. Anyway, I realise this is a more general comment and not something particular to this book alone but it's something that I found myself contemplating after finishing this one so I wanted to comment on it.

All in all, The Whitby Witches was a lot of fun and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm going to have to get my hands on the rest of the series now.


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Review: Beautiful Sorrows by Mercedes M. Yardley

Beautiful Sorrows by Mercedes M. Yardley

My Rating:


I received a copy of Beautiful Sorrow through LibraryThing Early Reviewers.

I don't often read short story collections and when I do I tend to read them one story at a time in-between reading other books, but in this case, I was so captivated by the individual stories that I read them one after the other. They were all enjoyable but my favourite has to be The Boy Who Hung the Stars.

Beautiful Sorrows is the first of Mercedes M. Yardley that I have read and I have to say her writing is truly beautiful. It has a wonderful peculiar and ethereal quality to it. In fact, many words came to mind while reading: poetic, haunting, mystical, melancholy, surreal, to name a few. Her style truly is unique. I've never read anything quite like it before. Not only were her stories beautiful but they were also heartbreaking, chilling, and dark, all at the same time.

Reading Beautiful Sorrows was like experiencing the wonder and beauty of fairytales for the first time as a child, but in grown up form.



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Review: The Doll Funeral by Kate Hamer

The Doll Funeral by Kate Hamer


My Rating:


I would like to thank Faber & Faber for providing me with an advanced reading copy of this book.

The Doll Funeral is a DNF for me. I tried to stick with it, but even at 45% I'm still not getting into it. I'm reading for reading sake and I find myself hesitant to pick it up. When I do pick it up I realise that I have forgotten much of what I've previously read.

I had a feeling right from the start that this wasn't going to be the book for me. The opening scene, where the parents reveal to the MC that she's adopted, immediately put me off. It was absurd. It was insensitive and rushed, there was no feeling, no loving conversation, no understanding. They just throw it at her over the kitchen table, before she's even completely in the room, before she's even sat down, totally out of the blue and using the most ridiculous and unnatural dialogue. I was tempted to put the book down right there and then.

The writing style felt choppy and confusing at times, and too flowery at others. The dialogue wasn't natural, there was no flow to the conversation and it was unbelievable. The characters didn't come across as realistic. The younger characters within the storyline read much younger than they were. The main character is 13 but her voice was that of a much younger child.

I hate to leave a review for a book without finding something positive within its pages, but I'm really struggling to think of any as I have forgotten most of what I have read. Thank goodness I kept notes but I only kept notes of the problems I had with the book. It's a shame, the premise really intrigued me but the way it was executed just wasn't for me.

Not one I would recommend.


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Review: Frozen Charlotte by Alex Bell

Frozen Charlotte by Alex Bell

My Rating:

 As part of the TBR Canine Jar Challenge, Frozen Charlotte was chosen by Thorin. This is his first pick and I have to say, he done well.

I picked this up at my local charity shop based purely on the cover. I didn't expect it to be as good a read as it was and ended up reading it in one sitting. The atmosphere and characterization really drew me in. It's got everything: things going bump in the night, ouija board, ghosts, creepy dolls, old school house in the middle of nowhere, and disembodied voices coming from the walls. It was a lot of fun and I found myself completely engaged and lost in the story.

The atmosphere was dark and creepy and the writing and world building very visual. I could hear and see everything clearly while reading. The descriptions were so vivid at times that I could almost hear the dolls whispering and scratching within the glass cabinet. The characters were well-written, likeable, and relatable, and the house and its harsh landscape adds a wonderful atmospheric background to the storyline.

I would have liked to have gotten a little more background on the dolls themselves but apart from that I can't fault anything about this one. It's not hardcore horror, but it was delightfully creepy and a lot of fun to read.

Definitely one I would recommend. I couldn't turn the pages fast enough and stayed up into the wee small hours just to finish it



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Review: Slade House by David Mitchell

Slade House by David Mitchell

My Rating:

The entrance to Slade House appears every nine years, but only a select few have the ability to see it. What lies ahead for those who enter is a large mysterious house that holds their fate in its hands.

