Fall Leaves and the Black Dragon by Erik Gustafson Review

            Fall Leaves and the Black Dragon is quite the interesting tale of a boy haunted by the past. From the time he was six, Liam was plagued by horrible nightmares and hallucinations brought on by a terrible fire. Once he learns that his parents had been lying to him about that night, he decides to take a trip back to his childhood home to confront his demons.

            The book starts out like an excited child, which is perfect because, at first, the story is from a child’s perspective. It really sold me on the story to begin with. Unfortunately, it continues to read that way even when the main character is an adolescent, and later, an adult. Though it wasn’t bothersome enough to take me out of the story, it was a little disappointing. There are also a lot of typos and strange grammatical errors. More than once, a Ouija board is referred to as “an Ouija” which just really bothered me.

            Overall, I think it is definitely worth the read. It’s an interesting story and I find that I am curious what happened to Liam later on in life. I do still have a lot of questions. Though calling this story horror is a stretch, it certainly has a few horror elements. If you spook easily, I don’t believe you’ll even find it that scary. Gustafson did a good job of creating a fascinating world!

           

Currently listed as $1.99 on Amazon.

The Wall by Jen Minkman Review

The Wall is the first book in a series called The Island Series. It follows the story of two teenagers who grew up on opposite sides of the wall that divides their island. Both learn some surprising secrets about their separate cultures and the wall. Their discoveries threaten to change everything they thought they knew about their worlds, especially when they find that the monsters on the other side of the wall aren’t monsters at all.

This novel has a lot of interesting elements, one side of the island is driven by “the force,” and I’m sure you know exactly where that was derived from since one of the main characters names is Leia. On the opposite side of the wall, the people are driven by the hope of their Goddess sailing back to them. Minkman does a very good job of painting their world and their struggles with their religion. Most of it, I’ve found, is pretty true to life. One particular part of this story is hilarious, but I don’t want to ruin it. The thought of this happening in a post-apocalyptic world is rather amusing to me and quite possible.

The Wall was a pretty quick read. It is written in present tense, which always feels a little clumsy to me. However, this story was still incredibly enjoyable despite that. I will definitely be reading the rest of the series. I’m curious to see where she focuses the story from the end of this first novel.

Overall, if you’re a YA fan with a sense of humor, I would absolutely recommend this book.

Before the Harvest by Kimberly A Bettes Review

            Before the Harvest is described as a fast-paced horror novel and that couldn’t be more inaccurate. The story of the Martin family battling a small town legend is drawn out and so repetitive that I didn’t think I was going to be able to finish it. I went into this story knowing it would be a stereotypical horror novel, but I was not expecting it to be this bad. The idea alone isn’t the worst, the writing is what kills it.

            It starts out very predictable. The woman knows horror movies yet falls into every stereotype knowingly. That alone is incredibly frustrating. She does everything wrong that she possibly can, putting herself and her daughter in danger. The idea of the daughter seemed inconsistent as well. It’s almost like she was added in as an afterthought, to drag the story out even more.

            Each chapter is from someone else’s perspective. It starts with the woman and then goes to her husband. It goes back and forth between the two until it adds in a couple other characters at the end. While this technique can be very interesting, in this case, it just increased how repetitive everything was. A lot of events were reiterated when it switched characters.

            Overall, I found this book rather annoying. It is a sad excuse of a horror story. I warn you not to waste your time.  

Bookishly Tea and Book Club Review

I recently subscribed to the Bookishly's Tea and Book Club subscription box -- though mine is actually coffee instead of tea. According to their website and the CrateJoy page, they will send you either ground coffee or 4 luxury tea bags along with a vintage book each month. The price comes out to be just under $15 a month. Shipping from the UK, it took quite awhile for me to receive my first package. So long, in fact, that I had already paid for the second one before I got the first one in the mail.

I was very excited when I finally got the package, but a little worried when I found that the outer packing was sealed shut with what looks like Scotch tape. Upon opening it, I found the book was wrapped in a map style wrapping paper. I thought it was a cute touch and kept the book even more of a mystery. I carefully unwrapped the book and was unfortunately quite disappointed. Inside was a copy of William Faulkner's Sanctuary from 1953. I'm not bothered by the book choice itself, but rather the condition of the book. I feel like I paid $15 for coffee and a book that had coffee spilled on it. The book is badly stained and has some tears to it.

The coffee came in plain packaging, nothing too exciting. The one I got is called El Salvador Gilbert Baraona. I had a chance to test it out. It's not very strong but does have a pleasant taste. I wouldn't recommend drinking it to wake up in the morning.

After a little research, I found the book isn't worth more than $5, likely less because of its condition. The coffee is normally sold for a little under $10. Overall, there's not much value for your money, at least not for me this month. I'm really hoping that the next one I get will make up for this one.

Contract: Snatch Review

Contract: Snatch

Currently Available on Amazon for Free or $11.99 for paperback.

Contract: Snatch has a rather compelling storyline. Sei is an almost retired assassin living in seclusion in Belgium. After a few tragic things took place, she took some time off to really reevaluate her life and her career. An old friend comes to visit her and convinces her to at least consider going back to work. To appease him, she gives it a shot, but the contract she gets offered is quite out of the ordinary and leads Sei on quite the journey.

The characters aren't anything incredibly unique, but the ones that do matter are likable. I do particularly enjoy that the main character is a tough and fully capable woman. The writing is also nothing overly sophisticated, but it is enjoyable. It gives more of a casual reading feel to the book.

It's a rather quick read and the chapters, for the most part, are short. It definitely gives the illusion that you've read a lot more than you have. I feel it's a pro for anyone that doesn't have a lot of time to read. You can knock out a few chapters in 15 minutes or so and not leave off in the middle of something. That is unless you're ending on one of the cliffhanger chapters. You might just have to read through the next couple to see what happens.

Some of the plot was rather predictable, but that's to be expected. The story is full of Murphy’s Law: whatever can go wrong, will go wrong. There are quite a few things that I wish would have been expanded on, and I'm not quite sure why they weren't.

Snatched is the first in this series and I am curious to see the rest of Sei’s journey. Honestly, this novel ended before I would have liked. I have a lot of questions and will likely finish the series to get my answers.

Overall, I did enjoy Contract: Snatch. If you're just looking for a quick and easy read, I would recommend it.

Welcome to Reading Away Reality Reviews!

Hey, and welcome to Reading Away Reality Reviews!

Since this is our first post, I'd like to take a moment to explain what you'll find here. The main focus will be on ebook reviews. You know all those cheap ebooks on Amazon? I'm talking about the ones that are $5.99 and under. A lot of them are perpetually on sale. There's a lot to go through and we're going to try to make the process of finding a gem just a little bit easier.

Our second focus will be on anything else book related. Like book subscription boxes and book clubs.

If there's anything else out there that you would like to see us review, leave a comment and we'll give it our best shot!

Happy reading!