Review: The Devil Whispered by Shawn Starkweather

3/5 Stars 413 Pages (in paper) Published February 1st 2021 by Shawn Starkweather Publishing Company

Honestly as great as the plot and the characters were in this book, I had the hardest time getting immersed into it. For whatever reason, I still haven’t figured it out over five hundred pages later, I Just couldn’t keep my attention on this book. Whether that’s a me problem or a book problem I’m not sure, but I do have these good things to say about it. If you’re looking for an action packed cyberpunk mystery novel mixed with military personnel, robotic limbs and internal computers, and crazy body mods and just crazy tech in general, than this is definitely something you should look into checking out next.

At the beginning of this book we find out main character, Jacobi, hunting down a man for some kind of mob boss. He finds him surrounded by drugs and girls and easily apprehends him, and brings him back to his father. This is just the beginning though, because the favour he gets in return will really help him out later in the book. What’s really going on here, Jacobi learns after visiting his friend in jail after he has brutally murdered his wife, is that someone seems to be hunting down the members of his old army team. But why would someone do that? Their names and team were all under lock and key, not just anyone would be able to have that information. But his friend says it wasn’t his fault and that someone made him do it. How could someone just control another person like that? All these questions and more are all wrapped up by the end of the book.

Out of all the characters I think I like Risa and his other friend with the robotic limbs the most. I read another review that says this book seemed sexist, and while that opinion is valid, I really didn’t get that vibe from it. I would say the vibes I got from this book were more military James Bond with all the cyberpunk goodness and crazy tech we love that comes along with that genre. The world around the characters wasn’t explained in depth, and honestly neither were the characters themselves, and maybe that might be why I had trouble really getting into it. That being said, though, I did enjoy it, and I don’t think I lost any time while I was reading it. It just took me longer than usual to get through it because of those things.

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Overall, If you’re looking for something exciting and action packed, with lots of tech and storylines within the bigger storyline, than this might be something you want to check out next. I would say that anyone aged sixteen and up would be able to read this, there’s not really any explicit scenes, and what very little sexual scenes there actually are in this book, I counted two, they’re glossed over very quickly and don’t get too in depth with them other than saying yeah, they did this. Which I appreciated. I don’t think that this is one of those kinds of books. The plot twists were exciting and everything weaved together really nicely in the end. And I’m left wishing I had an internal computer or robotic limbs, or those cool night vision mods that turn your eyes all black.

If you’d like to grab a copy, you can do so here!

And if you’d like to follow the author on Twitter, you can here!

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.

Review: Recon (The Fringe #1) by Tarah Benner

5/5 Stars 296 pages
Published October 9th 2014

If you know me, or just follow my blog, you should know by now. But if you don’t, I’ll let you in on a little secret. I love post apocalypse and dystopia books. I can’t get enough of them. And this book is no exception. A unique mix of a dystopia built into an apartment complex filled with everything you could ever need, this is a world where your job is assigned to you on your graduation date, and with it comes the rest of your life. But for Harper, it’s not going the way she hoped, or even expected. And it’s a book I couldn’t get enough of.

Split between two viewpoints, the first is Eli. A brutal military person, he’s been forced into the job of training new cadets, and with it comes the trauma of sending them out not only too early, but without their full year of training due to the fact that the military that protects the complex and the area around it is dwindling. Dubbed the tunnels, the complex has anything you could ever want built into it, but because of the apocalyptic world outside, they’re forced to go out and protect the area around it by whatever means necessary. And he’s just trying not to get attached.

The second viewpoint is Harper, a twenty one year old woman who’s just gotten her graduation ceremony, and with it comes a new life. Brought into the compound from the outside world as a child, it’s all she’s ever known, but it’s about to tear everything she’s grown to love to shreds. After expecting some kind of tech job, she’s auctioned off into the military tier. And that’s just the beginning of her problems. Because there’s something much darker going on than just bidding wars on people for their careers, and it’s been in control for far too long.

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This was an amazing story filled with action, military training, romance, friendship, and a ton of hardships. The characters are very realistic despite their obvious differences from our own world, and they’re people that were easy to imagine because of it. Whatever they’re facing, be it their own thoughts, drug problems, crisis management, or really anything else they had to deal with in this book, they handle extremely well, the complete opposite of what I would do. It was an amazingly gripping story, and it was one that I couldn’t put down until it was done. I loved every second of it, and I’m so thankful that it’s part of a series, and I don’t have to say goodbye to the world so soon. I can’t wait to see what’s next. I think this book would be perfect for anyone looking for a good apocalyptic dystopia story, and honestly seeing as the worst thing that goes on in this are fights, swears, and kissing, I think anyone sixteen and up would enjoy it.

