Stacy Kingsley - The blog of author Stacy Kingsley

Book Review - The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James

1/15/2021

The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James revolves around two young women, Vivian, and her niece, Carly.

Vivian was on her way to New York, but stops in Fell, NY. She really has no plan, but she has to get away from her mother, so she heads to New York with aspirations of being an actress, even though she isn't even sure that is what she wants to do. While on this break from her family, she stops at a place called the Sun Down Motel, where she stays a few nights until the owner offers her a job as the night manager. Strange things go on at the motel, and Viv starts to seek out the truth.

Carly heads to Fell after her mother's death from cancer, and decides she must do research on what happened to her Aunt Viv twenty-five years earlier. She leaves school and goes to Fell to find out why no one knows where her Aunt is, and what happened on the night she disappeared. Carly sees a help wanted sign in the window of the Sun Down Motel and decided it is fate, so she takes the job her Aunt one had in hopes of getting closer to her, and closer to finding out what happened to her Aunt.

This book started of very well. The characters were interesting and the plot was intriguing. Of the two main characters, Viv was much more interesting than Carly, and more developed. Viv was also a funner character to read. Carly was a little to self-absorbed and she didn't seem very bright at times. The other characters weren't very interesting. Heather seemed a stereotype of what someone with mental illness would be like in a place like Fell. Nick was a boring man, and it was obvious what was going to happen with him a the end of the story. The rest of the characters ran into each other, although I would have liked more from the little boy and Betty.

I like a good ghost story, and I could have used more from the ghost perspective. I thought the ending was way too predictable, and I really wanted a twist to it. There was no surprises at the end, which disappointed me. The book could have been a lot better if the last few chapters had been rewritten so the story did not end the way it actually did. That being said, I liked this book. If I kept books just based on their covers I would keep this book for forever as the cover is wonderful. However, I like to share books that I like, so I will be sending this one along to a friend.

Movie Review - JIGSAW

12/31/2020

*I was going to write about 2020 and how we are finally at the end of a terrible year, but I am not sure that the next year will be any better....yet. So, I am going to leave you with this movie review, and we will see if the world is less of a dumpster fire at then end of January."

Jigsaw is the last thus far in the Saw series. From IMDb the plot summary states that bodies are turning up around the city, each having met a uniquely gruesome demise. As the investigation proceeds, evidence points to one suspect: John Kramer, the man known as Jigsaw, who has been dead for over 10 years. Logan Nelson, the local coroner, is trying to figure out who the killer is, because unless a man can come back from the dead, someone is framing a dead man.

The Saw series is an interesting series, and how it ended with the last movie seemed to close a loop, which I really enjoyed. It was the same with the Final Destination series. I enjoyed how the last movie linked the series of movies together, even if I didn’t like all of the movies themselves. I thought the last movie in the Saw series did that too, bringing the movies together and ending a loop in an interesting and exciting way. While I didn’t care for all of the movies, I did enjoy the ending and the way they were brought together.

This movie didn’t have anything new or exciting that the last bunch of movies didn’t have. There were the traps that people had to try to figure out before it took their life, and there were grotesque and dramatic death scenes that involved as much blood as gore as possible. The characters were nothing new, all there because of some deed they had done which had either taken another life or affected another life.

I didn’t, however, expect the ending. I was a little surprised who and why they ended up killing people, and how everything had progressed.

This wasn’t a good movie, and seemed pointless. There was really no reason for this movie to be made, unless it was being made to keep the franchise running. But in reality, everything should come to an end. I feel that if they had stopped at the last movie it would have been better, because the last movie closed things up in a way that, to me at least, was satisfying. This movie added nothing to the rest of the franchise, and is a one off that isn’t necessary. It didn’t keep the integrity of the series, and like a lot of series not every aspect needs to be continued or made (think the Solo movie, I mean did it really need to be made???).

Skip this movie, and go with something else, or go back to the beginning and watch the original Saw movie.

