Sarah's Reviews: 13 Horror Stories by John McDonnell

There's a chill at the end of every story in this horror collection. Here you'll find a beast in the basement, an Irish sea monster with silver skin, a troll who does online dating, a vampire with killer legs, a chocolate drink with a nasty kick, a man who reverses the aging process, a ghost who murders again and again, and other scary characters. These stories will sink their teeth into you! Every one grips you from the very first word, grabs you by the throat and holds you to the last word (when you'll let out a choking scream of horror). These are scary stories from John McDonnell's previous collections, plus some crackling new tales that will make your hair stand up straight. Don't read them if you're alone in a dark house!

Release Date: September 21st 2010
Author Website

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Now if you have read my reviews before you will know that I am a little bit of a wimp when it comes to horror things. Zombies and me seem to get on fine... well you know, I know how to kill one should they attack but they don't really freak me out. Things like watching the TV series 'Stalker' late at night when I remember the back door might not be locked are the things that scare me... haha!

So I took on this set of 13 horror stories with a little trepidation because of my wimp status. I was totally right to! I have written also before about loving short stories and how these take me back to my youth when I used to read a lot of these. I found that with each horror story some people might get annoyed as some stop just when it's about to get good, for me it provided enough time for me to calm myself down again.

The writing is good and there was enough done to make me feel attached to the characters even though there wasn't a lot of time to really get to know them. I don't want to go into too much detail about each one but my favourites were 'Heart stopping beauty' and 'That buzz'.

Despite totally freaking me out I really enjoyed the set. Recommended for all horror fans and wimps like me ;)

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Sarah's Reviews: Blood Torn (Blackthorn #3) by Lindsay J. Pryor

‘Vampires might bite, honey, but lycans tear.’
Jask Tao, lycan leader, rules his pack with absolute dedication and demands the same loyalty in return. In the world of Blackthorn, where respect is a rare commodity, Jask has earned his – few dare to cross him, and fewer survive to tell the tale.

When he captures Sophia, a rare serryn witch – whose blood is lethal to vampires – Jask knows just how valuable she can be. Despite her fiery nature, he also can’t shake the feelings that she rouses in him – feelings that he thought died along with Ellen, his mate.
Sophia knows she has to escape from Jask’s lycan compound – and fast. Inheriting her sister’s serryn powers can only mean one thing – that her family is at risk. She’ll have to get past the dangerously attractive Jask first but, scarred by memories of her mother’s murder, Sophia won’t ever give up.

Sparks fly between Jask and Sophia but, as both her family and the pack come under threat, they might just need each other if they, and their loved ones, are going to stay alive…
In this thrillingly sensual novel, Lindsay J. Pryor returns to the shadowy dystopian world of Blackthorn, where tensions are rising, the risks are high, and the most powerful loves are formed in the face of great danger.

Release Date: February 21st 2014
Publisher: Bookouture
Author Website

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You will have seen my previous reviews of the Blackthorn series, #1 and #2.

With the series now onto #3 I wondered where we would be going next and if Pryor could keep up the form that she displayed with the first two. I didn't need to worry! #3 is quite possibly my favourite of the series.

You meet a new couple in each of the books and in this one we meet Jask, leader of the Lycans. We also meet Sophia who is trying to escape from Jask and find her sisters.

Everything sort of jumps out at you, the action and emotion jumps out of the pages. You feel like you're in the story with the characters. We see past characters and I still haven't really worked out how they will all fit together but that's the world that Pryor has created - keeps me on my toes!

We get introduced to the next couple in the end of this book... oh the tease!

