Review: Junkyard Cats

 

Title:  Junkyard Cats   

Author: Faith Hunter

Series:  Junkyard Cats #1

Synopsis: “After the Final War, after the appearance of the Bug aliens and their enforced peace, Shining Smith is still alive, still doing business from the old scrapyard bequeathed to her by her father.  But Shining is now something more than human.  And the scrapyard is no longer just a scrapyard, but a place full of secrets that she has guarded for years.

    “This life she has built, while empty, is predictable and safe.  Until the only friend left from her previous life shows up, dead, in the back of a scrapped Tesla warplane, a note to her clutched in his fingers – a note warning her of a coming attack.

    “Someone knows who she is.  Someone knows what she is guarding.  Will she be able to protect the scrapyard?  Will she even survive?  Or will she have to destroy everything she loves to keep her secrets out of the wrong hands?”

Review:  I love Faith Hunter’s books.  Most people know her through her Jane Yellowrock series, but I found her through her Rogue Mage Trilogy which is still one of my favorite series of all time.  One of the main reasons I love Faith Hunter’s books is her superb character AND world building.  With most authors you get one or the other, but with Hunter you get both!  I truly feel for the characters; and can almost see, smell, and taste the world they live in. 

    While reading Junkyard Cats I kept getting pulled away to do other things, which was torturous.  I was so into the characters and the story that I just HAD to know what was going to happen next.  Finally, when I got to the final 25% I put on my noise cancelling headphones, turned off my phone, and told everyone to leave me alone until I was done!  No one will be surprised that my favorite character was Tuffs, the alpha female cat.  I loved the development of the bond between Shining and Tuffs.  My only complaint is that Junkyard Cats is short, 106 pages on Kindle, and I wanted more. 

Publisher: Lore Seekers Press

If you like this book you may want to read:

Blood of the Earth (Soulwood #1) by Faith Hunter

Rogue Mage Trilogy by Faith Hunter

The Voodoo Killings (Kincaid Strange #1) by Kristi Charish (See BookGirlR's review here)

If You've Got It, Haunt It - Review

Title:  If You’ve Got It, Haunt It

Author: Rose Pressey

Series: A Haunted Vintage Mystery #1

Synopsis: “Cookie Chanel has a passion for fashion – and a murder mystery to Solve!

     “Cookie Chanel has opened her own vintage clothing boutique, It’s Vintage; Y’All, in the charming town of Sugar Creek Georgia.  Always on the lookout for stylish second-hand steals, she attends the estate sale of deceased socialite Charlotte Meadows.  But she gets a lot more than she bargained for when Charlotte’s ghost appears before her – offering fashion advice and begging Cookie to find out who murdered her.

     “As the persistent poltergeist tags along and a possibly psychic pussycat moves into the shop, Cookie sorts through racks of suspects to see who may be hiding some skeletons in the closet.   Do a clothing store owner and a disembodied socialite have a ghost of a chance of collaring a killer – or will Cookie’s life be the next one hanging by a thread?”

Review:  I needed something light after my last read, which was dark and heavy. (If that interests you see my review of The Vanishing by Sophia Tobin here)  Any novel written by Rose Pressey that I’ve ever read has always been entertaining, light and fluffy to read.  If You’ve Got It, Haunt It was no exception.  I enjoy reading about vintage clothing connoisseurs, and I enjoyed Cookie as a character.  Cookie is a reluctant detective.  Solving mysteries and hunting for murderers is not really her idea of a good time.  She just wants to live her quiet life and run her vintage clothing store.  Charlotte bullies her into it, like that scene from Ghost where Patrick Swayze annoys Whoopie Goldberg until she agrees to do what he wants.  Here’s a video in case you don’t remember that scene:

     If you are looking for a serious, edge of your seat, thrill ride of a read this is not it.  If you are looking for something more light hearted and fun then definitely give the A Haunted Vintage Mystery series a try. 

Publisher: Kensington Publishing

If you like this book you may want to read:

Secondhand Spirits (A Witchcraft Mystery #1) by Juliet Blackwell

Caught Dead Handed (Witch City Mystery #1) by Carol J. Perry (Read BookGirlR’s review here)

Apocalypse Z: The Beginning of the End - Review

Title:  Apocalypse Z: The Beginning of the End

Author: Manel Loureiro

Translated to English By: Pamela Carmell

Synopsis:  The dead rise…

A mysterious incident in Russia, a blip buried in the news – it’s the only warning humanity receives that civilization will soon be destroyed by a single, voracious virus that creates monsters of men.

Humanity falls…

A lawyer, still grieving over the death of his young wife, begins to write as a form of therapy.  But he never expected that his anonymous blog would ultimately record humanity’s last days.

The end of the world has begun…

Governments scramble to stop the zombie virus, people panic, so-called “Safe Havens” are established, the world erupts into chaos; soon it’s every man, woman, and child for themselves.  Armed only with makeshift weapons and the will to live, a lone survivor will give mankind one last chance against…

Apocalypse Z

Review:  I’ll admit that I have become addicted to zombie apocalypse fiction.  I'm pretty sure it was after reading Feed by Mira Grant (the best zombie novel ever, by the way.  Read my review of Feed here).  I have been devouring everything zombie apocalypse based since then.  I've also been sleeping with the lights on, and a baseball bat under the bed.    

