When Ash Rains Down- Cecelia Earl

Julia is a no-nonsense kind of person. With two jobs (at a bowling alley at night, and her mother’s diner during her “off time”), her senior year, and a little brother to look after while her mother works long hours, she has no time for fun. Her quirky best friend, Mitch, tries to keep her sane amidst her crazy life.

One day, it all changes. A man comes in to the diner and offers her a paid internship, on the condition that she graduates a semester early and comes straight to work for him. The offer is tempting, as she hates school and only wants a better life for her family, the destitution they’ve faced since her father left when she was young. She swears, by any means necessary, she will provide them with a better life.

Unexpectedly, Julia is voted Homecoming Queen, which brings Cole into her life. Cole is self-assured, borderline arrogant, and rich. And most importantly, he’s determined to make sure that Julia has fun.

Little does she know, her entire life, her entire existence, is not what it seems. After her mother’s diner is destroyed and her mother and brother and in comas, she learns the truth about who she is, who Cole is, the strange and intense Nicholas, and most importantly, who her father truly was.

She has a choice to make. Will she stay and protect her mother and brother? Or will she embrace her true self and protect all of humanity?

Killing Time – Michaelbrent Collings

If you’re a lover of sci-fi horror, this is the novel for you! Bravo on another great novel, Mr. Collings!

It all started with a clock. Something 90% of households feature. Except this clock doesn’t count down the minutes forward to events, it counts backwards until midnight, then “Tick tock, time to die!”

If you knew you were going to die a painful, gruesome death, would you wait for it to claim you, or would you choose to go out on your own terms? I have to admit, the deaths in this novel were nice and gruesome, and quite imaginative. There is definitely no lack of gore and bloody-gutsy-good-stuff in this one. Here’s an excerpt, probably my favorite kill scene in the entire novel:

“He grabbed the defibrillator paddles. Then turned the voltage meter on the side of the machine to maximum. He looked at Kristen. “Tick-tock,” he said. “Midnight comes and it’s time to die.” Then he held the paddles to his eyes and pulled the triggers.”

Like I said, quite imaginative!

Kristen, a normal teenage girl facing angst of an absent family and being shipped from boarding school to boarding school, gets a distressing phone call from her mother (an unusual thing, as she rarely hears from her), which leads her to ditch the boarding school and embark on an adventure of the type she never imagined. Turns out, her family was involved in covering up a murder, and it looks as though the corpse is back for revenge, seeking out everyone who was involved in the autopsy and their families.

Little does she know, it’s much closer to home than she imagined, and the corpse has it’s own reasons for exacting it’s revenge.

This one was another that was difficult to put down. As I said earlier in this post, Mr. Collings again nails the horror category. I would definitely rank him in the top 3 horror writers ever, on par with King and Koontz.

The Ride Along – Michaelbrent Collings

I know my blog is starting to look like an MbC fan club, but let’s face it, the man has some serious skills! Not to mention we’re doing sort of a count down until August 18, when his new book, The Forest comes out! Now THAT’S a review I can’t wait to release! This was another book that I had to ruminate on for a few days before reviewing because I was just so blown away.

Mel is paranoid about her father going back to work as a police officer after being out of work for a month due to being shot in the shoulder in the line of duty. She is worried that if they part, he will die. So as a loving father, he takes her on his shift as a ride along. However, it becomes evident early on that this is no regular shift.

Members of the police force that were involved in the shoot out start dying off one by one, while a madman named Jack dictates Mel and her father’s movements via radio. Cave diving, hiding from madmen in a fish market, finding a dead cop in their trunk… all of it coalesces into an ending that will blow your mind.

Once again, yet another fantastic read by Mr. Collings. I could barely put it down. Killed my Kindle battery twice in two days reading this novel, but a story worth every word!

What Sara Said – M.L. Carrington

Usually I don’t indulge in women’s fiction, so I don’t want to say that this was a terrible novel, because it wasn’t, I just didn’t see the point. Sara is (un)happily married to Eric, and has been for years. He provides her with everything she needs, though she chooses to still work the dialysis center as a nurse. Her whole world gets turned upside down though, when one day at the hospital, she runs into her childhood sweetheart, Jude.

