The blog of author Stacy Kingsley - Stacy Kingsley

Book review - GIRL OF NIGHTMARES by Kendare Blake

10/12/2018

I didn't realize that I had this book on my TBR shelf. I received it for free, exchanging it for another book I had. I wouldn't have exchanged it if I had read Anna Dressed in Blood first. I didn't like Anna Dressed in Blood, and I didn't like Girl of Nightmares.

Now am I saying that Kendare Blake is a bad writer, no, I am not. I am only saying that these books weren't good. I thought the main character was conceited and annoying. He had friends and yet he continually states, "You don't have to do (blah) with me." He, Cas, knows full well that his friends are going to join him no matter what. Another problem with this book is that the setting in some parts just don't make sense. At one point they are walking through the Suicide Forest, and everyone knows that the Suicide Forest is in Japan, yet the characters are not in Japan. It didn't make sense, and I wonder if the author knew what she was doing at that point.

Another thing that annoyed me, these kids are under the age of 18, yet no one seems to care when they jet off to England, or that they skip school, or that they continually put themselves in danger and get hurt.

I also disliked the characters because none of them were really developed, again, and I didn't care that they were looking for Anna. I didn't care about Cas and his nightmares or desires because he is NOT a nice person. There is nothing about him that I like. Zero. The only character I think has any redeeming qualities is Thomas, and he is constantly put on the back burner, forgotten and left to whither.

I am not a fan, and after reading that this was the last book in the series (of two books) I am also frustrated. I feel as if Blake has so much more that she could say, and more to develop so that readers will care for these characters, yet she leaves things hanging and says there won't be a third book.

Meh. Not for me.

Book Review - FINAL GIRLS by Riley Sager

10/10/2018

For the book Final Girls bu Riley Sager, I was torn about reading it. On the cover I have it has a quote by Stephen King, "If you liked Gone Girl, you'll like this." I almost didn't buy this book, only because of that quote. See, I hated Gone Girl, hated it with a passion. I hated it because there was only one character to like and he wasn't int he book enough. Otherwise, it was overrated and not at all interesting. Plus, I don't mind a twist, but I don't want to read an entire book of lies (which almost half of Gone Girl was). However, this isn't about Gone Girl, this is about Final Girls.

This book revolves around Quincy, a young woman who ten years earlier survived one of the most horrific experiences of her life. A night that was supposed to be fun turned into a night of betrayal and tragedy. In that night, Quincy and five of her friends, including her best friend, Janelle, were staying at a cabin. At the end of the night, only Quincy survived. Now, years later Quincy is pert of a group of three girls called the "Final Girls" all surviving a night of horrific tragedy, where several others were killed and they were the ones to survive. Suddenly, the original "Final Girl" is found dead of a supposed suicide, and Quincy's life is dramatically changed when the other "Final Girl" Sam shows up wanting to talk. What does Sam want to talk about? Not the death of Lisa, no, she wants to help Quincy remember what happened that night at Pine Cottage.

This book started out strong, and for a while kept me going, wanting to find out what happened to all of the girls and why Lisa, the strongest of the three, would kill herself after all of this time had passed since her tragedy. All three girls, Lisa, Sam, and Quincy, had been in a situation where they had become a "Final Girl," and in fact Lisa is the one who came up with the name. I didn't start getting frustrated with this book until Sam starts pushing Quincy, and her maybe Fiance, Jeff, keeps telling her that she is fine. How could anyone thing she was fine, and how could he have been so blind to what was happening to her? Sam, on the other hand, was too pushy and her personality was so abrasive that it started to wear on me.

I, throughout the book, also found Quincy to be too much of a pushover. I don't know how I would react if I had survived what she had gone through, but for me, I didn't think she was realistically written at certain points in the book. I found the younger Quincy, the one in the flashbacks, to be almost the same as the older Quincy, as if the tragic events of ten years earlier didn't affect her, but there was no telling how she was dealing, or how she did deal, other than she was put on Xanax. This to me, seemed unrealistic. I doubt that she would just find Xanax to be the cure, and that she would show other destructive behaviors. However, I did the book and the final twist at the end.

