Short Review: The Woman In Black by Susan Hill

The Woman in Black by Susan Hill
Published: 1998 by Vintage


Goodreads Summary 

Arthur Kipps, a junior solicitor in London, is summoned to Crythin Gifford to attend the funeral of Mrs Alice Drablow, and to sort through her papers before returning to London. It is here that Kipps first sees the woman in black and begins to gain an impression of the mystery surrounding her. From the funeral he travels to Eel Marsh House and sees the woman again; he also hears the terrifying sounds on the marsh. Despite Kipps’s experiences he resolves to spend the night at the house and fulfil his professional duty. It is this night at Eel Marsh House that contains the greatest horror for Kipps. Kipps later discovers the reasons behind the hauntings at Eel Marsh House. The book ends with the woman in black exacting a final, terrible revenge.

Ever since I was in year 10, so 13/14? I fell in love with the Victorian horror about a woman dressed in all black causing deaths in families by being seen. I mean the story itself is so brilliant and interesting! 
I first saw the performance with my drama group in year 10, where it chilled me to the bone. I was terrified and amazed at how effective it was. The fact that three actors were able to portray a whole horror play was incredible. I was hooked, I couldn’t get enough. Later I chose to study the play and read everything about it. 
When the movie came out in 2012 I was straight in the cinema clutching my hoodie to my face. The film was nothing compared to the play itself but non the less it was still incredible work and the fact that Daniel Radcliff was the star made it so much greater. 
Obviously the shock wasn’t as bad and the fact that I knew everything that was going to happen it was still interesting how the producers put the whole story together. Although for some reason (cough money cough) there is a second movie and I will get to that on a later note. 
All that was left for me was to read the book by Susan Hill. It took me two days to read all of the 160 pages. CRAZY!!
I don’t know what it was about it but I kept getting weird feelings. I wasn’t scared, I was more or less cautious of anything scary that might happen. I didn’t think that reading the book would make me more scared of the woman in black herself; after all I have read the play. But my heart was beating rapidly. I didn’t want to read it at night and I kept having to reassure myself, I’m not even sure what of. 

So the book itself. Interesting, beautifully written but it’s just okay. I mean I knew the story, and the story in the book wasn’t scary. I was expecting so much more! I know that I said my heart was beating and I was scared a little but I think it was mostly just the fact that I was waiting for something to happen. I was waiting for her to appear and for Arthur to get scared. Also I never realized how stupid Arthur is as a character. You see a ghost you run. YOU RUN!!!! 

Movie Review: Unfriended

One of the most annoying Skype conversations, I don’t think the writer for this film actually thought about how hard it is to converse with several people on skype. Not only does the image not work and makes you look ridiculous but the amount of times the audio fails and you need to start shouting to your companion about whether or not the sound is working.

Although I must say that this is a rather clever idea of using modern technology to create a somewhat horror movie, it has already been shown by Modern Family to have worked wonders and they managed to work with their Apple products and produce something much more clear and interesting in a half an hour than this movie.

We are met with a story about a girl killing herself on school ground after a video of her is posted online. The video looked ridiculous. I do understand that cyber bullying is serious but on first glance the video posted proved no threat to the girls social status. So the movie begins with the couple’s questionable sex skype session. Where Blaire decides to show off her inner leg. Soon the couples friends join the conversation and noticed someone out of the circle called billie227.

So the creepy thing starts when none of them could get rid of the silent person after countless of tries. I didn’t even know a ghost could control your computer and Skype session.

Anyway so the group get talking and soon some very terrible facebook hacking happens and one girls dies. That’s when it begins, they realize that Billie227 is actually their dead friend that they bullied. The story continues with how they each had something to do with it, reveling secrets ect.

The fact that the Skype call was made realistic annoyed me, I mean yes well done for making this a realistic call but no one wants to see all the actors superbly pixilated!

You cannot even imagine how annoyed I was by the fact that the conversation was flowing UNTIL Blaire clicked on facebook or messenger or did something other than being on Skype. All of a sudden the conversation stops. Noone is talking and they are just sitting there staring at the screen; so clearly she is the life of the party. The goodytwo shoes is not only incredibly needy with her boyfriend (I mean she messaged him about 8 times when he didn’t reply!) but she is also handed everything to her. She opens a webpage about not reading a message from a dead person and luckily for her it shows exactly all the steps she must take in order to get rid of it.