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Sarah's Reviews: Summer at the Shore Leave Cafe (Shore Leave Cafe #1) by Abbie Williams

Joelle Gordon is leaving Chicago and her cheating husband to head for her hometown of Landon, Minnesota. WIth her three beautiful daughters in tow, Joelle is bombarded with an onslaught of memories that Landon evokes. Landon -- home to the Shore Leave Cafe, the restaurant Joelle's family owns -- has some surprises in store for Joelle. Finding herself confronted with the reality of single motherhood, a mysterious but handsome young staffer at the Shore Leave Cafe, her upset daughters, and the prospect of returning to her husband for the well-being of her kids, Joelle must make decisions she never thought she'd face.
A story about heartbreak, blame, family, desire, love, and the difficulties of returning home, Summer at the Shore Leave Cafe highlights hardships to which everyone can relate.

Publisher: Everheart Books
Release Date: December 17th 2012
Series: Shore Leave Cafe
Author's Website

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It can be good to get away from the boring lives that we lead... I mean me here I know your lives are totally fantastic and I'm jealous ;)

Anyway, when I was asked about reviewing the Shore Leave Cafe series I jumped at the chance as I needed a summer series to get stuck into. Especially one with romance but with characters that seemed pretty normal. I felt like this cafe could have been just down the road, it felt homely but also mixed with a little abandon as it it quite clearly not here and I want to be there!

The description above gives you the basic idea about what kind of book this is and I simply adore Abbie Williams' writing style and she leaves such a great cliffhanger that you'll be wanting #2 as soon as possible!

Really enjoyable writing, characters and overall a great start to what looks like a fantastic series.

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Sarah's Reviews: Deadland's Harvest (Deadland #2) by Rachel Aukes

The seven deadly sins with a shambling twist.
The critically acclaimed DEADLAND SAGA:
Book 1: 100 Days in Deadland
Book 2: Deadland’s Harvest
Book 3: Deadland Rising
It has been one hundred days since the zombies claimed the world. Cash, along with forty-two survivors, have found safety in the secluded and well-guarded Fox National Park. The leaves are changing colors, a beautiful, brutal reminder that winter is coming. As the survivors prepare for freezing months without electricity and not enough food, they learn of massive zombie herds several hundred miles north…and headed their way.

To save the park, Cash must find a place for the survivors to hide from the migrating herds. If Cash and her small band of volunteers don’t succeed by winter, the Fox survivors just may become Deadland’s Harvest.


(Deadland’s Harvest is a journey through Dante Alighieri's classic tale on the seven deadly sins… zombie apocalypse style!)

Release Date: April 28th 2014
Publisher: Surprisingly Adequate Publishing
Author Website

You might remember when I raved about the first book in this saga here and now I am back telling you to read Book 2!

Starting right off from where the last book ended we're back with Cash - have I mentioned that I love her character in the other review enough? They are still fighting against the zombies and making decisions that could change their futures.

I also love Aukes' writing style, she doesn't overwrite with lengthy descriptions and I loved the addition of Benji. My brother has Downs Syndrome and this character is so beautifully written that it made me feel a special protection for him, like I do with my own brother.

I am looking forward to the final book to see how this will all end... but I also don't want it to end!

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Sarah's Reviews: All Together Now: A Zombie Story by Robert Kent

Yea though we perish, yea though we die, we'll all be together in the sweet by and by...

Fifteen-year-old Ricky Genero is writing a journal of the zombie apocalypse. His high school has burned to the ground, his friends are all either dead or shambling corpses roaming the earth in search of human flesh, and his best friend died saving his six-year-old brother Chuck from a zombie horde. When Chuck is bitten and infected with the zombie virus, Ricky must travel among the walking dead in search of a cure.

WARNING

This YOUNG ADULT novel is mean and nasty and intended for a mature audience. It is absolutely not appropriate for younger readers. All Together Now: A Zombie Story is a gruesome, repugnant tale featuring horrific acts of violence sure to warp young minds.


They moaned in unison, the sound of each harmonizing with the moans of the others so I couldn't tell if the moans were coming from three zombies, or five, or ten. All I knew for sure is they were on the other side of the door.
WHAM!!!
At first I thought it was the sound of a gun, but then it happened again, just above me.
"Sh—" Michelle slapped a hand to Levi's mouth before he could say more.
A corpse's palm smacked against the window glass, fell away, and smacked again.
A second hand smacked the glass, closer to the entrance. Then a third hand started on the other side of the door, so all three hands were smacking in unison.
Michelle bit the fingers on her left hand, but in her right hand our one gun was trained on the glass.
I tightened my grip on my bat.
WHAM!!! WHAM!!! WHAM!!! WHAM!!!
The glass wavered, rippling with each smack, but didn't break.
Yet.
WHAM!!! WHAM!!! WHAM!!! WHAM!!!

Release Date: September 2013
Publisher: Harper Landmark Books
Author Website

I have written before about my interest in the zombie genre and this book doesn't fail to get high in my favourites.

I never get particularly worried before reading anything about zombies, I do when I read any new vampire stories because I always think about Twilight. Ugh! As a big fan of The Walking Dead series I never feel worried that the zombie genre will be ruined. There will always be stories of fear, horror and survival but each one is told differently. Or so far that I have read anyway.

Robert Kent's book is different too and that is not a criticism. I liked the fact that this zombie apocalypse came about because of the wrong chemicals in energy drinks. So me drinking Red Bull whilst starting to read this on a trip from London to Manchester by train had definitely made me look at my drink differently. Haha!

I liked the journal type writing but I'm not a fan of going backwards and back to present day too much so some of the flashbacks confused me a bit. There was still enough to keep me gripped throughout and some of the zombie scenes are really quite graphic. There is a warning about it so you are sort of prepared ;-)

I was not prepared for the ending. Not prepared at all. No spoilers on that.

Loved the book and I want more!

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Sarah's Reviews: Super Born: Seduction of Being by Keith Kornell

An evolution in the Female Superhero, Super Born: Seduction of Being is an action packed romantic satire based on the quirky Journalist's search for a reluctant super woman. She is a single mother with 33 years of normal existence before super powers begin to show themselves and complicate her life. While she searches for her new place in the world she is pursued by both the good guys and bad.

Release Date: October 8th 2013
Publisher: Harper Landmark Books
Author Website

I was really intrigued by this as I do read a lot of comics and it had that sort of write up to it. Also I liked the female superhero element to it and the single mum storyline was certainly different. The title is slightly misleading as there isn't much seduction at all. So don't read this expecting any sort of erotica type story as this just isn't that.

The book is fun to read but after a promising start I did feel that the book tailed off towards the end. The different characters had their own chapters but I couldn't differentiate between them, they all seemed very similar and didn't feel I could hear their own 'voice'. It was a shame as I was really looking forward to reading this but I was disappointed. It is by no means bad but it could have been better.

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Sarah's Reviews: Justice (Galilee Falls Trilogy #1) by Jennifer Harlow

It’s hard being a regular police officer in Galilee Falls, a city with the highest concentration of superheroes and villains in the country. It’s even harder watching your best friend, the man you’re secretly in love with your whole life, planning to marry another woman. Detective Joanna Fallon has to contend with both. When the vilest supervillain in the city’s history, Alkaline, the former crime boss who can shoot acid from his wrists, escapes from the maximum security prison, the whole city is gripped by panic. Leading the pursuit is Captain Harry O’Hara, Joanna’s boss and secret lover, and the city’s champion superhero Justice, who caught the villain last time, much to Joanna’s chagrin. Before her father was murdered in a mugging twenty years earlier, Joanna worshiped the hero, but when he disappeared and failed to save her father, that adoration turned to contempt for all supers. After Alkaline attacks too close to home and targets Joanna as his next victim, tough-as-nail Joanna has to contend with her increasing fear while struggling to choose between her life-long crush and her new-found love.
At turns vulnerable and fierce, equally mordant and winsome, Joanna is an earnest yet emotionally damaged heroine, who despite the tough breaks of her childhood sees the good in people and vow to protect her beloved city at all costs. An ass-kicking petite firecracker with no superpowers of her own, she charges after supervillains unflinchingly, never losing her wit even when facing her toughest fight. With a coy blend of whimsy and vivid imagination, she delivers both humor and thrills in an action-packed and edgy blend of comic book cool, fantasy-noir, and bitter-sweet romance.

