Tag: 4 stars

Halloween Carnival Volume 1 – Brian James Freeman (editor)

🎃 Heralding Halloween Book! 🎃

Halloween Carnival Volume 1 is the first of five volumes of short stories being released in time for Halloween. Brought together by Brian James Freeman of Cemetery Dance Publications fame, this book contains five stories inspired by Halloween.

Strange Candy by Robert McCammon – 🎃🎃🎃

When Chris Parker eats the unwrapped sparkly white candy shaped like a hand he and his wife found at the bottom of his daughter’s trick or treat loot bag, he finds he’s no longer sitting in his lounge room watching his annual Halloween late night horror movie.

With messages from the dead being the ultimate focus of this story, I mostly felt sad at the grief felt by the characters. Hope was given through the messages to loved ones and it was a nice story but it didn’t really come across as a much of a Halloween story to me. The candy could have been substituted for just about anything else and the story still would have worked.

The Rage of Achilles or When Mockingbirds Sing by Kevin Lucia – 🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃

Father Ward sits meditating in the confessional on Halloween night, not expecting visitors. The story he hears that night will change him forever. Kevin Lucia’s story came with a great twist.

This was quite a sad story with themes of guilt, anger and revenge. I don’t want to give anything away but it was very well written and made me want to read more from this author.

Demon Air by John R. Little – 🎃🎃

When Halle Barry boards Diamond Air Flight 194 to Sydney on 30 October, she’s planning on finding out who she really is. When the clock strikes midnight, a series of events unfold midair that show her what she’s made of.

Demon Air read like two stories had been joined together. The first story was one of identity and I enjoyed this section. I would have liked Halle’s ancestry journey to have continued to Australia, New Zealand and Scotland. I was interested in finding out more about her history. Naturally that story wouldn’t have fit this collection.

Once Halloween began mid air, I felt the cohesiveness was lost and it tried to become a different story just to introduce the Halloween theme. Had the story been exclusively about what happened on Demon Air I would have enjoyed it more as sufficient time would have been spent setting up the scenario and playing the games on board. As it was it felt like only a few minutes of story time had occurred and then suddenly a whole day had passed. This section didn’t gel with me and the joining of the two stories felt flimsy, using Halle’s limited knowledge of Australian Aboriginal culture to determine her course of action.

La Hacienda de los Muertos by Lisa Morton – 🎃🎃🎃🎃

After thirty years of acting in cowboy movies, Trick McGrew’s career died along with Blazer, his horse, six years ago. His agent has arranged a part for Trick in a Mexican horror movie. Taking place during Day of the Dead celebrations in 1958, Trick inadvertently becomes involved in the local legend of La Llorona.

This ghost story was an interesting take on a real legend and featured the Day of the Dead celebrations. I liked the growth of the main character throughout the story.

#MakeHalloweenScaryAgain by Mark Allan Gunnells – 🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃

Dustin Davis, an author from Greer working on his latest novel, wants his #MakeHalloweenScaryAgain to go viral. He is disappointed by peoples’ apathy toward Halloween, especially those in his neighbourhood and hopes if his hashtag garners enough attention it will help generate interest in his writing.

As Halloween draws nearer locals start getting murdered, with Dustin’s hashtag featuring at each crime scene. Questioned by Officer Workman and with local reporter Shawn Moore hoping to catch his big break from this story, Dustin’s hopes for fame turn into suspicion when the people of Greer suspect he is the murderer. The killer ups the ante when they let the locals know that the family inside one house that isn’t decorated for Halloween will be murdered on Halloween night. Chaos ensues.

I really enjoyed this story. There was a creepy atmosphere and a sense of dread built throughout the story as Halloween drew closer. I liked the snippets of how different locals were dealing with the murders in their town and the interactions between Dustin, Shawn and Officer Workman. I did pick who the killer was (yay me!) but I was still entertained throughout the story.

The Rage of Achilles or When Mockingbirds Sing and #MakeHalloweenScaryAgain were my favourites in this collection.

