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Monthly Archives: August 2020

Ink, By Jonathan Maberry ~ 3.5 Stars

31 Monday Aug 2020

Posted by By Hook Or By Book: Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff in Uncategorized

≈ 10 Comments

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Adult Fiction, Child Rape, Horror, Supernatural, Suspense

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Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: November 17th, 2020

464 Pages

Synopsis: From New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Maberry, comes a standalone supernatural thriller Ink, about a memory thief who feeds on the most precious of dreams.

Tattoo artist, Patty Cakes has her dead daughter’s face tattooed on the back of her hand. Day by day it begins to fade, taking with it all of Patty’s memories of her daughter. All she’s left with is the certain knowledge she has forgotten her lost child. The awareness of that loss is tearing her apart.

Monk Addison is a private investigator whose skin is covered with the tattooed faces of murder victims. He is a predator who hunts for killers, and the ghosts of all those dead people haunt his life. Some of those faces have begun to fade too, destroying the very souls of the dead.

All through the town of Pine Deep, people are having their most precious memories stolen. The monster seems to target the lonely, the disenfranchised, the people who need memories to anchor them to this world.

Something is out there. Something cruel and evil is feeding on the memories, erasing them from the hearts and minds of people like Patty and Monk and others.

Ink is the story of a few lonely, damaged people hunting for a memory thief. When all you have are memories, there is no greater horror than forgetting.

Argh! I finished Ink three days ago and I’m still trying to sort out my feelings. This is a follow-up to Maberry’s Pine Deep trilogy which I LOVED, but it can be read as a standalone. Let’s get what I didn’t like out of the way. First, I’m not a prude, but I thought there were way too many sex scenes, and the ones with the villain masturbating while he fed on his victims’ memories were particularly unnecessary and turned my stomach. Also, too many characters and POVs. Really, the only two I wound up caring about were Monk and Patty. And finally, the pace was too drawn out and there wasn’t enough action until the final few chapters. I loved the actual storyline with this psychic vampire feeding on people’s memories through their tattoos. I also really connected with Patty and Monk and their traumatic backstories. This is a spoiler, but I feel it’s necessary, Patty’s little daughter was gang raped and killed, and while this is mainly talked about off scene, I think it could be a possible trigger for some readers. The last few chapters were everything I had hoped the rest of the book would be. So for me, Ink wasn’t bad, but it was a bit of a disappointment. Most reviewers however are loving it, so if you’re intrigued don’t let my review dissuade you from reading it. Although the events in Ink take place years after the ones that occurred in Maberry’s Pine Deep trilogy, I do recommend you read it not only because it’s one of my favorite horror series, but also because there are numerous vague references to the “Trouble,” in this book and there’s no explanation until after the halfway point, which I think could be annoying to some readers not familiar with the previous books.

Honest Government Ad ~ Trump 2020

30 Sunday Aug 2020

Posted by By Hook Or By Book: Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff in Uncategorized

≈ 16 Comments

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Honest Government Ad ~ Trump 2020, Satire, The JuiceMedia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lyrical Lines

30 Sunday Aug 2020

Posted by By Hook Or By Book: Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff in Uncategorized

≈ 16 Comments

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“Caribbean Blue, Enya, Lovely Lyrics

 

R.I.P. Chadwick Boseman ~ 1976 – 2020

29 Saturday Aug 2020

Posted by By Hook Or By Book: Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff in Uncategorized

≈ 46 Comments

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R.I.P. Chadwick Boseman

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For further proof that 2020 is indeed the year from HELL, gifted actor and inspirational role model Chadwick Boseman has died at the young age of forty-three.

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He took on the roles of true life iconic figures Jackie Robinson, James Brown, and Thurgood Marshall among others, and of course there was his unforgettable portrayal of King T’Challa in Black Panther. Here is his obituary from The New York Times:

He had been privately fighting colon cancer since 2016, yet kept acting which boggles my mind. Below you’ll find a last text message from Chadwick that actor Josh Gad has kindly shared which illustrates what a beautiful soul he was.

And here is a fitting tribute to him from Epic Music VN

 

On the Lighter Side

29 Saturday Aug 2020

Posted by By Hook Or By Book: Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff in Uncategorized

≈ 12 Comments

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”The Fridge Again”, KD French, On the Lighter Side

Down Comes the Night, By Allison Saft ~ 4.5 Stars

28 Friday Aug 2020

Posted by By Hook Or By Book: Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff in Uncategorized

≈ 17 Comments

Tags

Fantasy, Gothic Fiction, LGBTQ, Mystery, Political Intrigue, Romance, Suspense, YA Fiction

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Thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: March 2nd, 2021

400 Pages

Synopsis: A gorgeously gothic, deeply romantic YA debut fantasy about two enemies trapped inside a crumbling mansion with no escape from the monsters within.

Honor your oath, destroy your country.

Wren Southerland is the most talented healer in the Queen’s Guard, but her reckless actions have repeatedly put her on thin ice with her superiors. So when a letter arrives from a reclusive lord, asking Wren to come to his estate to cure his servant from a mysterious disease, she seizes the chance to prove herself.

When she arrives at Colwick Hall, Wren realizes that nothing is what it seems. Particularly when she discovers her patient is actually Hal Cavendish, the sworn enemy of her kingdom.

