Husk by J. Kent Messum

4 Stars

“There is a vast difference between those that seek to live forever, and those who are simply too scared to die.” 

In the future death isn’t necessarily the end. Well, at least it isn’t for the top one percent of the one percenters . . . . 



For those with champagne wishes and caviar dreams, there is a form of life after death . . . . 



Which leads us to the introduction of our leading man, Rhodes . . . . 



Rhodes is a “husk” – a member of the Version 2.0 model of the world’s oldest profession. Rhodes offers his body up for 24, 48 or 72 hour periods in a new and improved type of Matrix. During the rental, Rhodes is placed in limbo of sorts while his clients use his body for not only sex, but also nearly whatever else they may have in mind . . . .



The only rule? Don’t bruise the merchandise.

In a world where meat is created in a lab, mass amounts of people are engaged in “Occupy Central Park,” and it’s nearly impossible to get your hands on coveted pop culture items . . . . 



Rhodes is living the good life. That is, until he starts noticing a strange clicking sound and begins experiencing horrifying flashes of things that may have happened while he was husking.

If asked my opinion of Sci-Fi thrillers, I would have to say they don’t rank real high on my list of “must reads.” Probably a pretty good thing I never bother reading a synopsis, huh? Nope, Huskwas added to my TBR because I fell hard for Mr. Messum after experiencing a delicious lil’ sumthin’ sumthin’ called Bait one Shark Week. While thrilled I had discovered a new author for me, I was bummed to discover he was a new author in general. When I heard Messum had another book coming out, I was on that sucker like track marks on a husk. I’m thrilled to say I was not disappointed. Talk about a real page turner. And that ending?????



Since I’m bound to be labeled a shill for the author due to the freebie status referred to below, here’s the one thing that irked me about this book. It took place in NYC and there was no reference to any of the characters being anything but ‘Murican. However, “Queen’s English” was used (i.e., kerb instead of curb, neighbhourhood, favour, etc.). A minor complaint, but one that did occasionally get my tiny pea-brain sidetracked about whether I had missed reference to the MC being from across the pond (that’s from Canada, in Ron 2.0 speak).

Endless thanks to the author for providing a copy of this book.

ORIGINAL “REVIEW”:

First, this happened . . . 



Then THIS happened . . . 



And now something kinda like this is happening . . . .

Where All Light Tends To Go by David Joy

4 Stars

 

"Blood's thicker than water, and I was drowning in it."

Jacob McNeely has been raised in the mountains of North Carolina by his father - a real uhhhhhhh self-made man . . . .



His momma is still around . . . kinda . . .



Unfortunately, she didn't take the advice of Fat Amy so the majority of her life has been spent scratching at imaginary bugs and other important things like looking for a lightbulb.

Jacob came to terms at an early age that there would be little to no chance of getting out and has always done what his daddy told him - even when those things were of the sort that would nag at his conscience for eternity . . . .



When one of his "chores" goes South, Jacob must decide whether he's all in for life or to take a risk on a life with the girl he's always loved . . . .



If given more time to mull it over, this might end up as a 3.5 or even 3 Star book for me. That's why I'm not giving myself more time to think it over. I started reading Where All Light Tends To Go with my morning coffee . . . and never put it down. At 260 pages with prose that really sucked me right in, it wasn't hard to finish this in one sitting.

That's not to say the story was perfect. Daddy ran an empire, but we were never really given any details about the operation. Jacob was assigned to supervise some serious tasks, but was pretty much incompetent with zero common sense. Various scenes were totally far-fetched and the last 25 pages or so kinda shit the bed for me and didn't give me the kind of adrenaline rush of an ending I had been planning on all along . . .



Buuuuuuuut, the book was un-put-down-able and it had a great freaking soundtrack . . . .



For a debut, this was solid and I will definitely pick up whatever Joy comes up with next. Hick Lit is quickly becoming a genre of choice.

Hear that, NetGalley? You shouldn't have denied me this one.

Thanks to the library for having my back . . .

The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin

4 Stars

 

WARNING: SPOILER-ISH


^^^That’s a boldface lie. I read this book months ago, but I suck at keeping up with reviews so I’m just now getting around to saying something about it. First things first – this is a MIDDLE GRADE novel. (In case you’re wondering – I rate books according to how I feel they hold up when compared with others in their genre.) That being said, this is a very important middle grade story and y’all can just color me impressed.



