On My Shelf Book Review: Let's Party by R.L. Stine (Fear Street Seniors Book 1)

Fear Street Seniors: Let's Party (Book 1)

by R.L. Stine

3 Faerie Points

As a teenager I used to devour the "Fear Street" books. I would go to the Muncie Mall bookstore and always turn the corner to the young adult section looking for one of these books that I hadn't previously acquired. I would devour them in no time at all and wish that I could read the next one. There are some good memories attached to these books thus I decided to purchase them again as an adult. 

I never had the opportunity when I was reading the series previously to read the Senior series, so I wanted to start my trip back down Fear Street with it. One of the important things that it has been important for me to recognize is that I am not the same reader that I was when I used to read these horror books. I can spot bad writing or a bit lousy writing better than I could back then. Stine is not bad writing, but he uses a formula at the end of every chapter that gets frustrating to read. He always had to finish the chapter with some horrible thing happening only to reveal that it wasn't what you thought in the beginning of the next chapter. This takes away from the writing, but it also is what makes the Fear Street books unique. They try to keep in invested and guessing what is real and isn't. 

Some of the joy of the books obviously has waned with the passing of time, which is only natural. I was shocked that I still enjoyed them as much as I did. They still hold my interest enough to get through roughly 200+ pages, but now I do so with a few eye rolls. Eye rolling is not always a bad thing in fiction writing, especially with a horror element. 

This first book in the series mainly sets the stage for the upcoming books. We are introduced to numerous members of the Shadyside High Senior class. This feels appropriate and not at all confusing since there are 11 other books featuring these characters. Stine did the intelligent thing by having the characters go to a party. This feels natural for high school students and allows us to gain a lot of names at once without being too concerned about who each of them are just yet. 

Stine made a solid first book in this particular series for young adults. Do I recommend this for the more adult reader? Probably not. There is better stuff out there to read, but for those that just want a short horror book this will keep you entertained. You won't gain any deep meaning about life, but you will be wondering if anyone will die. That is the ultimate question though in this series: Will the senior class make it to graduation? Welp, I guess I have to continue reading to find out for sure. 

Muncie Public Library e-book review: 1st to Die by James Patterson

1st to Die

by James Patterson

5 Faerie Points

This was a book that I have been wanting to read for a very long time. There was a tv series that only lasted 13 episodes based on this book series. The few episodes I saw of that show made me interested in the books, but I never got around to reading them (the story of my reading life). I saw that my local library had an ebook copy of the books, so I decided to put it on hold. Little did I know how quickly the hold for the ebook would come in. It came in on friday and I started reading it on Saturday.

I have never truly had the experience of reading a page-turner where I couldn't put a book down, but I can no longer say that. This book was one that gripped me from the first page. I loved the fact that each chapter is so short because it helps to keep your attention on the story and knowing that each chapter serves a particular point in the plot. I had to only put the book down when I finally went to bed at 2 am. Then I picked it up almost immediately on Sunday. 

James Patterson created interesting characters in Lindsay, Claire, Cindy, and Jill. These women are the members of the Women's Murder Club. Most of the time in a series the introduction book or first novel is so busy trying to introduce the concept that there is a lot left to be desired. This doesn't happen here because the story focuses mainly on the mystery instead of the introduction of the club. Patterson was intelligent enough to let Lindsay take the book fully and let the formation of the group be secondary. This helps make this book be a strong introduction to the series and one that stands apart from the other introductory novels in other series (think Janet Evanovich's One for the Money). 

The other shocking thing about this book is that Patterson being male seems to understand somewhat the basic idea of a female relationship. He doesn't try to oversell these women becoming friends. He simply guides them together and lets them do the rest. It appears almost effortlessly. 

The one issue with Patterson, in the beginning of the book, is that he keeps mentioning the location of the book being in San Francisco. Every other line felt that he was beating back into our heads that this was there. He would do this by restating where it was and also putting in little gems like San Francisco State University thus again stating the exact locale. In subsequent novels in the series I hope Patterson has learned to trust that his readers can get it the first time around. 

Overall this is a solid first book in the Women's Murder Club series and makes this reader want to continue on with the series. I am looking forward to reading "2nd Chance", which is the second book. I will however have to put it on reserve at the library as well. We will see how fast I get this next edition. As soon as I receive it I will read it and review it stat.

Book Review: Death in Daytime by Eileen Davidson

"Death in Daytime" by Eileen Davidson
4 Faerie Points

What a fun little mystery!! This book is not one of those high-brow stories by any means, but it is a fun little read where you are wondering for the greater majority of the book who the killer is. Unfortunately it does become quickly apparent about 3/4 of the way in who it is, but I enjoyed the book regardless of this fact because you were still left wondering why up until the reveal.

I recognize that this is the first novel written by Eileen Davidson, who is primarily an actress known for roles on Days of Our Lives and Young and the Restless, so I thought this was a rather good attempt at creating a mystery story. I think she mixes just enough of her own individual knowledge of being an actress with the threads for the mystery aspect that it comes out just right in both directions. This is a book where you have to get through the initial few chapters because Davidson has to get her footing, but once you get past that you will greatly enjoy the book. Also she adds elements as it goes along that will make reading subsequent books interesting, such as a love triangle. Also the friend/family characters that are around the main character, Alexis, do not seem forced, but natural extensions of her. They feel like people that a real actress would have surrounding her, which adds a very believable element to this story.

There is not a lot of help in discovering the killer in this particular book because I think Davidson is used to more of the dialogue of a soap opera, which doesn't necessarily help her out in the writing here, which is why I give it only four instead of five. I believe as she progresses as an author she will get better, thus I believe the subsequent books will be a thrill to read.

Kindle Book Review: "The Blessing Way" by Tony Hillerman

"The Blessing Way" by Tony Hillerman
4 Faerie Points

The mystery aspect of this book was weak in many ways because it felt that he handed us the killer on a silver platter, so there wasn't a lot of guessing as to why the characters were in the dire situations that they found themselves in, but what greatly enhances the rating of this particular book is the sheer immersion into Native American culture that it contains. Hillerman does an excellent job of making these scenes feel authentic, which is important when someone is not totally related to the culture like Hillerman (Hillerman is a white male, but was raised around the Navajo culture in his youth according to additional content in the kindle edition.)

The book tends to focus to heavily on a side character in this first book of Leaphorn, but I imagine it was because he was originally just a side character that wasn't supposed to be that prominent at all in the book but Hillerman was asked to make him a bigger character by his editor. I imagine in the subsequent novels featuring him that he has more of a role and prominence. If you can get past this fact since it is the first novel in the series then you will greatly enjoy what he produces here.

As previously stated the mystery aspect is a little obvious and the moments are not that shocking when certain revelations occur. This still makes the mystery aspect of the book fine in my opinion because not every mystery needs to be a guessing game for the reader. Sometimes it needs to be handing them all the pieces so they can focus on other aspects of the novel, which as stated I think the Native American aspects were what needed to be focused in on in this first novel in the series, so we had a grasp on what the rest of the series would look like. It wasn't the best book I have read this year, but it was a quick read that I completed in one day, which makes it a great book in my opinion because you don't have to sit with it for a long period of time. You can just have a new experience with a new culture in the matter of one day!