A Bright Moon for Fools by Jasper Gibson

A review copy was provided free of charge by the book depository in return for an honest review

"Up on two legs, man!"

Absolutely nothing about this book is ordinary. When it came through the letter box I spent 20 mins studying the amazing cover art alone!

Harry Christmas is a charismatic con artist. He has duped his ex wife and made of 26,000 pounds and needs an escape plan. He figures Caracas will be a safe bet. All the while poor Harry has to contend with "the rot" consuming everything with class in this world. The rot includes such things as the internet, hippies and French people. Even the sound of the language warrants being ignored in his books.

On his travels Harry blags his way from situation to situation. His "charm" making up for his lack of funds. His personality seems to be a front that he projects to  a world that is changing without him. This is clear to be seen when he discovers that his psychotic step son is trailing him. Just as he begins to experience  true love and companionship life snaps it away from him. Here the reader gets a glimpse of the man behind the charisma. He is vulnerable and alone in the world.

I really enjoyed the story. He seems to barge through life for the first half of the novel and I found myself laughing out loud at several points. However I found the personality change a little dull and the ending left me a little unsatisfied.

Rating: 

Rude Bitches Make Me Tired by Celia Rivenbark

                                                                      Amazon | Goodreads

A copy was provided by the publisher in return for an honest review.

Ill admit I requested this title just because of the title and cover. I know, shallow but whatever!

Have you ever wondered:

How you should really spilt a bill when dining in a group?
How to deal with the wanker who spits in the water fountain?
How to deal with the daughter in law from another country who won't speak English around you?
How to deal with the nosy mother in law who noses through your medicine cabinet?

If so then this book is for you!

Celia shows us how to run the gauntlet of modern life in a mannerly fashion, with a few snide and bitchy remarks thrown in for good measure!

The book is composed of a collection of questions which makes it easy to pick up and read even if you only have a few minutes to spare at a time. This is the perfect way to bitch up your boring coffee break! 

Rating:

The Sunday Post 20/10/13

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by the caffeinated book reviewer

Last week on the blog:

I reviewed (click the cover to read) :

Discussions:

Social Media Zombies (click the pic to read):

Received for review:

Netgalley:

In the post:

Once upon a secret from arrow publishing

Put the kettle on: The Irish love with tea from Collins Press

Hanged for murder: Irish State Executions from Collins Press

Have a good week!

The Broken Spell by Erika Mc Gann

                                                                        Amazon | Goodreads

The Broken Spell is a sequel to The Demon Notebook but is easily strong enough to be read as a stand alone novel.

Grace and her friends are part of a coven of apprentice witches. Their teachers are eager for them for the to learn the theory behind their craft before they begin to cast spells but the girls have other ideas. Saviour comes in the form of the beautiful Miss Gold. She is eager for the girls to learn by doing. To become fearless powerful witches. As strange events start to occur the girls learn that things are not always what they seem. 

The combination of poetic spell casting and duels combined with school girl drama means the plot moves along at a near perfect pace and the reader is eagerly lured into each chapter. It's a hard one to put down!

Despite the story being centred around myth and magic the regular school setting allows for an exciting novel steeped in fantasy to be very believable.

Every YA fan will want this appearing on their shelves! 

Rating:

Blogging: Social Media Zombies

Recently I was browsing the internet when I saw a few posts related to Tumbler. I decided to mosey along and see what all the fuss was about. Before long I found myself clicking the sign up button, going through the motions of building a page and a profile photo. Then I stopped and asked myself what the hell was I doing!?

At the time of writing I am currently a member of and post reviews to:

Bloglovin, Facebook, Twitter, Google +, Pinterest, Digg, Libboo, reddit,  Stumble upon, Triberr, Goodreads, Amazon, The book depository, book blogs.ing and blogaholic social network!

Out of all of these social networks I am really only active on bloglovin, facebook and twitter. by active I mean sharing posts but also sharing the posts of others and commenting on reviews. The rest of the accounts are what I reffer to as zombie accounts. Review get posted to these places but I rarely interact with other posters there.

This led me to think about the amount of time I spend on social media accounts. A hell of a lot more time than I spend reading that's for sure. Yet I constantly complain that I have no time for reading or anything else. Go figure!

I haven't decided whether or not I will axe any of the zombie accounts. I need to do further research into what sort of actual views they bring in. What I am going to do is be a little more concious of the amount of time I waste online. I'm going to try giving myself time slots to go online, do what I need to do and then log off.

So is anyone else experience similar issues with internet usage and zombie accounts or is it just me?

Colder by Paul Tobin and Juan Ferreyra

                                                                             Amazon | Goodreads

An ARC was provided by the publisher in return for an honest review. 

"Hello Declan. You will grow......colder"

This graphic novel shows how important a cover image is. I have read a lot of reviews and almost every one said they were drawn to the cover image. Some didn't even care what it was about! They just had to read it!

This really was incredible. Nimble Jack is hungry. Always hungry. He wants to feed on your insanity. Insanity created from a world built around your greatest fears and darkest nightmares. As a character he was incredibly disturbing. He reminded me of a cross between Stephen Kings IT and The Joker from the old Batman comics.

Jack has been saving Delclan. Letting him stew in his delicious insanity. Now he is almost ready.

