The Stark Divide by J. Scott Coatsworth was a wonderfully written space adventure filled with suspense! I fell in love with the characters immediately and could not wait to see what was going to happen next.

When I logged on to Goodreads to mark this as finished, I was thrilled to see that it was labeled as book number one! I NEED to get my hands on a copy of The Rising Tide soon! I cannot wait to see where this story goes next!

Full disclosure: I was given a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my rating in any way.

The book began with an absolutely lovely dedication page filled with wonderfully heartfelt messages! I just loved this so much.

The story then began with quite the bang! I was hooked immediately!

As the story continues, the reader learns that the Earth is becoming a very dangerous place to live. There is too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the planet is very warm. So warm that many coastal cities are now under water and a great number of the population has been wiped out...

Over the course of this novel, Earth begins to fall apart as the humans wage war and the atmosphere becomes more and more toxic. Luckily, three living generation ships have been built, each with an artificial intelligence. When a seed is planted on an asteroid, a new living world begins to grow.

It is on this planet that three generations focused on in this first book work together to properly colonize the planet.

But is the new planet they are helping grow going to be safe?

The Characters:
My goodness, I loved this crew! Each character was so wonderfully developed and interesting. I loved that they were a diverse cast as well and that their diversity wasn't overly discussed or brought up too frequently; it was just totally natural, as it should be!

I really enjoyed that in the first part of the book, we met three characters that played very important roles in the creation of the planet. It was so nice to see their influence throughout the rest of the book as other generations came through. These three were Collin McAvery, the ship captain, Anastasia Anatov, the “doctor” who is an expert in the ship genetics, and Jackson Hammond, the engineer with a very useful ability.


Part One: Seedling, 2135 AD
The first part of the book was so suspenseful! It was a major life and death situation for more than just the ship and the three crew members, but also for the humans on Earth as the crew of three raced the clock to get off the dying ship and save the seed.

The overall situation that they were all in was terrifying, but there were also many other things that occurred that got my heart racing! Each time they got out of one sticky situation, another popped up! I could never have guessed what was going to happen next! It was so nerve wracking and so wonderfully written!

Part Two: Colony 2145 AD
The Hammond! Oh my gosh they named a ship after him like he requested; “Name something after me.” And his son, Aaron, is on the ship! And then the lake?! Welp, there came the water works for me... What a lovely touch!

This part of the story was another action packed section with a fun little whirlwind romance. I loved learning more about the growing world in this section and I really enjoyed meeting the new characters!

Part Three: Refugee, 2165 AD
I loved seeing how the third generation Hammond’s powers have evolved! I thought it was so neat that each generation had something slightly different.

Just like the other sections, this one held many suspenseful situations.


My favorite passages:
Somewhere out there, their destination awaited them, an asteroid floating in a sea of stars.

Men were often dismissive of the things they didn’t understand.


My final thoughts:
Overall, a super fun and action packed read that kept me totally engaged. This was so wonderfully written and it was very easy to get totally immersed while reading. I adored the wonderful characters and the plot was so interesting! I just couldn't wait to see what was going to happen next!

If you enjoy space adventures with a wonderful cast, this is one that I highly recommend to you!

Christmas Eve, 1914 by Charles Olivier was an incredibly powerful listen about the WWI Christmas truce... What an absolutely amazing story! It was equally heartbreaking and uplifting.

My review for this one is going to be very quick. This is one that you really need to just give a listen yourself.

This story was based around a letter that a soldier was writing to the mother of a fellow soldier who died in battle in 1914. As the story begins, this soldier is penning his letter, and then the tale switches off between flashbacks while they were in the war and the letter.

The full cast that narrated this tale included Damon Herriman, Cameron Daddo, Xander Berkeley, James Scott, Lance Guest, Nate Jones, Cody Fern, John Beck, Gabe Greenspan, and Heiko Obermoeller.

The narration and acting by this full cast was so wonderful. Each of them did a great job and the emotions were so strong.

So take an amazing cast, and mix in many sounds like gunfire, explosions, stepping through water and many others; it all sounded very realistic.

