Book Review; A Collection Of Books For Halloween, Autumn and Winter

Hi readers, 

It feels like I'm writing this post a little late - should have been closer to the start of October then the end! As most of you know though, I've not been well and so I've not been writing a lot, not that I've been keeping on top of this blog anyway! Now, I'm trying to get back to doing things I enjoy and helps to keep me busy.

So, I wanted to write about some books that have the same theme and fit in with Halloween which is next week. I'm not sure if I'll get around to writing about them all individually which is why I thought it would be good to do a collective post. However, I've not read some of these books yet, so I can't give a full view so this is just going to be a quick look and first thoughts.

I'm going to be looking at 6 anthologies, 4 novels, 8 non-fiction books and a coloring book. I really enjoy reading short stories at this time of year because things are often so busy it's nice to dip in and out of stories and not have to fully commit to a single novel.   

My hope is that this post might be useful to other people and introduce them to some new books. Let's make a start with the books in the above photo and what better way to be began with the master of darkness and horror himself, Dracula.   

The Rivals Of Dracula, Stories from The Golden Age of Gothic Horror edited by Nick Rennison.

I saw this book in Waterstones a month or so back and decided I had to have it for my vampire book collection. The anthology contains 15 short vampire stories which were written in the late Victorian and Edwardian times. The blurb describes the stories as being 'classic tales to chill the blood' by well known and less known supernatural writers including, M R James and EF Benson. 

I'm looking forward to reading this because I like Victorian literature and reading about 'early' vampires. 

Haunted Nights, A Horror Writers Association Anthology edited by Ellen Datlow and Lisa Morton.

Someone brought me this book as a Christmas present last year and I decided to save it to read around now. This anthology has 16 short stories that are themed around Halloween. I don't recognize any of the writers which can be a good thing as it's an introduction to new authors and the chances of re-reading a short story are low. 

The stories are described as being 'sly modern narratives to haunting traditional stories' and 'explore the many facets, cultures and traditions' of Halloween. I'm really interested in reading some of this stories as the titles sound so good and with them all being based around my favorite holiday just makes me want to read it more.  

Eight Ghosts, The English Heritage Book Of New Ghost Stories edited by Rowan Routh.

I saw this book whilst on holiday in Cornwall in the Tintagel Castle shop. I pre-ordered it in paperback when I got home. English Heritage, for those that don't know, is a charity that looks after over 400 historic sites in England, including Tintagel, many other famous castles and Stonehenge. 

This book contains 8 ghost stories described as 'a rich collection of unnerving ghosts and sinister histories,' set at different EH sites, some of which I have been too. I don't know any of the writers once again. I do like that there is no introduction to this anthology and it goes straight to the stories. The afterwards includes a list of EH sites that are known for being haunted which I really like and gives a nice finish to the collection.  

   

Complete Ghost Stories by Charles Dickens.

I found this book in a discount book shop along with 2 others. I'm a fan of Dickens, though often find his novels difficult and lengthy to read, so this collection of 20 ghost stories, including the super famous A Christmas Carol, is perfect for me. Dickens was interested in supernatural and liked telling ghost stories. In this anthology, his 'Gothic talents can be seen' and the stories cover, 'grotesque comedy...revenge, insanity, pre-cognition and dream visions.' 

I love the characters and plots Dickens has created in his other writings, so I'm sure I'll love reading these ghost stories too.   

Ghosts Of Christmas Past edited by Tim Martin. 

The last book in the photo, I brought with the Dickens one and they do go together. This anthology has 13 modern and classic short stories and some of the writers I know including; M R James, Jenn Ashworth, E. Nesbit and Neil Gaiman. The stories are Christmas themed and described as 'seasonal chillers,' 'a world of ghosts and horrors,' and 'real spirits of Christmas.' 

I'm looking forward to reading some of these stories at Christmas time. For me, winter evenings, especially when its rainy and windy, create the perfect back drop for curling up and reading horror stories.

The Mammoth Book Of Halloween Stories edited by Stephen Jones. 

This is the last of the anthologies and it's in the photo below. I love Mammoth Books, they cover so many different genres both fiction and fact and I've not found one I didn't like yet. This collection of 26 horror stories set around Halloween was published this year and is a new format from the other books; bigger, larger text and it's also the first to use Halloween in it's title.

The anthology is described as being, 'a dark feast of frightening fiction by some of the most successful and respected horror writers working today,' and is a 'spooky selection of stories set on the night when evil walks the earth.' Once again the writers are a mix and I known some of them including; Neil Gaiman, Nancy Kilpatrick and Ramsey Campbell.

I've started reading this and am enjoying it.   

    

                                                                                                                                                                   

Blood Communion, A Tale Of Prince Lestat by Anne Rice.

This is the first of the novels and I've all ready finished reading it! So I'll be writing a review soon. Briefly though, one of the most famous vampires in the world, Lestat returns in a new novel about the coming together of all the vampires in the world and how he became Prince of them all. This horror story is so fitting to this time of year and I love to get swept away by Anne Rice's passionate and deeply descriptive writing. 

Colouring Heaven, Halloween Special edited by Sally Fitzgerald, Anthem Publishing.

Different from the other books in this post, but I still wanted to include it, is this coloring magazine. I've a subscription to Colouring Heaven now as I found myself buying this magazine each month and loving the art work inside. This edition is the Halloween one and there are '40 unearthly designs with spooky-cuteness.' I love all the drawings and each captures a different spirit of Halloween in a funny or horror way.   

Adult coloring has become really big now and I'm on that train. It's so calming and a different escape from everything else, plus I like bring the pictures to life and making them my own. Plus, I have found myself creating stories about the people etc in the imagines and I'm hoping this will inspire me to write some more stories.        

