Stacy Kingsley - The blog of author Stacy Kingsley

Book Review - The Exhibition of Persephone Q by Jessi Jezewska Stephens

12/29/2019

I won this book in a goodreads giveaway, and I was excited to read it, until I read it. The Exhibition of Persephone Q by Jessi Jezewska Stephens sounded promising. A young woman, Percy (not my real name), finds herself pregnant, married, and unable to sleep because she keeps holding her husbands nose closed when he sleeps. Her husband, Misha, has no reaction, and this scares her even more than the fact that she keeps doing it. She does worry that if it keeps going she will end up suffocation him, and she keeps letting us (the readers) know that she loves him and she has no idea why she is doing it. She then finds that her picture is in an exhibition of photography put on by her ex-fiance, who she keeps referring to as her fiance. The book seems to meander back and forth through many things that happen or conversations that Percy has. With so little action I found that it felt like it wasn't going anywhere, and at the end I felt that this was true. The actions she takes against Misha aren't resolved, and we never really find out why she has been holding his nose closed. The reader going through this with her, and her hanging out with her ex-fiance (who is annoyingly referred to as the fiance throughout the entire book, which makes it become tedious), and her pregnancy, and her inability to sleep, and nothing seems to really come together.

This book seems to desire to be about the alienation of Percy, but all of this she brought on herself. She is the one who no longer sleeps with her husband because she keeps pinching his nose closed. She is the one walking around New York in the middle of the night. She is the one who chases her ex-fiance to get answers as to why her picture is in his exhibit. And, even though this takes place in post 9-11 New York, the setting doesn't seem important, and besides some conversation, this could take place at any time, anywhere. It doesn't seem to pick up on the paranoia and trauma that followed the 9-11 attacks. Although, maybe this is represented in how paranoid and disturbed Percy seems to be.

Either way, I felt this book tried to hard. The language used didn't seem realistic to me, and I didn't find Percy to be an interesting or relatable character. The language and prose was overdrawn and at times I felt the author was trying too hard to make it sound smart. Of course, if you know anything about the original Persephone, some of the story will make sense, but that is only if you know the story.

This book will be released in February of 2020, and I am glad I won a copy because now I won't have to buy one. I can't say I'd recommend this one.

Author Interview with Kim Darnell

12/5/2019

I'd like to introduce you to Kim Darnell, author, wife, and mother. She recently released her debut novel Ready to Give An Answer. I was with Kim through part of this journey and trust me her book is one you don't want to miss. Her book is about life, and although many might look at it and think they don't want to read about someone's spiritual journey, trust me, you will. It is a book everyone and anyone can relate to, in several different ways. So without any more from me, let's meet Kim Darnell.

Let the internet world know what your debut novel is all about:
Ready to Give An Answer is a book I started out writing for myself and my family, but ended up wanting to share more widely once it was complete. It’s really the story of how I came to faith and how that impacted my life in high school, college, marriage, moving across the country, and handling an early miscarriage.

What do you want people to know about you and why you write?
As a little girl, I loved to write short stories and poems, and in school, I was one of the weird people who actually enjoyed writing book reports and essays, so much so that I ended up being a writing major! I write because it’s the best way I can express myself. I’d like to consider myself an articulate conversationalist, but writing has always been the way I feel I can best organize my thoughts and communicate clearly.

Why do you write the genre you do?
I hadn’t even heard of memoir until I took a class in college, and it was the perfect fit for me! I felt a bit out of place in poetry and fiction classes, but memoir was a place where I could bring my own stories to life.

What is the first book that made you cry?
Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White. It was one of my favorites as a child. How can you not cry when Wilbur has to say goodbye to Charlotte? *I think everyone can feel the same about this one - inserts interviewer*

What are common traps for aspiring writers?
Not being in a critique group. I was so much more productive as an aspiring writing when I regularly attended one. Critique groups keep you bringing new material, enliven your old material, and you get to meet a bunch of great writers — it’s what Michael Scott would call a win-win-win! *Oh yes, who gets this awesome reference?!?!*

How did publishing your first book change your process of writing?
Publishing my first book hasn’t really changed my writing process. It’s made me want to do it again! Self-publishing and marketing is a lot less fun than actually writing, but it is very rewarding to get to hear readers’ feedback. *Agreed

What was the best money you ever spent as a writer?
Probably on books. I don’t think you can be a good writer if you’re not a reader!

