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Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated Shrooms ( Garden Variety Zombies 1) in Books
Nov 2, 2023
163 of 235
Kindle
Booksirens ARC
Shrooms (Garden Variety Zombies 1)
By Zola Joyce
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Hazel always had doubts about the protective abilities of the government. Particularly Child Protective Services and the cranky old lady who’d been doing her best to separate Hazel from her one and only parental unit. Why couldn’t Mrs. Stenopoulos see the value of independent living, and Hazel’s knack for it from the youngest of ages?
She was second in command of her mother’s slightly illegal but very profitable enterprise.
She’d taught herself to drive a full four years before she was eligible to get a license.
She’d rescued her beloved hound from the ‘Clinical Trial’ her mother’s boyfriend of the month had recently concocted.
And just a few weeks after her 15th birthday, she’d secured a full ride scholarship to the local university. Early entrance.
Hazel was a caretaker, a dog lover, and a crack shot. Ask anyone in town.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
If you enjoy Zombie YA then it’s definitely the book for you! I think it could have done with a bit more humor and it did have some just didn’t quite hit the mark for me. I’ve gone with a 3⭐️ because it’s well written and the idea is really interesting. The ending has thrown me a little and I really want to read the next to make sure I wasn’t high on mushrooms reading that last page 😆.
Kindle
Booksirens ARC
Shrooms (Garden Variety Zombies 1)
By Zola Joyce
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Hazel always had doubts about the protective abilities of the government. Particularly Child Protective Services and the cranky old lady who’d been doing her best to separate Hazel from her one and only parental unit. Why couldn’t Mrs. Stenopoulos see the value of independent living, and Hazel’s knack for it from the youngest of ages?
She was second in command of her mother’s slightly illegal but very profitable enterprise.
She’d taught herself to drive a full four years before she was eligible to get a license.
She’d rescued her beloved hound from the ‘Clinical Trial’ her mother’s boyfriend of the month had recently concocted.
And just a few weeks after her 15th birthday, she’d secured a full ride scholarship to the local university. Early entrance.
Hazel was a caretaker, a dog lover, and a crack shot. Ask anyone in town.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
If you enjoy Zombie YA then it’s definitely the book for you! I think it could have done with a bit more humor and it did have some just didn’t quite hit the mark for me. I’ve gone with a 3⭐️ because it’s well written and the idea is really interesting. The ending has thrown me a little and I really want to read the next to make sure I wasn’t high on mushrooms reading that last page 😆.
The Beauty Doctor
Book
"Beauty is power," Dr. Rome told her. "And with enough power, one can achieve anything." ...
Historical Mystery Suspense Edwardian
Weak characters (1 more)
Mediocre ending
A haunted house thriller that could've been more
At Spring House, it’s not just a lone ghost that haunts the property—something has awoken. Almost as if the house were alive. That’s the impression I got going into The Vines, and I thought it was a unique twist to the classic haunted house story.
The book has several narrators starting with Caitlin, an heiress whom everyone loves to hate and who is taken advantage of and cheated on by her husband. Second is Nova, an educated young black woman employed at Spring that has a real chip on her shoulder. Lastly there is Blake, a homosexual male nurse that suffers from depression after witnessing the death of his lover. All of these character’s stories come together to form the mystery around Spring House.
I had a hard time really deciding how I wanted to rate this book overall. At certain points it was thrilling, I wanted to know more about the mystery surrounding Spring House and the action scenes are written in wonderful detail. On the other hand I also found myself pretty disappointed with how one dimensional many of the characters were, particularly Caitlin and Nova. I just couldn’t find myself caring much about either one of them, which made it a little bit hard to remain interested in their respective roles in the plot.
With Caitlin she didn’t seem to be such a bad person, but the hatred and scorn from the people around her have reduced her to being a shadow of a person, not much ever comes from her character. The development of her character is seemingly dropped, she’s just there, all blind anger and rage and while it’s understandable, she has little impact on, well, anything. Which was unexpected considering the book’s synopsis was about her. What is worse is that Nova isn’t too far off from Caitlin. While there is a part of me that likes how strong willed Nova is, it is kind of annoying how she is just as blinded by her own rage and prejudice. Even she is barely relevant to the plot, if I’m to be perfectly frank. It becomes obvious that the real story is about Blake and how he faces up to the past that has been haunting him for years. This is well and good and I enjoyed his story, but then all of the other characters just become filler and this was kind of a downer.
