#cherry's reviews

[cherrymischievous]

THE GETAWAY GOD by Richard Kadrey | book 6 in the #SandmanSlim series | narrated by McLeod Andrews | rating: 3.5 out of 5 | http://www.cherrymischievous.com/2019/04/the-getaway-god.html

[cherrymischievous]

FALLEN EMPIRE by KN Lee | book 1 in the Empire of Dragons Chronicles | rating: 3.5 out of 5 | http://www.cherrymischievous.com/2018/06/fallen-empire.html

[cherrymischievous]

Review: NEVER LOOK BACK

Never Look Back by Clare Donoghue Book 1 of the DI Mike Lockyer series Read by Karl Prekopp and Imogen Church Genre: crime fiction Debut author/novel Format: audiobook About Never Look Back:

A chilling and compelling debut crime thriller set in South East London. For all those who enjoy Peter James, Mark Billingham, and Peter Robinson. Three women have been found brutally murdered in south London, the victims only feet away from help during each sadistic attack. And the killer is getting braver.... Sarah Grainger is rapidly becoming too afraid to leave her house. Once an outgoing photographer, she knows that someone is watching her. A cryptic note brings everything into terrifying focus, but it's the chilling phone calls that take the case to another level. DI Mike Lockyer heads up the regional murder squad. With three bodies on his watch, and a killer growing in confidence, he frantically tries to find the link between these seemingly isolated incidents. What he discovers will not only test him professionally but will throw his personal life into turmoil, too.

Source: Info in the About Never Look Back was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21533674-never-look-back on 01/06/2014.

My Thoughts:

The psychokiller (or PK) is targeting vulnerable and kinda stupid women. Or maybe it was just the way the victims' points of view were painted to the reader that made them sound stupid. Or maybe it might even be the writing technique used in an effort to add a bit more flair and drama to the story that made them seem stupid. Either way, I find the stupidities annoying. Now, I am not really a crime fiction reader. I'm more of an urban fantasy geek. However I am known to go to the dark side from time to time. And I understand that a crime fiction book gotta have a "crime" in it. But I do not like the dark, gory details. Maybe that is one of the reasons that I do not read much crime fiction. But this book did not have much of the gory, so I was alright. Other than the annoying aspect of the story, this book would have garnered a 5 out of 5 with me. As it is, I would give this book a 4.

Empirical Evaluation: Story telling quality = 3.5 Character development = 4 Story itself = 4 Writing Style = 3.5 Ending = 4 World building = 4 Cover art = 3 Pace = (8 hours, 50 minutes and 16 seconds listening time) Plot = 4 Narration = 4 Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 cherries Books In The DI Mike Lockyer Series:

Thank you to Audible and the publicity team for the review copy received. FTC Disclosure: This book was received for free from Audible in exchange for an honest review.

[cherrymischievous]

Review: THANKLESS IN DEATH

Thankless In Death by JD Robb Book 37 of the In Death series Narrated by Susan Ericksen Genre: police investigation, crime fiction Format: unabridged audiobook About Thankless In Death:

In the latest suspense thriller in the #1 New York Times bestselling series, the year 2060 is drawing to a close in New York City and loved ones are coming together for Thanksgiving. But sometimes the deepest hatreds seethe within the closest relationships, and blood flows faster than water… Lieutenant Eve Dallas has plenty to be grateful for this season. Hosting Roarke’s big Irish family for the holiday may be challenging, but it’s a joyful improvement on her own dark childhood. Other couples aren’t as lucky as Eve and Roarke. The Reinholds, for example, are lying in their home stabbed and bludgeoned almost beyond recognition. Those who knew them are stunned—and heartbroken by the evidence that they were murdered by their own son. Twenty-six-year-old Jerry hadn’t made a great impression on the bosses who fired him or the girlfriend who dumped him—but they didn’t think he was capable of this. Turns out Jerry is not only capable of brutality but taking a liking to it. With the money he’s stolen from his parents and a long list of grievances, he intends to finally make his mark on the world. Eve and her team already know the who, how, and why of this murder. What they need to pinpoint is where Jerry’s going to strike next.

Source: Info in the About Thankless In Death was taken from http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16299341-thankless-in-death on 16/06/2013.

Review:

I think one of the main reasons that I am such a fan of this series is because JD Robb creates solid and coherent plots. She does not make her characters act stupid to create the dilemma in the story and subsequently creating an inconsistent character development. 37 books down the line in the series and I couldn't see any of that TSTL (too stupid to live) shit! Even though I was skeptical about Roarke at the start, but because JD Robb creates consistent characters, Roarke grew on me. I got used to him. And I got persuaded that he is a good and loveable alpha male. Besides I am a fan and I want to believe him to be a nice, good alpha. JD Robb brought into this book her trademark wonderful story telling quality. From the get go the audience is told exactly who the perpetrator is, what the plot is and that it will end in an HEA (happily ever after). What seems to remain is the "how" Lt. Eve Dallas is going to catch the bad guy. Simple right? Well, this is JD Robb we are talking about here and the journey from A to B in this book is what makes reading it enjoyable and not just the story itself. I think this is a testimony of how good a story teller this author is!

