Paradoxically

Wow, I am honestly surprised at how much I enjoyed this.

I guess I would describe this as a YA dystopian horror about a young boy named Oz and his journey to protect a baby and set things right. He is always accompanied by his dog, a german shepherd named Kimball. He meets up with some other humans and a talking Gorilla named Ajax along the way, and together they survive and kick ass, and stuff. The horror is pretty light (at least to an adult) but it is there.

I know, my reviews are the best. LOL

Ok but seriously, there were no animals (besides some humans) killed in this book. I was really worrying about that as soon as I read about his dog. If anything serious had happened to Kimball or Ajax, I probably would've had to quit. Whenever there is a nice animal in a book, I am immediately it's biggest fan. I'm not even playing. I can read about horror and violence against humans, but not animals. That's where I draw my line. Unless the animal is evil or has rabies or some shit. Then screw that.

If you're like me, then you can now relax and read this with the knowledge that this book is safe from animal deaths.

You're welcome.

I have a hard time deciding between 4 or 3 stars, because I really want to give it 3.5 stars. lol

I loved the story but I had a hard time buying the relationship between Elora and Ram. It didn't really work for me. It should have, but it just didn't...I don't know, dudes.

It's like... Ram is funny but such an idiot sometimes, while Elora was mostly too damn serious and boring for me but she also had idiot moments. They sorta fit but mostly didn't, and it just seemed weird. Especially since they are destined mates yada, yada, yada.

And it's been a while since I read it but I don't remember Elora recognizing Ram as her mate, even though she's apparently elf as well and therefore should have been having that feeling from around the beginning, like Ram did.

Regardless, I recommend this. It's a good read.

I liked the premise better before I actually started reading it. Jesus Christ that family is annoying as hell. So are the rest of the characters. The whole book is them bitching at each other. I'm not kidding.

The grandmother had a couple funny lines and the one actual sex scene was hot. Those are the only reasons why this even got 3 stars. I thought the child vampire idea would be interesting, but even Christopher was annoying for most of the book.

I was disappointed with this book, and at myself for finishing it. I probably could have liked the main character more if she had just knocked one of her family members out or something, instead of just bitching or ignoring them. Lol

Or maybe I am just irritable.

A very good start. I'm actually not that into Dex, though. I could go into why but I don't want to chance any spoilers.

Unfortunately I'm also not that into most series in general. I just prefer everything to be wrapped up in one book. Especially something with a romance element to it. Despite that, I'm usually willing to give one a try.

So I guess it's just the romance element that's a miss, for me. If this author wrote a straight-up horror novel, I'd definitely want to read it. And then I would probably have nightmares afterwards.

Excluding the climax scene in the lighthouse (which I felt was too over the top), the horror scenes in this were well done. Especially that scene at the end with Creepy Clown Lady. Christ. Like I needed that paranoia. Thanks a lot. Screw you, Creepy Clown Lady. Screw you.

I don't honestly think I will continue this series, but that's not because of having any issues with the book. It's just based on my personal tastes. The romantic situation just isn't my thing, plus the next book seems to be about shape-shifters which I love, but don't find scary at all.

So with that said, if you like romance and/or horror and you don't mind a series then I definitely recommend this book.

I caught a sample at the end of Whiskey Rebellion. I want to read this if for no other reason than the grandmother. She made me literally lol. That's not easy to do in a book.

I don't know what to really say. The beginning was great, and the idea was interesting. I don't know what went wrong, but it did.


The dialogue sucked. It was dull and unbelievable, as was the romance and general interaction between characters. I don't know if the writing style also played a part in my attention being lost, but probably so. I made it a third of the way through before I skimmed through the rest and read the ending which was better, but even that was pretty disappointing. I enjoyed the horror aspects, though.








@@@@@ POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT @@@@@@@




When she snapped and did her thing through the town center, well, that was pretty badass.