Book Review - WHAT REMAINS OF HER by Eric Rickstad

11/26/2020

What Remains of Her by Eric Rickstad is one of the best books I've recently read. Before reading this, I had not heard of Eric Rickstad, and right now I am happy to have won this book in a Goodreads giveaway. I would not have picked it up on my own, likely because I wouldn't have known where to find it, nor would it have grabbed my attention.

The plot follows a man, Jonah, and his search for his wife, Rebecca, and his daughter, Sally. He comes home from work to find neither home, and hours later, after they still have not arrived he calls his friend, Maurice, who is the Sheriff. For Jonah, things don't get any better. He becomes the main suspect, as everyone knows he would, and in fact the only person who seems to believe he had nothing to do with the disappearance is his young daughters’ best friend, Lucinda, who has a few secrets of her own. The story then moves to twenty-five years later, Jonah is still living in the shadow of what happened, having lost everything because he has waited for his wife and daughter, believing that someday they would come back. Lucinda has a better life, but not by much, as she owns a local story, is a part time deputy, and helps care for her ailing father. And on top of this past destruction, another young girl has gone missing, on the same day that Sally did. Coincidence?

Jonah is not a likeable character, but there are things about him that continue to lead the reader to believe that he is a good father, and continues to love his daughter, and is in fact living for her return, even though that is unlikely. Lucinda seems to have some issues with her father, with a past live, with her store, and with future decisions she needs to make. There are things that could have been developed a little more, for example the relationship between Lucinda and her ex, Kirk, isn't as developed as it could have been and the reader doesn't really get the reasons for the breakup even though they seem like they are very important to the story.

The reader also sees Jonah living, but there is no development into what he is doing. Is he living just in the hopes that Sally will come back? Or is there something deeper?

There is a character, Dale, who isn't as developed as he could have been, as there were several times in the story when he could have had a little more emotion, but instead he was flat.

Now, even with that being said, I still really liked this book. The end made me want to cry, even though I was sitting in the middle of a Starbucks. I felt for Jonah, and I felt for Lucinda. Their lives could have been so different if things had been revealed twenty-five years earlier.

I do recommend this novel, as not only a mystery thriller, but also as a book with real characters. How would you act if your child and spouse didn't return home and you had no idea where they went? How long would you search for them? Would you give up? Or would you give up everything, like Jonah did, in the hopes that your family would find you again?

Book Review - Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach

10/20/2020

Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach was not as good as her novel Stiff.

I wanted to like this book. I thought a book about the science of the afterlife would be interesting or have some really fascinating ideas in it. I was wrong.

Ms. Roach is too judgemental in some of the sections, especially the beginning half of the book. She continually inserts her opinion and you can almost hear her rolling her eyes during these sections of the book. I am fine if she doesn't believe in things like reincarnation, but please, at least try to be a little respectful when writing about someone who believes they are a reincarnation of someone. The entire first part of the book felt sleazy, like she was not only rolling her eyes but she was making fun of these people right in front of their faces, and behind their backs. I get it, maybe there was no way to prove things scientifically, but don't be a jerk about your opinions.

I'm not even talking about political correctness here, but with some of Ms. Roach's opinions inserted, this also doesn't seem very scientific. This makes some of her observations feel a little childish. I wanted more of an unbiased books, with facts telling me yes or no, the afterlife could be possible. I think maybe Ms. Roach is better with real ideas rather than abstract ideas like the afterlife. As stated earlier, her novel Stiff was very interesting.

I can't recommend this book for anyone. I wish I had not read it myself. So, onto the next big and amazing thing.

Book Review - THE SPACE BETWEEN WORLDS by Micaiah Johnson

9/8/2020

The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson is about multidimensional travel. This novel revolves around Cara, a young woman who is a traverser. She goes between all versions of Earth to gather information and data on that version of Earth. The catch to this job? She can't visit a world where she is still alive. There are also limits to what she can do, and every trip has consequences. The twist, Cara isn't who everyone thinks she is, and she must not only hide her own secrets, but reveal the secrets of others.