The film was in time with us, meaning that we had to endure all the minutes in real life when the movie was incredibly boring. 

Fantastically the movie wasn’t bad. It was fun to watch, it was hilarious; I jumped once and it was just the fact that the sound was incredibly loud.

So if you are hoping to be scared from this 21^st century movie you have another thing coming, I hope you are prepared for the pixelated actors staying still and blaming each other for someones suicide.

Two stars for the horror, three for the comedy and four for the idea. 

Review: Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott

Living Dead Girl Elizabeth Scott
Published: September 8th 2009
Publisher: Simon Pulse

Goodreads Summary

The thing is, you can get used to anything. You think you can't, you want to die, but you don't. You won't. You just are. This is Alice. She was taken by Ray five years ago. She thought she knew how her story would end. She was wrong.

Is it possible to write a poetic book about kidnapping and imprisonment of a child? I 

guess the answer here is yes. This is a really hauntingly, disturbingly beautiful short 

novel which features a horrific crime. 

“I have been smashed and put back together so many times nothing works right. 

Nothing is where it should be, heavy thumping in my shoulder where my heart now 

beats.”

15 year old “Alice” was lured into Ray’s car when she was ten, taken from a field trip into 

Shady Pines where she was conditioned to become another person. The horrific physical 

and emotional abuse was flowing through the book without having to be spelt out and 

shouted at the reader. Although the pain that is endured by the character isn’t explicit 

It’s still a hard story to read. The fact that there have been and are children that are 

being put through this right now is horrifying and this book shows you a slight insight. 

To say that Elizabeth Scott managed to capture the horror of the characters capture in a 

rather beautiful way is an understatement. I didn’t think that a story could leave scars, 

but this book certainly has. I haven’t stopped thinking about it for weeks. 

“She became a story, one I have mostly forgotten. One I can't end because she died a 

long time ago.”

Scott manages to draw you in with her unique writing, the fact that the chapters start 

with “Once Upon a Time” when reciting what happened to “Alice” when she was 

younger is unforgettable, it plays on the fact that it’s telling a atrocious thing that 

happened to a young girl while starting it off with a popular fairy tale opening. 

I wasn’t expecting this book to cover all the basics, the characters back stories were 

detailed in the small amount of words that this book required. For a second I felt sorry 

for the monster and for what Ray was doing, knowing his loveless upbringing and the 

abuse that he received from his mother was enough for me to know why he became the 

monster he is, it was enough for me to sympathise with him. I didn’t even think that I 

would have been able to image the horror and the experience of someone that was so 

much abused. I didn’t think it was possible for an author to even describe such a thing in 

a book; I felt as if I was right there with Alice throughout her torture, throughout the 

control he had over her. I felt trapped in this character and felt as if I was living her 

story. 


This was labelled as a young adult novel, I know so many bloggers have already 

mentioned the fact that it shouldn’t have but I disagree. This is exactly what mature 

teenagers need to read. Everyone should read this. I am now carrying this story around 

with me everywhere I go.

Review: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
Series: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer #1
Release Date: September 27th 2011
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Books
Amazon Book Depository

Goodreads Summary 

Mara Dyer doesn’t think life can get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there. It can. She believes there must be more to the accident she can’t remember that killed her friends and left her mysteriously unharmed. There is. She doesn’t believe that after everything she’s been through, she can fall in love. She’s wrong.

I absolutely loved this beaut! Or at least the first half of this book anyway. It’s haunting and feels like a dream and the words just flow off the page! Until the ending. Where the book literally disappointed me so freaking much, I wanted to gouge out my eyes and set them on fire.

Mara Dyer wakes up in a hospital where she doesn’t remember what happened in the accident where her friends Rachel and Claire along with her boyfriend Jude die, where she somehow managed to get out with only scrapes and bruises. Great so far right?! With the attempt to get away from all the misery Mara’s family decide to move towns and start again in a new school where she meets Noah Shaw; the local unkempt bastard with a panty dropping smile who uses girls and dumps them the next day. Obviously Mara was going to fall for him and he was going to change for her *yawn* but their relationship was super fun! Especially the chase.

“And just like that, I was completely, utterly, and entirely, His.”

 Not only was there a promise of a flirty relationship that would only be fun for about half an hour and then get boring but also the mystery as to what happened to Mara Dyer during the accident and how come everyone is dying all of a sudden around her.

