Book Review - Hell's Teeth

Did I pair my socks with the cover of James Fahy's Hell's Teeth?  Yes.  Yes, I did. :D  And I really rather like it!  Is that not an eerily gorgeous cover?  I usually hate models on covers because I want to imagine the characters myself, but I think this works.

Currently drinking: some really lovely hot cocoa, which I think Phoebe Harkness would appreciate. :)  I don't know that she would like that I gingered it up, though.  Recipe for my dark chocolate and ginger syrup is at the end of today's review.

Star Rating: 4.5/5
Genre: Paranormal, Science Fiction & Fantasy
Buy the book: Amazon

Fun fact: I don't like post-apocalyptic stories.  Maybe it's because I just came across a glut of them a few years back, or maybe a certain series - naming no games of hunger - put me off of them... -.-  << That's my unimpressed/annoyed face for anyone who doesn't know.  Anyhoodles, futuristic, yep, totally cool.  As soon as a book says, "There was the war, and it destroyed the whole world!" I'm kind of out.  Maybe it's all the woe and wailing and misery.  I dunno; still trying to figure out why I have such a distaste for anything that falls into that realm.  That being the case, ***teeny spoiler alert*** it speaks volumes for James Fahy's Hell's Teeth that I like it so much, because it takes place in, you guessed it, a post-apocalyptic society.  ***End spoiler alert.***

The list of what I liked about it is big.  Really big.  You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is.  Look at that, a segue into the first thing on the list: references!!!  Maybe it's just me, but I loved all the references the Phoebe, the main character and narrator, makes.  The best one IMHO?  Captain Kathryn Janeway, folks!  The oft-overlooked badass of this quadrant, the Delta Quadrant, or any other quadrant you wanna name!  Sorry, my Trekkie love got really strong just there.  I also liked, though I don't know if this one was intentional, the use of the surname Trevelyan, because that is the name of the human Inquisitor from one of my most favorite video games: Dragon Age Inquisition.  Right, so lots of fun references!  What's next?  The sass!  Phoebe has such a great voice in this book, full of sarcasm and dry wit.  She's so enjoyable to read.  After that comes the great turns of the book.  There's one in the first chapter, which I think works especially well if you read the description on Amazon, which is a pretty safe bet to take.  More than once whilst reading this book I was pleasantly surprised by a shift or trick in the plot, most of which left me thinking, "Oh...snap.  That's gonna suck."  *GRIN!*  Aren't we readers sadistic sometimes in how we enjoy a character's misery?  >:D  Here's something else interesting.  Fahy does something that I think is rare with a lot of books and only works sometimes, but he pulled it off really well.  Parts of this book read like a movie because the descriptions were so...visual.  The picture painted for us as readers is vibrant and powerful, and that pulled me along in the story, making it one of those tales that was effortless to read through and provided proper deep enjoyment.  Finally, Hell's Teeth does something else that I think fantasy and sci-fi stories can do in such a subtle but efficacious way.  People who are different from us are dangerous, a threat to what we hold dear is such a common mindset in our world, and I appreciate it when stories can provide an objective look at an issue like this and discuss both sides, which this one does.

Well, that was quite a lot of praise and truly well deserved, I think.  So why the half star deduction?  It's a little bit of a technical issue actually.  There's always going to be a typo or two in any book.  Finding one is a game I like to play, but I found a couple bigger ones in Hell's Teeth that I felt like really should have been caught by the editor or someone in the process*.  Yes, I know I sound like a teacher grading papers, but a few of them were actually distracting.

*For the record, I don't count comma use.  That is the wild west of the punctuation world.

All in all, I think it's pretty clear that I absolutely loved the experience of reading this book.  I've already bought the second one in the series, and I heard there's a third one coming out soon.  Eh?  *Waggles eyebrows*.  I'll be keeping an eye out for that one too.  Thanks for reading!

As promised, here's a fun new recipe!

Gingered Dark Chocolate Syrup
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/8 of a teaspoon salt
1/2 ounce ginger root, grated or sliced very thinly
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Drop all the ingredients except the vanilla extract into a small pot.  Stir occasionally and cook over medium heat until it starts to bubble.  This shouldn't take more than about five or ten minutes.  Make sure all the sugar is dissolved and then remove from the heat.  Let sit for fifteen to twenty minutes to allow the flavor of the ginger to really infuse into the syrup.  Then add vanilla extract and stir to combine.  You can strain the mixture now if you want, but I leave my ginger bits in so that they can continue to give off flavor.  You'll just have to either avoid or deal with ginger bits down the road if you do this.  You can then use the syrup to flavor your coffee, make hot chocolate, drizzle over ice cream, eat it off the spoon...hey, no judgement.  What you do with your syrup is your business.  And it can be stored in a glass jar in the fridge for a couple of weeks.  Enjoy!

Book Review - The Making of Gabriel Davenport

This is me all cuddled up at night in my blanket.  Night is the most exciting time to read this book, trust me.  Bonus points if there's a storm raging outside.

Star Rating: 5/5
Genre: Suspense, Supernatural Thriller
Buy the book: Amazon

There are lots of magical things about reading books.  A new one I've recently discovered is what it can reveal about ourselves as book buyers.  While reading The Making of Gabriel Davenport, I realized I have a fairly limited scope of book types that I buy and read.  Why?  Because of the way the Amazon recommendation algorithm works?  Because that's what I've always read and kind of fell into a pattern?  Who knows?  This book, though, I can tell is the first to start breaking me out of my pattern.  See, I've I've started buying and reading books from some of my fellow indie authors, focusing less on the genre and just diving in without overthinking it like I usually do or focusing on a specific sub-sub-genre.

Pro-tip for life: support one another, you guys, in whatever it is that you do.  When we support one another, we can all be stronger.

Beverly Lee was running a special on the Kindle version of this, her first book, on Amazon, so I figured I'd go ahead and grab it.

Let's talk about formulas for a second.  In the writing world, they definitely exist.  Whether or not that's a good thing is up for debate, but it is a reality.  I have read numerous writing advice articles that specifically say something along the lines of, "Start your book off with a bang!  If your beginning doesn't have some kind of action, move an action-y bit to the beginning to create a teaser and then proceed with your slower start."  I've seen this done, and I don't dislike it.  It's not a bad method.  What I do dislike is anyone saying there's only one way to do something well.  That's when things become boring and formulaic.

I cannot tell you how much I appreciate that Beverly Lee didn't do this.  Don't get me wrong, there are some delicious teases in the beginning, whispers of intrigue that made me go, "Whaaaaat is it?  Something...something bad is gonna happen."  It's a subtle hook that catches you without you realizing it.  Rather, she takes times to craft and establish her characters and, more than that, makes them sympathetic.  I found myself getting attached to each character very organically.  Little gestures between the characters tell tales about their relationship without, you know, outright telling you those little tales.  And this is so, so good because later on ***CENSORED FOR SPOILERS!!!***  Oopsie.  Guess you don't get to know unless you read the book. 0:-)

This book did that amazing, addict-making thing where I was slipping in reads between when I was supposed to be doing silly things like chores and responsibilities.  I needed to know what happened next.  Let me just say, there's more than moment where my eyes got real big and I just thought, "Oh, dang...this crap just got real." o.0

The second one is coming out soon, you guys, and available for preorder now.  I'm so excited because, once again, I need to know what happens!  Eek!!!  I fully recommend this one, folks.  No matter what your preferred genre is, this is a great one!