Empirical Evaluation: Story telling quality = 5 Character development = 5 Story itself = 4.5 Ending = 4.5 World building = 5 Cover art = 3.5 Pace = N/A (13hrs and 22mins listening time) Plot = 5 Narration = 4.5 Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 cherries Other Points Of View: Kathy Martin of Inside Of A Dog

[cherrymischievous]

Review: THE CARE AND FEEDING OF STRAY VAMPIRES

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The Care And Feeding Of Stray Vampires by Molly Harper Book 1 of the Half Moon Hollow series Read by Amanda Ronconi Genre: urban fantasy Format: paperback & audiobook About The Care And Feeding Of Stray Vampires:

Iris Scanlon, Half-Moon Hollow's only daytime vampire concierge, knows more about the undead than she'd like. Running all their daylight errands - from letting in the plumber to picking up some chilled O neg - gives her a look at the not-so-glamorous side of vampire life. Her rules are strict; relationships with vamps are strictly business, not friendship - and certainly not anything else. But then she finds her newest client, Cal, poisoned on his kitchen floor, and only Iris can help. Cal - who would be devastatingly sexy, if Iris allowed herself to think that way - offers Iris a hefty fee for hiding him at her place until he figures out who wants him permanently dead. Even though he's imperious, unfriendly, and doesn't seem to understand the difference between "employee" and "servant", Iris agrees, and finds herself breaking more and more of her own rules to help him - particularly those concerning nudity. Turns out what her quiet little life needed was some intrigue and romance - in the form of her very own stray vampire. ©2012 Molly Harper White (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Source: Info in the About The Care And Feeding Of Stray Vampires was taken from http://www.audible.co.uk/pd?asin=B008PEACE2 on 24/06/2013.

Review:

I am, by now, an old audiobook listener and I have heard many kinds of narrators in my time thus far. Some I swore I would never ever listen to ever again. Some I tolerated but would, maybe, rather read the paperback than listen to. (And that is not complimentary in the audiobook industry.) Some I became a die hard fan of and is an auto-buy for me, just like the authors I read. However, this is the first audiobook I've listened by Amanda Ronconi and I have to say that I am fast becoming a fan. Her words are clear and distinct. The diction perfect. And the quality of her voice is not aggravating to the ears. In fact it was sampling her reading in audible which lead me into buying this book! So I bought this book because I liked the what I heard in the audible sample. And plus the fact that this is in the urban fantasy genre. However if this book was presented to me on it's own as a paperback and not as an audiobook sample I don't think it would really ping my book-buying radar because the premise is very ordinary. As in, it has been used a few times too many around the block already. Namely, True Blood series. So the audiobook sampling was, really, a good marketing strategy! The bad news is, like True Blood's Sookie Stackhouse, our heroine is also too stupid to live (TSTL). However I blame the plot rather than the character development here because it is pretty obvious that the character(s) deliberately acted stupid to create a dilemma in the story so that our heroes could show off and save the world. Pretty weak plot. Not to mention that it also has the annoying "character inconsistency" issues! But me being an urban fantasy geek, likes the vampires and the world building in the story! But even that wouldn't make me spend money on a book in this series again. If ever, I would borrow it from the library.

Empirical Evaluation: Story telling quality = 3 Character development = 2 Story itself = 2 Ending = 3.5 World building = 3.5 Cover art = 3 Pace = (8hrs and 55mins listening time) Plot = 1 Narration = 4 Overall Rating: 2.5 out of 5 cherries Books In The Half Moon Hollow Series:

[cherrymischievous]

Review: KILL CITY BLUES

Kill City Blues by Richard Kadrey Book 5 of the Sandman Slim series Read by MacLeod Andrews Genre: urban fantasy Format: hardback & audiobook   About Kill City Blues:

James Stark, aka Sandman Slim, has managed to get out of Hell, renounce his title as the new Lucifer, and settle back into life in LA. But he's not out of trouble yet. Somewhere along the way he misplaced the Qomrama Om Ya, a weapon from the banished older gods who are also searching for their lost power. The hunt leads Stark to an abandoned shopping mall-a multi-story copy of LA-infested with Lurkers and wretched bottomfeeding Sub Rosa families, squatters who have formed tight tribes to guard their tiny patches of this fake LA. Somewhere in the kill zone of the former mall is a dead man with the answers Stark needs. All Stark has to do is find the dead man, get back out alive, and outrun some angry old gods-and a few killers-on his tail.

Source: Info in the About Kill City Blues was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15783828-kill-city-blues on 10/01/2014.  

My Thoughts:

This is the best book yet in the series. I'm not so sure though whether that is because Kadrey's writing has improved or I am just becoming a besotted fan. Or maybe a little of both. Either way, I enjoyed this book a whole lot more compared the previous books. I have to thank Kdawg91 for vigorously recommending this book to me!! In turn I recommend this book to all of those who likes the Supernatural show. Both have a whacked-out ideas of heaven and earth. Whacked-out or not, both are believable enough so that audience and readers can very easily suspend disbelief. Which I think is one of the reasons that both stories, Sandman Slim and Supernatural, has such staying power. Why both are such compelling entertainment!

