Sunday 30 November 2014

Escape from Witchwood Hollow by Jordan Elizabeth.

For the first time in a long time I am truly glad to have finished a book and never have to read it again.

Sometimes books are bad due poor character growth, slow story telling and errors which could have easily been avoided by doing something called RESEARCH.

This book and it's author clearly failed to do their fact checking.

The book began slow, and i grew annoyed with the time jumping between chapters in the beginning.

Having finished the book I understand why there was time jumping as it's relevant to the story of the 3 main characters, however it could have been done much better. Don't get me wrong, i do love a good story with time traveling but when a story goes from one character set in 2001 to another character set in the 1600s, it does get tedious.

I think the main character of the story was called Honoria, or something along those lines, her parents were killed in the terror attacks of 11/09/2001 in New York City. She and her brother move in with their aunt and uncle and move out of the city to start a place called Arnn.

Naturally this kid is depressed, her whole world has been turned upside down after losing her mum and dad in such a horrific way. Having lost my own father I get the longing to do anything to be reunited. There is potential to make her suffering and frame of mind at that time, something more. A story for young adults should try and take the opportunity to help raise awareness of things like depression and grief. Yet this just seems brushed over.

Witchwood Hollow is a forest that, according to local legend, is haunted by a witch from the 1600s. Th "witch" is a British immigrant who runs off into the forest after being hunted by her kinsmen
for a crime she didn't commit. Yes she was magical, so she put a curse on the forest. But why? Because she was a lonely misunderstand young woman, she longed for a true family, again more could be done with her story.

As the story jumped and bumped its way with progression, you learn of some of the people who became trapped in the woods. But you don't learn much.

What annoyed me most about the book was not the lackluster storyline, the predictable ending or lack of character development/story, no it was the failure to check the facts!

Here's the two that really made me angry:

1. At the start of chapter 14, it says something along the lines of Honoria was listening to Green Day singing about a boulevard of broken dreams. This chapter was set in 2001. Boulevard of Broken Dreams wasn't even released until 2004! Hell it wasn't even recorded until November 2003! Whilst I get the fact that Honaria was going through a difficult time and the American Idiot album
would have been a perfect soundtrack to her life, it still wasn't released therefore Honoria would not have been listening to it. The author could have chosen from either the Nimrod (1997) or Warning (2000) albums by Green Day.

2. Towards the very end of the book, one of the characters gets stuck in a well for a while and then has Pneumonia. Seriously that has to be the biggest old wives tale I've ever heard. Hello, Pneumonia is caused by infection. Not by being cold and wet.

You can not catch Pneumonia, the flu or a cold by just being cold and wet! And what the hell is the deal with the masks people were wearing when the kid came out of hospital? When I had Pneumonia I was held hostage in hospital for a week, on a ward with 5 old ladies, there were visitors coming in and out of our ward, not one of them or the doctors or nurses wore masks, also when I was freed and sent home no-one wore a mask. Even after being home for 4 months I was still as weak as a kitten that going out was too exhausting.


Oh now I'm all mad again. It's not difficult to check information if you add it in your story. Google is your friend. Unless you want to know if Toads sneeze, then it doesn't know the answer.

Overall I give this book 1 out of 5. Just don't bother.

So in the words of Green Day "Good Riddance."

The next book I will be reviewing is the Maze Runner series, starting with The Maze Runner by James Dashner as requested by Jessica. Remember you can email me at  truthaboutthebook@gmail.com with any requests, recommendations, etc.

Wednesday 19 November 2014

Reflections of the Legend: Passions of a New Day by E.A Schneider


I must confess that when I received my copy of this book in the post,  I squealed, a full on girly squeal of sheer joy. This was my kind of book, love, tragedy,  Arthurian legend,  all in one book. The story is actually split over four books. 

I have to give major props to the author, E.A. Schneider for not only writing this story but for not using a publishing house. Yes that's right, this book's road to publication began with a crowd funding campaign to help cover the costs of a professional edit and then on to amazon for print on demand publishing.  Relying solely on social media to get the message out there. I admire the dedication, patients and strength of the author.

