Review: Zombie Princess Apocalypse by Jeffrey John Eyamie

Title: Zombie Princess Apocalyplse

Author:  Jeffrey John Eyamie
Publisher:  Wooly Mammoth Yarns

Publishing Date: March 17th 2012

Pages: 246
Genre: YA Dark Comedy/Horror

Series:  The Oddities 
Source: Kindle

 

When you wish upon a star, your
dreams come true...
...Emm Dillinger must do
everything in her power to keep
that from happening.

The new fashion outlet in town
has all kinds of things to
make a girl feel like a princess,
including a tiara that'll turn
Jacob Williams High School's
prom into the zombie princess
apocalypse.

Only Emm and her team of
oddballs can save humanity
from its own secret wish:
to have people eating
their hearts out.

Literally.

I found this book one day... roaming around on goodreads... and thought...hmmm this sounds interesting. I looked it up an Amazon and it was on Kindle Unlimited sooo.... yes I grabbed and read and to this day have no idea what I rad but I do know I enjoyed it. This was a very very interesting, strange, unusual, and unique read for me. I don't know if there is another book out there quite like this but for me, I haven't ever found one. It had zombies, princesses, witches, friendship, loyalty, loss, laughs, a little bit of of romance. It was a jumble of things that were thrown together and it worked. 

Emm grew up without a mom for the most part. She remembers her a little but she died. She also grew up with a traveling circus. As a teenager her father dies and leaves her with her stepmother. They quit the circus, move to a suburb house and she enrolls in school for the first time. This is when things get a bit strange. Her counselor tells her to visit a store in the mall, the store gives her tasks to do that lead to some pretty strange things.... and its all to prepare her to stop the zombie princess apocalypse. What is a zombie princess apocalypse you ask. Well its teenage girls turning into zombie snow whites, zombie cinderellas and ect. Oh and they each have their own prince charming except he isn't so charming. So it is up to Emm to stop this from happening. 

This sounds a bit strange right. It was totally strange but it worked. It was fun, it was gross, it was zombies, it was so different than anything I have ever read. 

This book definitely was more story driven for me and I didn't really get to connect to the characters but that felt okay. I connected enough to like them but not as much as I usually like. Emm was new to everything, suburbs, friends, school, and now she was thrown into zombie stuff so she was hard to connected too. She was busy. But she was loyal and I liked that. She wasn't the brightest at times but she wasn't dumb either. I think just shell shocked. 

Emm had to friends in thes tory that helped her along with her mission. I did like them. John was a jock but he was the nicest person ever. He never abandoned those he cared about and I loved that about him. Olly was okay. He was in love with Emm and wined a lot. I didn't really like that but he was still tolerable and in the end he did redeem himself. 

Two other characters of noteworthiness. I liked her stepmother and I liked the counselor. They were a bit extreme but they were very likable. They cared for Emm and the end of the world. Lots of interesting characters. 

The story was for sure the best part. It was amazing. It was all over the place and didn't follow any rules. I wasn't sure what I was reading ninety percent of the time but I just didn't care. It was so freaking funny I just kept reading. I mean it was really out there.

If you like dark comedy and strange things this just may be the book for you. 

I really enjoyed this read. 

Jeffrey John Eyamie wrote his first novel in Grade 3 and his second novel in journalism school. Thankfully, they are both locked away in hermetically sealed containers. 
A former child television star and grunge singer, Jeff once worked for Canada’s minister of foreign affairs, conducted a feature interview with Bob Vila while sitting on the john, gave the commissioner of the National Hockey League a dressing-down on national television, and won second prize in a literary beauty contest.

He now writes screenplays and stories, mostly.

You can follow him on twitter: @eyamie

Review: The Uninvited by Cat Winters

Title: The Uninvited 

Author:  Cat Winters
Publisher:  William Morrow

Publishing Date: August 11th 2015

Pages: 343
Genre: Adult Psychological Horror

Series: Stand Alone
Source: Audio

 

Twenty-five year old Ivy Rowan rises from her bed after being struck by the flu, only to discover the world has been torn apart in just a few short days.