How do you select the names of your characters?
Although I write about real people, I do have to change names from time to time. Sometimes I’ll just go with the first name that pops into my head. Other times there has been someone else that the person has reminded me of, and I’ve used that name.

Do you Google yourself?
Not until you just asked that question… I’m pleased to see that my author picture came up!
*It is surprising how many people DON'T google themselves!!!*

How can people get in touch with you?
People can get in touch with me via Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Kim-Darnell-Author-405507216844829/?modal=admin_todo_tour.

What are you working on now?
I’m working on a new book called No One Ever Told Me and am soliciting feedback for readers to be featured in it! This book will be a collection of quotes and short stories from my own life and readers’ lives detailing things we had to learn on our own. Please consider sharing: What is it no one ever told you that you wish they had?
*Internetland, the link to answer this question, and maybe be a part of Mrs. Darnell's next book is below. Please feel free, if you have time to help Kim out!
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/8B8B953

Kim's book can be found on Amazon, or you can click on the link below, and it is available as an eBook and a paperback:
www.amazon.com/Ready-Give-Answer-Kim-Darnell/dp/1072014866

Book Review - THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW by A.J. Finn

12/1/2019

The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn will feel familiar when you start it, especially if you read The Girl on the Train, which this can be compared to. It is not like Gone Girl, which I will admit I totally hated.

Anna Fox is a former child psychiatrist who is now an agoraphobic who can't leave her house without passing out. If you know nothing about agoraphobia it is the fear of open spaces, or spaces you can't control and is often brought on by trauma or anxiety. Her and her husband, Ed, and daughter, Olivia, have separated, possibly due to the agoraphobia, possibly due to other reasons. When the Russell's move in across the street Anna finds herself drawn to the family, especially the teenage son, Ethan, and the wife, Jane. However, nothing is as it seems with the family, and once Anna hears a scream and believes that she sees Jane murdered things go sideways. Anna finds that no one believes her, and due to her condition and her reliance on both alcohol and prescription drugs she starts to not believe herself.

The story has two twists in it. One did surprise me and I was a little shocked, because I should have seen it coming, the other was foreshadowed and I could have guessed if I wasn't so into the story. The story itself was slow at times, and the pacing could have been a little faster. There were times when I felt so bogged down in Anna's feelings and life that I wanted to skip it and get to the story. I also wish that the author had focused a little more on the other characters on the street that Anna watched.

My biggest issue with this novel was with Anna herself. She continually repeated in the novel that she knew she shouldn't be drinking while she was taking her prescription meds, but she continually did just that. I would have liked a character who wasn't drunk all of the time, and I feel that she could have been seen as unstable just with her misuse of the prescription drugs that she was prescribed for her agoraphobia issues. I feel that the alcoholic female lead who isn't going to be believed has been a little over done at this point. There are other ways to create a believable unstable character without the use of booze or meds.

My other issue was with the character of Alister Russell. He was portrayed as a hard ass man who was overprotective of his family, but neither he nor Jane were developed enough to really add to the story. When you have important main characters in a novel they need to serve a purpose, and I feel that neither Jane, who we see little of, and Alister, who we see only when he is angry, aren't used to their full advantages.

I do recommend this, it wasn't bad, and I didn't hate it as much as I did Gone Girl, nor did I dislike it as much as I did The Woman on the Train. Plus, it looks as if a movie is coming and I find it is always a good idea to read the book before watching the movie.

Book Review - MY SISTER, THE SERIAL KILLER by Oyinkan Braithwaite

11/24/2019

Braithwaite's My Sister, the Serial Killer is a fun book about a young woman, the dependable Korede and her younger sister, Ayoola, who murders people. This novel has both good and bad in it.

The novel starts off when Korede is cleaning up another murder her sister has done. The young man who was murdered, Ayoola, claims to have killed in self-defense. Throughout this novel this goes back and forth, with Korede continually cleaning up after her sister, and everyone else stating how beautiful and perfect Ayoola is, even Korede.

I liked this book, but I wanted to like it more than I did. There were moments when the story was stagnant and the pacing was slow. For a book about a homicidal maniac, there was not enough murder. Korede is a young woman who has taken on the life of her sister. She keeps the guilt for herself, feeling guilty and continually seeing and stalking the young man killed at the beginning of the book. She is the one worried about getting caught, while Ayoola continues to do as she does, going out with whoever she chooses, doing as she pleases, thinking that nothing is wrong. Their mother even thinks that all of the issues are with Korede, not Ayoola. In fact everyone seems to think that all of the problems are Korede's not her murderous sister.

