From Below by Darcy Coates

 

Thank you #PoisonedPenPress and #NetGalley for giving me From Below by #DarcyCoates to read and review.

Overall, this story is fantastic. There is a lot of world building and character development all throughout the story. It is also eerie and dark. I imagine it would be hard to describe desolate scenes, but Coates manages to do that with ease. You can definitely tell that Coates did her research for this book.

There are so many memorable moments, times when I felt I was there with the team exploring the sunken Arcadia. I felt the tension, fears, and amazement. 

You know the old school game Myst? In the beginning you find two books, a red one and a blue one. In each, the brother is cutting in and out, there is static and they are trying to tell you something. You get just bits and pieces of what they need. 

There is a scene in From Below, about five percent in, Arcadia is sending out a “pan-pan”. Pan-pan is like an SOS but without the severity of imminent threat to life. I get the same emotional reaction from the pan-pan scene as I did from Myst. You need to hear more of what is happening. 

The mood of the book stays eerie and dark up to about seventy percent in. Then things start to go horribly wrong. There is something in the sunken ship with them. They are about to find out what it is.

The ending was a clean finish. I had hoped for more from the ending, but it definitely wrapped things up. It is almost as if Coates wanted the happy ending but not everyone is okay after the incidents exploring Arcadia. 

Definitely give this book a try. It is worth every minute of your time.

The Way Back Almanac 2023 by Melinda Salisbury

 Thank you @NetGalley, @WatkinsPublishing, and #Melinda Salisbury for allowing me to read and review The Way Back Almanac 2023.

This is a gorgeous book that helps you become close to nature. Whether you are on a new journey and revisiting this journey, it will have everything you need to reinvigorate your path to becoming one with nature. 

The book has an introduction on how and why the author, Melinda Salisbury chose each subject in each month.

Then, beginning in January 2023, you can follow along. There are food recipes, recommended books to read, ideas/recipes on how to care for yourself and lots of space to take notes.

This would be a fabulous Christmas gift!

101 Super Cute Cat Things to Draw: Draw, doodle, and color a plethora of purrfectly pawesome felines and quirky cat mash-ups by Lulu Mayo

 Thank you #NetGalley and author #LuluMayo for sending me a copy of this fantastic book 101 Super Cute Cat Things to Draw!!

This is such a cute book! Lulu Mayo teaches us how to draw some of the cutest little cat things.

It starts out with a section of using a color wheel. I love the title of one of them "Pawsitively Pretty Pastels". From there on, the author shows up 101 ways to draw a cat. Such as a cat dragon, a mushroom cat, a cat cabbage, and cats drawn as zodiac signs!

Even if you don't draw all of the cats, this is definitely a must-have for all cat lovers!

Brood X by Joshua Dysart

 Thank you #NetGalley and #TKOPresents for sending me Brood X by #Joshua Dysart to read and review.

I thoroughly enjoyed this fast paced story.
There are seven men hired to complete an underground bunker for an anonymous person. While working on the site, a swarm of cicadas are released into the area. One by one, all the men work against the mental strain of having thousands of cicadas flying, singing, and landing on them.

Each chapter has some exceptional artwork that portrays the event. This was a nice touch to the story.

I hope to read more by Joshua Dysart. He is a talented writer who weaves a fantastic story.

The Reaper's Quota by Sarah McKnight

 The Reaper’s Quota by Sarah McKnight

This is a hilarious and fast story to read. It was nothing like what I was expecting and I thoroughly enjoyed the entire book.

Reaper # 2497 (a.k.a. Steve) is tasked with a set amount of deaths he has to complete or he will be executed. This story is about the Random Death quota he has to complete. He is torn between his humanity and his need for survival. While completing his tasks, he is struggling with the right and wrong of being a Reaper. 

My only issue with this book is the ending. It ends on a cliffhanger. I am, however, going to be looking for the second in this series. 

Thank you to #Netgalley and author Sarah McKnight for a copy of this book for an honest review. #TheReapersQuota

Black Mouth by Ronald Malfi

 Black Mouth by Ronald Malfi

I don’t even know where to start with this review. I am torn between 3.5 and 4.5 stars. I have never read Malfi before, so I don’t know if this is his typical storytelling. There are so many good points to this story and some that fell flat. 

In a nutshell, we have a few main characters. Jamie, an on-again and off-again alcoholic. Dennis, his brother, has some mental disabilities. Mia, a young lady with some mental struggles. And Clay, a young man with vitiligo. All four meet the Magician, and soon learn there is more to this “man” than they realize. 

There are five sections to this story. Parts one, two and three; alternate between their childhood and adulthood stories. Most of them have moved away as they grew up. Started some careers, made some mistakes. We get a good picture of their mental and physical state. We learn all about their conflicts and growing pains.

Parts four and five - we are up to date on where they are in life. A huge event has led to a reunion. They come together in hopes of ending a tormenting childhood experience, in hopes to end a life of regrets and heartache. And they learn a little bit of magic along the way.

Throughout this whole story, I was wrong with every assumption except one. And even that assumption is just slightly off the mark.

Here is a quote straight from the story. It sums up this whole book perfectly. You can read into this quote in so many different ways…just like this story, it has so many angles. 

“We cannot run from ourselves”.

Breach: Lost In a World No Longer Her Own by Candace Nola

 Candace Nola knows how to write a fantastic story. I am blown away by the smoothness in which she writes.

This story is about a young woman who gets lost in the woods in a different world from her own. She begins to see new foliage and creatures that are made of nightmares and dreams. Her life is threatened many times and she has to learn to navigate this new world. 

The descriptions of the forest she has entered are so well written, that I can feel and see vividly what she is dealing with. Nola has a way of describing scenes and feelings without overdoing it. I can actually visualize what a creature looks like and I feel like I can smell everything along with our main character. 

There was a point at which I felt I knew exactly what was happening, I thought I had figured it out; but I was so wrong. I loved the unpredictability of this story.

While this is a very mild book of horror, filled with mystery and thrills, it makes a fantastic “get out of your reading slump” story. It drew me in right away and held my attention the whole time. 

I am definitely going to be reading everything else by this author. And you need to give this one a try!