Toward the end, I broke down and cried. But soon enough I was grinning along as the festivities during the Christmas ceasefire occurred. And then I was crying again...

What a powerful story! Go give this a listen ASAP if you can.

Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas by Jun Asuka is a manga filled with lovely artwork!

I'm a huge Nightmare fan so I couldn't wait to give this one a read during the holidays! Unfortunately, I didn't really care for the organization of the dialogue and how it guided the story along.

The artwork was definitely my favorite element of this manga. The texture and detail was so lovely!

Because this manga is rather short, I was worried that a lot of the plot would be left out, but it wasn’t too bad! The storyline captured the main arc of the plot in a decent manner. Though I do think I would have been pretty confused if I didn't already know the story so well.

I really liked that the nod to the songs from the film were set in fancy font. However, the transitions between the “song” bits and the normal dialogue in the panels were very abrupt. As a reader that knows all the songs, that kept throwing me for a loop. But if you can stop trying to finish the song, it will flow a little better. However, that being said, the story overall still seemed very choppy to me. More than a couple times I had to go back a panel or two to see if I had missed something...

Overall, this was a fun read, but I was just very underwhelmed with it. The artwork was great but the choppiness of the storyline and dialogue really dragged it down...

NOS4A2 by Joe Hill is a very chilling read about strained family dynamics, but for better or for worse, how love always wins in the end.

For those that don't know, NOS4A2 is the license plate version of "Nosferatu," the German word for vampire. So as I'm sure you can assume, this book is also about a vampire... of sorts.

This book is very difficult to explain without giving too much away. It's one that you definitely want to dive in and make all the fun discoveries on your own. I will keep my notes below rather brief, but feel free to stop here, and wait to read this post until you have read this book.

Overall, I just love Joe Hill's writing style! Right from the very beginning of this story, I was drawn in. Since my first read, the tale has really stuck with me. On my second read through, I had just as much fun as the first! I love how chilling it is to think about these abilities and how they can easily be used for evil rather than for good.

The storyline was so creative and organized so well. I really enjoyed how the story had plenty of action, drama, horror, and gore, but that it also had various splashes of sincerely heartfelt moments, which all built up to a very explosive ending.

I mentioned family dynamics in my opening sentence. That was one element of this tale that I hadn't been expecting the first time around. There are various families included; Vic and her parents when she was a child, Vic and her parents when she is older, Vic and the family that she creates, the daughter and the father that rebuilt the Wraith, Charlie and his daughters, Charlie and all of the children at Christmasland, Charlie and Bing... though that last one is a bit of a stretch. In each of these families, there are various struggles and disfunction, but there was also love.

Another element of this book that was really fun and interesting was the illustrations that were sprinkled throughout the book. These illustrations were created by Gabriel Rodríguez.

I also absolutely adored the acknowledgements section! This is definitely one of the most creative ones I have seen with the Naughty and Nice list :)

A few other notes:
The magical bridge is something that I’ve thought about from time to time since reading this story for the first time. It’s such a interesting thing, especially from the end where the bridge appears! I loved when Margaret describes it like watching a Polaroid develop.

Speaking of... Margaret was one of my favorite characters! She was a librarian in Here, Iowa with a bit of a stammer. She had a punk rock style and purple hair! I really loved her humor and thought it was so interesting that she was able to use scrabble tiles to learn things, but that this ability was unfortunately at the cost of her speech, resulting in a stronger stammer.

The search engine puzzle books that Vic created at one point in the book sound so fun! I wish they were real!


My favorite passages:
Hearing this man, convicted murderer and child molester, speak of her son made her dizzy, genuinely dizzy, as if she were in a glass elevator rushing quickly into the sky, the world dropping away beneath her.

She had dared herself to slip under the fence and walk ten steps, and the Brat had never been able to back down on a dare, even one she made to herself. Especially on the dares she made to herself.

“Mm,” said Peace-not-War. “Well. That’s helpful. We’ll put an APB out on the Gingerbread Man. I’m not hopeful it’ll do us much good, though. Word on the street is you can’t catch him.”