Did this remind anyone else of Carrie a little bit? A young girl with a supernatural power is finally pushed over the edge and goes on a killing spree.

I am a bit confused. How did she not get abused by her father growing up, while her mother and brother did? Was it because she had never spoken back to him before? But even afterwards he only slapped her that one time, and then just threatened her all the time. I don't know, I just found that a little off.

Also the fact that her boyfriend let her go back to the house after he discovered her father was a crazy, abusive psycho. He had a suspicion of it before then, as well.

Otherwise, the book was pretty decent. The romance played a backseat to the drama enfolding, which I think was a good thing.

In one part though, the boyfriend-detective (I've already forgotten his name) grabs onto a slippery railing for support to do a roundhouse kick (authors word choice, not mine) to his assailants leg. I had to laugh.

I thought this was edited by several people?

For free you get:

~ typos
~ pronoun confusion (or surprise sex changes, as I like to call them)
~ grammatical issues and some poor sentence structure
~ nonsensical sentences
~ repeated lines and conversations
~ unnecessary POVs
~ story inconsistencies
~ a killer that disguises himself as elderly by wearing a crazy hat (don't ask me)

And so much more. I haven't even finished the book yet. I stopped at what I think is the beginning of a sex scene (i know, right? finally! Sex makes almost everything better!)

Now, in the books defense, it's not chock full of these issues but they do all occur more than once and they really stand out in (what was first) annoying ways. Now they are hilarious because about a third of the way in I started making notes and greatly amusing myself.

I cannot understand any 4 or 5 star reviews with all those issues but the premise is interesting. If the issues were fixed this could be a pretty good book. Well, some of dialogue could use a little help too.

Really though, it's not that bad. I've definitely read worse. I'll probably finish this book on another day when I am feeling more adventurous.

Okay. So....

1. Lord James is an ass, and if I read more into this series and the two become romantic, I'm going to be pissed. Not to mention, the dude has a mustache, if I read correctly. I just can't take mustaches seriously.

2. As others have stated, she can't afford to ride a high horse when she is in a pot-calling-the-kettle-black kind of situation. Who is she to judge the kids on picking pockets considering her new reputation as an underground arms dealer, not to mention what happened along the way to getting there? She needs to pull the stick out of her ass in regards to her new position in life.

3. Underground arms dealer with a lightning gun. That's right. Bad-ass.

4. With all that said, it really is a good book, as good as it can be for the first in a series. World building and all that, you know.


Read it.

I would like to say that this book is sorely missing some dialogue telling Lord James to kiss her ass, or the Victorian equivalent there of. Just saying.

It's been a while since I have read this, but I remember really enjoying it. It's unique. I need sleep so now's not the best time to type a review, perhaps. But since when has something like that stopped me?!

It moves a bit slow, but as someone else already stated; it's about bored dead people.

...What do you want from me?

It's a British horror-fantasy-mystery. It's good stuff.

Just read it.

(Stone Man by this same author is great too)

This is a fantastic book. I don't remember how I found it, which means it was probably a random find. i'm just glad I did.

This book deserves more publicity.

Oh, this is good. Very good. And it was free!

If you like horror, read this. You won't be disappointed.

Man-eating plants need love too!

This is good stuff. It's short but entertaining.

I need to get in the habit of writing reviews right after I finish reading.

Honestly, I've forgotten most of the stories except for the beginning and the end. The first one about the freakin' baboons and the last one about the mosquitoes are what got to me the most. Yikes. If I remember correctly, I had a nightmare. Zombies are the only thing that can do that to me.

...Excluding that one nightmare about Santa Claus. Don't judge me.

And this is why you shouldn't take rides from strangers.

I think I almost peed myself from laughing too hard only about 50 times while reading this book. It is seriously funny. Also, I freakin' loved the characters. Paul and his family, Vince, Sandy...loved them.

One thing, though. I wish Paul had met with the woman in the car next to him so they could become friends and he could get that question answered. Those two cracked me up!