I hope you all have a happy holiday season and a successful new year!

Book: Unlock The Mystery To Math

Genre: Nonfiction

Julia Rating: 10

Comments:

This book isn’t my usual. I’m normally a fiction girl, but when the author - RJ Toftness - asked me to review it, I couldn’t refuse. Why? Because I’m terrible at math. I haven’t liked math since I was a little kid, like 9 years old. Then later because I had a cute math teacher for a couple of months.

Anyway, this book was really awesome. It breaks math down to the basics, like the core definitions, parts, etc. I loved that it made everything so simple. I wish I had this in school!

I really understood how important the basics of any subject are when you are trying to learn. If you don’t know the basics, everything seems complicated and confusing. RJ Toftness does a good job of breaking things down.

So, if you have math trouble like me (some of you do - I know it), check out Unlock The Mystery To Math.

Book: Deadly Night

Genre: Murder Mystery/Fantasy

Julia Rating: 10

Julia Comments: I finally am getting around to reviewing Deadly Night by Heather Graham as I promised for horror month.  Deadly Night is the first in The Flynn Brother’s Trilogy and I, for one, enjoyed it.  The book contains murder, suspense, mystery and the supernatural.  It’s one of those books where you don’t know if there really is a supernatural element in it until the end. 

The book starts with the three Flynn brothers (who are private detectives) inheriting a large estate in New Orleans from a long lost relative (Amelia).  The eldest brother, Aidan, has pursued a run-away in the area and finds an old bone.  He and his brothers bring the police in to investigate and then head out to take a look at their inheritance.

The Flynns don’t know it, but a young local lady named Kendall Montgomery took care of Amelia until the old woman’s death is at the house, reliving some of it’s ancient secrets in a dead woman’s diary. 

In a happenstance meeting, the Flynns run into Kendall at their new plantation.  They find they have mutual friends and end up meeting quite a lot.  From the moment the Flynns meet Kendall on, there is no rest around the plantation.  Ghostly apparitions appear, people disappear, construction occurs and a freeloader living in one of the slave’s quarters is discovered.  Also, Aidan Flynn cannot shake off a deep attraction for Kendall - and she for him. 

When all is said and done, murders and a murderer is discovered, old ghosts are laid to rest and construction is completed.  But not without a cost.

As I said, I really enjoyed the book and recommend it.  If you want to, buy it at Amazon by following this link

Book: Locke and Key - Welcome to Lovecraft

Genre: Graphic Novel/Fantasy

Julia Rating: 10

Comments:  I have always liked comics - but the graphic novel is pretty new to me.  I am a fan of Joe Hill and I bought this novel because of the enjoyment of his previous books.

I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of the character development and the realism of the novel. It starts out introducing the characters, then progresses to a life-changing incident that causes the Locke family to move to Keyhouse in Lovecraft, Massachusetts. (A nod to the horror genius HP Lovecraft? I think so.) Anyway, Keyhouse has its own secrets, one upon which Bode, the youngest of the Locke family, stumbles.

Welcome to Lovecraft is the first of the Locke and Key series, and I can’t wait to read the next in the series.  I highly recommend this to anyone who likes fantasy and isn’t too disturbed by graphic violence (think Joe Hill’s Heart Shaped Box or Scott Sigler’s Infected).

All things must pass, however, and I’m getting my blogging routine in.  You can look forward to a new review this weekend and at least one review per week after this.  Thanks for sticking by me and following my blog!  Keep the comments coming and let me know if there’s anything you think I should be reviewing.

Book: The Graveyard Book

Genre: Supernatural/Horror/YA

Julia Rating: 10

Comments: Neil Gaiman’s newest book - The Graveyard Book - is considered to be for children, but I beg to differ.  The main character - who’s name is Nobody - grows up during the duration of the book, but I think that’s the only thing that makes it a YA book. 

Nobody Owens (so named because he is “nobody but himself”) has been raised in a graveyard by ghosts.  His parents are Mr. and Mrs. Owens and his guardian is a mysterious creature of the night named Silas.  When Silas has to travel, the werewolf Miss Lupescu takes care of Nobody. 

During his life he has many adventures of which most children wouldn’t even dream.  He run into goblins, watches ancient traditions reenacted and has a man hunting him for unknown reasons.  It’s an exciting, fun and adventurous book.  I hope Neil Gaiman makes more of a series out of it, but I kind of doubt he will.  I know I want to read more about Nobody!

So far, we’ve been through some great books, some awesome and groundbreaking authors. I wanted to take a breather to say happy Halloween and thank you for following me on my journey through a horrific October.

Now, as a word of apology, I couldn’t read the last two books on my list in time. The first one was World War Z by Max Brooks. I mentioned in my Horror Month postthat I am deathly afraid of zombies. I tried reading this book - I really did - but the first night I read it I had about 3 hours of sleep due to all the zombie nightmares. So, I put it down in favor of a good night sleep. My boyfriend has taken it up (after all the books I recommend, he takes up the one I can’t even read. Men.) and says it’s really good.

The second book is Deadly Night by Heather Graham. I’m in the middle of reading it, but I just won’t be able to finish it in time.

Since I’ve been bad and read a book I found much more exciting and desirable early on in the month, my Halloween book review will be the Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. Look forward to it in my next post!

Book: Strange Candy

Genre: Horror/Fantasy/Sci Fi

Julia Rating: 10

Comments: I really bit off more than I could chew here.  When choosing books, I thought, “Hey, it’s a book of short stories - let’s shake things up”.  I had never read Laurell Hamilton before and I didn’t know what a fantastic writer she was. 

Strange Candyreally is, well, strange.  But it really contains candy for the imagination.  I truly loved this book.  There are Anita Blake shorts, a story set in Anita’s world, two stories of Sidra Ironfist, along with a horrific sci fi story and several other gems. 

From this book I’ll be checking out the Anita Blake series.  I’m really excited.

Book: Duma Key

Genre: Horror

Julia Rating: 10

Comments: As you can tell, I am a Stephen King fan.  I believe that Duma Key is the most recent King novel and I loved it.  It was a slow starter, but I think it was worth it.  There is tons of foreshadowing in this one, it was incredibly suspenseful… making you wonder who was going to die and when through the majority of the book.  

There were factors of Carrie in this one - not just that it’s about a telepathic-type story.  Throughout Carrie there are newspaper articles, but throughout this book there are emails interspersed.

The story is about a man named Edgar Freemantle - a construction executive/millionaire - who suffers a traumatic brain injury when his truck is crushed by a defunct tractor.  He becomes estranged from his wife and, under direction from his psychologist, moves to Duma Key in Florida.  There he discovers a painting ability he never knew he had.  As the ability grows, things start happening - both on the Key and off that make Edgar believe he can paint things into existance. 

Little does he know - there is a force on the Key that becomes more powerful the more he develops his ability… and that’s all I’m going to tell you. 

If you want to read Duma Key, buy it off my website - It’ll send you directly to Amazon, but I will get a little commission off of your purchase.