C.V. Hunt's Blog, page 12

Book Review - Ruth de Lune by Andy Davidson

Ruth de Lune by Andy Davidson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
ABOUT:

Sixteen-year-old Ruth Walker deals with monsters like most high school losers: she pretends they don't exist—from the prettier, slimmer girls who write nasty things about her on the bathroom walls to the boys who tape dirty drawings to her locker door.
But some monsters can't be ignored, and there are worse things in the world than high school, a lesson Ruth learns when she and a young boy are savaged one night by a terrifying creature in the woods behind the school.
Now, a sinister transformation has begun in Ruth, and dark dreams are calling her into the mountains west of town, where her life as she has always known it will almost certainly come to an end, her fate forever changed by the light of a full moon.
SHORT REVIEW:

It's been a while since I've read a werewolf story. This book is filled with great prose. I only wish that the story was fleshed out more.
View all my reviews

Zombieville is now on Kindle.

Zombieville is now on Kindle. It will be free 4/5/2013 till 4/9/2013. Click on the cover above to be redirected.

The zombies are coming.

Zombieville will be available soon in digital form, and the paperback will be released this Summer. Here is a photo of the paperback, which will be released by Grindhouse Press. Check out other great titles from Grindhouse by visiting their site http://grindhousepress.com/ I will post the link for the Kindle version within the next couple of days, once it's available. 

Book Review - Damned by Chuck Palahniuk

Damned by Chuck Palahniuk
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

ABOUT:
The newest Palahniuk novel concerns Madison, a thirteen year old girl who finds herself in Hell, unsure of why she will be there for all eternity, but tries to make the best of it.
The author described the novel as "if The Shawshank Redemption had a baby by The Lovely Bones and it was raised by Judy Blume." And "it's kind of like The Breakfast Club set in Hell."
REVIEW:

I like Palahniuk's books, but this was not my favorite. The narrative was overly repetitious. But which of his books aren't? The author has a unique writing style, and as I make my way through all his books, I'm left with a sense of déjà vu at the end of each one. Overall, I thought it was a decent story, but I really need to put more time between each of his books. I keep finding the same characters but with different names. His stories are starting to feel very cookie-cutter.
View all my reviews

Book Review - A Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
ABOUT:
Written in his distinctively dazzling manner, Oscar Wilde’s story of a fashionable young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty is the author’s most popular work. The tale of Dorian Gray’s moral disintegration caused a scandal when it first appeared in 1890, but though Wilde was attacked for the novel’s corrupting influence, he responded that there is, in fact, “a terrible moral in Dorian Gray.” Just a few years later, the book and the aesthetic/moral dilemma it presented became issues in the trials occasioned by Wilde’s homosexual liaisons, which resulted in his imprisonment. Of Dorian Gray’s relationship to autobiography, Wilde noted in a letter, “Basil Hallward is what I think I am: Lord Henry what the world thinks me: Dorian what I would like to be—in other ages, perhaps.”
SHORT REVIEW:
An insightful story but a little wordy. But being wordy is what I expect out of older books. In some of the areas the descriptions seem to be pointless or go nowhere, but the actual story is well told.
View all my reviews

Book Review - Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

ABOUT:
WICKED above her hipbone, GIRL across her heart
Words are like a road map to reporter Camille Preaker’s troubled past. Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, Camille’s first assignment from the second-rate daily paper where she works brings her reluctantly back to her hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls.
NASTY on her kneecap, BABYDOLL on her leg
Since she left town eight years ago, Camille has hardly spoken to her neurotic, hypochondriac mother or to the half-sister she barely knows: a beautiful thirteen-year-old with an eerie grip on the town. Now, installed again in her family’s Victorian mansion, Camille is haunted by the childhood tragedy she has spent her whole life trying to cut from her memory.
HARMFUL on her wrist, WHORE on her ankle
As Camille works to uncover the truth about these violent crimes, she finds herself identifying with the young victims—a bit too strongly. Clues keep leading to dead ends, forcing Camille to unravel the psychological puzzle of her own past to get at the story. Dogged by her own demons, Camille will have to confront what happened to her years before if she wants to survive this homecoming.
With its taut, crafted writing, Sharp Objects is addictive, haunting, and unforgettable.
SHORT REVIEW:

