Tag: 4 stars

It Waits in the Woods – Josh Malerman

No matter how unbelievable they are, some stories ring true.

Legend says that the demon imp who owns the white and yellow bridge is searching for a replacement for its lost face.

Brenda was fifteen when her sister, Amanda, went missing. Three years later, Brenda decides it’s time to chase the myth. She grabs some supplies and heads into the forest. She doesn’t tell anyone where she’s going.

Along with her recording equipment, Brenda also brings Larry the mannequin, because apparently traipsing in the forest alone in search of a demon imp isn’t scary enough for her.

Myth and reality collide in this story of grief and guilt. I loved Brenda’s tenacity. I wanted to spend more time in the cave and need to know what happens next. I’d be keen to read about the events from Amanda’s point of view.

“Do you have my face?”

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories for the opportunity to read this short story.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Some chilling campfire tales ring too true to ignore. For one young woman, an urban legend calls her into the woods in a spine-tingling short story by the bestselling author of Bird Box.

The dense Michigan forest. Haunting wails. The clip-clop of demon hooves on a bridge to nowhere. It’s more than a tall tale to Brenda Jennings, whose sister disappeared in those woods one fateful night. Three years later, on a solo stakeout in the dark, Brenda goes in after her. She’s desperate for answers, and terrified to find what lies waiting on the other side of that bridge.

by Categories: ReviewTags: , , , , ,

Ankle Snatcher – Grady Hendrix

Marcus and Tess both volunteer at a crisis hotline. They may have only just started dating but already their banter is down pat. It feels like it’s meant to be.

They both have survived the dark days of the past.

“When I was six,” I said. “My dad killed my mom.”

Marcus has always followed the rules his father taught him. Then Tess breaks a very important rule.

There was an inevitability to the trajectory of this story, which had me hoping I’d encounter some insides are now your outsides squishiness. The need you had to check under your bed before you went to sleep as a kid may be reignited, and for good reason.

“You can’t hide from the boogeymen”

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories for the opportunity to read this short story.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Obey the rules. It’s the only way to survive the night in a short story about what hides in the dark by the New York Times bestselling author of The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires.

Marcus grew up believing his father killed his mother — then blamed it on the boogeyman under the bed. Always leave the lights on, his father warned, or the boogeyman will get you. Marcus still heeds the superstition, especially when he invites his new girlfriend over. Is Marcus haunted by a creature or has he just inherited his father’s murderous delusions? The night will tell.

by Categories: ReviewTags: , , , , ,

Slime Doesn’t Pay! – R.L. Stine

I’ve got to give Amy credit. If Arnie was my little brother, I would have sought revenge much sooner than she did. Arnie is an absolute brat and their parents don’t even discipline him. He gets away with everything and Amy has just reached her limit.

“Arnie is ruining my life!”

It’s time for revenge of the sticky, oozy blue slime variety. Only things don’t exactly go to plan.

I’m old, so my introduction to R.L. Stine dates all the way back to the late 80’s, when The Babysitter had me not wanting to answer the phone (the kind that plugged into the wall). Having been indoctrinated for a couple of years by The Baby-Sitters Club, Stine also managed to turn me off babysitting for life.

I thoroughly enjoyed being terrified by Stine’s Point Horror books. By the time the Goosebumps books were published, though, I thought I was too old to read them and I’ve always felt like I missed out on something special.

Now I’m old enough to no longer care what anyone thinks of my reading list and this slimefest looked like the perfect reintroduction to one of my favourite authors from my childhood.

This read was just as fun as I’d hoped it would be. Amy’s voice is engaging and her struggles with a little brother whose behaviour had me considering an exorcism are relatable, even with the elements that don’t feature in that many childhoods.

I know kid me would have adored it as well, and probably would have mixed up a batch of slime to see what happened. Adult me has made note of where to find the list of ingredients, just in case.

I haven’t read enough R.L. Stine books to know if he sneaks in pop culture references but, intentional or not, when the creature bounded out of Amy’s closet, it brought to mind the Terror Dog we first met in Louis’ apartment in Ghostbusters. I then spent most of the book hoping a character would blurt out ‘He slimed me.’ But enough about my Ghostbusters obsession. I was also pretty chuffed that the horror movie director’s surname was Craven.

I’d like to think I’d brave Arnie to claim some of his mother’s Friday night homemade pizza. Minus the quills, of course.

I can foresee a Goosebumps binge in my future.

