Book Review: Pierson (Meager Boys Story, #1) by J Kahele

Synopsis: 

After his father's passing, Pierson Meager is left with much responsibility, undertaking the running of the family business and the fathering of his three younger brothers. For all the changes in his life, things are comfortable, uniform, and exactly how Pierson likes it—until an agreement with a stranger turns it upside down.

Susan Coyle is a driven woman, so when the position of Marketing CEO opens up at her company, she will do whatever it takes to land that job, even if it means cutting a deal with an absolute stranger. What Susan doesn’t realize is that this stranger will not only show her the real importance of life, but he will also unearth a tragic past she fought so hard to forget.

Review:

Pierson is arguably J Kahele's best written novel to date. The lives, loves and lows of Pierson unfold in her latest adult romance. What's especially pleasing to see here is a strong focus on story, not sensationalism. The cool erotic scenes are there aplenty, but it's arguable that the titular Pierson and 'woman of interest' Susan are the most rounded out characters here.

The dynamic between Pierson and his brothers is well done and anyone who has a brother (or is a brother) will understand how that relationship works. Again, Paxton, Phoenix and Preston all have their own ways about them, but Pierson is by far the most interesting.

"Few writers can write with such authority on mature relationships." 

Another huge step in the author's mature storytelling is in the relationship between Pierson and Susan. She is no weak willed woman, but neither is she an over the top facsimilie of annoying feminist heroines. Susan actually feels real...like the kind of woman anyone could walk into but rarely do in real life.

I also liked the reintroduction of character's from the author's other stories, including some self-deprecating humour when talking about a character (Chain) 's name.

"Chain? What kind of name is that? What's next? Link?"

Loved that, along with the insightful thoughts on why Blu (another character) swears so much. Fans of Miss Kahele's works can have a lot of fun joining up the dots.

As to the primary story, wow - few writers can write with such authority on mature relationships. That's why I hope some male readers will take a punt and have a go at Pierson. It's important to behave like a gentleman in a relationship, guys. It's good to let the woman of your dreams really be the woman of your realities. Love is never boring, weak, or for the faint hearted, and in this electrifying tale in an all-new series, we get it all. Boy, do we.

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Book Review: Little Big Boy by Max Power

Synopsis: Little Big Boy tells the often harrowing tale of a small boy, struggling to cope in an environment of violence and fear, in 1970’s Dublin. All he wants is to be a big boy, but that comes with a price. At home, he faces an increasingly violent father and at school, he encounters new threats from other boys and more menacingly, from one Christian Brother in particular. In the midst of his turmoil, the one person that stands up for him and keeps him safe is his mother. But a series of seemingly unconnected events, conjure up a storm of epic proportions, with this little boy in its path

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Review: Two years ago I read a book that was to become my favourite book of 2014. That book was Darkly Wood by Max Power. Its mix of dark fairytale, myths and legends, stories within stories, along with an amazing narrative meant that I was thinking about it long after I had finished it, and I still think about it.

Perhaps that’s why I took so long to read another Max Power title. What if it didn’t live up to Darkly Wood? What if it didn’t live up to my expectations?

But enough of the what ifs. They are not relevant and certainly not helpful.

Little Big Boy is a personal, heartfelt account of a young boy growing up in Ireland. I admit I was a little reticent to read it, as another personal account by Frank McCourt, Angela’s Ashes was on such a level that similarities between the two would have been unfair, but it’s not totally unavoidable either.

Through a first person narrative we see the Little Big Boy of the title go through various growing pains. We see his brother Eamonn doing various rounds with his brutish father. His mother is no wilting wallflower but it’s obvious she is far down the list of priorities of her husband. But I come from an Irish Catholic family, even though I am English born. I actually love and embrace my Irish heritage, whereas my other siblings, especially my brother was less endeared to Ireland. It irritated me a lot that they would act this way, but I am sure many Irish / English Catholic families have similar issues. 

"The author never flinches from hard details, but he laces the story with light to laugh out loud humour."

Little Big Boy has a lot of scenes where the boy is getting into fights a lot, especially at school. For me, this was more interesting than the home life stuff, because I too would fight with other boys and befriend (kind of) some of them later. Of course there were many occasions where a truce was never made and yet I look back now and think it was character building. One has to take a positive angle on things, even something as serious as bullying, because the alternative (killing yourself) is too horrid to think about.

I loved the scenes that included the gaelic language. It is beautiful to listen to, but on the page you can only guess at what it means, but the author never leaves us in doubt about that. Perhaps my favourite example of this was how a boy wanting to go to the toilet had to ask permission in the precise gaelic terminology, otherwise they would not be allowed to go. Now I like languages but will admit I am lazy at learning them…conversational Chinese and a working French is what I am best at, along with a very basic knowledge of Italian and French. My mother would sometimes use a gaelic term but not very often. But I saw some similarities with my own upbringing and the main characters, though I had ‘teachers’ at school, not Brothers or Nuns (my mum was taught by nuns, though she had a choice gaelic word for them).

Midway through the story, it takes a rather sinister turn. If you read it, you will know what I am on about. But it links masterfully with the last third of the book. It’s here that Little Big Boy truly strikes gold. The short chapters allow you to make progress through the book quickly without losing the plot. It’s like some of the chapters are stories all on their own, such as the time the boy is out with his father (who is in the pub) and he has to stay by the car until he comes back. I could relate to that – my own father stayed out until 3 or 4am most nights, and made up stories to my mum about where he had been. But she knew, of course she knew. 

The author never flinches from hard details, but he laces the story with light to laugh out loud humour.

So my recommendation is that you should definitely read this story if you like a story that jumps out at you on every page. It’s not fair to compare it to Darkly Wood as it is a very different story. However, it just shows the author’s talent, breadth and depth of writing ability, and bravery in committing such a tough upbringing to the page for us avid readers to consume.

It’s another winner from Max Power.

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Book Review: The Return of the Pumpkins by Lacey Lane

Synopsis:

Peter Smith is a patient at West Hills hospital. He has been there for nearly a decade. At the age of thirteen, his parents were brutally murdered and Peter was tortured to near death by his Halloween pumpkins. Killer pumpkins haunt his dreams and his doctor thinks he's delusional. Determined to turn his life around, he has eventually decided to join in with the Halloween festivities in the hospital and carves his first pumpkin. Will Peter survive the tenth anniversary of his parents' death? Or will his pumpkin be the death of him?

Review:

The original Revenge of the Pumpkins was the first I read by author Lacey Lane. It was a brief, entertaining and utterly brutal horror story that was the kind you might just like to hear on Halloween, but in truth the ending was so shocking that the memory lived with you long after the trick or treat had ended. It was a delight to see this new story - it is still novella length but much meatier than its predecessor.

We join Peter, the protagonist from book one (or antagonist, depending on which side you take) ten years after the events in story one. He's not been coping well. There's echoes of Danny from the Shining when it was revisited in Doctor Sleep, though it is not a direct comparison of the two. Revenge of the Pumpkins strength was also its slight weakness - being short and shocking was great, but left us wanting more, even though it was a complete story in itself. 'Return' allows the story and its characters to breathe a lot more, but the length carries along to another great climax.

The doctors in the psychiatric hospital do what they can to bring Peter to good health, but the nightmares of those slashing pumpkins terrorise him again and again. The interplay between the studious and almost pious Doctor Mitchell and the (un) wise cracking and roguish Doctor Tanner.

It is not as gory as its predecessor, which may disappoint some, but for me the gore factor and mild sexual content was well balanced and a good choice by the author (because most sequel rules infer more gore, more sex and so on).

Another pleasing factor is the balance between dialogue and narrative which is well done and doesn't really allow you to put the book down. Although told in third person it was easy to get into Peter's head, to see what he was going through, that the nightmares seemed like the true terror, not the vicious attacks he had been subjected to himself.

"There's echoes of Danny from the Shining."

People tend to slowly rebuild themselves in psychiatric wards. We are carried along Peter's journey, literally, as he recovers step by step, breath by breath. People may not be able to relate to Peter's situation as to why he is in the hospital in the first place, but they can relate to these things...fighting for breath....many of us have been there.

Some of the characters, like Nurse Giles, play a dual role of good cop / bad cop and again, it shows good character building even though our focus is distracted by the increasingly psychotic behaviour of Doctor Tanner. Peter's eyes cast over Sue, a light amongst the darkness. This is good for the reader too, as we hope these two might get together, as the worst of days are made better by the love of someone special.

Sue seems to play the role of a sex crazed nymph but it becomes clear that she likes Peter in lots of ways, and he is a little overawed that someone other than doctors is taking an interest in him. Sue initially hams up this role, but as she gets in deeper with Peter, the story shifts to whether or not they will ever be released from that hospital, or make their escape before the pumpkins make their eventual return.

The ending is shocking, clever and poignant. One hopes that this is not the end, but the beginning of an even better third slice of pumpkin.

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Book Review: Psychedelic Cure of a Narcissist by Katerina Sestakova Novotna

Synopsis

Eric is a selfish man who likes to come back to his exes for sex and money, but he does not pursue them as hard as he pursues new girls. Miriam, a student of psychology, becomes an exception to his rules. Three years after their break-up, the woman he thought he knew all too well to be impressed with suddenly claims to be able to guide people into a magical 4D porn experience.

Eric is trying to earn his place in Miriam’s privileged circle, but the girl who purports to be a therapist like no other is remarkably unstable herself. Eric suspects that she may have a different agenda than to entertain him, but the promise of a new form of sexual bliss seems worth the risk. 

Does she want him back? Does she want to cure him? Does she want her revenge? It’s not clear what Miriam truly wants, but her wishes do not matter to Eric as long as he gets what he wants. But his own goals change, too, as the time goes on.

Miriam volunteers to be Eric’s guide in his psychedelic experience, but she also unintentionally becomes his teacher. He wants to learn to guide and fix others before he is fixed.

Review

With wave after wave of social media sites, endless places to post photos and info about ourselves, I wonder if we aren’t all narcissists in some way. In Katerina Sestakova Novotna’s follow up to her 2014 debut novel, perhaps we are challenged to consider the possibility.

It is difficult to categorise Eric, our main narrator in Psychedelic Cure of a Narcissist, because he is not a hero in the traditional sense. He is not necessarily a victim either. But he is the narcissist of the title, whether he knows it or not.

Meeting women is not a problem for Eric, as three of them- Miriam, Magda and Monica feature heavily through this story and throughout. It’s fair to say that Eric does not treat them well, as psychology student Miriam points out the tale of Narcissus to a bemused and disinterested Eric.

He dismisses her position as psychobabble, but the author takes an honest approach through a first person narrative. Eric does at least admit the possibility that he is a narcissist.

It’s easy for him to dismiss blonde-haired, blue eyed Miriam. To him, she just seems like a piece of ass to use, abuse and discard. She’s rather too good at analysing him though, which he appears to dislike intensely. Meeting half Japanese-half Tahitian Magda means he moves on, but is never quite out of Miriam’s shadow.

He hurt her, so she intends to hurt him by refusing to get back with him. Miriam only considers Eric now in her position as a therapist. He is being led on a dance, but doesn’t appear to mind it so long as he can get what he wants from it.

His interest is piqued above petty and unsatisfying masturbation when Miriam introduces him to the idea of psychedelic substances. He is initially appalled, but the idea of being able to have sex with many women at the same time or that he could orgasm from different parts of his body fascinated him. Even when Miriam would talk about Eric’s gay friend Peter in ways that horrified him, his narcissistic personality kept going back for more.

Some men can cope with just one woman in their lives. Others need many to validate their own machismo. Eric appears to be the latter. As he says in one scene, he does not want to put himself in the hands of one woman; whilst at the same time acknowledging Miriam has rejected him and will only now see him as one of her guinea pigs.

As interesting as the Miriam—Eric dynamic is, it is the Eric – Magda coupling that takes the book into literally another universe. With the introduction of herbal wonder tea Kratom into the mix, a substance that is basically just crushed leaves or powder, Eric begins to depend on it, just like he depends on being sexually available for Miriam and controlling aspects of Magda. But I think the author raises another important point here - just what is it that we are addicted to, and why are some things banned, while others are not? Too much coffee can affect people in pretty much the same way.

"This book challenges us on many levels."

No. We are allowed to poison our bodies with cigarettes and alcohol because the government makes huge money out of it through taxes. The double standards are astonishing. However, kratom is not addictive unless the user cannot handle the high as well as the low. Indeed it has less negative effects than alcohol, the abuse of which is well known.

This book challenges us on many levels. What is acceptable in a relationship, what happens when fantasy crosses into reality, what happens when a harmless substance becomes either addictive or a tool with which to control others?

And this barely scratches the surface of this superlative work.

Enthralling as it is disturbing, one has to read this book. It is for adults only – but for some development of body did not go hand in hand with development of mind (some people just never really joined the two together, did they?) maybe some of them should read this too.

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Book Review: Defective (The Institute, #3) by Kayla Howarth

Synopsis:

Eighteen months has passed since the Institute was liberated. For Allira Daniels, she’s still trying to live with the consequences of her actions. The Defective are free, but are their lives truly any better? Attacks on Defectives are on the rise, and Allira has to wonder if she’s directly responsible.

