I AM NOT YOUR FINAL GIRL by Claire C Holland

I Am Not Your Final Girl by Claire C. Holland

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I want to start by saying that I love the simplicity of this cover. It's as sharp as the poems inside, and captures the subject matter within perfectly.

I've been watching horror movies since I was very young, and have always been fascinated with the countless final girls I met along the way. They were always kind-hearted, clever and strong, never given the credit they deserved by other characters, and brave when it counted. I mean, they made it to the end, right?

This book of poetry captured the essence of these girls and women so well, I couldn't stop reading. Actually, I read this on my Paperwhite in one sitting.

Any book with such a powerful introduction is sure to hook me instantly. And when the poems are this good and gritty, it's a pleasure to read. Easy to get lost in the words while remembering the characters they relate to.

These characters might be from horror movies where madmen with masks stalk the shadows with a knife or a machete, or monsters in the darkness, but they're the ones with teeth and claws. Their struggles mirror our own, because every girl and every woman knows how cruel and judgemental this world can be. We've all suffered through violent words or actions, senseless abuse, sexist behaviour--sometimes unintentional, but so ingrained. And like our horror sisters, we're strong enough to fight until the very end because we refuse to give up or give in.

I LOVED this book. Every poem is amazing, captivating and the words cut like the sharpest blade. Plus, it's a great tribute to Final Girls.

I'm going to end this review with this awesome quote from Rosemary's poem:

"... it's not the Devil you need to worry about, but the devil you know."

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TIME TERROR by Christopher Pike

Time Terror by Christopher Pike

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

With a cover like that, of course I was interested in checking this out. And I didn't even care about not reading any of the books that came before. Fifteen of them! LOL.

Cindy, Sally, Adam, Watch and Bryce are friends who live in the creepy town of Spooksville. On the Friday night they decide to go to the movies to watch a scary movie, they find a strange contraption they decide to call the Time Toy. (Or is it the Time Terror?)

And when they use it, they end up travelling through time...

This book is such a short and easy read. It's also a lot of fun! I read it in one sitting. It reminds me of the adventure books I used to enjoy when I was a kid. It's spooky, has a cool group of kids, their town is weird, and they end up in the middle of a bunch of freaky situations.

I had heaps of fun reading this book, and hope to find more of them while thrifting. 😀

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THE FIREMAN by Joe Hill

The Fireman by Joe Hill

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a book I've been meaning to read for a while, and I'm really glad I finally did.

Harper is a school nurse when the world starts burning. A mysterious spore everyone calls Dragonscale starts infecting people and civilization slowly crumbles. After the schools are closed, she spends months trying to help the infected in a local hospital.

Until even that burns to the ground.

When she gets home, Harper discovers the dreaded condition has found her too. Being infected highlights how shitty her marriage really is, and leads her to a group of survivors who might be able to help her save the most important thing in her life. Or might end up being her damnation...

Wow. Seriously, wow.

What an awesome book!

I was intrigued as soon as I started. I liked Harper instantly, disliked her husband, and as soon as the Fireman entered the scene I couldn't wait to find out more about him.

The pacing in this book is great. While on one hand, it's a total slow burn (pardon the pun) because the end of the world comes gradually, when fire starts engulfing everything and everyone things move pretty swiftly.

It's a fast-paced story, yet nothing is rushed.

There are quite a few characters and they're all weird, wonderful and awful in their own way. But I liked that we see things unfold from Harper's third-person POV because she was a great narrator. She has quite a bit of conflict going on: a crazy ex, a new society to adapt to, an unborn baby to think about, and a man who intrigues her. There's a lot to unpack, but her kindness and determination to do the right thing never fades. No matter how bad it gets, she never sways.

Harper is one of many strong women in this book. Renée is awesome and brave. Allie is stubborn and brave.

This is quite a chunky book, but I couldn't put it down. I was hooked from the start and the tension kept me on the edge of my seat all the way through. The stakes kept getting higher and everyone goes through hell.

I liked that although the Fireman was quite skilled in his use of the Dragonscale, and totally mysterious, he's not a superhero. He's an average man and it takes time for him to recover. He was charming and funny and annoying all at once.

There's not a dull moment in this insane story.

The Fireman is an unpredictable and totally addictive story about the end of the world. It's an original and unique twist to the post-apocalyptic genre full of interesting characters that surprised me every step of the way.

It's unpredictable, surprising, full of adventure and is riveting until the very last word. And contains some really cool references to other books, music and pop culture.

Oh, I thought the hive-mind mentality commentary on social media, wrapped up in a great story was very clever, too. How the sense of belonging can deepen connections, but can also be corrupted. Actually, this doesn't just apply to social media. I've seen it happen in so many other situations. People are capable of destroying anything that's good. 😒

Well, there's only one last thing to say: I wonder how long the Dire Straits Romeo and Juliet song is going to be playing inside my head...?

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THE BRILLIANT DR WOGAN by RA Montgomery

The Brilliant Dr. Wogan by R.A. Montgomery

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I used to love reading Choose Your Own Adventure books when I was a kid. I borrowed them from the school library and from the public library. I couldn't get enough!

So it was awesome to find a few during our thrift store adventures. This is one of them and I had a blast reading it.

Dr. Wogan has designed a machine able to neutralise radiation. That means that everyone could survive a nuclear war. But in the wrong hands, it would mean the world could be held ransom.

As her young assistant it's YOUR job to find her, and make sure the plans are safe...

This was a lot of fun! The beauty of these books is that you can choose one path to The End, and then go back and take another one.

I enjoyed the book so much, I followed three different paths:

1). I took a few wrong turns and didn't find Dr. Wogan. Instead, I found myself in the middle of a time-travelling possibility. 😲

2). I took worse turns here, and ended up getting captured and forced into a shitty situation. 😒

3). I finally found my way to Dr. Wogan! Yay. And although things didn't turn out great, it was a bittersweet ending. Both good and bad, but at least it was with my boss. 😁

Yeah, this was really cool. I'm definitely looking forward to reading the other ones I have.

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