Review - Beyond the Darkness (Book II)

by: Leonard D. Hilley II

Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Smashwords.

See Leonard D. Hilley II's blog here-http://deimosweb-hilley.blogspot.com

Synopsis:
Three years after Daniel and the other survivors escaped the terrorizing, blood-thirsty shifters in Pittsburgh, his friends have moved forward with their lives, but Daniel cannot. He believes the conspiracies within TransGenCorp have not ended and more shifters exist.

Then Daniel receives a phone call from Lucas that bolsters his paranoia.

Lucas is being charged with murders he insists his clone committed.

Daniel soon discovers darker atrocities are emerging, which not only place his life in immense danger, but all his friends as well.

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First let me say thank you to Leonard Hilley II for letting me review the 2nd book in the Darkness series. I really enjoyed first book Predators of Darkness.

So the big question - did it live up to expectations? Oh hell yeah!

It's 3 years after those who survived were rescued from Pittsburgh. The main characters are trying to live happily ever after, but each of them has their own emotional scars to deal with. Daniel feels it the heaviest, the guilt and the fear that it isn't really over. I really felt so bad when he was right.

The biggest conflict with a character I feel is Lucas' clone - he has his own name in this book - Lucian. I love it! He's not really a bad guy, but he's controlled by bad people. I truly can't wait to see what is done with him in the final book.

I think you would be better off reading Predators of Darkness first, but if you don't Mr. Hilley puts enough back-story in that you wouldn't be completely lost if you started here.

Another 5 star winner. And I'm off to read the final installment. :)

Alternative Videos

I'm so far behind on my reading. The stress of the last week has been huge. But it's fairly resolved. Two toxic people are gone from our lives forever. Chris lost his job...for a day. He's now working part-time doing something he loves with lots of opportunity.

It's Saturday evening and I'm sitting in a Biggby with my life partner, and feeling the music. So I decided to share 5 of my all time alternative favorites. Songs that I met on the local college radio station years ago before I had CW.

1. Badly Drawn Boy "You Were Right"

2.My Chemical Romance "I'm Not Okay (I promise)"

3. Ben Lee "Something Borrowed, Something Blue"

4.The Living End "End of the World"

5. Green Day "Jesus of Suburbia" (this is a long one and not for the kids)

Sunday Stealing: The Fifteen Movie Questions Meme

Cheers to all of us thieves!

1. Movie you love with a passion. Supertroopers, I'm sorry but that movie never fails to make me giggle like a school girl.


2. Movie you vow to never watch. Oh there's been plenty, but usually I move on once I make that decision. Hmmmm, ok anything Miley Cyrus (and I had to use Google to spell that right!)


3. Movie that literally left you speechless. The NeverEnding Story


4. Movie you always recommend.

The 10th Kingdom
Watch a clip here - embedding is disabled on this one.

5. Actor/actress you always watch, no matter how crappy the movie. Actor - Brenden Fraser / Actress - Sandra Bullock


6. Actor/actress you don’t get the appeal for. Actor - Ben Afleck / Actress - Jennifer Lopez


7. Actor/actress, living or dead, you’d love to meet. Actress - Ginger Rogers or Dorris Day/ Actor - Danny Kaye or Cary Grant


8. Sexiest actor/actress you’ve seen. (Picture required!) Actor - Ewan McGregor / Actress - Jennifer Tilly - I think I answered this recently!


9. Dream cast. I don't really know, I read books and think they would be a great movie, and sometimes I think of people better suited to a cast member than who is there. Ok my biggest pet pieve, when reading the Harry Potter series, I just knew Lucius Malfoy should have been played by Julian Sands


10. Favorite actor pairing. Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan...sorry I just loved those 2 together. And I'm talking more than Sleepless in Seatle.


11. Favorite movie setting. New York...I'd never live there but it's a great place for a movie or a sitcom

12. Favorite decade for movies. the 1940s, my all time favorite movie is The Major and the Minor made in 1942.


13. Chick flick or action movie? Classic Chick Flick - Steel Magnolias, Classic Action movie - Rob Roy


14. Hero, villain or anti-hero? Hero - Lionel of Thundercats/ Villian - that purple prince from Voltron/ anti-hero - He-man and She-Ra, far too goody-goody.


15. Black and white or color? black and white...it gets to the heart of the movie...only good for a very subtle good pic. If the director is coordinating the scenery as much as the cast then color might work better.

Review - A Hidden Witch

by: Debora Geary

Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Smashwords.

Synopsis:
Elorie Shaw, steeped in the traditions of the Nova Scotia witching community, but not a witch. The fetching spell must have goofed this time... or did it?

Travel to Fisher's Cove, Nova Scotia, where Moira is matriarch and the old ways are nurtured and passed to the next generation. Where a crotchety old witch makes small children cry and builds walls around the silent pain in his heart. And where Elorie - sea-glass artist, inn owner, and Moira's granddaughter - makes her home.