One other thing that bothered me about this book, was the time it took to develop anything. There was so much in between the first and last scene that I felt a lot of it was filler. It was almost as if Quincy was standing in a room, just spinning around, and that was what the reader was seeing. I would have liked a little more involvement from the outside characters, a little more to make me feel something deeper, some sense of urgency or, well, anything. As with other books I have read recently, the only character that stood out was Sam, she was well described, and I could see her each time she appeared, often disheveled and awkward. None of the other characters stood out to me, and I didn't even get one bit at the end because I couldn't remember it being described much in the beginning.

Of course, this doesn't mean I disliked the book. I was thrown off by the ending, and not expecting it at all, and it really made the book much more interesting. It was something that I didn't see coming at all, and was happy to have the surprise, especially when most of the book I've read recently were obvious where they were headed.

I do recommend this. I would love to be able to give it a strong recommendation, but can't because of the the slow parts and the fact that none of the characters were really developed (Jeff was super flat).

Book Review- SCARY MARY by S.A. Hunter

10/7/2018

Scary Mary by S.A. Hunter is a pretty good novel. Mary is a young woman stuck as an outcast in high school. She is called a freak by almost everyone, until she meets Cy, a new kid who doesn't seem to care what anyone has to say about her. Mary's best friend, Rachel, is away on vacation when Mary is invited to Cy's house. Mary isn't sure what to do, as Rachel has been her only friend for several years. Once at Cy's house things don't go as planned, and Mary finds herself once again the outcast. See, Mary can't see them, but she hears ghosts, and there is a nasty one in Cy's house.

This was a fun, fast book to read. The book is only 14 chapters, although I felt it could have been a little more to it. We don't get a lot of backstory on Mary, or Rachel, so I didn't really care about the characters as deeply as I could have. Another character who could have used more development was Mary's grandmother, or Gran. Gran is a fortune teller and the reader doesn't quite have a clear picture of what she looks like, or even how the house they live in is set up.

I would have liked a little more descriptions of several things, since after reading it (and I only finished about 3 hours ago) I can't remember what any of the characters look like. None of them really stuck with me, and I would have liked a little more from the teens who were terrible to Mary. There were more than a few, but the only name I remember is Vicki, and again, I can't quite picture what she looked like.

Now, just because I didn't care for the lack of description, and character development, does not mean that I didn't like this book. I thought the idea behind it was interesting, and found it delightful that Mary had a characteristic that I hadn't seen in a lot of other books, being able to hear but not see the dead. In the end, I thought the most delightful character was Chowder, a ghost dog who comes and goes into Mary's life. And to be honest I can remember more about him than any of the other characters (seriously, what color hair did Rachel have? I want to say red... Maybe).

I may or may not read the next book in this series. I have to think about it, and maybe get through a few more novels on my TBR shelf before buying anything new.

Book Review - A HEAD FULL OF GHOSTS by Paul Tremblay

10/3/2018

I just finished A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay, so I decided to review it, since I had a moment.

The book follows the Barrett family as they struggle to find out what is wrong with their fourteen year old daughter, Marjorie. At first they take her to a psychologist to get her help, thinking her issues might be mental health related, and then, due to the father, they pull in a priest. The father doesn't seem to have much pull with the family until one night in particular, and in the end they decide that Marjorie must be possessed and needs an exorcism.

For me there were moments in the book that really bothered me. The blog written throughout by Karen Brissette seemed very unnecessary. It was in each part telling the author why the television show based on the Barrett's life was unrealistic and fake. The reader doesn't need this information, as they should be able to read the book and decide for themselves if the possession of Marjorie was in fact a thing that happened, or something that a struggling family made up to make money. The blog didn't add to the story, and it was distracting.

