[ARC REVIEW] Snack Attack! by Terry Border (@PhilomelBooks)

Title:  Snack Attack!

Author:  Terry Border

Genre:  Children's / Food / Humor / Horror

Year Published: 2019

Year Read:  2019

Publisher: Philomel Books  

Source:  eARC (Edelweiss)

Content Rating:  Ages 5+ (Some Scary Images)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository

I would like to thank Edelweiss and Philomel Books for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Now, I had read a few children’s books that dealt with talking food and how they view human beings.  However, “Snack Attack!” by Terry Border was an extremely unique case where we actually get to see how the food items fear the human beings due to them being eaten by them.  “Snack Attack!” is definitely one book about food that children will definitely get a laugh out of!

The food items Cookie, Pretzel and Cheese Doodle had heard tales about Monster Kids who would come up and eat the food items for snacks.  But these three food items decided to come out of their packages and play around in the kitchen.  But unfortunately, the three food items stumbled upon a note from the Monster Kid’s mother that states that when her child comes back home, he or she can eat some of the snacks when they come home.  It was then that Cookie, Pretzel and Cheese Doodle have to come up with a plan to save themselves from the Monster Kid.

Can the food items escape their gruesome fate?

Read this book to find out!

Wow! Terry Border’s writing and artwork was quite creative and hilarious to look at!  I loved the way that Terry Border made the story both hilarious and intense at the same time as I was laughing along with the food items’ antics while being scared for their survival against the Monster Kid.  I also loved the concept about what would happen if food items become sentient and we get to see from their perspective about how they feel about being eaten by human beings (which is terrifying)!  Terry Border’s artwork was also highly creative as he uses realistic photographs of various food items and kitchen materials, while drawing some slight cartoonish expressions on the food items’ faces to give them some personalities.

Parents should know that there are some scary images in this book that might frighten smaller children.  There are some images that portray what the monster kid would look like from the food items’ point of view and the Monster Kid is often drawn as a terrifying blue creature with a long tongue that slurps up the food items.  Parents might want to read this book first before reading it to their children to see if this book would be okay for them.

Overall, “Snack Attack!” is a truly creative and entertaining book that children who love reading about food in general will definitely enjoy!  I would recommend this book for children ages five and up since there are some scary images that might frighten small children.

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• My Little Sister Ate One Hare by Bill Grossman

• A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon

• Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich by Adam Rex

[BOOK REVIEW] Shadow of the Fox by Julie Kagawa

Title:  Shadow of the Fox

Authors:  Julie Kagawa

Genre:  Paranormal Romance

Year Published: 2018

Number of Pages: 409 pages 

Date Read: 5/11/2019 

Series: Shadow of the Fox #1 

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Source:  Purchased

Content Rating:  Ages 16+ (Some Strong Language and Gory Violence)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository

“It is very hard to be human, little fox. Even the humans themselves don’t do a great job of it.” 

I had never read any of Julie Kagawa’s books before, even though I had heard about her famous “Iron Fey” series.  So, when Owlcrate sent me a copy of her newest book “Shadow of the Fox,” I just knew that I had to check this book out and man, was this one of the best books that I had ever read this year!

Many years ago, a Kami Dragon was summoned to grant one wish and the land of Iwagoto was changed for the worst.  Since then, many people tried to find the Scroll of a Thousand Prayers in order to have their wishes granted.  In the isolated Silent Winds temple, there lived a half kitsune, half human girl named Yumeko, who has been living with the monks at that temple for all her life.  Even though Yumeko would use her powers to play tricks on the monks, the monks would constantly warn her to not use her powers too often or terrible things will happen to her.

Life was peaceful for Yumeko, until one tragic day, her temple was attacked by an oni and his group of demons and all of the monks at the temple had died from the attack.  It turns out that the oni was searching for a piece of the Scroll of a Thousand Prayers and one of the monks had entrusted Yumeko with a piece of the scroll.  The monk then tells Yumeko to take the scroll to the Steel Feather Temple so that they could protect the scroll.  Things get complicated for Yumeko when she ends up meeting a mysterious and cold-hearted samurai named Kage Tatsumi, who is also looking for the missing scroll and will kill anyone who gets in his way.  So, in order to save her own life and make it to the Steel Feather Temple, Yumeko ends up lying to Tatsumi about her true identity and about the fact that she does not have the scroll, even though she actually does.  As Yumeko and Tatsumi pair up with each other, they will soon realize that an evil force is coming after them, as that force also wants to take the scroll from Yumeko.

