Book Review: Hummingbird Salamander by Jeff Vandermeer

After coming off the intense wild ride that is Annihilation, I was really excited to learn that I got a copy of Jeff Vandermeer’s newest book, Hummingbird Salamander. With a plot just as unique as the title and as beautiful and bright cover, this book was very mysterious, and nothing like I expected. Eco terrorists, murderous strangers, clown stalkers and taxidermy with numbers behind their eyes, I can safely say that I’ve never read anything like this before.

4/5 Stars 351 pages
Published April 6th 2021 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux

The story follows a woman who doesn’t want you to know her name. A badass bodybuilding and hardworking woman who we just know as Jane, who also has a husband and daughter and a great job. But unfortunately, she’s also a woman caught in the middle of a very dangerous conspiracy theory that has become a reality. And you’re right in there with her, seeing everything through her eyes.

Her life is pulled into a spiral the day the coffee shop barista hands her an envelope. Inside, a key to a strange locker and an address. In the letter, it claims that the writer is already gone, and that the main character is on her own now, but not completely alone. And that’s just the prequel. After arguing with herself about it, she decides to go check it out and finds a preserved hummingbird with a note that just says, simply, Hummingbird Salamander. Like that’s the answer to all the world’s questions. This, if you can believe it, sets the tone for the entire book. A mysterious confusing, and even maddening at times wild goose chase, this amazing book is unlike any other that I’ve read, and I never saw the ending coming.

The only thing that this book has in common with Annihilation aside from the same author, is that it’s just one of those books that are impossible to speed through. If you start skimming over stuff, you’re going to be lost, and it requires the entirety of your attention. A slow burn that has a lot of violence and just really unsettling scenes.

Photo by Cup of Couple on Pexels.com

Overall, this is a really great book, and it’s something I never could have imagined it would be. Better for more mature readers, I recommend it to anyone looking for a good mystery, but also someone with a strong stomach. And also someone who will stick through to the end no matter what. But that’s just coming from me, someone who would buy the book just to display the cover.

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

And if you’d like to keep up with the author, he posts a ton of cute racoon content, you can here on twitter!

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

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: The Famoux by Kassandra Tate

5/5 Stars 400 Pages Published January 19th 2021 (first published January 1st 2014) Published by Wattpad Books

Okay, this book had crazy The Hunger Games vibes for me. Not exactly sure what it was, whether it was the apocalyptic world with the dystopia running things from a far away land, the weird leaders of the Famoux group that pick and prod at everything they can and rage when things aren’t perfect, or just the overall way the story was told, but let me tell you I loved every minute of it. Is this going to be a series? I can’t get enough! I need more, like, immediately. And I think you would too, if you liked books like that.

Emilee has always been different. In a world where every new generation of kids starting at the beginning of the  year have a different eye colour to mark how old they are, she was born with her mom’s eyes, an icy blue, instead of the generational flat grey. Sure, that may not make a big difference for her world in theory, but for the bullies at school, they’ve made a life out of not only tormenting her over it, but also abusing her and occasionally even throwing her in the creek. She thinks life can’t get any worse, until one day her mom, the only person who sticks up for her, seems to have run away. And she doesn’t have anyone to comfort her anymore. Her world has crumbled, and so has the rest of her family.

After having to cancel her life plans to move away, her sister hates her. Her brother doesn’t really care about her, and her father is absolutely destroyed. He doesn’t even leave his bed for work anymore. But just when she thinks there’s nothing left to look forward to in life, a new group of Famoux are revealed, and Emilee can’t get enough. The Famoux are the top tier of celebrities, always followed around by paparazzi, never getting a minute to themselves, especially when once a month for two days, the darkening happens. That’s a phenomenon when something takes over the skies, and doesn’t let any light through at all. But that’s when the fishbowl happens, when the Famoux are put in a glass house for everyone to watch in person and on broadcast 24/7, like the most intrusive kind of reality tv show.

Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com

But something’s happening to them, too. After finding one of them dead at the bottom of the stairs, rumour start to churn about if the show killed her off for views, if they were getting a little stagnant, and they wanted to liven up the ratings a bit. And after a fight with her family, Emilee is determined on getting some air when she finds herself not only at the fishbowl with the rest of the crowd, but also with her bullies who are planning on tying her up in a basement and leaving her there for the duration of the darkening. But the person in charge of the Famoux finds her and offers her a different kind of lifestyle. To become one of them. And of course, Emilee takes it. That’s when Emeray is born, but what’s going on behind the scenes of the group is unlike anything she could have imagined.

This book was amazing, start to finish. I couldn’t put it down once I started, but that was fine because I really didn’t want to. Despite being so famous and rich, most of the characters seemed really down to earth, even in the worst of times. They do what they have to do to survive. But what I loved learning about the most, was their apocalyptic world. I actually would have liked to get to know it a little more than we did, but It’s enough, especially if there’s more coming in the future. I will say though, that most of the actual action in the plot happened in the last 10% of the book, which isn’t ideal for me, but I still loved it. I was just a little stressed with the race against the clock kind of situation and felt like things could have been explained more than they were. That being said, I think this is one of my new favourite books! If you’re a fan of post apocalypse, dystopia, celebrity drama and The Hunger Games, I really think you’ll like this book too.

Photo by KoolShooters on Pexels.com

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

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

Thanks for reading! Hope you have a great day.

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.

Starfire Angels (Dark Angel Chronicles #1) by Melanie Nilles Review

4/5 Stars 172 pages
Published December 19th 2013 Prairie Star Publishing

You know how I get, I have a vision of a kind of book in my mind, and I just don’t feel right until I read it. Luckily, it was pretty easy for me to find an angel book in my library, and this one was so interesting I was easily able to dive right into it. A different take on the usual kind of archangel books I’ve read, this one contained a new species of aliens I’ve never read before, ones that look exactly like humans and are able to hide their huge angel wings to blend in. I really enjoyed reading it.

The main character is a girl named Raea, who was orphaned at five years old, but luckily taken in by her aunt and uncle, and two younger cousins. She’s always felt kind of off, but didn’t know why until the topics in this book came up. Turns out she’s actually part of an alien species, and the quiet creepy guy behind her is the only one that can help her. She’s a little immature about the entire situation, wanting to date the hot foreign guy, but what could you ask from a teenager who found out she has mystical powers and insanely huge angel wings? She eventually finds her footing just in time to save her secret.

There is a part that I didn’t really enjoy reading, and that is that there’s a memory that she’s trying to dig out of her brain just so she can know it. While I understand it, I don’t really know why it was added to the story, seeing as it wasn’t important, and I feel like it was just put in there to make you uncomfortable and hate the bad guy in the story more. I didn’t really trust or like him before that, and I feel like the trauma being brought up and just kind of thrown in there wasn’t necessary. Just warning you, if you get upset at the topic of sexual assault than just be warned that they do discuss it in this book. It’s pretty far in, though and it’s really at a time that you wouldn’t expect it.

The story was exciting and the characters were a little cringey at times, but I did enjoy reading it, and I’m interested in the next book after this. I’m hoping that we get to know more about Raea’s family’s home through the portal, and that we get to know more about the species in general. What their language is all about, and what their abilities are all about. Why they are the keepers of alien life forms in crystals and all that. I definitely recommend checking it out if you’re looking for an interesting book about angels to read, and you don’t mind young adult fiction.

Photo by Efdal YILDIZ on Pexels.com

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

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

Refraction by Christopher Hinz Review

Let me just say that this was one of the most interesting, and well put together books I’ve read in a long time. I did put it off for a while when I was taking a break from reading, but I wish I didn’t. There wasn’t a single thing about this book that wasn’t intriguing, and I couldn’t get enough of it. I also wouldn’t change anything about it. Completely unique, I hope I can read more books this different in the future, because if you’ve read it, you just know that it’s going to be something that’s stuck in your head for a while after you finish it.

