A WWI Choose Your Own Adventure???

World War I by Gwenyth Swain
Reviewed by Jason Koivu
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A Choose Your Own Adventure styled book on World War I seems disrespectful. CYOA are written for fun. It would be like doing a Mad Libs for 9/11.

Once I got past that feeling and got done to reading this thing --and read it I did, for I can not help myself when it comes to a CYOA-- I actually enjoyed this a good deal. It treats the war and its participants with the honor they deserve.

Unlike all CYOAs I've read, in this You Choose book you choose from three different characters to play: a Belgian nurse, a British Tommy, and an American ambulance driver. Because it's broken up this way, while maintaining the usual short CYOA number of pages, the storylines within World War I: An Interactive History Adventure are necessarily short. Usually you get about a dozen pages per story before surviving or dying.

And there is a lot of dying in this one. More than any other CYOA I've ever read. Author Gwenyth Swain didn't pussyfoot around the bloodiness of this particularly gruesome war, at least not considering this was probably written for someone around 10-12 years of age.

Yes, it is short, so much of the war is criminally curtailed, but still, I learned a tidbit or two. Seems there's always something new to learn about this seemingly insane war no matter how much I read about it.

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Angel and the Assassin

Fyn Alexander
Loose ID
Reviewed by Nancy
4 out of 5 stars

Summary

Kael Saunders loves to dominate handsome, masculine men like himself. Being in charge is his way of life whether it be in his work with the Secret Intelligence service, his personal life, or in the dungeon. The last thing he expects when he is out on a hit is to fall in love with Angel, an eighteen-year-old boy desperate for the love and guidance of a Daddy. Yet Angel also has a passion for being spanked and restrained. Two very different men find love in a world of skilled assassins, Bosnian terrorists, and dungeon play.

My Review

Kael Saunders is a professional hitman. Angel is an 18-year-old who had the misfortune of being the sole witness to the assassination of his bad-tempered stepfather, an arms dealer working with the Bosnians. Kael really shouldn’t let the boy live, but Angel needs a Daddy and Kael is quite taken with Angel despite the fact he is not his type at all. They have hot sex while Angel’s stepdad’s corpse is cooling downstairs and then take a first-class flight to London.

This is just the beginning of a weird, unbalanced relationship where somehow, Angel and Kael learn to work together to meet each other’s needs. Kael is tough and ruthless, having grown up with a single mom. Though well educated, he’s had to defend himself from those who mocked his poverty. He’s in control of his own life, and he’s accustomed to being obeyed. Angel, on the other hand, retains his sweetness and innocence despite being abandoned by his mother. For a long time he’s dreamed about finding the Daddy who will love, cherish, and guide him.

This was a fun, kinky, suspenseful and intense story. Despite its flaws, I greedily gobbled it up.

The good stuff

I found Kael a rather fascinating character. Though he is a remorseless killer, he must confront his inner demons in order to be the Daddy that Angel needs. His neatness and cleanliness, which is an asset on the job, carries over to his home life and borders on pathological. Angel, a typical teenager in certain ways, manages to disrupt Kael’s sense of order and throws him off balance. I loved their conflicts and Kael’s loss of control when it comes to Angel. It made him more human.

Ever since the death of Kael’s friend, Misha, he planned to keep a written journal of his life. I love these brief interludes that provided insight into Kael’s behavior and showed glimpses of his past.

Kael’s complicated, contentious relationship with his boss, Stephen Conran, is one of the best parts of this story. These men share a history, as we learn from Kael’s journal.

The sex – raw, steamy, passionate and intense, especially the scenes in the dungeon.


The annoying stuff

Angel lied about being 20. He’s actually 18. Many times I thought he was 13 or even younger. He throws tantrums, he’s defiant, he lies, he cries, and he has a “blankie” that Kael rightfully threw in the dumpster. Yet he lectures Kael about his own psychological shortcomings. His behavior was annoyingly inconsistent.

As much as I enjoyed Angel’s growth throughout the story, there were some things that were too unbelievable for me. With no firearms experience, Angel managed to shoot and kill two men from 20 feet away.

The overuse of the word “daddy.”

I’m sad that Loose ID has gone out of business and these books are now out of print. I’m hoping they will be released again so I can gobble up the sequels.

Melokai

Melokai by Rosalyn Kelly
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Ramya is the Melokai of Peqkya. She's been the Melokai for a long time and believes her time is up. When she goes to the prophet Sybilya to learn her fate she instead receives a shocking prophecy fortelling trouble and a wolf claiming the throne. Ramya is prepared to fight off all who dare challenge Peqkya, but she is not prepared for love. Ramya finds herself thrown off balance by her personal life while preparing to defend her home.

Melokai is so different from what I expected. The cover promised warrior women or at least a warrior woman, which is somewhat seen towards the end of the book. People talk about fighting, but very little is described. What the book does go into detail about is sex of all types. The book has male prostitutes, female prostitutes, inner species, homosexual, gang rape, and I'm probably forgetting some other types of sex. This read like a woman's romance novel for much of the book.

Those aren't the only unexpected aspects of the book. The book also features lots of human like animals or animal like humans. Pekya's people are described as cats. I'm not positive they actually are cat women or if it's simply a moniker for them. Pekya does have talking cats called clever cats which are largely messengers. Next comes Drome and these people are definitely part camel. They have humps on their backs that can store water. The Trogrs seem to be part bat. They don't have eyes, but them hum to see what's happening around them. Then there are the wolves who have evolved the ability to stand on their hind legs like people. They also must have opposable thumbs or something near enough because they are described as being able to hold weapons. At the end are the Fertilians who seem to be plain old humans.

So Peqkya is shown to be a horrible place to live as a male. Peqkya men are kept alive for reproduction, pleasure, and slave labor. What's worse is Peqkya has a specialized position for men known as pleasure givers. These men's only job is to please women sexually. It doesn't sound bad at first until you realize they have to have sex with any woman who demands it at any time. I know it still doesn't sound too bad. What makes it horrible is if any of these men can't perform or do not please the women they are with they have their cocks cut off, shoved in their mouths, and then are sentenced to death. So yeah, not so great. Peqkya is the home to the main point of view and title character the Melokai Ramya. It was challenging to care what happened to a place that treated men in such a worthless fashion.

My largest problem with the book is in the end there aren't many likable people. I felt somewhat sorry for Ferraz, his fellow pleasure givers, and the other Peqkya men. I also felt for Queen Jessima of Fertilian who was forced into a loveless marriage to a much older King who cries out his dead wife's name while having sex with her. The negative actions of these characters seemed to stem from their unfortunate lot in life. I couldn't feel for any Peqkya women due to their complicit nature in thoroughly terrifying the men around them with the constant threat of death.

Melokai was not at all what I expected from the description and the cover.

2.5 out of 5 stars

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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THE BOY AT THE DOOR BY ALEX DAHL

The Boy at the Door by Alex Dahl
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

”The ladies at the tennis club will whisper frenziedly behind my back, and this little town will doubtlessly be rocked by the scandal of it all; after all, it is no little feat to single-handedly bring junkies, drug abuse, abandoned children, and murder to a small, wealthy town in Norway.”

Cecilia Wilborg has the seemingly perfect life with a loving husband, two beautiful, suitably bratty daughters, a distinctive, ostentatious, bronze Range Rover, and a palatial home that reeks of disposable income. Cecilia doesn’t have to work, but she does dabble at interior designing, which she happens to be good at, but the job is just a way for her to check another box that shows all the other women in her social group that she can really do it all.

Her life is a facade, but you aren’t going to want to read this book for the image Cecilia portrays. As well lit as the exterior will be, what you will want to do is open the door that leads to the empty frame behind the storefront and see what resides in the darkness behind the glamour. The smoke and mirrors. The mistake that could bring her whole glittering life down into a jagged pile of lies and endless deceits has crept out of the darkness.

