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Dead-Bang Fall
Book
March 1939, and try as he might, private eye Nate Ross can't seem to stay clear of Hollywood. His...

Hazel (2934 KP) rated Grave Expectations in Books
Apr 30, 2023
This was a fun read and something a little different to the usual murder/mystery and whilst there are times when I found it a little immature - surprising really as the main character is in her 30's - overall, I quite enjoyed it.
The main characters of Claire, Sophie, Basher and Alex are an excellent eclectic group of people (and a ghost!) and I found their friendship was really well developed and felt authentic; the other characters ... not so much; they were a little stereotypical which was unfortunate. The mystery element was intriguing but the pace was a little slow.
Overall, a pretty good read although it may appeal to a more younger audience than me, i.e., under 30's!
Thanks to Atlantic Books, Corvus and NetGalley for enabling me to read and share my thoughts of Grave Expectations.
The main characters of Claire, Sophie, Basher and Alex are an excellent eclectic group of people (and a ghost!) and I found their friendship was really well developed and felt authentic; the other characters ... not so much; they were a little stereotypical which was unfortunate. The mystery element was intriguing but the pace was a little slow.
Overall, a pretty good read although it may appeal to a more younger audience than me, i.e., under 30's!
Thanks to Atlantic Books, Corvus and NetGalley for enabling me to read and share my thoughts of Grave Expectations.

Bethr1986 (305 KP) rated Fremonsters in Books
Dec 23, 2021
Cody and his 2 friends Stevie and Brad, are ghost hunters not really having much to investigate, until a mysterious new artist displays his art at the museum of monsters that have been seen around the area over the years. Only now very peculiar things are happening which seem to point to some of the monsters being more than a myth!
A very well written descriptive story. You know where you are with this book no wondering what this that or the other is, as they are described in the book which really comes in handy when your not sure what something is. The close friendship between the friends is fantastic we all need close friends like that and are extremely lucky if we have them. An exciting captivating mystery that can be read again and again.
A very well written descriptive story. You know where you are with this book no wondering what this that or the other is, as they are described in the book which really comes in handy when your not sure what something is. The close friendship between the friends is fantastic we all need close friends like that and are extremely lucky if we have them. An exciting captivating mystery that can be read again and again.

Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated Ghost Stories in Tabletop Games
Jul 28, 2020 (Updated Jul 30, 2020)
The Gameplay (4 more)
The Strategy
Replay Value
Thinking Ten Steps Ahead
The Concept
Hard (2 more)
Luck of the dice
The cruse dice
Spooky Scary Ghosts
I learned about this game through Dice Tower reviews, Rahdo runthrough and BoardGameGeek. And it looked really good. A cooperative game in which the players protect the village from incarnations of the lord of hell – Wu-Feng – and his legions of ghosts before they haunt a town and recover the ashes that will allow him to return to life. That sounded really intresting and unquite. So i bought it and its a excellent game. Let me talk more about it..
Gameplay:
Each Player represents a Taoist monk working together with the others to fight off waves of ghosts.
The players, using teamwork, will have to exorcise the ghosts that appear during the course of the game. At the beginning of his turn, a player brings a ghost into play and places it on a free spot, and more than one can come in at the same time. The ghosts all have abilities of their own – some affecting the Taoists and their powers, some causing the active player to roll the curse die for a random effect, and others haunting the villager tiles and blocking that tile's special action. On his turn, a Taoist can move on a tile in order to exorcise adjacent ghosts or to benefit from the villager living on the tile, providing it is not haunted. Each tile of the village allows the players to benefit from a different bonus. With the cemetery, for example, Taoists can bring a dead Taoist back to life, while the herbalist allows to recover spent Tao tokens, etc. It will also be possible to get traps or move ghosts or unhaunt other village tiles.
To exorcise a ghost, the Taoist rolls three Tao dice with different colors: red, blue, green, yellow, black, and white. If the result of the roll matches the color(s) of the ghost or incarnation of Wu-Feng, the exorcism succeeds. The white result is a wild color that can be used as any color. For example, to exorcise a green ghost with 3 resistance, you need to roll three green, three white, or a combination of both. If your die rolls fall short, you can also use Tao tokens that match the color in addition to your roll. You may choose to use these after your roll. Taoists gain these tokens by using certain village tiles or by exorcising certain ghosts. One of the Taoists has a power that allows him to receive such a token once per turn.
To win, the players must defeat the incarnation of Wu-Feng, a boss who arrives at the end of the game. There are also harder difficulty levels that add more incarnations of Wu-Feng, in which to win, you must defeat all of them.
There are many more ways to lose, however. The players lose if three of the village's tiles are haunted, if the draw pile is emptied while the incarnation of Wu-Feng is still in play, or if all the priests are dead.
It is hard game but the strategy to this game is excellent cause you have to think about your moves and what to do next. That and the clock is ticking down to one of the ten Wu-Feng Minions. Also if 3 village spaces get crushed than you lose. Also the luck of the dice and the cards. The strategy is ten fold. Its hard but a excellent game and a must play game. Buy it if you havent already cause its a must. If you want to learn more or see a runthrough of the game go to BoardGameGeek, Rahdo Runthroughs or Dice Tower Reviews.
Gameplay:
Each Player represents a Taoist monk working together with the others to fight off waves of ghosts.
The players, using teamwork, will have to exorcise the ghosts that appear during the course of the game. At the beginning of his turn, a player brings a ghost into play and places it on a free spot, and more than one can come in at the same time. The ghosts all have abilities of their own – some affecting the Taoists and their powers, some causing the active player to roll the curse die for a random effect, and others haunting the villager tiles and blocking that tile's special action. On his turn, a Taoist can move on a tile in order to exorcise adjacent ghosts or to benefit from the villager living on the tile, providing it is not haunted. Each tile of the village allows the players to benefit from a different bonus. With the cemetery, for example, Taoists can bring a dead Taoist back to life, while the herbalist allows to recover spent Tao tokens, etc. It will also be possible to get traps or move ghosts or unhaunt other village tiles.
To exorcise a ghost, the Taoist rolls three Tao dice with different colors: red, blue, green, yellow, black, and white. If the result of the roll matches the color(s) of the ghost or incarnation of Wu-Feng, the exorcism succeeds. The white result is a wild color that can be used as any color. For example, to exorcise a green ghost with 3 resistance, you need to roll three green, three white, or a combination of both. If your die rolls fall short, you can also use Tao tokens that match the color in addition to your roll. You may choose to use these after your roll. Taoists gain these tokens by using certain village tiles or by exorcising certain ghosts. One of the Taoists has a power that allows him to receive such a token once per turn.
To win, the players must defeat the incarnation of Wu-Feng, a boss who arrives at the end of the game. There are also harder difficulty levels that add more incarnations of Wu-Feng, in which to win, you must defeat all of them.
There are many more ways to lose, however. The players lose if three of the village's tiles are haunted, if the draw pile is emptied while the incarnation of Wu-Feng is still in play, or if all the priests are dead.
It is hard game but the strategy to this game is excellent cause you have to think about your moves and what to do next. That and the clock is ticking down to one of the ten Wu-Feng Minions. Also if 3 village spaces get crushed than you lose. Also the luck of the dice and the cards. The strategy is ten fold. Its hard but a excellent game and a must play game. Buy it if you havent already cause its a must. If you want to learn more or see a runthrough of the game go to BoardGameGeek, Rahdo Runthroughs or Dice Tower Reviews.