    

World War Z by Max Brooks

People in the past have recommended I read this novel written as accounts after a zombie plague has taken over the world. I've not had the chance to yet but my boyfriend has lent this book and the follow up one to add to my reading pile. I've never been a fan of zombies, maybe it's because of all the supernatural they don't interested me and when a biologist friend told me that there was actual likely-hood of there one day being a zombie, it put me further off! 

However, I'm willing to read this novel because it's different style, 'based on extensive interviews' in the 'finest traditions of American journalism' interests me and lots of people say it's good. I just hope it's not too scary!  

The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks

This book is the companion to the one above and is about surviving zombies, 'don't be reckless with your most precious asset- life.' So, I guess if the threat of real zombies ever happened this self-help book would contain useful information in dealing with a whole range of situations. The chapters look at zombie myths and realities, weapons and combat techniques, on the defense etc. It has a very fact feel to it and isn't something I'll be reading at bedtime! 

A Secret History Of Witches by Louisa Morgan

This book was the first I picked up for the discount book shop and I thought it was like a non-fiction book about witches, then I read the back and saw it was a novel. It kinda of sits on the edge of my normal supernatural reading but it interested me enough to buy it. It's about a family of witches who have lost their magic and need to rediscover it as the Second World War arrives in order to change history, 'a tale of family, sacrifice, love and magic.' 

Without reading it I'm not sure how I'm going to feel about.    

Wicca For Beginners by Lisa Chamberlain

Keeping with the witch theme here's the first of the non-fiction books. I have had an interest in magic for awhile now and I've been meaning to get around to learning more about how I can use it. This little book gives a brief guide to 'Wiccan beliefs, rituals, magic and witchcraft.' It's laid out nicely and simply, not going into too much detail and covering lots to get you more interested. 

I've had a flip through and found I can connect with some of the ideas about the religion of Wicca. I'm looking further to reading more.  

Wicca Book Of Spells by Lisa Chamberlain

I got this book to go with the one above as I wasn't sure how many spells there'd be in the beginners book. Each page has a different spell on it, a list of things need to cast the spell and instructions on how to do it. There are spells on how to make friends, find love, succeeded at job interviews, get more money and protecting the home, 'for success in magic, your state of mind is the most important factor.' 

I've not tried any out yet but I'm hoping too. I thought that this, in a different way, might help me to deal with some of the stress and anxiety issues I've been having, of which there are actually spells for! I'll have to give it ago and write about what happens.   

This next group of books don't really link in with the Halloween, horror theme but they do link in with autumn and winter times and how that change of seasons can effect your mental health. Most people at this time of year get depressed and it's something to do with the lower sunlight, the darker nights and the coldness too. I've had different battles with depression over the years and this time it's been mixed in with anxiety and stress, so I wanted to get some different books to help deal with some of my issues. 

The two animal spirit guide books, I brought because I've been turning more and more to my animal spirits and asking them for help. I wanted to find some information out about the different animals I had been seeing and how best to communicate with them. I have found both these books helpful. 

Animal Spirit Guides is a reference book of each different animal and though it's been fun looking them up, I've found that some websites have had more detailed information on them. Animal Magic is more of a guide book to understanding animal spirits and how to interact with them. 

The other four books are about learning to overcome different problems; I got The Happiness Trap because I was looking for a self- help book about dealing with stress at work, anxiety and depression which this book covers. It comes across different from other books that deal with these problems as it sets out to explain that having strong emotions and feelings is normal and that humans aren't always meant to be happy. I've read the first chapter of this now and I'm starting to understand how this book is going to teach me how to deal with my mental health problems better. 

The This Book Will Make You... series has lots of different titles, I picked 3 that I felt would be most useful to me. they are cute little books, packed with simple information to help bring around changes to help you achieve the title. I've had a quick scan through all of them and they look easy to read and have practical information in them. I'm hoping that they will help me progress into a new job and improve my motivation and passion for things. 

That brings me to the end of the post and shockingly it's taken much of the day to write this. But it has made me happy and kept me busy. Let me know if you decided to get any of these books now or your thoughts if you've all ready read any of them. I'm looking forward to dipping into each of them during the coming long, cold winter nights. 

Book Review: Hauntings; True Stories Of Unquiet Spirit

Hi readers, 

I'm kicking off this year's book reviews with a non-fiction book. I don't think this is a first for me, but this year, I want to expand my reading and try some different books out. Also, I'm trying to read 50 books this year! I read 20 last year of which this true ghost stories book was the second to last. 50 books might not be a big ask of some people, but for me it is a challenge due to being dyslexic, but I'm hopefully I can achieve it. 

I do enjoy reading non-fiction supernatural books and have read a few of them now. There's something interesting about this mysterious 'other world' of unnatural happens. Some books do set out to convince you it's all real which can sometimes make it hard going, this book does have a bit of angle towards that, but it's let down by bad writing. That's the main reason why I choose to review this book! 

At first, Hauntings comes across as a factual book, listing the different kinds of ghosts and paranormal activity that has been record over the years. This is okay, but for someone who's read a few ghost books, they'll know most of this information. There's no added details or sense of new information about these ghosts. Then there's the true stories of hauntings and ghosts which come from across the world and different people, but these accounts are not well written.     

The chapters are divided up into the different kinds of ghosts and paranormal activity; Haunted Homes, Highways To Hell, Poltergeists. This does work though you get a bit of over lapping. There's introduction from the author about his experiences with ghosts then the first chapter lists the different kinds of ghosts and an explanation about what ghosts actually are. 

The second chapter focus totally on the city of Edinburgh which is claimed to be the most haunted city in the world. The stories listed here though are about well known haunted places and ghosts. There is an interview from a local ghost tour guide about the experiences he and visitors have had. This is interesting and does show that ghost tours can be more then just historical walks around. 