I wasn't sure, when I started this novel, if I would like it. I thought for sure that it would be another lazy novel to give an author the recourse to continue writing the same characters in different worlds. It was not what I expected, which was a good thing. This novel involves people of different ethnic backgrounds and sexual orientations, which led to some of the interesting ideas and segments in the novel. Not only is Cara of a dark skinned ethnicity, but her manager, Dell is as well. This in itself leads to a disparity that can even be seen today in how people react to and treat each other.

There were moments, on the different versions of Earth, when I thought the book could have used some editing and some of the information could have been left out. Some parts of the novel, especially on Earth 172, were a little long and unnecessary. I would have also like a little more development to Jean, the man who kept trying to help Cara be a better version of herself. There was a little bit of character development lacking, and for characters that were important to Cara, like Dell, Jean, her sister, Esther, and even the tech guy, Adam. This would have pulled me in a little to scenes that seemed to simply happen.

I would have like a little more on Cara's "boyfriend" Nik Nik as well. I can't say much more on this without giving parts of the book away, so I shall end that comment there.

I would recommend this novel to anyone looking for a change in their science fiction. Not only is this written by a woman of color, but it's written by a woman, and the novel itself has diverse characters. Plus, it is a pretty good read.

Book Review - IF I HAD YOUR FACE by Frances Cha

8/13/2020

If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha was a sad and sweet story about five young women who are struggling to find who they are in Seoul, South Korea.

The novel follows five young women, all who live in the same building, as they navigate life and try to figure out what they should be doing with their lives. Not only was this a sad and insightful look into the lives of young women in Seoul, it was also a sad and sweet look into a culture that I did not know much about.

Kyuri is a young woman who has had several facial surgeries to be as beautiful as she can be. She works in a "salon room" which is basically, as it sounds, a strip joint with less nudity but the possibility of sex later. Men go in to let lose and the women who work in the salons are forced to keep the men happy, pretend like they are part of the furniture, and drink as much as the men give them. Miho is an artist who is engaged to a man she is not sure she wants to marry. However, this man has a social status that makes him useful, and that is what all of the girls want, someone with status so they can leave the lives they have behind. Ara is a mute who is a hair stylist, and very popular among certain social status symbols. She can't speak but she wants more for her life, and she knows that life is hard due to the accident which caused her to lose her voice. Ara's roommate wants to become a salon room girl like Kyuri, and her arc follows this lead as well. Then there is Wonna, the young married woman who lives downstairs.

The novel is a little heartbreaking because of the pressure the women feel to be or look a certain way. There is so much put on social status and looks that it causes discomfort. I felt that the heartache of the women was something that I would never fully understand, being born in the US and having the ability to easily build myself and my life up. It was surprising how important the "right school" was for the women, or anyone in the Korean society to succeed. The fact that someone feels that she has to completely rebuild her face, even if it causes numbness and the loss of feeling in part of her face, to be successful, is an insane idea. I don't know how real this and the thoughts of social status is in real life, but this novel, just like the novel My Sister The Serial Killer, gave me an insight to a society that I have never experienced.

I felt for all of the women, that Wonna married because the man she married was "fine" was a sad reason to marry someone. There was no discussion of love or being happy, only making sure that who you married could lift you up or take care of you.

I think this is a novel more people should read. It had great insights into the lives of the Korean women, and offered a view of what other women go through to try having a good, successful, or fulfilling life.

I highly recommend this novel.

Book Review - THE HERD by Andrea Bartz

7/30/2020

The Herd by Andrea Bartz left a lot to be desired. The novel follows two sisters, Hana and Katie, as they struggle to figure out what happened to their friend, Elenore. They attempt to do this while keeping their own secrets, and while trying to work together around things that are hard for them.