It all begins, innocently enough, with a boy left at a pool. Cecilia is asked to give the boy a ride home, and through gritted teeth, charity does not come easily to Cecilia, she does just that. The problem is there is no home, nothing but a dusty abandoned house that couldn’t possibly be a proper home for a child.

So now the boy at the pool is the boy at her door.

This convergence of ”a sexy Scandi gym-bunny fashionista” and Tobias, the dusky, seemingly orphaned child, has another life line bisecting with theirs, and her name is Annika Lucasson.

She is an unrepentant junkie. She will do anything for smack. Line the men up and let them have their way as long as there is the warm embrace of a hit of smack at the end of that line. ”If only you could get clean seems to be the consensus of every teacher, doctor, therapist, social worker I’ve ever met. They just don’t get it. I don’t want to get clean, never have. Smack is the only friend I have, even if it is a friend that wants to kill me and will most likely succeed.”

Cecilia has a well developed, muscular, feral instinct for survival, and as one stack of half truths collapses, she is deftly assembling a whole new web of tangled deceptions. She will do whatever it takes to hang onto the life she has created. ”What Cecilia wants, Cecilia gets.”

Who is Annika? Who is Tobias? For that matter, who is Cecilia?

Cecilia Wilborg is the type of woman I want absolutely nothing to do with. People who have too much money and view the world from the most shallow of all perspectives leave a large environmental footprint that the rest of us have to navigate around. They take up too much space, use too many resources, and feel entitled to all of it because they can afford to buy anything and everything they desire. In my opinion, it is good to wish for something. To have to wait to obtain something. To not have every impulsive want fulfilled immediately.

I have so little in common with Cecilia that I can’t even imagine having a conversation with her, never mind reading a whole book about her. Despite my misgivings, I could not put this book down. I was flabbergasted, annoyed, manipulated, terrified, and most oddly enough...sympathetic.

This is the most unusual book I’ve read that falls into my Nordic Noir category. You are probably not going to like Cecilia, and no one will be able to deny that her human fallacies may be more abundant than normal, but I think we can all relate to our own fear that our own weaknesses can destroy us at any time. Think of the one mistake, seemingly buried in your past, that can be the bomb strapped to the underpinnings of your present life. Cecelia’s fuse is lit.

I want to thank Elisha Katz and the Berkley Publishing Group for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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American Hippo By; Sarah Gailey

American Hippo by Sarah Gailey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed River of Teeth, thought it was a cool idea, but it didn't just light me on fire. That being said, I never got around to the second novella.

I found this collection and I have changed my views on the story. I much more enjoyed the story told "as a whole piece" and I would gladly return to the world Ms. Gailey created now. The misgivings I had I mostly got over.

This is a viseral violent ride and a lot of fun for some summer reading. check it out.

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Wolfsbane By: Guy Haley

Wolfsbane by Guy Haley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Another Warhammer dive..while I am not a big fan of the Space Wolves chapter, this book really make me like their primarch Leman Russ. As the Horus Heresy rages on and sides begin to form, Russ gets thrust into a situation he knows he probably can't win, and honor keeps him in it anyway. I love when these books get their pace built up and move along at ripping speed.

This was a terrific installment if you haven't read it already and you are a fan, pick it up.

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Scars (The Legion Divided) By: Chris Wraight

Scars by Chris Wraight
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I jumped back into my Warhammer dive (yeah, yeah, I know..) and while I am a fan, it can tend to lean a bit to sameness over time, grimdark gloom and doom space shoot em ups. (Don't jump on me WH40K fans, that is a serious over simplification of the universe strictly for purposes of this review)

That being said, I have found myself loving when an author delves and gets the meat off the bone of a chapter or a group in this vast scifi playground. I have loved what Chris Wraight has done with the White Scars. He has taken a legion into a different direction than the rest, gave it an almost entirely different feel than most of its counterparts and still maintain a place among their brothers.