Wow…just wow… I never would have thought that I would have fallen in love with this book the way that I did!  This was the first book that I had read by Julie Kagawa and it was definitely worth the read!  Julie Kagawa did a fantastic job at exploring the Japanese mythology in this book as she introduces creatures like the yokai and the oni, which are commonly found in Japanese folklore.  I also loved the fact that this book reads like an anime, since I love watching anime!  There are many action sequences in this book and this book reminded me a bit of the anime shows “Yona of the Dawn” (which features a group of people protecting the protagonist) and “Inuyasha” (with the use of demons in the story).  I also loved the way that Julie Kagawa wrote each character in this book, with my favorite characters being Yumeko, Tatsumi and the ronin Okame.  Yumeko was such a cute and endearing character as she is shown as being innocent throughout the story and yet, she is also brave and determined enough to complete her mission in getting the scroll into safe hands.  Tatsumi was a really interesting character as he acts cold towards most people, but when you realize that it is because he is trying to keep a demon inside him at bay, you really start to sympathize with him throughout the story.  Okame was one of my all-time favorite characters as he brings in so much humor to the story and I love his “I do not care about what other people think about me” attitude as it made me root for him throughout the story!  I also liked Tatsumi and Yumeko’s relationship with each other as Yumeko tries to bring out the best in Tatsumi.  But since we know that a demon is inside Tatsumi, I must admit that there were times where I got a bit worried about whether or not Tatsumi might hurt Yumeko because of the demon inside of him.

For anyone who does not like gory violence, there is a lot of gory violence in this book, especially with numerous scenes of people getting cut in half or getting ripped apart.  Also, the fact that the main characters are living in a world where their lives are constantly in danger might unsettle some people who are not used to violence or monsters.

Overall, “Shadow of the Fox” is a fantastic book to read if you love Japanese mythology and action-packed stories!  Man, I really want to pick up the second book “Soul of the Sword” soon, because that ending was murder and I really want to know what will happen to the characters next!

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• Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

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[BOOK REVIEW] Chilling Adventures of Sabrina: The Crucible Volume 1 by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa

Title:  Chilling Adventures of Sabrina: The Crucible Volume 1

Author:  Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa  

Artist:  Robert Hack 

Genre:  Horror / Drama / Romance / Witches / Family

Year Published: 2016

Year Read:  10/31/2018

Publisher:  Archie Comics

Series: Chilling Adventures of Sabrina #1

Source:  Purchased

Content Rating:  Ages 15+ (Scary Content and Some Language)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

Introduction:

After reading “Afterlife with Archie,” I was definitely looking forward to reading “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” and see how this compares to the “Afterlife with Archie” series. I also wanted to read this graphic novel because I wanted to read it before I watch the new Netflix series “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina!”  Written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, the same writer of the “Afterlife with Archie” series, along with artwork by Robert Hack, “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Volume One: The Crucible” is definitely worth the read!

What is this story about?

Sabrina Spellman is not your average teenage girl.  She is actually a half witch (her father was a warlock who married a mortal woman).  According to her aunts Zelda and Hilda, Sabrina has to be baptized on her sixteenth birthday in order to become one of the Devil’s handmaidens.  But, there are a couple of things that will complicate Sabrina’s demonic ceremony.  One of them is her love for a mortal teenage boy named Harvey Kinkle, as she cannot tell him that she is really a witch and that she will be celebrating a forbidden ceremony for witches. Another one is that an enemy named Madam Satan is going after Sabrina and is doing everything in her power to make Sabrina’s life miserable, due to Sabrina’s father choosing a mortal woman over her.  With her sixteenth birthday fast approaching, Sabrina must decide about what she really wants in her life and what she is willing to sacrifice to get the life she really wants.

What I loved about this story:

Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa’s writing:  Wow!  Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa has done it again with his stellar writing on the darker retellings of the characters from the Archie Comics!  When it comes to darker retellings of the characters from the Archie Comics, I believe that Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa is probably the best suited at writing these characters due to making the characters so intriguing!  I am also usually shocked at how dark Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa can make these characters as I would not believe that these characters from the Archie Comics would do such heinous crimes, if it was not for the fact that these are darker retellings of the characters.  I also really liked the dark and mysterious atmosphere of this story as the witches are shown in a much more menacing and frightening light here than with what you would see in the regular “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” series.  The fact that Satan is the being that the witches worship makes this story even darker in tone.  I also liked the way that Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa made the story extremely emotional, especially for Sabrina since I really wanted to see Sabrina and Harvey stay together through all the terrifying events going on in this volume.