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

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Lots of little brothers can be pests and troublemakers — but Amy’s brother Arnie is a MONSTER …

In this R.L. Stine family-friendly scare fest, Amy and her friend, Lissa, don’t know what to do about Arnie’s bullying, bad-boy behaviour, and mean jokes and pranks. The little monster is ruining their lives!

The girls decide it’s payback time. Total humiliation for Arnie. They find a recipe for blue slime on a YouTube channel and mix a big bucket to pour over Arnie at his birthday party.

To their horror, the girls instantly discover that SLIME DOESN’T PAY! Before their eyes, Arnie’s whole body starts to change. The slime turns him into a real monster.

Now Amy and Lissa have two frightening dilemmas: Can they save their town from the raging Arnie Monster? And is there any way to turn the monster back into Arnie?

by Categories: ReviewTags: , , ,

The Upside-Down Book of Sloths – Elizabeth Shreeve

Illustrations – Isabella Grott

This book is a lovely introduction to the six types of sloths that live in Central and South America as well as some of the dozens that used to walk the earth (and in one case swam the sea) millions of years ago. Comparing the three-toed sloths with their “bandit-like masks” and the larger two-toed sloths to those we have learned about through their fossils, we discover how they live, sleep, raise their young and poop.

While I’ve yet to meet a sloth, I’ve read about them, fallen in love with some cuties I’ve seen in documentaries and have bought my mother, who adores them even more than I do, all manner of sloth merchandise. Did you know you can buy sloth bandaids?

This was a quick, enjoyable read that taught me some new fun facts. My top three are:

🦥 The largest tree sloths grow to 32 inches (81cm) and weigh up to 24 pounds (10.9kg). That’s tiny when you compare it to the Megatherium, a giant ground sloth, that lived 10 million years ago. It grew to 18 feet (almost 5.5m) and weighed around 8,000 pounds (3,628kg)!

🦥 Sloths move about 13 feet per minute through trees and about one foot a minute on the ground. They’re good swimmers, moving three times as fast in the water than they do on land.

🦥 It takes more than a month for a sloth to digest a meal.

Isabella Grott’s illustrations are gorgeous, showcasing species both past and present.

description

Kid me definitely would have borrowed this book from the library for a school project.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Norton Young Readers, an imprint of W. W. Norton & Company, for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Slow, sleepy — and adorable. This playful and informative picture book follows the fascinating history of one of the world’s most beloved animals.

Many find sloths cute, while some find them just plain bizarre. In The Upside-Down Book of Sloths, Elizabeth Shreeve uncovers their less-well-known evolutionary history and how they became the beloved — and unique — creatures of today. She pairs and compares the six extant modern species, like the pygmy sloth, the brown-throated sloth, and the ai, with their prehistoric counterparts, such as Thalassocnus, the tough seafaring sloth; Paramylodon, which had armor-like skin and walked on the sides of its feet; and Megatherium, which could weigh up to 8,000 pounds. She even reveals how modern sloths have adapted to hang upside down, how they learned to swim, and even how they poop!

As entertaining as it is educational, The Upside-Down Book of Sloths offers a brilliant deep dive into sloths, their evolution, and their connections to our planet’s natural history — and future.

by Categories: ReviewTags: , , , , , , ,

You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight – Kalynn Bayron

I SURVIVED THE NIGHT AT CAMP MIRROR LAKE

When we meet Charity, she’s in the process of surviving her third summer at Camp Mirror Lake. Camp Mirror Lake was the location for the 1983 movie, The Curse of Camp Mirror Lake. Now it’s the location for a “full-contact terror-simulation experience” based on the movie.

Charity is basically living her best horror life; as the Final Girl, she’s the last one standing every night. Bonus points for her job giving her somewhere other than her home to be all summer.

Charity and her team of seven spend their nights terrorising whoever wants to pay for the privilege. Well, it used to be Charity and her team of seven. Some of the team recently stopped showing up to work.

Luckily, during one of the only times reception was good enough to make a phone call, Charity was able to call in some fresh victims reinforcements. Bezi is Charity’s girlfriend. She wears her heart on her sleeve but hopefully not literally. She does know she’s just walked into a slasher, doesn’t she?

“Oh, honey. You’re going to die out here, and there’s not a damn thing you can do about it.”

Then there’s Paige, who knows all of the scary stories so maybe she’s Randy from Scream. She’s also a reporter, so I guess she’s Gale Weathers as well. Charity is obviously Sidney Prescott.