At surface level The Thing About Jellyfish is the story of Suzy – a young girl who is informed that her best friend died in a drowning accident. Convinced that could not be the case because said friend was a good swimmer, Suzy believes the “drowning” must have really been an altercation with a jellyfish and becomes determined to meet the world’s foremost experts on the creatures in order to prove it . . .



This story was so much deeper than that, though. It was an amazing journey through the grief process – not only through the death of Suzy’s friend, but also when the story cut through the first layer to talk about the changes that happen as children morph from elementary schoolers to pre-teens and middle graders. It tackled the issue of finding yourself “on the outs” with your former bestie, of finding yourself in general, and was chock-full of sage advice . . . in disguise:

“Having venom doesn’t make a creature bad. Venom is protection. The more fragile the animal, the more venom it needs. So the more venom a creature has, the more we should be able to forgive that animal. They’re the ones who need it most.”



Highly recommended to youngsters (and their oldster counteparts).

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you, NetGalley!

Thief by Tarryn Fisher

1 Star

 

Good news is, I finished the series. Bad news is, I could totally give this 1 Star and not feel bad about it. However, since Ms. Fisher slipped me a literary roofie that made me feel compelled to read all three of these damn books she gets a bonus star. You know, what? Screw it. 1 Star. This was a waste . . .



I really didn’t enjoy any of these books except for The Opportunist. Rehashing the same story from a different character’s point of view gets tiring, and reading the same story a THIRD time? Someone stick a fork in my eyeballs for me.

So, what did I learn upon finishing Thief? Well, I confirmed there ain’t nothing as angsty as New Adult. I feel the only fitting way to explain the e – m – o – t – i – o – n in this final story is via musical giffery. The only way to describe Caleb and Olivia’s on again/off again love is . . .



I mean these two were seriously crazy in love . . .



But NOTHING ever happened except stuff that pissed me off. I mean we’re not even talking about . . .



How’d that Bieber cover get in here? Erica must’ve hacked my ‘puter. Let me get that terrifying image out of your mind and replace it with the sexy original . . . .



Mmmmmm, that Usher. He sure has a good set of . . . . lungs on him, doesn’t he?

Now where was I? Oh yeah, the nothing happening. These two didn’t even bother making hang-up calls on each other. Instead, they drug their non-talking and miscommunicating on for TEN MOTHERF-ING YEARS, Caleb maybe fathered a baby (but made sure he did the right thing by completely abandoning it for years before a paternity test *eyeroll*), Olivia did the right thing by defending serial rapists and being “faithful” to her husband (*eyeroll*), I felt like I read 1,500 pages only to find out it was really less than 300, and in the end I was left with only one song I wanted to sing . . .

 

Daughters Unto Devils by Amy Lukavics

3.5 Stars

“I’m starting to believe that hell is everywhere.”

This was a bit of a pleasant surprise.

Amanda Verner’s family has always lived in mountain territory, but after a rough winter the previous year and the farmers all warning to prepare for an even worse one her father decides the family should relocate to the prairie. It is rumored that woods surround the area which will provide work for Pa in the form of furniture making and there supposed to be plenty of abandoned cabins of former settlers who have moved on. While Amanda is not thrilled with the idea of moving, her dreams of running away with the boy of her dreams didn’t pan out as planned and she’s been left with a little souvenier to take with her . . . .



The family is thrilled to find out everything they have heard is true, and after passing up one cabin that was way too small, discover a huge place to create their homestead. However, upon entering their new abode the Verners are struck with a horrible smell and the realization that something happened . . .



But Pa is still all like . . .



And swears he can get the place back in tip-top shape in no time. He also is positive the uhhhhhhh mess left by the previous inhabitants must have been due to them butchering an ox inside the joint. Because yeah, that sounds totally legit.

Anyway, then some stuff and things happens . . . .



and Amanda learns a real tough lesson about . . . .



Daughters Unto Devils gets a bit of a bump in the rating department from me for daring to take risks. The “horror” niche in YA has gone from nearly nonexistent to laughable in its absurdity. This was pretty creepy and it definitely kept me turning pages. I can only imagine how this could make youngsters poop their drawers.

The only thing keeping my half star rounded down rather than up was all the talk of how Amanda had “prayed for this, oh my God, I prayed . . . .” to the point where I was making notes like “STFU YOU BROKEN RECORD!!!!” and wanted to . . . .



Other than that, though, this was a pretty decent read and definitely a quick one. Just watch out the next time you hear some fiddlin’ . . . .

Blue Hill Blood by Elizabeth Gray

3 Stars

This book has a 4.59 rating (by people who have actually read the book rather than fangirls just “soooooooo excited for release date and ermagherd squee squee squee”). Know what that means????