But Ivy’s life-long gift—or curse—remains. For she sees the uninvited ones—ghosts of loved ones who appear to her, unasked, unwelcomed, for they always herald impending death. On that October evening in 1918 she sees the spirit of her grandmother, rocking in her mother’s chair. An hour later, she learns her younger brother and father have killed a young German out of retaliation for the death of Ivy’s older brother Billy in the Great War.

Horrified, she leaves home, to discover the flu has caused utter panic and the rules governing society have broken down. Ivy is drawn into this new world of jazz, passion, and freedom, where people live for the day, because they could be stricken by nightfall. But as her ‘uninvited guests’ begin to appear to her more often, she knows her life will be torn apart once more, but Ivy has no inkling of the other-worldly revelations about to unfold.

Another Cat Winters book to fall in love with. I have this thing with Cat Winters. I love her books, I enjoy her books, I get excited for her books. But for some reason, it takes me forever to get to her books. Cat Winters never dissappoints. This is my favorite read of hers yet. I loved loved loved it. I was thrown into the adventure very close to the beginning of the book and I  just couldn't stop it. I was very sad to see it end. Wonderful writing, amazing story telling, lovable and admirable characters, and yes of course a bit of the supernatural. 

Ivy has had a pretty hard year, lost her brother in the war, contracted the flu, and now she overhears her father and brother have committed a horrible crime. She is now recovered from the flu and her mother tells her.... this is not yours to worry about its time for you to find a life of your own... so Ivy moves out and finds her way. She makes friends, finds freedom in all that she does, helps the sick, falls in love with jazz, and everything seems to be going good. Ivy has this one issue. She sees dead people and when all the ghosts from her past start showing up, she knows something bad is about to happen and she must figure out how to protect those she cares deeply for. In the process,... well her world falls apart, 

Loved this book. I really didn't know what I was getting into at first except for the fact there are ghosts, its during the flu epidemic. and well that was it. The synopsis doesn't give much away and I won't either. It was to help Ivy pull at this one thread that unravels everything. Now the only complaint I have... which really isn't. I did figure it out before it was revealed. Now I don't know if i started to figured it out when I was supposed to or earlier on. I think we are supposed to figure it all out before Ivy does but I am not sure if I figured out earlier than intended. It felt like it. At anyrate... me figuring it all out did not matter. It did not take away from the story. It was still superb and wonderful. 

There were so many things to love about this book. The jazz atmosphere. I could hear it, I could feel it, Winters really brought the beginning of this era to life. It was a great addition to the story. 
The romance... yes there was romance and it was just perfect. It was more of a need than a love in this story but it was still romantic. The flu epidemic brought out so many good little stories. Th war and all those lost was also a great little addition the story. All these things were very important and brought so much into the big picture. It was pieced together wonderfully. 

Ivy was one of my all time favorite characters ever. I just adored her. Smart, strong, brave, persistant, good, She was so good. Huge heart. But she was also so strong. She did everything she could for others and hardly ever took time to think about herself. When she did, she felt guilty. She really came out in this story too. All those good qualities were just magnified when she came into her own. She truly was an admirable characters. 

I also loved loved loved Daniel. I couldn't have loved another character more in this book. Oh he was just perfect for the story. He was hurt, he was angry, he was broken, but yet he was the one that "fixed" what was broken. Yes I just loved him. 

This truly was an amazing read and a lovely story. I love that word lovely. I really don't think anyone could have told this story better. If you haven't read a Cat Winters book yet. Do it NOW. She is just spectacular and story telling. 

This book did have a great Halloween read quality to it. Very creepy at times and very suspensful. It had my blood a going. So yes a great October read but it can be enjoyed any time of year. So read it. 

On my favorites for this year. A++++

Cat Winters is an award-winning author of YA and adult fiction. Her YA works include IN THE SHADOW OF BLACKBIRDS, THE CURE FOR DREAMING, and the upcoming HAMLET-inspired 1920s novel, THE STEEP AND THORNY WAY (March 2016). Her debut adult novel, THE UNINVITED, released in 2015, and her second book for adults, YESTERNIGHT, is scheduled for 2016.

