Book Review: Running Blind by Nicki J. Markus

Review: Running Blind
Series: Time Keepers – Part 1
Author: Nicki J. Markus
No of Pages: 10
Release Date: 4 March 2011

It seems like any ordinary day as Nick waits for the train, but then a chance encounter with a young woman turns his world upside down. What is it that she is running from and will helping her jeopardise his own secret, making him a target too?

My Thoughts:

Running Blind is one of the best short stories I have read in a long time.

Nick is minding his business on the train when he sees a girl running for the ready-to-close doors. His gut instinct is to help her get on the train, so he helps her, and then he sees the policemen running after her.

Running Blind is a fantastic quick read, and one of the most well-written short stories I have read in far too long a time. As with all short stories Running Blind gathered its steam from action and a bit of suspense, there was no time for back ground, no time for character or relationship development, just the in the moment spontaneity that comes with the territory.

And boy did Markus pull that off. She didn’t waste time with needless descriptions but still added enough detail to the story to create a fantastic fast-paced picture. The only thing that left me wanting was for a little bit more suspense, but with the cliff-hanger ending she left us with my mind is reeling from the possibilities of what could come next.

I am more astounded than anything that Running Blind was just so incredibly well-written. Writing an interesting, engaging short story seems to be so hard for some people to achieve but Markus’ writing was absolutely superb and I can't wait for Part Two.

Others in this Series:
The Beast Within

Book Review: Jump by Jen Wylie

Review: Jump
Author: Jen Wylie
No of Pages: 16
Release Date: 15 December 2010

Perhaps it would depend on who was doing the asking. Our heroine has spunk and a sense of humor, however suffers from an extreme case of inappropriate clothing. When things take a turn from dangerous to worse what will she do when fantasy becomes reality? Warning: May include hot leather clad men, singing and demons.

My Thoughts:

Jump was a quick fast paced read. Like all short stories it doesn’t really give you time to connect with the characters so you are riding through the action.

We open on a young woman being forced at knife point to jump off a pit into swirling darkness. Obviously she doesn’t want to do it but as she can feel the blood running down her back - she doesn’t feel that she has much of a choice.

Our heroine reads a lot of fantasy novels that place their women in exactly these kinds of situations. As she compares the similarities she comes to terms with the fact that this is reality and her muscled hero isn’t coming to save her...until more than one shows up.

Jump had all the right elements, but it lacked staying power. The ending was a little too convenient for me and the action or suspense that it could have produced just wasn’t there. It was like reading through a haze and not really being able to see the picture trying to be painted.

Jump had a really good premise and our heroine had some extremely witty comebacks towards the end but it left me wanting a little bit extra.

Book Review: Lucifer's Daughter by Eve Langlais

Review: Lucifer’s Daughter
Series: Lucifer’s Daughter – Book 1
Author: Eve Langlais
No of Pages: 79
Release Date: 9 August 2010

Hi, I’m Muriel, the only white sheep in a sea of black ones, and a virgin to boot. I am determined to wait for love, but my dad, more commonly known as Lucifer, just wants me to stop being an embarrassment. I’m hoping the hunk that I met in my bar will turn out to be the one–just looking at him makes my insides melt like marshmallows over the coals of hell, but trusting is hard when it seems everyone I get close to ends up trying to kill me.

Not only am I dealing with an extreme case of lust, there’s a new threat in hell, one my dad says to ignore. Something easier said than done since it seems everywhere I turn demons are trying to kill me. But I’m okay with that, because one thing I’ve learned being a princess of hell is that sometimes I have to grab a demon by the horns and slap it around a bit.

A rebellion in hell, demon assassins and scorching kisses, could my life get any more interesting?

My Thoughts:
I absolutely loved Lucifer’s Daughter, although the dialogue was hard to get around at times.

Muriel is the virgin daughter of Satan who runs her own bar and has a few special powers under her belt. When three good looking strangers walk in one night, you can just tell trouble isn’t far behind and sure enough those three and especially one in particular worm their way into her life.

Muriel was absolutely hilarious and definitely one of my favourite characters this year. She is sassy, smart and had hell hounds for pets when she was growing up. Muriel also has some powers thanks to being the spawn of Satan, her powers were only lightly brushed over in Lucifer’s Daughter but I love how she has to “charge up” so to speak, by having sex.

Auric I really didn’t like because he refused to tell Muriel anything about himself. He was completely dishonest with her in the beginning and always dodged answering her questions about where he was from. Sure it was obvious why he had to do so towards the end of the story but it still made me dislike him as a character for being so evasive. His hotness factor only partially made up for the lies personally I preferred his werewolf friend.

