Slap Happy Fun Time

The Shining - Stephen King 5/5 stars                                                                    It's hard to believe that The Shining was released forty-five years ago and surprisingly it's held up well. Not only is it one of the greatest horror novels ever written, but also one of the greatest novels ever written. Reading Stephen King's third book is at times exhausting given the amount of detail he provides. While some may say it's overkill, it's an essential part of the story. These are people we get to know so well it what happens to them even more frightening. King's writing style is what makes this so damn good. It elevates it from just a haunted hotel story to a story about the slow destruction of a family. The isolation of the Torrance's is told well and you feel as if you're experiencing it with ...

Into The Fire - Sonia Orchard 5/5 stars        I received a copy of Into The Fire from Netgalley      When I first started reading Into The Fire I wasn't sure if I'd like it. It seems like a pretty straightforward story but like life, there are quite a few twists in turns along the way that happens when people grow and change. It's about friendship, and how we all change as we grow older. No one stays the same and what's interesting about the book is how realistic the characters are. They're selfish and have their own motivations as they age. We can see Lara and Alice drift apart and sadly that happens a lot in real life. The book hinges on these characters, how they interact with each other. There's no action here so it's the characters who have to carry the weight of the novel.        Orchard is a talented writer who is able to pull us into the story and allows us to feel as if we're not simply reading a novel, but ex...

     Look Behind You - Sibel Hodge 2/5 stars                                                                     On the surface, Look Behind You seems like a pretty decent read, but the problem isn't in the writing but in the predictability of the story. I love a good thriller. I love it when a great book keeps me on my toes and throws curveballs at me just to keep me reading. Sadly, this isn't one of those books which is unfortunate because everything you need for a decent thriller is there. A woman wakes up to realize she's been kidnapped. She escapes with and we're off to a great whodunnit am I right? The problems begin right away. Chloe may or may not be crazy and this right here is where you know what happened even before the halfway mark of the novel. Big red flags are everywhere while Chloe b...

Diary Of A Canadian Nobody - Paul James  4/5 stars                                                                                                                                I haven't been reading a lot lately but I as I set up my iPhone I added the Kindle app and remembered I had a copy of this from NetGalley. As I read it I wasn't sure if I'd like it even though I thought the premise was interesting enough. The problem is that when you read someone's diary you have to feel as if you're peeking into someone's most intimate thoughts. It's a running commentary on who the person is. You get them as they really are, not how you expect them to be. James' c...

       Bring Me Back - B. A. Paris  2/5 stars                                                               I received an arc of this book from Netgalley       After finishing Bring Me Back I am frustrated and swore way too much at the ending of this book. The problem begins immediately and doesn't really get any better the more you read. There's potential here, a lot of ways to make this novel great, but instead, it plays it safe which is fine if you've never read a suspense thriller before. It's a decent enough read to get you interested in the genre, but for the seasoned fans, there's not a lot here that's new or exciting. Paris is a decent writer, but the plot twists become glaringly obvious and the characters are lifeless cutouts that you merely read about, yet have no interest in. ...

     The Perfect Mother - Aimee Molloy  3/5 stars                                                                                                                                               Anytime you hear rave reviews about a book you always have doubts right? These are critics after all and there are also marketing people who want the books in people's hands, or on their Kindle screen. What happens when the buzz dies down and you realize you were suckered into buying a novel that fails on the promises it made? The Perfect Mother is one such book. I can agree that it will work great as a film because as a b...

Hellsworld Hotel - Matthew Vaughn                                                                I received an arc from Matthew Vaughn and dove right in. I love Vaughn’s style of writing, and here we have an all-out assault on your senses. From the opening page, you get brutal in your face horror. For those looking for something light to read that doesn’t offend, you may want to skip this one. Vaughn’s latest novella is a love letter to extreme horror and he holds nothing back. This is a book for those who like their fiction raw and unapologetic, and love films that border on obscene. Zed and his family are a sadistic bunch of folks who open a haunted house with a hidden agenda. It;'s that hidden agenda that drives the book.       Despite all the violence and gore, it’s a solid read that sets u...