This is where I didn't like the book. I think that Ayoola was given too much credit, and I didn't enjoy reading Korede be so down on herself and her looks all of the time. She, in her own right, was beautiful, even as described by the author. I eventually got a little bored by her covering and discussions of Ayoola's beauty and flaws. I wanted more. I wanted more death, and really a reason to care for the characters, which is something that was missing. Even that main love interest, Tade, became a dud.

I was not happy with the ending, but I will say it was fitting for the tone and plot of the book, it also was not a surprise. The most interesting aspects of this novel was the setting, as it was not set in a familiar place. Not only that it was not set in a country that a lot of novels have been set in, being in Nigeria. I enjoyed the setting, the things I had to look up because I had no idea what they were, and the culture that came about. So for that reason I gave this book three stars.

I can't say either way if you should or should not read this novel, but I can say it will likely be like nothing you have read before. It might also be something that someone else might get more out of than me.

Book Review - THE PERFECT GIRLFRIEND by Karen Hamilton

11/11/2019

The Perfect Girlfriend by Karen Hamilton was not the perfect book. Revolving around main character, Juliette, who is trying to win back her ex-boyfriend, Nate, this is a novel that is trying way too hard to be interesting and the next Gone Girl.

Juliette gets a job as a flight attendant to be close to her ex, Nate, who is a pilot. She has a plan, and she must stick to the plan, otherwise she might not get Nate back. The problem, Nate doesn't want her back, because she is totally psycho.

The characters are not delightful at all. I hated everyone, and those who were even a little developed were not interesting or fulfilling characters. Juliette, or Lily, or Elizabeth, is a narcissist, and nothing she does is reasonable. She is a boring stalker, who doesn't develop any characteristics to recommend her as a character to read this book. There was nothing to make her interesting as a main character, and I was actually bored with her obsession and the reasons for this obsession didn't seem like big enough reasons for her to do everything she has done. There were scenes involving her that didn't make me feel sorry or anything for her. In the beginning we learn that she is with her younger brother, Will, when he drowns in an accident, but this doesn't really get expressed later in the story. When she tells another character about it, it doesn't make any sense why she is telling the story, and there are no reasons for it to be expressed. We also don't get to learn enough about her relationship with her mother, or her aunt Barbara. Nothing is delved into, it is all just surface.

Other characters who could have used more and more interesting development were Nate, the love of Juliette's life, Bella, and Amy... especially Amy, who started out as an interesting friend, and could have been a more interesting character if she had been explored a little more. None of the characters had any redeeming values that made me want to read this book, or care about what happened to them.

I wish I hadn't spent the money on this novel. I usually don't post a review if I hate a book, but this one made me mad. I didn't find any reason to finish it, and wish I hadn't wasted the time. I know there are people who will love this book, just like people loved Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train, but I dislike books like this. I want at least one character to root for or enjoy. I want one character who isn't a despicable human being.

I don't recommend this novel, for anyone.

Book Review - YOU WERE ALWAYS MINE by Nicole Baart

10/28/2019

You Were Always Mine by Nicole Baart is about a woman who learns that life can change in mere moments when she learns of her husband's death. Evan and Jessica Chamberlain have been separated for a few months, leaving her life with her two sons in turmoil. Things get worse when Evan is found dead, and the questions keep piling up and keep Jessica awake at night. Everything seems to revolve around their adopted son, Gabriel. Gabe's mother wanted a closed adoption, and Jessica was fine with that, but when she stumbles upon clues that things weren't as they seemed, she becomes suspicious that Evan's death was not an accident at all.

I actually quite enjoyed this novel. This is the first book I've read by Nicole Baart, and I might in fact try to find another by her to see if her books stack up to this one. There are some issues with this book, but the characters were interesting, and Jessica was realistic in her grief. I thought how she went from day to day and through each step felt true to what someone does go through. Trying to pull herself together enough to deal with her children and continue to take care of life as things come and go.

When Jessica finds that a lot of things were not as she thought they were she realizes how much she wanted Evan back, and how little she knew about what he was trying to do. In the end Jessica learns that those who she trusted were the ones who betrayed her, and that her husband was doing more good, even though he was keeping some serious secrets from her..