Although this was a shorter story and Muriel was the main character so many funny characters were also packed into Lucifer’s Daughter which I absolutely loved. Bambi the super-slag was Muriel’s succubus sister, Satan was hilarious as a father and his best friend Death cropped up from time to time to drink at Muriel’s bar and complain about how his son wasn’t very good at the family business.

The only thing that really takes away from Lucifer’s Daughter – aside from Auric's dishonesty – is the dialogue. It was extremely forced and awkward to read almost like a really bad old time sitcom, there wasn’t much that didn’t sound like an overused cliché or just abnormal to say.

Things like when Satan says: “I think I’ll have to go ask my brother, God, if he’s heard anything about this.”

Aside from the dialogue Lucifer’s Daughter had me laughing out loud at the hilarity of the situations Muriel was put in and really had me asking what was so bad about going to hell anyway especially if I can get with Auric’s werewolf friend the way Muriel and Auric got together.

Also in this Series:
Snowballs in Hell

Book Review: The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer

Review: The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner
Series: Twilight Saga – Novella
Author: Stephenie Meyer
No of Pages: 178
Release Date: 5 June 2010

Fans of The Twilight Saga will be enthralled by this riveting story of Bree Tanner, a character first introduced in Eclipse, and the darker side of the newborn vampire world she inhabits.

Bree Tanner can barely remember life before she had uncannily powerful senses, superhuman reflexes and unstoppable physical strength. Life before she had a relentless thirst for blood... life before she became a vampire.

All Bree knows is that living with her fellow newborns has few certainties and even fewer rules: watch your back, don't draw attention to yourself and, above all, make it home by sunrise or die. What she doesn't know: her time as an immortal is quickly running out.

Then Bree finds an unexpected friend in Diego, a newborn just as curious as Bree about their mysterious creator, whom they know only as "her". As they come to realize that the newborns are pawns in a game larger than anything they could have imagined, Bree and Diego must choose sides and decide whom to trust. But when everything you know about vampires is based on a lie, how do you find the truth?

In another irresistible combination of danger, mystery, and romance, Stephenie Meyer tells the devastating story of Bree and the newborn army as they prepare to close in on Bella Swan and the Cullen’s, following their encounter to its unforgettable conclusion.

My Thoughts:

Seeing through the eyes of someone other than Bella was definitely refreshing, but there were still traces of complete and utter stupidity on a woman’s part.

Bree Tanner as we all know dies in Eclipse. This book follows her second life of vampirism before her demise. Bree as a character is quite interesting. She was a runaway before she became a vampire so already had some survival techniques. When she became a vampire she quickly learned to stay out of the way if she wanted to live. She learns to keep a low profile behind Freaky Fred who has some sort of special power making it hard to look at him.

Bree lives in a large nest of very young, very violent vampires. Their leader Riley doesn’t have much control over them, only by way of scare tactics. They believe they are true vampires, burning in the sun, can’t go into holy places type vampires. On a late night hunt with her group Bree and one other know they won’t make it back in time for sun up, so they hide in a cave.

Bree and Diego get talking about their new lives and soon discover that they aren’t as vulnerable as first thought. After an accidental brush with the sun Bree and Diego start questioning if Riley knew all along that it didn’t affect them, and if he did, what else was he lying about.

After some detective work they realise they are part of an army going to take down “the yellow-eyes” a nasty, dangerous coven who keeps a pet human. It becomes a game of whoever kills the human wins.

Bree for being a smart and likeable character seems to have a dramatic change in her intelligence in the final pages of the story. Instead of thinking logically about why Diego has gone missing after talking to Riley, she heads off into battle to save him. A boy. She met four days ago and has had two conversations with. Sound familiar?

After an awesome beginning we fell back into the same old world of Twilight in which a girl who has just met someone who is potentially dangerous, risks her life to save him because she doesn’t want to live without him.

Uh-huh.

Lovely start, cop-out for an ending, but definitely a likable character. Anyone who has read Twilight will want to read this as it shines a normal light onto the world of vampires, well, as normal as you get where Glitter Pixies are concerned.

Let's Laugh: The best short joke in the world

I get a lot of jokes from work, providing that they are not too rude, I will post a couple here every once in a while.

A 3-year-old boy examined his testicles while taking a bath.
'Mom', he asked, 'Are these my brains?'
'Not yet,' she replied.