Release Date: May 18th 2013
Publisher: Devil on the Left Books
Author Website

Who doesn't love a superhero story?

Well I guess some people don't... but anyway, I do! I absolutely loved this book and the world that we are sent into. I did find bits of the plot were obvious but somehow I can overlook this as the book isn't just a superhero type story. It's a story of love and friendship too and the heroine isn't perfect. I love an imperfect heroine, always makes the story seem more real. That's why this isn't your usual superhero story, there is definitely more to it.

The great thing about this superhero story is that the villains are bad, really bad. After watching many superhero movies it would be easy to see this turned into a superhero film too.

Loved the book and can't wait to read #2!

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Sarah's Reviews: Bad Blood by Nicky Peacock

“I am Britannia. I am your protector. I will fend off the hungry hordes of undead hands that reach toward you. I am your steadfast defender. I will stand between you and the zombie masses as they try to taste your flesh. I am strong, unyielding, and dedicated to your survival. All I ask from you… is your blood.”
A five-hundred-year-old bloody game of vengeance will need to be put on hold if vampires are to survive the zombie uprising. Britannia and Nicholas, bitter enemies and the only two surviving vampires left in London, have to work together to save un-infected humans and deliver them safely to a vampire stronghold in the Scottish Highlands. Unable to drink the zombie "bad blood," the remaining vampires need the humans to stay alive.But will the vampires tell the survivors who they are and what they want from them? Will Britannia be able to hold back her vengeance for the greater good? Is survivor Josh the reincarnation of Britannia's murdered true love? And can she bring herself to deliver him to the "safe" hold?
Survival instincts run deep, but bad blood can run deeper.

Author Website
Publisher - Noble Romance Publishing
Published - May 10th 2013

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Bringing together my two loves; zombies and vampires... yes, really. There was just something about this book from the synopsis that made me want to read it. Maybe it was to see how vampires and zombies would work in the same book or maybe it was because there seemed to be a real story of survival here.

I read this book in one sitting, it was enthralling and yeah a little scary at times - as it should be I might add! I really liked Britannia and I loved the way her character developed throughout the book. There's still so much of this story to come and I cannot wait to read the next in the series.

It's a great adventure story and those who love their vampires and/or zombies will love this one too. Read it!

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Sarah's Reviews: Death of the Mad Hatter by Sarah J. Pepper

The Jack prophesied: If the king loses his head, then the Queen with a Bleeding Heart would rule the Red Court until Time ceased to move forward. When a second carried on for infinity, every creature in Wonderland would tip their Hat to the misfit girl with a Boy’s name (or was it a boy with a Girl’s name?) who’d end the Reign of Terror. However, it all hinged on the One-Eyed Hare being able to convince an uninspirable Heir that the impossible was indeed possible—like stopping time—and that Love was worth a Beheading.
Heads would Roll…
Hearts would Break…
In the end, would it matter who Reigned?

Release Date: November 29th 2013
Publisher: CreateSpace
Author Website

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You'll be aware of the original story, whether it's from the book or maybe the Disney version or maybe the one with Johnny Depp in it. Either way you must be vaguely aware of the story.

It is actually really difficult to review the book without giving away spoilers and I definitely do not want to do that. I would describe the book as different take on the original, it keeps you hooked on the story and think about Johnny Depp's version but with a lot more flair.

I was a little apprehensive before I started reading because "What if I hated this version?" and "What if it made me feel different about the version I knew". It turns out that I really need not have worried, the book is a great addition to what you already know and I love them both. I think with Sarah's version because I knew so much before reading this that it made this book even better, if that makes sense.

Wonderland is already a weird and wonderful place but Sarah has managed to make it EVEN more so. I'd read this book over and over again and would definitely recommend it to those that have loved the original and to those who love to dream. Beautiful, disturbing and wonderful and I loved every single page.

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