Christmas was almost three months in the rear view mirror, and there was something awful about Christmas music when it was nearly summer. It was like a clown in the rain, with his makeup running.

You had to know when it made sense to try to untangle something and when to just cut the motherfucker loose.

Was there any human urge more pitiful - or more intense- than wanting another chance at something?

There was no such thing as arguing with delight.

A pair of nuns were getting out of a cab, right out in front of the revolving door. That was damn close to divine intervention as far as Lou was concerned.

The darkness around her seemed to swell and recede like a kind of liquid, like the surface of a black lake.

Fantasy was always only a reality waiting to be switched on.

It collapsed in toward the middle, either end rising, as if the bridge were trying to close itself like a book, a novel that had reached its ending, a story that reader and author alike were about to set aside.


My final thoughts:
I really enjoy this tale. This was my second time reading it, and it was still so much fun. This is definitely one that I will reread from time to time!

TIP: If you are one of those people that stops reading once the final chapter ends, and skip the acknowledgements and the other added text, DO NOT MISS IT IN THIS BOOK! The story continues! Will there be a follow up story? I HOPE so!

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite was quite a rollercoaster ride of suspense filled with twists and turns that I did not see coming! The story was centered around two sisters, one who has a habit of killing her boyfriends, and the other that would help clean up the mess. Things between the two are already strained, but things really take a turn when the murderous sister starts seeing the man that the other sister is interested in.

After hearing a ton of hype about this book, I couldn't wait to dive in! When I started reading, I was immediately draw in. The book took a bit of a turn that I wasn't expecting, but I didn't put it down until I had finished it.

First things first, LOOK AT THAT COVER! I love it so much! The portrait of the woman is so eye-catching, and to have her surrounded by bright green text and a few splatters was a brilliant design idea. I was so caught up in looking at the woman and how the light is cast on her face and neck that it took me an embarrassingly long time to notice the reflection of the fist holding the knife that appears in her glasses.

The back of the dust jacket is wicked interesting as well! There is a hand wearing bright red glove, holding a green spray bottle which is surrounded by quotes from various authors.

If I had seen this book in stores before I heard the hype and preordered, I definitely would have picked it up on appearance alone! Bravo, Michael J. Windsor, you created a lovely dust jacket!

Now, about the text...

Needless to say, the first few chapters of this book totally drew me in with the murder aftermath, how to best use bleach to clean blood, the little black book of names, and the disposal of the body.

I was so interested to see how willing one sister, Korede, was to help her sister, Ayoola, cover up a crime. Right off the bat, this seemed a little off. I totally understand being protective of family, but at first I couldn't believe that Korede hardly even batted an eye! Soon enough however, the guilt caught up to Korede and she began to struggle.

At that point, the story took a bit of a turn. The suspense still held, but it was different. The suspense was more focused on the relationship between the two sisters and how intense that relationship was. The story also kept dipping back into the past to show what had happened when the girls were younger and their father was still alive.

I was expecting way more blood, but the drama within the story definitely won me over!

There were moments that made me want to shout at the sisters or the new love interest once he was in the middle of things. More than once, I caught myself holding my breath while I was reading, anxious to see what was going to happen next.

Everything in this book seemed so dramatic, but so real. The author did an absolutely wonderful job writing both the storyline and the dynamics between each character.

Speaking of characters, I didn't particularly like the majority of the characters. The character that I enjoyed the most only played a small role as he was actually in a coma for most of the story.


My favorite passages:
My heart drops to the floor, but there is no time to pick it back up.

His yellow shirt and khakis are starched to an inch of their life, so much so that even a strong wind is unable to stir the fabric.

There is music blasting from Ayoola’s room. She is listening to Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody.” It would be more appropriate to play Brymo or Lorde, something solemn or yearning, rather than the musical equivalent of a packet of M&M’s.

Who is to say that an object does not come with its own agenda? Or that the collective agenda of it’s previous owners does not direct its purpose still.

“Femi makes three, you know. Three, and they label you a serial killer.”

