Maximum Ride: The Final Warning
by James Patterson
Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
Pub. Date: March 17, 2008
ISBN: 0446194050
Pages: 264
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

If you've been following my blog this month, then you would know that I was planning on rereading the Maximum Ride series before the release of the newest installment Maximum Ride Forever on May 19th. Well, as you can tell, it's a few days past the 19th and this review is for the 4th novel, so I've gotten behind on my reviews. There's no reason to worry as I still plan on getting all the books read and reviewed on here.

After reading the first three books in there series, I was looking forward to reading the fourth adventure in March 2008, but what was released was less of an adventure and more of a political global warming push. It wouldn't have bothered me if this was an adult thriller, but this book is aimed for middle graders.

The three previous novels were action-packed thrill rides with Max and her flock on the run from The School and the Erasers. While they would love to have a normal life, it'll never happen due to the flock are all human avian hybrids. Now they are asked by a group of environmental scientists to go on an expedition in Antarctica.

If you want schedule next week's post, click here to find the next prompt question. To submit a question, fill out this form.

What to do:

1. Post on your blog answering this question:

  This week's question is submitted by Elizabeth!

Why would you stop reading a book? Too long, wrong genre, bad language, not what you expected, or something totally different?

2. Enter the link to your post in the linky list below (enter your Blog Name and the direct link to your post answering this week’s question. Failure to do so will result in removal of your link).


3. Visit other blogs in the list and comment on their posts. Try to spend some time on the blogs reading other posts and possible become a new follower.  The purpose of the hop is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, befriend other bloggers, and receive new followers to your own blog.

  

My Answer: 

  The only time that I have to stop reading a book is when I have to read another title for review purposes. I'm almost at the midpoint of Outlander when I had to stop reading it because I have too many titles I need to review for this blog. I have my book marker in place, so I can start reading it again, one day.

Secret Brother
The Dollanganger Family Series
by V.C. Andrews
Publisher: Pocket Books
Pub. Date: May 26th, 2015
ISBN: 978-1476792408
Pages: 384
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

In 1979, the Gothic novel Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews was published, causing a slue of backlash from libraries, schools and parents. Despite the taboo incest theme, the story about a four siblings being locked in a bedroom & attic by their mother and grandmother became a worldwide sensation. Three sequels (Petals on the Wind, If There Be Thorns & Seeds of Yesterday) were later published. Sadly, V.C. Andrews passed away before she could finished the prequel novel Garden of Shadows, but the publishers and Andrews' family picked Andrew Neiderman to ghostwrite the novel, as well as every V.C. Andrews title since then.

Fans thought the series had ended with Garden of Shadows until the semi-sequel Christopher's Diary: Secrets of Foxworth was released last fall and quickly followed by Christopher's Diary: Echoes of Dollanganger, in which a long-distant cousin stumbles upon the diary of Christopher Dollanganger.

Arriving on in bookstores next week is the direct sequel to Flowers in the Attic (or a side-prequel to the Christopher's Diary duo). The novel begins in late October 1960 and centers on sixteen-year-old Clara Sue Sanders, whom, along with her little brother, Willie, has been living with their Grandpa Arnold every since their parents died in a tragic accident. One afternoon, Clara Sue is startled by the commotion outside - a drunk driver had hit her brother and his nanny, Myra. While the paramedics did everything they could, Willie was gone before the ambulance arrived at the hospital.

Grief-stricken, Clara Sue must stay in the waiting room by her grandfather's side while the doctors work on Myra. This is when they learn that young boy had been dropped off at the and left at the hosptial by a stranger. The boy is undernourished and had been poisoned with arsenic. (Sounds familiar, doesn't it?)

Before funeral plans for Willie are even made, Grandpa Arnold is determined to find out whom this little boy is. Due to the arsenic, the boy has neurological damage as well as the loss of motor skills; leaving him unable to communicate and walk. Grandpa Arnold hires a detective to find out who dropped the the boy off, but he finds nothing.

Strawberry Shortcake: Berry Best in Show
Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Release Date: May 12, 2015
Retail: $14.98
ASIN: B00UKSXM7A
Running Time: 67 minutes
Rating: Not Rated
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

Wow! It's hard to believe Strawberry Shortcake is celebrating her 35th birthday this year. Who knew that a character on a greeting card would become so popular! Now available to own on DVD from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment is Strawberry Shortcake: Berry Best in Show, featuring three exciting episodes. As an added bonus, there is a printable coloring pages and a Perfect Puppy digital story book to download.

The episodes on the single-disc set are:

"A Boy and His Dogs" - Huckleberry Pie gets stranded in Berry Bitty City and it is up to Strawberry Shortcake and her pals to help him find families for orphan puppies.

"Partners in Crime" - Blueberry and Huckleberry join forces to write a short story for an online magazine.

"The Mystery of the Disappearing Dog Show" - To help Huckleberry start a dog shelter, Strawberry Shortcake and her pals put together a dog show.

The Evil of Oz
by Ryan Fuller
Illustrator: Sanjana Baijnath
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Pub. Date: April 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-1493517046
Pages: 108
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

Since The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was first published in 1900, people of all ages have been fascinated with the Oz world. Though L. Frank Baum only published 14 Oz titles before his death, there have been several other authors that continued to write more installments over the years. Recently, the Oz has been published as comic books and graphic novels.

A few weeks ago, I was sent a copy of the graphic novel The Evil of Oz, which is written by Ryan Fuller with illustrations by Sanjana Baijnath. No, this isn't another sequel written for kids, but instead it's a dark and twisted sequel written for adults.

The Evil of Oz finds young Dorothy Gale coming home to find her uncle and aunt murdered. The police thinks they were killed by a random intruder, but Dorothy knows otherwise. If she hadn't worn the silver slippers when she went out, the murderer could have taken the shoes. She grabs the bloody ax that killed her family and she returns to Oz on a quest for revenge!

Oz isn't the wonderful place that she remembered. As soon as she arrives she encounters zombie munchkins, a heart ripper Tin Man and a bloody thirsty Beast King. Not even Oz himself can prepare Dorothy for the horrors that awaits her.

Even if you're not a horror film fan, you've probably heard of the movie "Hellraiser" and it's eight sequels, which seven of the films featured Doug Bradley as the demonic villain Pinhead. The first film was based on the 1986 novella "The Hellbound Heart" by Clive Barker, whom also directed the original film.

There has been talk for years about Barker's upcoming anthology The Scarlet Gospels, which would feature Pinhead vs Harry D'Armour, another popular character from Barker's works, in one of the stories. Eventually, the unrelated stories were shoved aside and Barker expanded "The Hellbound Heart" sequel into a full novel.

The Scarlet Gospels is finally arriving in bookstores today. Luckily, I received an advanced review copy several weeks ago, so I could have this post published on the release day. While I had never read "Everville" or any of the short stories that featured Harry D'Armour, I have seen the Clive Barker's Lord of Illusions film, so I had a bit of an idea of what the character was about.

The plot involves the blind medium Norma Paine (a recurring Barker character) being contacted the newly deceased Carston Goode, a lawyer who dabbled with black magic, whom demands to hire the private detective Harry D'Armour to cleanup his dark hobby before his wife and kids learn about his habits. It seems like an easy case for Harry, well, until he stumbles upon the Lament Configuration puzzle box and steps into the pathway of Pinhead and the Cenobites.