Coming to You Live by Mira Grant

I mentioned in a status update that this story would need a very good ending for me to give a rating higher than 1 or 2 stars.  The ending was on par with the story.

On the one hand, I do not really understand the point of having this story, on the other hand – of course, people are curious about the ‘afterwards’ part.  It is somewhat unfortunate that the fourth book in the trilogy (heh) that followed a different group of people was set in the same time period as the first book in the series, otherwise it would have been the perfect book for a little cameo ‘this is what they are doing now’ to occur. That’s ‘easier’, in a way, than a full on story.  At least for me.  Otherwise you get a story like this – one that many liked, but that I didn’t.  It was way too wordy, I mentioned in the same or different status update I’ve already referenced, that the used 99.9% more words than it needed to (actually, I worded it differently – that it could have been told with 99.9% fewer words).

Long and short – not a story I needed, and I realize that it is my fault that I read it. I read it because I generally like, no, love the short stories that got released along with the ‘trilogy’.  But, not really a story I liked – and I kind of knew hat going in (and no, I am not rating it the way I am because of preconceptions, otherwise the short story I read between finishing this one and writing this review would also have a rating around 2 stars, instead of 5).

ETA: putting this review into the review box caused me to look at my shelves. You know one of the reasons I probably didn't like this story? Spotted it when I spotted what I'd already put on my shelves. 'Zombies'.  'Horror'.  There is psychological trauma and a bunch of PTSD going on in this story, but no horror, and the only zombies representation was one wolf (if I recall correctly - Shaun is mentioned going out and 'getting' various types of zombies, animal or human, but the reader doesn't see that, just told.  So this really was a navel gazing story with no action.  I'm going to have to take a ton of shelves off this book I'd put on preread.  No this isn't a horror, no this isn't a zombie book, it's barely post-apocalyptic - only that because . . . it is, but . . . bah).

Rating: 2.0

March 25 2018

Altered State by Ella Dominguez

Altered State
by Ella Dominguez
Pages: 202
Date: May 27 2015
Publisher: Bondage Bunny Publishing
Series: N/A

Review
Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0
Read: January 27 2016

I received this book free from the author for a GoodReads group discussion

My third work by this author.

So, the first thing I noticed was that there is a playlist. I occasionally, as in almost never, listen to music at the same time as I read. Slightly more often I listen to music. I'll probably accidentally create something like 22 music videos if I included the youtube links, so I just list the songs. The links, though, are in the book (though one goes to a private video, so I had to find a public version for one).

Playlist
01. Ed Sheeran & Rudimental­ "Bloodstream"
02. Ellie Goulding - This Love (Will Be Your Downfall)
03. Coasts - Oceans
04. MARINA AND THE DIAMONDS | "HOMEWRECKER"
05. Titanium / Pavane (Piano/Cello Cover) - David Guetta / Faure - ThePianoGuys
06. James Bay - Hold Back The River
07. MARINA AND THE DIAMONDS | "FORGET" OFFICIAL VIDEO
08. Three Days Grace - The Good Life
09. James Bay - Let It Go
10. BANKS - Beggin For Thread
11. CHVRCHES - Get Away
12. David Guetta - I'll Keep Loving You ft. Birdy & Jaymes Young
13. AURORA - Running With The Wolves
14. MARINA AND THE DIAMONDS | PART 9: ♡ "STATE OF DREAMING"
15. AURORA - Runaway
16. Kiesza - Hideaway
17. Stone Sour Wicked Game
18. Simon Curtis - Flesh
19. Tove Lo - Talking Body
20. Sia - Breathe Me
21. Dorothy - Gun In My Hand
22. Keywest - Fight for Love

So, let's listen to some music. I mean, read a book.

Well, I just read the preface while the first song played. And you know what? This isn't going to work. Maybe if these were all instrumentals or something, but I can't have someone singing words into my ear as my eyes try to make sense of the black lines on the screen shaped in a character like fashion. Well, I did learn (1) there's someone who apparently believes that they've killed someone, is covered in their blood, and is in front of a detective; (2) person wishes to tell some guy named Zeke; (3) apparently it's all Zeke's fault; (4) that or the girls since she wouldn't leave; (5) it was all unavoidable, see. Hmms.

Book then moves to "One", Miranda and A Month Ago. If I understand correctly, I'm now in some woman's head whose name is Miranda. And it's a month ago. I assume she's the woman the person in the preface thinks is dead.

Okay then - love at first sight, everything is great, better than a year ago; but there's this 'something' this 'nagging feeling that something is off'. His eyes drift; she's no longer the center of his focus; her words used to matter; he's closed off now, before he was an open book.

