Book Birthday Review: Nothing but Life by Brent Van Staalduinen

3/5 Stars 304 pages
Published February 16th 2021 by Dundurn Press

An engaging book about gun violence, what to do when you lose a parent, and moving to a new town while facing community service charges, Nothing But Life is a really unique take on a very serious topic. Following a young boy as he tries to live with life after a horrific trauma, it really shows what a roller coaster it can be. But in the end, he may not completely move on, but he’s at least made a couple friends and maybe bloomed a small romance, and that’s something to be proud of.

After attacking his school bully, Wendell or Dills as he prefers is faced with a summer of community service in the park picking up garbage, with a seemingly strange groundskeeper, a very pretty girl who lives near by and doesn’t quite fit in with everyone, and a struggling home life with his traumatized mom, her sister, and their mother. But things are worse than they seem. They’ve moved because his step father did something horrific, went into his school with a gun and created a mass murder before trying to take his own life. He’s seen a lot for his age, and he’s just trying to move past it, but things are more complicated with that, especially when he’s not ready to face what’s really happened. But that’s when he starts hearing his step father’s voice in his head asking him to come and visit him.

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It tortures him to hear him. Once his role model, he’s conflicted with his feelings for him. After all, he’s been his dad his whole life, but he can’t face what he’s done or really accept it at all for that matter. But he has to, because there’s nothing anyone can do about it except for that. He tries to ignore his feelings for most of the book, but eventually his new friend and aunt convince him that he does need to face him, and he needs to go and visit his step dad in the hospital. But again, things aren’t so simple.

This is a story of facing the hard things in life, because though it’s very difficult to do that, it’s something that needs to be done. And that there is actually life after a horrible trauma. I think that for what it is, it’s a really good book, even though it was very stressful to read at times. The characters are very lifelike and face challenges that could happen in our world, especially the emotional aspect of things. And the world they live in isn’t any different from our own. I think that they’re very strong for the age that they are, and overall it was a good book to read, but I wasn’t very satisfied with the ending. I recommend it if you’re looking for something a little different than your usual genre, or just want to get a little more insight to a very horrific topic. But be aware, that I was stressed out reading it, and you might be too.

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If you’d like to grab a copy, you can do so here through my Amazon Associates link.

And if you’d like to keep up with the author, you can here on Twitter!

Thanks for reading! Hope you’re doing well and staying safe.

Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.ca and affiliated sites.

Weaponized by Zac Thompson Review

5/5 Stars 356 pages
Published October 31st 2017 by Inkshares

This book was outside of my comfort zone for books. Not that I don’t like a horror story every once in a while, but this was just something else. Let me tell you, the description doesn’t even give you a peek into how disgustingly shocking this book is, but not that it’s disgusting in a bad way, because I did end up finishing the book and really getting tangled up in the story. Just a warning though, it is disgusting and horrific and all the other things we love about the horror genre.

The main characters are two young adults, Trip, a boy who just wants to find a boyfriend and live the life he sees everyone else have, and Ree, a girl who was shipped from the mainland and has no problem finding anything she needs in a partner. The world they live in however, is much different than our own. After literal giants came from the sky, an infection took over the world and so did something called the Sex Wars. After that, people who contracted an insane sexually transmitted disease either died, or became a horrific amalgamation of a human body and an alien weapon.

Completely unlike anything I’ve ever read or watched, I was sucked in from the very moment I picked up this book. I had no idea that it would end the way that it did, and honestly I didn’t even expect the middle of the book if we’re going to be real here. Every turn the story took was a new and grotesque surprise. And I loved it. Appalling books like these are the reason that I want to read more horror, and I those horror books to be just as shocking and repugnant as these. Because that’s what horror is really about, isn’t it?

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Overall, I really enjoyed the story of Trip and Ree living with the changes in their lives, and their bodies, and the world around them. They did what they thought was right no matter what anyone else said. I loved the descriptions of the world that they lived in too, from the weapons made of bones that fired teeth, the dried human organ armor, and the living human tissue that grew over the cityscape. I couldn’t get enough of it, and even when I was disgusted and laughing to my friends about how awful the things I was reading were, I couldn’t put it down. And that’s exactly what I want in a book like this. Something that is really hard to do, this book was descriptive enough that it played out like a comic in my brain. I couldn’t ask for more.

If you’re interested in grabbing a copy for yourself, you can do so here, through my Amazon Associates link.

And if you’d like to keep up with the Author, you can here on Twitter!

Thanks for reading! Hope you’re doing well and reading some great books like these.

Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.ca and affiliated sites.

Book Birthday Review: A Flood of Posies by Tiffany Meuret

5/5 Stars 255 pages
Published February 9th 2021 by Black Spot Books

I have to say before anything else, that this book was so intricate and amazing, and I really didn’t expect it. I definitely thought it would be a good one, a wild ride, but I really just didn’t know what exactly I was getting myself into when I started it. And I’m so thankful I got the chance to read it. This haunting book is something I feel like I will think about for a solid amount of time now that I’ve finished it. It’s horrific and fantastic, but in none of the usual ways. And I’ll explain why.

Following a pair of sisters in 2025 and also in 2026, one ten years older named Doris, and Thea, who jokingly says she was almost named the accident. Their lives are drastically different. Both traumatized by their abusive mother, someone who was obsessed with the image that she presented to the people around her, but not really caring what it took to get to that perfect image, including violence against the two. This lead them to live completely different lives, Doris living with her husband and suffering for her independence after a debilitating car accident, and Thea, an addict living anywhere she can. Everything changes however, when the flood comes. And with it brings the Posies.