The book just took way too long to get to that point. The focus keeps shifting before the story really starts to pick up speed and it feels like it drags a bit. I also found the ending to be a little bit cheesy, it just didn’t do it for me. Overall the book was decent, Rice has a gift for description and it was entertaining for a while. I just didn’t find this one to be particularly memorable.
The book has several narrators starting with Caitlin, an heiress whom everyone loves to hate and who is taken advantage of and cheated on by her husband. Second is Nova, an educated young black woman employed at Spring that has a real chip on her shoulder. Lastly there is Blake, a homosexual male nurse that suffers from depression after witnessing the death of his lover. All of these character’s stories come together to form the mystery around Spring House.
I had a hard time really deciding how I wanted to rate this book overall. At certain points it was thrilling, I wanted to know more about the mystery surrounding Spring House and the action scenes are written in wonderful detail. On the other hand I also found myself pretty disappointed with how one dimensional many of the characters were, particularly Caitlin and Nova. I just couldn’t find myself caring much about either one of them, which made it a little bit hard to remain interested in their respective roles in the plot.
With Caitlin she didn’t seem to be such a bad person, but the hatred and scorn from the people around her have reduced her to being a shadow of a person, not much ever comes from her character. The development of her character is seemingly dropped, she’s just there, all blind anger and rage and while it’s understandable, she has little impact on, well, anything. Which was unexpected considering the book’s synopsis was about her. What is worse is that Nova isn’t too far off from Caitlin. While there is a part of me that likes how strong willed Nova is, it is kind of annoying how she is just as blinded by her own rage and prejudice. Even she is barely relevant to the plot, if I’m to be perfectly frank. It becomes obvious that the real story is about Blake and how he faces up to the past that has been haunting him for years. This is well and good and I enjoyed his story, but then all of the other characters just become filler and this was kind of a downer.
The book just took way too long to get to that point. The focus keeps shifting before the story really starts to pick up speed and it feels like it drags a bit. I also found the ending to be a little bit cheesy, it just didn’t do it for me. Overall the book was decent, Rice has a gift for description and it was entertaining for a while. I just didn’t find this one to be particularly memorable.
Eilidh G Clark (177 KP) rated Goblin in Books
Jul 2, 2019
Brilliant book, well wriiten, original
Winner of the Saltire Society first book of the year award 2017, Goblin, by Ever Dundas is a brilliant and brave first novel. Set in both London during WW2 and in Edinburgh in 2011, the story is told in flashback. For me, the first half of the novel is the best, we meet Goblin as a nine-year-old tomboy with a love for animals and a passion for storytelling - both of which the protagonist collects.
Goblin has a difficult family life; a mother who doesn’t want her, 'Goblin-runt born blue. Nothing can kill you. [...] You're like a cockroach,' (p.5) a father who mends radio’s and barely talks and a brother (David) who spends most of his time in his bedroom. Left to her own devices, the protagonist, her dog Devil, and her two friends Mac and Stevie roam the neighbourhood and hang around in an abandoned worksite. As a collector of stories, Goblin enthusiastically attends the local church with Mac, 'I loved the stories, turning them over in my head, weaving my own.' (p.24) before meeting The Crazy Pigeon Lady who tells her tales of Lizards people from the realm below. The childhood innocence in these chapters, mixed with magic realism, break down the walls of adult reasoning and creates a wonderful suspension of disbelief.
But without giving away the story plot, the suspension of disbelief serves another purpose; to divert the reader (as well as the adult protagonist) from the truth. So, while the adult Goblin searches amongst her tangled past, she takes the reader along for the ride. We meet multiple parents, live life on the road, come alive on the streets and in the circus, explore love, death, desire, and hate – and somewhere in the middle we meet an impressive collection of animals - Goblin has it all. And as far as strong female protagonists go, she’s right up there with Anais Hendricks from Jenni Fagan’s Panopticon, to Janie Ryan in Kerry Hudson’s Tony Hogan Bought Me an Ice Cream Float Before He Stole My Ma, characters who are so real you might just walk by them on the street.