        

Then in the other chapters, we get a lot of 'true stories' about different ghosts. Some of these are just like a paragraph or two of eye witness accounts of supernatural sightings. Others include quotes from people and some of the stories are complete accounts. This mixture of writing is a bit jarring and there's no flow. Also, the bulk of the stories/accounts just suddenly stop; there's no ending/conclusion, which makes the writing worse. I realise in some cases there might not be a solid ending, but it would be easy enough to round up the story. 

I found some of the longer ghost stories to be a bit dull. There is one which is taken from a diary but we only get the main activity of the ghost and it's very broken up. Also, there are some interviews which feel like they go on for too long. I get that some of the stories are not to going to be exciting like fiction can make them, but if the writing of these accounts was better written then the stories might come across more interesting. I guess that's the downside to using so many quotes accounts though.    

The other issue with this book is it's size. It's a tall thin book, over A4 size. I think that is because it's a very photograph heavy book and the author/designer/editor decided to give us full page photographs. There is also large photos or collections of smaller photos on every page or next. Whilst this is great for really showing what ghosts and paranormal activity looks like, most of these photographs are not of real ghosts. There's maybe only a handful which are real and those photos are ones that are well-known to be of real spirits because they can't be disproved in anyway. There's also a few drawings which have been either taken from the accounts of people or drawn to go along side them. Even though it's good to have a visual interpretation, I feel this photos help to mask the bad and thinly detailed writing of the ghost stories.      

    

Overall, there are better books of this nature out there. 

Thanks for reading and see you next week. In the meantime, please check out my goodreads book list and my other blog where I write a short story everyday. 

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/7400715-hayley-hardman

https://thestoryfiles.wordpress.com/

(Image from Goodreads)

Book Review; Glass Houses by Rachel Caine

Hi readers, 

Today, I'm continuing with clearing off 'easy' books on my to read shelf and this was next on the list. I know this book came from my one of my favorite shops - The Works- cause it still had the price sticker on it, but the date I got this I don't know and it's more then possible my mum could easily have brought it for me as it's been on the bottom of my bookcase with other vampire novels for a good few years now.

I was a little bit worried that this story would be another 'Twilight'. I feel bad that I'm now judging teenage vampire fiction and sometimes other teenage supernatural novels by that marker. I think the Twilight books just annoyed me a lot, like Fifty Shades Of Grey did and now I'm too quick to say, 'oh, it's just another Twilight!' Every time I start reading that kind of novel. Also, when I took Glass Houses off my shelf I saw it had been sitting behind Interview With The Vampire and I so wanted to read that instead. It's my all time favorite book and favorite vampire novel. I resisted temptation, but my reading of Glass Houses was over shadowed by that urge, which so didn't help.

I'm please to report though that Glass Houses, isn't anything like Twilight, which makes me feel totally better about writing this review. However though, the story and the characters didn't really grab me enough to make me want to buy the next book. When I looked into it I found there was 15 books in The Morganville Vampires series and there hasn't been anymore since the last came out in 2013. Glass Houses is the first and was published in 2006. Which makes me safer to talking about some aspects of the story and characters, that people might see as spoilers. And I do try hard in all my reviews not to do that to people because I so hate it when it happens with me and then it makes me not to carry on or actually start reading a novel. So, you've been warned now.

There's so much I actually want to write about this novel, which isn't a change for me because I normally want to go into a whole essay and pick everything apart, just like every English Lit class has taught me. But I know people don't like reading long in-detailed reviews, more often then not they just want to hear if it was good or bad and worth their time reading. But I feel it can't be helped, I love vampires so much and tonight I'm in the mood for an in depth reviewing - which is shocking cause I've been struggling to write for the last month or so on all my blogs and personal projects! I guess sometimes it can take just one thing to get you back on the writing track.

So anyway, the plot of Glass Houses is that a 16 year old girl called Claire moves into a town called Morganville in Texas, USA where she attends college due to being super intelligent and her parents wanting the best for but not wanting her to grow up too fast and let her go, basically. American readers will get that more then UK readers as here 16 is like the starting age for going to college and we don't really have the very intelligent people fast tracking through the education system either. I think also the divide between 16 and 18 must be bigger in the USA. when I was a teenager I didn't feel like there was a such big gap between the ages like this novel makes out there is.

Claire is being bullied by a gang of girls due to making the leader like stupid in front of a hot boy. She over hears the girl call Monica say that World War 2 had been a Chinese thing and without really thinking about it, Claire corrects her. From that point on, Monica and her gang the Monickettes, which sounds like some pop band of the 1980's or 1990's, have been bullying her. Thus, the opening of the novel begins with Claire returning to collect her clothes washing and finding a note saying all of her clothes have gone down the rubbish chute.

Monica and the Monickettes are waiting for her as she leaves and Claire gets pushed down some stairs. Not wanting to return to the girl's only dorm, she finds an ad for a housemate and goes to visit the house. There she meets Eve - a goth, Shane - who has a tragic past and Micheal who turns out to be a ghost. She moves in with them and Eve tells her that vampires are real and they rule the town. Claire then falls prey to a young vampire and to free her Shane makes a deal of having his blood drunk instead. Claire doesn't want that though and after asking if there's anyway they can get out of, Eve tells her about this power book that the vampires have been searching for.

Of course, Claire finds the book and in the dramatic final a vampire finally gets their hands on it. Turns out this book is about how to turn people into vampires, a knowledge that vampires have lost and it was written by the vampire who gets it back. It also turns out the house they are living in use to be her's as well. The vampire agrees to grant the group protect against other vampires and their human friends so Monica can't bully Claire anymore.

Then though, Shane father's turns up and starts causes trouble after Shane phoned him to ask for his help in defeating the vampires who were attacking them for the book. His dad is like a vampire slayer after revenge. The novel ends on the cliff hanger of Michael being killed.

