“People speak sometimes about the "bestial" cruelty of man, but that is terribly unjust and offensive to beasts, no animal could ever be so cruel as a man, so artfully, so artistically cruel.” - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche

“Beware the dark pool at the bottom of our hearts. In its icy, black depths dwell strange and twisted creatures it is best not to disturb.” ― Sue Grafton, I is for Innocent

“There are no heroes...in life, the monsters win.” George R.R. Martin had it right. In life, especially in these days and times, the monsters win. And in Thriller Award nominee for Best eBook Original Novel Huntress Moon, Alexandra Sokoloff draws the monsters in all their disturbing reality. The monsters are out there – living amongst us, drawing upon us, eating their victims, body and soul.

“Put just one of these monsters out of commission – the child sellers, the serial rapists, the mutilators, the torturers – lock just one of the breathing, crawling scum away for the rest of their miserable lives, and the entire balance of the world shifts. Who wouldn’t want a license to do it?"

Well, that is what Matt Roarke thought from the time he was nine years old. From the time he learned of the horrors that really exist in the world. For that is the day he learned of what happened to five-year-old Cara Lindstrom and her family. Miraculously, Cara survived the slaughter of her family – a slaughter carried out by “It”, by a “Monster”, not a man. But of course, who is going to listen to a brutally traumatized five-year-old?

Years later, when one of Roarke’s agents is killed in front of him in what appears to be an accident but Roarke knows is not, his attention is caught by what at first seems to be simply a witness. But in that moment, he knows she is something else, something ‘more’. And as his investigation grows, the story becomes something more than he expects. Something that will change his very soul.

While some found the story ‘slow’, and of course everyone is entitled to their opinion, I found the book had an almost dreamlike quality to portions of the story – a development of characters and locations which I found ‘rich’ rather than slow.  The book is very well researched and written, and beautifully paced. I don’t need to be spoon-fed story development – in fact, I am disappointed when my hand is held and I find myself with bib at throat in mystery and thriller stories. This was perfect.

"From the world of darkness I did loose demons and devils in the power of scorpions to torment." -- Charles Manson

In a twisted turn of fate, Cara is back in Matt’s life – and the monsters, ah the monsters – human traffickers, drug lords, the darkness abounds. But hope and possibilities intermingle with the dark. And I can hardly wait to read more. The next is Blood Moon – and I am so excited to start it right away!

I received this book from the publisher in exchange for a realistic review. More than a five star read – if you are interested in FBI based thrillers, I highly recommend the series. If you enjoy my reviews, please leave a “Yes” at Amazon.com – it helps me help authors! Thank you.

"A short story from New York Times bestselling author, Neil Gaiman. Plus an excerpt from his new novel, The Ocean at the End of the Lane."

It is quite a quick read talking about a boy trying to interact with girls in a random party that he and his friend goes to. I quite enjoyed it, I love Neil Gaiman's writing style and it had quite a few quotable moments, but I though it was a little to short, and also it ended in quite an open ending, which in this case I didn't enjoyed that much.

This short story is exactly what the title says it's about: talking to girls at a party. What sets it apart from other how-to-pick-up-girls guides is it doesn't show how to pick up girls because it's actually a story, and the girls are not like other girls. And by that, I don't mean they're not like other girls (click for further explanation).

As far as Gaiman short stories go, I like this one about as much as the others. It's funny, smart, and unusual, like its forerunners. What's different here is its purposefully stumbling awkward humor.

The year is 1970-something and the place is somewhere in the UK. Vic and Enn are two teenage boys experiencing a teenage rite of passage; they're invited to a party and they're determined to interact with girls. However, Enn is inexperienced and has no idea what to expect. So naturally he comes off as awkward and self-conscious (and hilarious but in that secondhand embarrassment kind of way). Vic, on the other hand, is a bit more of a smooth operator.

The girls are portrayed as exchange students, and the boys don't doubt that for a minute because, like it's been established, they're inexperienced, but we, as more experienced worldly readers, know better. We pick up on the nuances and various moments between Enn and Vic and the girls that don't seem quite right because they're more awkward than the usual teenage awkwardness.

Half of the fun of this story is in the boys trying to figure out how to talk to these girls all the while figuring out they're not like other girls. Literally.

As I look through my books read in 2013, I realize I had a better year than I thought. 

Here are the stats:
159 Books Read
68 Re-read Books
91 New-to-me Books

Of those 91 new-to-me books, there were:
15 Five-Star Books
33 Four-Star Books
21 Three-Star Books
4 Two-Star Books
18 One-Star Books (12 of which were DNFs)

Though re-reads made up the bulk of my true enjoyment this year, I still had 69 new-to-me books that I, at least, liked. 

Some of these books stand out more at the end of this year than others - so regardless of their rating at the time I reviewed them, I'm going to highlight those that are most memorable to me for being fantastic. These are in no particular order.

Disclaimer: Books attached to this post are a random sampling from my full blog post