I matched a few other characters with their Scream equivalents but this is not that franchise. It’s a slasher but then it’s also something else so, while I figured out who the Big Bad was early on, it wasn’t until everything began to unfold that I had any idea what form their monologue would take. While I don’t have any specific unanswered questions about the direction it went, I would have liked the story behind this to have been fleshed out more.

This was a quick, entertaining read. As someone who celebrates every Friday the 13th, this felt like a homage but the soon to be slaughtered characters were trying to survive a horror that wasn’t Jason shaped at all.

I absolutely adored Fernanda Suarez’s cover image. It’s what drew me to the book in the first place and what kept reminding me I needed it in my life.

This is my first book by this author. I don’t expect it to be my last.

“It’s all fun and games until you’re dead.”

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Charity Curtis has the summer job of her dreams, playing the “final girl” at Camp Mirror Lake. Guests pay to be scared in this full-contact terror game, as Charity and her summer crew recreate scenes from a classic slasher film, Curse of Camp Mirror Lake. The more realistic the fear, the better for business.

But in the last weekend of the season, Charity’s co-workers begin disappearing. And when one ends up dead, Charity’s role as the final girl suddenly becomes all too real. If Charity and her girlfriend Bezi hope to survive the night, they’ll need to figure out what this killer is after. Is there more to the story of Mirror Lake and its dangerous past than Charity ever suspected?

by Categories: ReviewTags: , , , , ,

How Does Chocolate Taste on Everest? – Leisa Stewart-Sharpe

Illustrations – Aaron Cushley

Cover image of How Does Chocolate Taste on Everest? by Leisa Stewart-Sharpe

This book transports you to some of the world’s most extreme places: hottest, longest river, darkest, most magical, highest, deepest, most secret, most electric, harshest, stinkiest and coldest, as well as somewhere that’s out of this world.

It invites you to use your imagination, casting you as the explorer. You pack your bag, use different modes of transport and experience each location via your senses.

Along the way, you get to read the postcards you send your parents. Not all readers will have a mother and father they’d be sending postcards to if they were on a round the world adventure, though, so I would have preferred it if the postcards were addressed to a friend instead.

You’ll find a glossary at the end of the book for the trickier words.

The second person point of view was engaging. It brought to mind the Choose Your Own Adventures of my childhood (minus all of the choices). It’s the type of book where your learning is accidental because you’re busy enjoying the ride.

This journey through the senses hooked me by including ‘chocolate’ in the title. I was most looking forward to learning some new fun facts. Because this non fiction book reads like a story, it wasn’t as chock-a-block with facts as I had hoped but, having said that, I was more entertained than I’d expected.

Because I can’t read fun facts without sharing some, here are my top five:

A dromedary, which is a camel, can drink 50 gallons of water in three minutes. That’s 189 litres!

When Russian priest Fedor Konyukhov flew his balloon around the world in 2016, he survived for eleven days with only half-hour naps. To keep himself awake and avoid crashing, he held a spoon between his fingers. If he dozed off, the spoon would clank onto the floor and wake him up!

Japanese mountaineer Junko Tabei survived an avalanche before becoming the first woman to climb Everest in 1975.

Venezuela’s Catatumbo lightning “lasts around ten hours every night about 297 days a year.”

Pablo Signoret, Rafael Bridi, and Guilherme Coury set a record when they walked a 656-foot-long slackline between two peaks of the French Alps, 10,000 feet above ground!

The illustrations are colourful, the amount of text per page isn’t overwhelming and the layout is uncluttered.

description

And the answer to the question the book’s title raises? Suffice to say, the summit of Everest may be the only place on Earth you won’t see me eating chocolate.

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

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

An immersive round-the-world adventure, where YOU are the explorer experiencing the most extreme places on earth and doing it all through your five senses.

Have you ever wondered what the buzz of the rainforest sounds like on a trek through the Amazon? Or how it feels to experience the biting cold as you voyage across Antarctica? Or how chocolate tastes on Mount Everest? From every heart-bursting sight to tummy-lurching smell, you will experience them all – and do so without having to leave the comforts of your couch.

This funny and fast-paced interactive thrill ride that young adventure-seekers are sure to enjoy is chock-full of facts, history, and survival tips peppered on every page.

by Categories: ReviewTags: , ,

They Lurk – Ronald Malfi

They Lurk is a collection of five novellas, four previously published between 2009 and 2012, and one that’s brand new. All of the stories are of the strange and unusual variety, with a good dose of dread thrown in there.

