Paper Targets

The author of the book reached out to me and asked me to read this, and I am so glad that I accepted. This is an intriguing story, and you will not be disappointed. It took me way too long to get to this book and I really wish I had gotten to it sooner. 

The story revolves around Enzi. As a boy he struggled with dyslexia and stuttering. His parents were academics, yet he had a hard time in school. He realized young that math was his strongest subject. His mother passed away when he was young, and his father retreated into a bottle. He quickly ran away from home and job hopped from town to town, finally settling in Montana. There he would meet a friend, Nate O'Neill. He was a juggler and a computer coder. He taught Enzi that juggling, and computer coding were very similar, and they formed a partnership and eventually created a company that took off and was bought out by a huge conglomerate. Enzi ends up meeting a woman named Kaori and things take a turn when she is arrested for assaulting her ex-boyfriend. I don't want to spoil the rest of the story. You'll just have to read it. 

The whole book is written beautifully. It reads from a first-person view and feels like one big, long confession. The book is a mystery but it's also so much more than that. It's a story of a man who realizes, somewhat, too late that he's in too deep with the wrong people. He rights his wrong, but not before others are hurt in the process. It's a story of loneliness, longing and love. It's about finding yourself and being who you truly are. For a bit through the story, I really thought the book was going to end badly. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see that it has a happy ending. Montana is one of those places that I have always wanted to visit. The descriptions in this book make me want to visit even more. Hopefully someday I can.

The Clock in My Mother's House

The author sent me a copy of this collection of short stories. I have read several other books written by Annalisa Crawford. 

Annalisa Crawford is a fantastic writer, and her short stories were no exception. Out of the eleven stories, there really isn't a bad one in the batch. My favorites include: The Clock in My Mother's House Runs Backwards, Vera Says, A Thousand Pieces of You, The Fear of Ghosts and Adventures in My Own Back Garden. She has the ability to really make the ordinary life seem fantastical and this is a collection you will not be disappointed by. 

Bleak Midwinter-Volume 1: The Darkest Night

Another great anthology from Quill and Crow Publishing. I can honestly say that I am never disappointed, and they are quickly becoming my favorite independent publishing house. 

Bleak Midwinter: The Darkest Night is a fantastic anthology of bleak stories. Each story featuring common themes of forests, cold, death and darkness. Just like other anthologies, I had my favorite stories. While I enjoyed every story there were a few that stuck with me. 

All Her Little Bones- R.A. Busby

Relke of the Russet Hair-KB Willson

Arno-Mason McDonald

Overall, each story was written really well. Some of them ended abruptly while others wrapped up nicely. This is the perfect book to read as we are but a week away from the Winter Solstice. I can guarantee that if you love a good anthology then you will not be disappointed with this collection of bleak stories. I received this book free from Booksirens for an honest review.

You Kill Me

This is the third book by K. Lucas that I have read, and I have yet to be disappointed. The writing as usual is fantastic and the story is intriguing to say the least. 

The story opens with a man named Seth waking up to a thunderstorm, in bed next to his wife Kendra. Hes aware that she's moving in the bed. Shes on top of him and he's thinking it's time for fun when she suddenly plunges a knife into his chest over and over until he's dead. He wakes up again, in the same scenario, over and over again, not understanding why it is his wife wants him dead. Hes stuck in some kind of weird murder loop that he cannot get out of. Wake up, get murdered, die, wake up, and repeat. Knowing he cannot live in this loop; he decides to try to figure out just what is going on. 

After being killed several times and trying to figure out just what is going on, he manages to avoid her long enough to do some investigating. It doesn't take him too long to figure out just what has been going on and why she wants him dead. Once he figures it out, the story really picks up. I really love a good story with a twist and this one has a huge twist with one big reveal after another! 

I cannot say enough how much I enjoyed this story. The characters, the setting and of course the "Groundhog Day" effect. This story will definitely keep you on the edge of your seat and has an ending you will never see coming. If you enjoy a good thriller, then this is the book for you! I received this book free from the author for an honest review.

Arachnophobia

I love a good horror story and this one does not disappoint. Its part insect horror, part body horror and all together creepy.

The town of Rock Creek is about to overrun with spiders. The book opens with a group of teens that are getting ready to explore a cave just outside the town. After entering, there is what feels like a slight earthquake. Soon they are surrounded by thousands of tiny spiders. One of the teens, Asia, manages to escape the cave but not before being bitten all over her body. By exiting the cave, she discovers that the spiders do not like light. They thrive in the dark. She starts running and doesn't stop until she reaches an RV with a family living in it. They take her in, and she soon realizes the spiders are living inside her. She is covered in bites and once she starts scratching, they start spilling out of her body, eating her from the inside out.

Unfortunately, she will not be the only victim to befall the spiders. The local exterminator Walter is beyond busy with call after call, which normally would be a good thing, but the calls are just a tad bit odd. People calling about sound within the walls, movement in the attic, spiders spotted all over the town and people mutilating their bodies. One resident even reports a spider bigger than him hiding in his attic. Now the town is facing being overrun with spiders and if they're not stopped, they may just take over another town, then another, etc. What will happen to the people of Rock Creek? Can the spiders be eradicated, or will they spread regardless?

