Saturday, April 27, 2013

Scheduled Books for Upcoming Reviews

I am currently reading "ComPETability: Solving Behavioral Problems In Your Multi-Cat Household", by Amy Shojai. This author has won award after award for her non-fiction books; and it's no wonder.  She really knows her stuff!  We are familiar with her wonderful work of fiction, "Lost and Found", reviewed by D's Bookshelves .  ComPETability is part of a non-fiction series dealing with multi-pet households.  I will be reviewing this within the next couple of weeks.




I  am also going through the Christian study by Rick Warren, "The Purpose Driven Life".  This is a day-by-day study, and as such, will be reviewed in a couple of months.  If you would like to join in on this daily lesson, please come to God's Grace.





In the wings, I have two thrillers waiting.  The book that I have on my "next-to-read" shelf is "Kiss Me First", by Lottie Moggach.  So, right after I review ComPETability, I get to delve into this frightening book.  



The second one to read is "Seven X", by Mike Wech.  This was given to me by the author to review and, needless to say, I'm itching to get at it.



All in all, it looks like an exciting month for D's Bookshelves!  Stay tuned!

Thursday, April 25, 2013

One Day, October by W.R. Parrish


The book, "One Day, October" by W R Parrish is a brilliant, fast paced piece, which will have your heart pounding too fast, your palms too sweaty, and you reminding yourself to breathe.   This horror tale is actually six very different stories that take place in one twenty-four hour period. They seemingly have nothing to do with one another; except that the characters are in the same town, each fighting their own monsters. “…[These monsters] are creatures of the dark.  Demons.  Spooks. Werewolves…Boogiemen.  Nothing more.  Agents of the Deceiver come in many forms…” (Parrish 279).  The stories are unconnected until the very end, when we find that “’we are so insignificant to creatures such as these that we are well below their concern’” (Parrish 180).  This is one book that I would not skip to the very last page, as I would spoil it for myself.  Mr. Parrish quite successfully had me gripping the edge of my seat right up to the very end!

The characters include an experienced priest, an innocent boy, a family man and a naive college girl, with little in common. They were all different; different genders, different ages, different walks of life and, as a result, different life stories with different villains with which to deal.  I was able to relate to them all very well, and I found myself sharing each of their monsters, as I had in different stages of my own life.  As a result, I felt the cold fingers of my imagined ogres running up and down my spine, as I read this suspenseful masterpiece.  I usually do not read this genre, as I am a "big chicken", but I thoroughly enjoyed "One Day, October", and I would jump at the chance to read another of Mr Parrish's works.  I would definitely would suggest this book to any horror fan.  

His style is much like Stephen King's or Dean Koontz's; fast and furious.  As he so aptly puts it, “[ He] like(s) swatches of scenes which become a pattern which become a quilt” (Parrish http://www.wrparrish.com/writing/2013/04/08/amusings/).  This is exactly how Mr. Parrish writes; small patterns of scenes that fit together into a quilt of a story.  However, I did slow down as I approached the conclusion of "One Day, October", only because I did not want the ride to end!

The author has a background which includes church and horror movies, an unlikely pair of interests. Both are very evident in his writing.  He has a website, http://www.wrparrish.com/writing/ that is a delight to visit.

This book is available on Amazon; the Kindle version is $3.99 and the paperback is $11.99.

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Update

I was reading "One Day October", when I thought I would take a small break to give you an update.  I can barely put it down, but it is a bit scary in parts.  When I get too scared (I am a big chicken, remember), I need to stop reading and do something else.  Anything, so long as it takes away the frightening images that Mr. Parrish has put in my mind with his book.  
When I was younger, I was a lot braver.  I even read "The Exorcist" in a day.  (I am really proud of that, as if that feat would show that I am really not that much of a chicken at all.  Ha!)  I remember that day, shut in my room in my parents house.  As my eyes slid down the pages, one by one, I barely noticed, while the sun went down and I automatically turned on the reading lamp without skipping a beat.  Maybe it was because it was my parents house, and I felt safe, knowing that they were in the next room.
Well, back to reading so that I can give you a proper review next week.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Next Review

As you can see, I finally read and reviewed our first book.  Fifty-one more to go!  I started the second, "One Day October", by W.R. Parrish, last night.  This book is quite different.  The genre is horror, which I purposely haven't read since I have being living alone (I'm a big chicken).  Parrish has a style much like Koontz, and very scary!  I love it!  I scared myself silly last night, and cannot wait until I get all of my work done, so that I can do the same thing tonight.  I will be reviewing in a few days.  See you then!

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

"Lost and Found" by Amy Shojai


It is an ordinary day…except that there is an unusual blizzard in North Texas, which has the whole area in an uproar.  Then the call came.  “Lost and Found” is a fictional work by Amy Shojai, in which the main character, September Day, has a past which is causing her to have difficulties facing the present.  She is plunged into a situation, which has her running, against all odds, to save her seven year old nephew, who has autism, and his companion dog.   What is worse is that there is a deadline looming over her head.  She has to stop the boy’s risky medical treatment to save his life.  But first, she has to find him. This book has it all; urgency, murder, mayhem, characters to which you can relate, and a plot that gets thicker and thicker by the moment.
This is the first fictional book that Amy Shojai has written.  She has written 26 award-winning non-fiction books about animals.  Ms. Shojai is a certified animal behavior consultant, which is more than apparent in “Lost and Found”; which, by the way, is the perfect title for this work.  She is involved with two websites, cats.About.com and puppies.About.com.  She also hosts an Internet pet radio show called, “CRAZY CAT Radio Show”.  Ms. Shojai brings all of this experience to the table in her fictional book.  As a result, her animal characters are rich in personality, making them easy to care about.
I found this mystery to be fast-pace and easy to read.  At times, I was literally tense with nervous excitement.  The characters, both human and animal, rang true, and I had little trouble imagining each scene.  I would suggest “Lost and Found” to anybody who enjoys a good, suspenseful book. 
The publisher is Cool Gus Publishing and, while I read the ebook, which was $4.99, it does come in paperback, which is from $9 -$11.