Review: Deliver Us from Evil: A New York City Cop Investigates the Supernatural

Deliver Us from Evil: A New York City Cop Investigates the Supernatural by Ralph Sarchie

My rating: 1 of 5 stars



This book most definitely was not for me. At all. I'll preface by saying that I am Catholic and do believe in demon possessions. However, I still I found this entire book to be absolutely ridiculous. I did find myself frustrated with the constant religious diatribes after every story, though I understand Sarchie's reasoning behind adding it. Good for him for being strong in his faith, but I think the book would have been fine, if not better, without it. My biggest issue with this is that he seemed so flipping quick to jump to his determination that the person was possessed. One meeting and he just knows? And in some cases he knows the exact demon during that one meeting too. I found that baffling. I'm unsure if this was the actual case for his investigations or if everything was condensed so that he could fit in as many experiences as possible. If the latter was the case, it would have been much more impactful to cut that down and just discuss one or two in much, much more detail. In the case of this book, everything seemed too rushed and in the end just flat out unimpressive and questionable. Even as someone who DOES believe in the possibility of demonic possessions, I found myself to be incredibly skeptical of what I was reading.
 
I'll go ahead and add this into my the movie was better category, and the movie still wasn't anything to write home to mom about. It did have an entire soundtrack of music by the Doors so at least if you hate the movie, you have some amazing listening opportunities.



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Review: Dom Wars: Round One

Dom Wars: Round One by Lucian Bane

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



So, I was one of the many who got the email from this author when he joined Booklikes. I happened to find the fact that he went out of his way to message people who followed him/he followed to be highly amusing (not to mention the apology message too) so I decided to read his book that I got as a freebie a while ago.

Too bad that my reading it didn't really work out for either of us.

I found Dom Wars to have a serious case of the Serials. It just progressed far, far too fast for me with not enough go on. Sometimes I can look past that with serials, sometimes I can't. This time, I couldn't. I found the whole Dom Wars storyline to be interesting, but I do not think that it is something that can be properly done in a serial format. It is something that needs to be properly fleshed (ha) out, along with the characters that are involved in it. Especially when there are declarations of love in Volume 1, with characters that were not previously involved prior to being it starting.

I have Volume 2 already, so I may eventually read that and decide if I want to continue on with the rest of the books. But given the current state of my TBR list, it's not high on the priority list. I will probably check out other books of his though. I have a soft spot for a (mild) lack of proper etiquette.



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Review: Sophie's Choice

Sophie's Choice by William Styron

My rating: 1 of 5 stars



Well, I finished it. And I despised every moment of it, from the writing to the characters. Maybe I just don't understand or appreciate a writing style such as Styron's, but I just found it incredibly tedious and tiresome to wade through all of Stingo's incessant (and lust-fueled) rambling. I hated him and in turn ended up absolutely hating Sophie and Nathan. When you reach the climatic point in the novel and you don't feel even the slightest twinge of anything other than, thank god this means it is almost over, then you know that you should just call it a day and admit failure.

So, yes. Sophie's Choice. Huge, gigantic and miserable no go for me.



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Take the title literally.

Life is full of uncertainty, so what happens when a what-if from your past collides with your present?

Kaitlyn Thomas, a weary wife and mother, is taking a much needed getaway with her friends. All she wants to do is relax and rejuvenate on her weekend escape to the beach. Having a drink at the bar with the girls sounds like the perfect way to unwind. That is, until Kaitlyn hears a familiar voice from the stage that shakes her to her core. She grapples with her memory until Chris King, the lead singer of the band, walks up to her and eliminates the questions in her mind.

Chris King…the misunderstood bad boy who once saved her in ways that no one else could. 

Kaitlyn’s friends beg to know the story behind this mystery man. Forced to revisit a painful past from which she has spent years trying to heal, Kaitlyn's recollection of Chris awakens intense feelings that she has kept buried deep inside her heart. Has time changed him, or is he still the same person Kaitlyn fell in love with so many years ago? 

Marriage vows are sacred, but temptation is a powerful thing.
Seeing Chris again has caused a war between her head and her heart. In the end, which one will win the battle? Facing a difficult decision, Kaitlyn just wants to be sure of one thing when she walks away from this weekend—no regrets.
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You find out that the woman you have been in "love" with for over 10 years and had an one time hook up/affair with 5 years prior got knocked up and never told you about it, but you love her oh so much and she seems oh so happy that all you do is set up an education fund for said kid that is obviously yours and then walk away.  Fuck that shit.

Yeah, yeah.  He did it for the best because the kid seems happy and doesn't know any different, but hey guess what.  The kid deserves to know different. The dad deserves to know different. Especially if the only reason you didn't bother to let him know was because you and your husband decided to work things out.  No thank you.  At least give the dad, who you claimed to also love, have a fucking choice in the matter.  These story lines piss me off.  It pissed me off the first time I read a book with it, but at least the rest of that book was good enough to offset it even if I absolutely hated it and demanded a new ending (I didn't get it, but just throwing it out there that I still really want a different one) and she had the balls to tell both men, not just her husband.  Can't say that with this one.  I can't pinpoint any one thing that made me dislike this book, it was more of my overall feeling of it.  I never connected with the characters, and in turn just had to skim most of it to get to the end, which spawned above rant. It was just not my scene.

1.5 Stars.

Nope.

Broken, was just that. Broken. 

The dialogue was stilted and came off very juvenile most of the time. This just created so many problems with the book. The main characters had no chemistry. The dramatic aspects of the book lacked any kind of actual suspense. I think the worst part of this was that the storyline of the trauma that Bailey faced prior to moving to Chicago was handled terribly and very unrealistically. At least a year of trying to ignore and repress a supposed major sexual trauma and she goes to one short counseling session and she is okay? I get that this was a short book and the storyline was moving along in hyperdrive. Seriously, even Han Solo would have been impressed with the speed at which this book progressed. Anyway, she does continue with therapy, but it really bothered me how she had been struggling for that long and all of the sudden she is no longer broken and has no problem facing her ex. 

So. I can't say that this was absolutely terrible. However, it most definitely was not good. If there is some serious tweaking of the dialogue, pacing, and general "feel" of the book, there may be potential for the storyline.

My Rating 1 out of 5 Stars. 


Arc provided by NetGalley for an honest review.