CheriePie

• Rated 3 stars

“Are you sick of all those mysteries series which feature that snotty feline breed? Are you a canine lover like me? Well if so, then make way for Randolph! He's a fully cognizant—if a little pudgy—Black Labrador dog with a taste for fine literature and a nose for crime. He and his owner, Harry, have found themselves in the middle of a string of murders. If Randolph is going to help Harry steer clear of trouble, he must find a way to communicate everything that his nose is telling him. The solution will crack you up!

I enjoyed this cute new cozy mystery series which prominently features a dog instead of the usual cat. Randolph is a thinking—though not necessarily talking—dog, and the story is written from his first person point of view. This took a few seconds to get used to, being inside the head of a dog, but once there and settled it, I found it quite comfy. :P This is the first book of the Bull Moose Dog Run Mystery Series, and I look forward to reading more about Randolph and Harry in future books.”

CheriePie wrote this review Saturday, May 31 2008. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“This is the second book in the Felix Gomez series, but for some reason, I didn't find it quite as entertaining as the first. A lot of the ridiculousness of some of the situations, that I found so amusing in the first book were missing from this second book.

In similar vein to book 1, Felix Gomez, still a private eye, has now been called to Los Angeles to investigate the death of porn star Roxy Bronze. Upon arriving in LA however, he finds that the person who visited his office only the day before to hire him, one Ms. Katz Meow, has joined the ranks of the missing herself. But Felix has been given a secondary, and perhaps even more important, assignment while in LA. The Araneum, the governing force of the Vampires, has asked him to look into suspected collusion between vampires and humans, since it's forbidden for the vampires to reveal their true identity to any human other than those who provide them blood, conveniently called chalices.

I definitely liked this book enough to want to read the 3rd in the series, [a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0060833289?tag=cheriepie-20" target="_blank"]The Undead Kama Sutra[/a], which was just released this past March. I only hope that this series doesn't begin to take the "sequel spiral". I'd prefer to see it get better instead. ;)”

CheriePie wrote this review Friday, May 23 2008. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“Felix Gomez is a private eye... who went to Iraq as a soldier and came back a vampire. To blend in with the rest of humanity and keep their identity a secret, he and his fellow vampires must hide their unique vampire features behind makeup (for their translucent skin) and special contact lenses (for the mirror-like hypnotic reflection of their eyes). However, there's one vampire custom which Felix hasn't much embraced—the drinking of human blood; he drinks animal blood instead. It makes no difference that the blood comes from blood banks, and no humans need be harmed in the taking. Yet Felix still very much lives with the guilt of the innocent Iraqi family he and his platoon accidentally gunned down over in Iraq.

Unfortunately, this failing of Felix's is causing him to slowly but surely lose his vampire powers. And though it hasn't much hampered his current investigation within the Department of Energy (DOE) of tracking down the source of the recent nymphomania outbreak, it is putting him at a slight disadvantage against the vampire hunters who are actively hunting him!

Part paranormal mystery, part Koontz-like thriller, and a sprinkle of the nonsensical, this was a wonderful first novel from Mario Acevedo, the first in the Felix Gomez series. Felix reminded me a little bit of Harry Dresden, from Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series, except that the problems Felix is hired to investigate aren't necessarily supernatural in nature. And Felix presents himself as human to all but other supernaturals, while Harry openly admits to being a wizard. But I have to say that based on my enjoyment of this first novel, this series looks quite promising and like it could be nearly as good as The Dresden Files.

Though a first work from the author, I'd have thought he was already well established as he wrote quite well and in a style very much suited to the genre. I had absolutely no complaints about the dialogue, the writing style, or anything else for that matter. The pace of the story was quick and punchy and the chapters short which added to that fast-moving action. I already had the second book, X-Rated Bloodsuckers, here on Mt. TBR so I started on it immediately after finishing this one. I'm looking forward to another fun ride!”