A common theme running through this collection was that at least one character experienced loss and grief. The stories weren’t scary at all which disappointed me. I had hoped for some real fear and the closest I came to it was some creepy fun in the final story. However, they were mostly well written and they all took place around Halloween. The final story was a fun introduction to the season of scares and I look forward to reading the other four volumes.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group – Hydra for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

STRANGE CANDY by Robert McCammon
Chocolate bars and sour suckers are trick-or-treat staples, but beware the odd sweet at the bottom of your bag. You never know who it’s from – or what it might do to you.

THE RAGE OF ACHILLES by Kevin Lucia
Father Ward should have heeded the warnings about hearing confession on All Hallow’s Eve. Because a man is about to tell him a secret more haunting than any he has heard before.

DEMON AIR by John R. Little
Fear of flying is not uncommon. But on this transpacific airline, the real danger isn’t the flight itself. It’s whoever – or whatever – is up in the air with you.

LA HACIENDA DE LOS MUERTOS by Lisa Morton
Trick McGrew, former cowboy star of the silver screen, has never believed in tall tales. But down in Mexico, the land of La Llorona, he’s about to find out just how real urban legends can be.

#MAKEHALLOWEENSCARYAGAIN by Mark Allan Gunnells
Some people will go to any lengths to rack up retweets, likes, and follows on social media, no matter who they end up hurting … or even killing.

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The Deep Sky Saga #1: Achilles – Greg Boose

Spoilers Ahead!

Achilles, the first book in a planned trilogy, follows Jonah Lincoln, a first year cadet on board the Mayflower 2 on its way to Thetis, a planet in the Silver Foot Galaxy, accessible from Earth through a wormhole. After crash landing on one of Thetis’ moons, Achilles, Jonah and the other survivors start to try to come to grips with their situation. Suddenly all of the adults vanish, leaving the kids alone in a world they know almost nothing about, despite the 1,200 plus page report about Achilles provided to each of them during their 380 day spacecraft journey, which apparently almost none of them bothered to read.

The first half of this book was basically non-stop action. Things exploded, were ripped apart, were on fire. People lost arms, were impaled, sliced in half. We ran, we jumped, we climbed. Pretty much everywhere we went the body count rose. I really should have been keeping count but more than two thirds of the people we started with have been obliterated, exploded, sliced, diced or squished.

The body count rose so quickly without a great deal of character development so a lot of the deaths had me thinking, ‘Which one was that again?’ then moving on without being sure because there was bound to be another gruesome casualty right around the corner. The maiming and death scenes in this book were quite visceral. Greg Boose is certainly fond of blood, vomit and froth dripping from nostrils.

The only way you were getting any respite from the constant action in the first half was if you were unconscious or dead. Like the characters I just wanted to go and have a quick nap to get a small amount of respite from the mayhem. There were a couple of times where I was so caught up in the action that I’m pretty sure I was holding my breath, particularly around the time there was the threat of people being impaled on porcupine trees. Throughout this book, when you think their situation can’t get any worse, hold on, because it can and will.

The word that kept coming to me while I was reading the first half was cinematic. I could see the bloodshed and chaos unfolding around me like I was watching a movie. I was immersed in this strange world with its awesome gravity that allows you to leap over obstacles in a single bound and run with ten foot strides. The locations and the wildlife were described so well that Greg Boose seemed to implant a series of photographs in my imagination.

I liked Jonah as a character but I did get frustrated with him continually saying that his recruitment as a cadet was his opportunity to start over, which was almost immediately followed by him wanting to give up or thinking he should do something yet failing to and beating himself up for it. As an orphan who grew up in a series of abusive foster homes, Jonah is a survivor and as he desperately wanted to make a new life for himself I expected a dogged determination and stubbornness from him that didn’t really shine through.

Around the halfway mark we met Tunick who from the get go reminded me of Johnny Depp’s Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland. I felt like I was suffering the effects of a hallucinogen whenever he was flitting around. He was hyper, he was all over the place emotionally, he was unpredictable and the things that came out of his mouth made a fairly limited amount of sense. He was the town weirdo and yes, I did enjoy hanging out with him although I’m glad I was able to do so at a safe distance.