I found all the characters to be quite well written. I liked how they all had secrets and I can see how they'd develop into friends and couples in the other books. The bully and her gang were also interesting, but there wasn't enough time spent on their characters for me - this might happen in the other books though. As for the vampires, they were mostly in the background and we only got to see like three of them - not counting ones that briefly appear. This to me doesn't satisfy my vampire need enough. Though the actual backgrounds and lore of the vampires did, which I'm always very interested in, especially if it's a different take on how vampires came to be ect. Hopefully, there's more of that in the other books.

The narration of the book is first person and Claire tells the story, so we did only get one point of view. However, she's not your typical 16 year old girl and her high intelligence and scientific mind were a nice changed from the 'stereotypical' teenage girl that has a tendency to appear in this young adult supernatural novels. Though it did take me awhile to actually get into the story. I think the overshadow from one of the best vampire novels as well as one of the worst, didn't help, but it's also the pace, which happens a little bit too fast at the start so we didn't get to know Claire all that well before she get's pushed down the stairs.

That set aside though, I did find this novel easy and fast to read. It's written simply, but effectively and even if the age of the main characters don't give the target audience for these series the writing clearly does. I can understand why a lot of teenagers and young adults would like these books, but they are not for me and I need a lot more 'adult' to satisfy my needs now. (Anne Rice and J .R. Ward are clearly to blame here!)

Overall, I did enjoy reading this book and maybe if I was younger or had more time or had never read/seen Twilight I would look into reading more. As it stands though I'm not interested at the moment. I would recommend this book to teenagers and young adults who like this kind of thing and perhaps haven't read Twilight or are seeking some better vampires to read about.

Thanks for reading and if you've got the time check out my other blogs. Next week is going to be a Life Update post, as hopefully I'll have finally finished a post I started late July/early August about sewing projects for kids. If not, it'll be another book review, so till then.

Image from; Amazon uk and www.korsetpelangsing.biz

Book Review; Joyland by Stephen King

Hi readers, 

So, summer is finally drawing to a close even though in the UK it's not been much of a summer! We've only had a handful days that have been good and all the others have been rainy, windy and cloudy. I don't mind though because I'm not one of the sun and the heat! My favorite season is up next; autumn and already there's Halloween items in the shops! I just can't wait! But I thought I needed a book to end summer out on and since I now have a few books that I've finished reading and are waiting reviews, it was hard to decided. Finally, I choice Joyland, because it just seemed so fitting. 

I found this book at a cheap bookshop in London along with another King novel - Cujo-which I had heard about, but I had never heard of Joyland before. My first thoughts were that it was connect to the movie Adventureland, which I really like and does have a lot of the same themes as Joyland, but they are separate. In fact, Adventureland came out in 2009 and Joyland in 2012. Their time and place settings are also different with Joyland being in 1973 North Carolina and Adventureland being in 1987 Pennsylvania.

Joyland is only the second novel I've read by King. The first was Salem's Lot, which I read last year, but didn't review for some reason. though I have read some of his short stories and I do own a few other books. I think and this is before I get to reviewing the book, that I'm not a fan of King's writing style. I like the idea of his stories and I find his characters interesting, but the way he writes just doesn't grip me. I don't know if that's because I feel his style is stuck in the 1960's and 70's. Which given that most of his novels were written then and/or set then is understandable. Perhaps, it's his use of American language that I just don't get. Whatever it is, the story plot and characters carry things through enough for me to keep reading.

So Joyland, if you've not already guessed is set in an amusement park and I have this interested in such places. I have a lot of happy memories of going to theme parks with my family and friends, but I also have a fascination with abandoned theme parks. - Now that's something I do have a post about on here! I think also having watched Adventureland a few times I was more then eager to read this novel. I actually enjoyed reading it, though I was a little let down by the supernatural/horror as coming from King I expected there to be a lot more! This novel's main focus though is about growing up, love and heartbreak. 

Devin Jones a university student takes a summer job at Joyland park after being encouraged by his girlfriend who is having to move away to do her summer job. Devin is then warned by the park's fortune teller that he will met two children  a girl and a boy. Of course he doesn't believe her and gets on with things, including dressing up as the park's mascot Howie the Happy Hound. He also learns that the haunted house ride is haunted by a young woman who was murdered in there by her so called boyfriend and that people have seen her ghost. The crime has never been solved though. 

The fortune teller's words do come true and Devin meets a girl who's life he then saves and the boy is a medium who lives with his mother in a big house over looking the sea. Devin develops a friendship with the boy- who turns out to be very ill and his mother after helping them to fly their kite on the beach. Devin also breaks up with his girlfriend, which leaves him very heartbroken and though he's made new friends he feels lonely. He decides to stay at the park instead of going back to university in the hope that this will make him feel better. Devin also, with the help of one his new friends figures out who killed the girl in the haunted house ride and confronts them in a finally show down at the end of the novel. 

The story and characters are both well written and enjoyable. There are a lot of interesting characters that appear and they felt realist for the time and place. Devin develops a lot too as we get to see the effects heartbreak can have on a young man and how he overcomes this. The dialogue was also effective, even if they did use a lot of theme park term words that I had to keep remembering what they were code for. There was a lot of nice imagery that came out of the description too which really brought everything to life for me. 

I found the plot simple but mysterious and pacy which meant I did read through it fast. Like I said before though, my only issue is that I just can't get into King's writing style. However, I wouldn't let that put you off if you've not read any of King's stuff before because he's worth reading for his characters, which seem so realistic with their many layers. 

Overall, this novel is a good summer's read or even a autumn/winter read if you are wanting the summer back! I think it's also a good novel for first time or beginner readers of King because the supernatural/horror elements are really minimal. If you like 'coming of age' stories and ones set in the theme parks then it's really good. However, if you're looking for a little more horror and/or excitement then you might end up disappointed. Still give it a shot and let me know what you think.