Winters was born and raised in Southern California, just a short drive down the freeway from Disneyland, which may explain her love of haunted mansions, bygone eras, and fantasylands. She currently lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband and two kids. Visit her online at www.catwinters.com.

Review: The House by Christina Lauren

Title: The House 

Author:  Christina Lauren
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Publishing Date: October 9th 2015

Pages: 384
Genre:  YA Psychological Horror

Series: Stand Alone
Source: Audio

 

Gavin tells Delilah he’s hers—completely—but whatever lives inside that house with him disagrees.

After seven years tucked away at an East coast boarding school, Delilah Blue returns to her small Kansas hometown to find that not much has changed. Her parents are still uptight and disinterested, her bedroom is exactly the way she left it, and the outcast Gavin Timothy still looks like he’s crawled out of one of her dark, twisted drawings.

Delilah is instantly smitten.

Gavin has always lived in the strange house: an odd building isolated in a stand of trees where the town gives in to mild wilderness. The house is an irresistible lure for Delilah, but the tall fence surrounding it exists for good reason, and Gavin urges Delilah to be careful. Whatever lives with him there isn’t human, and isn’t afraid of hurting her to keep her away.

I was so super excited when I saws this book. I remember as a kid sneaking a few peeks at a horror movie called House and the book synopsis reminded of that movie.  So I grabbed it and read it and loved it. The story lacked in a few things for me.... but really not really. I enjoyed this read. I did get what I was looking for.

Delilah has been away at a boarding school for seven years. When she left seven years ago, she had a crush. The entire seven years she has had the same crush. When unforeseen circumstances brings her home... she comes home with said crush. 

Gavin is a loner, sticks to himself. Everyone thinks he is strange and creepy... everyone but Delilah who happens to have been crushing on his for seven years. 

Delilah comes home gets involved with Gavin to find out Gavin lives in a freak house and has no parents. Hasn't had any since he was very little and he just barely remembers having a mother. House takes care of him. Feeds him, makes sure he is provided for, healthy and even that he goes to school. 

When Gavin and Delilah turn serious.... House has an issue with it. It does not want Gavin to have a life outside of House and not with anything else especially Delilah. So House fights to keep Gavin and Gavin and Delilah fight back. 

t was pretty darn good. I wouldn't say it was as creepy or horrific as I was hoping for but it was really good. It was a slow burn kind of intensity. What is House going to do and when and how bad will it be. It was a pretty big build up. There were some instances where House really shows its true colors for the most part though it was the build up to the when and how not as much as the right now. 

I liked the characters. They were both strange in their own way. Delilah was a bit off. She liked to read about death and liked to be scared. Of course this changed when it was happening for real but she was just a tad on the morbidly strange side. 

Gavin seemed very strange and creepy on the outside but he wasn't as much as Delilah was on the inside. He did have his darker side but mostly he was just trying to keep people away, hide the fact he was living alone, without parents, under 18, and his house was a living thing., That is a lot to deal with and he did with good grades too. He was a very decent kid for not having parents. 

The trouble all started when Gavin brought Delilah home and at first it didn't seem it was going to be an issue. Of course what kind of story would that be. The creepiest part for me was that House could reach them anywhere. It could stowaway on Gavin's clothes, or in the ground, through the power lines. I mean stalker house. It was very strange and gave me the heebie jeebies for sure. 

This book had a lot of romance. It felt fast because it happened fast in the book, but story wise. They knew each other a long time and they talked for a bit before all the touch feely and sweet murmurs started. So not too fast. I liked their romance. It was a bit intense and strange but sweet too. Normal teenage stuff... you are my world,can't live without you stuff... but not to bad and didn't cause any eye rolls. So I liked it. It was a big part (not as big as the creepy stalker house story ) of the story... so yes its a romance too. 

The ending wrapped everything up, explained it all, made sense and was good. Nothing  unexplained.... nothing left for the imagination. I did like that. So many of my reads lately have been...well lets let the reader figure out what they want to think and leave it at that. I hate those . I need definites in my life and this one was definite. 

