XOX

Read some good books for these 5 stars. And only one awful one. 

    Darkly Dreaming Dexter - Jeff Lindsay 

Dexter is good serial killer. He only killed bad guys. Like the humors of the story telling. The relationship between Dexter and his recognition of him having psychopathic wants is really interesting. If psychopaths are born, but become more self-aware, they would potentially do less harm to the society at large.

Dexter is suffering from nightmare for this one. And there are killings and he began to question if he had killed, like sleepwalking without remembering when he was awake. 

Good storytelling. 

   The Wolves of Midwinter - Anne Rice  

I read The Wolves of Midwinter for Werewolves square. It was not so good for the first one and I should have known better. 

Well, it is about Reuben adjusting to his life as a werewolf. Not much is happening besides partying. He was haunted by a ghost, but it wasn't scary at all. Just disturbed by the reason why she is not moving on to the next level. So he called for help from the faeries. The faeries are not that interesting either. Also, he got his ex-girlfriend pregnant and paying her to continue the pregnancy. For some reason, he think he couldn't have a child with his current girlfriend. The current girlfriend has very little character besides being in love with him. So much so that she requested help to turn herself into a werewolf so that could be a pair. Not much is happening and it is boring.  

   The Nowhere Man: An Orphan X Novel (Evan Smoak) - Gregg Hurwitz  

Evan was a person trained to be an assassin since childhood by secret government agency.

He now uses his skill to help those who are helpless. 

Someone doing human trafficking kidnapped him, and tried to get money from him. He tried to find a way out, in time to help another one who was in transit.The fight scenes are pretty awesome. I read like a movie or a pretty good TV series. 

Enjoy this a lot. 

    Demon Road - Derek Landy  

Amber is 17 and she overheard her parents talking to their friends on how they would eat her. 

Eat her? Amber has really bad parents. It turned out their parents are demons and Amber is demon by birth. So by eating Amber, they would gain strength and power.

So what a teenager going to do? She run. She found a sympathetic auntie who helped her by asking another person to help her run. This person turned out to have supernatural property too. 

The run of the book is kind of a supernatural road trip that reminds me of Supernatural the TV series. 

The storytelling part is good. It is the beginning of a trilogy. 

   The Fireman: A Novel - Joe Hill  

A mysterious disease is turning humans into human torch. People burned to dead and as they have not found out how the disease was being spread, they are afraid of getting this disease. 

Harper is a nurse who worked in the hospital serving those who are infected. She got the disease herself and now being hunted by her husband. 

Worst, she is pregnant and is hoping the child would not get this disease. 

Now there is fireman, and this fireman could control fire. It is a long book. As the story progress, the reader found out more about how this disease work, and how fear turned people who were not infected into mob. 

Really good read. Joe Hill is a really good storyteller. 

So, for these 5 squares, 4 good books and one not so good one. Not bad. 

The bingo call for 21 Oct is Demons 

As I have already read book for this square. 3rd bingo! 

Update card. Middle row down bingo. 

Maya's husband was killed.

Who killed Joe, her husband? Who killed her sister? 

The whole book is about finding out the killer of her sister. Then more dead revealed. 

The setup is pretty good as there isn't much loop holes. 

The good friends are trying to help Maya as she seems to be losing her mind.

Maya is very determined. 

The ending is a sad and surprising. 

The relationship between Joe and Maya is the most mysterious. That's the key elements to this story. And good storytelling is like this, making you think of how relationship works. Characters should have dimensions, and this writer delivered. 

New bingo call on 19 Oct 

Already read a book for this square.

Update card.

New Bingo call for 17 Oct

I don't have this one.

Just read rhis   Forever Odd - Dean Koontz  for 

Update card. 

The story is still good, but not as together as the first one.

Odd Thomas got a visit from a ghost and found one dead body and one missing friend. His friend David was missing and he thought he was kidnapped by his father.

Odd run around following only his intuition. The running around bit is a bit strange as he didn't know where he was going. 

Turned out David is kidnapped by someone else. Someone Odd didn't know about.

The story is good, but the clue is not enough to keep it together with that much run around. 

Half way through and he is already in danger. 

Reading this for  as it is set in America, and it is a horror story, not because of the ghosts. 

The kidnapper is just so much into conspiracy theory and supernatural stuff.

Odd see ghosts not because he wants to, but he is burn into it. 

New bingo call for 15 Oct is

Another square marked for called and read. 

Update card.

2nd bingo is in the middle row. This is Why I chose these books. 

    Goodnight Nobody - Jennifer Weiner  

I hate this book. Really hate it.  1/2 star

It is about a stupid married woman with 3 children. Instead of enjoying life or finding more meaning without cheating. This woman whined about being married and had 3 children. The writer created this obnoxious character and thought any reader would care what happen to her. No. I don't care. Also, this is no detective. This is a stupid woman that hidden evidence from a crime scene when she found a body, a person she knew was murdered. The rest of the book is just as stupid when she tried and failed to investigate the murder with her ex-bf.

