Review: The Waking Forest by Alyssa Wees

Title:  The Waking Forest 

Author:  Alyssa Wees
Publisher: Delacorte
Publishing Date:  March 12th, 2019

Pages: 304
Genre:  YA Fantasy Fairytale

Series:  Stand Alone
Source:  ARC

 

The waking forest has secrets. To Rhea, it appears like a mirage, dark and dense, at the very edge of her backyard. But when she reaches out to touch it, the forest vanishes. She’s desperate to know more—until she finds a peculiar boy who offers to reveal its secrets. If she plays a game.

To the Witch, the forest is her home, where she sits on her throne of carved bone, waiting for dreaming children to beg her to grant their wishes. One night, a mysterious visitor arrives and asks her what she wishes for, but the Witch sends him away. And then the uninvited guest returns.

The strangers are just the beginning. Something is stirring in the forest, and when Rhea’s and the Witch’s paths collide, a truth more treacherous and deadly than either could ever imagine surfaces. But how much are they willing to risk to survive?

I was so very excited for this read when I first discovered it. The cover, the title, the synopsis, everything screamed “you will love this book” Well, I didn’t love it. It some issues with the read. I did finish the book because I wanted to find out what happened and I felt I had put so much time into reading it, I needed to finish. It was not what I expected and it just fell flat for me. I am kind of really bummed about this as I wanted to love it, I love fairytale type books. But I just couldn’t find any love with this book.

This is kind of three stories in one. There is the story of the wishing witch, the witch who live in the forest with lots of fox friends and granted wishes for children. Within that story is a story told by a boy that involves a princess with magic who lives in a kingdom where the king, her grandfather, punishes those with magic. Then the third story involves a family of peculiar girls in the modern world, one of the girls seems to have some magic and she befriends darkness.

Confusing right. Yup I thought so too.

There were a couple things I did enjoy about this book. I enjoyed a bit about each story…. Mainly I loved the wishing witch. She was very interesting and I wanted to know more about her. I knew she was important to the entire story and I wanted to know where she fit in. I also enjoyed the sisterly love between the 4 sisters in the modern world. I enjoyed reading about their lives. The boy telling the third story to the witch was okay. I sometimes struggle with stories within stories, but this wasn’t too bad. I did enjoy knowing more about the princess and her world. To be honest, the concept behind the story, the way the stories all intertwine together… that was a great part of the story and probably the only reason I kept on read. The idea behind it all was pretty genius.

What I had an issue with was the execution. The writing was confusing for me. AT times I had trouble keep up with what was going on. The lines were a little blurred on what was happening. There were a ton of characters to keep up with. More than I like. It was hard to keep up with who was who. The ending seemed to confuse me a bit too. Maybe because I was reading really fast at this point so I could finish the book, maybe I missed something. There was one particular character I just didn’t understand who he was or what he was.

The book also had some pacing issues. There were some very slow moments and I was quite bored at times reading this book. This made it extremely hard to really connect with the characters or get into the story. I found I could only read this book in short increments because I would get bored. The need to finish was still there, but it took me way longer than it should have to get through this book.

The characters were okay. Like I said, there were so many of them, and I really couldn’t connect. I didn’t dislike any but there was only a couple I could say I liked. The others were just meh.

I am very disappointed with my feelings for this book. I truly thought I would love it but I just couldn’t.

I didn't feel it. 

Alyssa Wees's debut novel is The Waking Forest. She lives and writes in Chicago. To learn more about Alyssa and her writing, go to her website alyssawees.com, and follow @AlyssaWees on Twitter.

It's Graphic Time! Walking Dead Vol. 1: Days Gone By by Robert Kirkman

Title: Days Gone By

Author:  Robert Kirkman
Publisher:  Image Comics
Publishing Date:  February 9th, 2013

Pages: 144
Genre: Apocalyptic Horror Graphic Novel

Series:  Walking Dead Vol 1 (issues 1-6)
Source:  Graphic Novel 

 

How many hours are in a day when you don't spend half of them watching television?

When is the last time any of us REALLY worked to get something we wanted?

How long has it been since any of us really NEEDED something that we WANTED?

The world we knew is gone.

The world of commerce and frivolous necessity has been replaced by a world of survival and responsibility.

An epidemic of apocalyptic proportions has swept the globe causing the dead to rise and feed on the living.

In a matter of months society has crumbled.
no government, no grocery stores, no mail delivery, no cable TV.

In a world ruled by the dead, we are forced to finally start living.

This is a re-read for me. I have read the first 12 volumes of this series… but it’s been a while so I decided to start over and try to get through them faster. I do love this series. I think if I had read them before I watched the show… it would have been okay and not love but since I am invested in the show, I think I love to read the books and see where they differ and still love on the characters.



So I am not sure I really need to do an explanation of the plot here. There are zombies, it is the apocalypse, there is a group of people doing what they can to survive. In this particular volume we see Rick come out of a coma, meet Morgan, find Lori, lose some people in the group, make some friends, kill one of his own, and kill zombies.

I think I am going to make this short. I am not really sure how to review these books. I mean, most people have heard of this series, read them, or watched the show. So I will just get into what I liked/

I like that the artwork is black and white. I think that it sets the tone for the world that exists within the pages. I think every now and then the gore could be a bit red among the black and white. Just for the dramatics. But really the art work is pretty cook in this graphic novel.

I am one of those that are obsessed with zombie apocalypse stories. I mean they are intriguing. Not only do have to worry about lack of resources and people being all crazy, you have to worry about the dead not dying. Very interesting right. I do love that Robert Kirkman focuses more on the humanity and survival of the characters instead of the zombies, but the zombies are there.

