Review: Nails by Fiona Dodwell

I've been following Dodwell's work for a while now and I have to say that one of her hallmarks is that her work is challenging. By challenging I mean that her work can frequently tackle difficult subjects like domestic abuse, rape, or stalking - things that make the average person squirm a little more in their chairs. This is probably what makes her works so fascinating to me, since it pushes the horror envelope a little further. This could, however, make her work difficult for some readers, which makes this novella a good place to start for new readers. There are difficult topics in this work, but they're more subtle than they were in her 2011 book The Banishing so if you're easily made squeamish and want to wade a bit before swimming into the deep end (and you should swim into the deep end if you want a good scare), this is a good start.

What makes this so unsettling for me was that Dodwell takes her time in drawing out the scares. There's a lot of human interaction in this novella, which I really enjoyed.  We're given a chance to get to know the main character of Carla as she has to deal with strange noises and voices in her apartment. The buildup, paired with Carla's desperation not to have to return home, reminded me somewhat of Adam Nevill's No One Gets Out Alive. (Nevill's novel is also worth checking out, if you're curious!)

I can't and won't spoil the ending for you, but I was left with some major questions about everything that happened and I can easily say that this could be turned into a more full-length novel if Dodwell wanted to go that route or she could explore some of the side characters introduced such as Brian, the paranormal investigator.

This is absolutely worth checking out, especially if you're a fan of Dodwell's work. (And I am a major Dodwell fangirl!) Also, if you haven't read it already, you should check out her free short story "The Redwood Lodge Investigation". Parts of it are supposed to be based on something that really happened, which makes it much more fun to read!

5/5

(Review copy provided by author)

Further reading:

• The Redwood Lodge Investigation
• Purchase Nails at Amazon

Book Review: How Beauty Met the Beast by Jax Garren

Title: How Beauty Met the Beast (Tales of the Underlight #1)
Author: Jax Garren
Publisher: Carina Press
Release Date: Out Now!
eISBN: B0092MPT80






Look at that cover. Isn't that the most enticing thing you've ever seen? I'll fully admit that I was drawn in by the kick butt cover that had a beautiful and strong looking woman on the cover that wasn't the typical "porcelain doll" perfection that you often see on romance covers. Well, that and I loved her outfit.

The Beast 

Scarred. Damaged. Living with a terrible secret. Agent of the Underlight Wesley "Hauk" Haukon has nothing left but the fight for liberty against the oppressive Order of Ananke. He's starting to lose hope...and then he sees her. 

The Beauty

Despite her night job as a burlesque dancer, grad student Jolie Benoit has always played the mostly good girl. That all changes following a scorching sexual encounter with a stranger whose face she doesn't see. After she's kidnapped by thugs and rescued by a man with a very familiar voice, Jolie becomes a pawn in a struggle she never knew existed. 

Hauk knows he cannot have her, and resolves to protect his heart and his secrets. But as they work together and grow closer, he finds new reason to keep fighting. Dare he risk hope in a new life, one where Jolie can see past his ravaged face and where their friendship can grow into something more? 

Now doesn't that sound cool? Not only do you have a book based around a burlesque dancer, but you also have an updated telling of Beauty and the Beast. Ok sure, I know that this is far from the first, but I really do love fairy tale re-tellings because most authors will put an interesting spin on the tale. That the "beast" in this one is scarred from fighting for his country is a nice twist because of what it might bring in the future of the trilogy.

First let me tell you the good. This has a good premise, that of an underground society, a rich girl turned burlesque dancer drawn into a conspiracy that applies to her more than she could imagine, and teasings of a potential romance between her and her occasionally rough savior Hauk. We're given a nice little sex scene early on in the book, which I'll warn you- is the only sex scene you'll get in this novella. There's some nice actions scenes here as well that occur later on in the book.

The bad? We don't have a huge amount of world building early on in this book. We're told some things, but by large this felt like it was part two of a larger series rather than the first book. I kept feeling like I was missing out on a lot, which kept me from getting as immersed in the book as I'd otherwise like. Every time I started getting really pulled into the story I'd read something about the Underlight in an offhand way, reminding me how little I knew about the world and reinforcing the "second book" feel. I think this was deliberately done so that we'd learn about the world along with Jolie and empathize more with her, but it just drew me out of the tale. I'd like to say that this wasn't a big issue, but I know that for some this will be a deal breaker. Some won't mind this, some will, and while I know that part of this was because of the huge secrecy requirements of the Underlight, it still bugged me. It also didn't help that at times we went from no information to total information deluge. I just think that if it'd been a little more spaced out info-wise, it would've made it a more even experience.

Overall though, this wasn't a bad read and I'll say that it's worth the two dollar "cover charge" to read. I've read a lot worse that I've paid a lot more for and despite feeling occasionally lost, I'm curious enough to see what will happen next.

3 out of 5 stars


(eARC provided by Netgalley)

Book Review: The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner

Title: The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner
Author: Stephenie Meyer
Release Date: 06/05/2010
ISBN: 031612558X

I'll admit that while I didn't really like Twilight all that much, I was vaguely curious about this book. After all, it was the one thing my older sister really wanted as a late birthday present. (I've yet to hear her reaction to the book.) Since it was so short (only about 180 pages) I ended up reading it during my register shift at the bookstore. I ended up getting more drawn into it than I did Twilight, but somehow the book just seemed to be lacking in some areas.

TSLoBT follows the titular character as she struggles to survive in a flock of ruthless fledgling vampires that were turned by a creator they've never really met for a purpose none of them are even aware of. Bree knows that there's something not quite right about the entire situation, but she's determined to make the best of it. She manages to escape most of the in-group fighting by hiding behind Freaky Fred, then hunting with her friend Diego. It's during one of their nightly hunts that she & Diego have a close run-in with the sun (they've been told to expect to burn up if the sun hits them), only to discover that almost everything they've been told is a lie.

I'm not that overly familiar with the series, but I am aware of the storylines for the books. With that in mind, I have to say that I didn't really feel like I missed much as far as the Twilight story stuff goes. It's just that there's so many things earlier on in the book that were glossed over, stuff that I wish I had been able to read about. We're given only passing reasons for why Bree left home & while I can understand why the book focuses more on the current situation at hand, I really feel like it would have benefited the story if the characters had been more expanded on. I got the impression that Bree had been turned relatively soon before the story had started (about a few weeks beforehand), so I wish that the story had started with her being turned- it'd have build a little more suspense that way.

As it was, some of the more serious stuff felt sort of flat & while I did enjoy it enough to give it a B- (hey, it was short & to the point), this book feels like it will really only be truly enjoyed by die-hard Meyers fans. On a positive note, you don't have to have read the Twilight series multiple times in order to follow along with the story, but I get the impression that it helps. What I can say about this book is that it is making me think that I need to take another look at the series to see if my appreciation for this book can translate into my liking the Twilight series more.

Grade: B-