Review: Another Little Piece by Kate Karyus Quinn

Another Little Piece by Kate Karyus Quinn

• Pub. Date: June 11, 2013
• Publisher:Harper Teen
• Pages:437
• Goodreads/Amazon/Book Depository

The spine-tingling horror of Stephen King meets an eerie mystery worthy of Sara Shepard's Pretty Little Liars series in Kate Karyus Quinn's haunting debut.

On a cool autumn night, Annaliese Rose Gordon stumbled out of the woods and into a high school party. She was screaming. Drenched in blood. Then she vanished.

A year later, Annaliese is found wandering down a road hundreds of miles away. She doesn't know who she is. She doesn't know how she got there. She only knows one thing: She is not the real Annaliese Rose Gordon.

Now Annaliese is haunted by strange visions and broken memories. Memories of a reckless, desperate wish . . . a bloody razor . . . and the faces of other girls who disappeared. Piece by piece, Annaliese's fractured memories come together to reveal a violent, endless cycle that she will never escape—unless she can unlock the twisted secrets of her past.

First Line: The field didn't end so much as trail off, beaten back by the rusted-out trailer and circle of junked vehicles surrounding it.

Review: Wow I have to give the author some serious props Another Little Piece is so far the first book that was so confusing due to point of views switching up out of no where and having to figure out what past we are seeing that normally I would be highly annoyed and give up on a book but instead I found myself more and more intrigued the further along in the book I got.

I'm not going to go deep into the plot because I don't want to give anything away, but we have Anna and she is confused just like "us" the readers. She can't remember much of anything that happened when she disappeared to top it off she isn't even sure if she is Annaliese. We discover who and what she is right along with her and believe me when I say it is so twisted  and dark and totally unexpected.

As far as the characters go the author did a wonderful job with them. They were all very well developed and all interesting in their own way. Anna is by far one of the most complex characters I've come across in a while, she had so many inner demons which we saw more of as the story progressed and we learned about her past and the choices she made to be where she is today. There was also romance in the book, Anna fell for a boy named Dex who at first I didn't think much of until I kept reading and learned about his "ability" and his own personal struggles of dealing with it.

Overall Another little piece was different, it was disturbing and creepy and well worth the read.

Also check out the trailer

Review: Broken by A.E. Rought

Broken by A.E. Rought

• Pub. Date: January 08, 2013
• Publisher: Angry Robot-Strange Chemistry
• Pages:384
• Goodreads/Amazon/Book Depository

SPOILERY  BLURB : Would not recommend reading.
Imagine a modern spin on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein where a young couple’s undying love and the grief of a father pushed beyond sanity could spell the destruction of them all.

A string of suspicious deaths near a small Michigan town ends with a fall that claims the life of Emma Gentry's boyfriend, Daniel. Emma is broken, a hollow shell mechanically moving through her days. She and Daniel had been made for each other, complete only when they were together. Now she restlessly wanders the town in the late Fall gloom, haunting the cemetery and its white-marbled tombs, feeling Daniel everywhere, his spectre in the moonlight and the fog.

When she encounters newcomer Alex Franks, only son of a renowned widowed surgeon, she's intrigued despite herself. He's an enigma, melting into shadows, preferring to keep to himself. But he is as drawn to her as she is to him. He is strangely... familiar. From the way he knows how to open her locker when it sticks, to the nickname she shared only with Daniel, even his hazel eyes with brown flecks are just like Daniel's.

The closer they become, though, the more something inside her screams there's something very wrong with Alex Franks. And when Emma stumbles across a grotesque and terrifying menagerie of mangled but living animals within the walls of the Franks' estate, creatures she surely knows must have died from their injuries, she knows.

First Line: Cold seeps through my jacket while I lean on the wrought iron fence, staring at the rows of headstones parading across the lawn of Memorial Gardens cemetery.


Review: I haven't read a retelling of Frankenstein until now and Broken did a good job with bringing the creepiness factor in the second half of the book. I will tell you right now there was no real element of surprise, if you read the blurb ( which gives away to much information ) you already know whats going on and can easily put everything together before it happens. 