Now onto the book review.

Anyone who knows anything of Arthurian legend or who has watched the BBC series Merlin, or any films on King Arthur and his band of merry men.... wait they're knights not merry men but they may as well be, will know of the love triangle between King Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot. 

Well this book certainly has that.

The book begins in 1976 with the introduction of young Genny Cameliard and her parents going to a Christmas party. Fast forward a year to a bit of tragedy and a little more explaining of the adults and their search to prove Camelot was real. 

Then its 1994 and Genny is all grown up. Genny is on a night out with her best friend Susan and some other friends where she meets Lance and his friends Art, Wayne and Perry. 

Genny is a teacher and Lance, Art, Wayne and Perry are in the Navy.
During the book, we, along with Genny and the others, learn more about their parents research and the legend of Camelot. There is some time travel but not too much to spoil the book. 

I have to admit I couldn't help but laugh at the meeting between Genny and the guys. As much as I felt sorry for her, I just couldn't help but laugh.  Love starts to blossom for Genny with Lance.  

Could Lady Guinevere finally be with Sir Lancelot? Would my hopes for this perfect matching happening? Had the stars been rewritten to bring me my biggest longing since learning of the legend? 

I was glued to my seat as i read, devouring chapter after chapter and then .... Tragedy. Fate intervened and pulled the rug out from under my feet as Genny and Lance fell apart and she fell into Art.  I may have chucked my book at the wall in protest. I certainly called the author a few names and cursed a plague of fire ants to crawl into her underwear for a week.

After my tantrum I picked up my book again and continued to read, and as I did, I soon found myself not hating the development of Genny and Art. The years passed by and soon we were transported to 2005. 

Just when you think all is going to be wonderful and happy ever after, something happens, we don't know what and the book ends with a cliff hanging knock on Genny's door. 

I turned the page expecting to read what my mind was screaming "No! Don't let it be!" only to find the page blank. I turned back to the final page, to the last line, to the knock on the door,  I turned the page again but still it was blank! I had reached the end of the bloody book and my mind screamed in frustration! 

I immedately took to facebook to demand to know who was at the door, what had happened, was Art okay? All these questions are apparently answered in book 2.  I strongly recommend this book to anyone who loved a bit of romance, tragedy, Arthurian Legend and ehm, sex. Yes that's right there is some, well written sex scenes in the book.

As i said at the beginning of this review, the author isn't being published via a Publishing House, like book one, the second book will be published with the help of crowd funding. So i suggest you not only buy this book but also check out the crowd funding page for book 2. 

This book is available on Amazon in paperback format and as Kindle, as well as itunes.


And don't forget to check out the crowd funding campaign for book 2:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/reflections-of-the-legend-embracing-destiny

Links to the book on Amazon:
UK buyers: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Reflections-Legend-Passion-New-Day/dp/149044582X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1416411584&sr=8-1&keywords=reflections+of+the+legend

USA buyers: http://www.amazon.com/Reflections-Of-The-Legend-Passion/dp/149044582X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1411296878&sr=8-1&keywords=reflections+of+the+legend

Link for iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/reflections-of-the-legend/id921245604?mt=11


The next book I'll be reviewing is Escape from Witchwood Hollow by 

Friday 31 October 2014

UPDATE!

Okay, so my plan was to have at least read It Must Have Been The Mistletoe by now, however due to an unforeseeable accident with my eReader (it may have took a fall into what was surely going to be a nice bath) I've been unable to read as planned.

However while the blasted thing is away for repair (it's a shame I couldn't simply dry it out on a heater like the good old days with an actual book) I've been forced to rethink my reading list.

Thankfully I received a spectacular surprise in the mail from a wonderful friend, it was a copy of Reflections of the Legend: Passions of a New Day, by E.A. Schneider. So, with a reshuffle of my schedule I am now reading this book.

I hope to have my trusty tablet back by the time I finish this book, however if not, I do have 2 books stored on a memory card which i believe, with a little help from Calibre, I can read using my laptop.