This book was very creepy crawly. I have entomophobia: the fear of bugs. I hate all bugs, including spiders. If I even think I have a bug on me, I freak out. So, to think about hundreds of tiny spiders eating their way through my body is really scary and oh so gross. The character of Walter gave me really strong John Goodman vibes from the movie Arachnophobia. The story is broken up into parts, each one having a different take on what's going on within the town and who its affecting. All in all, it's a great story and if you love body horror with creepy crawlies, then this is the book for you.

Her Final Truth-Meg Dawson #3

This is the third book in the Meg Dawson series and Amy Waeschle did not disappoint. 

We start out meeting a woman named Allison Swiftwater. She runs a womans shelter on Spencer Island. Shes out helping one of the ladies that live in the shelter with some boat trouble on the water. She tells Brooklyn to take her boat back to shore and she will stay and fix the other boat. As soon as Brooklyn pulls off and Allison is working on the boat, she hears another engine and realizes that it's another boat coming straight for her. The next we hear about her they are recovering her body from the water. Meg is sent by her editor to do some investigating on her case. 

At the same time that this is going on, Meg has been informed that a body has been found and it is most likely the body of her long-lost best friend, Noah. Sure enough, she arrives at the crime scene just in time to see them excavating some bones from a large grave. Even worse, they discover he was not the only body in the grave. 

Now with two cases to investigate, Meg will not only be busy, but she will get herself, yet again, into some deep trouble with the chance of death on the line. This book is action packed and a true page turner. I love the character of Meg. Nosy, fierce and adventurous. I'm really hoping things work out for her and Rob, a cop she often turns to. The author teases two more books after this one and I have to admit that I am very excited and interested in finding out what happened to Noah. I received this book free from the author for an honest review.

The Whispering Dead-Gravekeeper #1

Well, Darcy Coates has done it again. There has not been one book by her that I have disliked. Although I have read several of her books, I had not heard of this series. I happened to be approved for the latest installment of this book, not realizing it was part of a series. I figured I should read the first two and was happy to see this was on Kindle Unlimited. 

I really enjoyed this story. Kiera (last name unknown) wakes up in the woods with a very nasty bump on her head and quickly discovers she's being chased by someone. While running through the woods she manages to escape whoever is chasing her when she stumbles upon a parsonage with a priest inside who agrees to hide her. 

The priest, Adage, starts to ask Kiera questions but promptly discovers that she has a bit of amnesia. She does not know her last name, where is she from or why someone might be chasing her. He decided to put her up in the guest cottage on the property until she figures out what's going on. The parsonage and cemetery attached to it are in a tiny town called Blighty. 

One night while she's alone in the cabin, she sees what she thinks is an apparition. She learns that while she may not know who she is, she has the gift of second sight and uses it to talk to the ghost, a woman named Emma. The town harbors a dark secret in regard to what happened to Emma and Kiera believes she needs to help her to move on. 

Kiera meets the grocery store owner, Zoe and a local doctor intern, Mason, and they end up helping her to discover what might have happened to Emma. Kiera is happy to stay in Blighty in the cottage and help the spirits move on. 

I love a good mystery/ghost story. Kiera is an interesting character and I'm very interested in finding out her backstory, especially considering at one point she shows having some sort of possible military training. Zoe is a fun character too with her theories and antics. And Mason could be a possible love interest for Kiera. Considering this is the first book in the series, not a lot of loose ends in regard to Keira are resolved but it definitely makes me look forward to the next two books. 

The Rack and Cue

Bloody gore and guts galore! 

The author reached out to me and asked me to read this book and after reading the synopsis, I was definitely intrigued. I am new to this author but if this book is any indication, I will most assuredly be checking out more of his books.

The basic premise of the book is simple. A pub called The Rack and Cue, positioned in the middle of nowhere on a lonely road, is running a billiard tournament. The pool competition ends with a $2000 purse. Sounds pretty sweet, doesn't it? 

The story begins with introducing us to the players, an odd assortment of people. A couple of girls backpacking through, a couple of truck drivers diverted due to the rain, a couple of undercover cops and a biker gang. The owner of the pub Porky seems like just your run of the mill barkeep. However, he is harboring some very dark secrets and intentions. We also meet Doc and Baby but I won't say anything about them, too many spoilers.

The tournament begins and they are soon picked off one by one. The losers are sent to an alternate exit than the one they came in and are told they are going to another lounge. However, that is not the case. Unbeknownst to the other players, the losers are encountering something much more sinister than they could have imagined. A few of the patrons start to get suspicious and soon enough a few of them are in a fight for their lives, literally.

The initial story I thought was over, but I was happily and surprisingly wrong! At about the 70% mark (I read this on my Kindle) the story takes another turn. The plot thickens and a new one begins. Still at the same location and involving some of the same people but with a big twist. I really love a good twist in a story. If I had one thing I didn't like, the second part left me wanting more. I was really intrigued by the two characters that are introduced in the second part and I would love to get more of the story there although I felt the author did a good job of giving us some of it so we wouldn't be completely in the dark.

Overall, I really enjoyed this story. Its full of blood, gore, crazy folks, and some really disgusting moments. Which is precisely why I liked it! The characters are interesting, and I think the author did a good job of giving us enough of a backstory with each. The ending is pretty perfect too, even if I wanted more. I really liked the setting as well. An intensely rainy day, a roaring fire in an old English pub, complete with meat pies and local ale. Underneath the seemingly normal building, it is anything but that. Secret rooms, a bloody basement and a creepy attic makes this place the perfect place for what's truly going on. If you love a good, gory story with monsters and blood and guts, then this is the book for you!