Haley Mathiot (9 KP) rated I Heart You, You Haunt Me in Books
Apr 27, 2018
I Heart You You Haunt Me … is a little odd. It’s hard to describe it, really. Ava is so attached to Jackson, she loves him so much, yet hanging on to him is becoming more trouble than it’s worth. I was torn between wanting her to hang on to him in his ghost form, and wanting her to move on.
However in the whole scheme of things, it seemed just a little redundant, repetitive, and silly. It was painful and sad and sweet at times, but also a little absurd at times. I can’t really say if I liked it.
I did, however, like the end. What needed to happen, did happen. It had a pretty strong conclusion, though I felt almost like the author went one or two pages longer than she needed to (It was written in verse).
Content/Recommendation: clean, some kissing. Ages 12+
However in the whole scheme of things, it seemed just a little redundant, repetitive, and silly. It was painful and sad and sweet at times, but also a little absurd at times. I can’t really say if I liked it.
I did, however, like the end. What needed to happen, did happen. It had a pretty strong conclusion, though I felt almost like the author went one or two pages longer than she needed to (It was written in verse).
Content/Recommendation: clean, some kissing. Ages 12+

Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) rated Here (On the Otherside, #1) in Books
Jun 7, 2018
First off, this book was nothing like I expected! Going by the cover and by the synopsis, I thought it was going to be a ghost book (which is why I downloaded it in the first place). However, it has no ghosts in it. It's about a parallel universe/alternate reality.
Saying that, I did love this book. I found myself staying up at night just to read the next chapter. The characters are well formed and so is the plot.
There is a love triangle which is kind of annoying since they seem to be in every book at the moment. I also found Julia a bit annoying at the end of the book which I won't elaborate on because of spoilers.
However, for the most part, this book does make you believe that an alternate reality could exist. I'd definitely recommend this book to all fans of YA.
Saying that, I did love this book. I found myself staying up at night just to read the next chapter. The characters are well formed and so is the plot.
There is a love triangle which is kind of annoying since they seem to be in every book at the moment. I also found Julia a bit annoying at the end of the book which I won't elaborate on because of spoilers.
However, for the most part, this book does make you believe that an alternate reality could exist. I'd definitely recommend this book to all fans of YA.

Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) rated Heart-Shaped Box in Books
Jun 7, 2018
I couldn't decide whether or not to give this book 3 or 4 stars, so I'm going to give it 3.5 stars.
I thought this was a good read for the most part as I'm a big fan of horror books. I loved that there were a few scary bits in Heart-Shaped Box. I liked the character of Craddock and could actually imagine him to be a real ghost.
Jude, Marybeth and Anna were all believable characters as well.
What I didn't like was the BIG age gap between Jude and the girls he dates. That's just a personal thing though.
I felt that this book was lacking a bit of something although I can't put my finger on it. It's a great idea for a story but there's something else it could've had.
I'd still recommend this book for all fans of the horror genre.
I thought this was a good read for the most part as I'm a big fan of horror books. I loved that there were a few scary bits in Heart-Shaped Box. I liked the character of Craddock and could actually imagine him to be a real ghost.
Jude, Marybeth and Anna were all believable characters as well.
What I didn't like was the BIG age gap between Jude and the girls he dates. That's just a personal thing though.
I felt that this book was lacking a bit of something although I can't put my finger on it. It's a great idea for a story but there's something else it could've had.
I'd still recommend this book for all fans of the horror genre.
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