So, watch this space for the review of Reflections of the Legend: Passions of a New Day ..... Yeah I'm so going to shorten the title to Reflections for the sake of my review.

Until then, I hope you have a frightfully awesome Halloween.

Saturday 20 September 2014

Catch Me When I Fall by Vicki Leigh

Choosing which book to read and review is often hard, it can be hit and miss whether the book catches you imagination and pulls you into its world.

Catch Me When I Fall had me hooked from the first paragraph.

My first impressions of the main character, Daniel, was that I felt sorry for him being trapped in his roll as a Dreamcatcher/Protector of the Night (which will be referred to as PoN from now on).  Being a PoN means basically spending every day in battle, protecting unwitting humans from Nightmares (Demons). A PoN can be killed, a second and final death for them. If this happens they cease to exist. No heaven awaits them as reward for all they've done. 

To me this seemed harsh, my first thought was had Daniel done something truly awful in his human life to be sentenced to serve as PoN? The answer it seems, is no. To be a PoN is to die protecting someone else. It is an offer, one which can be refused. Daniel's choice for becoming a PoN was simply for his family, he was young when he died and he did not want to completely leave them.

The character of Daniel reminds me a lot of Jace Wayland from the Mortal Instruments series. Actually a few references in this book remind me of others book series' for example;

There are Witches and Warlocks in this book also known as Magus, their creation (a demon and a human procreate and the child is born a Witch or Warlock) reminds me a lot of the Dhampirs (a Moroi and a Human procreate and the child is born a Dhampir) from the Vampire Academy series as well as Warlocks (Demon and Human procreate and the child is born a Warlock) from the Mortal Instruments series.

Anyway back to Daniel, he's been a PoN for over 200 years and is one of the best Dreamcatchers currently in service. In his human life he was the son of an Earl and at the tender age of 17 he joined the army and went off to war in 1812, where he died.

I won't go into too much detail here as I don't want spoilers, but the gist is, he gets a charge named Kayla and in typical style of these kinds of books he starts to fall for her. There is a Big Bad which is after Kayla and Daniel does all he can to protect her whilst trying to defeat the Big Bad.

There are a few other characters or sidekicks as I like to refer to them, that are essential to the story.  We have Giovanni who is the kind of boss to the PoN, my impression of him is dislike and distrust. Personally I felt after first meeting him, if a Nightmare decided to go on a suicide mission it could start by killing Giovanni.

Then there's Bartholomew, he's Giovanni's boss and is as old as time itself it would seem, he appears to be a wise old guy, kind and likes a good budding romance. I really like this character a lot.

Of course no story is complete without the best friend, the little sister/brother and an ex. Well we get those in the form of Seth (funny guy, likes a good prank and a good knees up.), Tabbi (sweet little sister kind of girl, great banter between her and Daniel really does remind me of a sibling relationship.) and Samantha (Daniel's trainee who he had a one night stand with and then told her it was a mistake - ouch).

I absolutely adored this book, the setting and events were very descriptive and the character progression is great. The flow of the storyline is well written and I can't pick a fault at all with this book. To be truly honest, I can't wait for more.

It's clear that author Vicki Leigh has a blossoming career ahead of her and I for one will be right there buying her books as they're released.

So, make sure you add the date for this book release to your calender and get it hot off the shelf, you certainly won't be disappointed.
release date: 23rd October 2014

The next book I'll be reviewing is...........

It Must Have Been The Mistletoe by Judy Astley
Release Date: 25th September 2014

Doctor Who: The Crawling Terror (12th Doctor novel)

Well, it took over a week to read this book, at just under 200 pages I'm angry with myself for taking so long.

The reason I think it took so long is simply because of the layout of the story on my reader.  It was extremely difficult to follow the story and characters, as one sentence would be set at a different location with different characters and then the next sentence would be a different location and characters talking that I grew confused.

But i persevered and finished the book with a sigh of relief.