The medical world has given up on Declan. No one can figure out why he is so..cold. Reece, a hospital worker becomes his carer. Only the return of nimble Jack  brings Declan back from his comatose state. Jack has dragged Reece into his nightmarish world full of disturbing creatures and only Declan can bring her back.

The creatures in this dimension are incredible. I was really impressed by the originality in the design. If the creatures from Silent Hill had nightmares. These would be the creatures they dreamed off.
This really is a must read. I can't recommend it enough. Especially as its coming up to Halloween.

I'm hoping the next instalment will tell us more about the origins of Nimble Jack and his dimension. I just hate the fact that I have to wait till next year to read it!

Rating: 

What the Dog Knows: The Science and Wonder of Working Dogs by Cat Warren

                                                                     Amazon | Goodreads

An ARC was provided by the publisher in return for an honest review.

Solo is an Amazing dog with an important Job. He is a cadaver dog. Trained to find the dead and bring peace to their families.

Solo was a singleton, meaning he was the only pup in his litter. His trainer basically calls him a jackass and wonders what it is Cat wants him to do. She wants him to have a job, to be useful. As it turns out the Jackasses and bitches from hell often make the best canine cops :)

Cat takes us through the trials and tribulations of training a dog follow his nose and alert his handler when he finds what he's looking for. I would have loved to have read every little detail about the training methods but these are obviously tightly kept secrets only known to the select few in the training world (jealous).  

There have been many attempts to replace the dogs nose. Using everything from machinery to trained vultures. They all lack one thing, the special bond that exists between man and canine. This fearless bond that drives a dog forward into the most dangerous of terrains to do what he was born to do, and to please his master. 

I felt that the book was cut short slightly and hoping Cat will continue to write about her experiences as Solo slows down in life and Coda steps up to the mark. The book has given me a thirst for more knowledge of cadaver dogs. It really is a fascinating read. I would recommend it to anyone interested in dogs and animal behaviour in general.

Rating: 

The Sunday Post 13/10/13

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated book reviewer

Reviews: 

Last week I reviewed Missing Ellen and The Crow: Curare. Click on the covers to read my reviews

I also announced the winner of my Amelia Grey's Fireside Dream Giveaway. The winner was Beckie from Beckies book mix. Thanks again to everyone who entered. 
Received for review:
Netgalley
In the post:

Hope everyone has a good week. Happy Reading!

The Crow: Curare

                                                                           Amazon | Goodreads

An ARC was provided by the publisher in return for an honest review

Joe was always a good cop. When a little girl is raped and murdered he becomes obsessed with finding her killer. This young victim becomes his life and Joe begins to forget about the living. Mainly his wife and daughters. 

Years later, alone with his obsession the ghost of a young girl young girl accompanied by a crow appears. Joe has studied the evidence for years and years. He know the answer is there somewhere. Curare shows that often we need a fresh view on things before we really see what's going on. Sometimes the eye sdoesn't see what's right in front of them. In this case it's what's not there is the clue to cracking the case and releasing him from his personal demons.  

The illustrations are incredible. They are scrawled, random, full of tension and anger which reflect the emotions portrayed by Salk. My only critique is that it's a little short. I would have loved more characters and possibly a plot twist/turn.

However I'd recommend this to anyone looking for a good murder/mystery graphic novel. You won't be disappointed.

Rating: 

Feature & Follow Friday 11th Oct

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee's View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host has a blog that they feature each week!

This week:

Feature some of your favorite bloggers & have it be a surprise!

Below, in no particular order are some of my favorite bloggers:

Go give them some love!

Giveaway Announcement!

The winner of the paperback copy is:

Beckie from Beckie's Book mix

An email is on it's way to you. 

Congrats!

A huge thank you to everyone who entered. I really appreciate it!

Follow for more giveaway's coming soon. 

Missing Ellen by Natasha Mac a' Bhaird

                                                                 Amazon | Goodreads

A review copy was provided by O'Brien Press in return for an honest review.

"You will be back by then Ellen, wont you? I'm keeping this notebook safe for you because I want to believe you'll read it someday, and you'll know I never stopped hoping you'd come home"

I don't usually read YA novels. I weep sometimes when I walk past the section in the book shop. All paranormal activity and little substance. I am however, glad I read this little gem.

Missing Ellen is told through her best friend Maggie in the form of flashbacks and Diary entries. Her diary is her her own personal psychologist. A place to exorcise her thoughts, to get all her demons down on paper in an attempt to come to terms with missing Ellen.

As the Tag line suggests, Ellen was starting to disappear long beforehand. Ellen lives a troubled life at home. Her parents are divorced and her mother is falling to pieces. Ellen finds solace in her social life. Natasha does a fantastic job representing what we all go through as teenagers. We long to be treated as "grown ups" whether we think we are ready for what that entails or not. 

Ellen falls in with what could be described as the wrong crowd. She begins skipping school to spend time with her new (older) boyfriend and becomes dependent on alcohol in order to cope with her world collapsing around her. 

I have thought of many possibilities for an ending but I was wrong on each. It's bitterly sad but I would recommend this novel to any young girl. They could certainly connect with the characters. Adults will also enjoy (or cringe) at the memories this story will resurrect.

Rating: