Showing posts with label Alma Katsu. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alma Katsu. Show all posts

Monday, April 5

Blodeuedd's Monday Review: The Hunger by Alma Katsu

Hardcover, 382 pages

Published April 5th 2018 by Bantam Press (first published March 6th 2018)

Historical fiction

Library


I meant to write a review at once, oh well...

I would not have read this if my bookgroup had not recced it. I fell into at once. She is a great write. Though I can't say I agree with the quote on the cover, utterly chilling. Yeah no, it was never a scary book at all.

Right, The Donner party. Nature is brutal and these people should not have started their trek to Cali this late. And then there is discord sown between on the trail, and oh they want to try this new route. No, do not try the new route!

What this book does is to bring in a paranormal angle too, what made them act like they did, and the woods are dangerous. More than wild animals lurk within.

I really want to try more from her after this one! I liked it a lot. It was more a story of human nature 



After having travelled west for weeks, the party of pioneers comes to a crossroads. It is time for their leader, George Donner, to make a choice. They face two diverging paths which lead to the same destination. One is well-documented – the other untested, but rumoured to be shorter.

Donner’s decision will shape the lives of everyone travelling with him. The searing heat of the desert gives way to biting winds and a bitter cold that freezes the cattle where they stand. Driven to the brink of madness, the ill-fated group struggles to survive and minor disagreements turn into violent confrontations. Then the children begin to disappear. As the survivors turn against each other, a few begin to realise that the threat they face reaches beyond the fury of the natural elements, to something more primal and far more deadly.

Based on the true story of The Donner Party, The Hunger is an eerie, shiver-inducing exploration of human nature, pushed to its breaking point.

Saturday, January 5

Favorites of 2012



Happy Saturday! The time has now come to announce the favorites of the year! Woot woot!


CATEGORY 1 - MUSIC:
Favorite song of the year.....
'Wide Awake' by Katy Perry.



Favorite solo artist of the year......
Katy Perry



Favorite Band/Group of the year..........
Paper Route


CATEGORY 2 - MOVIES
Female character of the year......
Fat Amy from Pitch Perfect played by Rebel Wilson


Male character of the year.......
Leo from The Vow played by Channing Tatum

Movie of the year.......
Braveheart featuring Mel Gibson 

CATEGORY 3 - BOOKS
Female Character of the year.................
Chloe from 'The Dark Highlander' by Karen Marie Moning

Male Character of the year...............
Li Tao from 'The Dragon and the Pearl' by Jeannie Lin 


Author of the year......................
Karen Marie Moning. Author of the Highlander series and Fever series


And now the biggie...it was so hard to just pick one*drumroll*....
My Favorite book of the year.......*drumroll*....
'The Taker' by Alma Katsu 



That's that. What were your favorites of 2012? 

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<3CaroleRae











Friday, August 17

Book Review: The Devil's Scribe

Author:  Alma Katsu
Title: The Devil's Scribe
Genre: Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Paranormal
Pages: ebook
First Published: March 13th, 2012
Where I Got It: Amazon


"After decades of running from her past, Lanore McIlvrae returns to America for the first time in 20 years to confront the source of her fear. The year is 1846 and Lanore—Lanny—has just landed in Baltimore after a long transatlantic crossing. That very night, she meets an “unattractive man with a high forehead and sunken eyes, and a tiny, pinched mouth like a parrot’s beak” who claims to write stories so dark and unsettling that he could be the Devil’s Scribe. His name? Edgar Allan Poe. Has Lanny finally met her match in this macabre man…or is it the other way around?"


I must give warning.......this is a short story, so things are bound to happen quickly and be rather, well, short. For this review I'll just divide this is two. ^.^:

What I Liked
Well, I really like Alma Katsu's writing for some reason. She has me rather hooked! I loved how she blended Edgar Allen Poe into Lanny's story. It made me smile and chuckle, even though this story was slightly on the darker side.

Which, whilst speaking of it, was another reason this book caught my interest. It has a small dark element like the full novel by Alma Katsu 'The Taker'. I'm so glad that Alma Katsu decided to share this extra story of Lanny's and it was fun. Well, the word "fun" may be a slightly wrong word to describe this book, but I so did enjoy this.

What I Disliked
Well...I'll try to be vague, because I don't want to spoil anything...

I wish that Lanny had gotten to know Edgar a little bit more, because as dark as he is I really adore him. That's pretty much all I disliked about this short story.