As I’ve mentioned before, the lack of character development was an issue for me. We learned bits and pieces about some of the people but not enough for me to form attachments to them or to consistently distinguish which person had just been killed off. When I got to the big reveal of who someone was near the end of the book I actually had to ask myself who they were. I recognised the name but didn’t know which kid it was.

Then there was a description of how this person acted just after the crash and I was like, “Oh!”. Then, “Hold on. I need more information. Is he the one that …?” I proceed to search that person’s name on my Kindle and it turned out it was the one that … but I think that was just a lucky guess. My Kindle name search also revealed something else about that person and I honestly thought that fact related to a different person. That sort of thing doesn’t usually happen to me.

The final quarter frustrated me no end. I get that there needs to be a set up for the second book but the storyline lost my interest. Without the vivid descriptions of new locations to hold on to I was annoyed with a lot of the characters and had some ‘Seriously???’ moments.

I have some unanswered questions and frustrations that are bugging me now that I’ve finished reading. I understand that this is the first book in a trilogy but I expect by the time the next book comes out I will probably have either forgotten about them completely or they won’t be burning questions anymore.

I may have missed it but I don’t remember there being an explanation for how the kids knew which symbols to press and in what order on the wall when they were in the cave. I know there were academics who probably figured out a pattern or something but Jonah also knew what to do intuitively and he wasn’t an academic.

Not completely separate from the above, who created the portals? How? Why? Is there a codex somewhere that explains what each symbol means, what order you need to press them in to wake them up and what each symbol combination does?

Why wasn’t Jonah as greatly affected by the verve as the other kids?

When Jonah is being guided by the thin white line, it that a side effect of the verve or a side effect of his blood disease?

Is the blood disease a real thing or is there something else about Jonah and Brooklyn that causes their eye issues?

As Jonah himself even wonders, what was so special about him that got him recruited? Is it something related to the eye thing?

Why is he now the chosen one and what’s the deal with those stupid seeds?

Who or what is Zion?

Different kids keep trying to tell Jonah why Thetis is such a bad place. Just once, would he please let them finish their story?!

In summary, the descriptions of location, animals, plants, blood and guts, all awesome. The character development, not so awesome. My rating is difficult so I’ll break it down for you:

  • First half of the book with all the cool descriptions and the movie playing in my mind – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
  • Third quarter with Johnny Depp 2.0 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️
  • Final act with question marks and frustration levels peaking – ⭐️⭐️
  • Overall rating – as there are so many academics in this book I’m doing this mathematically. If my maths skills haven’t failed me, the average across the board is 3.75, so I’m rounding up to ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Diversion Books for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

The year is 2221, and humans have colonized an earthlike planet called Thetis in the Silver Foot Galaxy. After a tragic accident kills off dozens of teenage colonists, Thetis’s leaders are desperate to repopulate. So the Mayflower 2, a state-of-the-art spaceship, sets off across the universe to bring 177 new recruits to the colony. 

For Jonah Lincoln, an orphaned teen who’s bounced between foster homes and spent time on the streets of Cleveland, the voyage is a chance to reinvent himself, to be strong and independent and brave the way he could never be on Earth. But his dreams go up in smoke when their ship crash-lands, killing half the passengers and leaving the rest stranded – not on Thetis, but on its cruel and unpeopled moon, Achilles. 

Between its bloodthirsty alien life forms and its distance from their intended location, Achilles is far from an ideal resting place. The situation is already dire, but when all of the adults suddenly disappear, leaving the teenage passengers to fend for themselves, Jonah doubts they’ll survive at all, much less reach Thetis. Especially when it appears Achilles isn’t as uninhabited as they were led to believe.

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Project Semicolon: Your Story Isn’t Over – Amy Bleuel

If you don’t take anything else away from this review, please know:

  • You are not alone
  • There is help available
  • You deserve it. Yep, even you! 😃

If you need immediate help and you live in Australia, please contact Lifeline at 13 11 14 or online at http://www.lifeline.org.au. If your life is in danger, please call 000.

The note at the beginning of Project Semicolon says it much better than I could …

“WARNING: If you suffer from suicidal ideation or mental illness, some of the stories that follow may trigger an adverse reaction. If you feel this kind of content may be triggering, we advise that you consider not reading this book. And if you do read and a story is beginning to upset you, please stop reading immediately.”

