Saturday, October 27, 2018

13 Days of Halloween: Monsterland Reanimated

13 Days of Halloween , Halloween 2018
13 Days of Halloween: Monsterland Reanimated

WordFire Press; pages; Amazon

I don't know why horror novels and movies appeal to me so much. I don't believe it has anything to do with the them being scary, as there has only been a few books and films that have actually frightened me. Maybe I just like things that go bump in the night!

 Today, I'm reviewing Monsterland: Reanimated by Michael Okon. It's a sequel to the young adult horror novel Monsterland, which I had reviewed on this very blog in 2015 (read the review here). The first book was original written under the name Michael Phillip Cash.

 Monsterland centered around Wyatt Baldwin, a teenager obsessed with anything horror and that includes Monsterland, a theme park full of vampires, werewolves, and vampires. The kid is thrilled when he gets an invitation to the grand opening, which he drags his two friends with him.

 Sound like fun, right?

 Not really! In this world, there was an outbreak and all the infected was saved by Dr. Vincent Konrad. Where are the infected?

 Take a wild guess! They're the attractions in Monsterland!

 The sequel picks up shortly after events of Monsterland, where the infected have escaped into the real world. Thousands of people are dead, along with the Present of the United States and other world leaders. Governments are starting to shut down as the world falls into complete chaos.

 To save his town, Wyatt and his pals must go on a journey to reestablish communication with whatever is left of the government in the hopes of warning them about a new threat. However, his quest isn't going to be an easy one as he must battle more supernatural creatures, including a blob-like thing called The Glob, a reanimated Behemoth, and a few mummies.

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Friday, October 26, 2018

13 Days of Halloween: Scream and Scream Again!

13 Days of Halloween ,
13 Days of Halloween: Scream and Scream Again!

Harper; 410 pages; Amazon
Reading a good old fashioned ghost story always gets me in the mood for Halloween, which is one of two reasons why I wanted to read the anthology Scream and Scream Again!. The second reason is because the book is edited by one of my favorite authors - R.L.Stine.

The anthology features twenty young adult short stories from the Mystery Writers Of America. The stories are:
  • The Best Revenge by R.L. Stine
  • Raw Head and Bloody Bones by Bruce Hale
  • Bricks and Bones by Emily Laybourne
  • Ring and Run by Steve Hockensmith
  • The Unknown Patriot by Chris Grabenstein
  • Summer of Sharks by Lisa Morton
  • Rule Seven by Ray Daniel
  • Cat Got Your Tongue by Wendy Corsi Staub
  • The I Scream Truck by Beth Fantaskey
  • The Witch of Bryon's Bayou by Heather Graham
  • Bloodstone by Phil Matthews
  • Area Code 666 by Carter Wilson
  • The Trouble with Squirrels by Doug Levin
  • The Necklace and the Monster by Jeff Soloway
  • The Only Child by Joseph S. Walker
  • Kamikaze Iguanas by Alison McMahan
  • The Nightmare Express by Daniel Palmer
  • The Girl in the Window by Tonya Hurley
  • Feed the Birds by Stephen Ross
  • The Platform by Peter Lerangis

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Book Blogger Hop: Halloween Editon! - October 26th - November 1st

book blogger hop , Halloween 2018
Book Blogger Hop: Halloween Editon! - October 26th - November 1st



Instructions: Select all code above, copy it and paste it inside your blog post as HTML



Welcome Ghouls and Goblins
to the
Book Blogger Hop: Halloween Edition!
  
If you want schedule next week's thrilling question, click here to find the next prompt fright-fest. 
To submit a question, fill out this form.

 How to participate in this week's creepy meme:

1. Post on your blog answering this haunt:

  Recommend one horror novel for non-horror readers.


(This week's question is submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer.)

2. Enter the link to your terrifying tale in the haunting 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 a curse).

 

3. Visit other haunters in the list and comment on their posts. Try to spend some time on the blogs reading other posts and possible become a new creeper.  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.
 

Billy's Answer!

The Haunting of Hill House
by Shirley Jackson





Linky List:
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The Friday 56: Monsterland Reanimated

The Friday 56 ,
The Friday 56: Monsterland Reanimated

Rules:
  • Grab a book, any book.
  • Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader.
  • Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it).
  • Post it.
  •  Add your (url) post below in the Linky at: www.fredasvoice.com
  • Add the post url, not your blog url.

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Thursday, October 25, 2018

13 Days of Halloween: Hocus Pocus & the All-New Sequel

13 Days of Halloween , Halloween 2018
13 Days of Halloween: Hocus Pocus & the All-New Sequel

Freeform Books; 528 pages; Amazon
Go ahead an admit it! You have watched Hocus Pocus at least one time! 

 I'm not for sure when the tradition started, but Freeform (formerly ABC Family) airs the 1993 film dozens of times throughout the month of October every year; resulting in it becoming a cult classic. Since I'm a bit older than the typical Freeform viewer, I was quite aware that Hocus Pocus existed long before it became popular. I remember seeing it in theaters when I was a 12-years-old and later watching it countless times on VHS; so I was a big fan before everyone else started appreciating the little horror-comedy. 

