[ARC REVIEW] The Comic by G. Hingorani

 

Title:  The Comic

Author:  G. Hingorani

Genre:  Romance / Drama / Humor

Year Published: 2024

Number of Pages: 87 pages

Date Read: 4/14/2024

Publisher:   G. Hingorani

Source:   eARC (Publisher)

Content Rating:  Ages 16+ (Strong Language, Sexual Situations, Drug Use and themes of suicide)

Buy on:  Amazon 

I would like to thank the author G. Hingorani for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Wow…just wow…I am totally at a loss of words for this book…So, when I received a copy of the book “The Comic” by G. Hingorani, I was not expecting this book to suddenly have a massive shift in tone halfway through.

The book is about a famous comedian named Calvin “The Comic” Everswood and even though he puts on a funny façade whenever he is doing his stand-up gigs, he is secretly suffering in his life as he suffers from drug addiction and ended up pushing away all of his former friends.  Now, not only is Calvin dealing with his stand-up comedy shows, but he also tries to recover from his drug addiction, while trying to rekindle his relationship with his old friends.

Wow…just wow again…. When I started reading this book, I thought that this was going to be a humorous book about the life of a comedian.  Even though this book does have some humorous moments with Calvin’s stand-up act, the story suddenly becomes a tragedy once we are introduced to Calvin’s drug addiction and how it is ruining Calvin’s life.  G. Hingorani’s writing in this book is spectacular as it details the downward spiral of Calvin’s life, as he gets addicted to drugs and he ends up losing his friends because of it.  It really made this story extremely intense and sad to read through and I was always hoping for Calvin to try to turn his life around and become a better person.  I also like the fact that this book did a great job at detailing the dangers of drug addiction and how it can ruin your life.  I also loved the fact that G. Hingorani set up the book as a stage play as it made the book easier to read and it really made the story stand out to me.

This book does contain some strong and suggestive language that might be a bit uncomfortable for some people.

Overall, I really loved reading “The Comic!”  It is such a dark and sad book about the dangers of drug addiction that many people should definitely check out!

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• One Way Ticket to Earth by Daniele Vaccaro

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[BOOK REVIEW] One Way Ticket to Earth by Daniele Vaccaro (@DanieleAuthor)

 

Title:  One Way Ticket to Earth

Author:  Daniele Vaccaro

Genre: Science Fiction / Family / Drama

Year Published: 2023

Number of Pages: 25 pages

Date Read: 1/29/2024

Publisher: Daniele Vaccaro

Source:   eARC (Author)

Content Rating:  Ages 13+ (Discussions of Suicide)

Buy on:  Amazon 

I would like to thank author Daniele Vaccaro for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

So, I had received a copy of a short story from author Daniele Vaccaro and this book was called “One Way Ticket to Earth” and man, it was such an emotional and fantastic read!

The story starts off with a young boy named Max who ends up dying and his death ends up badly affecting his parents. But suddenly, Max ends up being reincarnated as an alien being named Sveern and he ends up on a faraway planet called Anturn.  During his time on the planet Anturn, Max longs to return back to Earth and go back to his parents, but the alien beings on the planet Anturn forbid him to return to Earth.

Can Max find his way back to Earth?

Find out in this emotional story!

Wow!  I was quite amazed by how unique and emotional this story was! Daniele Vaccaro does such a fantastic job at writing this story, as this story is full of emotional moments and some surprising twists!  I never would have thought that I would read a story that started off with parents grieving their child’s death and then, the second half of the story focuses on said child being reincarnated as an alien being who lives on another planet.  This is such an interesting and unique premise to the usual story line about the death of a child and how the parents struggled with their child’s death, except that in this case, said child is reincarnated as someone else.  I especially loved all the emotional moments throughout this story, especially the moments where Max’s parents are saddened by their child’s death as those moments hit me so hard since I lost a lot of loved ones over the years.  Also, seeing how Max is homesick for Earth and his struggles with being on a different planet are also emotional moments that can strike a chord with anyone who has to move away from their homes to a new place and are struggling with getting used to their new location, while missing their old homes.

Overall, “One Way Ticket to Earth” is a truly fantastic short story about dealing with the loss of a loved one and also trying to get used to a new home.  I would highly recommend this short story to anyone who wants to read a book about dealing with the loss of a loved one.

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[BOOK REVIEW] Newly Turns Up by Terry Carbary

 

Title:  Newly Turns Up

Author:  Terry Carbary

Artist: Rachel Phillips

Genre:  Children's / Animals / Farming / Friendship

Year Published: 2023

Date Read: 1/21/2024

Source:  eARC (Author)

Content Rating:  Ages 5+ (Nothing Objectionable)

Buy on:  Amazon 

I would like to thank author Terry Carbary for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

So, I had received a unique children’s book called “Newly Turns Up” by Terry Carbary and I was excited to check out this book!  And lo and behold, this children’s book was quite a treat to read through!

The story starts off with a mouse named Newly who owns a turnip farm and he started out eating nothing but turnips for most of his life.  But one day, Newly ends up going on a truck ride, but then he falls down a hillside and ends up dropping into a river.  Newly then ends up washing up on shore and it was then that he finds a town and he ends up making friends with the people of the town and he would soon discover a new opportunity for himself that would change his life forever.

“Newly Turns Up” was quite a unique and heartwarming story that I found myself really enjoying!  I loved the way that Terry Carbary wrote all of the characters in this story as all of the characters are extremely friendly and caring towards each other.  I especially loved the fact that the people of the town just openly accepted Newly and his turnip farm and it was great seeing Newly make a good life for himself in a new town.  I also loved reading about Newly’s farm life and seeing how he is able to do things on his farm, such as planting the turnips and creating bridges around his farm.

