Boy's Life Review

From Goodreads

Boy's Life
by Robert McCammon
From Goodreads:

 Zephyr, Alabama, is an idyllic hometown for eleven-year-old Cory Mackenson — a place where monsters swim the river deep and friends are forever. Then, one cold spring morning, Cory and his father witness a car plunge into a lake — and a desperate rescue attempt brings his father face-to-face with a terrible vision of death that will haunt him forever.

As Cory struggles to understand his father's pain, his eyes are slowly opened to the forces of good and evil that are manifested in Zephyr. From an ancient, mystical woman who can hear the dead and bewitch the living, to a violent clan of moonshiners, Cory must confront the secrets that hide in the shadows of his hometown — for his father's sanity and his own life hang in the balance...

This tale of an 11-year-old's struggle between innocence and evil begins with the discovery of a gruesome murder and ends with the revelation that, even in Zephyr, Alabama, life is not safe and simple--and most things and people are not what they seem to be. "Recaptures the magic of being a child in a world of possibilities and promise. . . ."--Atlanta Journal Constitution.

My Thoughts:  This was an amazing read!  This is only my second McCammon book, but his writing just blows me away and I know that he'll have a place amongst my favorite authors of all time. A very, very special thanks to Midnyte Reader who not only got me this book, but got it signed by Robert McCammon himself!  And thanks to Stephen King, who recommended McCammon's book The Five last summer.  I love finding great authors by simply reading what you're favorite authors are reading.

Boy's Life is a coming of age story, but there is so much more involved!  The town of Zephyr still holds a bit of magic for young Cory and his friends, magic they desperately need as a year of bullies, outlaws, ghosts, water creatures, fallen ladies, death, racism, nose picking girl named Demon, nazis, neo-nazis, carnivals, amazing pitcher named Nemo, nightmares, visions and story telling. 

I know, it seems a lot for just one book, but McCammon weaves it all together seamlessly.

It's awful, because I already know that I am not going to do enough justice to this book.  I know that some of you are going to write this book off simply because McCammon's novels fall under the horror category.  But his writing is just amazing!  There were so many lines I was copying down in my little quote book, so many times the book had me laughing, or crying, or just plain scared and worried for Cory and his friends.  I really felt like I was part of the town of Zephyr, like maybe I was Cory's nosy neighbor. 

I was not expecting this book to be so filled with magic, but once I got into the book it became my favorite part.  Some of the magic simply came from a young boy's imagination.  A magic most people put away when they grow up.  But writers don't, and I don't think us rabid readers do either.  I think we still have the touch of magic that we had as kids, and books help us tap into it now and then.

Here's some of my favorite quotes from the book:

 “See, this is my opinion: we all start out knowing magic. We are born with whirlwinds, forest fires, and comets inside us. We are born able to sing to birds and read the clouds and see our destiny in grains of sand. But then we get the magic educated right out of our souls. We get it churched out, spanked out, washed out, and combed out. We get put on the straight and narrow and told to be responsible. Told to act our age. Told to grow up, for God's sake. And you know why we were told that? Because the people doing the telling were afraid of our wildness and youth, and because the magic we knew made them ashamed and sad of what they'd allowed to wither in themselves.”

 “I'd like to be everybody in the world' I said. 'I'd like to live a million times.'
'Well'--and here my father gave one of his sagely nods--'that would be a fine piece of magic, wouldn't it?”

“I had always wondered what Reverend Lovoy meant when he talked about "grace." I understood it now. It was being able to give up something that it broke your heart to lose, and be happy about it.”

  “Maybe crazy is what they call anybody who's got magic in them after they're no longer a child.”

Boy's Life is that kind of book.  It'll help you tap into the magic.

Boy's Life gets a Midnight Book Rating of:

**My copy of Boy's Life was gifted to me by the amazing Midnyte Reader, so all opinion, comment, and snark are completely my own.**

Anna Dressed In Blood Review

I'm currently away at BEA, so I thought I'd share some of my favorite reads so far this year that I haven't reviewed yet. 

Anna Dressed in Blood
by Kendare Blake
From Goodreads:

Just your average boy-meets-girl, girl-kills-people story...

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until his gruesome murder by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father’s mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn’t expect anything outside of the ordinary: move, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he’s never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, but now stained red and dripping blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

And she, for whatever reason, spares his life.

My Thoughts:  This is what happens when I have too many books on my tbr shelves!  It takes me forever to get to the books I was once super excited about reading.  Which is a shame, because this is not the first awesome book that's gathered some dust on my (in this case, Kindle's) shelf.  I really need to stop putting certain books off.  Maybe I need to rate my tbr books by what stars I think they'll get, and tackle them that way... Hmmm..

So I loved this book.  It was like the awesomeness of Supernatural with only one hot ghost hunter dude so that I don't have to pick which hot guy to crush on (although it would be Dean.  Which is how, despite how he's described as looking, I pictured Cas.  Don't judge me.). And here be ghosts!

