eARC Review: The Shadowing - Hunted

Title: The Shadowing - Hunted
Author: Adam Slater
Pages: 208
Rating: 5/5

Once every century, the barrier between the human world and the demon realm begins to break down. Creatures gather, anxiously waiting to cross the divide, to bring death and destruction from their world to ours. This time is called The Shadowing.

Callum Scott has always known that there is a supernatural world out there—he’s seen ghosts for as long as he can remember. Lately, he’s had visions of children being brutally murdered by a terrifying creature. Then the visions start coming true, and Callum realizes that he’s being hunted, too.

Driven by a dark destiny, he must stand against the demons that threaten our world.

And The Shadowing is almost here. . . . (amazon.com)

I hadn't heard anything about The Shadowing: Hunted until I received the galley from Net Galley. I was instantly intrigued by the cover shot, and looked forward to digging into the book. With it being fall, I was looking for something just a bit scary to celebrate the season. I wasn't disappointed.

Set in rural London, The Shadowing: Hunted, follows the life of young Callum. Callum has always been able to see ghosts, and has a special bit of "luck" that helps him to avoid trouble. Because of this Callum is a loner, making himself almost invisible to those around him. He tries to avoid trouble, spending his evenings hanging out with his grandmother at their tiny cottage in the woods.

However, things take a turn for the worst when Callum notices that the ghost have fled the cemetery grounds and all that remains is a lone boy and a massive dog like animal. It is here that things begin to take a turn for the worse.

I don't have a enough good things to say about this book. It kept me on the edge of my seat, had me checking to make sure my doors and windows were locked, and made me look twice at every cemetery I drove by. The writing was very good, and the story flowed from one scene to another. I found myself reading deep into the night, trying to figure out what was happening. I also thought this story was something fresh, and touches on other creatures of lure that have not been so overdone. I like learning about different creatures, and found that to be one of the biggest attractions to this book.

I'm looking forward to continuing on with this series.

Review: Fearscape

Title: Fearscape
Author: Simon Holt
Pages: 314
Rating: 5/5

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS TO THE FIRST TWO BOOKS IN THE SERIES THE DEVOURING AND THE SOLSTICE.

The Vours: evil, demonic beings that inhabit human bodies on Sorry Night, the darkest hours of the Winter Solstice.

It's been a year since Reggie first discovered the Vours, and the Winter Solstice is approaching once again. It will be another night of unspeakable horror for those unlucky enough to be taken by the Vours, because this time, she won't be able to stop them. The Vours have imprisoned Reggie in a psychiatric hospital, where she is subjected to a daily routine of unfathomably sadistic experiments. Her life is a living Hell, but she won't give up. They attacked her brother. They killed her friend. And Reggie will never stop fighting back (goodreads.com).

At the end of The Solstice, Reggie is hauled away to the psychiatric hospital where the evil Dr. Unger lurks. Here Reggie is subjected to hundreds of experiments, visiting fearscape after fearscape. One of the darkest and scariest scenes, for myself, happened while Reggie was still in the hospital and it involved Dr. Unger. That being said, I think that Holton's writing is truly terrifying. The descriptions of the different fearscapesin this book are even more frightening than those in the two previous books. Holton has gone above and beyond in Fearscape to bring the reading to the truly terrifying. I was completely sucked into the story and found myself avoiding dark rooms and for a week straight I went to bed whenever hubby went to bed - never after.

My favorite character in this book has to be Quinn. I think he overcame so much after Reggie freed him from the vour in The Solstice, and it was nice to watch him grow in Fearscape. I also think I might have a tiny little crush on good Quinn...lol.

One of the things that really made this book for me were the surprise twists and turns. Holt took this book in a direction that I never saw coming and I was completely shocked by the end. I thought this was a perfect wrap up to a really good trilogy and one I'll enjoy reading again.

If you like a good scare, pick up this trilogy and enjoy...just don't read it with the lights out!!

Review: Soulstice

Title: Soulstice - The Devouring Book 2
Author: Simon Holt
Pages: 266
Rating: 3.5/5

It's been six months since Reggie first discovered and fought against the Vours, malicious and demonic beings that inhabit human bodies on the eve of the Winter Solstice.

The Vours still haunt Reggie, but only in her dreams-until one night, when an unexpected visitor turns her nightmares into reality.

The battle against evil continues in Soulstice, the second book in the thrilling The Devouring series, which School Library Journal called, "Comparable to books by R. L. Stine and Stephen King....A must-have for horror fans." (Cover Blurb).

