Happy Holidays!

Hey! Hope everyone’s having a good day.

You might have noticed that I haven’t posted in a bit, and I hope that I have a good reason. I’m taking a little break, hanging out with family, and catching up on my reading list, so hopefully I can stay on top of it, in the new year.

I’m really excited to see if I can beat my goal again this year, though I’m not sure I’ll be able to read quite as many this time around, I’d love to try. You can see my reading goal here.

Anyways, I’m spending a lot of my time catching up on some amazing comics, and I can’t wait to post about them. So no, I haven’t disappeared, I’m just trying to do better  next year!

 

Thanks for reading.

The Malaise by David Turton Review

The Malaise by David Turton 5/5 Stars 304 pages
Published December 14th 2018 by Cosmic Egg Books

If you’re looking at the cover of “The Malaise”, and thinking, wow this looks interesting. You’re not wrong, and you better pick up a copy, especially if you like stories set mostly in the post apocalypse. That, and the cover will be a beautiful addition to your bookshelf, if you’re just looking at it because of the cover.

 

If you do get past the cover however, I’m sure most of you will, you’ll find a world set in 2038 a near future. A man named Rick Razor runs most of the technology in the world, and although he’s not really a people person and doesn’t do very many interviews, the first part of the book switches between interviews of him, and a man named Mike.

 

The world is still whole, and Rick Razor is trying to find a way to not only help turn third world countries into first world countries, but also fill the world with interesting and planet saving technology at the same time. Although privacy doesn’t exactly exist anymore, most people are more than willing to trade that for the interesting technology that he has to offer. That is, until a strange video is uploaded and quickly becomes viral, one of the most viewed videos in the world.

 

Mike is at work when it happens, giving a lecture to his class, and a student brings it up to him after. He says it’s really weird, but it made him feel hyped up, kind of like he was on drugs. But after watching it himself, Mike feels sick and depressed. He wonders if it’s because of his past drug use. Later that night however, everyone who felt hyped up by the video changes into a twitching, drooling, killer. He wakes up to find his beautiful wife trying to smother their new baby.

 

One thing I found interesting about this book was that not only did it show the world post apocalypse, but it showed before as well. The second part of the book takes place in 2054, as Mike and his daughter try to rebuild society. If you don’t like the third person viewpoint, you might not like this, but I hope the story would be enough to grab your attention away from that. My favourite character would probably have to be Zara, because she not only plays a big part in the story, but also because she’s very strong to have survived growing up in the apocalypse.

 

Overall I’m glad I read this book. I love stories set in the apocalypse, so I really hoped that I would enjoy this one. Not only were the characters really interesting to get to know, but I was really happy to get to see the world around them as well. I also loved the cult aspect of it. Definitely check it out if you have the chance, and you don’t mind a little bit of gore in your stories.

 

The book is available here, and here’s a link to the author’s Twitter if you’d like to keep up with him.

Thanks for reading!

If You Could Live in ANY Book World, What Would You Pick?

Hey! It’s a late post tonight, who’s still awake?

Anyways, I just thought of something interesting, and I’d love to hear your input on the subject. If you have to choose any book to live in, which one would you pick?

Personally, although they’re really dangerous, I’m fascinated by post apocalyptic worlds with futuristic technology integrated into them, and I would love to live in one of those kind of places.

Though, at the same time, I would love to live in a utopian society full of tech, even though they usually turn out to be dystopias, it would be cool while it lasted.

What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments!

Thanks for reading.

Thinner in an Instant Cookbook: Great-Tasting Dinners with 350 Calories or Less from the Instant Pot or Other Electric Pressure Cooker by Nancy S. Hughes Review

Thinner in an Instant Cookbook: Great-Tasting Dinners with 350 Calories or Less from the Instant Pot or Other Electric Pressure Cooker by Nancy S. Hughes 5/5 Stars 128 pages
Published September 18th 2018 by Harvard Common Press

If you’re looking for a recipe book filled with ways to spice up your diet with a pressure cooker, or just some ideas of healthy meals and desserts to make, then look no further! This is the book for you. At just over sixty pages, this book is filled with interesting things to make, including bbq chicken sandwiches, lemon-berry bread pudding, and shepherd’s pie in a pot!

 

Though I don’t have a pressure cooker, the amount of cookbooks that I’ve found recently are making me want to get one! I am sure you can find a way to use these recipes without one, however. Not only are there things to make in this book, but every page has nutritional facts per serving, as well as a section before the book that includes how to use your pressure cooker, pointers for fast and healthy cooking, ways to add more flavour to your meals, extra equipment needed, and ways to add more nutrition to your food!