The story is fast moving, not many surprise and I suppose there wont be in rereads, but I also watch the show. I know there are some differences, my hubby has kindly explained them to me in the past, so not really looking for surprises.. but it’s still fun to read.

I just love it.

Writer: Robert Kirkman is an American comic book writer best known for his work on The Walking Dead, Invincible for Image Comics, as well as Ultimate X-Men and Marvel Zombies for Marvel Comics. He has also collaborated with Image Comics co-founder Todd McFarlane on the series Haunt. He is one of the five partners of Image Comics, and the only one of the five who was not one of the original co-founders of that publisher.
Robert Kirkman's first comic books were self-published under his own Funk-o-Tron label. Along with childhood friend Tony Moore, Kirkman created Battle Pope which was published in late 2001. Battle Pope ran for over 2 years along with other Funk-o-Tron published books such as InkPunks and Double Take.

In July of 2002, Robert's first work for another company began, with a 4-part SuperPatriot series for Image, along with Battle Pope backup story artist Cory Walker. Robert's creator-owned projects followed shortly thereafter, including Tech Jacket, Invincible and Walking Dead.
 Illustrator: My name is Tony Moore. I'm a small-town guy from Kentucky, raised by a pack of wild televisions. I've been a fan of comics since before I could read, and have seldom in my life dreamed of becoming anything other than a cartoonist. 
I've been in the business since 1999, when I started work on my maiden voyage, Battle Pope. Since then, I've lent my hand to books such as Masters of the Universe, Brit, the Eisner Award-nominated series The Walking Dead, and my creator-owned books Fear Agent and The Exterminators. In recent years at Marvel, I have had the pleasure of getting to put my stamp on some wild runs on Ghost Rider, Punisher, Venom and Deadpool.
Thanks for coming along to check out my stuff.
I hope you enjoy the ride.

Review: Sadie by Courtney Summers

Title: Sadie

Author: Courtney Summers

Publisher: Wednesday Books

Publishing Date: September 4th, 2018

Pages: 308
Audio Length: 7 Hours and 57 Minutes

Genre: YA Mystery 
TW: Abuse, sexual abuse, murder, pedophilia, drug use, underage drinking

Series: Standalone

Source: Audio

 

A missing girl on a journey of revenge. A Serial―like podcast following the clues she's left behind. And an ending you won't be able to stop talking about.
Sadie hasn't had an easy life. Growing up on her own, she's been raising her sister Mattie in an isolated small town, trying her best to provide a normal life and keep their heads above water.
But when Mattie is found dead, Sadie's entire world crumbles. After a somewhat botched police investigation, Sadie is determined to bring her sister's killer to justice and hits the road following a few meager clues to find him.
When West McCray―a radio personality working on a segment about small, forgotten towns in America―overhears Sadie's story at a local gas station, he becomes obsessed with finding the missing girl. He starts his own podcast as he tracks Sadie's journey, trying to figure out what happened, hoping to find her before it's too late.
Courtney Summers has written the breakout book of her career. Sadie is propulsive and harrowing and will keep you riveted until the last page.

What made me pick this book up: 

I had seen this book everywhere last year, even for months before it was released. So of course I had to read what it was about.

What did I like about the cover: 

I love the minimalist look of it. I love the bright red color pop. I love how mysterious she looks.

What made me read this book: 

After reading what it was about and all the amazing reviews I knew i had to read it. 

What did I like the most: 

The first thing I noticed that I really loved was the fact it was a full cast. That really made it feel real. And then the interviews and the podcast, I could have sworn I was listening to a real documentary about what happened. It was fantastic and made it so much better.

The story is really interesting, I love murder mysteries and even though Sadie knows who did it, it's still a good mystery. It is sad and heartbreaking and makes you mad once you find out who did it.

Actually once you find out everything that Sadie has been through and Mattie has been through... It's so much, and you feel so bad for them. 

The characters are well written and great, I love how they made Sadie have a stutter, and how well the narrator did the stutter. 

Sadie was well written in a way that you felt every emotion, every heartbreak, every pain, everything they feel. 

I feel like this is a book I will have to own. 

What didn't I like: 

I hate what happened to them in this book, sadly the things that happen are things that really happen in real life. It makes me angry. And sad.

I also hated the end. It wasn't enough. 

*spoiler*

You never find out what happened to Sadie. She disappeared and we never know what happens after she finds and kills the guy who killed Mattie.

*End spoiler*

Would I read the rest of the series/more from this author?
I've already read one book by her (Didn't realize it was the same author!) and I would definitely read more. I'm really interested in reading these ones.

I'm really glad this book lived up to the hype. I've never seen a bad thing said about it, and I can agree with everything I've read.

“I wish his darkness lived outside of him, because you have to know it's there to see it. Like all real monsters, he hides in plain sight.” 
― Courtney Summers, Sadie

Courtney Summers was born in Belleville, Ontario, 1986. At age 14, she dropped out of high school. At age 18, she wrote her first novel. Cracked Up to Be was published in 2008, when she was 22 and went on to win the 2009 CYBIL award in YA fiction. Since then, she’s published four more critically acclaimed books: Some Girls Are, Fall for Anything, This is Not a Test and All the Rage, as well as an e-novella, Please Remain Calm which is a sequel to This is Not a Test. Her new novel, Sadie, is available now wherever books are sold. #findsadie
In 2016, Courtney was named one of Flare Magazine’s 60 under 30.

instagram: summerscourtneytwitter: @courtney_stumblr: summerscourtney.

official website: courtneysummers.ca