THAT I can get behind. Scars is a ton of fun and I will search out Mr. Wraight's work in this universe.



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Parker Heads West

Appaloosa by Robert B. Parker
Reviewed by Jason Koivu
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

There's a new marshall in Appaloosa and his word is law.

Virgil Cole and his dependable sidekick Everett Hitch are lawmen hired to settle a podunk town out west. Bad guys abound. A woman shows up looking for love in all the wrong places. Trouble's a'brewin' boys!

This is a new-school western framed perfectly in the old school style. Robert B. Parker (better known for his Spenser detective series) seems to have been made to write this leather-hide rough action-adventure stuff.

Oh the brooding! So much brooding! This is all about tough guys talkin' tough, being tough and takin' no guff! Yeah, there's a woman or two here to represent the sex, but they're mostly whores, or shrews seeking men. This is not to say Parker seems to have anything against women, he just portrays his distant western setting as a place that "good" women wouldn't go.

Appaloosa's not high literature. It's a nice, quick fix for your "old west" needs, and as such, it's actually quite well-written comparable to some others I've read. So, thumbs up from me and I'll probably be reading another one of Parker's Cole & Hitch books on some future day when I want to feel like the Marlboro Man. Yeehaw!!!

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Agatha Christie's After the Funeral

After the Funeral by Agatha Christie
Reviewed by Jason Koivu
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I used to make fun of Scooby Doo and how the gang would unmask the villain at the end, specifically how the villain would inevitably and hurriedly admit to the crime. Then I started reading Agatha Christie's books and I realized where they picked up the habit.

Now, don't get me wrong, Christie's mysteries are wonderful reads. So much fun! I especially love Hercule Poirot. It's a shame it takes such a long time for him to show up in After the Funeral. Much of the groundwork is laid out by a lawyer before Poirot arrives on the scene to tie it all up neatly.

The body of this book is quite good. The murderer is nicely disguised. The red herrings are well-stocked. But then comes the end. It's a satisfactory end as far as solving a crime goes, however, here again the murderer blurts out the truth. Certainly Poirot has the person cornered and it would just be a matter of a trial to have the person convicted, but then that wouldn't be as dramatic, would it? No. It would be more realistic though, and that's the problem with such endings. They somewhat tarnish an otherwise fairly believable story.

But that is a minor point as far as my enjoyment of the entire book goes. Yes, I have spent a good portion of a rather short review going on about it, but honestly, everything else about After the Funeral is a good read through and through!

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Psycho

Psycho by Robert Bloch
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When Mary Crane skips town with $40,000 of her boss's money, she drives and drives, bedding down at the Bates Motel. She meets Norman Bates, who harbors secrets even more interesting than stolen money...

Everyone knows the basic beats of Psycho due to the iconic Alfred Hitchcock film. Woman gets knifed in the shower, psychotic mama's boy, etc. When it popped up for ninety-nine cents, I figured, what the hell? Shooting Star / Spiderweb was pretty good. Psycho was definitely worth the buck.

Inspired by real-life serial killer Ed Gein, Psycho is a tale of mental turmoil and the way it shapes the life a man dominated by his mother. And some woman gets killed and her boyfriend and sister try to figure out what the hell happened. Despite knowing quite a bit going in, Psycho was still a suspenseful read. Since stuff gets lost in translation from book to movie, a lot of it was still surprising. Of course, not having seen the movie in something like thirty years helped...

Bloch's prose is pretty tight. He doesn't waste a lot of time on flowery language, and knows how to ratchet up the suspense. I can see why Hitchcock chose to adapt it, though he chose to focus on different aspects than Bloch. The book and the movie are definitely different animals.

Psycho probably didn't have quite as much of an impact on me that it should have but that's because it's been dissected and imitated to death in the decades since it was written. It holds up really well compared to a lot of suspense novels written during the same era. Four out of five stars.

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