Slap Happy Fun Time

 Your Secret Admirer - Carl Laymon                                                                                                                               I know you're asking yourself why I'm reading a cheesy young adult novel but more importantly why am I reviewing it? The answer is simple. Your Secret Admirer was written by none other than the late Richard Laymon and I wonder how he felt about this novel when he started gaining a cult following. Did he know that fans like me would actually track it down just to show them off in their collection? It's funny to see Night In The Lonesome October, Funland and Bite standing next to a book called Your Secret A...

        One Of Us Is Lying - Karen M. McManus  5 stars                                                                   Once in a while you'll find yourself buying a new tablet and setting up all your stuff including your Moonreader app. All I intended to do was get the settings adjusted and well I discovered this among a lot of other books I intended to read but never got around to. If you read the blurb it mentions something about The Breakfast Club meets Pretty Little Liars but I aside from the initial detention there's nothing here that comes close to the film at all. One Of Us Is Lying is a great piece of fiction that may be intended for a young adult audience but it's engaging enough for readers of all types. A great novel has the abiiity to cross over into areas effortlessly and engage a...

 The Lies She Told - Cate Holahan 5/5                                                                           I recieved a copy of Lies from Netgalley in Exchange for an honest review       Lies She Told is the kind of book you start reading, but can't put down. The story is told from two perspectives, and I know it sounds confusing, but Cate does a great job at keeping things simple. You have the perspective of a character in a new novel, and the author herself who is going through her own personal crisis. As the novel progresses, things begin to spiral out of control, and fact blurs into fiction. Cate unravels the suspense slowly, just enough to tease you and then you're hit with an ending that I never saw coming. Liza is a character you can get behind, her story is intere...

Dead Certain - Adam Mitzner 5/5 stars                                                          I got this on the Kindle first looks program, and I'm glad I didn't follow any of the reviews of this. If I had, I would've missed out on a pretty decent thriller. There needs to be a disclaimer about Ella, this has nothing at all to do with her double life, and it's only mentioned once in the book and it's a moment that makes no sense, but then later it does. The main thing to remember here, is it's a novel that really fits into the current trend of fiction. There's a dark undercurrent running just below the surface, and what I liked most was just how effective Mitzner was able to keep the momentum of the story going while keeping me guessing as to who was responsible for Charlotte's dissappearance. I love books that are layered with different ...

The Cuckoo's Calling - Robert Galbraith 3/5 stars                                                                                       It has to suck being J.K. Rowling. Sure, the money's pretty decent, but after writing the Potter series where do you go? The fans are expecting another kid series, and the non Potter fans want to see her fall on her face in a big steaming pile of failure. I've read one Potter book, and have yet to read Casual Vacancy so, I can be pretty fair and balanced when it comes to this book. There are some fans I'm sure who were pretty upset when they realized that the first Cormoran Strike novel was their beloved Rowling writing under a pen name, and came out in droves to protest her second adult novel. With the pen name, she got a little breat...

     The Memory Box - Eva Lasko Natiello 2/5 stars                                                             There are a lot of books on my tablet. Way, way too many and the Memory Box was a book I had stumbled upon, but just never read. It seemed promising, so I began to read it, and then I began to question my judgment. Caroline is sucked into Googling herself, and finds that there are only three hits, but then she Googles her maiden name and that's where the fun begins. Things quickly unravel, and she finds out that she's forgotten some very important parts of her life. These are things no one should forget. I instantly wanted to stop reading because I didn't like Caroline all that much. As a character, she's weak, and boring. It's the way she reacts to things that annoyed the hell out of me. She volunte...

      Cemetery Girl - David Bell  5/5 stars                                                                       David Bell's debut novel is a dark disturbing tale that goes places that most novels won't go because they want to create this warm fuzzy feeling that leaves readers weeping and running off to their book clubs demanding that this be their next read. Let's be honest here and admit that the world is a messed up place so why should we read a novel that presents the dark side of human nature? Why should we read Cemetery Girl? The answer is simple. It's as close to reality as you're going to get in popular fiction. We've read the stories about kidnapped kids and everyone lives happily ever after. What if they don't? What if some writer decided to tackle the grim reality of what coul...

      Bloody Valentine (Quick Reads) - James Patterson 5/5                                                                  James Patterson is a guy that people love to hate and for good reason. He doesn't write his own books anymore and there's a simplicity that runs through all of them. Its that simplicity that has made him stupid rich. Soccer moms and people that are aren't readers will actually read this guys stuff because it's not going to demand a lot of thought. You can read a Patterson book and feel as if you're a reader even if you aren't. This is the measuring stick of popular, cookie cutter fiction. The stay at home moms, the grandmas, and the soccer moms are the audience you want if you want to be a best selling author. This is Patterson's fan base and as a writer I almost want to sell out...

     Finders Keepers - Stephen King 5/5                                                                           I started reading Finders Keepers on a Saturday but I couldn't read a lot due to my kids visiting, but on Sunday I started reading it before I went to bed. It was one of those nights when I couldn't go to sleep no matter what I did so I went downstairs for a cigarette and a cup of decaf, and read for two hours. I can't tell you the last time I read a King novel like this. To find two back to back is quite rare. The one thing I kept seeing in reviews is that this is sort of like Misery and that is pure bullshit. Misery is utterly terrifying, and while Finders Keepers does have some terrifying moments these are some misleading comparisons. At its core Keepers is a book...