Thanks for reading!           

If you've got the time, please check out my other blogs:

https://thestoryfiles.wordpress.com/

https://negativitybreakout.wordpress.com/

Also, check out my goodreads page for updates on books. 

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/7400715-hayley-hardman

Image from Amazon.uk. 

Additional information from; 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventureland_(film)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joyland_(novel)

Book Review: Heartless by Gail Carriger

Hi readers, 

Today it's the turn of the 4th Parasol Protectorate book; Heartless. The plot of this one does follow on, though there is a bit of a time gap of a few months. A now heavily pregnant Alexia has decided to have her unborn child adopted by her vampire friend Lord Akeldama as a hope to stop the vampires from killing her and the baby as they believe the child to be a threat to them. Of course, Alexia then ends up moving next door the Lord Akeldama, but secretly living in his second best closet, so she can help bring up the baby. 

For the moment though, she has to deal with a threat from a ghost about the Queen being killed and that is the main plot of the book. The twist about the Queens is nice and I think it took me awhile to figure it out. What's also nice that we get cut scenes to the ghost thinking and talking. Of course, the name of the ghost is hidden up till the end, but if you close read the book, it's easy to pick up. I know some readers can find cut scenes likes these jarring, but they fitted in well enough for me. I guess because the plot does cut to a number of different people anyway. 

I did think it was a little too much for eight month pregnant Alexia to deal with though and I get that the author is going for high drama, but I just felt given the historic time setting that Alexia should have really been aware of of how dangerous chasing after the supernatural and hell-bent inventors can be for a mother and unborn child. The only time we see Alexia resting is when she twists her ankle chasing a burglary and even then she's out of bed too soon! For me it just felt like it was pushing the reality lines too much. 

I still enjoyed how fast pace this one was though and it was good that the story was centered on mother's and children, since Madame Lefoux has to save her kidnapped son from the vampire queen and of course the only way she feels she can do that is to build a mechanical octomaton to battle the vampires who stole him. Of course, she does get her son back in away as she now has to go and live with the vampires in order to do so. 

And Alexia has her baby, though it does arrive early! She has a daughter, who does as Alexia has researched turn out to be a skin stealer, which means the baby can take a supernatural's power. So, she becomes a baby vampire at the end of the book. I think that's so cute and I can just imagine some of the trouble she might course in the next book now. 

The development of the characters is still good, though it feels to have slowed down for me. I like how the second characters are used well to support Alexia and I don't feel they are just in the background. They all have their own parts to play in the story and the whole group of characters works well together. It's nice they come together to solve all the issues too and at the end of the book everything is tied up. 

I think I would have liked to see more steampunk elements coming in, but that really is a secondary genre as the main one is really supernatural romance. And this book actually focus a bit more on married and family life, which is slightly different from the other three books in that everything is being set up for the baby coming, but also that Alexia has to revised Lord Maccon's past to find out what really happened for him to become the leader of the werewolf pack. The knowledge she finds out is does keep a secret, but I get a feeling that isn't going to last long.  

I was a bit sad at the end when the werewolves had to move out of their home though and into London center, due to Alexia's too fast thinking, but this does show the progress on the characters and I get all the werewolves need to be in one place and not split between two as they end up becoming. Also, this could be a plot element in the next book.

Overall, I did enjoy this book and it ended on a high with a supernatural baby being born. The plot and characters were as good as the other books too. I'm looking forward finishing the fifth and final book off now, but also a little sad too because I've grown attached to the characters. Hopefully, it'll have a good ending. Till Next Monday.   

  

Image from: https://www.amazon.co.uk

Book Review: The Mammoth Book Of Haunted Houses Stories

Hi readers, 

Today I'm reviewing an anthology of short stories that I have half previously read but never finished and once again, I probably won't finish because as much as I love and have raved about The Mammoth Books before, I just enjoy dipping in and out of them instead of reading them cover to cover. This is because I use them as something to read in between novels or when going on trips/holidays (I'm weird and don't actually like reading on holidays, guess because I'd rather be off exploring!) or like this time around, I couldn't make my mind up about what to read next, so I just decided I needed some inspiration for the short novella I've been writing over on my other blog. Thus I choice a collection about haunted houses!  

To make life easy, I've decided to focus on the stories I've read, but first let me say something about this collection as a whole. I have the expanded edition which has the added stories picked by famous horror movie actors as the last section. Unfortunately, I've not read any of those yet! This anthology is divided into different sections so that stories on the similar themes are group together. I've read Haunted Places; Fact or Fiction, Avenging Spirits and Little Terrors. I like the idea of doing this because you can just read a section that takes your fancy and avoid ones that you might find scary. 

Speaking of, I haven't been scared by the stories I've read so far, but that's mostly because they are mega old dating from 1800's and early 1900's. These stories don't really appeal to me due to their old fashioned style and language. Though there's nothing overall wrong with the writing and characters. Each story opens with this 'fact file' of information about the haunted house in question and a bio of the writer. I found these interested and a good introduction to the stories. There's a mixture of British, American and other places setting, which is nice and keeps the interested up. There's also a range of authors, but they all have one thing in common and that's they are well known for writing supernatural stories. Authors included are; Stephan King, James Herbert, Bram Stoker, Ruth Rendell, M. R. James, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Virginia Woolf.

The first story, The Haunted And The Hunters, has the main character and narrator investigating an an haunted house which is based on a true story. The narrator claims the house has been sent up to keep people away and he is proven true. I did like this one because of the twist at the end and that it reflects the tricks the Victorians used to get people to believe in ghosts. 

