Amanda
Review: The Thirteen Hallows by Michael Scott and Colette Freedman
Title: The Thirteen Hallows (Amazon, Goodreads, Website) Authors: Michael Scott (Amazon, Goodreads, Website) Colette Freedman (Amazon, Goodreads, Website) Series: The Hallows Saga Publisher: Tor Books Genre: Thriller, Horror, Fantasy Format: Hardcover Source: JKS Communications (publicist) Synopsis: The Hallows. Ancient artifacts imbued with a primal and deadly power. But are they protectors of this world, or the […]
Review: Fry’s Price Match? Not Really.
Let me start off by saying, Fry’s is a great store if you need a computer part. Their staff is usually helpful and knowledgeable, and their prices are competitive. I’ve shopped there on several occasions, and recently purchased some new memory for my computer. If they carried my video card, I would buy it there. That is until […]
Review: Twilight Tales by J.T. Holden
Title: Twilight Tales: A Collection of Chilling Poems (Goodreads) Author: J. T. Holden (Goodreads) Series: None Publisher: Kuro Books Genre: Poetry Format: Paperback Source: Review copy provided by publisher. Synopsis: From the critically acclaimed author of “Alice in Verse: The Lost Rhymes of Wonderland” comes a chilling collection of rhyming poetry perfect for Halloween…or any other dark […]
Review: The Night Eternal by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan
Title: The Eternal Night (Amazon, Goodreads) Author: Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan (Amazon, Goodreads) Series: The Strain Trilogy Publisher: William Morrow Genre: Horror, Thriller Format: Hardcover Source: Christmas Gift 2011 Synopsis: From the authors of the instant New York Times bestsellers The Strain and The Fall comes the final volume in one of the most […]
Review: Up by Jawbone
I purchased the Up back in December and have used it off and on for a while now. After the initial new gadget happiness wore off, it wasn’t much what I expected of it. It’s basically a glorified step tracker. It doesn’t really tell you how good your sleep is, but it does tell you how long you […]
Review: The Confession by Charles Todd
Title: The Confession (Amazon, Goodreads) Author: Charles Todd (Amazon, Goodreads, Website) Genre: Mystery Publisher: William Morrow Series: Inspector Ian Rutledge Series Format: Hardcover Source: Received review copy from publisher. Synopsis: Scotland Yard’s best detective, Inspector Ian Rutledge, must solve a dangerous case that reaches far into the past in this superb mystery in the acclaimed series […]
Review: The Demi-Monde:Winter by Rod Rees
Title: The Demi-Monde: Winter (Amazon, Goodreads, Website) Author: Rod Rees (Amazon, Goodreads, Website) Genre: Fiction (Elements of Science Fiction, SteamPunk, Thriller, Historical Fiction, and other genres intermixed.) Publisher: William Morrow Series: The Demi-Monde Saga Format: Hardcover Source: Received from William Morrow for review. The Demi-Monde: 1. A subclass of society whose members embrace a decadent lifestyle and evince […]
Review: Kindle Fire
I received a Kindle Fire as a birthday present and I’ve had it for a week now. It’s time to tell you my opinion of it. Let’s start off with my praise of Amazon’s customer service. I received the Kindle Fire on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, plugged it in, connected to the Wi-Fi, downloaded the software update and […]
Review: Jacob T. Marley by R. William Bennett
Jacob T. Marley (Amazon, Goodreads) by R. William Bennett (Amazon, Goodreads, Website) Published by Shadow Mountain, October 2011 Marley was dead to begin with … These chillingly familiar words begin the classic Christmas tale of remorse and redemption in A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Now R. William Bennett rewinds the story and focuses the spotlight on […]
Review: The Mistress Contract by She and He
The Mistress Contract (Amazon, Goodreads) by She and He Published by Unbridled Books, October 2011 The remarkable true document that is The Mistress Contract opens with a piece of paper that was signed in 1981 by a woman and her wealthy lover. The contract establishes an exchange that she thinks fair: If he will provide an adequate and separate […]
Review: The Taker by Alma Katsu
The Taker (Amazon, Goodreads) by Alma Katsu (Amazon, Goodreads, Website) Published by Gallery Books, September 2011 Dr. Luke Findley is on the midnight shift in the emergency room when the police bring in a young woman. Few strangers come to this remote town in northernmost Maine in the winter, and this stranger is accused of a bizarre crime: killing […]
Review: Immortal by Gillian Shields
Immortal (Amazon, Goodreads) by Gillian Shields (Amazon, Goodreads) Published by Harper Audio, June 2010 Wyldcliffe Abbey School for Young Ladies, housed in a Gothic mansion on the bleak northern moors, is elite, expensive, and unwelcoming. When Evie Johnson is torn away from her home by the sea to become the newest scholarship student, she is more isolated […]
Review: Floating Staircase by Ronald Malfi
Floating Staircase (Amazon, Goodreads) by Ronald Malfi (Amazon, Goodreads, Website) Published by Medallion Press, October 2011 Following the success of his latest novel, Travis Glasgow and his wife Jodie buy their first house in the seemingly idyllic western Maryland town of Westlake. At first, everything is picture perfect–from the beautiful lake behind the house to the […]