The only teeny tiny criticism about the novel is that the second half spans over a lengthy period of time and it felt a little rushed. However, there is so much to say about this novel, so many angles to discuss, from Queer Theory to Religion, from Myth to Realism, and as a graduate of English Literature I could have a field day studying this book but for now, as a lover of good books, I’ll give it a big thumbs up and a huge recommendation, it’ll be finding a space on my ‘keep’ book shelve.
Goblin, Ever Dundas (2017) published by Saraband
Goblin has a difficult family life; a mother who doesn’t want her, 'Goblin-runt born blue. Nothing can kill you. [...] You're like a cockroach,' (p.5) a father who mends radio’s and barely talks and a brother (David) who spends most of his time in his bedroom. Left to her own devices, the protagonist, her dog Devil, and her two friends Mac and Stevie roam the neighbourhood and hang around in an abandoned worksite. As a collector of stories, Goblin enthusiastically attends the local church with Mac, 'I loved the stories, turning them over in my head, weaving my own.' (p.24) before meeting The Crazy Pigeon Lady who tells her tales of Lizards people from the realm below. The childhood innocence in these chapters, mixed with magic realism, break down the walls of adult reasoning and creates a wonderful suspension of disbelief.
But without giving away the story plot, the suspension of disbelief serves another purpose; to divert the reader (as well as the adult protagonist) from the truth. So, while the adult Goblin searches amongst her tangled past, she takes the reader along for the ride. We meet multiple parents, live life on the road, come alive on the streets and in the circus, explore love, death, desire, and hate – and somewhere in the middle we meet an impressive collection of animals - Goblin has it all. And as far as strong female protagonists go, she’s right up there with Anais Hendricks from Jenni Fagan’s Panopticon, to Janie Ryan in Kerry Hudson’s Tony Hogan Bought Me an Ice Cream Float Before He Stole My Ma, characters who are so real you might just walk by them on the street.
The only teeny tiny criticism about the novel is that the second half spans over a lengthy period of time and it felt a little rushed. However, there is so much to say about this novel, so many angles to discuss, from Queer Theory to Religion, from Myth to Realism, and as a graduate of English Literature I could have a field day studying this book but for now, as a lover of good books, I’ll give it a big thumbs up and a huge recommendation, it’ll be finding a space on my ‘keep’ book shelve.
Goblin, Ever Dundas (2017) published by Saraband
Debbiereadsbook (1444 KP) rated Hardened Hearts in Books
Mar 8, 2018
VERY DIFFERENT!
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this collection.
Most of the books I read these days have romance of some description in them. And inevitably, there will be a Happy Ever After.
So, it makes to change to read a collection of books that, while following the romance theme, there ain't no hearts and flowers, there ain't no Happy Ever After either. Because, just as much as falling in love can be the best thing that happens to you, it can also be the worst.
I didn't read all the stories here, about half I read. The ones I did read were very well written, in various ways from first and third person, and in past and present tense. Some about normal everyday people, some paranormal, some scary, and some were just plain weird. There was one book, that I could not read, that is written in the second person, as in YOU. Very odd.
But the one that stuck with me is possibly the shortest one here. Its only maybe 4 pages, but it proper had me bawling my eyes out!
It Breaks My Heart To Watch You Rot, by Somer Canon, 4 pages but 5 full stars!
It tells the story of a woman whose husband (partner, lover, it matters not) has clearly lost his mind but she still visits, still tells him the car is his, that SHE is his. She takes him out, every Saturday, as he used to do himself. And then she gets the call he is gone. No names are mentioned, just he/she and him/her, but it gets the point across.
"Love didn't provide the real happy ending. There is no such thing between two lovers such as them."
If you want something a little (and a LOT) different, this one will be for you. If you are feeling very anti-Valentine's, again, one for you.
Just don't expect Cupid's Bow to be anywhere around.
For the ten books that I read, 4 stars overall, with 5 Stars for the book mentioned.
**same worded review will appear elsewhere**
Most of the books I read these days have romance of some description in them. And inevitably, there will be a Happy Ever After.