If you’d like to check out a copy for yourself, you can here!

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

Thanks for reading! And remember to watch out for drifters!

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: 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.

The Secret Apocalypse (Secret Apocalypse #1) by James Harden Review

4/5 Stars 165 pages
Published January 6th 2011 by Harben Publishing

A classic zombie apocalypse situation, mixed with high school aged characters, filled with action, military, and deception. What more could you ask for? The twist here is, is that it’s set in Australia, and the zombie outbreak is trying to be kept hidden by the government, the military, and everyone else in charge of it. Created by scientists, this deadly virus will tear apart the world person by person if it gets the chance to get out. But will it? You’ll have to read to find out.

It starts out like any other teen novel with Rebecca, our main character, going to school and hanging out with her friends after moving to Australia. Her mom is absent most of the time, busy with work, but one day before she can return the world she knows starts to crumble before her eyes. What is there to do? Grab your friends, grab some supplies, and maybe your military ex boyfriend, and go on the run of course. But the horror they’re going to experience is so unexpected and brutal that I don’t think they’ll ever recover.

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The story itself was just different enough from the other zombie apocalypse novels I’ve read, that it was actually really interesting to read and learn about. I liked the little part at the beginning where it showed what the end of the book would be like, I thought that was really insightful and different. So I knew where it was all going to end up, but I got to see really how it ended up that way. I couldn’t even imagine a situation like the one that the characters have to go through in this book, how traumatizing that must be. I do know that this is just the first book in a series however, so I’m interested to see what happens in the next one.

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 have a great day and are doing well.

Sleepless (Bird of Stone #1) by Tracey Ward Review

5/5 Stars 373 Pages
Published August 12th 2013

After a long break from reading and a depression spell, an amazing book like this was just what I needed. What seems like any other ordinary story of a girl and a boy is actually something beautiful and addicting. Dreams becoming reality, lives being torn apart and rebuilt, and at it’s heart, a story of love and two people finding each other no matter what. And it’s everything I could ever want it to be.

The story follows two people, a girl named Alexia with a sleeping disorder that causes her to slip, or basically teleport herself to wherever she’s dreaming about. After losing her parents, they didn’t die they just decided that they didn’t want her to be apart of their lives at just sixteen, she lives with her older sister who’s deathly worried about her when she wakes up some days to find her missing. Sometimes she’s only gone a night, but sometimes she’s gone for a week, stuck in some frightening city that she’s not familiar with, or even stuck out in the wilderness with nothing but what she’s worn to bed. Good thing she started strapping her phone and some cash to her leg.

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The other character is a boy named Nick, who’s come from a military family, and who’s not very close to his mother after deciding he wants to be apart of a very prestigious and important branch of the military, one that saves people and risks their own lives in the process. He’s going through the training for most of the story, but there’s also something different about him. He’s not able to feel fear. The only thing he’s really truly scared of is a nightmare that he has often, one that Alexia also has.

The two find themselves intertwined one day when Alex and her sister are in Florida for a mini vacation, and out of nowhere Nick pops up, clearly drowning from something, but he’s just appeared out of thin air. After that event, they begin to meet in their dreams more often than not, and start to bond. But everything goes even deeper when Alexia tries to dig deep into why she is the way she is, and it’s unlike anything the two could have ever expected.

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This story is amazing and exciting and heartfelt. I really couldn’t get enough of it. It’s books like these that really make me want to read 24/7, and after finding out that this is actually a series, I can’t wait until I can get my hands on the next book. The characters are so lifelike despite their obvious differences from our real world, that you could almost believe that they’re real people. The story was gripping and everything I could have hoped for, and more. If you’re looking for something to pull you out of your normal book rut, then I highly recommend checking this out if you get the chance.

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

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

Thanks for reading! I hope you’re having a great day.

Heart Attack, Vol. 1: Against the Wall by Shawn Kittelsen, Eric Zawadzki, Jon Moisan, Pat Brosseau, Mike Spicer, Michael Garland, Carina Taylor, & Andres Juarez Review

5/5 Stars 160 pages
Published August 4th 2020 by Image Comics

Do you love X-Men just as much as I do? People who have special powers each as unique as they are? What about a world where they’re segregated from the people who don’t have powers and the government demonizes them? Than this book will be perfect for you. Not only do they have their own powers, but occasionally, they can combo their powers together, creating even stronger ones. Don’t expect this book to be completely straightforward though, because there are some crazy twists in the story even I didn’t expect.