Slade House is a collection of connected short stories each set nine years apart and centres around the house and its inhabitants. Spanning from 1979 to 2015 each story takes you on a fantastical mind bending journey as you watch and learn the fate of it's latest victim. As each story progresses you learn a little more about the house and its inhabitants until the ultimate conclusion in 2015 reveals all.

The writing is extremely vivid and paints a strikingly haunting picture of both the house and it's surroundings, and of the characters. The author made it extremely easy for me to picture what I was reading, but at the same time left room for my imagination to fill in the rest. Even though each story had a nine year gap and introduced new characters, there was still a consistency there that held them all together. The atmosphere rolled over me like a fog, becoming darker, thicker, and more menacing as the book progressed. As I read on I started to notice small inconsequential details that appeared in each story. Details which in the larger scheme of things meant nothing, but were cleverly thrown in there to show just how much each character was manipulated beforehand.

Definitely one I would recommend, it was a lot of fun to read and exceeded my expectations.



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Review: The Good Sisters by Helen Phifer

The Good Sisters by Helen Phifer

My Rating:

I would like to thank Carina UK for providing me with an advanced reading copy of this book.

The Good Sisters had a lot of potential, but it never quite got there. The premise was a good one, but too much attention was given to the subplots and the main plot suffered as a result. The whole haunting just fell flat, it could have been executed much better.

The storyline concentrated far too much on the romance aspect to the detriment of the atmosphere and tension. As for Kate's personal life, to be honest, the story would have been much better without all the drama, drinking and romance. The romance storyline was way too cringe worthy and didn't add anything positive to the story. Her drinking problem and family drama distracted from, and totally overshadowed, what could have been a great haunted house story.

I much preferred the 1930's timeline, mainly because Kate wasn't in it, but it too had its problems, unrealistic events, and actions. To give a few examples: I struggled with the idea of nuns nipping out to the cinema to see the latest horror film, policemen using curse words in the presence of the nuns, and I'm pretty sure that nuns had to keep their hair covered. Even with the problems I encountered, the earlier timeline was much more enjoyable than the present day one.

As a whole, the storyline didn't have enough depth. The potential for a great haunted house story was there but I feel it only scratched the surface.




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Review: Eight Rivers of Shadow by Leo Hunt

Eight Rivers of Shadow by Leo Hunt

My Rating:


I received a free copy of Eight Rivers of Shadow from the publisher in return for an honest review.

I was keen to read the next in the series after having enjoyed 13 Days Of Midnight, it wasn't a bad read but it wasn't as enjoyable as the first.

I feel that the characterisation was lacking in this second instalment. The choices that the characters made and their interactions didn't work for me. The story relies almost solely on the characters of Luke, Elza and Ash and they didn't come across as strong enough to drive the story in my opinion. I found myself questioning their decisions and more irritated by them than anything else.

The world building is what made the book more enjoyable. The visuals of the underworld and the descriptions of the scenes were a pleasure to read. I missed the humour though. A large part of what made the previous book fun was the Host, they brought a lot of humour and fun to the story and that was missing here.

All in All it was a decent read but it was lacking in comparison to the previous book in the series.




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Review: Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt

Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt

My Rating:


I received a free copy of Hex from the publisher in return for an honest review.

The concept of Hex really appealed to me but I found the book to be rather disappointing. I was expecting it to be a lot scarier and creepier than it was. Don't get me wrong, it had it's creepy moments but over all there was something lacking.

The main characters were well written and the pacing was consistent and held my attention. The writing style created a nice dark atmosphere, especially the forest scenes which were extremely visual and atmospheric. For a huge chunk of the book I was thoroughly enjoying it but as it got closer to the conclusion I found myself drawn out of the story and questioning the characters actions.

I'm still not exactly clear on the circumstances surrounding the witch herself. I feel like there wasn't enough background given, no in depth scene for me to look back on that would explain why she kept retracing the steps that she was taking. I know what happened to her but I couldn't visualise it or relate to her experience in any way and link it to her current actions. There was no narrative or inner thoughts or experiences from her perspective and this created a feeling of disconnect.

For the most part I did enjoy the book but in my opinion it went a bit off the rails at the end. There was the potential there for it to be brilliant, and at times it was, but the conclusion was disappointing after such a suspenseful read.