The idea was absolutely astonishing and the art work on the cover was beyond beautiful. A new girl at a new school, a bully, a hot smoking guy and a trail of dead bodies. What’s not to love?

The mystery behind what happened to Mara and her friends was amazing. Or so I thought. I never imagined that the story would take a massive turn to snooze ville where everything turned to crap. Mara was starting to see things that weren’t there, seeing her dead friends amongst other things. Which is fine and was actually a good idea. But then she kills a guy just with imagining him dead?! What.

Up until the death of the dog owner and her teacher the book was absolutely amazing and didn’t have any faults, I could not put it down. I was literally grinning while reading this book. Then confusion replaced my happiness.

I thought the point of Mara not remembering the accident was that she was the killer. That she turned psycho and killed her friends. With her hands. Not her freaking mind. WTF. I can’t even comprehend that. She imagined both her teacher and a dog owner dying and they did. If this happened to me I would be leaving a bigger trail or dead bodies that Mara herself.

Not only that but Noah seems to have some sort of supernatural “powers” as well. And girly ones if I may add. He seems to be able to “fix” people, by healing them I guess. Your guess is as good as mine. I have no clue what the hell his “powers” were.

Everything was going great until Mara’s brother was kidnapped. Noah was somehow able to find him in a shed, in the middle of nowhere. Who then told Mara the truth about him; which I still don’t understand. Where the hell did these powers or whatever come from?!

I cannot fathom why in the world Michelle Hodkin thought that turning this book into a paranormal romance would be a good idea. It was the worst thing that could have happened since Finnick Odair’s death in the Hunger Games. Yes I’ve said it. Yes I’m nearly crying right now.

The shit hit the fan. The shit being the ending of this book. (and the paranormal romance crap)

There are so many things I love with this book! As in freaking in love could not stop grinning like a lunatic screaming at my friends that I’m in love with this flipping book love. I loved Mara. I think she’s a great YA female character who actually has a back bone until she meets Noah. She then somehow manages to forget about all the dead bodies! Erm hello. NO! Noah is a massive douchebag that everyone is meant to love because of his smart mouth and his hot bod. Don’t get me wrong I flipping love Noah and his smart douchebaggy mouth but did he really need to be the poster boy for an STD campaign who wouldn’t keep it in his pants for ten minutes and needed to have sex with EVERY. SINGLE. GIRL he ever set eyes on? Control yourself dude.

What’s with the black, Jewish, bi friend whose also super short Jamie? Okay yes it’s a fact that YA books need more minorities in them but seriously… Sometimes less is more. And sometimes you shouldn’t make just one character be everything that a book is lacking. Spread it out. Share it out. But I freaking love Jamie. The gossip! Oh my gosh, he is a queen bitch of gossiping and I need him in my life. Then there’s Anna. The virgin who somehow ended up on everyone’s dicks. Not only that but she’s the school bully. Go figure.

So the characters are almost great. Yes there are things that would have made them a lot more better and less annoying; I agree with that. But nobody is perfect in real life so why should they be in books? I can overlook the character’s douche baggy flaws.

So to sum up my very bipolar review of this beautiful disaster:

 

• ·        The beginning of the book. GOOD. Oh my flipping god yes the beginning of the book was amazing. 
• The writing. Incredible. I fell in love with Michelle’s writing. Boy can she write!
• The characters. Meh nobody is perfect.
• The fact that Mara somehow decided to lose interest in people dropping like flies whenever she was around Noah and could only think about him? Erm no Mara; you deserve a slap.
• The freakish super powers that make Mara kill someone whenever she imagines it? How about no. How about you go on a killing spree without any paranormal heebiee jeebies.
• The book after Mara’s brother’s kidnapping? Go burn in hell. That was painful to read. 

 The beginning of the book deserves to get a 5. But the ending deserves about a 3... So a 4.5 will have to do.

ARC Review: Donners of the Dead by Karina Halle

Donners of the Dead by Karina Halle
Release Date: 24th Feb
Buy: Amazon

Goodreads Summary

Jake McGraw was unlike anyone I’d ever known. He was brash, rude, unapologetic and arrogant; chauvinistic, close-minded, and terribly stubborn. He was built like a tree, tall with a hard chest and wide shoulders and hands that looked like they could wrestle a bear. He was a cigar-chomping, scruffy-faced, beast of a man. I was pretty sure I hated him. And I know he hated me. But among the flesh-eating monsters in these snow-capped mountains, he was the only thing keeping me alive

The year is 1851 and pioneers in search of California gold are still afraid to travel on the same route as the tragic Donner party did years before. When the last wagon train to go into the Sierra Nevada mountains fails to arrive at their destination, Eve Smith, an 18-year old half-native girl with immense tracking skills is brought along with the search party, headed by an enigmatic former Texas Ranger, Jake McGraw.

What they find deep in the dangerous snow-covered terrain is a terrifying consequence of cannibalism, giving new meaning to the term “monster.” While the search party is slowly picked off, one by one, Eve must learn to trust Jake, who harbors more than a few secrets of his own, in order to survive and prevent the monstrosities from reaching civilization.

A while ago, for a Top Ten Tuesday post, we were asked to list the top 10 books we wished would exist. One of the things I wanted more of was a historical romance book that wasn’t set in England or Europe for that matter so you can imagine why I wanted to read this book so much (not considering the fact that I love everything written by Karina Halle). I wasn't disappointed. Karina worked her magic and out came a highly entertaining historical romance. 

Eve is a young woman who lives with her uncle. Her father died a while ago and it affected her mother so profoundly that she stopped talking. As a half breed, she is shunned by society and doesn’t get the same opportunities as her cousin. She isn't seen 'fit' enough to engage with society but her best friend, Avery, is a champ and helps her out the best he can. Her uncle only tolerates her and wouldn’t think twice about championing her out if that meant he could get more money (in my opinion). Avery’s life changes when a band of Texans come. They are looking for a tracker to help them get through the mountains. They also pay handsomely so she joins their group with her best friend and a companion but little does she know what she’s getting into *cue dramatic music*. The mountains are hiding something terrifying, monsters no one could have dreamed of. Will they survive? Or will they turn into the same monsters they are running away from?

Eve was a very likable character. She was brave but she also possessed survival instincts. She was smart and instead of giving up, tried to find alternate solutions. She was a survivor. I think one of the the best things about her character is that it is very easy to imagine her in that time period. She is not a lady because of who she is, a half breed, society cannot bind her but at the same time she isn’t so out of place for the time period this book took place in.

I had mixed feelings about Jake though. He was an asshole at first, referring to Eve as a savage and hating on her Indian heritage. As you get to know more about him, it becomes clear that there is a reason for his hatred and when you learn his story his actions are easier to swallow. My biggest problem with him was well, him. He bears scars from something that happened in the past but all of that is forgotten as soon as he becomes infatuated with Eve. On the positive side though, he really was a fun male lead. Perhaps not as wonderful as some of Halle's others but yeah.

The romance did not work. It pains me to say this but it did not work. It was insta. Jake starts being a jealous creeper even though they’ve barely known each other for a hand full of days for half of which he was rude to her. The romance could have been more developed. There was some obvious chemistry between the two but the romance itself wasn’t strong. I wasn’t swooning. Towards the end, the romance did become easier to swallow but it disappointed me since I can usually count on Karina to develop the romance really well.

With that said, the creepy in this book was WONDERFUL. I was legit scared and oh my god the cannibalism and the beliefs surrounding it was so wonderfully executed. I had goose bumps and was on the edge of my seat and scared as fuck.

The plot was excellent. It was just straight forward adventure and survival and there were tons of hardships. The author did not cut back on the gory and gave us all she had. The journey was exciting and the author never took the easy way out. The turns this book took were also realistic (in terms of the situation they were in).

The ending was slightly cheesy though. I don’t know what it is with me but I cannot stand those kind of endings. I am not the biggest fan of epilogues and I don’t see the need for them for the most part.

All in all, Donners of the Dead was an exciting read that combined history and romance with a lot of horror that resulted in a book that can be quickly devoured and is extremely satisfying. You cannot expect anything less from Karina. 

Review: Come Alive by Karina Halle

Come Alive by Karina Halle
Series: Experiment in Terror #7
Release Date: June 23rd, 2013
Buy: Amazon

Goodreads Summary

It’s one thing to bring the woman you love back into your life. It’s another to try and keep her there. For Dex Foray, con­vinc­ing Perry Palomino to open her­self to their bur­geon­ing rela­tion­ship has been more chal­leng­ing than hunt­ing ghosts, bat­tling demons and stalk­ing Sasquatch com­bined. Add in the fact that the only way they can keep their Exper­i­ment in Ter­ror show run­ning is to take on a third part­ner in the form of the mys­te­ri­ous Max­imus Jacobs — all while inves­ti­gat­ing a sin­is­ter voodoo sect in New Orleans — and you’ve got the per­fect South­ern storm and a recipe for dis­as­ter. Luck­ily, Dex has never been one to back down, even when his life –and heart — are on the line.