At the beginning, we see a young man and woman in an alley, making graffiti. Pretty harmless, right? Well not to everyone. Because special Variant officers come and take them down, treating the one they catch as a hardened criminal, and taking her far away and not letting her see the light of day. She’s missing, and the only person that can help her is Charlie, the young man who was with her, who secretly films the assault on Nona and uploads it for the world to see. But is he doing it for the right reasons?

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He then joins up with a team of women who are determined to change the world, and how people see and treat Variants, the people with powers. But it’s going to be  a long road before they get justice, and before the officers even begin to see them as people. But they’re just as much people as anyone else, most of them barely having any powers at all. The world needs to change, and they’re going to do whatever they can to do it.

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This book was one that I knew as soon as I started it, I was going to be obsessed with. I love the art, it’s so cartoony and amazing and it just fits the story so well, even the violent parts that aren’t so innocent. I also love the bright colours in this, as a girl with coloured hair, I always love a main character with brightly coloured hair like me. I couldn’t get enough of it. And I can’t wait to check out the next volume. Definitely check it out if you get the chance, and even if you don’t think you would love it, I think you should just try it out. I’m sure you’ll be as obsessed as I am.

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 creators, you can do so here! I’ve link some Twitter accounts for you to follow.

Shawn Kittelsen, Eric Zawadzki, Jon Moisan, Pat Brosseau, Mike Spicer, Michael Garland, Carina Taylor, & Andres Juarez.

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

October 2020 Favourites

Hey everyone! I’m posting a bonus today, because I like to break up the cover reveals on my blog so there’s a little variety, you know? So here we go! My favourite books I read last month.

First off, Leonardo 2 by Stephane Levallois.

Planet Earth, engaged in an intergalactic conflict, owes its salvation to the clone of Leonardo da Vinci and to the rebirth of his genius. Author Stéphane Levallois has created the fantastic universes of many of the big Hollywood blockbusters (Alien, King Kong (Skull Island), Harry Potter and many others). The result of two years of elaboration and work, this space opera exemplifies his talent in two areas that he masters to perfection: the universe of science fiction and art. To build his story and compose his boards, Levallois draws from the painted and drawn work of the Renaissance master, selecting a large number of drawings and paintings by Leonardo to represent the characters, vessels or even the architectures in his story. The grand scale result is stupefying as Leonardo’s everlasting visions are successfully projected into a stunning futuristic setting.

Second is The Cup and the Prince (Kingdom of Curses and Shadows #1) by Day Leitao.

One prince wants her out.
Another wants her as a pawn.
Someone wants her dead.

Zora wants to win the cup and tell them all to screw themselves.

Yes, 17-year-old Zora cheated her way into the Royal Games, but it was for a very good reason. Her ex-boyfriend thought she couldn’t attain glory on her own. Just because she was a girl. And he was the real cheater. So she took his place.

Now she’s competing for the legendary Blood Cup, representing the Dark Valley. It’s her chance to prove her worth and bring glory for her people. If she wins, of course.

But winning is far from easy. The younger prince thinks she’s a fragile damsel who doesn’t belong in the competition. Determined to eliminate her at all costs, he’s stacking the challenges against her. Zora hates him, hates him, hates him, and will do anything to prove him wrong.

The older prince is helping her, but the cost is getting Zora entangled in dangerous flirting games. Flirting, the last thing she wanted. And then there’s someone trying to kill her.

Third is The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (The Hunger Games #0) by Suzanne Collins.

It is the morning of the reaping that will kick off the tenth annual Hunger Games. In the Capital, eighteen-year-old Coriolanus Snow is preparing for his one shot at glory as a mentor in the Games. The once-mighty house of Snow has fallen on hard times, its fate hanging on the slender chance that Coriolanus will be able to outcharm, outwit, and outmaneuver his fellow students to mentor the winning tribute.

The odds are against him. He’s been given the humiliating assignment of mentoring the female tribute from District 12, the lowest of the low. Their fates are now completely intertwined — every choice Coriolanus makes could lead to favor or failure, triumph or ruin. Inside the arena, it will be a fight to the death. Outside the arena, Coriolanus starts to feel for his doomed tribute… and must weigh his need to follow the rules against his desire to survive no matter what it takes.

The fourth book is Girl Minus X by Anne Stone.