There are a multitude of potential triggers in this book. They include suicide, grief, mental illness, self harm, bullying, abuse, addiction, eating disorders, and plenty of family dysfunction. If you’re looking for a hopeful, lovely read, this is not the book for you. If you want to gain understanding about what leads to someone wanting to take their own life or what life is like for the friends and family members of those who have, this is the one. This is a super duper important book.

Whoever you are and whatever your background, please be safe while reading this book. It’s full of people courageously sharing some of the most difficult life experiences anyone can go through. There is hope but there’s more pain. This is an upsetting book. There’s no way it can’t be.

I would have personally preferred for there to be fewer stories but more detail in this book. Often I felt like the stories were written with a focus on the pain and ended with either the writer saying things have or haven’t improved but I would have liked for there to have been a greater focus on the steps in the journeys that helped each individual. While no book is a substitute for medical advice or counselling, I feel it would have been useful for people looking for hope in their own lives to be able to clearly identify what worked for each writer so they could implement the tools that they feel may be beneficial to them in their own lives.

If you need support after reading any part of it, please reach out for it. The best first contact I can suggest (besides your local suicide hotline or emergency number) is your local doctor. I personally have two GP’s that are unsung heroes in my life. Your local doctor knows your medical history (physical and psychological) and can offer support and guidance that’s suitable for your situation. They can prescribe medication should you need it. They can refer you to the right service for you to get the help you deserve, whether that’s a counsellor, support group or any number of other services that you probably aren’t even aware of in your community.

I’d recommend making a long appointment so your doctor and you have the time needed to spend on coming up with a plan that will help you in the short or long term. Your local doctor has likely heard it all before (many times) and you won’t be telling them anything that will shock them. If you’re too embarrassed to say what you need to then write it down and hand it to your doctor or read from it. In all likelihood they’ll be supportive and proud of you for taking the first step in getting help. If your doctor isn’t supportive then by all means try another and another until you find one that will help you.

I accidentally came across Project Semicolon on social media several years ago. When I read that the semicolon was chosen because in literature a semicolon is used when an author continues a sentence rather than ending it, I loved the symbolism and it’s stayed with me.

I liked seeing all of the various semicolon inspired tattoos scattered through the book. While I don’t have any permanent tattoos, I adore them and always have a variety of the temporary kind on hand whenever the whim comes to decorate or express myself. I do have a stack of semicolon tattoos and use them whenever I’m going through a difficult time to remind myself that I’ve gotten through difficult times before and I’ll get through this one too. I find it’s a subtle but effective visual reminder.

When I’m struggling with whatever I’m facing, I remind myself that my story is not over yet and that simple reminder has never failed to provide me strength. In the midst of emotional or physical pain it can be difficult to see past it and remember that it hasn’t always been like this. One of the things I’ve discovered over the years is that everything is temporary.

I’ve had times where I was certain I’d never smile again and when I look back on those times now it hardly seems like I’m the same person who felt that way. I’ve had a number of the triggers in this book as my triggers over the years and some of those are no longer triggers, and those that are don’t trigger me with the same intensity or frequency that they once did.

I look back at 15 year old me who had already attempted suicide three times and I want to go back and tell her all of the things she’ll miss out on in the future if she doesn’t survive. Not wanting to sound facetious, but can you imagine the books I would have missed out on reading over the past 20 odd years and how many I plan to read in the future?! And that’s just one thing I would’ve missed out on! I think of a primary school friend who seemed to have it all yet died by suicide in her early 20’s. I want to give her a huge hug and say that one thing, whatever it would have been, that would have meant things would have turned out differently for her and her family.

I promise you, nothing stays the same. Things can, and do, get better. There is someone who will understand you and your situation. You do have what it takes to recover, whatever that looks like to you.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

This book from suicide-awareness organization Project Semicolon chronicles the global phenomenon of the semicolon tattoo, combining photos of individuals’ tattoos with their stories about struggling with suicide and mental illness.