Overall, “Newly Turns Up” is a fantastic story about the importance of friendship and establishing a friendly community that many children will enjoy reading.  I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants to read about the farm life and learning how to establish a caring community.

 

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[ARC REVIEW] The Coyote by David B. Bond

 

Title:  The Coyote

Author:  David B. Bond

Genre: Mystery

Year Published: 2023

Number of Pages: 234 pages

Date Read: 11/11/2023

Publisher:   David B. Bond

Series: Young Detective Choo Murder Mystery #1

Source:   eARC (Publisher)

Content Rating:  Ages 16+ (Gory Violence)

Buy on:  Amazon 

I would like to thank Squeedeal for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

So, it has been a while since I last read a mystery novel and thankfully, author, David B. Bond, has given me an extremely intriguing mystery novel called “The Coyote” and man, was this such an interesting mystery novel to read!

The book starts off with a couple who were walking in the streets together when all of a sudden, the woman named Lana was murdered by a female passerby and Lana’s death ended up traumatizing her husband.  It was then that Lana’s husband decided to go on a murdering spree to avenge the death of his wife Lana and he ends up murdering any woman who has blonde hair.  This string of murders has attracted the attention of the police force and the police ended up hiring a young and capable detective named Choochai Sirisi, also known as Choo, and Detective Choo ends up spending most of the book trying to find out who has been murdering all of these innocent women.

David B. Bond has done a fantastic job at writing this book!  I loved the way that the characters are written, as each character are extremely interesting and I especially loved the main character Choochai Sirisi himself, as he is shown as being an intelligent and nice detective who tries his best to get the job done.  I also loved the fact that this story takes place in Thailand as I love reading books that take place in different countries and it was awesome seeing how the culture of Thailand is like.  Another thing that I loved about this book was just how exciting this book was.  David B. Bond has done a brilliant job at making the book both intense and exciting at the same time as we follow Choo’s determination in solving this murder case and trying not to get killed by the murderer.  I was literally sitting on the edge of my seat, hoping that Choo would not get killed by the murderer while he was solving the case.  I also loved the plot twist towards the end of this book as I did not see that coming and it really made the entire book even more enjoyable to read!

For anyone who does not like violent content, this book revolves around a murder and so, there are many graphic depictions of dead bodies, such as maggots crawling over the dead bodies, that might be a bit nauseating for some readers to handle.  Also, for me personally, I felt that the ending of this book was a bit rushed as there were some plot threads that were left hanging.  But, since this is the first book in the “Young Detective Choo Murder Mystery” series, it does make sense to leave some plot threads hanging in order to solve them in the next book.

Overall, “The Coyote” is a fantastic murder mystery that you should definitely read!  Even if the mention of dead bodies might be a bit much for some readers and the ending was a bit rushed, this murder mystery novel does a fantastic job at keeping readers entertained from beginning to end and it is definitely a murder mystery novel that is worth reading!

 

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[BOOK REVIEW] Pebbles and the Biggest Number by Joey Benun (@joeybenun)

 

Title:  Pebbles and the Biggest Number

Author:  Joey Benun

Artist: Laura Watson

Genre:  Children's / Animals / Numbers / Educational

Year Published: 2023

Date Read: 8/31/2023

Publisher: Joey Benun

Source:  Purchased

Content Rating:  Ages 5+ (Nothing Objectionable)

Buy on:  Amazon 

So, over the years, I have read many children’s books that teach children about how to count numbers.  But I rarely come across children’s books that teaches kids about what the highest numbers are and “Pebbles and the Biggest Number” is one such unique children’s book that teaches children about what the biggest numbers are!

Pebbles the Butterfly is on a mission to find out what the biggest number is and in order to search for the answer, Pebbles travels across the world and asks every animal he meets along the way.  Of course, Pebbles’ journey is a dangerous one as he has to escape earthquakes, avalanches and tsunamis! 

Can Pebbles find out what the biggest number is?

Read this book to find out!

Wow!  This book was so cute and educational for me!  Joey Benun has done a fantastic job at writing this story as we get to learn more about what some of the biggest numbers are such as, sextillion, septillion and octillion.  I never thought that such numbers like sextillion and octillion actually existed and I’ve been learning numbers since elementary school!  I had a lot of fun learning about what big numbers I haven’t heard about and I’m glad that there’s a children’s book out there that can educate children about what the biggest numbers in the world are!  Laura Watson’s artwork is extremely adorable to look at!  I loved the images of Pebbles the Butterfly himself as Pebbles looks adorable on each page!  I also loved how colorful and energetic the artwork looks, especially whenever Pebbles meets up with a different animal throughout the story and whenever Pebbles tries to avoid any dangerous situations such as being around an earthquake or a tsunami.

Overall, “Pebbles and the Biggest Number” is a truly cute and educational children’s book for kids who want to learn more about numbers, especially what the biggest numbers are.  I would recommend this book for children ages 5 and up since some of the detailed information featured in this book might be a bit confusing for smaller children.

*2023 Literary Titan Book Awards for Gold Award

*2023 Mom's Choice Awards for Gold Award

*2023 National Indie Excellence Awards for Children's Non-Fiction and Finalist for Picture Books: All-Ages

*2023 Purple Dragonfly Book Awards for Best Cover Design, Best Illustrations, Children's Nonfiction, Educational/Instructional, New Author: Nonfiction, Picture Books 6 & Older, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math)

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