Robert Hack’s artwork:  Robert Hack’s artwork was just so gorgeous and frightening to look at!  I loved the way that Robert Hack made all the characters look extremely realistic, especially with their facial expressions.  I also loved how detailed the images can be during scenes of horror and violence and I found myself cringing a bit at some of the artwork because of how realistic they looked.

What made me feel uncomfortable about this story:

For anyone who does not like scary content, this volume has a surprising number of terrifying moments such as a witch ripping off the face off a person or a satanic ritual with the witches. 

Final Thoughts:

Overall, “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Volume One: The Crucible” is a truly fantastic graphic novel that manages to make a darker retelling of “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” worth the read!

You might also like:

• Archie Volume 1: The New Riverdale by Mark Waid

• Jughead Volume 2 by Chip Zdarsky and Ryan North
• Afterlife with Archie: Escape from Riverdale Volume 1 by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa

[ARC REVIEW] Immortal Flame by Jillian David (@JillianDavid13 , @Crimson_Romance)

Title:  Immortal Flame

Author:  Jillian David

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Year Published: 2015

Number of Pages:  136 pages

Date Read: 4/7/2018

Series: Hell to Pay #1

Publisher:  Crimson Romance

Source:  eARC (Reading Alley)

Content Rating:  Ages 18+ (Gory Violence and Sex Scenes)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository

I would like to thank Reading Alley and Crimson Romance for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I have a bit of a confession to make:  I actually had this pretty little ARC on my shelf since 2016 and I still had not read it…until now!  After I finished reading “Immortal Flame” by Jillian David, I was seriously whacking myself in the head for not reading this ARC much sooner!  “Immortal Flame” was a truly fantastic paranormal romance read that made me want to read more from this series!

Peter Blackstone is an unusual person because even though he served as a veteran in World War II, he still looks extremely young for being a vet from World War II.  That is because in 1945, when Peter’s wife Claire was dying of a deadly sickness, Peter traded his soul to the devil, Jerahmeel in order to save Claire’s life.  But, in trading his soul, Peter is now a hired killer for the devil and he must go out and kill every bad person in the world so that way Jerahmeel would be able to feed on the souls of the people killed in order to survive.  At the same time, a young doctor named Allison La Croix seems to possess the ability to be able to see people’s deaths when she touches a person, which causes her so much turmoil since she wanted to live a normal life for once.  One day however, Peter ends up getting into a car accident and when he is taken to the hospital to tend to his wounds, Allison stumbles upon him and when she touched Peter, she starts seeing images of death that overwhelms her to near insanity.  It was then that Peter discovered about Allison’s powers and he tries to help Allison control her powers so she will not see people’s deaths too often every time she touches someone.  Unfortunately, Jerahmeel starts seeing that Peter and Allison are developing a close relationship with each other and he decides to send out one of his minions to kill Allison so Peter will never back out of his contract.  Now, Peter and Allsion will have to avoid Jerahmeel’s minion in order to not only survive but to save their love for each other in the process!

Wow!  I was quite impressed with this book! Jillian David’s writing was quite entertaining and sexy as heck as I found myself reading through this book rather quickly due to waiting with anticipation at how Allison and Peter’s love will survive Jerahmeel’s attempts to separate them!  I loved the way that Jillian David created this creative world as I was intrigued by the fact that the devil is apart of this world and it brings a sense of danger to this world as the characters have to watch their backs whenever the devil gets HUNGRY. I also loved the way that Jillian David wrote both Allison and Peter as I find their relationship to be quite realistic and at times tragic due to the state of their situations.  I actually felt bad for both Allison and Peter as they both wanted to live normal lives, but their powers make things difficult for them and I was wishing throughout the whole story that they both get their happily ever after.  I really loved Peter’s character as he is shown to be quite courageous, caring, strong and SEXY and I loved the fact that he is willing to put his life on the line if it means protecting Allison at all costs.  I also loved Allison herself as despite her fearing her powers, she is shown to be just as caring as Peter as she also tries to protect her loved ones from her powers and from any evil force that might befall her.  And the sex scenes are full of PURE SIZZLE that I was fanning myself every time a sex scene comes up between Allison and Peter!

For anyone who does not like gory violence or sex scenes, there are some explicit sex scenes that readers can skim over if they do not like reading sex scenes.  Also, the gory violence in this novel are a bit graphic and even disturbing as I found myself cringing a bit at how gruesome the violence towards certain characters were.  Also, and this is a bit of a small nitpick, but I wished that Allison would have done more in this novel than just worry about her future and fearing her powers as I wanted to see her actually fight against the bad guys using her powers.  Oh well, maybe we will see some of that in the later novels!