 

Overall this book is an incredibly fast read without any pictures, the only down side, but one that is a must have if you own a pressure cooker, or even if you don’t. I have tons of new idea’s for what to make in the future, and I’m glad I got the chance to read it. Definitely check it out if you get the chance.

 

The book is available here, as well as a pressure cooker.

Thanks for reading!

November Favourites

Hey everyone! Hope you’re having a good day. I know I’m a little late for this, but here’s my top five favourite books I read last month!

 

In no specific order, the first one I’d like to talk about it Luke Cage: Everyman by Anthony Del Col and Jahnoy Lindsay.

“With Harlem in the grips of an unprecedented heat wave, the people look to their hero—the unbreakable man, Luke Cage! But the heat wave turns out to be the least of Harlem’s worries. Someone has their sights set on the city’s 1%, and the rich and powerful are dropping dead from mysterious illnesses. It’s up to Luke Cage to stop the Everyman Killer—even though he’s just received a grim diagnosis of his own… By the time Luke discovers the true identity of the Everyman Killer he’s too late to stop them from abducting one of the most important people in his life. Can Luke neutralize the killer in time to save his beloved city?”

Check out my full review here, and here’s where you can get the book.

 

Next of course is Long Lost, Book One by Matthew Erman and Lisa Sterle.

“The first trade collection​ of the critically acclaimed debut from Matthew Erman and Lisa Sterle, Long Lost is the story of two estranged sisters who find themselves drawn back to their small southern hometown after an invitation from an otherworldly creature. The pair is compelled to unlock the disturbing mysteries that are hidden in Hazel Patch in the hopes of uncovering the bizarre circumstances surrounding their mother… but they must deal with each other first.”

You can see my full review here, and here’s where you can get a copy of the book for yourself.

 

 

The next book I want to put on my list is My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies by Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips, and Jacob Phillips.

“Teenage Ellie has always had romantic ideas about drug addicts, those tragic artistic souls drawn to needles and pills have been an obsession since the death of her junkie mother ten years ago. But when Ellie lands in an upscale rehab clinic where nothing is what it appears to be… she’ll find another more dangerous romance, and find out how easily drugs and murder go hand-in-hand. MY HEROES HAVE ALWAYS BEEN JUNKIES is a seductive coming-of-age story, a pop and drug culture-fueled tale of a young girl seeking darkness — and what she finds there.”

My full review is available here, and here’s a link to where you can get a copy of the book.

 

 

Second last is The Vision, Volume 2: Little Better than a Beast (Vision #2) by Tom King, Michael Walsh, Gabriel Hernandez Walta, Jordie Bellaire, Mike del Mundo, & Clayton Cowles.

“Once upon a time a robot and a witch fell in love. What followed was a tale of the dead and the dying, of the hopeful and the lost, of the wronged and the avenged. And in the end, after both had fallen, the witch and the robot rose from their dirt and eyed each other across a field of blood and bone. Forty-five years in the making, this is the story of Scarlet Witch and the Vision. Before family, there was love. And war.”

Check out my full review here, and here’s a link to where you can get a copy of the book for yourself.

 

And last but not least, Hillbilly Volume 2 by Eric Powell.

“The second volume in Eisner Award winner Eric Powell’s Appalachian fantasy epic collecting issues #5-8. Rondel, with the Devil’s Cleaver, wanders the hills as the witchy and monstrous descend upon him.”

My full review is available here if you’re interested in learning more about it, and the book is available here.

 

 

 

I didn’t realize how many comics I read last month but I loved so many of them! I’m really happy to see that there isn’t single full length novel on my list this month, because, when does that ever happen? These are all amazing stories, and I definitely recommend you check them all out.

Thanks for reading!

 

Green Jay and Crow by D.J. Daniels Review

Green Jay and Crow by D.J. Daniels 3/5 Stars 384 pages
Published December 11th 2018 by Abaddon

Following two people, Green Jay/Eva and Crow/Brom, this story is about aliens, humants (part plant, part alien, part human people) and alternate realities. It has a beautiful cover and an intense description, and although the book is really unique in comparison to other books I’ve read lately, it just wasn’t my new favourite.