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Review: Blood Sacrifices by Brian Moreland

Blood Sacrifices by Brian Moreland

My Rating:


I received a free copy of Blood Sacrifices from Erin at Oh, for the Hook of a Book in return for an honest review and as part of the Hook of a Book Blood Sacrifices blog tour of which my blog Scarlet's Web is taking part.

Blood Sacrifices is comprised of a short story and three novellas. The short story, The Girl From The Blood Coven, being a short prequel to The Witching House, followed by two independent novellas, Darkness Rising and The Vagrants.

I particularly enjoyed The Girl from the Blood Coven and was pleased to see that The Witching House continued on with this story. I was left curious to learn more about the house and what led up to the events, and The Witching Hour was exactly what I was looking for. These two were my favourites from the collection.

Darkness Rising was a bittersweet story, the main character of Marty is very appealing and easy to care for, this makes his horrific story all the more heartbreaking and poignant. I enjoyed this as much as the above but in a different way. The Girl from the Blood Coven and The Witching House caters more to my personal preference where horror is concerned but Darkness Rising really stood out as it's particularly haunting and poignant. Bad things happened to good people.

The final story, The Vagrants was yet another great story but was the one I have to say I enjoyed least of all. It wasn't that it didn't draw me in, it just felt like it went on a bit in places.

Moreland writes in a way that draws you in instantly. The opening paragraphs of each story get their claws into you and you just have to read on. All of the stories stand out in their own way and there is something for everyone here.

Blood Sacrifices is one that I would highly recommend reading, it's full of tension, atmosphere and moves at pace that will have you on the edge of your seat.


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Synopsis for Blood Sacrifices

• Publication Date: April 5, 2016
• Publisher: Samhain
• Publication Length: 282 pages

Some evils require sacrifices.
From the author of Dead of Winter and The Devil’s Woods come four tales of blood-tingling horror:

The Girl from the Blood Coven
In this short prequel to The Witching House, when Abigail Blackwood claims her hippy commune family has been massacred, Sheriff Travis Keagan and his deputies investigate. They discover there’s more than weed smoking going on at Blevins House. Much more.

The Witching House
Sarah Donovan is scared of just about everything, but she helps her adventurous boyfriend investigate the old, abandoned Blevins House, scene of a forty-year-old unsolved massacre. Little do they know the house is hungry for fresh prey…

Darkness Rising
When Marty Weaver encounters three killers who like to play sadistic games with their victims, his own scarred past is unearthed. And when his pain is triggered, blood will flow…and hell will rise.

The Vagrants
Beneath the city of Boston, evil is gathering. While living under a bridge with the homeless, journalist Daniel Finley witnessed something that nearly cost him his sanity. Now, with a book published about the experience, he’s caught between the Irish mafia and a deranged cult preparing to shed blood on the street.

This is a collection of books previously published in digital format.

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Biography

Brian Moreland is a best-selling and award-winning author of novels and short stories in the horror and supernatural suspense genre. In 2007, his novel Shadows in the Mist, a Nazi occult thriller set during World War II, won a gold medal for Best Horror Novel in an international contest. The novel went on to be published in Austria and Germany under the title Schattenkrieger.
Shadows in the Mist, Dead of Winter, and The Devil’s Woods are his currently available novels, as well as his Kindle short-story The Girl from the Blood Coven and the novella it led into called The Witching House.  Now, he has released the full-length The Devil’s Woods. His novella, Vagrants, released in 2014 and another, Darkness Rising, in 2015.
He loves hiking, kayaking, watching sports, dancing, and making guacamole. Brian lives in Dallas, Texas where he is diligently writing his next horror novel.  When not working on his books or books for other writers, Brian edits documentaries and TV commercials around the globe. He produced a World War II documentary in Normandy, France, and worked at two military bases in Iraq with a film crew.

Brian lives in Dallas, Texas. You can communicate with him online at www.brianmoreland.com, Twitter, or Facebook.

 

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Media, information and review copy provided as part of the Hook of a Book blog tour by Erin Al-Mehairi from Hook of a Book Media & Publicity.