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS TO BOOK ONE - THE DEVOURING

Soulstice begins six months after Reggie's quiet hometown of Cutter's Edge was attacked by the evil, demonic Vours. Reggie, Aaron, and her brother Henry are slowly beginning to readjust to normal every day life and are letting the nightmares go. However, things are complicated by a tough detective sent to find Quinn Waters, the town golden boy, whom Reggie and Aaron drowned in the lake to save Henry the previous winter.

Tension continues to grow when Reggie freaks out during English class due to a horrific vision brought on by the Vours. It is at this point that Reggie realizes that they have still not escaped the evils of the Vours. Further complicating the situation, is Aaron's arrest by the tough city detective --- a Vour sent to crush the enemy.

I'm having a tough time judging this book. On one hand, the writing was really good and it did creep me out. I had to dig out my Ipod last night to fall asleep because the house was making creepy noises. However, I felt that the novel was lacking something. I had the same feeling after finishing The Devouring. Both books have tons and tons of potential, but its just like they're sitting right on the edge and not taking the leap. It's almost nerve wracking to read sometimes. Another thing that annoys me about these books is that they end in cliff hangers. Which is great if you have the next book right on hand to start, but book three doesn't come out until Fall of 2010. That's a year away!!

So all in all, Soulstice is great for the creep factor. It just left me wanting more...and not in a great way.

Review: The Summoning

Title: The Summoning
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Pages: 390
Rating: 3.5/5

My name is Chloe Saunders and my life will never be the same again.

All I wanted was to make friends, meet boys, and keep on being ordinary. I don't even know what that means anymore. It all started on the day that I saw my first ghost—and the ghost saw me.

Now there are ghosts everywhere and they won't leave me alone. To top it all off, I somehow got myself locked up in Lyle House, a "special home" for troubled teens. Yet the home isn't what it seems. Don't tell anyone, but I think there might be more to my housemates than meets the eye. The question is, whose side are they on? It's up to me to figure out the dangerous secrets behind Lyle House . . . before its skeletons come back to haunt me (Cover Blurb).

I just finished this book up while I'm waiting for the glass guys to come and put in my new windshield, back window, and sunroof. I'll be honest, and let everyone know I bought this book because I really liked the cover. I wasn't even sure what it was all about until I packed it in my bag for vacation. The beginning of this story really really creeped me out but it kind of died from there. I still thought the book was suspensful but it could have been so much better. Also, I didn't feel like I could really connect with any of the characters. There just wasn't enough meat to the story to feel like I really knew anyone.

This is the first book in a trilogy, and I'm hoping that Armstrong was just really setting up the background of the story in this first book. I've already picked up the second book so I'm curious to see if it picks up more of the story, and what is going on with Lyle House. Also, I'd like to see how Chloe's mom and aunt fit into this whole story. Plus, the ending of book one really left you hanging on by a thread so I'm anxious to see how Armstrong continues with that in The Awakening.

Review: The Devouring

Title: The Devouring
Author: Simon Holt
Pages: 240
Rating: 4/5

"When dark creeps in and eats the light,
Bury your fears on Sorry Night.
For in the winter's blackest hours,
Comes the feasting of the Vours,
No one can see it, the life they stole,
Your body's here but not your soul..."

THE VOURS: Evil, demonic beings that inhabit human bodies on Sorry Night, the darkest hours of the winter solstice.

When Reggie reads about the Vours in a mysterious old journal, she assumes they are just the musings of an anonymous lunatic. But when her little brother, Henry, begins to act strangely, it's clear that these creatures exist beyond a madwoman's imagination, and Reggie finds out what happens when fears come to life.

To save the people she loves, Reggie must learn to survive in a world of nightmares. Can she devour her own fears before they devour her? (Cover Blurb)

First off, I have been an absolute horrible blogger lately. I've been so busy with all getting the house ready for summer, working in the flower beds, getting ready for vacation (16 days!!), and everything with Macy that I haven't hardly had a chance to sit down. I apologize for appearing to be so negligent of my little blog. I really do still love everyone!!

I finished this book last Thursday and it was really good. I'm really looking forward to the sequel Soulstice, due out in September. It's definitely one I'll be getting right away.

This book grabs you right from the very beginning. The story is really horrifying, and at times I found myself getting up to turn on all the lights in the room. Also, I found myself going to bed at the same time as my husband, rather than sitting in the leaving room alone, for almost a solid week. However, despite wondering why I was all of a sudden so interested in sleeping a mere centimeter from him at night, he didn't want to hear about my book...disappointing I know!

The only disappointment I had in the book is that it leaves you hanging at the very end --- to get you to buy the sequel no doubt, but it was very annoying. I kept turning the last page to make sure I didn't miss anything. So if you like suspense and not knowing, read the book now. If you want to know the answers wait until September for the sequel, which will probably be a cliff hanger too...