Wait, what? 'In less than twenty-four hours we'll celebrate one year of marriage.' But . . but . . everything only got better a year ago. What, did they meet, fall in love immediately, and, also immediately, marry? I'm so confused and I'm only on, like, the second page.

Hmms, now I'm listening to Ellie Goulding - This Love (Will Be Your Downfall) while reading a woman recalling a dream of kneeling on a beach and giving a blow job. Hmms.

Um . . and now chapter two is Shelby. Who, oddly, apparently lived through what Miranda dreamed. Is there a connection, me wonders. Well, so far I don't like Shelby.

Now Shelby meets a married man, by accident, while hunting for food. Man apparently knows Shelby from his comments. He's confused by how she is dressed. She's confused by his tone that he deserves her time and answers.

Well, I'll now be confused and vaguely disappointed if this doesn't turn out to be a book involving a split personality. Shelby-Miranda. Judging by how the man is reacting. And how Shelby is reacting. And Miranda's dreams.

Oops, now Miranda's section again and she's busy at work as her husband, Zeke, is being hit on by Shelby. Well, maybe Shelby and Miranda are twins, or something. heh. See, I knew there was something odd about this book so I'm attempting to find it as I read. - Other than Miranda being in one place at the same time Shelby is in another (but who knows, maybe there's a fautly/bad narrator; I forget what that's called, tis a thing), everything seems to be lining up for either 'split personality' or 'twins'. Well, twins can occur regardless of positioning. Especially how the husband reacts. How the story is unfolding.

'But new things scare the hell out of me. People scare the hell out of me. That’s why our marriage ceremony was private. That’s why I don’t attend work functions with Zeke or meet his friends no matter how much he pleads. That’s why I’d prefer to hide-out in the back room rather than help out like I’m getting paid to do. It can’t be helped. I’m an introvert. It’s how I was built. He always seemed to understand and be accepting of that. How can he expect me to change a part of my personality that’s so engrained in me?' Ella Dominguez. Altered State (Kindle Locations 308-312). - um, that's not being an introvert, that's someone with social anxiety. It not same thing.

Okay, so, 13% into the book and there's two point of views. Miranda and Shelby. Not sure if Zeke's will appear at any point. He does, he does.

I don't particularly like needy whimp-y 'my live is all about my husband, what would I be without him' Miranda (I need to be perfect for my husband, nothing else matters *eww*), or Shelby.

'He’s simply acting on the physical and primal needs that all men have. And me… I’m being used the way I was intended to be used - like a good, obedient wife who has no say in such matters. A wife who’s simply here for her husband’s enjoyment.' Ella Dominguez. Altered State (Kindle Locations 662-664). - Well, now I really do kind of hate Miranda. It's somewhat unfair of me, I know. Still. Is an annoying thing to think. And also not true fo the parties involved, even if she mistakenly thinks so.

Yeah, I'm fairly sure we are in twin zone. Unknown twin zone. Or split personality.
'Out of breath, Zeke comes barreling into the same hotel room as before. “Jesus, you’re fast.” He looks me over with astonishment. Ella Dominguez. Altered State (Kindle Locations 765-766). - hmms, I suppose I should say 'poor Zeke, poor Miranda' or something, but meh.

Heh - So I continued listening to the music while reading, rarely being in synch with the cues in the book. But now while Zeke's fucking his 'Mistress', they listen to "The Good Life", and what do you know, that's also playing on my end. hmms.

Delusional. hmms.

Tis funny, I suppose, how right I was from almost the beginning. Barring red herrings here and there. About certain things. Not about other things.

Okay, so I wrote this as I read along. Modifying it some as much as I can near the end, then afterwards. Probably have to have another pass tomorrow when it isn't near midnight.

Despite some of the things I wrote, I assume - not sure, my brain is kind of floating at the moment, but it's possible I've given a somewhat flippant or otherwise wrong impression in my babbling above. Despite that, if actually present, I actually did like this book. It's a different one than I expected, but still I liked it. Well, that's an odd sentence and thought right there. It's quite possible I wasn't thinking coherently as I appear to have confused myself. (here I thought I'd exited babbling zone to wrap up zone, and I'm babbling again).

So, Shelby, Miranda, Zeke are the main characters. Other people pop up every once in a while, but super minor characters. Minor in a 'guy at reception desk' kind of minor. A book tightly bound up with these specific characters and limited sets. Mostly a house and a hotel, though also select other areas, like restaurants, bars, beaches, offices/shops. But mostly inovling these characters at a house and a hotel room.

One last paragraph - I started off with music, I'll end with music. For the most part I did listen to music while reading. That probably had an impact on my reading. Especially since I do not normally do that, like, ever. My point with this paragraph, though, was to note that there were 4 or 5 songs left when the book was over. As in I hadn't heard them. That wasn't because I read the book so fast, it was because I didn't always go and turn on the next music video when the last one ended.