Let's start with the characters. None of them were likeable. Katie seemed whiny and continually complained about why she could not write a book she had been working on. It became dull. Hana and her best friend, Mikki, seemed all over the place, and they were not interesting. They too continued to continually discuss something that they couldn't talk about. Elenore, before she disappears, was also a little to pretentious, and she had zero reasons for some of it. There is a moment, when the book starts off, and there is graffiti in the "bathroom." The graffiti says "Ugly Cunts" and Elenore hates the words, but it is never explained why she hates it so vehemently. This is just one of the things in the books that seemed unrealistic and unnecessary.

The secrets that everyone is keeping never seem to be that drastic, or really that interesting. In fact, Katie's secret was borderline boring. I wanted something juicy, and I got a rotten peach. Then, when I found out the secret Hana and Mikki were keeping, I felt the same. And then at the end of the book, when everything had been settled and figured out, I was done. I feel like I read this book for no reason, and I am upset that all of the positive reviews led me to waste my money on it.

I honestly hate giving bad reviews, especially when a book sounds so amazing, like this one did. However, I hated that I spent my money on this. I don't recommend this novel. It was not as well-developed as I thought it would be.

Book Review - The Shadows by Alex North

7/26/2020

The Shadows by Alex North centers around Paul Adams as he returns to the town he left so long ago to be with his mother before she dies.

The plot revolves around a series of brutal murders done by different teen boys over a span of twenty-five years. The first murder was done by Charlie Crabtree, a teenage friend of Paul's. The murder destroys the town, especially since Charlie disappears right after the murder. This sets in motion a series of events which end up affecting Paul's life when he returns. While dealing with his mother's dementia, he realizes she not only kept secrets from him, but he wonders if his mother, and now him, are being haunted by Charlie, and if Charlie actually did what he had tried to do when they were teenagers.

The characters in this novel were not badly written, although at times Paul was annoying in his indifference to his mother. He is in town to be with her when she dies and to say goodbye, but he doesn't really seem to be with her enough throughout the book, instead he wallows in his own self pity of what happened when he was a teenager. He should have spent more time with his mother, and he should have really stopped wallowing in his own feelings. I would have also like a little more from Detective Amanda and Jenny. Both were dynamic female characters, and both could have been more than what they were, Amanda especially since she is important to the story.

That being said, I didn't hate this book.

There were some spots in the novel that I thought could have been removed, and it took too long going through some of the childhood issues Paul had with his friends Charlie, Billy, and James. I don't think we needed as much of the exposition we got about their dynamics. What we did need was a little more about how Charlie behaved, and the dynamics between him and Paul. However, that being said, there were several surprises, and I found two of them to actually be surprising. One of them actually "took me off guard." I did not see it coming, and was not only surprised, but a little sad. I think this first twist was awesome, and then there were several others. Only one of them worked for me, and I felt all of them together were a little much.

I also enjoyed how this novel ended. It wasn't the fright fest that I was expecting, and the main character behaved in a supremely annoying way towards the police (it seemed unnecessary), but the way almost everything closed up was well done. It also left me questioning if there would be a part two because there was a least one huge arm left hanging out there, and the internet never forgets.

Book Review - THE KNOCKOUT QUEEN by Rufi Thorpe

6/22/2020

The Knockout Queen by Rufi Thorpe is a book that might make some people uncomfortable, and to that I say, read it anyway. The story revolves around Bunny and Michael. Bunny is over six foot tall, and may have been since she was in sixth grade. Michael is gay, and comes from a destructive family where he feels like an outlier. Over the years Bunny and Michael become friends, only after she finds him smoking in a corner of her backyard. Their bond seems tenuous at first, but then later it seems that they are important to each other, and maybe they can save one another.