The next one, Authentic Narrative of a Haunted House, sees a family moved to the coast and stay in a very haunted house. The two daughters see ghostly figures and the father believes them to be burglars. Though it turns out that the remains of a old woman are buried in the back garden and she has been haunting the house. I found this one okay and the descriptions of the ghosts are good.  

A Case of Eavesdropping is set in a New York boardinghouse. A young man gets a room on the top floor and starts hearing a German son and father arguing over marriage and money. He complains about the noise, but nights later he over hears the killing of the son and thus learns that it happened years ago and he's been overhearing these events. I really liked this one because of the tension and the fact that you don't find out the truth till the end. 

Moving on, The Old House in Vauxhall Walk, is the story of a young man who's had an argument with his father and has left home. Luckily he meets an old friend/servant who invites him to stay the night in the house he and has family have just moved out of. There the young man is haunted by a old woman, who turns out hide all her riches and can't rest because of her selfish behavior. I liked the set up to this one and the ending too. 

My favorite has to be No. 252 Rue M. Le Price, which has a group of men stay in a haunted house were dark magic has taken place and the house is now haunted. I liked the creepy feeling to this story and it has a traditional ghost tale about it. It gripped me, though the opening is long, because I really wanted to know what was going to happen!  

The Southwest Chamber is another story set in an America boardinghouse. A teacher comes to stay in a boardinghouse run by two sisters and is put in the room where their aunt died. It turns out she wasn't a good person and there's this whole family saga along side the ghost aunt moving stuff and changing the bedroom around. I liked this story because of the interesting use of the mirror and the ghost making things not as they appear. 

Feet Foremost was one of the last stories I've read. A group of people gather in a house where a young bride was murdered. Her ghost has to be invited into the house and then she kills the person who invited her in. I found this one enjoyable, but the twist at the end just felt it was there as plot device to save the main character's boyfriend.

I've read a few more, but I didn't want to write about them all. I was hoping to have it close to finishing, but I've been busy doing other stuff and like I said at the start I do tend just to dip in and out. I did enjoy reading these, but I do find the age to some of the stories puts me off a bit. I would also say that it wasn't one of my favorite Mammoth collections and I do enjoy the vampire ones more!

Overall, this is a good anthology of short stories with a range of authors and different ghost stories. I'd so recommend this if you are in ghost/haunted house stories. 

Next Monday it's a life update! So, please come from that and also check out my other blog where you can get a story a day. Thanks for reading. 

     

Image from: 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/580933.The_Mammoth_Book_of_Haunted_House_Stories

Book Review; The Bone Season

Hi readers, 

I'm finally posting up my review of The Bone Season! I'm currently reading the second book, though I've only read like two chapters, just not had the time at the moment due to writing lots of stories and working. I also found out that this is a series of seven books and the publishing dates for the others have been released. I thought it was a trilogy and now knowing there are more books coming, I am not sure if I will read them all. I guess it depends on how the plot develops and if the characters start developing probably. As normal, I'm going to try and stay away from spoilers, but there might be some due to what I want to talk about. 

I'm not sure how I found out about this novel, but it was like around the time it came out last year, but I just couldn't fit it into my reading stack. I believed it was a dystopia novel and I did add it to my list. Then I found it in a very cheap bookshop around March/April and brought it, thus breaking my vow not to buy any books this year! However, it's only now that I've read it. For me it's more a book that boarders a lot of genres; science fiction, supernatural and alternate history, but I wouldn't say it was dystopia because it doesn't feel in the same vein as says 1984 or Wool or The Hungry Games.  

The plot of The Bone Season is that nineteen year old Paige Mahoney is a rare type of clairvoyant, a dreamwalker which allows her to get into peoples' minds and effect them. She lives in London 2059, where clairvoyants are banned and have to live in secret. Paige works with a group of others in order to survive, but she captured after visiting her father and wakes up at Sheol I. There she learns that the government has been sending clairvoyants to an alien race which are training the clairvoyants to defend them and the plant from another alien race. Paige, of course, sets about trying to escape.       

The novel opens with a huge exposition about the world and clairvoyants and what's happened in the past. That alone would put most people off and unfortunately, there are other 'exposition dumps' and repeated facts throughout the novel. I get why Shannon has done this though and that's because it's the easiest and fastest way to give the reader information that they need to understand the plot. However, for me its a sign of lazy writing and a weak point in the novel. I understand that this is her first novel, she is under the age of thirty and the audience is teenagers, which might be the clues to the way this book is written. 

The other downsides to this book are that it feels a lot longer then it needs to be, it's over 400 pages long. I spotted parts that could have have been shortened or cut out and if there was less exposition that might have helped too. Paige seemed a bit static and I didn't connect with her like I would have liked too. The background characters and there seems to be too many of them, didn't develop well enough for me. Also, I read somewhere that there was meant to be a starting romance between Paige and her capture Warden, but this didn't come across for me, if it was intended, but it was probably more like Stockholm Syndrome and also the fact that Paige sees she can't escape without his help. Lastly, the aliens can drink blood and auras which they use to strength themselves and to me that just reminds me of vampires. I know there are other blood drinking creatures out there, but I didn't feel this was needed, just having them drink auras would have been fine. 

With all that said, I did enjoy the world building and the plot overall. I found it different to other things I had read. Though other reviewers say it's not different from books they've read, so I guess that depends on you. There is enough character development from the main characters, but for me it feels very plot led. I was fine with all the supernatural stuff to and I didn't mind the science fiction parts either. I can also understand with this being the first book in the series why it's been written the way it has and I just hope the next book is a bit different and more focused on the characters. It does seem like this book is dividing reviewers, so I'm going to leave it up to you to decided for yourselves, but I would recommend giving it a try.   

That's all for now and next week I'll be back with another December/Christmas Update. 