CheriePie wrote this review Thursday, May 8 2008. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 3 stars

“Victoria Cartwright is a hereditary witch who prefers to deny her heritage rather than embrace it—until the day she opens her grandmother's locked wardrobe and discovers a carousel unicorn inside. From that point on, her carousel dreams, which previously starred her and a sexy Scot in kilt and full Scottish regalia, become even more vivid until Scotsman Rory McKenzie showed up on the doorstep of her little Salem, MA antiques shop a few days later, having traveled all the way from Caperglen, Scotland. What happens then is both unimaginable as well as magical. Are they doomed to repeat the mistakes of their ancestors? And just how are the two connected anyway since they've been featuring in one another's dreams so often....

This story was cute, if not exactly funny IMO. Because I don't really like romance, I didn't particularly care for the dream sequences as they were a bit too flowery for my taste. But the rest of the story wasn't too bad, and certainly entertaining enough to keep my interest. Though I remembered previous characters from The Kitchen Witch and My Favorite Witch, I remembered very little about Victoria, on whom this story was based, I think because I'd found her the least interesting (and most prudish) of the three friends: Melody, Kira, and Victoria. LOL”

CheriePie wrote this review Thursday, May 8 2008. ( reply | permalink )

0 of 1 members found this review helpful.

• Rated 1 stars

“This book, supposedly a mystery with a witchy background, wasn't grabbing me at all, and after only 30 pages in, I was having a hard time staying focused and keeping my mind from wandering. I picked it up at least 4 different times throughout the course of the day, just in case my disinterest was caused by my mood at the time, but try as I might, I simply couldn't get into it.

Now, dare I say this publicly, but in the real-life world of Witches, Wiccans, and others practicing the Craft, we refer to Silver RavenWolf as a "fluffy bunny" and her practice as "fluffy bunny wicca". Yes, being the bunny lover I am, I hate to use what to me is such a wonderful creature in conjunction with such a derogatory term, but since that definition has pretty much been adopted worldwide, and can be found at the [a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fluffy+bunny" target="_blank"]Urban Dictionary[/a], it's much easier to just adapt and use it myself rather than to try to come up with my own term and explain what it means. :P (See also the article [a href="http://pagandiversity.com/fluffy.html" target="_blank"]"What makes a Fluff-Bunny?"[/a])

Anyhoo, because Silver RavenWolf lives in the fantasy world of Wicca, I thought perhaps I could get a kick out of her fiction; perhaps her delusions would translate well into the fiction realm. But sadly, such is not the case, and again, besides just being super bored with it, I was actually starting to get a bit angry as well!

Okay, so these are not your fantasy type of Witches at all. Too bad, as I think maybe I could have been able to enjoy this a little bit if they were. Instead, at only 15 pages in, she has the main character, Elizabeyta, proclaiming to the small town minister who's just declared his undying love for her that she's a W-I-T-C-H! A hereditary Witch who practices the old religion. Okay, that's all well and good. She's obviously trying to bring some validity to the religion, so you're thinking that she'll be treating the Craft in an honest and straightforward manner, but then the minister finds himself wondering if she can possibly be serious, and if he can suspend his disbelief of "ghosts, murder, and witches" (the author's words, not mine) long enough to listen to what she has to say. Give me a break! Major lame-o! Are we still living in the dark and unenlightened times where witches must practice secretly for fear of persecution? Apparently so because Elizabeyta's whole family lives at a secret covenstead to which no mere mortals know the location! =:o And they use the address of a safe house run by "non-magickal people" to act as their go-betweens to the rest of the world. *sigh* If she hadn't just finished trying to lay down a bunch of "facts" about our religion, I might've believed this was supposed to be based on fantasy after all. But at this point, the minister dude is really pissing me off with his attitude of thinking witches can't possibly be real! How trite!

Now, if you want to read a good fiction mystery which revolves around a real-life (non-fantasy) practitioner of the Craft, in the real sense of how they live and act in today's world, and integrate the Craft into their day-to-day life, then pick up [a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0967822106?tag=cheriepie-20" target="_blank"]M. R. Sellar's Rowan Gant Investigations series[/a]. He treats the Craft in a much more realistic way, doesn't try to sensationalize, and writes a darn good mystery in which the main character, a Wiccan High Priest, uses not only his divination skills but many of the other qualities and characteristics embraced by Witches and other practitioners. He truly understands what it's all about. If however, you prefer a lot of nonsense and rambling, and some half-truths and misinformation about a very valid religion, then by all means, read Beneath a Mountain Moon. Personally, I have too many other great books waiting on my to-be-read shelf to waste my time on this rubbish!”

