Time for some mini-reviews! What are mini-reviews, you ask? As the title suggests, these are short reviews, consisting of one paragraph tops, about a book. It’s a way to catch up on the books I’ve read a while ago, but never got around to reviewing.
Dark Companion
Title: Dark Companion
Author: Marta Acosta
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Young Adult
Rating: 3,5 stars
Purchase: Amazon
Orphaned at the age of six, Jane Williams has grown up in a series of foster homes, learning to survive in the shadows of life. Through hard work and determination, she manages to win a scholarship to the exclusive Birch Grove Academy. There, for the first time, Jane finds herself accepted by a group of friends. She even starts tutoring the headmistress’s gorgeous son, Lucien. Things seem too good to be true.
They are.
The more she learns about Birch Grove’s recent past, the more Jane comes to suspect that there is something sinister going on. Why did the wife of a popular teacher kill herself? What happened to the former scholarship student, whose place Jane took? Why does Lucien’s brother, Jack, seem to dislike her so much?
As Jane begins to piece together the answers to the puzzle, she must find out why she was brought to Birch Grove and what she would risk to stay there..because even the brightest people make terrible decisions when they are offered the things they desire most.
Review: I love gothic horror, and this book definitely has its fair share of that. The book has some original elements that lifted it up to the next level. Ultimately, I had trouble connecting to Jane though, the main character. The pacing was slow though, and it took a while for the suspense to pick up.
Terminal Island
Title: Terminal Island
Author: Walter Greatshell
Genre: Horror
Rating: 3 stars
Purchase: Amazon
As a child, Henry Cadmus lived on Catalina Island, a scenic vacationland off the Southern California coast. But Henry’s experiences were far from idyllic. Today, even though Henry has seen firsthand the horrors of war, the ghastly images that haunt his dreams are ones he associates with his childhood… and the island: a snarling pig-man holding a cleaver; a jackal-headed woman on a high balcony, dripping blood; strange occult rituals… and worse. If it was up to Henry, he would avoid the island entirely.
But Henry is returning to Catalina Island. At his wife Ruby’s insistence, Henry, Ruby, and their infant daughter are coming to Avalon, so that Henry can face his fears, exorcise his demons, and reconcile with the one he dreads most… his mother.
From Walter Greatshell, author of Xombies comes Terminal Island, a novel of cosmic horror.
Review: Terminal Island isn’t bad, but it’s not remarkably good either. It’s a mediocre read. Some parts were great, other parts made me scratch my head because I was confused what was going on. It feelsl ike the author wanted to topple too much in one book.
Broken
Title: Broken
Author: A.E. Rought
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, Fantasy
Rating: 4 stars
Purchase: Amazon
Imagine a modern spin on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein where a young couple’s undying love and the grief of a father pushed beyond sanity could spell the destruction of them all.
A string of suspicious deaths near a small Michigan town ends with a fall that claims the life of Emma Gentry’s boyfriend, Daniel. Emma is broken, a hollow shell mechanically moving through her days. She and Daniel had been made for each other, complete only when they were together. Now she restlessly wanders the town in the late Fall gloom, haunting the cemetery and its white-marbled tombs, feeling Daniel everywhere, his spectre in the moonlight and the fog.
When she encounters newcomer Alex Franks, only son of a renowned widowed surgeon, she’s intrigued despite herself. He’s an enigma, melting into shadows, preferring to keep to himself. But he is as drawn to her as she is to him. He is strangely… familiar. From the way he knows how to open her locker when it sticks, to the nickname she shared only with Daniel, even his hazel eyes with brown flecks are just like Daniel’s.
The closer they become, though, the more something inside her screams there’s something very wrong with Alex Franks. And when Emma stumbles across a grotesque and terrifying menagerie of mangled but living animals within the walls of the Franks’ estate, creatures she surely knows must have died from their injuries, she knows.
Review: Retellings aren’t always stellar, but I was in the mood for a Frankenstein retelling, so I picked up “Broken”. The prose is great, and I instantly felt connected to Emma, and the troubles she went through, and how wrecked she was about what happened to her boyfriend. I liked the twists, and Alex Franks, and his connection with the classic Frankenstein story, and with Emma. A solid read.
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