So, it makes to change to read a collection of books that, while following the romance theme, there ain't no hearts and flowers, there ain't no Happy Ever After either. Because, just as much as falling in love can be the best thing that happens to you, it can also be the worst.
I didn't read all the stories here, about half I read. The ones I did read were very well written, in various ways from first and third person, and in past and present tense. Some about normal everyday people, some paranormal, some scary, and some were just plain weird. There was one book, that I could not read, that is written in the second person, as in YOU. Very odd.
But the one that stuck with me is possibly the shortest one here. Its only maybe 4 pages, but it proper had me bawling my eyes out!
It Breaks My Heart To Watch You Rot, by Somer Canon, 4 pages but 5 full stars!
It tells the story of a woman whose husband (partner, lover, it matters not) has clearly lost his mind but she still visits, still tells him the car is his, that SHE is his. She takes him out, every Saturday, as he used to do himself. And then she gets the call he is gone. No names are mentioned, just he/she and him/her, but it gets the point across.
"Love didn't provide the real happy ending. There is no such thing between two lovers such as them."
If you want something a little (and a LOT) different, this one will be for you. If you are feeling very anti-Valentine's, again, one for you.
Just don't expect Cupid's Bow to be anywhere around.
For the ten books that I read, 4 stars overall, with 5 Stars for the book mentioned.
**same worded review will appear elsewhere**
Kara Skinner (332 KP) rated Mine for Tonight in Books
Nov 3, 2019
Nothing says sexy like a brooding billionaire. I mean, in a world of car payments, nine-to-five nightmares, and student loans hanging over people’s heads like spiders on their bedroom ceilings, it can be a lot of fun to daydream about a billionaire lover who will take it all away. Unfortunately, a lot of them are really bad, like Fifty Shades of Writing So Bad I Want All The Characters to Spontaneously Combust. The damsel in distress routine can also be sadly lacking plot and character development, like in The Doctor’s Slave. However, Mine for Tonight is definitely one of the good ones.
I have to admit, I picked this book up because the heroine’s name is Kara. I mean, how perfect is that, right? And I really liked this book. It was difficult for me to not get a little creeped out by Simon. Like, what stable-minded person follows someone around for over a year without even meeting her? I know he’s more like a guardian angel wanting to protect her and less like a stalker wanting to kill her, but really. There’s a difference between socially awkward and asking for a restraining order. But I loved how much he cares for Kara. Even though he’s a private person, he’s willing to open up his home to her without payment. (Yes, he does ask her to sleep with him, but he makes it pretty clear that that part is optional.) He’s definitely damaged, as is Kara. She’s struggling with a lot of things, like her last relationship which crashed and burned, and her parents’ deaths. Being stuck in nickel and dime mode after years of supporting herself makes it hard for Kara to accept Simon’s help, especially when he likes to spoil her. Her inability to stay indebted was why Simon gave her the sex payment option to begin with, although she ended up taking it because she wanted it. I really liked how hard-working she was. She’s not a traditional damsel in distress to be sure, and she keeps her independence even after Simon takes her in. Long story short, it didn’t take me long to buy the entire series.
I have to admit, I picked this book up because the heroine’s name is Kara. I mean, how perfect is that, right? And I really liked this book. It was difficult for me to not get a little creeped out by Simon. Like, what stable-minded person follows someone around for over a year without even meeting her? I know he’s more like a guardian angel wanting to protect her and less like a stalker wanting to kill her, but really. There’s a difference between socially awkward and asking for a restraining order. But I loved how much he cares for Kara. Even though he’s a private person, he’s willing to open up his home to her without payment. (Yes, he does ask her to sleep with him, but he makes it pretty clear that that part is optional.) He’s definitely damaged, as is Kara. She’s struggling with a lot of things, like her last relationship which crashed and burned, and her parents’ deaths. Being stuck in nickel and dime mode after years of supporting herself makes it hard for Kara to accept Simon’s help, especially when he likes to spoil her. Her inability to stay indebted was why Simon gave her the sex payment option to begin with, although she ended up taking it because she wanted it. I really liked how hard-working she was. She’s not a traditional damsel in distress to be sure, and she keeps her independence even after Simon takes her in. Long story short, it didn’t take me long to buy the entire series.
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