I loved how obsessed Cas became with Anna before he even met her.  How her image stayed with him, always at the top of his thoughts even when he was hanging out with the beautiful Queen Bee Carmel Jones. 

This book reminded me of good times I've had with friends and family, telling ghost stories, and how much I wish we still gathered around the campfire or living room table to scare the snot out of each other.  Lots of people grow up and move away from ghost stories, but readers like me never let go.

I realize  from the title that I should have realized that Anna was going to be of the violent ghost persuasion, but I was a bit unprepared for how bad ass she was.  Less than a quarter of the way through the book, she put me in my place by ripping a wrestler dude in half.  I was both sickened and just a wee bit impressed.  Skills like that could come in handy. 

I think part of the reason it took me so long to read Anna Dressed in Blood was that maybe I was afraid it wouldn't live up to it's title.  That maybe because it was YA it'd be all watered down like watching a horror movie on Lifetime, all the actually scariness and blood edited out, but it's not.  Anna is as fierce as her title. 

Should you read this book?  Hells, yeah!

Should you send me a copy of second book ARC?  Yes, immediately.  :)

It's Quote Time!

They have rationalized their fears away.  People shouldn't do that.

I'm no superhero.  If anything I'm Rorschach from Watchmen.  I'm Grendel. I'm the survivor in Silent Hill.

God, living people are irritating.

Anna Dressed In Blood gets a Midnight Book Rating of:

The cover gets a Midnight Book Cover Rating of:

Nightfall Review

Nightfall
by Stephen Leather
From Goodreads:

‘You are going to Hell, Jack Nightingale.’ They are the words that ended Jack Nightingale’s career as a negotiator with the Metropolitan Police. But two years later, when Nightingale is a struggling Private Eye, the words come back to haunt him. Nightingale discovers that he was adopted at birth and that his real father, a confirmed Satanist, sold Nightingale’s soul to a demon from Hell. And on his thirty-third birthday – just weeks away – the demon is coming to claim its prize.

Nightfall is a fast-paced 105,000 words and is the first in a trilogy about the occult detective.

 My Thoughts: Oh, the joy of discovering an author I instantly know I'm going to love! And it was pretty much love at first chapter for me and Nightfall. This book had me at the summary (different from the one I found on Goodreads).  Inherits a mansion with a priceless library and a terrifying warning?  Yes, please.  I'll take two.

Nightfall is the first book in the Jack Nightingale series.  And like some of my other favorite Jack's (Jack Bauer from 24 and Captain Jack form Pirates of Carribean), Nightingale is a bit of an anti-hero.  He smokes... a lot.  Probably skip this book for now if you're trying to quit.  Normally this is kind of gross to me, because honestly how bad would he smell if he smoked that much, but it says something for my belief suspension that I was able to still find Jack attractive- it also shows that England has become as anti-smoking as America, useful information for when this non-smoking Midnight Girl finally finds herself across the pond.   I guess part of me just pictures most of Europe in a smoky haze and I always hoped that it was more socially acceptable to stumble around England and France drunk since that's the only time cigarette smoke doesn't bother me.

Jack's also a tormented soul, no pun intended.

When we first meet Jack he's a successful police negotiator, trying to talk a very young girl off her balcony.  Several horrible incidents later, and Jack quits the force and is now a private investigator.  He pays his bills, somewhat unsuccessfully, by tracking cheating spouses.  Fortunately Jack has Jenny, or a His Gal Friday, keeping him and his business afloat. Jenny is stunningly over-qualified for her job, but exactly what Jack needs.  Their relationship was definitely a favorite part of the book for me.

But the real story takes off when Jack learns that his birth father sold his soul to a devil (not the devil) and he begins to think that maybe it's true.  He inherits this gorgeous mansion with a huge, secret library in the basement- although the books aren't exactly the kind most of us would be anxious to read.  Well, I don't know about some of you, but the books and knick knacks are of the dark occult variety. And not the "light a white candle for purity of thought, or tie your hair in a lovers knot and slip it under the pillow of your attended sweetheart to make them love you " spell books (I just made all this shiz up, except the white candle, I think that might be from The Secret Circle series).  More like How to Summon Demons and The Proper Handling of Sacrificial Animals.

Jack's suddenly in a world where I kind of expected the Winchester brothers from Supernatural to show up and help him out.  Actually, I see potential for some fan fic here.

The whole book was a page turner for me, as the more Jack finds out the more danger those around him are exposed to.  Heck, danger is too meek of a word- mortal peril fits better.  I don't really consider this a horror novel, more like a supernatural thriller.  But then again, I don't find most Stephen King books to be true horror.  

I can't wait to read more books by Stephen Leather, my biggest problem is simply choosing what book I should read first, although I just purchased The Bestseller to read on my Kindle during Readathon (it's just a short novella). I though Nightfall was new, but it's just new to the US, so I'll definitely be able to get the second Nightingale book in June!

Nightfall gets a Midnight Book Rating of:

This was definitely a full on Midnight Read for me!

My review copy didn't have the final cover art, so I'm skipping the cover rating. 

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.