It’s been a significant amount of time since I’ve written on my own blog. My time, creativity and brainpower is completely spent at the end of each day after work.
Today is a treatment day at the hospital, so I have a few hours before I need to be there and thought – hey, why don’t I catch up at least one post on the blog?
I’ve read a few books whilst I’ve been away. A synopsis of two of them:
Feverborn – Karen Marie Moning
I’m a lover of anything that Karen Marie Moning writes and this book is no exception. I love how throughout all her books with Mac and Barrons you feel like you’re a part of this special unique relationship. Whilst we may never go through the trials and tribulations of Mac the null Sidhe Seer or Barrons the exquisite druid come beast – we still feel their ups, downs and the conflict between each other and with themselves.
What I’ve found more unique since the end of the first “Fever” books is the character perspective. Call me a party pooper but I’m not crazy about books written in several first person narratives. I find myself wanting to skip forward to read about one character before being thrown into the mind of another.
The post-war Fever books could have been more than just a few books, a few characters crammed in between covers. Each character, Mac, Barrons, Jada – could all have their own series. I know that in my own way I love all these characters – despite Jada being so completely different from the kid we met in the original series.
This is in no way a negative review. This is my own version of post book hell – sadness if you wish. The depression that comes after finishing a book with characters you love and a plot line you can’t wait to read more of – which I will when the next book comes out!
Now this book would have been top of my read list for 2016 0 until I came upon the next one.
I had seen so many Twitter posts by Hodderscape about an upcoming book called ‘Hex’. Being a lover of anything horror – I had to have it. Advance reader tweets had me entranced and left with a bad case of book envy. I had to have this book.
It was released in the UK the day before my birthday and ‘meh’ we’ll call it my gift to myself.
Hex – Thomas Olde Heuvelt
Not only did the tweets regarding this book draw me in, but when I picked up my hardcover copy and saw that it had such praise as ‘reminiscent of vintage Stephen King – John Connelly’ I knew I was going to love this book without ever turning a page.
Stephen King is on of my favourite writers of all time, let’s go on and add Thomas Olde Heuvelt to that list.
Reading the excerpts didn’t prepare me for this world steeped in superstition, cut off from the rest of the world. I was at first apprehensive because it was stocked in the Youth section of my local bookstore, but didn’t let it put me off.
I love everything historical. This book satisfied both my love of history, mythology and ghost stories; all rolled in to one. I don’t give away spoilers, because I hate them myself. But – I will write about what I loved and liked in this book.
Bringing together colonial America, pre-Salem witch hunts and present day with all it’s technology probably shouldn’t have worked. I expected something like the Blair Witch Project and was thankful that it wasn’t.
The primary characters, a family – including a teenage boy and his friends, a Hex supervisor and an overseeing council all collide in a manner of ways throughout the book. I love the character development and all the backstories that I was given. It allowed me to relate to the characters and develop my own relationships with them.
Whilst this book is found in the Young Adult section of the book store, I know this will be a favourite for readers of horror and modern day ghost stories.
Without giving anything away – this book (so far) is my top read for 2016.
A Tale of Two Sisters 