CheriePie wrote this review Thursday, May 8 2008. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“Atticus "Tick" Higginbottom thought himself to be just your average thirteen-year-old boy... until the day he received a mysterious letter from someone who signed himself simply "M.G.". Little did Tick know that from that point on, his life would be forever changed. For all of a sudden, Tick is exposed to things that he never knew existed, things that were previously hidden from him. He's visited by people from "alternate realities" who refuse to tell him too much, only that he must solve the 12 clues that he will be receiving to proceed to the next step, and that if at any time he wishes the "madness" to stop, he need simply burn the very first letter he received from M.G.

But Tick is determined to see things through to the end and solve all the clues he receives, despite the difficulties constantly being thrown in his path. Because in all honesty, this is one of the most exciting things that's happened to him in a very long time!

Many of the scenarios Tick encounters throughout the story actually present important lessons to the reader, which is great for a young adult book. And even better when you're an adult and don't even realize it's being done. ;-) But one of the strongest lessons which overlaid much of the story's premise is how the actions you take in the here and now have far reaching consequences that affect the rest of the world around you, often without your even consciously realizing it. It's the pebble in the water theory, where the waves or ripples caused by a single event (the pebble thrown in the water) reach out to affect all of the surrounding area as well. Or as it's applied in this story: every choice a person makes can lead to drastic changes in other Realities.

The whole pebble in the water theory is a concept wholly embraced by Pagans, something we build our lives around, so I really liked the subtle emphasis on it throughout the story. It just made me feel very connected to the story in a way... if that makes sense. ;)

To sum up, this was a very interesting take on the theory of parallel universes. From that standpoint, it may even be partially science fiction and not simply fantasy as it was originally labeled. But whatever the exact genre—probably a mixture of both—I found this to be a satisfying read and a great start to The 13th Reality series. More detail on Tick and this fascinating new series can be found at [a href="http://www.the13threality.com/" target="_blank"]The 13th Reality website[/a].”

CheriePie wrote this review Monday, April 14 2008. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 5 stars

“Harry is starting his 4th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and already the mischief has started before he's even arrived at the school. It starts with Harry having strange dreams—or are they visions?—of Lord Voldemort, which leave him with a scorching pain in his forehead scar. And at the Quidditch World Cup, someone conjures the Dark Mark, Voldemort's sign, right in front of Harry and his friends. Do all these signs point to the imminent return and rise to power of Voldemort? Or are they just coincidence? Well, it just so happens that Hogwarts will be hosting a very special event this year, a competition which hasn't taken place for several hundred years—the Triwizard Tournament. Perhaps that'll take Harry's mind off his problems. Or maybe it'll just make them worse since someone has decided to enter him as a Hogwarts Champion, an honour normally reserved only for older students with more experience. But since the Goblet of Fire has given his name, he is obliged to compete, whether he wants to or not. And perhaps someone is hoping that Harry just may die for it! After finishing Goblet of Fire, I immediately wanted to see the movie again because I felt I understood so much more than when I saw it initially. Many of the new characters and some of the things that happened in this one seemed rather random to me when I saw the movie, but after reading the book, I see how everything (and everyone) all fits together. Since Goblet of Fire was a hefty 734 pages, whereas the previous three books were quite a bit shorter, I can see how a two-hour movie might not quite do this book proper justice. I'm glad to hear that the movie deal made for book seven is going to be done in two parts instead of trying to squish it all into one. So though I was initially thinking this was the weakest one so far, after having only seen the movie, I now have to retract that thought after reading the book. There is some additional depth given to many of the characters here, and we learn a few new secrets about some of them. A lot of it is very mysterious and dark. We also start to see hints of a burgeoning romance between Ron and Hermione.... I really enjoyed this one a lot, so much so that I immediately wanted to start reading Order of the Phoenix right away. (And I'm holding off on seeing that movie until I read the book first.) Unfortunately, I have a number of other books I really need to get read before the end of the month; this was my short, quick detour to read one of my personal collection books that has been sorely neglected because it doesn't have an agenda after, or I don't owe a review for it, or something like that. ;-)”

CheriePie wrote this review Sunday, April 6 2008. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 3 stars

“Living in modern day Moscow, the "Others" are an ancient race of humans with supernatural powers. Each Other pledges allegiance to either the Light or the Dark, and each side has a Watch—Night Watch for the Light and Day Watch for the Dark—whose responsibility it is to maintain the balance between the Light and the Dark, Good and Evil, verifying neither side has an unfair advantage.