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Pride of the Decent Man – T.J. Kirsch

Spoilers Ahead!

I was surprised by how emotionally attached I became to the main character in Pride of the Decent Man. Told in chapters, this graphic novel follows the life of Andrew Peters. Growing up in an abusive home, Andrew’s Grandma teaches him to hold onto the good times to get through the bad. His Grandma takes photos throughout her life to reflect on as she grows older. Inspired by her, Andrew begins to write, capturing his thoughts and experiences in a series of journals.

Andrew tries to do the right thing in his life but allows his friend Whitey to consistently rope him into plans which never turn out the way he intends. The idea of redemption is common in a lot of what Andrew has been reading and when he discovers he has a daughter he hopes that his chance to redeem himself has come.

My heart melted when Andrew reads to his daughter what he wants to say to her. He’s more comfortable writing than speaking and the fact that he wanted to get this interaction with his daughter just right was so touching.

Ultimately Andrew is a good man who strives to overcome his past and I imagine he just wants to be the kind of man who his Grandma, then girlfriend and finally his daughter will be proud of. He leads a quiet, often solitary existence and I found myself really liking him. I was proud of him for taking responsibility for his actions and I wanted everything to turn out well for him.

In under 100 pages, T.J. Kirsch made me connect with his main character more than a lot of authors of 400 plus page novels do. The writing was fairly sparse but this made the words that were written have more of an impact. The illustrations told the rest of the story, allowing access to Andrew’s emotions. Sometimes in graphic novels you can feel a disconnect between the story and the illustrations. Given that this graphic novel was written and drawn by the same person, there was no feeling of anything being lost in the translation.

I really liked the interplay between the handwritten portions of Andrew’s journals and the speech. The flashback scenes added to the story and were done in such a way that they blended in to the story and I didn’t find them distracting as a reader. I loved the use of the birds’ silhouettes throughout and particularly loved the symbolism of the brightly coloured butterflies in the final panel.

I suppose part of what drew me to Andrew was the fact that I’m also more comfortable expressing myself through writing than speaking. I do know I wasn’t expecting a great deal from this graphic novel and I’ve come away having read it twice so far with respect and admiration for this rough around the edges main character.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, NBM Publishing and Papercutz for the opportunity to read this graphic novel.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

In a sleepy New England town, Andrew Peters is born into an abusive family. As he grows older, he seems to be on the right track, using writing as his outlet — but his best friend Whitey is always pulling him in the opposite direction. Andrew eventually lands himself in prison, and shortly thereafter, learns he has a daughter. The shock resolves him to a path of redemption and an attempt to live his life as a decent man.

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The Visitors – Catherine Burns

CLIENT REPORT – CONFIDENTIAL

Client Name: Marion Zetland

Age: 54, but looks 60

Personal Appearance: Frizzy brown hair that looks like she stuck her finger in a powerpoint, in desperate need of surgery to implant a sense of fashion

Relevant Family History: Rich in money (business: Zetland’s Fine Fabrics) but not affection. Emotionally unavailable mother. Weirdo father. Psycho brother

Education: Attended three schools yet appears to have learned little at any of them

Lives: In her own little world

Home Life: Resides with her older brother, John, and various ‘visitors’ in her childhood six-bedroom home. Sleeps in her childhood attic bedroom

Home’s hoarder level: Expert

Cleanliness of home: Sorry, but I can’t see under the dust to assess this

Social Life: Does being friends with stuffed animals count?

Culinary Prowess: Toast, reheating tinned or packet food

Maladaptive Coping Mechanisms: Denial, binge-eating, denial, daydreaming, denial, living through TV shows, denial

Special Abilities: Invisibility, ability to transfigure into a doormat

Mantra: If I don’t pay attention to it then it’s not really happening

Favourite Books: Include The Secret Garden and the Harry Potter series (OK, so she has some redeeming qualities after all)

Relationship and Employment History: Did you just hear a pin drop?

Overall Assessment: This woman, whose emotional and social development halted somewhere in early childhood, needs a big dose of ‘wake up to yourself!’ A victim of her upbringing but complicit in her failure to get a life, her only expertise appears to be in not having any accountability for how her life has turned out or the choices she’s made or refused to make (honey, refusing to do anything is also a choice).