Ayoola lives in a world where things must always go her way. It’s a law as certain as the law of gravity.

“You cannot take back words, once they’ve been spoken.”


My final thoughts:
Definitely not what I was expecting, but this was still such an interesting read to me! This story is definitely going to stick with me for quite some time! This is one of those stories that gets more and more intense the more you think about it.

I highly recommend picking this one up!

Gun Kiss by Khaled Talib is an incredibly suspenseful novel filled with twists and turns that left me flipping the pages as quickly as I could!

Full disclosure: I was given a free copy of this book by the author in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my rating in any way.

Phew, this book was quite a suspenseful rollercoaster ride! Right from page one of the prologue, which starts with an intense scene, I was totally sucked in. The storyline was paced so wonderfully, and the suspense really made me struggle to set the book down. While reading, I kept thinking that the storyline was going to take a certain path, but then BAM, the plot would take an unexpected turn.

I really enjoyed the two main characters, Goldie and Blake, after getting to know them! At first I thought Goldie St. Helen was annoying and I thought Blake Deco was a bit of a hot-shot. However, I wasn't very far into the book when I realized that I actually really liked them both! I also really enjoyed the supporting characters; Jack was one of my favorites!

In books similar to this, I usually find that I enjoy the action much more than the slower, more relaxed scenes. But that wasn't the case here. I simply loved each and every scene in this book, even the ones that were a bit tough to read. The action was fast-paced and intense, the violence was sprinkled in wonderfully, and the romance and friendships were really sweet.

The one element that I was a really iffy about at first was the slight insta-love. However, I ended up actually enjoying it (which rarely happens)! Though to prevent spoilers, I won't go any deeper there.

The writing was very easy to read; it's a book that you can really picture in your head as if it were a film. There were a few formatting issues here and there, and some choppy dialogue, but nothing that negatively affected my reading experience.

I really loved that there weren't any loose ends; everything ended up coming together perfectly, for better or for worse. However, while this novel had a perfect conclusion, I would still LOVE to see these characters back in a second novel!

While this was my first read by Khaled Talib, it is very clear to me that this author is very talented. I cannot wait to get my hands on more of his work soon!

My favorite passage:
"Do me a favor. Tell your men to bury their weapons in the snow. Also, take off that stupid green mask. Jesus, you look like Oscar the Grouch when you smile."


My final thoughts:
I really enjoyed this book! Once I picked it up, I was totally sucked in. If you enjoy action-packed novels with plenty of suspense and some cute semi-insta-love, you have to pick this one up!

The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly was a tale about loss and how that can steal the childlike innocence and rush a boy into adulthood.

At first I wasn't sure what to think about this book, as I went into it totally unaware. But it soon won me over.

This book took me a minute to get into. The first few chapters were just so sad and repetitive that I almost DNFed it. But once I got passed that and into the other world, it was smoother sailing for me. However, there was still quite a bit of receptiveness throughout the book, just as the author kept recapping certain things, that got on my nerves a bit.

I did love that this book centered on the importance of stories. As the story began, the reader would hear bits and pieces of fairy tales, but darker ones, while the main character, David, was in his new room in their new house. Once David passed through the tree, these tales were brought up much more frequently... and then he was inside of the stories!

I really enjoyed all of the characters and creatures that we came across in the other world! I loved the Woodsman and how protective he was of both the forest and the main character. I really enjoyed dwarfs and how funny they were! The Huntress was terrifying! There were also creatures such as the Loups, which were a man-wolf creature that belong to neither species and craved power, or the Brood which were similar to harpies; they were a female bird like creatures with scales.

Rather early on in the story, I had an inkling about how things were going to turn out thanks to the subtle hints that were dropped early on. However, there were still plenty of twists and turns that kept things exciting. I really enjoyed the overall storyline and pacing; it was so creative and action packed!

The last thing that I will say, as I believe this is yet another book that you just have to experience on your own, is how I loved that the tale came full circle.

This was a wonderful pick for a book club!


My favorite passages:
Once upon a time- for that is how all stories should begin- there was a boy who lost his mother.