Keeping busy to escape her guilt, Allira is trying to move on, but how can she when her past is always haunting her?

Review:

Defective hit the ground running where Resistance ended. The author's evolution as a writer since book one in this series is rather remarkable. With Allira ended up in a new world far away but also intricately related to the first two books. Allira is more grown up and I like this rounded development of her far better than the first two books. Maybe it does take a while to get things going, but boy does author Kayla Howarth throw in twist after twist, not to deliberately annoy the reader, but to enthrall right up until the end.

It was hard to predict the ending but suffice to say, this closing chapter on Allira's story appears to have wrapped things up beautifully.

"In recent times I have become a bit bored of kick-ass heroines. But Defective and The Institute series as a whole is so multi-faceted, we don't mind."

Drew and Jace remain cool, but I as a male reader was drawn to Nuka. The girl rocks and the story is all the better for her inclusion.

In recent times I have become a bit bored of kick-ass heroines. But Defective and The Institute series as a whole is so multi-faceted, we don't mind.

In summary, a terrific YA to MG level story. I'm a fan of the author's writing. And it is more like Hunger Games and Dawn of Rebellion than Divergent and I am thanking the stars for that.

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Book Review: Zeeka's Ghost (Zeeka #4) by Brenda Mohammed

Synopsis:

Swift. Silent, Ghostly

Zeeka’s ghost appears to Steven and he feels the ghost has evil intentions.

Coupled with that, Steven discovers that he and Mandy are the targets of unknown enemies and their lives are at stake.

Stephen must find a way to hunt down and apprehend these ruthless maniacs and save his beloved wife.

Is Zeeka’s ghost here to harm or help?

Zeeka’s Ghost is the fourth story in the series Revenge of Zeeka.

Review:

Zeeka's back. As if you could keep a good zombie down But he's more than the mad scientist/zombie fascinated persona of the earlier books, and in this fourth installment, the ghost of a demon haunts our eponymous hero Steven into near madness.

The thought that he hadn't quite seen off Zeeka haunts him, until the ghost of the title becomes more than just pangs of regret in his mind. The story centres more around Steven so returns to the original concept bore out in book one. This rounding of the story arc is interesting and a good way to handle it.

The other characters are there too, but they play a secondary role in Zeeka's Ghost.

"This rounding of the story arc is interesting and a good way to handle it."

Probably the best of the Zeeka stories to date, author Brenda Mohammed is to be congratulated on another take of zombies and now ghosts!

I think anyone could read this as the horror elements are PG-13 / Cert 12 rated. But more mature readers will pick up on regrets we have as we age and experience life.

A final word must go to the cover - it's excellent and captures the essence of the book brilliantly.

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Book Review: Gates of Heaven by Pamita Rao

Synopsis:

An empire ruled by evil and fear; a king obsessed with greed for greater power and desire to conquer other realms.

Alaira has just stood up against the tyranny and committed the most serious crime in the kingdom. If captured, she will face brutal punishment. With the King’s men on her back and his dark magic against her fate, she is on the run in a race against time.

With no place left to hide, her only hope is to escape through the Gates of Heaven, a mythical portal to other realms. But there is a problem. To reach the Gates of Heaven one must cross the enchanted forest and no one has ever survived it before.

Will Alaira find the Gates of Heaven? Will she be able to escape Creed or will she meet the dreaded fate of every criminal in Myrth?

Review

It is so difficult for any writer of fantasy to come up with something new. I have read and am in the process of writing two reviews of debut novels by fantasy authors, and I needed the break inbetween to read other genres so as to review and critique them fairly.

New author Pamita Rao brings a freshness to a jaded genre with a detailed, interesting world of Myrth, which has its own qualms and quirks. In an early scene, a man is forced to drink the liquor he has brought for the king, and in doing proves - or otherwise - that it is not poisoned. It's done well as a scene, and there are numerous scenes like this throughout the book. It is extremely well written, with great characters in this detailed, magical world.

"It's such a pleasure to read a new author voice." 

I must give a special mention to the cover art, which is outstanding and really pulls you in.

Gates of Heaven is ultimately about young buck heroine Alaira coming of age. The evil Creed threatens the security and safety of the world, and it seems our young girl has her work cut out to defeat him. On her introduction, I wasn't sure if she was up for the task (the ultimate task, as it happens at the Gates of Heaven in the book's closing chapter).

The story works because you really are swept along at great speed. The story starts brightly and keeps up the pace throughout. It's such a pleasure to read a new author voice. And I look forward to reading more from this new and exciting author.

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