Fifteen-year-old Dany is trying to survive with her little sister, Mac, in a world collapsing under the weight of a slow, creeping virus that erodes memory. As their identities slip away from them, the late-stage infected are quarantined by the Ministry of Disease Control in prison-hospices, military camps where some of Dany’s family have already been taken.

When a new and more virulent strain of the disease emerges and Dany begins to experience symptoms, the sisters are cast into crisis. As they try to escape the city together with Dany’s best friend, Eva, and history teacher, Mr. Faraday, Dany comes to see the ways in which her own fear has carried her trauma with her. As her past erodes, Dany’s present flickers into full fluorescence.

Elegant and thoughtful, Girl Minus X is a novel in which a young girl navigates her trauma in a world that can’t help but forget.

And the last one is Echoes of War (Echoes Trilogy #1) by Cheryl Campbell.

Decades of war started by a genocidal faction of aliens threatens the existence of any human or alien resisting their rule on Earth. Dani survives by scavenging enough supplies to live another day while avoiding the local military and human-hunting Wardens. But then she learns that she is part of the nearly immortal alien race of Echoes—not the human she’s always thought herself to be—and suddenly nothing in her life seems certain.

Following her discovery of her alien roots, Dani risks her well-being to save a boy from becoming a slave—a move that only serves to make her already-tenuous existence on the fringes of society in Maine even more unstable, and which forces her to revisit events and people from past lives she can’t remember. Dani believes the only way to defeat the Wardens and end their dominance is to unite the Commonwealth’s military and civilians, and she becomes resolved to play her part in this battle. Her attempts to change the bleak future facing the humans and Echoes living on Earth suffering under the Wardens will lead her to clash with a tyrant determined to kill her and all humankind—a confrontation that even her near-immortal heritage may not be able to help her survive.

Thanks for reading! Have you checked out or want to check out any of these books yet? Lets talk about them!

Run To You (Seasons of Love #1) by Jayne Townsley Cover Reveal

Run to You
Jayne Townsley
(Seasons of Love, #1)
Publication date: November 24th 2020
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Suspense

A friend of the family has done despicable things and has his eyes set on Rin and she has no idea what he has in store for her.

Rin lost her mother four years after the murder of her best friend on the night of their high school graduation. Although her mother’s death was unexpected, there is nothing suspicious about it whereas Hannah’s death is an open cold case. At least Rin thinks her mother’s death was nothing more than an untimely tragedy. Going on the long dreamed of post-college vacation that she and her friends have been planning since grade school, she hopes to leave the pain behind for a bit and relax in the Florida sunshine.

Kevin loves his life and his job as an Army Ranger. When he and his Army brothers use some well-earned time off to visit Panama City Beach, he’s not expecting to meet the woman who will change his life forever. A woman being hunted by an unknown monster intent on keeping them apart by any means necessary.

Can Kevin keep Rin from Hannah’s fate? Or is it his turn to face loss like Rin?

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Lost Solace (Lost Solace #1) by Karl Drinkwater Review

4/5 Stars 273 pages
Published October 15th 2017 by Organic Apocalypse

Though I haven’t read anything from author Karl Drinkwater before, I’m intrigued by their other works after this book. I was a little confused at first, but once I was into the book, I really was into it. You know I love a good sci-fi space adventure, and this just adds another story to my list of ones I really enjoyed. A really nice cover, a very unique story, unlike anything I’ve read before, and an action packed plot, I couldn’t put it down.

Following a girl named Opal, it shows her life as she flies through space in a stolen military ship with an insanely upgraded artificial intelligence, who she’s named Clarissa. It begins with her in chryo, and Clarissa waking her up and making her food. Though they haven’t known each other for very long, they’re very familiar, and are headed to a lost ship, something they’re not even sure is anything more than a myth. Opal is hoping to not only get rich off of what she finds on it, but to find information to her past on it also. All that, without being caught by the military. What a dream that was.

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What she finds on the ship, however, is beyond anything she could have imagined. A kind of alien species, or something like that, that has bonded into a ship, and created something grotesque and horrifying and really interesting and insane all in one go. Flesh cakes the interior, creating turrets that seem to grow out of the wall at key points for attacks, and horrifying monsters spawn again out of the wall to track not only Opal, but the military that tracks her down to kill her.

This book was very interesting and unique, and even though it’s not my new favourite, I’m glad I got the chance to check it out. If you’re looking for a very different and action packed sci-fi adventure, this is the book for you.

Grab a copy for yourself here through my Amazon Associates link!

Here’s a link to the author’s Twitter if you’d like to keep up with them!

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