In any case, it gave him more time to read, and that was no bad thing.

He was just a boy wearing pajamas, one slipper, and an old blue dressing gown under a stranger’s jacket, and he did not belong anywhere but in his own bedroom.

There were words forming in his brain like a dark cloud building on a clear summer’s day, filled with heat and fury and confusion. The question came to him, and he was almost surprised to hear his own voice ask it.


My final thoughts:
Once I got passed the first few chapters, I was hooked and I ended up really enjoying this one. I loved how creative and dark everything was in the other land. While I did really enjoy this while reading, I don't think I would re-read it.

If you enjoy darker tales, then I'd definitely recommend this read. I cannot wait to talk about it in my upcoming book club meeting!

Stranger Things: Worlds Turned Upside Down was not only a fun dive into the creation of the popular TV series, but it was also wonderfully creative and so well put-together!

I absolutely adore this show, and when I first heard that they were creating a behind the scenes companion, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. Shout-out to my wonderful husband for gifting me a copy of this book for Christmas of 2018!

This is a must-read for all Stranger Things fans! Diving into the process of how the show came about was so interesting. But be warned: Reading this book will make you want to binge the first two seasons all over again!

The very first thing that I noticed about this book was how worn and damaged it looked and when I realized that was on purpose, I thought it was very clever! There's even a sticker on the cover that says "Melvald's General Store- FAIR" that gives the books "condition" and links it to a shop in the show. There's also a sticker that blends in with the darker background that says "Don't Freak! This book is supposed to look worn and torn."

From there, I just had to explore more of the book construction! This was just filled with interesting bits and pieces! I highly recommend buying this one so you can take the dustjacket off to see what lurks behind it! Even the hardcover of the book is printed to look tattered and stained.

The creativity doesn't stop there! Throughout the book there are so many awesome page designs and features.

But for now, let's discuss the text.

The forward was so wonderfully written and it set the scene wonderfully! I mean, the first line was: "Do you copy? This book is for nerds. Repeat. This book is for nerds.”

The forward then moves into a bit of Ross and Matt’s history and how the show came about. It mentions their concerns with it being a flop and their excitement when they ventured onto social media after the release. What a great way to kick off the book!

Next up was the prologue that discussed the childhood years of Ross and Matt, growing up and exploring the world of film, and what their path was like on the way toward getting the show started. I loved the sections that were mixed in that showed which films and books had the most impact on the brothers and the show.

Then we’re off and running, learning about how the script was written and the process they went through to get Netflix to buy into the pilot so they could film the first season.

Throughout the book, there were so many wonderful images that were shared. I also really liked that there were various footnotes that helped explain things further. This is definitely a book that you shoudl really check out for yourself! However, I will list out a few things that I found interesting below.

Feel free to skip the next two sections if you don't want too much given away!

Interesting notes:
*The original idea for Stranger Things was much darker. I would have loved to see the show darker but I’m also very happy that they lightened it up a bit to better fit a wider audience.
*The mind-control experiments for Eleven and her mother were based on real events from a government run study called MKUltra.
*Eleven was going to die saving her friends in that classroom scene.
*They never planned to actually go into the upside down on the show, they originally planned on only hearing the other dimension over radios and walkie-talkies.
*The sound the demogorgon made was created using sounds from baby seals, human breathing, and scraping sheet metal with dry ice.

Fun elements of the book:
*The Dungeon & Dragons primer.
*The D&D character sheet formats that were about each of the young characters; Mike Wheeler, Dustin Henderson, Lucas Sinclair, and Will Byers.
*The photos of their backpacks or bags and what they have inside.
*Footnotes to further explain things such as video cameras and the compass.
*How they created the scene when El flips the van over head as the crew bikes underneath it.
*The yearbook like features that highlighted the older teen characters; Nancy Wheeler, Barb Holland, Johnathan Byers, and Steve Harrington.
*The confidential files from Hawkins International Laboratory about Eleven, Joyce Byers, Jim Hopper.
*The lifecycle of the demogorgon, with life stage notes, images, and details about the sounds they made.
*The mix tape that explains more about the song choices.
*Notes on the creation of the posters for each season.
*The book begins to wind down with an epilogue that got me even more anxious for season three and an afterword that concludes things wonderfully!