5/5 Stars 400 pages
Published November 10th 2020 by Angry Robot

Aiden has a power. It’s not anything he deems special or exciting though, because his power is that sometimes when he sleeps, he manifests a pile of slime somewhere in a ten foot radius from his body. And once he wakes up, it falls to the ground, or into whatever it’s levitating above, and hardens, usually destroying the thing in the process. It’s messy, it’s kind of gross, and his sister hates it. But it’s his life, and that’s all he’s known since he was a kid. Then one day, everything he knows is turned upside down.

After receiving a cryptic phone call from the people who bought his deceased parents house, he learns that his father has hidden a safe behind the old furnace, in the wall, and it’s addressed to him, and not only that, but if it’s tampered with or forced open by someone else, the contents will be destroyed. So he heads to their house after a fight with his sister. But what’s in the safe changes his life forever.

Photo by Rakicevic Nenad on Pexels.com

This is the beginning of the longest week of Aiden’s life. He learns that he was adopted, and that the first eighteen months of his life, him and six other babies were basically science experiments until the project was forced to shut down, and they were adopted out. Six other people who can do what he does, and maybe more. And he needs to get to the bottom of it. But what he finds at the bottom, and frankly, on the way to the bottom, is really crazy and almost unbelievable if it wasn’t happening in real time. He almost gets killed many, many times, makes some interesting friends, and has the adventure of a lifetime. And I couldn’t put it down.

I would say that this is probably one of my new favourite books. When I was describing the events to people I know, it all seemed so crazy. And it really is. That’s just what I loved about it the most.. I think it’s something you just have to experience to really understand it. I highly recommend it to everyone reading this. Even if you think it wouldn’t be for you, just give it a shot. What’s the worst thing that could happen?

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

Thanks for reading! Hope you’re doing well and staying safe, and enjoying insane books like this.

Ticker by Lisa Mantchev Review

Can you believe I’ve never read a steampunk book before? I can’t. Especially with how amazing this book was. Non stop action, amazing clockwork animals and especially bugs, and just the imagination and the imagery in this book made it completely unlike anything else I’ve read lately. I also loved all the characters, even the bad ones. They were so well rounded and put together. I just couldn’t get enough. And that’s why it’s one of my new favourites.

5/5 Stars 273 pages
Published December 1st 2014 by Skyscape

The story follows a set of twins, Penelope (Penny) and Copernicus (Nic), and their friends, Sebastian and Violet, as well as their parents, and a few other important people, told through Penny’s point of view. But she’s a lot different than anyone else around her, because she has a clockwork mechanical heart. There’s this problem with the girls in her family, not her mother but her two deceased sisters and her, where their hearts just give out one day without warning. And their family friend is willing to do anything, and I mean anything, to keep her ticker ticking. But that’s where things get kind of nasty.

After being put on trial for murder, they find out that Warwick, the man who created her ticker, has been testing his inventions and augmentations on innocent people, and even children. And Penny’s the first survivor. She doesn’t agree with his methods at all, but she needs him to stay alive. And when a set of very specific events result in her parents being kidnapped, the crew is sent off in search of the man who created her heart, and has escaped from prison and is holding her parents hostage. That’s when things really get exciting.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Something I really appreciated about this book, was how easy it was to imagine it. I sometimes have problems with imagining the characters as they’re supposed to be seen, how the author wants them to be seen, and that wasn’t a problem with this. From hair colour to tattoos to what dress they’re wearing that day, I loved every bit of them, even when things went sour. I loved their quirks and their mannerisms, and everything about the world that they’re in. It just seemed so exciting, being able to dress up so fancy, watch mechanical bugs, and maybe see someone with an interesting copper augmentation. I kind of wish that this was a series so that I didn’t have to say goodbye to the characters so soon, but not everything can be, and I can appreciate that. I’d love to get a paper copy so that I can jump back into this world whenever I want.

Photo by Maria Orlova on Pexels.com

So if you’re into bad ass characters and a world full of cakes, dresses, and machinery that is very much alive in the sense of animals and bugs, mixed into an amazing story of coming together with your friends, fighting for what’s right and battling a very hard illness at the same time, I highly recommend checking it out!