Throughout the book I will admit that there are few characters to like. Bunny is an oblivious princess who is doted on by her alcoholic father. Micheal lives with his Aunt Deedee and his homophobic cousin, Jason. Bunny doesn't know where she should be and due to her size she feels like a monster, with nothing to recommend her to the opposite sex. Michael is so afraid of people finding out that he is gay that he meets men secretly, and only after he finds them on Craigslist and Grindr. These two don't seem like a likely couple to be friends, but it does end up working.

I was disappointed a little in this book because there were no characters that I felt I bonded with. Michael is the narrator of the story, but I didn't feel close to him, partly because he didn't let anyone feel close to him. After a tragedy occurs, I felt that the reader lost Bunny, as she was and could have been a more interesting type. I wanted to know more about the relationships and that information seemed to be lacking. We never really got to know Michael's sister Gabby, nor did we get to the crux of who Bunny's mother was. After the big tragedy in this book, we don't even get to know that family and the relationships there. I wanted more so that I could feel.

I will be honest, at the end of the book I feel more should have been done about Bunny and her well-being. I feel that Michael built this little, happy box for himself, but then he didn't care when Bunny showed back up. I would have liked a little more from him in the end, after he learned what he needed to learn.

This novel spanned several years, and I feel that maybe it could have been shortened. We didn't really need the exposition about how Michael did in college, and who he dated, since the story wasn't really about that. Yes, his sexuality was important, and how he got from the beginning to the end was important, but the story was about Bunny and Michael, not solely Michael.

In the end, I would say that I did enjoy this book, and for me it was a fast read. I would recommend it as a view into a world we don't often take a look into. It may be hard, and it may make some people uncomfortable, and I can't speak towards the realism of how a young gay person might act, as Michael doesn't only put himself in danger, but he sleeps with older men, who are technically abusers due to his age. However, I would probably read another book from the LGBTQIA+ community, I'd just choose something with fewer perverts.

Book Review - THE POSSESSIONS by Sara Flannery Murphy

6/18/2020

The Possessions by Sara Flannery Murphy sounded like an interesting book. A young woman, Edie, acts as a body for those who want to connect with their lost loved ones. She takes a pill and for a short amount of time, she lets the spirit of the dead she is connecting with to inhabit her body. She doesn't know what goes on in these meetings because when someone takes over her body, they take over. She ends up meeting Patrick Braddock and channels his wife, Sylvia. After this she can't seem to get Sylvia out of her mind.

Question - Have you ever read a book, and you kept thinking something was about to happen, and then you finish it and nothing has happened? This was how I felt after reading this book. A lot happened, but nothing really happened. I'll explain below.

1 - A dead body is found. The body is named "Hopeful Doe" and she has been murdered. Edie and a few of her coworkers follow the case. They find out who the girl is, but nothing happens. It seemed to be put into the book as an afterthought. In fact, everything seemed to be put in here as an afterthought.

2 - Edie has a deep dark secret, but one we find out what it is, it isn't deep or dark. Also, the writing was frustrating as she was telling the story of this "deep, dark secret." It took forever and she never once said, "this is what I did when I was 12, I just had this problem and my parents didn't know what to do."

3 - Edie has a dead sister we never learn anything about.

4 - Patrick is one of the most boring men I've ever read about in a book. I don't even remember what he looks like, or how he was described in the book. He has almost no personality. I mean, if he is there to reconnect with his dead life, I wanted more from him about how he loved her, or how he hated her, or anything. Even in the end he was so totally boring.

5 - So much happens, then it ends and is never discussed again. One body, Ana, quits and we don't know what she is going to do. We learn who the killer of "Hopeful Doe" is, but this is anti-climactic. Edie has another secret at the end of the book, but again, we don't have any reason to care.

None of the characters are developed. None of the characters have anything interesting about them. We don't get all of the details. The author tried to do too much in one book and it wasn't successful.

Now, I want to say this was also a debut book. I don't know if this author will develop better stories in the future, so I am not going to say I will never read her again. I'd be interested to see what her next book is about. I thought the premise of this was interesting, just not well executed. I'd skip this book and wait to see what she has next.