Thursday, February 3, 2022

[Review] - Reacher: Killing Floor by Lee Child

books , fiction
[Review] - Reacher: Killing Floor by Lee Child

For the very first time (that I can think of), I read a novel before the adaptation got released. Yep, that's right. I read Reacher: Killing Floor by Lee Child from beginning to end over a few days. G.P. Putnam's Sons first published it in 1997 under the title Killing Floor. The publisher retitled the book to Reacher: Killing Floor to tie in with the new streaming series Reacher which debuts tomorrow on Amazon Prime.  

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Tuesday, February 1, 2022

[Review] - The Woman Beyond the Attic: The V.C. Andrews Story

biography , books
[Review] - The Woman Beyond the Attic: The V.C. Andrews Story

I've started, deleted, and restarted this review multiple times, and finally, I decided not to sugarcoat my thoughts, unlike many other bloggers who also received an ARC copy. Yes, I read a few other reviews before penning my own. It's pretty obvious that either they didn't read the book. Or they gave it a good rating only because they received an ARC. Seriously, where is your integrity? I expect this from mainstream critics but not from bloggers.

As the title, The Woman Beyond the Attic: The V.C. Andrews Story, suggests, this is the real-life story of gothic author V.C. Andrews (1923 - 1986), who wrote the mega-bestseller Flowers in the Attic. Andrew Neiderman wrote the biography, a.k.a. the ghostwriter who keeps churning out new stories under V.C. Andrews's name. Now here comes my first issue with the book - Andrew Neiderman! 

Andrew Neiderman used to be a decent horror writer, but his writing skills have gone downhill in the last ten to fifteen years. Let me rephrase that, Neiderman's writing sucks. Let me repeat myself - I'm not sugarcoating anything.  

The Woman Beyond the Attic begins with a 28-paged preface. Yes, you read that correctly - 28-pages. The biography is only 150 pages! Let me tell you - it's a pain to read. It's not a biography in any sense. Instead, Neiderman complies together public interviews, letters, and information that you can either 'google' or find on Wikipedia. The timeline and facts are disjointed, creating a chaotic mess to follow. I wonder if Andrew Neiderman has ever read a single biography in his life because he doesn't have the know-how to write one.

Repetition! I lost count at how many times Neiderman repeated quotes, stories, and events, word by word. Was Neiderman trying to fill up the word count? Why? Did Neiderman have enough facts to write a full biography, or is Neiderman just a bad writer? You be the judge.

The rest of the book features the supposedly only unfinished novel by V.C. Andrews, The Obsessed. It's roughly 88 pages, minus a few blank pages between chapters, and if the legend is correct, the first draft was around 800 pages. In a letter written in February 1981, V.C. Andrews told her brother that the novel's release date was September 1981. Now, this is where the facts get confusing. If The Obsessed's planned release date was in six months, wouldn't the first or second draft already be completed and in the hands of the editor?  

Long before Flowers in the Attic, V.C. Andrews published the short story, My Uncle on My Wedding Night, under an unknown pseudonym in a pulp-confession magazine. Nobody has ever found a copy, but there is finally evidence that it did exist. In the very back of The Woman Beyond the Attic, there's part of a submission letter to The Do-It-Yourself Romance for a new version of the story, retitled Love's Savage Desire. The first three chapters and the last two chapters are featured.  

Lastly, the poems "Golden Things" and "Regretting" are included at the very end of the book. 


Final Thoughts

I wanted to give Andrew Neiderman the benefit of the doubt and had hoped this biography would be decent. Sadly, that's not the case. It feels half-heartedly written. The overly long preface feels more like a biography than the actual biography. I wished the V.C. Andrews estate and Gallery Books had hired a professional biographer instead of rehiring Andrew Neiderman. Yeah, I get it. Neiderman is the ghostwriter, so he should be the perfect choice to pen V.C. Andrews's biography. Right? Wrong! The last dozen or so ghostwritten titles have been lazy and sloppy. And, Neiderman's streak of horrible writing continues.  

The Woman Beyond the Attic has zero new information about V.C. Andrews that I didn't already know via the internet. The only two things of any interest in this book are the several never-seen-before photos and The Obsessed, but they're not enough for me to recommend the book to other readers.

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Sunday, January 30, 2022

{Sunday Post} - Grieving. . .

Sunday Post ,
{Sunday Post} - Grieving. . .
Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer!


Good Morning, Everyone! 


My grandmother passed away yesterday. She had a test positive for the virus and went to the COVID-19 ward of the nursing home on Friday. She had no symptoms at the time. She ate breakfast and lunch and seemed to be alright. Then the nurses found her unresponsive, and her vitals slowly went downhill throughout the day. She died in the early hours on Saturday. She was 80 years old.





 

What Am I Reading?


Before Friday, my week was hectic, and I didn't have time to read anything. My bookmark is still on chapter one of The Obsessed in The Woman Beyond the Attic: The V.C. Andrews Story. I had planned on posting the review on its release day, which is Feb. 1st, but with everything going on, that may not happen. 


I still want to read Victoria Winters by Marilyn Ross (William Ross), the second book in the old Dark Shadows tie-in series. Then I need to read The Bleecker Street Inquiry Agency: To Disguise the Truth by Jen Turano.




Recent Reviews

Horsewoman
★★★



What's in the Mail?


Revell sent me the Biblical novel The Prince and the Prodigal by Jill Eileen Smith. I don't remember signing up to review this book. However, according to my emails, I must have requested it.




What's New On The Bookshelf?


New eBooks on my Kindle are The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys and Worms by James R. Montague.

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Friday, January 28, 2022

[Review] - Sons of Thunder: Redemption Episode 3 "Cowboys and Cowgirls"

Pure Flix , Sons of Thunder: Redemption
[Review] - Sons of Thunder: Redemption Episode 3 "Cowboys and Cowgirls"


Sons of Thunder: Redemption premiered on Pure Flix on January 13th. It's a spinoff of Sons of Thunder starring Randal Reeder as Simon, a former Devil's Hands biker gang member who goes on the road after finding a Bible. The spinoff follows a different character - Jacob Lewis. He's another ex-Devil's Hand member who's looking for redemption for his past wrongs after being released from prison.

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{Book Blogger Hop} - Book Signing Events

book blogger hop ,
{Book Blogger Hop} - Book Signing Events



Welcome to the Book Blogger Hop!


If you want to schedule next week's post in advance, click here for future prompts. To submit a prompt, please fill out this form. 

 

The Book Blogger Hop now has its own Facebook Group! Please join the group to get all the newest Book Blogger Hop updates and communicate with other book bloggers.




What To Do


1. Post an answer for the prompt. 



Have you ever attended a book signing? If so, who was the author?

Submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer.



2. Enter your Name/Nickname @ Blog Name and the direct URL to your post answering this week’s question linky list widget. Here's an example: Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer

 

3. Please visit other blogs on the list and leave a comment on their BBH post.

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{The Friday 56} - To Disguise the Truth

The Friday 56 ,
{The Friday 56} - To Disguise the Truth

Rules

Grab any book.
Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader.
Find any sentence (or more). Just don't spoil it.
Post it.
 Add your post URL in the Linky at www.fredasvoice.com.
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Thursday, January 27, 2022

[Review] - The Horsewoman by James Patterson & Mike Lupica

books ,
[Review] - The Horsewoman by James Patterson & Mike Lupica

The newest James Patterson branded novel, The Horsewoman, is now available on hardcover and eBook from Little, Brown and Company. As you can probably guess by glancing at the cover, it's a sports drama 'co-written' by veteran sports columnist Mike Lupica.

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