The family dynamic was interesting, yet is was clear that the family loved each other. The ending wasn't quite what I expected, but I did in fact see it coming, in some of the ways that it did. One of the characters I thought suspiciously about from early on in the novel.

It was not a bad novel at all, and I thought it was a good read. It was an interesting book, with a lot of secrets to figure out. I'd recommend it to people who enjoy Jodi Picoult, as this did seem a little along the lines of the few books of hers that I have read.

Book Review - PHANTOMS by Christian Kiefer

10/22/2019

Phantoms by Christian Kiefer is told from a recent Vietnam Vet's point-of-view. John Frazeier comes home from Vietnam not knowing what to do with his life. A broken young man, like most who came back, and has decided to spend time with his Grandmother and a distant Aunt. The story floats through several decades, from before World War II to 1983. It also includes the lives of several different families, the Takahashis, who were displaced and sent to an interrnment camp during the second world war, the Wilson's, who owned the land the Takahashis lives on and rented a place on, and Frazier himself, as a war hero who wonders what happened to another war hero, of a different time. Ray. Ray Tahahashis arrived home after serving in WWII to find that his family had been removed, and that he was no longer welcome. Then he disappeared. After losing friends, John finds that he can't let the story go, and finds himself obsessed later in life with the outcome.

As a story that involved different time periods it was interesting how these stories intertwined. Seeing a man coming home from the Second World War to find his family and everything he loved gone, then to find out later what happened and how much life had screwed him over, was upsetting and fascinating. Most won't think of the repercussions of the life some leaves behind and the life they return to, especially given the time some soldiers spent away, and still spend on deployment. After most wars, the man or boy sent away is not the man or boy who comes back, and often the lives they are coming back to is not the same either.

Ray finds this to be the truth when he returns to what he thought of as home, only to find that everything has changed and he is no longer welcome. As the story moves on the reader gets to see how unwelcome Ray is when the woman he loves and the people of the town react to him in an unexpected way. Decades later, when John returns from Vietnam with the same kind of feeling about where home is, he find himself embroiled in discussions between his distant Aunt, Evelyn Wilson, and Ray's mother Kimiko Takahashi, who only want to know where her son is. Evelyn Wilson however is full of secrets that she is unwilling to share, keeping a family in the dark, and creating more and more unnecessary heartache.

John, is dealing with his own issues, memories and ghosts from his time in Vietnam. He spends some time with another soldier who was with him, Chigger, but in the end, no really gets their happy ending.

This novel not only shows a portrayal of what it looks like for a soldier to come home, but also what secrets can do when left unspoken. One family doesn't find out the entire truth, and another searches for something they let go of. In the end, there isn't justice for anyone, even John loses by not reaching out to someone he should have reached out to.

There are parts of this novel that were hard to read, especially as someone who has been military for most of their life and who has sent men off to war. Parts of this novel were hard to read because of the blatant racism and disgust that some of the character portrayed, Evelyn Wilson was not a pleasant person, and neither was her daughter, Helen.

In the end, the only issue I had with this book was the slipping of time forward and backward. There were moments that were confusing, and there were moments that were overdone, but overall, the book was pretty good.

Movie Review - IT: CHAPTER TWO

10/14/2019

So, what can I say about IT: Chapter Two? It is the second half of the first movie, where all of the children we have met in the first movie have grown up and changed, and forgotten what happened to them that one horrible summer.

I hated this movie. I thought it was dull, and it only kept some some of the good parts of the novel, or even the television mini-series. I would have liked it to be a little closer to what the first movie, the novel, or even the original mini-series was like. I did not think that the use of Pennywise was well done, and I do not think that the characters were more interesting or more developed.

One scene I really, really hated was the scene when Beverly visits her old apartment, and is greeted by an old woman who is very welcoming. I think the director or writer or whoever developed this awful scene should have been fired. there was unnecessary humor, that was not only not needed, but it didn't add anything to the story, or the entire film. It was so silly I almost left the theater, because it was ridiculous.

Another thing I didn't care for was the length of this movie. It is an hour and forty-nine minutes, and it felt like it was an hour and forty-nine minutes. When I took a look at my phone to see only an hour had passed I was very frustrated. So yes, yes this was very slow and ridiculous. There were several moments in the movie that frustrated me. I didn't need this to be a humorous movie, I needed this to be a scary movie. I needed for this to be Stephen King scary. Instead I got a whole lot of discussion, a too little Pennywise. What made the mini-series and the novel scary was the clown. The history behind him, what he was, and how he behaved, this made people everywhere scared of clowns, and here there was a lack of clown.