Skullbelly

Three months ago, four teenagers went into the forest. One returned, and he’s not talking. The families, frustrated by the police’s lack of response, hire P.I. Jeffers to investigate. Wandering around in a forest looking for evidence of … something gave me Predator vibes. I love Predator! This was my favourite story.

“There’s animals, Mr. Jeffers. Things with claws and teeth.”

The Separation

Prizefighter Charlie hasn’t been himself since Gloria left him. Charlie’s psychotherapist friend, Marcus, hopes he can help. I guessed where this one was heading.

“She took a part of me with her when she left”

The Stranger

Someone’s sitting in David’s car. And they won’t get out. I had absolutely no idea where this story was going to take me. In hindsight, I would have been extremely surprised if I’d figured this one out ahead of time.

“God has laid a miserable fate upon us.”

After the Fade

Tommy was planning on breaking up with his girlfriend at The Fulcrum tonight. Then once upon a cheerleader Wendy Pratchett showed up and everything changed. Tommy probably should have stayed home instead.

“It’s still ringing. How can 911 still be ringing?”

Fierce

Connie and her mother survived the car accident but now they’re living a nightmare. There’s a fun connection between this and the first story.

Keep it together, Connie. Collect yourself.

I’m keen to read more books by this author. As this is only my third Ronald Malfi read, I’ve got some catching up to do.

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

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

COME CLOSER…

Five terrifying collected horror novellas newly reissued from the “modern-day Algernon Blackwood”. 

Skullbelly
A private detective is hired after three teenagers disappear in a forest and uncovers a terrible local secret.

The Separation 
Marcus arrives in Germany to find his friend up-and-coming prizefighter Charlie in a deep depression. But soon Charlie’s behaviour grows increasingly bizarre. Is he suffering from a nervous breakdown, or are otherworldly forces at work? 

The Stranger
Set a rural Florida parking lot, David returns to his car to find a stranger sat behind the wheel. The doors are locked and there’s a gun on the dashboard. And that was when then the insanity started… 

After the Fade 
A girl walked into a small Annapolis tavern, collapsed and died. Something had latched itself to the base of her skull. And it didn’t arrive alone.
Now, the patrons of The Fulcrum are trapped, held prisoner within the tavern’s walls by monstrous things, trying to find their way in.

Fierce
A teenage girl and her mum are in a car accident with another vehicle on a remote country road in the middle of a nightmarish snowstorm, which soon devolves into gruesome madness.

by Categories: ReviewTags: , , ,

The Last One to Fall – Gabriella Lepore

“Sooner or later you’re going to get what’s coming to you.”

Introduce me to a group of dysfunctional teenagers that go somewhere and all but one return because someone’s no longer breathing and now everyone else is a suspect, and I’m a happy camper. Add some social issue soup to the mix and I’ll be hooked. It doesn’t matter how many books along these lines I read; I just keep coming back for more.

Savana and Jesse are neighbours who’ve known one another for years. They’re friends and there is absolutely some chemistry between them so when Jesse asked her to meet him at Cray’s Warehouse, the senior class’ summer break party spot, of course she was going to go.

She didn’t expect to see someone fall out of a fourth storey window when she got there. She definitely didn’t plan on getting caught up in a murder investigation. But here we are.

I have a horrible feeling this is just the beginning.

Supplementing the narrative, which is told by Savana and Jesse, are transcripts of an audio file, interviews and text messages, as well as an email and news article.

This was a quick, entertaining read. I guessed the who but not the why.

I don’t know what it is about books like these. They feel like a guilty pleasure. I don’t expect to stop reading them anytime soon, though.

“Don’t assume you know the whole story.”

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Harlequin Australia for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Six friends. Five suspects. One murder.

Savana Caruso and Jesse Melo have known each other since they were kids, so when Jesse asks Savana to meet him at Cray’s Warehouse in the middle of the night, she doesn’t hesitate. But before Savana can find Jesse, she bears witness to a horrifying murder, standing helpless on the ground as a mysterious figure is pushed out of the fourth floor of the warehouse.

Six teens were there that night, and five of them are now potential suspects. With the police circling, Savana knows what will happen if the wrong person is charged, but someone is willing to do whatever it takes to keep the truth from coming to light.

by Categories: ReviewTags: , , , , , ,

The Prophet and the Idiot – Jonas Jonasson

Translator – Rachel Willson-Broyles

So, let’s talk about the elephant in the room … the last word in the title. It’s offensive. It’s awful. I hate it.