When I first found out that this book would be written in Dex's POV I was beyond excited. I had read and loved And With Madness Comes Light and felt like if anyone could pull of a male-pov it would be Karina. I was right.

Although I didn't think I was at first. After the initial excitement wore off, I started remembering what Dex was like. Now we all love Dex, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to spend a whole book in his perverted mind. When I started the book for the first 11% percent I had been right. I wasn't enjoying the book and Dex was starting to *gasp* annoy me .

But then things turned around. Then the creepiness and other things came in and I started remembering why I, why we, all were in love with Dex in the first place. 

This is one of my favorite series. It's creepy and original and this book didn't change that. 

This book takes us to the city of New Orleans, which (I think) is well known for voodoo magic. We have that but this book also has zombies. As in real life scary ass zombies. I've never been a huge zombie fan. I am not sure why that is but when it comes to Karina, I don't seem to mind anything. She has this brilliant way of crafting an amazingly unique story. The horror and creepiness levels went up by a couple of notches in this one which was relieving because honestly, the 6th book had not done it for me. It wasn't nearly as good as I had hoped it would be after the awesomeness of the 5th one but Come Alive did not disappoint. Although I'll admit to missing the ghosts.

What I was really glad to see was that even though this was written in Dex's Pov, he didn't overshadow Perry. Perry wasn't just 'a character' she was still one of the main characters. She managed to stand out as someone who wasn't just Dex's love interest and someone Dex spend almost the whole book lusting after. Karina gave Perry a voice and it was almost as strong as Dex's. She remained as strong and lovable as always. 

Dex managed to surprise me though. He surprised me by being a good narrator but even more of a good character. Sexual innuendoes and jokes aside, Dex was actually an incredibly likable character. In fact when Perry had her doubts about Ambrosia, he may have chalked them up to jealousy but he at least followed up on them just to be sure because he respected her and her opinions. She wasn't just a piece of ass to him. The thing about Dex is he manages to show depth at the most surprising of moments, he is such a charming and hilarious character that you sometimes forget that he can be serious as well. I might not have agreed with some of his decisions but I respect them. 

We were also reunited with one of our (not so beloved) characters, Max. I never really liked Max in all honesty. Maybe because I was too busy holding the Dex flag. He was alright in the 2nd book but in the 5th one I had come to hate him. So I wasn't too happy when he was redeemed and when his true identity came to surface. There are several reasons for this but I don't want to spoil anything so I won't elaborate.

The 6th book left us with a very shaky ground for Dex and Perry's relationship. After the incident of the 4th book, Perry wasn't sure she could trust Dex so easily but she realized she needed him. Their relationship finally blooms in this book though, after 7 books of waiting for the two to admit to each other that they love the other, it FINALLY happened and it worked out beautifully. 

This book, though not my favorite in the series, was a great installment. There was creepy, awesome, romance, heartbreak and let's not forget Dex's incredibly amusing wit. It was a good addition to the series and fans should definitely pick this up asap. 

Review: Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry

Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry
Series: Benny Imura, #1
Release Date: September 14, 2010
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Buy: Amazon | The Book Depository

In the zombie-infested, post-apocalyptic America where Benny Imura lives, every teenager must find a job by the time they turn fifteen or get their rations cut in half. Benny doesn't want to apprentice as a zombie hunter with his boring older brother Tom, but he has no choice. He expects a tedious job whacking zoms for cash, but what he gets is a vocation that will teach him what it means to be human.

In all honesty, I absolutely adore zombie novels. But for whatever reason, it's been impossible to satisfy me with zombies recently. They're all too... boring. They can't turn doorknobs, they shamble along and in all likeliness, their only purpose is a scare/action type factor. So, you can see where I'm going with this. Benny's zombies just weren't scary enough.

On the back of my copy of this book, it says "Benny Imura couldn't hold a job, so he took to killing". That makes him sound like the king of all badasses, but in the long run I didn't even really like him. As characters go, I thought that he was remarkably flat. He didn't have the emotion that I expected him to have, and... I didn't feel his drive. Like, I knew why he was doing things, but I couldn't feel it. There were no emotions behind him as a character.