Book Review: Prince Lestat by Anne Rice

Hi readers, 

I'm opening my new book reviewing with probably one of the most anticipated novels for horror, supernatural and vampire fans from last year. Being the massive Anne Rice and Vampire Chronicles fan that I am, I couldn't wait to read this and finally in the small hours of last night I finished it, almost two months after having started it. It be honest, I was a little disappointed. To make matters worse, it wasn't just one thing that I had issues with and right now I'm not going to be able to explain all the whys and hows, so, lets look at the key points. 

The first thing, was the segmentation of the novel. I understand that Rice's writing technique has improved over the many years she has been working and this was her first vampire story after fifteen years. However, unlike the plot and narrative structure of her other novels this one didn't have a linear feel to it, even though it was meant to be and I think this is because of the way the novel is divided up. 

Secondly, there is no real focus on one or a few characters, instead you get a lot of characters telling you different parts of the narrative, which sometimes shows their lives and other times gives you the bigger picture. There is also the switch between first person and third person narrative. For me this didn't actually work and maybe its because I'm a bit of an old fashioned reader, but I like my novels not to switch the narrative voice around and not to focus on such a large number of characters telling the story. The flow of things ends up becoming a bit lost and I felt distracted by this.    

Thirdly, the problem with there being so many characters, that you can become lost and start to forget who's who. Normally, I have good mind for that kind of thing, but towards the end of the novel, I was questioning if all the characters had really been necessary. I get part of the plot was to draw all these ancient vampires together to form a council and royal court, but many just seemed to faded into the background. Clearly, they all have their stories to tell and maybe Rice's next books will focus on them, but for me it was a case of character over-saturation.

Fourthly, I felt that parts of the story dragged on or weren't necessary. I know that Rice's writing can often be over descriptive and in the early Vampire Chronicles books I did enjoy this, but this time round, things felt repetitive and for me the last few chapters felt a bit useless. At other points the characters went over things the reader already knew and things the characters should have already known and I felt that maybe this was a bit of bad writing. 

Overall, my first impressions of Prince Lestat are mixed. The characters are well written and they still feel like themselves from the past books. The plot is interesting and does keep your attention, it feels 'new' too and it does tie in nicely with the series. However, it really is let down by the narrative structure and too many characters. If you are an Rice fan and have read the other books, than I'd recommend you give it a try, for anyone else and specially if you are new to Rice's books, you will need to have read some of the others before attempted this one because I don't think some of the characters and themes will be understandable. 

Hopefully, you've found that useful and I'd love to hear your thoughts on this novel. I'm not sure what I'm going to be looking at next week as I've got a few books lined up. Over on my other blog right now I'm looking for short story submissions, so please check that out at; http://thestoryfiles.wordpress.com/submission-guidelines/  

     

Links and images: 

 http://bookriot.com/2014/11/10/excited-prince-lestat/

Haunting Ghosts

Well, autumn feels like it's here! I know the British summer has been a complete wash out and there's been so much rain and hardly any sun. I spent two weeks in Cornwall on a camping holiday and it rained the whole time! Autumn is my favourite season though. I love the transformation in nature and the trees having multi-coloured leaves. I even don't mind the change in the weather, but over the last week as autumn has settled in and the last lingering reminds of summer-if that is at all possible-has faded, it has gone cold and dark very quickly. Not what I was expecting and well....it feels like next month winter should be gripping nature with icy fingers already, but we still have my favourite month to go- October and strangely the topic of this post does link in with that month.

Recently I've been watching series 14 of Most Haunted on TV. I've always been a fan of Most Haunted and it's properly the only TV show I can say that I'm truly dedicated too. With that said though, because I don't have Sky and have to cope with watching it now on Pick.TV and what was before Living.TV, I've missed a few episode of different series and have always been playing catch up with the show. I guess I could just buy them all on DVD. They are cheap enough on Amazon. But I'm still a poor student and don't have the money to fund collecting them.

I don't want this post to turn into a review or discussion about Most Haunted. I just wanted to use it as a starting point to talk about ghosts and the supernatural genre. Though I properly could go on about Most Haunted forever! There's a few things that I actually do want to say about the show though.

Firstly, I should point out that I do believe in ghosts and have had a few different encounters with seeing, hearing, feeling and smelling things that couldn't be explained as being natural/normal. I've always known from being little that I'm very sensitive to the supernatural and was once told by my grandma that I had the physic ability. However, I've always played down low with this and never really admitted to people this, (Okay, so admitting on my blog properly does count. but I'm not going into details here so...) However, I've never wanted to explore more or learn how to connect ghosts or actually become a medium. I've never been interested in going down that pathway. To be honest I don't know why I decided upon this, maybe because half the time I just believe it's my imagination playing with me? Being very creative, over imaginative and a writer it's kind of easy to dismiss the voices and the sensations.

Secondly, for the first time I've actually just read some reviews about MH -as in previous post I don't read a lot of reviews.- So it's interesting to see the clear divided in the comments about the show. Lots of people really do like it and believe that what the team capture on film is supernatural, other people say it is fake and all staged. I've to admit that there have been a few episodes where I've had to wonder the same thing or else I've just dismissed what they've called a supernatural noise as a natural sound straight away. I can understand why the show might fake some events because of the whole entertainment value and that they might be lacking in the real paranormal activity. However, I do believe that sometimes they have actually caught stuff.

I think that MH is my favourite show because I'm interested to know if ghosts can be proved for real. Yeah, I know I believe in them and have connected with them before, but I'd like to see the actual proof about the whole ghost thing. I don't know if MH can really do this though or if anyone else can for that matter. The haunted places they film at interest me too and hearing the ghost stories as well! One thing of late that I'm really started to hate is when they create images and sounds through camera and computer visuals during the start of the show. I know they do this for effect and to get people interested, but it just goes to show how much faker can now be achieved and for me it then dampens down any actual paranormal activity they capture.