Ha! I kill me. In all seriousness, 3 Stars is a good rating for me and I definitely wouldn’t want to discourage anyone from reading this book.

So, about the book - Blue Hill Bloodis the story of Henry, a man who experienced some serious fuckupedry as a child. In an effort to keep things spoiler free, I’ll just leave it with we’re talking . . . .



Despite the odds being forever not in young Henry’s favor, he managed to become a successful author as an adult, writing a series with a loveable little MC . . . .



Unfortunately, Henry often suffers from writer’s block and finds the only cure is escaping to a tiny little hamlet which will become provide inspiration behind the characters in his books. That is how he comes to Blue Hill. While there, Henry meets someone who seems very familiar . . .



and art begins to imitate life . . .



Sounds good, right? It was. This was a case of me being the problem. Here’s the deal: #1 - I knew what was happening. Now, there was a little sumthin’ sumthin’ near the end that I didn’t see coming, but for the most part I was right on track with where things were going. THE FOLLOWING IS AN ACTUAL SPOILER SO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK: (view spoiler)[Stephen King kinda sorta already did this (better) in The Dark Half (hide spoiler)], #2 – I never could make myself be “Team Henry.” Buuuuuuut, I didn’t actively dislike him either, and that is never a good thing for me, and #3 that cover - it looks like a really baaaaaad porno that I would have zero interest in reading (I know that's a shallow comment, but I am what I am and that's all that I am).

This was still quite the page-turner, though, and although I’m not positive of the exact page count, it was short so there was little to no lag time. If you like stuff that is dark and grimy, Blue Hill Blood should most definitely be added to your TBR. And to Elizabeth Gray, why don’t you get to writing Candace’s story? Thanks in advance.

Okay, now for a glimpse into the workings of Kelly and Mitchell’s bizarro brains. I think I’ve been spending too much time with Ron 2.0 because I keep getting songs stuck in my head whilst reading. Neverending loop for Blue Hill Blood?????

Hold My Hand by New Found Glory . . .


(which turns out was quite the giggle-snort inducing song of choice once my brain conjured it up with oh sooooooo very fitting lyrics.)

Endless thanks to my Twisted Little Book Fairy for the booky hookup.

Noggin by John Corey Whaley

2.5 Stars

I would say I “didn’t get” this story, but seriously . . .



The idea of Noggin was great . . .

“Everything can go from fine and dandy to dark and depressing faster than you can say ‘acute lymphoblastic leukemia.’”

When Travis Coates was diagnosed with terminal cancer as a 16-year old boy, he was offered a potential second chance . . . .



Travis chose to roll the dice and have his head cryogenically frozen. What he didn’t plan on was the technology moving so fast and him “waking up” a mere five years later. Here’s where the problems started for me. Like I said, the idea was totally original. Unfortunately, the execution left much to be desired. Travis returns to his former life expecting everything to pretty much have remained status quo. And there were some life lessons and quotable quotes included in the story . . .

“We go along with impossible things because we have to survive when life starts getting too dark.”

The majority of the time, though? There was an awful lot of me wanting to kick Travis in the nads. Being a person who is raising a teenager, I understand that Travis was probably waaaaaay more realistic than the average YA character. Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut, in this case I needed him to not be. To begin with, Travis re-friends his former (gay) bestie, only to find out that said bestie now bats for the hetero team. I’m not even going to get into the argument about sexuality being something that can be measured on a gradient rather than set in stone, but focus on the fact that JUST ACCEPT YOUR F-ING FRIEND FOR WHO HE IS! I mean, here’s a 20-something who has a dead 16 year old thrown back in his life and is just supposed to be cool with that. Does it really matter if your gay friend is no longer gay?????



Which leads us to Travis’ other obsession – his old girlfriend. Said old girlfriend has also aged 5 years, and although she said she’d wait forever no one really believed Travis would come back from the dead so she moved on and is now engaged to someone else. That’s not okay with Travis, though, and he makes it his mission to plant himself in her path as much as possible because he’s positive she’ll see she’s made a mistake . . . .



She’s just not that into you, Travis. And also? You’re a minor and she probably doesn’t want to be sitting across the table from Chris Hansen anytime soon.

This story had tons of potential, and the fact that it was a National Book Award finalist had me believing it was really going to be something special. Sadly I found it to be the same tired out tropes I’ve read in YA fiction a bazillion times before.

HOWEVER my friend TL had a completely opposite reaction to this book, so maybe you’ll love it too?