I'm not going to lie, I didn't really care for the writing style either. It made the book a very slow read for me, even when the plot was really moving. I just kept trudging on and on. That was the only speed at which I could read Rot & Ruin, a trudge.

Don't get me wrong, the story was interesting enough. The plot was okay, and there were a few surprises... but it was bogged down by flat characters and I slightly confusing point of view. Most of the time, Benny was our narrator, but I noticed a few times that it was Tom, which was slightly awkward. I think that I just have a problem with third person writing. Maybe that's it.

I did like Tom, but he wasn't really in the book for very long. He had a great sense of justice, and he was wonderful when he was telling stories to Benny, which makes him one of the bright-ish spots in this novel. The ending was nice and gave me closure, but unfortunately... I don't really believe that I'll continue the series. All in all, Rot & Ruin just wasn't for me, no matter how much I wish that it was.

ARC Review: The Devil's Reprise by Karina Halle

Title: The Devil's Reprise
Author: Karina Halle
Series: Devils #2
Release Date: October 29th, 2012
Publisher: Diversion Books
Buy:  -

Goodreads Summary

Given a second chance, music journalist Dawn Emerson and guitarist Sage Knightly are reunited, only to have their lives threatened again by a demonic bargain. The sequel to THE DEVIL’S METAL, from USA Today bestselling author Karina Halle.

When Dawn Emerson got the chance to go on tour with her favorite metal band, Hybrid, she thought she landed the writing gig of the century. But what started off as a dream for the budding music journalist quickly turned into a nightmare that she and guitarist Sage Knightly barely escaped alive.

Now, months after they went their separate ways, Sage invites Dawn to accompany him on his first solo tour across Europe and write about it for Creem Magazine. But like the last tour, nothing is as easy as it seems. Sage is a broken man on the path to self-destruction and Dawn isn’t sure if she’s the right person to save him. And aside from having to pick up the pieces of their burgeoning relationship, they have to negotiate the mysterious new photographer assigned to Dawn’s story, as well as vindictive promoters and demonic groupies they thought they’d never see again.

Because this time, it’s Dawn who made a deal with the devil and the only thing worse than having to uphold a bargain with the prince of darkness is not remembering how you’re supposed to pay it back.

It may be with their souls.

“Be careful what she wished for”

I honestly expected a lot more from this book. It was a pretty short read in general but so much more could have been done. I don’t mean to say that it was bad, it was a really fun read but I just wanted more.

This book is written in Dual POV and while that doesn’t always work out, it definitely worked in favor of this book. It made it a lot easier to enjoy the book and not only because we finally got to be inside of Sage’s mind. There were just times when it was so much easier to be in the other person’s head, for example, when Dawn went all jealous on me, I found it a relief to be in Sage’s head. Similarly when Sage went all douchebaggy on me, I preferred Dawn’s mind.

This time around it was Dawn who made ‘a mistake’ by making a deal with the devil, but she doesn’t even remember doing it. She still remains a pretty great female lead. She does have a few moments where I want to smack her but she pulled through in the end. I could say more about her but there isn’t much of a point because even though she is the one who made the deal, this was definitely Sage’s story.

“It should have been me.

But it wasn’t.

And the music played on”

Sage is basically a mess after the events of the last book. He is full of self-loathing and pain. He blames himself for what happened. He doesn’t think he should have survived. He just wants to be numb because he cannot live with himself half of the time. His best friend won’t talk to him and Noelle is a mess, and will probably remain that way for the rest of her life.

 At the beginning of the book he is a shell of a person, always drunk out of his mind and high on something. Sound familiar? No? That’s because he changed completely. Even music, the one thing he loved, doesn’t bring him the peace he needs. He is floating through life. And then Dawn comes back. Oh it takes him a while to actually see through his haze of self-hatred and man up, but when he does, it’s definitely worth it. It was great to see him come such long ways from the beginning of the book to where he was at the end of it.

He had some help of course, from his manager Jacob. It was actually refreshing to see how little he had changed. He obviously cared a great deal about Sage but you know, he has got to make his money. The show must go on even if lives are at stake. We did get to learn some about his past so that was nice.

There are new secondary characters as well, Max and Tricky. Tricky was mostly in the background and Max, well I don’t know what to say about him because honestly, I still don’t know how I feel about him.