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 on Twitter, here’s a link for that!

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

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?

Add to Goodreads / Pre-order

Website / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / Pinterest

GIVEAWAY!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js

Hosted by:

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.

Photo by NEOSiAM 2020 on Pexels.com

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.

Photo by Brett Sayles on Pexels.com

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.

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.

Photo by Rakicevic Nenad on Pexels.com

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.

Greyfriars Reformatory by Frazer Lee Review

4/5 Stars 240 Pages Published October 20th 2020 by Flame Tree Press

Another spooky read for the month! This one is much different than the last one, however. Instead of a voodoo laced detective novel, this one is the story of five girls living in a reformatory, a place where you go if you’ve done something horrible and need to be taught how to be different by whatever means it takes. That sounds horrible enough as it is, but there’s a twist. The Grey Girl. And of course, the horrible bullying that takes place by not only the other girls, but also the Principal. I really enjoyed reading this book, but I will admit, I had some trouble getting into it at first.

Emily is so wacked out on prescriptions that she can barely remember her own name. She arrives at the reformatory with the other four girls on a jail like bus, and the only thing surrounding the building is pure wilderness. They’re treated bad, because whatever brought them there in the first place is cause for punishment to the extreme. They’re forced into a routine that leaves them feeling hopeless, but that doesn’t stop their personalities from shining through.

Photo by OVAN on Pexels.com

The Grey Girl is something else completely. Not everyone can see her, but everyone feels the damage that she causes. Once girls start turning up dead, the rest are terrified and cling to their routine. But nothing is as it seems, and the book takes an even darker turn at the end, one that I really didn’t expect. The story kind of reminds me of that game, Call of Cthulhu, if you ever played that. Only without the cult of Cthulhu, and all the fantasy around that. I’m more referring to the part where you’re just endlessly walking through the darkened asylum, and honestly while you’re playing it, start to question whether you’re losing your mind in real life, in the process. If you’re looking for something creepy to read with a big reveal at the end, than this is something you might want to check out next.

If you’d like a copy, you can grab one 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! Hope you’re doing well and staying safe.

Voodoo Heart by John Everson Review

4/5 Stars 247 pages
Published October 20th 2020 by Flame Tree Press

I haven’t read a ton of scary stories this October, but the ones I have gotten my hands on, I’ve really enjoyed, and this one is no exception. Though I do have to say that there were a few parts that I was too immature to read and had me laughing harder than I should have, I did really like reading this, and I’m happy to have a copy for my bookshelf. If you’re looking for a New Orleans Detective style murder mystery novel with a ton of magic and voodoo mixed in, than you might want to check this out next.

Following a detective who’s a little too close to the cases assigned to him, it shows his life as he tries to get over the loss of his wife, who after finding out she was cheating on him, lost her life. Her body was never found, but her heart, and a whole lot of her blood, were found on the bed next to him. Since then, almost the exact same situation has been happening again and again, more and more people missing each month. And he’s determined to get to the bottom of it.

Photo by NEOSiAM 2020 on Pexels.com

What I expected from this book, was just a normal detective novel, and not the deep dive on voodoo I got. I really liked that about this book. I feel like I learned something, even though it’s fiction, you know? It was really interesting. And I think the whole aspect about curses and rituals really gave it an interesting feel. This wasn’t one of those books where you know who did it, although I did kind of have a feeling about it. A lot of the book, I was wondering if I was being tricked into thinking it was someone else, if the curse was actually real and maybe it could have just been a serial killer who was involved with some dark magic thinking, or if maybe the main character was imagining the whole thing due to some kind of spiral after losing his wife. But no, I got the ending I wanted, with a lot more supernatural aspects than I expected.

Photo by Skitterphoto on Pexels.com

Overall, if you think this is something you’d like, than by all means, grab a copy! I’m glad I have it on my shelf, and I can recommend it to people I know once I see them again. I know a few people who would like this, book, and I think it’s perfect for this month. 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!

Thanks for reading! Hope you’re having a good day.