The old magics are strong here. Which is all fine and good until the fetching spell pulls Elorie into Witches' Chat. Because she's not a witch. Or at least not any kind of witch the old ways recognize...

A Hidden Witch is the sequel to A Modern Witch, the top-rated book in contemporary fantasy. While each book tells a complete story, you'll enjoy the characters far more if you start at the beginning of the series.

Debora Geary is working on several more books expected out in 2011, if the kids don't spill any more water on her laptop.

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The cover is just as cool as the first book. It's a teal color this time but the same picture. It's ok - I love the pic and the color change shows it's a new book, but the picture ties it together. And come on, that picture is wicked cool!

This story has a consistent flow. I don't think it really ever slows down, but it's not a real fast pace either. It flows like a river, steady and constant. I love all the characters, especially Elorie - the "hidden witch" in this story. She is a jewelry artist living in Nova Scotia with Moira - the matriarch witch we met in the last story. She is married to a non-witch and while she was raised with witches, her power never emerged. She organizes the training of the witchlings, but has no power of her own...or so she thought.

There are so many children in this story and the way they are all just adored is the best. Each pregnancy is announced and discovered with resounding joy. Relationships that were strained are mended. And when the mystery is finally solved, Elorie finds the best way to use her power and organizes the entire witching community to work together.

That's the other part that you will love in these stories. The witches aren't at all selfish, they believe in "do no harm" and that their powers are meant to be used in service to others. If everyone got that lesson - as it's also the basic lesson in Christianity as well as paganism - our world would shine.

Go buy this e-book, support an indie author...it's only $3.99 and worth a lot more!

Review - Predators of Darkness: Aftermath

by: Leonard D. Hilley II

Available at Amazon, Barnes & Nobles and Smashwords

The desolate streets of downtown Pittsburgh in 2073 are a reminder of the missile attack that forever changed the lives of the surviving scientists and students hidden in the fallout shelter of Helmsby's Genetic Research Center. Believing themselves to be the only survivors, they station themselves inside the center until food supplies near depletion. Thinking the fallout has lessened, they emerge three years later to discover strange creatures patrolling the streets in search of human flesh and blood. The creatures possess the ability to shift their genomes and alter their appearances by realigning their genetic sequences. Daniel Hutchinson soon discovers mysteries more frightening than the shifters. The tip of Pittsburgh has been fenced off. Low-flying helicopters observe the streets. He ponders the question: Were the shifters released as simply part of a military experiment with humans being their prey?

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There is so much I want to tell you all, I want to talk about the amazing ride that this book was. So much excitement, sadness, fear, happiness...a real roller coaster!

Honestly I have to bite my tongue, I don't want to give anything away. As you read, the survivors are locked in a research center, and have been for 3 years. 2 men, considered the leaders are the only 2 to leave now because of the very real danger of the "shifters." These creations are so very hard to kill, they heal so fast that the only way to kill them to slice them fully in half.

Oh my stars, I want to go on but I can't. The characters are so realistic, the plot is heavy - but in a good way. The pacing is amazing. It's 233 pages long and I don't think it ever slowed down. Even the sexy scenes were intense!

The cover is spooky - I'm not sure about the spider web unless it's meant to signify the abandoned city of Pittsburgh. The red cats eyes...well you'll read about him in the book. This would make a kick-ass movie!

The e-book is only $2.99 - and right now Mr. Hilley is sending all proceeds to help restore his old his school's library that was damaged by a tornado. As a reader and library patron I think this is about the nicest thing an author can do.

Review - Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

by: Ransom Riggs

Available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
A mysterious island.

An abandoned orphanage.

A strange collection of very curious photographs.

It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive.

A spine-tingling fantasy illustrated with haunting vintage photography, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the shadows.

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I'm unsure where to even begin on this one. This book is amazing all around. The cover is haunting, deliciously creepy. Nothing scarier than creepy kids, right?

This book isn't about scary kids, they are peculiar however. Each with their own special power. Jacob thinks he is ordinary, but he has the same power as his grandfather, and that makes him invaluable to Miss Peregrine, the caretaker of all the children.

The book is full of vintage photographs that are all eery in their own way. One thing that usually gets people is that no one smiles. Well the reason for that is simple - they didn't have point and shoot cameras, usually you had to hold your pose for awhile. Try standing with a smile plastered on your face for 15 minutes and see how great you look! ;)

What I really want to know is if Riggs found the photographs after writing the story, or wrote the story around the photographs. They tie into the story, which was an amazing and thrilling tale of Jacob helping out his grandfather's old friends...children he didn't even believe were real.

The pace is perfect, I hated to put this book down and cleared pages without even noticing. I slowed down at the end because...and don't laugh...I didn't want to finish the book. Certainly you've read a tale that you loved so much you didn't want to reach the end? This is one for me. Yes it is going into my permanent library so I can read it again, and enjoy the scrapbook that this truly is.

Seriously - buy this book - it's amazing!

Sunday Stealing: The Twenty-Fiver Meme

Cheers to all of us thieves!