Conclusion
This was a fun read and I loved it even more because Edgar Allen Poe made a guest appearance to the story of Lanny from 'The Taker'. This was pretty clever and I give a round of applause to Alma Katsu! Even though I really did enjoy this, I had to keep reminding myself that this is a short story and short stories tend to be rather short. If you like 'The Taker' you'll enjoy this. Out of five stars I grant this 5 stars and I can't wait until I read the second book in the Taker series. 

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<3CaroleRae

Sunday, June 24

Book Review: The Taker

Author: Alma Katsu
Title: The Taker (Book One)
Genre:  Fantasy, Mystery, Adventure, Paranormal Romance, Historical Fiction
Pages: 436
First Published: September 6th, 2011
Where I Got It: My shelf (won it at a giveaway over Asian Cocoa's Secret Garden)


"True love can last an eternity... but immortality comes at a price... 

On the midnight shift at a hospital in rural Maine, Dr. Luke Findley is expecting another quiet evening of frostbite and the occasional domestic dispute. But the minute Lanore McIlvrae—Lanny—walks into his ER, she changes his life forever. A mysterious woman with a past and plenty of dark secrets, Lanny is unlike anyone Luke has ever met. He is inexplicably drawn to her, despite the fact that she is a murder suspect with a police escort. And as she begins to tell her story, a story of enduring love and consummate betrayal that transcends time and mortality, Luke finds himself utterly captivated.

Her impassioned account begins at the turn of the nineteenth century in the same small town of St. Andrew, Maine, back when it was a Puritan settlement. Consumed as a child by her love for the son of the town’s founder, Lanny will do anything to be with him forever. But the price she pays is steep—an immortal bond that chains her to a terrible fate for all eternity. And now, two centuries later, the key to her healing and her salvation lies with Dr. Luke Findley.

Part historical novel, part supernatural page-turner, The Taker is an unforgettable tale about the power of unrequited love not only to elevate and sustain, but also to blind and ultimately destroy, and how each of us is responsible for finding our own path to redemption."


This is the first book of the series and all I can to that is.....THANK GOODNESS! I need to read the next one. When I finished reading the last sentence, I closed the book and just laid there for a moment in awe. Alma Katsu sure did take me on adventure that I'll never forget! It's a rather dark and at times sexy book that I'll revisit in the future.

Alma Katsu sure does have an  imagination and I give her a round of applaud. This story really was an original. After I got past the first couple of chapter, I was addicted. Getting the book away from my hands was like pulling a tooth. When not reading my mind would drift to questions I had about what would go on next. The main question was, "what the hell is going on?" It sure was a mystery and again...kuddos to Alma Katsu.

The book had three POVs: Luke's, Lanny, and Adair had a little snipbit of storytelling. There was also three different time periods at play; of course modern day (Luke's), the early 1800s in Main (Lanny's), and 14th century Hungarian territory. I was surprised about how balanced Alma Katsu kept the book. She knew right where to put the breaks of each POV. When I was getting a little weary of Luke's POV (which annoyed me at points), the POV would switch back to Lanny. Kuddos to her, because I find that the balance is a little off.

Speaking of Luke...I didn't like the majority of the characters in this book. At points I did like Lanny, but that was when Jonathon was absent. She seemed much stronger and not as annoying as when Jonathon is around. He was her flaw. He was her weakness. He was also a jackass (excuse my profanity) and didn't deserve Lanny or even Sophia for that matter. Its pretty sad that I was rooting for Adair (who was the baddie) to win Lanny's heart. Haha. 

One of the genres that this book is labeled as is Romance. I feel like it should be labeled as Anti-Romance. I felt like the theme was "love is crappy and nothing good comes out of it." I normally love stories where there is helpless and tragic love. However, I loathed Jonathon and I couldn't see why Lanny was tragically in love with him. Ugh. Sorry I keep drifting to ramblings on my dislike of good ol' Jonny. 

I'm going to cut my ramblings short and just go to the conclusion bit. ^.^

Overall, I really liked this book. It was a dark, sexy, mystery, and adventure filled book. It left off with a little cliffhanger and I can't wait to read the second book. Even though I didn't like the whole Lanny-Jonathon thing or the majority of characters, I still highly enjoyed this book. I would recommend this to any who likes books out of the norm or for those who love dark tales of romance and mystery. Out of five stars I grant this one 5 stars. Woot woot!

Favorite Character(s): Lanny (when she's away from Jonathon), Adair (he was such a complex character), and Alejandro.
Not-so Favorite Character(s): Jonathon (...) and Tilde (mmm)

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<3CaroleRae