Review: Going Underground by Susan Vaught
Going Underground (Amazon, Goodreads) by Susan Vaught (Amazon, Goodreads, Website) by Bloomsbury USA, September 2011 Del is a good kid who’s been caught in horrible circumstances. At seventeen, he’s trying to put his life together after an incident in his past that made him a social outcast-and a felon. As a result, he can’t get into college; the only job […]
Review: The Immune by Doc Lucky Meisenheimer
The Immune (Amazon, Goodreads, Website) by Doc Lucky Meisenheimer (Amazon, Goodreads, Website) Published by LJS&S Publishing, May 2011 1973 Herbert Boyer produces the first transgenic bacterial organism. 1991 Herman the bull becomes the first transgenic mammal. 2000 Transgenic rabbit fluoresces green. 2004 Florigen produces the first blue rose by genetic engineering. 2007 Translucent “see through” frogs created by Japanese scientists. 2010 Hundreds […]
Review: Edward and the Island by Charles Jonathan Martin
Edward and the Island (Amazon, Goodreads) by Charles Jonathan Martin and Will Weinke (Amazon, Goodreads) Published by Literati Press, May 2010 The End of the World isn’t the End of the Story. Sixty-three souls find themselves plucked from heaven and thrust into an experimental new universe. Haunted by the dark memories of their past lives […]
Review: The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities
The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities (Amazon, Goodreads) Editors: Ann and Jeff Vandermeer (Amazon, Goodreads, Website) Published by Harper Voyager, July 2011 The death of Dr. Thackery T. Lambshead in 2003 at his house in Wimpering-on-the-Brook, England, revealed an astonishing discovery: the remains of a remarkable cabinet of curiosities. A carefully selected group of popular artists […]
National Coffee Day Review — Coffee Talk by Morton Satin
Note: In honor of National Coffee Day, I’m re-publishing my review of Coffee Talk as everyone needs to know about coffee and it’s history. Coffee Talk: The Stimulating Story of the World’s Most Popular Brew (Amazon, Goodreads) by Morton Satin (Amazon, Goodreads) Published by Prometheus Books November 2010 What is it about coffee that makes it so popular […]
Review: Hamlet’s Blackberry: Building a Good Life in the Digital Age by William Powers
Hamlet’s Blackberry: Building a Good Life in the Digital Age (Amazon, Goodreads) by William Powers (Amazon, Goodreads, Website) Published by Harper Perennial, August 2011 A crisp, passionately argued answer to the question that everyone who’s grown dependent on digital devices is asking: “Where’s the rest of my life?” At a time when we’re all trying to make sense of […]
Review: Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
Little Brother (Amazon, Goodreads) by Cory Doctorow (Amazon, Goodreads, Twitter, Website) Published by Listening Library, May 2010 Marcus is only seventeen years old, but he figures he already knows how the system works–and how to work the system. Smart, fast, and wise to the ways of the networked world, he has no trouble outwitting his high […]
Review: Between by Jessica Warman
Between (Amazon, Goodreads) by Jessica Warman (Amazon, Goodreads, Website) Published by Walker Childrens, August 2011 Elizabeth Valchar—pretty, popular, and perfect—wakes up the morning after her eighteenth birthday party on her family’s yacht, where she’d been celebrating with her six closest friends. A persistent thumping noise has roused her. When she goes to investigate, what she finds […]
Review: The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack by Mark Hodder (Burton & Swinburne Trilogy Book 1)
The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack Burton & Swinburne Trilogy Book 1 (Amazon, Goodreads) by Mark Hodder (Amazon, Facebook, Goodreads, Website, Twitter) Published by Pyr, September 2010 London, 1861. Sir Richard Francis Burton—explorer, linguist, scholar, and swordsman; his reputation tarnished; his career in tatters; his former partner missing and probably dead. Algernon Charles Swinburne—unsuccessful poet and follower of […]
Review: Janitors by Tyler Whitesides
Janitors (Amazon, Goodreads) by Tyler Whitesides (Amazon, Goodreads, Website) Published by Shadow Mountain, July 2011 The magical, secretive society of JANITORS will sweep the country in the fall of 2011. Have you ever fallen asleep during math class? Are you easily distracted while listening to your English teacher? Do you find yourself completely uninterested in geography? […]
Review: Mister Creecher by Chris Priestley
Mister Creecher (Amazon, Goodreads) by Chris Priestley (Amazon, Goodreads, Website) Published by Bloomsbury, September 2011 Billy is a street urchin, pickpocket and petty thief. Mister Creecher is a monstrous giant of a man who terrifies all he meets. Their relationship begins as pure convenience. But a bond swiftly develops between these two misfits as their bloody journey takes them ever […]
Review: Apocrypha by Catherynne M. Valente
Apocrypha (Amazon, Goodreads, Website) by Catherynne M. Valente (Amazon, Goodreads, Website, Twitter) Published by Prime Books, 2005 Apocrypha: Catherynne M. Valente’s first full-length poetry collection, where freaks, emperors, bodhisattvas, beasts, witches, wicked stepmothers, Greek heroes, told seductively and wickedly in poem and prose, jostle and vie for supremacy. It contains the long prose poem, Z, […]
