Book Review: A Midsummer’s Night Scream by R. L. Stine

“Oh, what fools these actors be!

It was a horror movie that turned into real horror: Three young actors lost their lives while the cameras rolled. Production stopped, and people proclaimed the movie was cursed.

Now, sixty years later, new actors are venturing onto the haunted set. In a desperate attempt to revive their failing studio, Claire’s dad has green-lit a remake of Mayhem Manor, and Claire and her friends are dying to be involved.

At first, Claire laughs at Jake’s talk of ghosts and curses. He’s been too busy crushing on her best friend, Delia, or making out with that slut, Annalee, to notice that she’s practically been throwing herself at him. What does he know anyway? This is her big chance to be a star!

But then, Claire runs into a creepy little man named Benny Puckerman, and gets her hands on a real love potion! Unfortunately, the course of true love never did run smooth…

Get ready for laughter to turn into screams as the Grandmaster of Horror, R.L. Stine, takes on the Master of Theater in this modern reimagining of Shakespeare’s classic romantic comedy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

What I see: Le sigggggggghhhhhhh. I know that people have been super negative on Goodreads about this book, and that’s one of the reasons why I got it as soon as it was published. There are a lot of haters on the Internet and I wanted to see what was fact and what was fiction.

I had also just finished some of Stine’s Goosebumps, so his juvenile writing was fresh in my mind. I was really disappointed by this story. I felt it was a good idea, but it lacked the execution. It just didn’t work. I felt that the snuff film references were too adult for the piece, and yet, all the dialogue and characters acted like they were ten.

There was a huge disconnect with everything. Some scenes were too obvious when others were not obvious enough. The sentences were a lot like Goosebumps, to short, with a two page cliff hanger chapter. It just didn’t come together and flow. I wish it did. The blurb and idea are fun, interesting, but the end delivery isn’t there. It makes me sad, because I am a huge fan of Stine’s work. I hope he keeps at it for YA! I want to read what else he can do.

My Favorite Book for October: The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin

Oct22

Has there ever been a book that reminds you of someone special?

Before I moved to England I worked in childcare for seven years. Two of them were spent at an on site after school program down the road from my Uni. In the early evenings, the routine for the head teacher and myself would be to gather the remaining kids and have story time before combining to one of the larger rooms and locking up ours.

I don’t know if it was one of our kids or if it was myself or my head teacher that found The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin, but it made for fantastic October reading.

Usually I was the one that did the reading aloud, I really enjoyed reading to the kids. For Spookley, my head teacher took the lead, which allowed me to be the peanut gallery.

It was one of the best moments at work with my head teacher. We grew to be great friends once we moved on from the after school program, and Spookley was one of our fond memories of working together.

Our kids enjoyed it too. We all cheered at the end for Spookley. Such a heartwarming story.

When October rolls around, I’m always looking forward to paging through Spookley.

Windy

Oct21

Mercer Island, Washington State. 2013.

October Purchases – Gold Found at Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair

Oct19

Hi all!

Last weekend I was lucky enough to do some browsing at the annual Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair! Over 100 vendors where there, mostly from Washington but there were at least over 20 from others states and even one from the UK!

This of course meant that I couldn’t many of the books. $2,000 for a first edition of Stephen King’s The Shining? Or how about the 1st edition The Great Gatsby with the original dust jacket? (over $13,000).

Lots and lots of pretties!

There were books that were affordable, there was a lovely little booth of vintage cookbooks, but I choose to spend my money of this little gem of a first edition children’s book!

LOVE IT! There was also a very nice military book booth and he had some vintage mysteries for sale. How could I resist?

I picked Carrie up at Half Price Books. It is October after all! I’m still on the hunt for an affordable The Shining! Any leads, let me know!

Book Review: Scarlett by Marissa Meyer

Oct17

“The fates of Cinder and Scarlet collide as a Lunar threat spreads across the Earth…

Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She’s trying to break out of prison—even though if she succeeds, she’ll be the Commonwealth’s most wanted fugitive.

Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit’s grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn’t know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother’s whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner.”

What I see: This was fantastic! What a great second in a series! Full of action, full of adventure, low on love and laced with humor. As the mystery surrounding Cinder is expanded, Scarlet delivers her own story in France. There is nothing fru-fru about this series and I think that’s one of the reason why I’m all for it. Scarlet takes on both Scarlet’s story line and follows Cinder’s as well. Two strong girls that will do whatever it takes to achieve their goal. Girls that kick butt! Finally!

It’s smart, it’s experimental and at time harsh. I don’t like the sugar coated YA’s. Scarlett stands on it’s own, but is also a fantastic addition to the series. When the world is dystopian, it’s fantastic to have a setting that isn’t America, but acknowledges that the rest of the world still exists. I can’t wait for the third book, Cress, being published in 2014!

Top Ten Books I was ‘Forced’ to Read…

Oct15

I’m finally participating in one of The Broke and the Bookish’s Top Ten Tuesday’s! This Tuesday is as the title: Top Ten Books I was ‘Forced’ to Read!

1. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Three times I’ve had to read this, and it’s NEVER grown on me. I can appreciate it for it’s literary significance, but I still hate this book and will forever! 80 pages of NOTHING!

2. The Edge of Nowhere by Elizabeth George

Love, love, loved it! A great forced read from my boss who definitely knows her stuff!

3. Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

This book was from my senior seminar at Uni, and it was one of the first books I read in college that was science fiction for credit. I never expected to read science fiction at uni, but it was one of the best classes (modules) I ever took! The seminar was all about American Literature.

4. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

Have to be honest, this was for my Russian literature class and I wasn’t able to finish it. The next book explains why.

5. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Yup, I read both Anna Karenina and War and Peace in the same quarter for my Russian literature class. I was able to finish Anna Karenina though and loved it.

6. Greywalker by Kat Richardson

This recommendation was from a sorority sister. SO glad I listened! I was also able to finally meet the author a couple months back when her latest book was published! I was a total fangirl.

7. The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes by Diane Chamberlain

I was requested to read this book during my fantastic internship with Harlequin Mills & Boon. As an editorial intern for the UK editorial department, my editor knew exactly which author from their long standing line of books that I would fall in love with. She’s my guilty pleasure author, everything Chamberlain writes is gold and I love zoning out with her latest novel. (I’m currently waiting for her latest from my local library).

8. Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James

I was forced to read this book as joke from one of my publishing friends, and also because if I wanted to dislike it, I needed to read it to actually know if I hated it or not. I do not like it, because I am from Seattle. A senior in college who is an English major who never get by by BORROWING her roommates computer. An English major needs her own. And that’s only the beginning…but I also got to meet E. L. James too!

9. Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson

I lived in London for nearly four years so it was only natural when one of my mates from my original study abroad in London during 2006 would return and make me read this book. Bloody brilliant.

10. The Long Walk by Stephen King

This was a forced read for my fiction module during my Master’s. I am so grateful to my professor because she reawakened my love for Stephen King. It’s like I had forgotten he’s written all these books I’ve yet to read and the following years whichever titles I could get my hands on in the London’s libraries I hungrily devoured. Now that I’m back in the US, King’s books are so my oyster.

That’s my list! What’s on yours?