 

Crow/Brom is a delivery person. Usually, it’s something easy, though he never really knows for sure what he’s delivering. He has a friend named Mac/Blue Jay, who’s probably the smartest person he’s ever met. And the world they live in, though we don’t actually get to know a lot about it, is full of aliens they affectionately call tenties, that have the power to adapt to any situation.

 

Green Jay/Eva, is a double. That means she’s been printed from a 3D printer, a copy of a celebrity or someone like that, who will disintegrate after a few weeks of being alive. The only problem is, is that she hasn’t disintegrated. And the robots decided to help her escape.

 

The book switches between the two characters, though they don’t really have anything in common aside from being close with Mac/Blue Jay. That changes throughout the story. After obtaining a time locked package to deliver, Crow/Brom is torn through alternate realities. Eva claims that the package is hers, but he doesn’t believe her. The story moves on to a mystery when suddenly all the tenties disappear from the world.

 

Though I did like the plot of the book, I just couldn’t get into it. Usually I’m sucked right into the story, but for some reason that I’m still trying to figure out, It just couldn’t concentrate on it. Maybe this book wasn’t a perfect fit for me, but that doesn’t mean you won’t like it. It was really interesting, and it’s something I won’t forget about anytime soon. My favourite characters were probably the Tenties, just because they were so different from anything else in the story, and I also really enjoyed the time jumping part of it.

 

The book is available here, and here’s a link to the author’s Twitter.

Thanks for reading!

Daughter of the Dragon Tree by Susanne Aernecke Review

Daughter of the Dragon Tree by Susanne Aernecke 5/5 Stars 448 pages
Published December 11th 2018 by Bear Company

If you’re like me, you’re going to read the description of this book and think that it’s so interesting you can’t pass it up. Although it’s a massive book, over four hundred pages, I devoured it in under five hours, and I believe that you could too if you wanted to. Romy, from Germany, is feeling impulsive after learning that her friend, Thea, has cancer. Usually they rock climb together, but because of her illness, she hasn’t been able to in a long time. Though Romy is confident in her skills, mistakes happen, and climbing without a harness is one of them. Of course, she falls twenty five feet.

 

But that’s when something strange happens. She’s knocked unconscious for over seven hours. While she’s out, she has a kind of vision, of a girl named Iriome, who lives in the Canary Islands. She learns about a healing ceremony, and watches as the aged medicine woman takes her own life and warns her students of men who will come and take from them, and don’t care about anything but themselves.

 

She wakes up unharmed, with a strange taste in her mouth, and her life is forever changed. She spends a long time after that tracking down the origin of the ritual, in a race against the clock to heal her sick friend. But that’s not all this book has to offer. It’s also a tale of Iriome, losing her identity and whole community as a war takes place around her in 1492.

 

The first thing I have to say about this book, is actually two things, and they are that I usually don’t like historical fiction, and I don’t usually like stories with two points of view, but this book is a game changer. The characters are very realistic, not only in how they act but what they do, and I think anyone would do the same thing if they were in the character’s place. I think my favourite character is Iriome, just because she goes through so much and is able to come out somewhat clean on the other side.

 

The world that the book is set in is present day Germany, and 1492 in the Canary Islands. It was really interesting to see this parallel to the world that we live in, and I really enjoyed the blurb at the back that explained what actually happened, in out lives. I’m not really sure what to compare this to, but I think that if you think it’s something you would like, you should definitely give it a shot. It’s easy to get into, and once you start it, you can’t put it down. The book is available here, and here’s a link to the author’s Twitter account.

Thanks for reading!

Scythe (Arc of a Scythe #1) by Neal Shusterman Review

Scythe (Arc of a Scythe #1) by Neal Shusterman 5/5 Stars 435 pages
Published November 28th 2017 by Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers 

“Scythe” is an extraordinary novel about a different kind of world than our own. Set far in the future, people have the technology to be pretty much immortal, but to keep everything balanced, people called Scythe’s are in charge of death. Not only the dead body part, but the actual killing itself. Everyone just excepts that that’s the price they have to pay, and most even bribe the Scythe’s with food and care for a chance at a year of guaranteed life.

 

Following two characters, Citra and Rowan, it begins when Citra’s mother lets in a Scythe. His name is Scythe Faraday, and he will one day play a huge part in both of the young teenager’s lives. It’s told in the third person viewpoint, and  this book really makes it shine. Though the world is much different than our own, it’s very easy to imagine and get sucked into. I couldn’t put it down.