  Empirical Evaluation: Story telling quality = 4.5 Character development = 5 Story itself = 5 Ending = 5 World building = 5 Cover art = 3 Pace = 3.5 Plot = 5 Narrator = 5   Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 cherries   Books In The Sandman Slim Series:

[cherrymischievous]

Review: CALCULATED IN DEATH

Calculated In Death by JD Robb Book 36 of the In Death series Narrated by Susan Ericksen Genre: police investigation, crime fiction Format: unabridged audiobook About Calculated In Death:

On Manhattan’s Upper East Side, a woman lies dead at the bottom of a brownstone’s basement steps, stripped of all her valuables. Most cops might call it a mugging gone wrong, but Lieutenant Eve Dallas knows better. A well-off accountant and a beloved wife and mother, Marta Dickenson doesn’t seem the type to be on anyone’s hit list. But when Eve and her partner, Peabody, find blood inside the brownstone, she knows Marta’s murder is the work of a killer who’s trained, yet not professional or smart enough to remove all the evidence. Eve learns that on the day of her murder Marta was assigned to work on three audits, and begins to suspect that she was killed to cover up fraudulent activity. Eve is good at catching criminals, not crunching numbers, but luckily, she has her billionaire husband, Roarke, to figure out which companies in Marta’s files aren’t on the up-and-up. When someone steals the files from Marta’s office, Eve must immerse herself in Roarke’s world of big business to figure out who’s cruel and callous enough to hire a hit on an innocent woman. And as the killer’s violent streak starts to escalate, Eve knows she has to draw him out, even if it means using herself as bait.... ©2013 J. D. Robb (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Source: Info in the About Calculated In Death was taken from http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_1?asin=B00B1D2LPM&qid=1363980527&sr=1-1 on 22/03/2013.

Review:

It's been a while since the last time I've read an In Death series book and it felt like meeting old friends again after a long separation. It might sound silly but it felt that way. So I was glad to read about Lt. Eve Dallas and the gang again! And despite the high expectations, this book did not disappoint! It still brought with it the same masterful story telling quality, humour, and wonderful relationship dynamics between the characters. And despite this being already Book 36 in the In Death series, it's attraction and fascination for me as a reader hasn't waned even a bit, which is not something anybody can say about a lot of serieses! That is solid evidence of how wonderful a story teller JD Robb is!

Now, even though the theme has been recycled a few times already in the series, the case involving a family member of the crime fighting team making it just a bit too close to home, this one took a slight deviation from previous books in that the family member of the crime fighting team is actually only peripherally involved with the criminals.

But recycled theme or not, JD Robb still makes the story come alive for the reader. Another evidence of JD Robb's talents? Or maybe I am just being a die-hard fan.

Empirical Evaluation: Story telling quality = 5 Character development = 5 Story itself = 4.5 Ending = 4.5 World building = 5 Cover art = 4 Pace = N/A (12 hrs and 52 mins listening time) Plot = 5 Narrator = 5 Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 cherries

[cherrymischievous]

Review: SUCKER PUNCH

SUCKER PUNCH (2011) Starring Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone, Vanessa Hudgens, Jamie Chung, and Carla Gugino, among others. Directed by Zack Snyder. Produced by Warner Bros. Pictures, Legendary Pictures, Cruel & Unusual Films, and Lennox House Films. Genre: urban fantasy Format: DVD About SUCKER PUNCH (2011):

A young girl is institutionalized by her abusive stepfather. Retreating to an alternative reality as a coping strategy, she envisions a plan which will help her escape from the mental facility.

Source: Info in the About SUCKER PUNCH (2011) was taken from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0978764/ on 17/01/2013. Movie Trailer:

Movie Links: Official site Sucker Punch at Wikipedia imdb

Review:

The best thing I can say about this film is that the cinematography is brilliant! From the outset though, I can tell that this is a frilly little fantasy with a blonde instant-ninja chick and I didn't want to waste money and time going to the cinema to see that. And I was right. However they had this dvd on sale and it was so cheap that I recon then that it would probably be worth it with that cheap a price so it got bought. Because I went into it with such low expectations, there wasn't much to disappoint, so I wasn't. Besides, for something that cheap, I can't really complain about value for money, now can I? For that price it can be considered good entertainment with all my expectations realized. Silly. Check. Non-believable fantasy. Check. Nonsense weird plot. Check. Sword-weilding, gun-toting pretty blonde. Check. Good entertainment filler in a pinch for fantasy fanatics who likes blondes with no other source of entertainment. That was the upside. The down side, and I guess was the contributing factor why I resisted watching it to begin with, was the movie's smexing schoolgirls. Look at Sweet Pea, for christ sakes!! It smacks too much of pedophilesm to me. WTF!! And that brought the rating of this movie down to the boots.

Empirical Evaluation: Cinematography = 4.5 Script/Story Itself = 1.5 Ending = 3 World building = 2 Attention To Detail = 2 Plot = 1.5 Acting = 4 Overall Rating: 2 out of 5 cherries