And the winners of the You Should’ve Been Sterilised at Birth category … 🥁… Marion and John’s parents!

Is it possible to want to keep reading a book when you despise the two main characters and wish them slow, excruciating deaths? Apparently.

Is it also possible to wander aimlessly between empathy and wanting to knock some sense into one of the main characters for almost the entire book? You betcha.

The Visitors is a difficult book to review. There’s so much I want to say but don’t want to give anything away. It was well written and a scarily accurate fly on the wall look into the lives of one seriously dysfunctional family. I’ve heard some seriously dysfunctional people saying some of the things that come out of these characters’ mouths almost word for word.

I imagine this will be a polarising book as it delves into some disturbing themes and although evil is most certainly committed by multiple characters, you can also see enough of the gears working inside their heads that you get an understanding of why they may choose to behave that way. I’m definitely not giving them a free pass here. Their actions are reprehensible and yet, there was a part of me that still wanted to empathise with them, just a little bit. I guess my obsession fascination with why people do the evil they do had a morbidly enjoyable feast during this book.

My main annoyance with this book came at the ending. I was hoping it would turn out differently (that’s being nice – I actually wanted to punch someone) but perhaps I can borrow a smidgen Marion’s fantasy world ability and imagine my own end to the story. Love it or hate it, this is going to be a talked about book. I can see it working well as a book club read.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Hachette Australia for the opportunity to read this book. I’d also like to say a special thanks to Erin at Hachette Australia for her excellent customer service.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Marion Zetland lives with her domineering older brother, John in a decaying Georgian townhouse on the edge of a northern seaside resort. A timid spinster in her fifties who still sleeps with teddy bears, Marion does her best to shut out the shocking secret that John keeps in the cellar.

Until, suddenly, John has a heart attack and Marion is forced to go down to the cellar herself and face the gruesome truth that her brother has kept hidden.

As questions are asked and secrets unravel, maybe John isn’t the only one with a dark side.

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Thelma the Unicorn – Aaron Blabey

Another book proudly brought to you by …

🦄 Unicorn Month! 🦄

Thelma the horse desperately wants to be a unicorn and doesn’t believe her best friend when he tells her she’s perfect just the way she is. Between a carrot tied to her nose and a fortuitous near miss with a truck loaded conveniently with pink paint and glitter, all of Thelma’s dreams come true. Or so she thinks. It’s not much fun keeping up the facade of being someone you’re not.

This is a sweet book about accepting and loving yourself for who you are. A recommendation from one of my favourite librarians, I love the message of this book. The illustrations are lovely and I particularly liked Thelma’s best friend, Otis. You can’t help but love someone who loves you just the way you are.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Thelma dreams of being a glamorous unicorn. Then in a rare pink and glitter-filled moment of fate, Thelma’s wish comes true.

She rises to instant international stardom, but at an unexpected cost. After a while, Thelma realizes that she was happier as her ordinary, sparkle-free self. So she ditches her horn, scrubs off her sparkles, and returns home, where her best friend is waiting for her with a hug.

From award-winning author Aaron Blabey comes this joyful book about learning to love who you are … even if you don’t have sparkles.

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That’s Not My Unicorn … – Fiona Watt

Illustrations – Rachel Wells

This is the latest in my That’s Not My … obsession. This time we take on UNICORNS!!!! This is my second unicorn read this month and I have another two planned for the weekend. As I missed (shame on me!) Unicorn Day on 9 April, but will most certainly be celebrating it annually from 2018, I officially declare this …
🦄 Unicorn Month! 🦄

This was another cute addition to the That’s Not My … series, but so much better because, duh, unicorns! I for one am stoked that our sweet little white mouse rejected so many unicorns on the way to finding theirs, because that leaves five unicorns looking for someone to love them – and I call dibs on all of them!