I also still stand by my original assertion that I don't think Bill Sarsgard is scary as Pennywise. He just doesn't have it in him.

Luckily, I only paid three dollars to see this movie, but even that seems too much. It was not only too much money, but it was too much of my life spent on one thing, which neither scared me or held my attention. I should have been home reading, or sleeping, or having sex, anything but watching this movie.

Movie Review - MaleVolent

9/30/2019

The film MaleVolent is about a pair of siblings Jackson and Angela who run a profitable ghostbusting company, using fake Psychic Angela to hook desperate homeowners. When they are hired to investigate a haunted foster home, they discover that it is the same place where a group of young girls were silenced by a sadistic killer. Angela starts having issues, seeing and hearing things that aren’t there, or at least that aren’t supposed to be there. But they find that the supernatural is not their problem, and humanity might be.

The beginning of the movie didn’t grab me much, mostly because I thought that it was the same as a lot of other movies just like this. A group of people faking the ghosts, get money by making people believe they have gotten rid of the ghosts, and instead they end up being killed by a real ghost, but instead it isn’t the ghosts that people have to worry about, it is the real people.

When the sibling and their crew arrive at the old foster home they find the mother of the home to be off-putting and aggressive. Her son is a known murderer, having murdered several of the young girls she had taken into her foster home. He not only tortured the girls, but sewed their mouths shut, before killing them and placing them on display. The mother claims that the girls were the problem and that her son was the innocent victim, only doing what they forced him to do.

This movie wasn’t great, as there were some very slow moments that made the movie drag at times. But, there were also a lot of frights, and I got goosebumps several times as the creepiness of the movie built. There were some good moments that didn’t rely on jump scares, like most movies do these days, jump scares for ghosts.

The end of the movie moved a little too far into the grotesque, and it wasn’t needed as it was creepy enough. I feel like they might have added it so that there were some moments of torture to shock the audience. It was also incredibly sad as Angela realizes that her life is never going to be normal again.

Not a fantastic or great movie, but to watch it on streaming, it wasn’t bad. The time used to watch it was worth it for the end, and the revelation that sometimes things are not always what they seem, and sometimes people deserve to have the ghosts haunting them.

Book Review - IN A DARK, DARK WOOD by Ruth Ware

9/23/2019

In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware should have been an interesting book, it should have been a fabulous and suspenseful book, but it was in fact not. Not because of the book itself, no, it was because of other books like it.

Nora is a fictional crime author, one who doesn't often leave her flat. She is invited to her once best friend’s "hen" party, a party for brides-to-be before their weddings. She hasn't seen Clare in ten years, so it is all a surprise to her that she is invited, that is until she finds out who the groom is. Once at the party site Nora, her old friend Nina, Clare, and a few of Clare's friends, Flo, Melanie, and Tom, start the party. Flo wants the party to be perfect, for some reason she feels Clare has saved her life, although we only find out a little bit about that. Nora finds out a devastating fact, and things wander around from there. In the end the reader sees Nora in the hospital, being questioned by the police, about the last day of the hen party, and a shooting that happened.

The issue I have with this novel is not on that is based on the novel itself, but instead it is based on other novels like this. I can compare this novel to Girl on a Train, Final Girls, Our Little Secret, or Tell Me What Happened Again. All of these books have one thing in common, they all involve a woman who has lost part of her memory after some sort of trauma or tragedy, and the police are wondering what happened, and trying to figure it out. In a Dark, Dark Wood, would have been better if it had been the first of this trope that I had read, but unfortunately, it was not, and the story is one that has already been told and I have already read.

While Nora could have been an interesting character, I think both Nina and Flo were more interesting characters, and I honestly wouldn't have minded getting to know Tom a little more. Melanie seemed to be a superfluous character, and besides being there to set Flo off a little more and make her seem a little more unhinged, she didn't seem to be a necessary character.

Beyond the fact that this is like a lot of other books I have recently read, it is actually well written, and more interesting than some of the others mentioned above. I do not think that due to this book trope being overdone that I will never read anymore of Ruth Ware's novels. In fact, I look forward to reading more of her books, I'm just not sure which. I need to get through more of my TBR pile before I pick up a brand new book and bring it home.