Emma who is a very depressed teenager is mourning the death of Daniel her once boyfriend who died tragically right in front of her. She hangs out at the cemetery even though there is no grave for Daniel, but she feels closer to him there since it was their spot. In comes Alex Franks the new guy at school which every girl crushes on but he has eyes only for Emma. Strangely he reminds Emma a lot of Daniel.

The romance and attraction happened a little faster then I like but I'm letting it slide in this one since obviously the reasoning behind it made sense due to the circumstances. As for the characters Emma was sad and miserable for the most part and people calling her horrible names when she actually was starting to move on from her past didn't help. As for Alex he was likeable and was just as damaged as Emma but had good character development throughout the book.

My only real issue was not much happened in the first half or so of the book, well nothing that screamed Frankenstein, it was just Alex and Emma and cliched high school drama. But around the second half of the book things picked up and even though predicable became interesting and creepy, just too bad the focus on the actual Frankenstein bit of the book didn't happen sooner.

As for the writing it had a Gothic style that worked, and Rought is actually very talented at writing certain scenes that will really just get under your skin. Also Rought did do a wonderful job in writing about Emma's grief otherwise I'm pretty sure a depressing character like her would have made me put aside this book midway but the writing was done well and kept me reading and connected to the characters.

Overall I expected a whole lot more from this book but Broken is one of those books even with all the issues I had with it I still enjoyed it.

Book Review: Bad Girls Don't Die by Katie Alender

Bad Girls Don't Die by Katie Alender

• Pub. Date: June 2010
• Publisher:Hyperion Books for Children
• Format: Paperback , 352pp
• http://katiealender.com

When Alexis's little sister Kasey becomes obsessed with an antique doll, Alexis thinks nothing of it. Kasey is a weird kid. Period. Alexis is considered weird, too, by the kids in her high school, by her parents, even by her own Goth friends. Things get weirder, though, when the old house they live in starts changing. Doors open and close by themselves; water boils on the unlit stove; and an unplugged air conditioner turns the house cold enough to see their breath in. Kasey is changing, too. Her blue eyes go green and she speaks in old-fashioned language, then forgets chunks of time.

Most disturbing of all is the dangerous new chip on Kasey's shoulder. The formerly gentle, doll-loving child is gone, and the new Kasey is angry. Alexis is the only one who can stop her sister -- but what if that green-eyed girl isn't even Kasey anymore?

My Review:

There once lived a little girl,a beautiful little girl who wore fancy dresses, and had the most exotic green eyes that one may have ever seen.She came from the richest family and lived in the biggest house that was ever built in her small county. She lived in the country away from the townspeople but everyone loved the little blonde girl that they all came by to play with her everyday.

When she turned ten she received the most beautiful doll ever made for her birthday.She took it everywhere with her and even talked to the doll like it was human. Jealousy stirred amongst her friends because they never had anything as nice.

Jealousy is never a good thing. It made the other children do awful things to the little girl with the vivid green eyes.

Present day-15 year old Alexis Warren with her pink hair and outcast status has a sister named Kasey who is overly obsessed with creepy looking dolls.

Weird things start to happen in their home. Things that just can't be explained. And when Kasey starts to act even more strange then her usual weird self Alexis starts to think her sister is going mental.

Now enters Megan Wiley the nemesis to Alexis. She is popular,a cheerleader and undeniably beautiful who also gets to experience Alexis Warren's sisters behavior firsthand. Megan's theory is altogether different and it's not so much a theory if Megan also has a gift to sense "things".Kasey being crazy is the least of Alexis' problems.

I don't read to much horror but I did enjoy reading Bad Girls Don't Die by Katie Alender.It was a mystery and horror combined in one and it kept me on the edge the whole time.There is just something about creepy antique doll ghost stories that gets under my skin and Bad Girls Don't Die had no problems creeping me out. I highly recommend this book, it was a fast read thanks to the interesting plot.

I'm also glad to say that there is a second book coming out called "From Bad to Cursed" in June 2011.