I want the one with the fluffy mane. I want the one with the rainbow coloured mane and super soft ears. I want the bumpy hooved one with the pink mane and purple stripey horn. I want the furry tailed one with the yellow mane and horn. Oh, and I certainly claim the smooth winged one with pink mane and yellow horn flying past the rainbow. If any of you want to borrow one at any time you’re more than welcome but as I already made pretty clear, I’ve got dibs on every single one of the rejects. So there, Mr Mouse! You don’t get to change your mind now!

Just between you and I, Mr Mouse had better be on the lookout because I may well be planning on unicorn-napping borrowing his unicorn with the rainbow coloured mane and sparkly horn in the near future.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

The 50th title in the internationally best-selling That’s not my … series. This sparkly, touchy-feely book features a magical unicorn to talk about, and a little white mouse to spot on every page. Babies and toddlers will love turning the pages and touching the textured patches as they try to find their unicorn.

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Chirp – Dolores Costello

Chirp, the book and the sweet little chick, are so adorable. Chirp goes on an adventure through the red fence, past a cat and some turkeys. A gust of wind deposits him in a can of blue paint before he wanders back to his siblings.

Chirp and his siblings are the sweetest little balls of fluff on scrawny stick figure legs, and in only a few lines for their eyes and beak, their expressions are priceless. There’s a lot of white space surrounding the pictures but they’re brightly coloured and I feel extra detail would have detracted from the cute factor. The illustrations are so simple, not that I think for a minute I could replicate them. Art and I aren’t on the best of terms. I like it but it doesn’t like me so much. This book would be a helpful tool to teach your little ones primary colours.

Each of the five times I’ve read this book (so far), I’ve smiled from start to finish. It’s a lovely picture book that I’d happily read over and over. This would make a great bedtime story for your own adventurous little chicks.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Xist Publishing for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

When a little chick leaves the flock, he stumbles on to an adventure that will change him forever. This charming picture book from Dolores Costello is a cute read for little explorers.

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The Disappearance – Gillian Chan

I love this book! Ever since reading as many of Torey L. Hayden’s books as I could get my hands on just after finishing my psychology degree, I’ve had a great interest in elective mutism so I had to read The Disappearance. While elective mutism was one aspect, as it unfolded there was a twist that turned this story into so much more. I guess it doesn’t hurt that I have a soft spot for kids who have been through foster care and are stuck in a system that doesn’t always work the way it’s intended to.

Mike McCallum, otherwise known as Mutt, arrives at a group home called Medlar House after a series of unsuccessful foster care placements. Mutt is physically and emotionally scarred from the murder of his little brother, Jon. He uses his physical size and his disfigured face to play the role of thug, pushing away anyone who tries to get too close to him. He’s a smart kid who adored and looked out for his little brother, and blames himself for not being able to prevent Jon’s murder.

Mutt has a heart of gold buried underneath his bravado but don’t tell him that or he may beat you up. The fact that Mutt is manipulative when he wants or feels he needs to be and that he takes pleasure in messing with people scored him points with me as these characteristics gave depth to him that would’ve been lacking if he’d been all good or all bad.

Among the kids who live at Medlar House are Adam the shadow, Paddy the bully, Matt who acts like Paddy’s minion and silent Jacob Mueller. While there are many social workers at Medlar House the house parents, if you will, are Chaz and Lucy (Luce). Luce spends more time with the younger kids and Chaz cares for the older ones. I adored Chaz. He was gullible and eternally optimistic, doing whatever he could to reach out to the seemingly unreachable.

As Mutt settles in to the group home, he throws his weight around enough to ensure the other kids know he’s not a pushover. Silent Jacob, who ends up being his roommate, intrigues Mutt. There’s more to him than meets the eye. In the middle of the night Mutt hears Jacob say something about Mutt’s life before Medlar that he couldn’t possibly have known. Mutt is determined to find out what’s really behind Jacob’s strange behaviour and hopefully find some answers for himself at the same time.

This book grabbed me during the prologue, which tells us the end of the story before we go back to the beginning to find out how we got there. I enjoyed the paranormal aspects and felt they added an interesting layer to the story. While I did find the way it all panned out predictable and I worked things out before Mutt did, he was at a disadvantage because he was trying not to look too smart and fly as much as possible under the radar whereas I didn’t have those setbacks as the reader. The lack of surprises didn’t take anything away from my enjoyment of the book.