If you are squeamish about bugs and insects please note, DO NOT READ THIS BOOK BEFORE BED! Seriously creepy nightmares of giant spiders crawling all over me, urgh.

So, the story itself.

The story in itself is quiet good, not up to the TV show standards but still a good little read.There's plenty of "typical doctor" moments. You can sometimes imagine that this is an 11th Doctor story and not a 12th Doctor one. The setting is very descriptive so you can picture the scenes well as you read. Clara's character is very true to the character in the show, which is something I liked.

There was a Harry Potter reference which I loved.

There was a few errors I found whilst reading. Here we go, please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Chapter One:

 "To Kevin's horror he realised that there was nothing left of the flesh of the animal."

yet the next sentence says:

"All that was left was skin and bone."

How is that possible? If there's no flesh on the animal how can there be skin left? Isn't flesh skin? 

Another error is words out of order.
"...on you as you as soon as you..."

Another thing I found hard to believe was that there's a point in the story that is set during the second world war, everyone knows about the blackouts, yet one character in the story in that scene didn't. I find it extremely hard to believe that someone would think during those circumstances. 


My favourite character in the whole story is young Private Sanford.

Overall the story is good, the epilogue is a nice touch. However the layout for me on my reader made this not so enjoyable to read, so I recommend if you are a big Doctor Who fan and like the books, make sure you actually buy the book and not download it onto a reader. 

I give this novel 3 out of 5 stars. There is room for improvements.

The next book I will be reading and reviewing is.........

Catch Me When I Fall by Vicki Leigh
release date: 23rd October 2014

Wednesday 10 September 2014

Introduction.

Hello and welcome to my book review blog, Truth About The Book.

My name is Bee and I will be giving my honest opinion on the books I read.  No matter how awful the book I will finish it and I will review it.

I will try my hardest to not post spoilers, but if I must do so to get my point across i will give you a fair warning.

A little bit about me.

Well, like I said, my name is Bee and I have had a love affair with books since I was about 13/14 years old. Before that books were for nerds, but then, ah the magical world of witches and wizards and He Who Shall Not Be Named, landed in my lap and I realised books weren't for nerds, books were for those with an imagination that knew no limits.  How wonderful it was to escape the cold hard reality of life by opening a book.

After reading Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, I began to read books by Christopher Pike and L.J. Smith.  As I grew older, I began sneaking book's off my mum's bookshelf. That was when my true journey began.

I discovered the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, had my eyes opened by Virginia Andrews and fell in love with Eponine and Marius.

By the time I was 21, my book habit had become dangerous. Who knew an Ikea bookcase couldn't hold the weight of almost 200 books and who knew that said bookcase would collapse in the middle of the night turning you into a ninja in pajamas. 

Over the last five years I've had to admit defeat with the bookcases. Replacing them, repairing them, it all just became too expensive so I said goodbye to my trusty well read books (except the first editions I have!) and handed them over to the local Cat Protection Charity Shop for re-sale. In their place I bought my first ever eReader (which died 5 months ago and my reaction to it's death led to growing concerns for my sanity after I posted a Facebook status about my heartbreak and devastation over the untimely demise of my one true friend. Apparently family and friends felt I should have clarified that it was my eReader that had died and not a person. Pfft is all I have to say that.).  I now own a tablet which, I find, much better than a plain eReader, as I can read all different file formats thanks to so many wonderful apps. But of course nothing can ever replace the feel of a book in your hand, the smell of the pages... Clearly I have a problem.

So, why am I only now starting a Book Blog? Well, I'm constantly leaving reviews on Amazon and Goodreads that I found myself thinking, why not have a no holds barred blog where I don't need to censor myself for the sake of others. 

And that folks, is that.

Stay tuned for my first ever review on this blog. The book has been chosen and my skin is already crawling in anticipation after seeing the cover art, the book I will be reviewing is *drumroll*

Doctor Who: The Crawling Terror (12th Doctor novel) 


If you want to drop me an email with a book suggestion, feedback or abuse (i give as good as i get.), feel free to do so at: 
truthaboutthebook@gmail.com