Writing that has just reminded me of why I wanted to write this post in the first place! I read a very bad and badly written review about the movie Paranormal Activity 1 last night. I had to disagree with that review because I did like it and did get scared by it.

 

I would like to think that one day we'd find out the truth about the supernatural, but then I guess that all the mystery, which is why it's good and fascinates people would be gone and people wouldn't be that interested in it, even if it was found that we could comminute with ghosts etc properly. It's the mystery of the unknown and wanting to discover that keeps people (and readers of supernatural fiction of course!) interested in the paranormal. Now to tie in with my experiences of ghosts before I move on again, I want to write about the ghost walk I did in Cornwall in Polodark Mines.

Now that day it was raining, cold and dull. Having nothing else to do we went to the mines early and though we'd prebooked and paid for the tickets online for the tour, we got the chance to visit the mine in the afternoon time before we did the evening walk. I'm really glad we got the chance to do this because mines can be dark, small, eerie places and half the time you just have this feeling of expecting something to jump out at you. When we went down again for the tour they had turned the lights off and it was all done by candlelight. The atmosphere had changed so much it was hard to believe we were walking through the same areas we'd been in before. The guide and medium told us about the ghosts that had been seen in each different area and showed us photos of ghostly shapes that had been caught. My mum swore she saw a little girl with blond hair and my dad and brother (who don't believe) swore they saw a shadow man shape walking cross the pathway behind us. Now, I had two options- either to tune in or tune out and I decided to turn out and block my mind so that if 'anything' did decided to try and talk to me or appear before me I wouldn't freak out. I was pretty scared as it was to be honest. That however didn't stop the ghosts from appearing in the photos I took and the one below is the best photo I have from that night.

Telling ghost stories dates back to ancient times and has many links with folklore. Around the world people know about ghosts and so many stories have come from people's experiences and imaginations. There is just something about the supernatural the interests so many people and maybe it's as I suggested before because it's an unknown thing. It's stated that the 'golden age of ghost stories' was in the 1800's and mostly down to the Victorians having a very deep fascination with all things supernatural and I guess it was something of the 'fashion' at the time. So many great stories and writers came out of this time though and they have gone on to inspire others to carry on with the supernatural genre.

It's strange to think for me as a writer that nearly all of my writing fits into this genre. Yes, most of it is about vampires, but I've written some haunted house stories or novels which feature ghosts. For me, I think it's about escaping from the real world and writing about something that is outside the normal. I've always had an enthralment with vampires which I've never full been able to explain to anyone not even myself! The supernatural is a very popular subject and people like the thrill they get out of being scared. That's why people ride roller coasters and do other crazy things, they like the rush they get that states they are alive. Being scared has the same effect and that's why people like watching horror movies. Within the writing it allows the exploration of something that is hard to understand. That has been a key in most of my writing and I find that by expressing the problems or events that go beyond me, I can get a better picture and understand more. Maybe this has something to do with ghost stories as well? Though I know people love to share their experiences and you don't have to look far on the internet to find that out! I can't further explain my love for writing and reading the horror genre. It's always been something that has appeared in my writing.

I think the supernatural as a genre will be sticking around for a long time yet. Yeah, it might fall out of popularity, but it'll bounce back again. People are too interested in it and it will always make for a good story in any format.

The main question here is do you actually believe?

Images from:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Most-Haunted-Series-14-DVD/dp/B004G5Z0BE/ref=sr_1_2?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1348351324&sr=1-2

http://www.imdb.com/media/rm2607253760/tt1179904

Author's own collection

http://studentsblog.skola.edu.mt/2009/11/the-haunted-house-by-dale-and-aaron/

The ghostly photos.

Cool frog in Liverpool square.

Hey, I know I've not wrote in ages, but first not a lot was happening and then suddenly I had to do all my uni work and found making time for anything else difficult. It has been a strange time really, because after three weeks of well....not doing a lot, but knowing that I should be doing something, I've had to wake up to the fact that time is running far too fast for me to catch up with it, so I might as well get down to the tasks before me-namely horrible essays about long dead people and others who think they know everything about them.

Today I manged to do another essay, so that is something of a weight off my mind, but it still needs fixing up and a biblography, so its not over yet! This essay was tough, I think I made the mistake of choosing the most easiest question and then whilst trying to write it discovered that really it was hard because of the lack of second critics out there about the plays and themes I was meant to be writing about. So I decided that what really needed to happen was someone to come along and write about the things I was trying to study-thus making life slighter easier. This then got me thinking about why don't I write this article/book thing? but I just don't have the time!

I know what my tutor would say, 'give up sleeping.' That was his claim to frame, he slept for only 4 hours for like 10 years. But I can't do that! I'd be too tired to do anything and right now, being so pushed about, I think that would only add to my stress. Anyway, I'm sure you don't really want to hear about this, so I'll get on to my title......

New bar in Ormskirk!

On Thursday one of my friends had one of her friends from home come down for the day to visit her and get to see her life at uni. We went shopping in Liverpool, had tea and then came back to Ormskirk for a night out. We had a great time and when we had to leave the bar at 1am, we felt it was too early for us, so we went back to my house and there decided to go on to the park which is just opposite my house on the fields. It was here that whilst taking photos, that I suddenly become aware that something wasn't right.......we were not alone on the field......and on viewing my photos I found something very strange....

What can you see in the mist?


When we got back, I showed my friends the photos and we tried to come up with scientific explanations, but we could arrive at none other point then the fact that the field was haunted by something......

A ghostly hand grips the wrist of my friend.

So now we are scared to go back on the field! I think it'll be awhile until we go out again as well, because I spent all of Friday recovering and I've got more work to do as well......

Anyway, if you have any ideas about the photos or you see something in them, please leave me a commit, I'd love to hear from you.