The underlying mystery throughout the book and the gradual revelation of the histories of Mutt, Jacob and Adam were rewarding and I found the writing style to flow well. It was a quick and easy read with a few words scattered here and there that had me consulting my dictionary. I would have liked to have been given more information from Jacob about the lost ones.

Main issue with this book: The blurb. I feel that it gives too much away that would be better off being uncovered by the reader as they make their way through the book.

Tissues used: 1, but they weren’t sad tears.

What I craved while reading: Chocolate donuts and hot chocolate. Yummy!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Annick Press Ltd. for the opportunity to read this book. While this book is marketed to young adults, I’d recommend it to adults as well.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

This novel centers on the unlikely friendship between two boys, Jacob Mueller and Mike McCallum. Jacob seems to be from a different world. After mystifying experts and doctors, who finally decide that he is an elective mute, Jacob ends up in a juvenile group home, isolated and withdrawn, the butt of teasing by the other kids. Mike exists in his own private hell. Scarred physically and emotionally after the murder of his younger brother, his one aim is to survive the system until he is legally old enough to get out. He uses his horrific appearance, imposing size, sharp intelligence, and a calculated brutality to keep everyone at bay–until he encounters Jacob. Almost despite himself, Mike is fascinated by Jacob, particularly the way in which he seems able to shut out the world around him. This fascination deepens and becomes tinged by a mixture of awe and horror when Jacob starts to talk, and appears to have knowledge of Mike’s past, and in particular of his dead brother. Mike takes it upon himself to solve the puzzle that is Jacob Mueller, and when he comes to what seems to him to be the impossible conclusion that Jacob is from another time, he makes it his mission to return him home. In order to do so, Mike has to make hard choices: choices which could offer the chance of redemption, but only at great cost. 

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Hotel Transylvania Volume 1: Kakieland Katastrophe – Stefan Petrucha

Illustrations – Allen Gladfelter

Written by Stefan Petrucha and illustrated by Allen Gladfelter, Kakieland Katastrophe is the first in a new series of graphic novels that introduce new stories in the Hotel Transylvania world we already know and love.

With character profiles at the beginning, you are reminded of the monsters and human you already know or introduced to them if you’re new to Hotel Transylvania land. If you haven’t already seen the movies, please remedy that immediately as you are seriously missing out!

In this story, Stephen Cling, horror author and owner of Kakieland, a new Transylvanian theme park, is our baddie. Wanting to expand his empire, Cling decides he wants a hotel and he’s found the perfect one … Hotel Transylvania.

After tricking our helpful, loveable monsters into posing for some selfies that make them look scary and distributing them via the Internet to ruin the image of monsters everywhere, an angry mob arrives and turn up the heat on our monsters with flaming torches, pitchforks and protest signs. My personal favourite which is an absolute classic says ‘Sorry, I never know what to say on protest signs‘.

After all of the adults do their bit to attempt to fix the problem and fail, it’s up to the kids (Dennis and Winnie) to save the day, the Hotel and the reputation of monsters everywhere!

This is a really fun graphic novel. The characters stay true to the way they were depicted in the movies, the storyline is interesting and the artwork is excellent. There’s great attention to detail in the illustrations and enough humour and character traits from the movies shining through so it’s easy to hear the characters’ voices in your head as you read. It can be difficult to translate characters from movies onto the page but this is an impressive introduction and I’m interested to see where the story takes us in the next volume.

Colourists Laurie E. Smith and Matt Herms and letterer Wilson Ramos Jr. also deserve kudos for jobs well done in making the overall look come together in a way that stays true to the feel of the movies yet also creatively stands apart.

Thank you very much to NetGalley and Papercutz for the opportunity to read this graphic novel.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

The debut Hotel Transylvania graphic novel based on the movies! Horror author Stephen Cling visits Hotel Transylvania to try and prove monsters are still dangerous. Dracula, his daughter and her family, and the Drac pack are anything but! However, when a human child goes missing, it is up to Drac, Mavis, and the rest of the Hotel crew to locate the child before their monstrous reputation gets them chased out of town.

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