 To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the film, Disney published Hocus Pocus & the All-New Sequel written by A. W. Jantha, which is actually two books in one. The first 200 pages is the novelization of the original film and the rest of the book is the long awaited sequel.

 I'm not going to go into a detailed description of the novelization's plot, as by now practically everyone in the world has seen the movie. However, I will mentioned about the differences in novelization. For instance, the beginning of the movie that was set in 1693 is split up in the book in flashbacks, which are intertwined in several chapters with the 1993 setting. There's a few new scenes with Max prior to going to school and he's given a backstory about his life prior to moving to Salem. Also, there's a few additional scenes expanding his relationship with Allison. Then there's the ending, which has been completely reconned with the Sanderson's spell book disappearing.

 Set 25 years later, the sequel centers on Max and Allison's seventeen-year-old daughter Poppy, her best friend  Travis, and her new friend Isabella breaking into the Sanderson sister's home to play an Ouija board-like game. Isabella just happens to have found the spell book that very same day and with the game they accidentally recite a spell that transports Max, Allison, and Dani into Hell. To make matters even worse, the spell brings back the Sanderson sisters!


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Wednesday, October 24, 2018

13 Days of Halloween: Echoes in the Walls by V.C. Andrews

13 Days of Halloween ,
13 Days of Halloween: Echoes in the Walls by V.C. Andrews

Pocket Books; 400 pages; Amazon

When I hear the author's name V.C. Andrews, I think of the word "Gothic," as her original Flower in the Attic and sequels had the perfect Gothic-vibe to them. However, when it comes to the ghostwritten titles written by Andrew Neiderman, the Gothic touch that I loved so much seems to have completely vanished. The once well-plotted novels have been replaced with generic young adult stories.

 Like most V.C. Andrews' fans, I've been very critical of the last batch of ghostwritten titles, all of which were badly written with one-dimensional characters. Just when I was about to give up on all future V.C. Andrews books, I read House of Secrets and I didn't hate it. (Read my review here!). Yes, it had some writing issues, but the plot and characters were a major improvement.

 Here I am today writing my review for the sequel Echoes in the Walls, which was published on August 28th. Pocket Books has sent an ARC copy a few weeks prior to the release date, but I held off reading it, just so I could feature it during this year's Halloween event!

 It's a little difficult for me to explain the actual plot of the sequel without giving away the ending of House of Secrets. WARNING - THERE WILL BE SPOLIERS!

 House of Secrets centered around Fern, a teenager who has lived her entire life at the Wyndemere mansion with her mother, who worked as a maid for the Davenport family. While Fern isn't supposed to have anything to do with the Davenport children, she has developed a close relationship with Ryder Davenport, who she has romantic feelings for. To make a long story short, towards the ending of the book Fern learns that Mr. Davenport is her real father and Ryder is her half-brother.

 After barely surviving a boat accident, Ryder now has selective memory and he doesn't remember that Fern is his half-sister. Most of the time in Echoes in the Walls, Ryder has no clue who Fern is and has long forgotten his sexual feelings for her. Actually, the character has very little to do in the sequel. He's either shut inside his room or spending time at the hospital.

 The majority of the sequel centers on Fern's relationship with her new boyfriend, Dillon, which is full of the typical teenage romance cliches. When she's not with Dillon, Fern has her mind on the upcoming school production of Dracula.

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Tuesday, October 23, 2018

13 Days of Halloween: Return To Fear Street: The Wrong Girl

13 Days of Halloween , Fear Street
13 Days of Halloween: Return To Fear Street: The Wrong Girl

Harper Teen; 330 pages; Amazon
If you read yesterday's review for Return To Fear Street: You May Now Kill The Bride, then you would know I have been a fan of R.L. Stine's Fear Street series since I was a kid. No, the Fear Street books weren't my first introduction to the world of horror, as I had first watched the slasher classic Halloween when I was seven-years-old. (There will be more on that topic on Oct. 31st.). As you can probably imagine, I was more than thrilled when I heard about the new Return To Fear Street books.

 The second book in the Return To Fear Street series, titled The Wrong Girl, was published last month by Harper Teen. The plot centers around Poppy Miller, a teenager who loves to write poetry and dreams of receiving a scholarship to the drama department at Carnegie Mellon. She's pretty much your typical teen who is into all the normal teenage stuff. She has a boyfriend named Keith, who she doesn't really like, but she keeps him around anyway. Ivy Tanner is her BFF, who is currently dating Jeremy Klavan. And then there's Manny, the musical genius of the group, who happens to be allergic to just about everything.

Poppy's life takes a sudden turn into the danger zone after becoming friends with the new Shadyside High student, Jack Saber, who is quickly accepted into the group. Jack is a wild child with a taste for fear. He insists they all start doing dangerous things, such as causing a car accident while they are filming it on their cell phones. Then they would put the video on YouTube, so they can become famous.

 Things turn to the dark side after they play a prank on Poppy while they are attempting to rob a store. Poppy swears she will get revenge on them all!

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