Slap Happy Fun Time

     The Doll House - Phoebe Morgan 5/5 stars                                                                       I received a copy of The Doll House in exchange for an honest review       Phoebe Morgan is on hell of a writer. She has a talent here for creating characters that you can relate to even when they become slightly annoying. We know what's happening to Corinne, but no one believes her, and let's be honest, if we were telling people things like this were happening, who'd believe us? Are these the ravings of a woman slowly losing her mind? What's going on with her sister Ashley? Is her husband having an affair? These plot lines add to the underlying tension of the novel, and then you have this creepy third person who appears truly insane. It's clear she and her mom are following someone but who? The thing is, this type of novel has been done before, but Doll House holds its cards close to the vest. It's not an easy novel to figure out and no ma

Makeup To Breakup: My Life In And Out Of Kiss   3/5 stars/                                                                 Just when you think you have the entire story behind Kisstory another book comes out, and it's just as ugly as the last one. I'm not talking about the bio Nothing To Lose because that was as close to the truth as you're going to get to the behind the scenes world of all things Kiss. Criss' bio is full of anger, and even bitterness. Every time he cries, you should take a drink. Hell, you should invite your friends over to group read this one just so you can create a new drinking game. This is an interesting read, and what surprised me was that Peter is supposed to be uneducated, yet he wrote a better book than Gene Simmons. You want dirt? Here is a book you full of it. Criss holds nothing back and just like all the other bios, you have no idea what's true, and what's pure fiction.       It seems like all four members of Kiss wanted to

 Halloween Carnival Vol 2 - Various Authors  4/5 stars                                                                              I received Halloween Carnival Vol 2 in exchange for an honest review       It's hard to keep momentum going throughout an anthology series especially if the theme is Halloween. I liked this one better than the first volume because the stories here were a bit darker, and didn't start out wanting to depress you. I like where the series is going and each story presents you with something different. What I'm finding is that these stories aren't about the scares, but the atmosphere. These stories embody the dark, almost foreboding atmosphere of what the holiday is about.       It does stumble a bit, but still, it's not a terrible read and shows a great deal of promise. These five stories are meant to be read in a dark room, or told around a bonfire. It reminds me a lot of the anthologies I read in the eighties. It all about findin

Iron Man: My Journey Through Heaven & Hell With Black Sabbath 5/5                                                                             At best, I would consider myself a casual fan of Black Sabbath. There's no denying the fact that they invented not only heavy metal, but paved the way for every other band after them to pledge their allegiance to Satan. I didn't get into the band until Ronnie James Dio joined and believe me, I got a lot of grief for not enjoying the original lineup as much as everyone else did. The point here is that Iommi's biography is meant for a wide audience. Even a casual fan can pick this book up and enjoy it which is cool. The book is merely the story of the band, not exactly Iommi and that makes the book a bit more interesting than most bio's.        What's interesting is that Iommi really doesn't hold anything back when it comes to Sabbath and even comes clean when it comes to the question of the band being Satanic, a

   Disturbed - Jennifer Jaynes 5/5 stars                                                             I received a copy of Disturbed from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review       You ever read a book that totally blows your mind, and leaves you wondering what the hell you just read? This is one such book. Seriously, Disturbed is the kind of book that dares you to figure out the who and the why, and even gives you some clues. Turns out, none of it matters! This is all about pacing, and creating characters that not only enhance the story, but keep the reader guessing until the very end. What happened to Chelsea that night? Why did she survive? Those are the recurring questions, and Jaynes even gives us a character from the past to enhance the mystery of it all. Disturbed slowly pulls you along slowly adding tension until the very end.        If you're looking for the perfect thriller that does everything right while staying original, without faltering, well this is

 It Always Bites You In The End - Michael Fisher  5/5 stars                                                                         I have to admit that lately I haven't been reading a lot of horror, but it's not because I'm bored with the genre. I've become hooked on suspense thrillers. Why am I mentioning this while reviewing Michael Fisher's latest release? Because at it's core, it's exactly what a suspense thriller is, but there's also a bit of the supernatural in there as well to give it a little kick. Fisher is a talented writer that has essentially created the perfect book, and It Always Bites You In The End keeps you guessing until the very last page. The bodies began piling up, and they all seem to be linked to the tattoos that the deceased have recently acquired. Sounds pretty simple right? You would think so, but that's not true at all, and the mystery only seems to deepen the further you get.       At the heart of it all is Mac,

 Don't Wake Up - Liz Lawler 3/5 stars                                                     Not only did I receive a review copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, I also bought a copy through Amazon's Kindle First program       Wow, this was one book that I was really not digging. Lawler sets us up with a great beginning, but Alex Taylor is not a great lead character. I get it in hindsight, I really do. This is a woman we're supposed to think is crazy, so crazy that she made this crazy abduction. From the outset it does seem that way. There's no evidence at all that Alex was abducted. Problem is, Alex is a borderline alcoholic and annoying. When writing a book like this it's important to have something about the lead character you can relate to, but here, not the case. I was ready to throw the towel in on this and just give it a bad review. Not because the story was bad, but the lead character was boring, and if anything I wanter to see her di

     Halloween Carnival Vol 1 (Various Authors) 4/5 stars                                                      I received a copy of Haloween Carnival from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.       It's official, Halloween is officially upon us and Hydra has come to get us in the Halloween spirit with a new anthology series. I loved the cover, but let's go ahead and be honest here by admitting this isn't exactly what I thought it would be. Don't get me wrong, I didn't hate it, but I wasn't exactly sure how this was going to end, or even what it was trying to achieve. When you think of Halloween stories you expect scary, but none of these are. That's not a bad thing, and if anything, it sets up the series to be something different which it achieves nicely. Two of these stories have a nice Twilight Zone feel to them, and are powerful in their delivery. The theme here is Halloween, and that's pretty much it.       Demon Air, Strange Cand

Stephen King - It                                                                It isn't an easy novel to read, but not because of its length. That's only a smart part of what makes it so hard to get through. It was written way back in 1986, a time when people weren't so politically correct, or required a trigger warning to go along with whatever they read or watched. People weren't easily offended so the themes that King places in his novel didn't seem so politically incorrect. If you're easily offended, this is clearly not a novel you should read. There is a bit of racism, and homophobia mixed into the central plot, but there's something march darker, and far more sinister to worry about here. If It had teeth, it would bite, and bite hard.      It is simply put, a masterpiece of horror fiction and easily one of the best books that King has ever written. The story premise itself is simple, but King goes even further by placing the town of Derry a