I really really enjoyed it. Great October Read 

Christina Lauren is the combined pen name of long-time writing partners/besties/soulmates/brain-twins Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings. The coauthor duo writes both Young Adult and Adult Fiction, and together has produced eleven New York Times bestselling novels. Their books have been translated into 23+ languages. (Some of these books have kissing. Some of these books have A LOT of kissing.)

We don't respond to private messages here, so please contact us via twitter (@seeCwrite for Christina and @LolaShoes for Lauren) or our site. Thank you!!

Review: After Dark by James Leck

Title: After Dark

Author:  James Leck
Publisher:  Kids Can Press

Publishing Date: August 1st 2015

Pages: 256
Genre: YA Humor Horror

Series:  Stand Alone (maybe a series) 
Source: Kindle

 

Fifteen-year-old slacker Charlie Harker is stuck in the sleepy town of Rolling Hills for the summer, helping his mom renovate his great-grandfather's creaky old inn. It's not entirely dull, thanks to Charlie's new neighbor Miles Van Helsing, who insists there's paranormal activity happening in Rolling Hills. Charlie chalks it up to Miles being the town nutcase. But many townspeople are falling prey to a mysterious illness, and wisecracking Charlie quickly gets wise?: there's something sinister going on in Rolling Hills.

This book was a pleasant little surprise for me. I was offered a chance to read it by the publishers and really hadn't heard much about it before then. I like the cover. Its simple and it really fits well with the book. Its got a bit of a funny side but also its horror. So the cover fits well. The book was funny, corny at times, not to creepy but enough to be considered horror. It was a fun book to read, especially this time of year. 

Charlie Harker's life gets uprooted when his mother moves him to her childhood small town and decides they are going to renovate an old inn that the family took over. This is a very weird small town. The first night back he meets a crazy uncle, a paranoid teenage conspiracy theorist, and the fun doesn't stop there. There is definitely something creepy and weird going down in this small town and of course Charlie is right smack dab in the middle of it all. 

I want to start by saying this book was fun. It is not to be taken seriously and its meant to be corny and a little off but I really liked it. I liked the simplicity of the story... zombies, vampires... zompires. It was classic but yet original. There was no big romance, no love triangle, no family issues to hash out. Just a goof off kid that doesn't like to work, be involved, or try hard, that gets dragged into the middle of a supernatural takeover. Its pretty cool. 

I felt there was a handful of very interesting, well woven  together characters. I enjoyed every one of them and feel they all brought something to good to the production. They were all pretty snarky, sarcastic, and little bit out of their minds but they were all different too. Each with a distinctive voice. 

Charlie Harker cracked me up. I usually don't like the care free lazy, good for nothing characters. But he grew on me. He changed a bit towards end. He finally steps up when he figures out something is definitely off and his family and the town is in danger. He is lazy and he doesn't like to help most of the time but when it comes to his family... he was on it. He didn't want anything to happen to them and he was pretty awesome in fighting for them. 

Miles Van Helsing was my favorite character. Just plain insane, nutty, crazy, out of his mind, living in a world of his own.... but for once in his life he gets something right and basically saves the town with the help of Charlie. He was super funny and quite interesting. I just adored him. 

The entire story was just fun. Like I said original enough to be enjoyed, light enough not be to creepy and just some good ole fashion monster fun. 

I really really enjoyed this book.  A great fun book for the Halloween season. 

James Leck was born in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia in 1973. At the time, his hobbies included eating, sleeping and pooping his pants. Since then, much has changed.
He has worked as a high school teacher in Canada, Japan, and Kuwait. He has had the good fortune to visit New Zealand, England, Mexico, South Korea, Thailand, Guam, Oman, Jordan, France and Prague in the Czech Republic and Egypt.
Three things influenced him to write mysteries: Scooby Doo, Inspector Jacques Clouseau, and Sherlock Holmes. However, his teenage private eye, Jack Lime, is based on the hardboiled detectives of the 1940s and ‘50s.
Currently, James lives in Dartmouth with his wife and two children. He still enjoys sleeping and eating but has moved beyond pooping his pants.