Stupid stupid stupid. 

It is so stupid that it needs to be repeated at least 3 times. 

    Odd Thomas - Dean Koontz  

This is the first book of the Odd Thomas series. 4.5 stars

I like Odd Thomas. The book is written in first person, like a story told by Odd.

Odd Thomas is 20 and a fried cook who could see ghost. Instead of being freaked out, he helped the ghosts to finish whatever business that was keeping them here.

And Stormy is his true love. 

The story is about Odd seeing something evil. And these evils appeared when there were mass killing. 

So Odd tried to solve the mystery and save everyone.

Great story. It would only make you want to read more. 

I watched the movie first as I have never heard of this series before watching the film. I missed Anton. 

    The Nowhere Man: An Orphan X Novel (Evan Smoak) - Gregg Hurwitz 

Enjoyable read. 4.5 stars

Nowhere Man is the 2nd book of the series. Evon Smoak was a trained assassin by a secret government run agency since he was a child. Now, he run out of the company only to be captured for ransom. 

So how did he get out when he is out numbered and out gun. He didn't lost hope and he tried to get out, because there are other people depending on his survival. He needs to get out and save another person who has called his number. A number he left for whoever needs his help. And the only reward he wants is for that person to pass on the number to the next person who needs him.

Good logic in generating business when one is still on the run. I like this series and the writer is pretty good. 

   The Last Dragonslayer - Jasper Fforde  

I read The Last Dragon Slayer for the Magical Realism square. 4.5 stars. 

This is a YA book. Jennifer Strange is a 15 year old who girl who managed a business offering services to people like clean houses and delivery pizza. The only special thing about this service agency is that all the workers use magic to finish their tasks. 

Then she knew of a prophecy that a dragon is about to die. 

This is the last dragon. And when it dies, people would move in and claim the land. 

It is a story about self interest. And how one could get out of a jam. 

Really fun read. 

   The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains - Eddie Campbell,Neil Gaiman  

I like Neil Gaiman and this book looks good. 4 stars

It is okay but not his most imaginative work.

It is about a short man walking and trying to find a cave.

And the cave is full of riches. 

What the man real intention would only show later. 

Then the story turn even darker. 

It is okay. Although it is illustrated, it is still an very adult book, 

11 Oct Bingo call is 

That mean 2nd bingo. 

Also update with Supernatural square read. 

  Grave Peril - Jim Butcher  

Update card.

Middle row: 2nd bingo. 

New bingo call on 9 Oct. 

I read for this square already.

   Demon Road - Derek Landy  

Update card.

So even seemingly thinking person could get it wrong.

Germaine Greer was wrong about Princess Diana, and she is wrong about transgender women. 

She has become irrelevant and by attacking normal person, she made it to the newspaper.

Big.Fucking. Deal.

I would not read any of her books any more as I could not stomach the hate in her for people she didn't know. 

Reading this for Supernatural square for Halloween bingo.

Dresden is in trouble fighting ghosts. It is not really his area of expertise. 

He has a partner Michael who is a pest also pushing his Christian religion to Dresden. I hope he got killed in the end as I really dislike this character. 

And he got an invitation to go to the vampire ball. Not a good thing as they are trying to kill him.

Butcher added a lot of details into the background to give the story environment some context and texture. Also, he tried to use humor in his storytelling. I don't know why this series is not more popular.

This is going pretty fast. Who is the behind stirring up ghosts for harm?

The elements come together, and there are a lot of fighting with magic and characters having their own agenda.

Good one. Solid 4.5 stars. 

The story is about a group of teenage aliens who have power, their home planet were destroyed by another group of aliens. 

The writing is not bad, it is not good either. 

The story is not cohesive enough. There are some good exciting bits but then it jumped from different perceptive that make it less interesting. 

In the end, it is just using of power to fight the bad guys. Not much of working together or getting more depth into why they are doing this. 

The introduction of the writer himself as one of the character is a bit weird. 

Anyway, it is good enough story to be a 3.5 stars. 

Reading this for Aliens square. 

New Bingo call on 7 Oct

I don't have this square.

Just finished The Fate of Ten by Pittacus Lore for Aliens square.

Update card. 

Ada Goth is living in a mansion and member of the Attic Club.

There is going to be a dog show in her house.

Then there is a mysterious sound at night that she needs to investigate.

In the middle are funny details of many different characters named after real writers. 

Kind of fun. Probably is for children who could laugh at things like that. 

Still a good read. And the illustration is great. 

Reading this for Gothic square. 

Finished reading Goth Girl and the Wuthering Fright for Gothic Square.

New Bingo call on 5 Oct is for 80's Horror. 

Update card.