Jude and Sara were very much in love until a misunderstanding tore them apart. Sara eventually moved on, finding love and comfort in the arms of Eric, though after many years, the relationship is lacking in warmth and emotion. It seems Eric is dedicated to his work more than his wife and two children.

Jude and Sara indulge in an illicit affair and Sara winds up pregnant, knowing that Eric had a vasectomy eight months prior. Things take a turn for the worst when Sara gets into a vehicle accident on her way from telling Jude about the pregnancy. She loses the baby, but will Eric find out about her affair? Ultimately, who will Sara end up with? Will she stay and rekindle her romance with Eric, or does she throw it all alway for her soul mate, Jude?

Strangers – Michaelbrent Collings

Even though this was my second (perhaps third) read of this novel, I had to ruminate for a few days on how to review this book without giving too much away.

I would classify it as psychological horror of an entirely new breed. Imagine being locked in your house. No big deal, just break a window to get out. But what if all of the furniture that can be used to break a window, has been sawn through so that as soon as you move it, it falls apart? Imagine your television screens showing your family’s secrets one by one. Would you continue to love, forgive, and fight to escape together? Or would you look at your family as if suddenly… there were strangers?

Jerry comes home from his job as a surgeon to find a rake jammed in to his mechanical fence. It’s all downhill from there. It’s the one year anniversary of his oldest son’s accidental death, and he tries to make the family spend time together. A quick fight with a neighbor, dinner and television with his family…all status quo. But not quite.

The family awakens to find themselves in a real life nightmare. Trapped in their home with a madman trying to get them to admit their secrets. It’s their turn to admit their secrets. They surmise that it won’t be long before someone comes to look for them. After all, Jerry is an in-demand surgeon and someone will notice that the kids are truant from school, right? No worries, The Killer took care of that. As the family realizes that there is no way out, and no one will come looking for them, they’re also terrorized by The Killer inside their own home. Drugs, adultery, borderline prostitution, murder… It comes out in time.

In the meantime, they just want to survive. The truth of what happened to their oldest son, Brian, comes out and shakes all, but what comes next… It’s anything but status quo. This family realizes they’re all nothing but strangers to each other, but will they be able to pull together to survive?

This is yet another Michaelbrent Collings novel that I couldn’t put down. As I said, it was my second or third read (I bought the book back in 2014) and I was still glued to the “pages” (I only read on my Kindle now, I can’t read a real physical book like some sort of barbarian). If you’re looking for something that will truly make you wonder what you would do in a dangerous situation, make you think of adding hidden doors and escape hatches in your home, and make you want to refuse all service people from ever entering your home (cable men, phone line repair, etc.), this is the book for you.

What Haunts Me – Margaret Millmore

Any book featuring the line, “Please don’t think that while I was out stabbing ghosts with unsharpened pencils…” is bound to be interesting. This was a new take on ghost stories for me. I thought I’d run the gamut of “ghost stories” but this ghost hunter/ghost killer was new for me.

George becomes ill with what he thinks is the flu, then starts to have disturbing visions. He sees people with Harry Potter-style glasses and dated clothing, and for some reason, they always seem to be near someone with an affliction. One day, out of curiosity, he touches one. Feeling like he’d been doused in cold water, he realized that the person just…disappeared. The nearby person suddenly seemed cured of their ailment, and life moved on. For most. For George, it was forever changed.

To prevent the unpleasant feeling, George begins to carry around an unsharpened #2 pencil, using it to “vanquish” these spirits. He performs experiments, and finds that sure enough, for each spirit he gets rid of, someone gets better. These ghosts are hanging around and causing the issues that these people are suffering from.

George meets many new people that relate to his “power”, and find out that his ability comes, most likely, from his lineage. Add in the sassy and bad-assy Billy, his beloved grandmotherly neighbor’s niece, and you get one tough duo to be feared by the spirit world. Then comes the old man who is attempting to use George’s power to give himself everlasting life, and it all makes for a great read.

I quite enjoyed this one, though when I read the line I quoted earlier, I almost stopped, pausing a moment and reflecting that what I was reading was quite ridiculous, but curiosity kept me going. I have to say, I’m glad I did. It was a hell of a read. Action packed and interesting, with great characters that definitely are not lacking in spunk and personality. Even a twist toward the end that I definitely didn’t see coming.