Overall, “Immortal Flame” is TRULY one paranormal romance that every paranormal romance fan should definitely check out! And, after I found out that this was apart of a series, I was SQUEALING with delight when I found out that there was a second book in the series that features Dante, which I got to pick up as soon as possible!!!

 You might also like:

• Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

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[BOOK REVIEW] A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

Title:  A Monster Calls

Author:  Patrick Ness

Artist: Jim Kay

Genre:  Fantasy / Horror / Drama

Year Published: 2011

Number of Pages: 205 pages 

Date Read: 2/23/2018

Publisher: Candlewick Press

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 12+ (Some Disturbing Imagery and Language)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository

“You do not write your life with words...You write it with actions. What you think is not important. It is only important what you do.” 

Alright, I had actually been hearing about Patrick Ness’ hit book “A Monster Calls” for many years and I have been trying to read it ever since, but I never had the time to!  Now, I finally got the chance to read this book (especially after the movie has been released) and oh man, you will be both shocked and crying after you get through with this unique gem!

The story starts off with a young boy named Conor O’Malley, who was suffering from an intense nightmare where he was engulfed in darkness and he was holding onto the hands of someone he cares about, except that he accidentally let the person’s hand go and the person ends up falling to their death.  The nightmares started when Conor’s mother ended up getting cancer and she has to go through numerous treatments to treat her cancer.  Unfortunately, the treatments were not working well and the worse Conor’s mother’s condition got, the more Conor pushed away everyone who is trying to help him through this, including his divorced father and his former best friend Lily.  It was then that Conor subconsciously called upon a monster to help him through this ordeal and in order to help out Conor, the monster tells Conor that he will tell three stories and that Conor must tell the fourth story himself.  However, the monster warns Conor that telling the fourth story will not be easy as it will cause lots of pain for Conor.

Will Conor tell the fourth tale and will his mother survive her cancer?

Read this book to find out!

Wow…just wow…How could I wait this long to read this unique gem!?  Patrick Ness has done a spectacular job at writing this book as the narrative is both emotional and intense to read through and I was sitting on the edge of my seat trying to figure out what the monster’s motives are and whether or not Conor’s mother will survive her cancer.  I liked the fact that Patrick Ness wrote this story in dedication to Siobhan Dowd, who had died from cancer herself before she was able to complete this story and I really enjoyed the twists and turns that Patrick Ness spin into this tale as it made the narrative extremely unpredictable at times and that is what has gotten me so interested in this story!  I have also noticed some parallels with this story and Joe Kelly’s fantastic graphic novel “I Kill Giants” where both protagonists have to deal with their parents being ill and how their insecurities about their parents’ conditions take on monstrous forms.  Jim Kay’s artwork is probably what sold this book to me as they were truly frightening to look at and I just loved the way that everything is done in shadows as it gives the story a truly mysterious feel.  I also loved the images of the monster itself as it truly looked like what I expected a yew tree monster to look like and the images where it looms over Conor are truly terrifying!

For anyone who does not like disturbing imagery, there are some images in this book that are truly frightening, especially the images of the monster itself.  Also, there is some language in this book, although it is not that strong, with only a few mutters of the “h” word being said.

Overall, “A Monster Calls” is truly intense yet beautiful tale about accepting the harsh realities of life that every fantasy and horror fan should definitely check out!  Of course, be forewarned about the ending…it will make you cry a thousand times over before you finished this book!

* 2011 Galaxy British Book Awards for Children's Book of the Year

* 2011 Bram Stoker Award Nominee for Best Young Adult Novel

* 2011 The Kitschies for Red Tentacle (Novel)

* 2011 Galaxy National Book Award for Children's Book of the Year

* 2011 Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Middle Grade & Children's

* 2011 Los Angeles Times Book Prize Nominee for Young Adult Literature

* 2012 Kate Greenaway Medal

* 2012 Red House Children's Book Award

* 2012 The Inky Awards Shortlist for Silver Inky

* 2012 Carnegie Medal

* 2012 The Inky Awards Nominee for Silver Inky

* 2012 Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis for Preis der Jugendjury & Nominierung Kategorie Kinderbuch

* 2012 Prix Elbakin.net for Meilleur roman fantasy traduit Jeunesse

* 2013 Prix Imaginales for Jeunesse

* 2013 Grampian Children's Book Award Nominee

* 2014 Gouden Lijst for vertaald boek

* 2015 Lincoln Award Nominee

You might also like: 

• I Kill Giants by Joe Kelly

• The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

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