The novel began with a strong look at the characters, and in the house where things had happened, but it didn't explore this setting as much as it should have. Merry, Marjorie's little sister, is the one who is really telling the story, and if she is back in the setting where everything happened, I would have liked to see more of the house and Merry's reactions. This was especially true as I looked back at the beginning after finishing the book. I wanted there to be more, and I wanted there to be something to bring this book in a circle, but it is abstract and there are things that don't seem to connect.

There are also characters that seem important, but in the end the fade into the book and don't have any presence when they should. The ending was a little bit of a surprise, something I wasn't expecting, but it is the only part of the book that stood out to me. The ending stood out because it made me question what was going on in the house, was Marjorie possessed, mentally ill, or an average teenage girl? Was there something wrong with her father that caused him to need the church and believe that nothing but the church could save his daughter? Was the mother absent in their lives because she didn't want to be married, or did she not see what was going with her family? Was Merry the antagonist of the story?

Most of the time the characters fell flat, and having an eight year old Merry be narrator, to me, made her an unreliable narrator, especially since the reader has no idea what she actually saw, or what she really knew or remembered.

The last thing I'd like to say is that this book did not scare me. I don't know what most people who were scared found frightening in this book, because honestly this seemed like an amalgamation of a bunch of other stories and novels. It is almost as if Tremblay did decide to read all of the books and watch all of the movies mentioned in the book and take pieces of each one to put in this novel. I wanted to be scared, but what was I supposed to be afraid of? An abusive family? A family in chaos? A little girl who ends up doing something terrible and never getting caught? So much is left unsaid, and nothing is really developed.

The only thing that did stay with me was the ending, like I mention earlier, because it wasn't quite what I expected. I expected Marjorie to die a horrible death during the entirety of a book, and I expected something bad to happen to the family, but I did not expect what actually happened.

I am happy I read this, but it wasn't as great as I had been led to believe, and I'm not sure I will read any more of Tremblay's books, only because his writing style didn't quite work with me.

Book Review - I'M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS by Iain Reid

9/16/2018

I really wanted to like the book I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid. I really did. Unfortunately, I did not like it, I did not like it at all.

I really hated this book. At first I enjoyed it, I thought it was interesting to hear the girlfriends thought, even though they were repetitive, and she got to be a little annoying. Then I just got bored.

Over and over the girlfriend repeats things in her head like: I should tell him I'm going to end things, I should tell him about the caller, Who is the caller, should I answer the phone. I got tired of it all and just wanted to kick her. She never changed her tone, until the end when we find out the huge secret. I also have to say I hated the ending. The last half of the book felt rushed, even though I knew what was going to happen (it was easy to figure out and no, I didn't read any of the reviews before hand). I would have liked it to go in a different direction, and not leave so many loose ends. I would have like it to be more cohesive as well as I found the way things developed was a tedious, time suck.

I don't like hating books. I want to support authors, but I don't get how this has so many good reviews. I think that because it is "literary" that may be why it has garnered so much attention. In my view, it was a book that didn't deliver what was promised, and in the end it left too many things open. I understand that the caller was an abstract idea to some, but to me it was a suspenseful element that didn't add anything to the story.

Not a fan. Not a fan at all. I wanted to like this book so much because of the title, it really drew me in. But, it just couldn't get there and lost me along the journey.

Book Review - HOW THE WHITE TRASH ZOMBIE GOT HER GROOVE BACK by Diana Rowland

9/15/2018

I might be one of the only people who was seriously disappointed in How The White Trash Zombie Got Her Groove Back, especially since up until this book I've really enjoyed this series. This book fell short for me in so many ways, and I am not happy with how little the characters have changed, except Pietro, he changed a ton in this book.

In this part of the series, Angel finds herself once again doing things she isn't prepared for. She seems to often find herself in situations she isn't prepared for, and often when it does happen her self doubt and self pity is overwhelming and boring. In this novel none of that changed. Angel doesn't listen to those who know more than her, and she ends up saving the day as always, but in stupid, stupid ways.