If you’re looking for an action packed ghost story, with a healthy helping of humor and a main character who can sometimes be quite self-deprecating, this is the book for you. I don’t know if I’ll continue the series, but this first one was definitely worth the read.

Destined – Alexandra Moody

SPOILER ALERT
After escaping the West Hope hospital, Elle has been working with The Movement to find a way to bring down Joseph, and volunteering at their clinic where the hope to find a cure that will allow other ARC citizens to come to the surface without the Lysartium mutating their genes at such a rapid pace. Aiden, a doctor who escaped West Hope hospital with Elle, is desperate to find a cure since Joseph’s experiments have left his lover in a coma and he hopes to save her.
Former friends-turned-enemies-turned-friends again abound in this novel. Hunter becomes a central character to The Movement. There are kidnappings, executions, mind control, and battles around every corner.
Elle and a few others from The Movement are sent on a mission to the ARC, her home, in order to find people who are willing to be test subjects for the cure that Aiden has found, but all is not as she left it. Joseph and his recruiters are running experiments on nearly everyone in the ARC now, and most are dying as a consequence. Quinn reappears to lead Elle and her team to an underground resistance band in the ARC, where they are only able to find two test subjects: Adam (Sebastian and April’s father) and Quinn herself.
Seeing the ARC in the state that it’s in under Joseph’s control inspires everyone to put on their game face and step it up to rescue the citizens of the ARC.
In this final installment of the ARC series, there is action around every corner. Elle works with Sebastian, Lara, and April to attempt to control her powers so that she will no longer be viewed, and treated as, a liability by other members of The Movement, especially after their camp is destroyed by Joseph and his recruiters. Losing Will in the fire sparks an entirely new side to Elle that we haven’t seen. She transforms from frightened teenager to a force to be reckoned with.
However, when Ryan appears shortly before their mission to destroy Joseph and bring an end to his regime, he tells Elle that she must not heal anyone that night, or she will die in that person’s place.
What happens when Elle discovers who will die? That the pesron who is destined to die is one of the most important people in the world to her? She does what any hero would do. She goes in their place.

Oh, and you finally find out who/what Ryan is!

Fractured – Alexandra Moody

*SPOILER ALERT
Elle Winters has journeyed through Hell and back to find Sebastian, her best friend that she “secretly” loves. After making new friends who help her on her mission to find Sebastian’s location, she journeys into North Hope, where the “Elite” talented live. She makes the move to see him just as the recruiters are beginning to notice that she shows no signs of being talented and plan to move her to West Hope where the untalents live.
Upon finding Sebastian, he hurriedly tries to get her away from the recruiters, but she winds up imprisoned in the youth ward of the hospital in West Hope. Kelsey, a four-year-old firecracker, and Will, a young man with a heart of gold, become her closest friends. Little does she know upon “awakening” that she’d, in fact, been imprisoned for weeks and tortured. Experiments have been performed on her that have given her talents, though she knows not what they are, or how to control them.
The leader of the city of Hope, Joseph, is a Hitler-esque leader who rose to power simply because he was one of the first there and no one has bothered to challenge him. He authorizes and endorses the situations in the West Hope hospital. Being untalented himself, he seeks to find a way to give himself powers. The entire hospital is essentially a laboratory. They keep the “patients” in line by telling them that they were brought to the surface too soon, and that the Lysartium will cause their cells to mutate too quickly which will lead to death. The “cures” and “treatments” are actually experiments on Joseph’s behalf. Elle, however, seems to be the star patient, since she is read to be the only one who not only absorbs a talent, but can absorb any talent that she is injected with.
Now, we follow Elle as she breaks out of the hospital with the help of new friends, and is taken in by The Movement, an underground group of rebels lead by M and April, that oppose Joseph and want nothing more than to stop the experimentation and bring out the truth. Other members of the group, Soren, Sebastian, etc., are all highly talented indviduals that contribute their talents in hopes of stopping Joseph.
Will Elle be able to help them? Or with her new, unstable talents, will she become more of a liability to them than an asset?