If I hadn’t told someone that yes, I was absolutely going to read a Jonas Jonasson book, my journey with this book would have ended as soon as I read that word. Because more than a year has passed since I made my bookish commitment, I moved on to reading the blurb and it intrigued me. It’s a shame, really, because I expect a lot of people won’t make it past the title.

If you do manage to put blinders on every time you come across that word, this is actually a fun read. The characters are quirky, there’s a road trip in an RV with a super fancy kitchen and there are wrongs to put right because the world is ending.

Everything felt right.

At which point nothing went as planned. It rarely does.

Johan, who the offensive word refers to, believes that’s what he is because his brother has called him that his entire life. Johan is not book smart but he’s a genius when it comes to combining ingredients in unique and apparently delectable way. I would very much like to sample his mango bread. Johan has also memorised a bunch of American movies.

Petra is convinced the sky is falling. Literally. And very soon. She has the calculations to prove it.

‘Who’s going to what now?’

‘The atmosphere. It will fall flat to the ground and the temperature will drop to 273.15 degrees below freezing. In a split second.’

‘Where?’

‘Everywhere.’

‘Indoors as well?’

Besides being a doomsday prophet, Petra is also a very big fan of flowcharts.

At 75, retired manufacturess Agnes’ hair is more violet than it used to be. Her alter ego, ‘Travelling Eklund’, has seen much more of the world than she has, although that’s about to change.

This is a book with grappa decisions, an endangered bird and unfinished cheese business. A bunch of famous people have parts to play, including Obrama, which, even though it very much looks like it, is not a typo.

Our road trip takes us to multiple countries and the impact of this found family is felt worldwide, even as they paint themselves into so many corners you begin to wonder how they can ever get out of them.

Ultimately, this book encourages you to live your life while you have the chance because you never know when a prophet’s calculations are going to be correct.

‘Isn’t now the time to embrace the world? With what little time you have left.’

Although I still hate the title, I enjoyed spending time with this unlikely trio.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and 4th Estate, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Sweden, late summer of 2011. Self-taught astrophysicist Petra has calculated that the atmosphere will collapse on the 21st of September that year, around 21.20 to be more precise, bringing about the end of times.

Armed with this terrible knowledge, Petra meets Johan and Agnes, a widow of 75 who has made bank living a double life on social media as a young influencer. Together, the trio race through Europe as they plan to make the most out of the time they have left, in more ways than one.

But of course, things rarely go to plan, even the end of the world…

by Categories: ReviewTags: , , , ,

Where’s Wally? Days Out: Colouring Book – Martin Handford

I’m pretty sure I think about Wally more times each day than the average adult. I blame the colleague who saw my first heat pack around my neck and helpfully pointed out that its red and white stripes reminded them of Wally. Naturally we christened my heat pack Wally immediately.

My original Wally is long gone and I have yet to find a red and white striped replacement. That hasn’t stopped every heat pack since then, regardless of colour, being called Wally. No one who knows me even refers to it as a heat pack anymore, which makes misplacing it a lot less frustrating.

“Where’s Wally?”

Here, we join Wally, Wenda, Wizard Whitebeard, Woof and dastardly Odlaw in nine days out:
🐶 Doggy Day Care
🤠 The Wild, Wild West Theme Park
🐴 The Parade
🎨 The Art Gallery
🥪 A Spot of Lunch
🎵 The Musical Extravaganza
🦖 A Dino Day Out
🎥 Knights, Camera, Action!
🪩 Disco Fever

I particularly enjoyed attending the Jurassic Games.

description

My only quibble is with the book’s binding. I love that the scenes are large, covering two pages each. Because the spine doesn’t allow you to completely flatten the pages, though, it can be difficult to colour the middle of each scene.

At the end of the book, there’s a list of items to search for. And stickers to colour! Make sure to be on the lookout for Wally’s ice cream cone as you colour your way through the scenes. 🍦

Fun fact: Wally is also known as Waldo. Odlaw’s name makes more sense when you discover that as the “Anti-Waldo”, his name is Waldo spelled backwards.

Thank you so much to Walker Books for the hours of fun.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Pack your colouring pens and pencils for some super-exciting outings with Wally. Get ready to transform black-and-white scenes into dazzling kaleidoscopic destinations – the days out of your dreams! There are all sorts of things to search for and a page of stickers to colour in, too. Enjoy!

by Categories: ReviewTags: , , ,