The relationship between Angel and Marcus is tenuous, and in all honestly it never seemed to be a good one On a side note, there didn't seem to be much steam between the two characters. Angel and Marcus never seemed to meet in a good hot, sexy scene. I don't really read much romance or erotica, but there should have been some chemistry between the two. The end of the book sets Angel up to be in a relationship with a different character in the novel, a character who seems to be an unlikely partner for Angel. In fact the author sets it up so that Angel seems like she is a horny teenager, wanting sex with a lot of men, but always asking herself why she has these sexual feelings.

There was a lot that happened in this novel, and I don't think any of it moved the story along, in fact it seemed to be written for two reasons only. The first was to change Pietro as a character and give the zombies a new power or ability. The second was to change Andrew Saber, and give him a little more depth, but I don't think we needed to read four books to get to this point.

These books are starting to feel, to me, as if they have no idea where they are going, or what story they are trying to tell. I mean, in previous books Angel is seriously worried all of the time about losing her job, and in this one she takes off for days/weeks and gives her job zero thought. This bothered me, because she has been concerned so often, it doesn't seem like her character at all.

Lastly, what bothered me about this book was the title. It in no way had Angel "getting her groove back." In fact, it seemed ass if she was more self-deprecating and whiny in this book were worse than all of the previous books, and in all honesty, I didn't like her very much.

I think this is the last in the series I will read, which is unfortunate because I really enjoyed the idea of the books and the different take on zombies.

Book Review - WHITE TRASH ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE by Diana Rowland

9/3/2018

I really enjoy the White Trash Zombie series, but of the three books I've read thus far this has not been the best. White Trash Zombie Apocalypse takes place in the same location as the last two, but this time, Angel sees that a zombie movie is being filmed at her old high school, and on the field where she lost her virginity (as we hear a few times in the book).

There are some of the same things in this book that were in the last few, things that annoyed me. Angel and her every so often boyfriend, Marcus, don't seem to be very compatible as he is always treating here like she doesn't know what she is doing or that she shouldn't be doing what she is doing. Her relationship with another zombie, Philip, is frustrating because there is all weirdness that isn't at all explained. Her work at the coroners office, which is one of the funnest parts of these books, is hardly represented in this novel. And she misses something important at the end that the author had been building up since the beginning of the book, and that was really frustrating. I felt as if this one thing had happened then Angel would be able to move on to more fun and exciting things in the next book, but she is still stuck.

I do enjoy the relationship between her and her father and how it has developed throughout the books. I also enjoy the character of Heather and Brian, two new characters who were introduced in this book.

Overall, I will probably still read the next book because I think the idea is a good one, and I am not quite ready to give up on Angel, even though she needs to stop being so whiny and girlie (I'm a little girl who can take care of myself but I'm so scared of everything). We will see if I still want to read it after the next book. If Angel doesn't grow any more and stays as frustrating and whiny then I may not continue reading the series. Although Diana Rowland has another series with a strong female character that I might try.

Book Review - OUR LITTLE SECRET by Roz Nay

8/26/2018

SPOILERS!!!

In Our Little Secrets by Roz Nay, the scene starts in a police interrogation room. A young twenty-six year old woman, Angela, is being questioned in a police station by a Detective Novak about her relationship with a young man named HP and his wife. During her time in the police station, Angela continually goes back, beginning her story in the formative high school years of her life, when she first met HP. Throughout their years HP and Angela were friends, but eventually they become more involved after being very close friends for years. When Angela finds that she is being forced to go to England to go to university they make an agreement that they will see how things happen, but they both apparently want their relationship to continue.

In all honesty this book wasn't bad, but I didn't believe what was going on. I didn't believe that Detective Novak would continually let Angela run her mouth off about what life was like as she grew up and grew closer to HP. Every officer I know would have more aggressively brought her back to the subject at hand, what has happened and where is the missing wife? Being able to ramble through her life, meeting HP, inserting herself into his life later, and basically lying about everything, seemed to be a little to much. She was given more time than anyone would have been given to talk about her past relationship.