January 27 2016

Big, Bad Wolf AND Wolf Heart by Bridget Essex

Big, Bad Wolf
by Bridget Essex
Pages: 152
Date: February 1 2014
Publisher: Rose and Star Press

Review
Rating: 4.0 out of 4.0
Read: October 19 2015

This is a weird mixture of psychological terror, fantasy, romance, thriller, etc.

A woman grows up on a mountain with her grandmother. No mention is made of her parents. At least, I don't recall mention. And yes, that kept popping up in my mind, the - where the heck are the parents? question. She lives semi-wild and without much in the way of fear. Until, some event or series of barely remembered events changed her. These are remembrances of a woman grown, though, since the book is about the woman as a woman.

A woman who spends a good amount of time fearing wolves. Which is natural, since she spends seemingly every night dreaming nightmarish dreams about wolves. Wolves with blood dripping down their lips.

Somewhat magically, an unknown woman turns up in this small town. She's apparently gorgeous. And zeroed in on getting to know Megan better. On a personal and physical level. Her name is Kara. Which Megan calls exotic or something like that. Seriously? Exotic? I went to school with two people named Kara, and a third might have lived in my neighborhood, but of a different age group. Exotic? Hmms.

There were certain vaguely strange things like that that pop up. Like a gorgeous woman suddenly turning up in a town with, apparently, two lesbians. And she just happens to be one herself. And has a deep interest in the librarian (Megan, who works as a librarian). Then there's the incredibly weird living situation Kara eventually reveals but I won't go beyond this to detail.

Wolf Heart
by Bridget Essex
Pages: 70
Date: October 1 2015
Publisher: Rose and Star Press

Review
Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0
Read: October 19 2015

I’ve read two stories back to back which are both completely different, and oddly similar. Well, certain elements are similar. I suppose that the only similarities involve: both involve lesbians, involve werewolves, both are drenched in sex, and both involve people who do not know that the other woman is a werewolf. One is written tightly, competently; the other seems to have a word or two wrong every sentence or every other sentence. It even mixes up people’s names here and there.

Here’s where I could show how much better one is over the other by saying something like ‘the less well written one was a better story’ or something like that. And that got reinforced by my reading both stories back to back. Fortunately or unfortunately that isn’t the case. The one written incompetently is in fact the lesser of the two stories. This one here, Wolf Heart, is the competently written story.

The story involves a woman going on vacation for the first time in two years. Needing rest and relaxation. She had a dream of being happy and content walking through a forest, the one her family owns a cabin in, so she takes her vacation there. Alone.

Immediately on arrival she checks in with the park ranger to say she’s there. Barbara, the park ranger, is super bitchy and growls at her that she shouldn’t be there. Abby, the main character, grunts at her and ignores the words. Or tries to ignore. They kind of frightened her.

In the darkening, gloomy, forest area, Abby drives up to her cabin and, instead of immediately carrying her things in; she turns and heads to the public shower and bathroom building. While showering, she hears the door open and close. She peaks around the shower curtain and sees . . . a wolf.

Essex seems to be fixated on the ‘normal human woman bumps into werewolf women, they fall in love, but there’s this initial ‘werewolves aren’t real’ moment that most be overcome’ storyline. It keeps coming up over and over again. Yeah, in real life, if I saw someone morphing/shifting between shapes, I’d probably freak out and flee. But still, it gets tiresome to read the exact same scenario play out over and over again. Woman sees wolf, wolf becomes a woman. Human woman falls into either lust or love with the woman. Woman shifts to wolf.

I probably could have taken that a lot better if it wasn’t an often reoccurring story-line by Essex. And even though it is, I still probably could have ‘taken it’ if Abby, in this story, didn’t keep disbelieving her eyes and constantly saying things, to herself ‘how is that even possible?’ (as a side note, one of those things I feel the need to note but not explain – if someone finds that two women have exited a building, disrobed, and left everything behind, and one had looked like she had some form of weapon before going outside – take a few moments to check to see if there was, in fact, some kind of weapon. Maybe there is, maybe there isn’t, but take a few moments. Then grab it, if it exists, and the flashlight. Abby in this story just gawked at the clothing and jewelry, and only grabbed the flashlight when she went further outside).

I’m tempted to give a lower rating because of that ‘but . . . but werewolves aren’t real!’ which also included a ‘wolves aren’t in this park!’ element. But I don’t. Because it was a good story. Pumped my adrenaline, it did. I just wish I could actually read a full story some day, instead of all these tastes, something that moved past ‘werewolves aren’t real! . . . well, maybe they are, maybe they aren’t, but I kind of like you . . .’ and got to the ‘pass me the salt, please’ stage (as in a couple stage).