 

While some people spend their time living their lives, some spend their time killing themselves over, and over again. That’s where Citra and Rowan’s lives were headed too, until Scythe Faraday first invites them out to nice places, and then takes them on as his apprentices. But as the book goes on, a mystery begins to form, and everything changes. If you’re like me, you won’t even realize how tense you’ll be until you try to stop reading.

 

Something I loved about this book was that it really showed both sides, good and bad, and kind of mixed them together at the same time. I think what this book really is about, is that life isn’t fair. Ever. Not now, not last week, not two hundred years in the future. Life isn’t fair, and what happens, happens. And I think that’s really important.

 

Overall I really loved getting into this book, and I can’t wait to see what happens next. It’s not every day you read a book about grim reapers and massive AI technology at the same time. I think that even if you don’t like young adult books, you’ll love this one. It makes me want to read more of the author’s books.

 

The book is available here, and here’s a link to the author’s Twitter, if you’d like to keep up with him.

Thanks for reading!

Entangled (Spellbound #1) by Nikki Jefford Review

Entangled (Spellbound #1) by Nikki Jefford 4/5 Stars 241 pages
Published February 20th 2012 by Nikki Jefford

You ever read a book a long time ago and don’t remember it? That’s what happened with this book. I’m not sure why I didn’t remember it, but I do know that I liked it a lot more this time around. Though I’m not the biggest fan of books about magic, they’ve been growing on me a lot lately, and I enjoy them a lot more than I used to. If you like books about body switching teenage witches and warlocks, about seventeen or so, in school, living with their magic powers in a world that is mostly filled with powerless people, then this is a book you should check out.

 

Graylee and Charlene are identical twin sisters, though they couldn’t be more different. Charlene loves being the center of attention, even if she has to lie for it, and most of her food intake is Slimfast protein shakes. Graylee, on the other hand, couldn’t survive without food, and struggles with her missing powers. She has rules about who she can and can’t date, mostly just that she doesn’t want to date magical boys. Both girls have no problem standing up for themselves.

 

At the beginning of the book, we find Graylee and Charlene standing on top of the roof of their high school, with Charlene saying she’s going to jump. Her boyfriend has just dumped her, and she saw him kissing another girl. Graylee is able to convince her sister to calm down, but she’s insistent about not going to prom without her boyfriend, who she knows will come back to her. A lot of the story is the girls in class, or interacting with kids at their school.

 

Graylee finds herself being tormented by a demented boy named Raj. Known for setting his house on fire, he gives her the creeps, and especially when he uses spells to make her body stop moving. She eventually sneaks into the back seat of his car and chokes him with a string over the headrest. Little does she know, they’re going to need to work together in the very near future.

 

See, the thing is, is that Graylee is later found dead in her home, and even though it’s taboo, her mother tries to resurrect her with magic. She trades her own powers for her daughter’s life, but like a genie wish, something goes wrong. Graylee’s soul is put into the same body as Charlene’s soul, forcing them to share a body.

 

The world these girls live in was easy to imagine, as it’s pretty much the same as ours, but with a secret magical society weaved into their everyday life. I liked the characters, but some of the things they did seemed a little out of place and really spontaneous, but I also kind of enjoyed that part of it. It’s told from third person with Graylee as the main character. I’m sure after you finish this, you’ll be wondering, what next? I can’t wait to see what happens in the second book.

 

The book is available here, and here’s a link to the author’s Twitter.

Thanks for reading!

Graphic Novels from Novels?

Hey! Hope you’re having a good day.

Today I wanted to talk about a very important topic, and that is, judging by the title, when Graphic Novels are made from Novels. One example of this would be Legacy: A House of Night Graphic Novel by P.C. & Kristen Cast.

 

This book really intrigues me, because I loved the books. Though I still haven’t finished the last book in the original House of Night series, and I’m missing a couple of the novella’s, I really enjoyed reading it, and I’m excited to see how this book brings new life to the story. I’ve also noticed that they’ve made a second run along series based in the graphic novels, and I can’t even begin to imagine what that will be like. I can’t wait to see it in paper.

On the other hand, I’m wondering if maybe it’s getting kind of dragged out, and because there’s already so much story about the characters, will it be something I wont like? I guess I don’t know anything until I read it, and that’s just a risk I’m willing to take.

 

Do you know any other books that have been turned into graphic novels? Let me know about them! How did they turn out? Have you read the book I’m talking about, and would you recommend it?

 

Thanks for reading!