I think the main reason this book didn’t work for me was because the magic of the first book came from the band and there wasn’t a band in this book. It was mostly a one man’s show. You didn’t get to see how the band interacted with each other and how despite all their issues they were really great people. I missed all of them so much.  

The book was definitely a whole lot creepier this time around. Which made it so much more exciting. The plot was well paced and like I mentioned before, the book was a quick read. I was sad to see it end so soon.

I have to admit though; I did NOT like the epilogue. It just seemed so unnecessary and cheesy in some ways. The book could have definitely done without it.

On the whole this was a pretty decent sequel. You could tell that Karina had actually planned the whole thing out instead of just writing a sequel just for the sake of it. 

Review: The Devil's Metal by Karina Halle

Title: The Devil's Metal
Author: Karina Halle
Series: Devils #1
Release Date: September 21st, 2012
Publisher: Diversion Books
Buy:  Amazon | BookDepository

Goodreads Summary

It’s the summer of 1974 and 21-year old Dawn Emerson has only three things she wants to do: compete one last time in the Ellensburg Rodeo, win back her ex-boyfriend Ryan, and become the best damn music journalist at Central Washington University. But all her plans are left in the dust when she’s contacted by Creem magazine to go on the road with one of her favorite groups, the up-and-coming metal band, Hybrid.

At first the assignment reads like a dream come true. Not only will Dawn land some much-needed credibility as a female music journalist, but she’ll finally get to experience life from the other side of the stage, and maybe crack the drunken, enigmatic code that is guitarist Sage Knightly. Instead, Dawn finds herself on an aging tour bus filled with ego-maniacs, band politics and a whole lot of sex, drugs and rock n’ roll. When monsters start showing up in dressing rooms and some of Sage’s groupies become increasingly strange and dangerous, Dawn discovers the band is not only going places – they’re going straight to Hell.

And Dawn has a backstage pass.

My luck with books involving rock stars/bands has been shit so the only reason I even read this was because it was by Halle. If anyone could pull it off it would be Karina. And I wasn’t wrong. 

Karina has this special knack for originality. She takes ‘common ideas’ and works her magic on them and they come out full of awesome. 

I actually thought the fact that this book was set in the 70’s would have been a setback for me as a reader but it turned out to be one of things I loved most about the book. It made it feel even more real and gave it a whole other atmosphere.

Dawn is a small town girl. She loves music. She is a music journalist but because she is a female most people don’t give her much credit. She hasn’t had a breakthrough in months until she is offered a job to write a piece on Hybrid, one of her favorite bands. 

Let me start off by saying that the part about her ex -boyfriend has no relevance what so ever. He is only mentioned and that too in the beginning. 

Getting back to Dawn, I loved being in her head. I couldn’t help but relate to her, from the parts about being disappointed to the whole ‘reviewing process’ and even her nerves about doing the whole thing. She was a great main character. She makes mistakes but she is so strong. Even with all her excitement about being with the band, she isn’t so star struck to pick up on their faults but even then she accepts them because well, they are only human (…. :P :P :P if you’ve read the book you’ll get what I am making tongue faces about). 

Sage, well, we don’t really know much about him seeing that he is so secretive but as he and Dawn get closer you get to learn quite a bit about. While I liked him, I didn’t really love him until the ending and it wasn’t because we finally got the whole picture about him. It was because of what he did, that truthful moment because if he had said something other than what he had it wouldn’t have worked. Karina knows that too. So she did justice to his character by making it end the way it did. I actually cannot wait to read the next book and be in his head and see how things turn around with him.

The band was so FUN to read about. Their interactions with each other, their interactions with Dawn. EVERYTHING. I loved getting to know them better. Seeing their faults and weaknesses. My favorite one out of all of them was Bob, yes he wasn’t a band member but I cannot help but adore him. He is so cool! 

Jacob, however, was the most interesting of the lot, even more so than Graham. He was the one character who you couldn’t quite pinpoint. What were his motives? Was he the good or bad guy? It wasn’t until the end when you actually got a little insight into his character.

The plot was pretty amazing. It was pretty fast, I found myself worrying the book would end too soon, which it did. I will however admit to expecting more in the ‘creepy’ area from this book because compared to the creepiness level of her EIT series, this was nothing.

I cannot wait to read the sequel and even my short wait for about a week seems too long. 

READ THIS PEOPLE.