Review; Hotel Ruby by Suzanne Young

Title: Hotel Ruby 

Author:  Suzanne Young
Publisher: Simon Pulse 

Publishing Date: November 3rd 2015

Pages: 288
Genre: YA Psychological Horror

Series: Stand Alone
Source: ARC

 

Stay Tonight. Stay Forever.

When Audrey Casella arrives for an unplanned stay at the grand Hotel Ruby, she’s grateful for the detour. Just months after their mother’s death, Audrey and her brother, Daniel, are on their way to live with their grandmother, dumped on the doorstep of a DNA-matched stranger because their father is drowning in his grief.

Audrey and her family only plan to stay the night, but life in the Ruby can be intoxicating, extending their stay as it provides endless distractions—including handsome guest Elias Lange, who sends Audrey’s pulse racing. However, the hotel proves to be as strange as it is beautiful. Nightly fancy affairs in the ballroom are invitation only, and Audrey seems to be the one guest who doesn't have an invite. Instead, she joins the hotel staff on the rooftop, catching whispers about the hotel’s dark past.

The more Audrey learns about the new people she's met, the more her curiosity grows. She’s torn in different directions—the pull of her past with its overwhelming loss, the promise of a future that holds little joy, and an in-between life in a place that is so much more than it seems…

Welcome to the Ruby.

This was a highly anticipated fall read for me. I was very excited to get the ARC and I just couldn't wait to dive in. I was not disappointed. It was a great read. I wasn't quite aware of what the book really was about. The description really doesn't give too much away. It sounded creepy and it was pretty creepy. It was a bit twisted but not too bad. It was another great read for my October Creepy Halloween reads. 

Audrey, her brother Daniel, and her father are on a road trip to grandmother's house. Before they arrive they decide to stop at the Hotel Ruby and relax, Its not quite the relaxation they were looking for. There is something different about the Hotel Ruby. It's easy to arrive but not always easy to leave. As Audrey finds friends, a crush, and family issues she fights to figure out if the Hotel Ruby is on her side or is her enemy. 

This was a pretty good read. It was quick, fast paced, and kept my eyes glued to the pages. It wasn't the best mystery I have read. I figured it all out pretty early on in the book but the thrills and the creepy were there. It had a great tone for a psychological horror and that made up for the ease of the secrets being figured out. 

This was another book where the depth of characters seemed to be on the back burner. There wasn't a real connection to any of the characters. I find that in these type of books its more about the story than the person. Although the main character Audrey did have some good selling points and she did have some growth. 

Audrey went from a mad, quiet, sulking girl to a very determined, loyal, and brave girl. I did like her growth. There was some back story to the family. There was some family issues going on, some mourning, some anger. So there was some character growth. I did like Audrey... I liked her brother Daniel more and unfortunately there wasn't that much of him in the book. He was more a secondary character. I did enjoy their relationship though. It was a great sibling/best friend kind of relationship and I loved it. 

I didn't feel the romance. That was sad for me but it wasn't the main point of the book. It was more about the family relationship than the romance. But you can't have a YA book without some kind of romance. 

This entire book takes place in about 3 days. Its 288 pages. There really wasn't time in the story or room on the pages to build a romance so I really could have gone without it at all. I did like the romantic interest, Elias. His story did play into the big picture and so he was important. I just didn't think there needed to be a romance between Audrey and Elias. It would have been fine with me to just have a friendship forming between the two.  

So the story was the most interesting parts for the book and there was really multiple stories going but the main stories were Audrey and her family and the story behind the Ruby. I liked both. It was interesting and it kept me invested throughout the entire book. 

There was creepiness, there was suspense, there was a bit of horror. I would have liked just a bit more character depth and no romance. I did enjoy it very much though.

A great Halloween read. Short and sweet. 

Suzanne Young is the New York Times bestselling author of The Program, The Treatment, and several other novels. She currently lives in Tempe, Arizona where she teaches high school English and obsesses about books. Learn more about Suzanne at www.suzanne-young.blogspot.com