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A People’s History of the Vampire Uprising by Raymond A. Villareal

May 31, 2018

A People’s History of the Vampire Uprising is not your typical vampire tale, but rather it follows the NOBI virus from when it is first discovered by Doctor Lauren Scott, and is unleashed on a world that is not prepared to handle it.

When I read the synopsis for this novel I was excited. It looked like just the sort of book I’d love, and the cover was eye-catching. But unfortunately for me, it was a struggle to read. We frequently jumped from voice to voice, and because the detached ‘historical’ way in which things were told, it was really difficult to find myself connecting with the characters, so when they died, it just felt like a statistic rather than a creepy-horror scene.

The scientific explanations I actually kind of loved, with a science background myself, I love it when books get a bit technical, but what I didn’t like were the excessively long paragraphs that went on for over a page, making it really difficult to keep reading.

The world building was great, and the world felt detailed and well thought out, but the pacing was slow, with very little in the way of action, further adding to the problem staying focused on the story.

3 out of 5 stars.

* This eBook ARC was provided by Hachette Australia through NetGalley for an honest review.

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Heart of Iron (Heart of Iron #1) by Ashley Poston

April 17, 2018

Portrayed as a sci-fi retelling of Anastasia, this novel takes you on a swash-buckling adventure with Ana and the outlaw crew of the Dossier, as they try to find a way to fix her failing robot, D09, commonly called Di. Secrets are gradually unraveled and the stakes are risen, as An learns more about her past, and her best friend, Di.

For a book that has gone to print, there were a surprising number of typos throughout the book, and even some wrongly printed names that made a confusing world all the more difficult to navigate. The world building is one of the aspects that definitely fell short in this novel with so many things referenced with little to no explanation or context as to what they meant. I found myself having to re-read several passages and even chapters just trying to get an understanding of what is going down.

The story is told from multiple points of view, and at times the frequent shifts between them really seemed unnecessary, and I feel that the story could have benefited by dropping some of them. It was very jarring and it made it difficult to relate and connect with many of the characters.

The pacing slow at a number of points, but the ending certainly picked up the pace, but I found that most of the plot twists were predictable with little in the way of surprises throughout. Things progressed exactly how I thought they would, and that made it difficult for me to continue to the end.

What I did love though was the characters and the representation, the building relationship between Jax and Robb was adorable and fun to see. And I while I did love Di and Ana individually, I wasn’t sold on the whole insta-love and I would have loved to have seen a bit more of a build there, and got a few more glimpses about what makes their relationship what it is.

For me, this was a 3 out of 5 stars. Maybe 3.5.

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Our House by Louise Candlish

April 9, 2018

Her short break away with her new boyfriend ends with something Fiona Lawson was never prepared for, returning to Trinity Avenue to find someone else moving into her beloved house that she shared with her separated partner, and two boys. Her estranged husband, Bram, has conveniently disappeared, and it’s left to Fiona to unravel just what happened and to try pull her life together from the pieces he left.

Fi retells her part of the story through a popular victim podcast, while we hear from Bram’s side in a tell-all word document. Small snippets of present day goings on with the strangers that have moved into Fiona’s home are gradually built upon between the twists and turns that Louise Candlish weaves.

Unfortunately for me, I found the pacing in the middle two thirds of the book slow and difficult to get through and it was a bit of a struggle to keep reading. Ultimately I’m glad I did though, because I did enjoy the detailed plot and how it all unfolded in the last few chapters. Still, there is still much to love about this story: the premise of the book is different from anything else I have read and I enjoyed trying to guess where things were going, and was pleased that while I was right on quite a few of the twists, there were still a couple that I didn’t guess!

Overall this would be 3 out of 5 star read for me.

* This ebook ARC was provided by Simon & Schuster (Australia) through NetGalley for an honest review.

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The Year that Changed Everything by Cathy Kelly

March 26, 2018

The Year That Changed Everything is told through the eyes of three women that just happen to share the same birthday, and follows the events that unfold after they celebrate their milestones, 30th, 40th and 50th.

For me, this felt like three seperate short stories all in one big that just happened to have a minor connection in the last 10% of the book. And while two of these characters I found myself enjoying reading about (Ginger and Callie), I found myself skipping through much of Sam’s chapters.

Even so, the book felt a bit slow, with very little going on. It was an okay read. Not great, just okay.

3 out of 5 stars

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Unearthed by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner

February 8, 2018

I really wanted to love Unearthed. It seemed to have all the elements I would like: space fun, planetary exploration, mysterious aliens, archaeology puzzles and a whole lot of sci-fi…

But I really struggled with reading it. With the shifting back and forth between Amelia and Jules, there was no mystery as to what either of them were up to. All their thoughts, and plans, and lies were all laid out to the reader each time we shifted to their point of view.

And boy was it laid out! It felt like the inner monologue made up a good 75% of the book at times with action and dialogue taking a back seat. Which is a pity because when we did get to see the interaction between Jules and Amelia, it was great! I just wanted to see more of it!