As the snowy mountains make it impossible to leave the estate, Wren and Hal grow closer as they discover a sinister plot that could destroy everything they hold dear. But choosing love could doom both their kingdoms.

Allison Saft’s Down Comes the Night is a snow-drenched, gothic, romantic fantasy that keeps you racing through the pages long into the night.

Down Comes the Night is a lovely gothic tale that reminded me of Daphne du Maurier and Guillermo del Toro. I have to admit it took me a little while to warm up to Wren, but once the setting moved to the castle and she connected with Hal, I found her much more relatable. The world building is very well done and I especially found the political strife interesting. Add in an intriguing murder mystery with a lovely romance and I was pretty much hooked by the end of the first chapter. Allison Saft’s writing style is also beautifully descriptive which further pulled me into the story. As far as I can tell, Down Comes the Night is a standalone, but I wouldn’t mind seeing a sequel as I was left wanting more. Overall I unhesitatingly recommend this to anyone looking for dark gothic fantasy that’s filled with political intrigue, self-discovery, mystery, and romance.

 

Family Fridays #23

28 Friday Aug 2020

Posted by By Hook Or By Book: Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff in Uncategorized

≈ 27 Comments

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Family Fridays

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Happy Friday Everyone! I hope you’re all safe and well. Today’s post will be the last Family Friday, at least for now. There’s only so much more ranting I can do about ignorant, selfish people who eschew health guidelines. Not really much is changing here in Alabama with the news being a mixed bag of good and bad. The good: numbers are still down and Governor Ivey extended the mask mandate. Since the original mandate was put in place July 16th, the percentage of positive COVID-19 cases have declined from 17% to 8%. The bad: Many of the outbreaks are centered around colleges and universities where students are ignoring guidelines. Not helping are things like the University of Alabama ordering its professors to not inform students if a classmate has tested positive. 

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For this week’s positivity I’d like to share this ingenious invention from Allen Pan. I swear if he gets all the bugs out I’d consider buying one of these!

Let me know how you’re doing, and have a nice weekend everyone!

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post office.

27 Thursday Aug 2020

Posted by By Hook Or By Book: Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff in Uncategorized

≈ 13 Comments

As the USPS is under attack, this thoughtful post from Beth is a reminder of how important this is.

I didn't have my glasses on....

Ochopee Post Office in Ochopee, Florida, is the smallest post office in the United States

Ochopee has one 131-mile mail route that serves more than 900 residents. The mail route covers deliveries in three counties and includes delivery on the Miccosukee Indian Reservation. The tiny building used to serve as a storage shed for irrigation pipes for a tomato farm but was pressed into service as post office after the Ochopee general store/post office was destroyed in a fire in 1953.

—

“another success is the post office, with its educating energy augmented by cheapness and guarded by a certain religious sentiment in mankind; so that the power fo a wafer or a drop of wax or gluten to guard a letter, as it flies over sea, over land, and comes to its address as if a battalion of artillery brought it, i look upon as a fine meter of…

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Enola Holmes Trailer

27 Thursday Aug 2020

Posted by By Hook Or By Book: Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff in Uncategorized

≈ 27 Comments

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Enola Holmes Trailer

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The upcoming Enola Holmes, which will be on Netflix starting September 23rd, is one of my most anticipated movies of 2020. 

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If you haven’t read the award winning YA series by Nancy Springer, I highly recommend them. Check out the exciting trailer below!

Misfits, By Hunter Shea ~ 4.5 Stars

27 Thursday Aug 2020

Posted by By Hook Or By Book: Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff in Uncategorized

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

Adult Fiction, Horror, Mystery, Rape, Thriller

 

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Thanks to NetGalley and Flame Tree Press for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: September 8th, 2020

288 Pages

Synopsis: During the height of the 90s grunge era, five high school friends living on the fringe are driven to the breaking point. When one of their friends is brutally raped by a drunk townie they decide to take matters into their own hands. Deep in the woods of Milbury, Connecticut, there lives the legend of the Melon Heads, a race of creatures who shun human interaction and prey on those who dare to wander down Dracula Drive. Maybe this night, one band of misfits can help the other. Or maybe some legends are meant to be feared for a reason.

Dare to walk,

Down Dracula Drive,

In day or night,

You won’t survive.

They wait in trees,

And hide below,

Hungry for people,

Too blind to know.

Misfits is the fourth book I’ve read by Hunter Shea, and just when I thought he couldn’t possibly go darker, he’s proven me wrong. I need to warn you there are two fairly graphic rape scenes, so these might be a trigger for some readers. The first happens near the beginning and is the catalyst for almost everything that happens next. The second takes place near the end and in a rare gender reversal, features one of the male characters as the victim. Neither is gratuitously written in as each serves as an integral part of the story. There is plenty of blood and gore as I’ve come to expect from Shea, but what I love about his writing is the unique and creative twist he always gives his stories. In this case, he sets an urban legend into the early 1990s, and I was instantly sucked in. As usual his characters are complex and easy to connect with, as all of them break with stereotypical teen roles. I know not to expect happily-ever-afters from Shea, but to my surprise, the ending (in a perverse way) here is about as positive as I’ve read from him. Undoubtedly Misfits will please Shea’s many fans, and for those who are new to him but are fans of hardcore horror that also has some depth, he’s an author you should definitely check out.

 

 

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