          I loved Apocalypse Z: The Beginning of the End by Manel Loureiro, which was translated into English by Pamela Carmell, and it has been added to my list of the top ten zombie novels.  I literally had to force myself to put my Kindle down long enough to write papers, eat, go to class and go to work.  I stayed up way past my bedtime for three nights in a row, unable to stop reading long enough to get any sleep.  I was sure that this novel was going to end in tragedy.  The engaging first person narrative, and the story about the nameless lawyer and his cat searching for a safe place during the nightmare of a zombie apocalypse, kept me on the edge of my seat.  I became so emotionally involved in Apocalypse Z: The Beginning of the End that I found myself getting upset when things looked bleak.  This is a definite must read for lovers of zombie fiction!    

Publisher: AmazonCrossing

If you like this book you may also want to read:

The Newsflesh Trilogy by Mira Grant

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks

Sleepwalking?

I think I've been sleepwalking. Not just wandering around the house like a zombie sleepwalking, I'm talking about actually doing stuff while asleep and then not remembering doing it. Since I live alone with only the cat (isn't she gorgeous?) as a witness I have no way of knowing for absolute certain. The evidence that is leading me to suspect my sleepwalking is compelling. About a week ago when I woke up in the morning I discovered the lid on the toilet was up. Now, at the time I blew it off. "I must have just neglected to put the lid down when I used the toilet before bed," I told myself. But it bothered me. I never forget to put the lid down, it's a long time habit. A few days after that I wandered into the living room after getting up in the morning to find three neat stacks of books on the coffee-table. I am one hundred percent sure that these books were neatly put away on the bookcases that line my living room walls before I went to bed.
At this point I was convinced that someone was sneaking into my apartment to use the toilet and read my books while I was sleeping. Even though I always make sure that my apartment is locked up tight before I go to bed and I'm a terribly light sleeper I was sure that these abnormalities were being caused by an outside source. So the next few nights I placed a chair in front of the door to the hallway and hung bells on the curtain that covers the sliding glass door onto the patio. No abnormalities and no ringing bells or falling chairs.
By last night I had decided that maybe I was going crazy and had imagined everything. But I was still taking the precautions of chairs and bells, just in case. This morning there were, once again, books stacked on the coffee-table and there was a yummy looking ham sandwich on the counter in the kitchen. The ham was warm, so I think that it had been laying there for a few hours. Also, this morning I had no clothes on. I went to bed in a t-shirt and sweatpants, I woke up naked.
I'm exhausted, and I've been feeling unusually stressed lately. So much work and school with no days off has started bogging me down. I haven't been reading as much as I usually do, and obviously that is starting to get to me (the stacks of books on the coffee-table is probably a hint from my subconscious mind). I'm going to try to do more reading, and cut back a little on the stress (I'm not sure how yet) and we'll see if that helps with the sleepwalking.

As a thank you for letting me ramble here's a cute sleepwalking video I found on YouTube:

Catalyst - Review

Title: Catalyst: A Tale of the Barque Cats
Authors: Anne McCaffrey & Elizabeth Ann Scarborough
Series: Barque Cats

Synopsis: “Pilot, engineer, doctor – ship’s cat? Since the early days of interstellar travel, the so-called Barque Cats have become essential to the well-staffed space vessel. Assisted by humans – Cat Persons – with whom they share a deep and loving bond, the Barque Cats are responsible for keeping spacecraft free of vermin, for alerting crews to environmental hazards, and for acting as morale officers.
“But a widespread epidemic affecting livestock on numerous planets throws the felines’ future into doubt. Suddenly the galactic government announces a plan to impound and possibly destroy all exposed animals, including the Barque Cats. With the clock racing against them, a handful of very special kittens and their humans will join forces to save the Barque Cats, and quite possibly the universe as they know it, from total destruction.”

Review: I should know better than to start reading an Anne McCaffrey book at bedtime. I stayed up all night last night reading. Plus, it’s about cats (in case you haven’t noticed I love cats), cats that are in danger. There was no way I could have stopped reading after I started. I became so emotionally involved in this story that even if my apartment had been on fire I would have been reading, holding the book in one hand and my cat in the other, as I ran out. Catalyst is a wonderful novel with vibrant characters that dragged me into the story. It takes a special novel to force me to become emotionally involved. I usually maintain a detached calm (with books and life). I highly recommend this novel and can’t wait to buy the next one.

Publisher: Del Rey
ISBN: 978-0345513779

If you like this book you may want to read:



No One Noticed the Cat by Anne McCaffrey (ISBN: 978-1557423245)



Arrows of the Queen by Mercedes Lackey (ISBN: 978-0886773786)

Cupid Cats - Review

Title: Cupid Cats
Authors: Katie MacAlister; Vicki Lewis & Connie Brockway

Synopsis: Three short stories revolving around the Cupid Cats Shelter. The cats at the Cupid Cats Shelter are not your average house cats. They’re magic. These cats bring romance into their companion’s lives, romance that leads to true love.

Review: I love cats. I did not love this book. I was disappointed because usually I am a huge Katie MacAlister fan, but in this anthology the only story I enjoyed was the second one. “Cat Scratch Fever” by Connie Brockway was witty and entertaining. The other two tales (pun intended) were flat and predictable.

Publisher: Signet Eclipse
ISBN: 978-0451230720

If you like this book you may want to read:

The Corset Diaries by Katie MacAlister (ISBN: 978-0451411129)

Chick with a Charm by Vicki Lewis Thompson (ISBN: 978-0451229366)