Jelinas Reviews Cannonball #3: An Ode to My Hometown
I've lived in Long Beach for over thirty years, and I love my hometown. It's not easy for a town to gain international recognition when it's living in the shadow of a major metropolitan city, but Long Beach has done just that. Long Beach is scrappy. I read D.J. Waldie's … [Read more]
Didn’t I See That Twist in a Goosebumps Book Once?
I'm not completely clear on the timeline between these books. I'm not sure it's worth trying to track, but I can't help myself. This book doesn't open with a narration from a murderer, either, so maybe I was wrong to expect it to be a standard for these books. This one is told in first person, … [Read more]
's CBR6 Review No:4 ·
Genres: Horror, Young Adult ·
Tags: Fear Street, horror, R.L. Stine, thriller, TyburnBlossom's Year of Fear Street Books, YA ·
On Sequilitis, Nymphomaniacal Faeries, and Leveling Up
I'm not exactly reporting breaking news when I say that sequels are tricky. Finding the balance between giving people what they liked from the first book and adding enough to justify a second book is one of the more difficult challenges an author faces. Which brings me to The Wise Man's Fear, the … [Read more]
“It’s not me but the world that’s deranged.”
Where do I even begin to describe a book like 1Q84? This was my first Murakami novel, and though I felt, at times, that certain minutiae for which he is apparently infamous (food preparation, repetitive dialogue and re-iteration of expository detail) contributed unnecessary padding to the 1157 … [Read more]
Live or Die, It’s Your Choice
First, I have to say how EXCITED I was to realize that this was a choose-your-own adventure story! They didn't have these when I was a kid, but I remember reading them with my son in the 90s when he was small. I really liked the premise of choosing how the story would go, rather than just what the … [Read more]