A great story that I couldn't put down! I'm a sucker for the first person, and I know about the small town politics. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for drama of a plausible horror.
View all my reviews

Book Review - Wait, You're Not A Centaur by Nate Denver

Wait, You're Not A Centaur by Nate Denver
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
ABOUT:
A collection of 50 fifty- word stories by musician/ artist/ writer/ triathelete/ ice cream lover/ renaissance man Nate Denver. At turns scary, sweet, totally bizarre, hilarious, and always heartfelt, these 50 stories read a lot like haiku poems, except, well-- longer. Nate also did a bunch of drawings for the book, and they rule. This book also contains a full-length, 21 song CD, "Ghost Alarm", by Nate Denver's Neck (which is, strangely enough, the same guy as the author. go figure.) Introduction by Adam Jones of Tool.
SHORT REVIEW:
All of the stories in this book are highly entertaining. I found this book in a used book store while browsing through the poetry section. I read the title, and the first story, and I had to have it. I don't regret my purchase. Fifty stories. Fifty words a piece.
View all my reviews

Discounted Ebooks until March 9th

If you would like to read my books, now is the time to get them at a discount. From today until March 9th you cant obtain the Endlessly trilogy and Danse Macabre for 50% at Smashwords. Smashwords is a great site for any Ereader. It doesn't matter if you have a Kindle, Nook, or Sony reader. You can download the Ebook in whatever format you need.
Here are the links:
Endlessly (Book 1) is ALWAYS freehttps://www.smashwords.com/books/view...
Legacy (Book 2) is $1.50 with the discount code REW50https://www.smashwords.com/books/view...
Phantom (Book 3) is $1.50 with the discount code REW50https://www.smashwords.com/books/view...
Danse Macabre is $0.99 with the discount code REW50https://www.smashwords.com/books/view...
How To Kill Yourself is $0.99https://www.smashwords.com/books/view...

Book Review - The Crud Masters by Justin Grimbol

The Crud Masters by Justin Grimbol
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
ABOUT:
The Outsiders-with giant monsters and transforming robots You know that book about the poor kids and the rich assholes who mess with them all the time? The one where the main poor kid (C. Thomas Howell) and his best friend save those kids from a fire, and then the best friend (Ralph Macchio) dies and croaks out, "Stay gold, Pony Boy." And there's that rich girl, Cherry, who totally leads Pony Boy on the whole time? This is that But with giant monsters and robots fighting in the rumbles. And it's in The Hamptons. In a dystopian future. It's crazy Giant monster fights, touching love with sexbots and stinky women, extreme body modification, and Boogers, the guy who's sorta like Pony Boy, but gross and perverted-it's all right here.Stay gold.
SHORT REVIEW:
Funny and highly entertaining. I loved the names of the characters and the outrageous sense of comedy. Looking for a good laugh? Look no further.
View all my reviews

Book Review - A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick

A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
ABOUT:

Bob Arctor is a dealer of the lethally addictive drug Substance D. Fred is the police agent assigned to tail and eventually bust him. To do so, Fred takes on the identity of a drug dealer named Bob Arctor. And since Substance D--which Arctor takes in massive doses--gradually splits the user's brain into two distinct, combative entities, Fred doesn't realize he is narcing on himself.
Caustically funny, eerily accurate in its depiction of junkies, scam artists, and the walking brain-dead, Philip K. Dick's industrial-grade stress test of identity is as unnerving as it is enthralling.
SHORT REVIEW:

This started out slow. I didn't particularly care for the way the dialogue was written. But halfway through the book it picked up and sucked me in. I saw the movie years ago and thought I should read the book. I'm glad I did.
View all my reviews