The one thing that I did take away was the narcissistic nature of the main character, Angela. She was obviously either mentally ill or had antisocial personality disorder. This book did remind me a little of the book The Weight of Water by Anita Shreve. The stories had similar main characters, woman who were in love with a man who they weren't sure loved them, or a love triangle.

The ending of the book did surprise me. Although there were characters I wanted a little more information about, like Angela's self-involved mother, her new best friend Freddy, and her absent but intelligent father. I even wanted more information about Saskia, the wife of HP. I don't feel she had enough of her own personality and character, which I do understand since she is being represented through Angela's eyes, and Angela is obviously biased.

I do think this book was interesting, and I do recommend that if you liked books like Girl On a Train and Gone Girl this might hit some of the right spots for you. While I enjoyed it, it did seem to stretch a little long, and I wished that it had gotten deeper into the story earlier. After a certain point I didn't care what was going on between Angela and HP. I just wanted to get to what happened after HP and Saskia were married.

Book Review - I AM NOT A SERIAL KILLER by Dan Wells

8/24/2018

I Am Not A Serial Killer is a thrilling idea from the point of view of a fifteen year old sociopath. John Wayne Cleaver is a young man trying hard not to become a serial killer, and for the most part he seems to be doing a good job. He lives with his mother, who owns and works in a mortuary with her twin sister, Margaret. This may not seem like the place for a young man who is trying not to kill, but for John it seems to work.

John also has a sister, Lauren, who we don't see much of, but get a short scene towards the end of the book that makes us wonder what she may or may not know about John, and their absent father.

Throughout the book a serial killer is stalking the citizens of Clayton. John is trying to figure out who the killer is and why they are killing. In the end John finds out more than he expected to find.

I liked the idea of this book more than I liked the book. When the author shows the audience who the killer is I was frustrated and annoyed. It didn't fit with what I wanted to see and to be honest nothing about this book told me that it was going to be as odd as it was. This isn't the first time that I have been disappointed in a book not really delivering what it promises.

I enjoyed the view of the main character, John. He constantly questioned how he could save himself from being a serial killer, and he obviously doesn't really want to become one. This was an interesting idea, and it was fascinating to listen to John as he debated what he should and shouldn't be doing, but it also wasn't realistic and I wondered how much the author actually knew about serial killers.

Not all serial killers escalate, and not all serial killers kill to dominate or show their power. But I digress.

So while I thought the idea behind this book was promising, I don't think the inclusion of this particular serial killer was the best choice for this book, nor did I think the ending of the book was what I had been led to anticipate.

Book Review - GHOSTED

7/18/2018

I won a copy of Ghosted by Rosie Walsh and I thought this might be an interesting read. In all honesty parts of it were, but it was also very hard to read and get into. Most of the book follows Sarah, a woman who sees a man for seven days and then she loses her mind searching for him, becoming an annoying character that I did no like. The book follows several different people it seems, although it really only follows two, Sarah and Eddie.

The breaks between characters, or the breaks between chapters - this is difficult because there are chapters that go from present to the past. It really interrupts the story, and makes it difficult to read, or to stay interested in the characters. I especially disliked the ending, when it went from Eddie to Sarah.

I also have to say I didn't care how the story ended. It wasn't as if I didn't expect it, but there were things in the book that were misleading, and after the third or fourth time that it happened I realized I was getting bored and I didn't care anymore if Sarah and Eddie found each other or not. Or really what happened to Sarah in the end. After learning about the secret that tore them apart, I was even less interested, partly because it was obvious to me that it was a horrible accident and that some of it didn't seem at all believable. In reality, while this wasn't a bad book, it just wasn't a book for me, which is why I would give it three of five stars.

I also had an ARC, so I did notice there were a lot of grammatical errors which did annoy the English teacher in me. I hope that in the final draft these errors were corrected.