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The story rotates between two chapters of before, and two after the flood. It shows both sisters lives, and through these chapters we really get to know each character very intimately and deeply. Easily these two and their mother could be very real people, and there’s no problem believing that. Mixed into that is this fantastically scary world filled with water and death and basically just Thea, or better known as Sestra after the flood, doing what she has to, to survive. This book does an amazing job of describing exactly what it would be like to have to live in the middle of an ocean with no land in sight, and especially no food or water. Starving and dying of thirst, Sestra finds herself on a boat with a man she doesn’t know named Rob, as the two struggle to survive. That’s just the beginning though. Because the Posies are always underneath the surface, just waiting for something to come by. Massive octopus like creatures, they can easily take boats down and crush whatever they can grab a hold of with their tentacles.

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I had a really good time reading this book. As horrific as some of the chapters were, and they really made me scared for them sometimes, I think it did it’s job, and it did it well. This is what I want from a book like this. And I can guarantee that it’ll be something you’re thinking about for a long time after you’ve set it back on your shelf. I think it’s even something I could read again and again, and I very rarely say that. I’d love to have a copy for my own shelf. The breathtaking cover reveals little about what is actually inside the book, and I just really love everything about it. Definitely check it out if you get the chance.

If you’d like to grab a copy, you can do so here through my Amazon Associates link.

And if you’d like to keep up with the author, you can here on Twitter!

Thanks for reading! Hope you’re doing well and staying safe.

Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.ca and affiliated sites.

Smoke (Burned #2) by Ellen Hopkins Review

Wow! I can’t believe I read the first book on this duo, Burned, over three years ago. I can remember it like it was yesterday. Whether that’s because of the content, the abuse, the love, or just the storytelling in general, I’m not sure. But I’m glad I got around to finally wrapping everything up. Like always, I love Ellen Hopkins’ writing, not just the style of it but the way she weaves her stories together. They’re heartbreaking and beautiful all at the same time. I can’t get enough, even though they’re hard to read sometimes.

5/5 Stars 543 pages
Published September 10th 2013 by Margaret K. McElderry

After we finished the last book, we were left at more than one death, and a lot of horrific confusion. Pattyn had just lost the person she loves most in her life, her boyfriend Ethan, and not only him, but their unborn baby as well. That and her abusive father. He died by a gunshot in the shed in front of her and her traumatized and abused sister, Jackie.

So when we start this book, Pattyn is on the run from the police, taking a bus as far as she can go, to see the ocean before she’s certain she too will die. She finds herself after quite some time working as a maid and nanny on a farm far from anywhere she’s ever known, and quite content hiding away and trying to forget about what she’s been through. Jackie, however, is at home recovering from a very violent night of not only physical abuse, but sexual abuse as well. She faces a very different life than Pattyn, one filled with secrets and harsh words, forced to stay silent about what’s happened to her, while her mother tries to just forget anything ever happened, even inviting the boy that’s done that to her to come to a holiday dinner. Luckily, she makes friends with a boy at school, Gavin, who really changes her life, and her outlook on life.

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This book, like all of Ellen Hopkins books, are a little hard to read because of the subject matter, but if you can bear to read the horrific things happening to the characters, you really get to see them overcome their demons and blossom into the people that they should be. That they know that they can be, and you know that they can be. Though it can be triggering, I can’t even begin to explain how nice it is to see that they can get through the bad things that happen to them, and that’s why I can’t stop reading the books that she puts out.

I’m so glad that I got to see this storyline all wrapped up, and that not all the bad things that happen stick around forever. Not only can these characters grow from their trauma, but you can too, and the author has added a blurb like she always does, at the end of the book about where to get help, and the statistics of people who are in situations just like the ones in the books. I highly recommend checking them out, and even if you find the subject matter hard to get through, really trying hard to see it through to the end because it is worth it.

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If you’d like a copy, you can grab one here through my Amazon Associates link!

And if you’re interested in keeping up with the author, you can do so here!

Thanks for reading! I hope everyone is staying safe and doing well.

Moon Lake by Various Creators (Named Below) Review

5/5 Stars 107 pages
Published September 22nd 2020 by Heavy Metal

I had no idea what I was getting myself into with this book, but that didn’t stop me.  Full of hilarious adult humour, nudity, gore, and scifi goodness, Once I picked it up I couldn’t put it down, and I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. If you’re looking for any of that, then you’ll want to grab a copy for yourself.

Beginning with an eccentric intro about how Moon Lake came to being, The Earth being a lonely single mother to her bastard son, The Moon, and his undoing because of being used as a blast shield for years and years from space rocks. How he eventually took his anger out on the planet itself, casting down a chunk of himself and creating what is known today as Moon Lake, an irradiated graveyard of a lake where really weird stuff happens. And that’s just the beginning.

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From a sex camp full of people who turn into monkeys, to epic space battles on the moon against aliens, even to a cheerleader that loses her mind after the worst day possible and goes on a killing spree. This book has it all. And it does it all and still is able to stay really funny in the process. Though, it does go up and down. The stories have their own art styles that fit perfectly, and make each story beautifully horrific in their own special ways. I couldn’t ask for anything more from this book, and I’m glad that I got the chance to check it out.

If you’d like to grab a copy for yourself, you can do so here.

Here are all the creators that came together to make this book happen. Sorry I couldn’t fit them all in the title, or track down all of their Twitter accounts.

Brooke Allen, Tommy Castillo, Dan Fogler, James Daly III, Josh Finney, Alex Eckman-Lawn, Brian Holguin, Stefan Hutchinson, Mark Englert, Lizzy John, Dave Lanphear, Blake Leibel, Tim Seeley, Scott Newman, R.H. Stavis, Troy Peteri, Zoey Stevens, and Nick Apalansky.

Thanks so much for reading! Would you check this book out? Lets chat about it! Hope you’re staying safe and doing well.