Favorite passage:
Because this world needs more storytellers. It needs more dreamers, And yes, it needs more nerds.


My final thoughts:
I thought that reading this would tide me over a bit until Season Three, but it actually made me more anxious! I just can't wait to see what happens next! This book was SO much fun to read! It was so well done, I cannot recommend this one enough for any fan of the show or for those that enjoy learning how tv shows are made.

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King was a wonderful blend of memoir and lessons about writing fiction. I am a huge Stephen King fan, so I really enjoyed learning about his life and his process!

I can't believe it took me so long to give this one a read! If you've been putting it off as well, I highly recommend moving it closer to the top of your TBR list!

As this is Stephen King, I'm not going to focus on the writing style for long. I will simply say that I really enjoyed how this book was organized; it was sectioned into various chunks, but it all flowed so well and King tied everything together wonderfully. I loved that he added in a few callbacks to something that he had written about earlier in the book, this was such a fun touch!

The first chunk of the book was about his life, centering mainly on his childhood and teen years before moving on to his marriage and early career. This helped to show the reader what his life was like and how his childhood shaped him as a writer. This was the most interesting section to me because I really enjoy learning more about individuals that I am a huge fan of, especially when they are the ones writing their story!

The What Writing Is chapter was awesome! I love how he painted a picture and then broke it down and relayed that to writing and telepathy. This chapter also housed one of my favorite quotes of all time: ...books are a uniquely portable magic.

Next up was the section called “Toolbox” where he begins with a wonderful story about childhood and a toolbox and then relates that to basic writing skills, or your tools, and explains these tools a bit.

Then we get into the section with the lessons about writing called "On Writing." This section was slightly dry to me, simply because I am not a fiction writer so some of the tips and tricks didn't really stand out for me. That being said, I still found it really interesting to read and I loved learning more about the craft! I will definitely be using a few things that I learned when an author sends me an draft of their book and asks for feedback. I also need to make use of a few lessons that I learned in my blog posts!

The book then begins to wind down with a section called "On Living: A Postscript." This section was very difficult to read as it discusses King's accident in detail. It was so heartbreaking to learn more about the van that hit him. I remember when this happened. As a Mainer, this was all over the news so I was aware of the details, but hearing it straight from him was so powerful.

This last section ends on a wonderful note, but it's certainly not a section for the squeamish.

A few additional notes:
King doesn’t remember setting Cujo, as it was during his drug and alcohol stage. I thought this was a rumor, but turns out it is true! Poor guy, I'm glad he got out of that phase!

Throughout the book, I adored how much he talked about his wife, Tabitha! It was so heartwarming to read about their support of one another.


My favorite passages:
Writing is a lonely job. Having someone who believes in you makes a lot of difference. They don’t have to make speeches. Just believing is usually enough.

Sometimes you have to go on when you don’t feel like it, and sometimes you’re doing good work when it feels like all you’re managing is to shovel shit from a sitting position.

... books are a uniquely portable magic.

If I have to spend time in purgatory before going to one place or the other, I guess I’ll be all right as long as there’s a lending library...

I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs, and I will shout it from the rooftops.

If there’s no joy in it, it’s just no good.

Description begins in the writer’s imagination, but should finish in the reader’s.

... and one of the cardinal rules of good fiction is never tell us a thing if you can show us…

And I believe that most people smart enough to read a novel are also tactful enough to find a gentler mode of expression than “This sucks.”

The scariest moment is always just before you start. After that, things can only get better.


My final thoughts:
If you are a writer of fiction, I highly recommend this one! There are so many wonderful lessons included that are written in such an interesting way.

If you're simply a reader, I also highly recommend this one! I am not a fiction writer, but I still loved learning more about the craft! And of course, the section that was mainly memoir was so interesting!

Favorite line:
"This is gonna be a damn shame. I love corn."-Wolverine