1. Tell us about something that made you laugh last night. Watching a DVD of the Venture Brothers...Dr. Venture is such an asshole but he's the "good" guy. lol

2. What were you doing at 8 PM last night? Trying to get Ivan to stay in bed.

3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago? Waiting at Biggby for an Iced Mocha so I could manage to keep my eyes open until it's time to put the boys to bed.

4. What happened to you in 2006? (Feel free to republish an old post from '06.) I was taking care of a clingy baby. CW never let me put him down and I wasn't blessed with a sling until he was much older.

5. What was the last thing you said out loud? "here you go, Ivan." I just made him a PB&J sandwich to go with his strawberry yogurt-dinner of champions!

6. How many beverages did you have today? Oh let's see...I think I drank 3 iced teas at the Indian place, then a few little waters at my moms and now my Mocha. Gonna make an ice water in a minute.

7. What color is your hairbrush? natural wood...it's so cute!

8. What was the last thing you paid for? That mocha I mentioned from Biggby's? Yeah, I had to pay for that.

9. Where were you last night? Home...did I not mention putting kids to bed and watching a movie? ;)

10. What color is your front door? Dark brown...it's an ugly door! funny thing is that it is supposed to be the back door put they put our trailer in backwards when it was installed years before we bought it.

11. Where do you keep your change? the zipper pocket on my wallet.

12. What’s the weather like today? HOT and muggy...I really wish it would finally rain...a real rain...not those piddly little ones that make it even muggier. And did you know Firefox thinks "muggier" is actually a correctly spelled word?

13. What’s the best ice-cream flavor? No way I can answer this. It is something that changes with my mood. Chocolate and peanut butter is good, coffee ice creams, black cherry, and Bryers makes this fantastic peach ice cream.

14. What excites you? My husband when he's naked...oh TMI! ;) Oh ok, I have a good answer, getting a package in the mail that is either a book to review or jewelry from Tribal Horse Designs.

15. Do you want to cut your hair? No I want it to grow faster so I can pull it up and out of the way when I want to.

16. Are you over the age of 35? Oh yeah...Going to be 37 soon.

17. Do you talk a lot? Yeah, sometimes too much...ok usually too much.

18. Do you watch Franklin and Bash? Considering I have no idea what that is...or who...no I do not have any idea how to watch it.

19. Do you know anyone named Steven? No...I know a Steve...not sure if he's a Steven or Stephen or not.

20. Do you make up your own words? Not often, but I love using other peoples made up words.

21. Are you a jealous person? Sure, aren't we all to some degree? I try not to act on it though, realizing when it comes from my head and not from reality.

22. What does the last text message you received say? Some stupid thing from some company that I let follow me on Twitter. Might have to block them if they do that again.

23. Where’s the next place you’re going to? Church in the morning. Found a new church, one we've been doing Early Head Start playgroups at for years. They did Vacation Bible School and CW fell in love with them. They are nice so we might just make it our own.

24. Who’s the rudest person in your life? Oh I know the answer to this, but if I share it then I'm just gossiping. So there's a couple people that fit this, but I do tend to avoid them at all costs.

25. Are you crushing on anyone that you shouldn't be? Nope, currently really loving on my husband so that's all good! Celebrity crushes don't count and the one real person I have a crush on so does my husband so he CAN'T be jealous! lol

Review - Broetry

by: Brian McGackin

Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble

Synopsis:
As contemporary poets sing the glories of birds, birch trees, and menstruation, regular guys are left scratching their heads. Who can speak for Everyman? Who will articulate his love for Xbox 360, for Mama Celeste's frozen pizza, for the cinematic oeuvre of Bruce Willis?

Enter Broetry--a stunning debut from a dazzling new literary voice. "Broet Laureate" Brian McGackin goes where no poet has gone before--to Star Wars conventions, to frat parties, to video game tournaments, and beyond. With poems like "Ode to That Girl I Dated for, Like, a Month Sophomore Year" and "My Friends Who Don't Have Student Loans," we follow the Bro from his high school graduation and college experience through a "quarter-life crisis" and beyond.

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The cover is so simplistic, you might miss it. No I like it, it's white, the title is the only color. On the front cover is a Broem and also on the back.

So, how is the poetry? What do I look like, a Rhodes scholar? It's fun, all of it is in good fun. I'm not a guy, and some references I didn't totally understand, but I laughed a lot!

He writes about past girlfriends, relationships, magic the game, the incredible debt of college and the inevitability of giving up on LA and moving back home. For a guy who doesn't open up, it's pretty deep. Not a lot of feelings outright, but lots hidden within the lines. Isn't that good poetry?

Ok, I'm going to leave you with my favorite ending to one of the poems called "Why You Should Listen to Classical Music" on page 117.

Classical music. It makes you smarter.
And admit it, you could be more cultured;
you just picked up a book called Broetry

Some were difficult to read, but in general I fully enjoyed myself.