An uneasy truce has existed between the two groups for several thousand years, but all that could soon change due to an ancient prophecy predicting that one particularly strong Other will rise up and tip the balance, resulting in a catastrophic war between the Light and the Dark, one that could bring about the end of the word as we know it!

I had a bit of a difficult time with this book because the language didn't flow quite as smoothly as if it were written by a native English speaker. The version I read is an English translation from the original Russian, so at times the paragraphs would just go on and on and make little to no sense, or else not fit in with what was going on in the story, and I'd find myself thinking, "Just what the heck is he talking about??" In similar fashion, I'd find he sometimes went off into these way too philosophical discussions in his head for far too long—sometimes for up to two pages or more!—which was enough to put me right to sleep.

Despite the problems I had with the writing, or the translation, or whatever... underneath it all, the story itself was good, and the whole concept of the Others living among us to maintain the balance between Good and Evil, was enough to keep me reading.

I don't have the 2nd book in this series, Day Watch, but I do have the third, Twilight Watch, which I picked up for a couple bucks at Half Price Books while I was in Columbus. So I'll probably try to get my hands on the second one in the hopes that some of the translation issues have been resolved and I can enjoy it a little bit more without the language and style detracting from it.”

CheriePie wrote this review Sunday, March 30 2008. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 5 stars

“http://books.cheriepie.com/2008/02/8-chosen-house-of-night-novel-by-pc.html”

CheriePie wrote this review Monday, March 3 2008. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“The Somnambulist is a dark fantasy sort of mystery that takes place in turn-of-the-century Victorian England. It follow the adventures of Edward Moon, stage magician and part-time detective, and his loyal sidekick the Somnambulist. When a series of bizarre murders and strange disappearances starts taking place throughout London, the Directorate turns to Moon to help them figure out what's going on. But as the investigation proceeds, and the cryptic messages from medium Madame Innocenti start to make a scary kind of sense, Edward realizes that there's something much deeper going on here... something that extends down into the very bowels beneath the city.

I received this as an Advance Readers Edition from LibraryThing's Early Reviewers Group, and unlike most ARCs, this one was actually a velobound manuscript copy with full-size 8.5" x 11" pages. It was a bit unwieldy to handle, especially trying to read in bed, but the story was good enough to keep me wanting to read on despite the uncomfortable binding format. I also found my copy was missing page 71. But because it was the first page of a new chapter, and a new section started at the top of the following page, I couldn't figure out anything important that was missing, so perhaps it was intentional. And finally, I found it odd that the date at the bottom of the pages was 6/28/07. Since this was first published in the UK in Feburary of 2007, and later in the US in Feburary of 2008, I was left wondering if I might actually have a copy of the UK manuscript, and wondering if there might be a slight difference in language and localisms between the two.

Now enough about the format and on to the story itself. It's told from the point-of-view of an outside party, one who's observing the events from the outside. Because of this, the reader doesn't get a lot of deep insight into each character's feelings and thoughts. In a way, this makes the story seem a bit cold and distant, which may in fact be the intended result. But an unfortunate side effect was that I had a more difficult time remembering some of the more personal facts about each of the characters. I felt I didn't know them as well since the author didn't really allow us to see inside their heads. *shrug* By the end of the book however, it became a bit more obvious why it was written that way, and who the person is who's telling the story. But I found it a bit disconcerting at the first in any case.

Because of my few complaints above, I couldn't give this book a perfect score. However, I really enjoyed the action, the mystery, the dark horror, and the whole wackiness of it, which made for a very enjoyable story overall. And thus, despite its few shortcomings, a book I would wholeheartedly recommend to others.”

CheriePie wrote this review Saturday, February 16 2008. ( reply | permalink )