An intensely crazed place that I wanted to keep reading about...
356746
The descriptions were so graphic yet real, scary...edge of my seat. Character development was huge part of what sucked you in. I feel a little unsettled now that I am done reading this.
4666858
Could not find a good stopping place so had to continue reading to find out what was happening next
4753599
Yes, I loved reading it!
Made me realize what a mind bending cult it really is, especially since I once lived in LA and knew someone who rented a room near the Center to work after his real job, even though he lived 20 miles the other direction and abandoned his wife during the week to perform service.
Crazy stuff!
3201116
I so wanted to give this one 5-stars, but I found myself at times wishing the plot would just "get there already", so I couldn't, in good conscience, rate it a 5-star book. Yet, I couldn't put it down and was mesmerized by the characters and storyline. Although, some relationship facets were bordering on the unbelievable. Such a fascinating world to visit! I have loads of questions, so I will be reading The Glass Magician immediately. Impressive first novel. My favorite part was Fennel, the paper dog. Lira is the stuff of nightmares.
55408
After the deaths of her parents, Kendika's fears of being alone are not alleviated when she wakes up in an unfamiliar mansion. Even worse, the ancient clothing and strange people put her on edge. Nothing seems quite right in this odd new place. when Kendika looks for a way out, a way back to her home in Italy, she discovers even more secrets and bizarre occurrences. The threats leveled against her if she tries to leave again only make her desire to escape worsen, but Kendika soon realizes her disobedience has a price.

White Swans is a short story that drops a pampered teen girl into a regency era nightmare. Kendika is completely lost and frightened, having no earthly idea what is going on. Kendika's character portrayed a scared and confused teenage girl very well. Her reactions are dramatic and a little impulsive at times, but that made her more realistic. She wanted answers,and at first doesn't care what it will cost. Her slightly self-centered view of this new place is what any young girl dropped in a situation that was scary and unfamiliar would be. Even in such a short span of pages, Kendika exhibits growth as she begins to realize that her decisions will not just affect her, but the others trapped in this strange world with her. She was a very well written and engaging character. I felt myself being drawn to her plight and I am very interested in reading more of her story.

The overall story was quite interesting. Bazzi did a good job of dropping readers into a situation and then slowly giving bits and pieces to the readers as Kendika learned more about what was going on. I was engaged in the story early on, and when I reached the end I was interested in reading more. I liked the rather abrupt starting, and I thought the pacing throughout was very even. Bazzi provided enough startling events to keep reader interested, but also allowed time for readers to become more familiar with Kendika's thoughts and personality.  The villain was creepy and disturbing without being too over the top, particularly for younger readers. I also enjoyed the secondary characters, and I am interesting to see how Lord Deverow's character develops throughout this series.

I think my only complaint is that there were a few areas where the story seemed to jump ahead rather spend a little more time fleshing out the surroundings and side characters. I would have liked to have seen smoother transitions in a few places and I would have preferred to get a little more background on the abigail and other servants. Other than a few nicknames Kendika came up with, they were not as full as they could have been.

I'll be excited to read the second installment of this short story series. This will be a great story for teens, especially reluctant readers, who are interested in fantasy and urban fantasy situations.
450349
I wanted to keep reading even when I couldn't keep my eyes open. I would like to read a sequel
4105498
Because that's where you'll stay while you're reading this. What a smart, twisted, creepy story...I couldn't stop reading. Incredible descriptions; I feel like I know each character personally and have walked the halls of the Union Club. As a reader, I was sucked in completely.
3309955
This is a book that I picked up to read as part of the book club that I belong to. Each month someone new gets to pick our next book, so it is definitely NOT a book that I would have picked up to read on my own. The main character was quite an interesting fellow as he has lots of stories and dwelling memories of his days as a porn star and pornography director, so those could get a little disturbing sometimes. The author, however, did do a phenomenal job on writing with such detail that you thought you were there with the characters and could actually see what he was describing throughout the story. The one thing that I really did like about the book were the stories within the story. Marianne tells some great stories that resound so overwhelmingly of ones love for each other that truly lasts for a lifetime and beyond to the next and the next and so on. They are quite powerful. Also, I have never read Dante's "The Inferno', but I think it was kind of interesting how the main character went through his own personal levels of hell in his dream while he was detoxing instead of following only Dante's visions. The one thing that I couldn't quite understand is how at the end Marianne kept saying she had x amount of hearts inside of her and the last one was for Derrick, but when she finally finished her sculpture of him she basically killed herself by walking out into the ocean. At least it was kind of ironic that that was the way Tom died previously when he was never found. In some ways after that Derrick was quite similar to Vicki as he would go to the beach with Bougatsa frequently and just look out over the ocean to feel close to her. I will say that it was interesting if nothing else, but again, not one I would have picked out to read on my own.
4536072
I live in San Antonio, and it was so fun to read a book mentioning local haunts of Texas...but twisted.  A book I had a hard time putting down, left me wishing for a sequel.
3513382
I started this book kind of lackadaisically. Then I reached the section where the main character's feet are bound, and I was hooked.

This peek into rural nineteenth century China is both fascinating and horrifying. Fascinating: the women-only written language "nushu;" socioeconomic relations (Lily marries up, Snow Flower marries down - their friendship is seriously strained); gender relations (imagine meeting your husband for the first time on your wedding day. Then conjugal visits a few times a year until you get pregnant - only then do you move in to stay - your "worth" is proven). Horrifying: foot-binding description; the winter spent hidden in the mountains, people dropping like flies; women="worthless branches" on the family tree.

I liked it much more than The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan - I don't do well with that much depressing stuff in one swoop. Conversely, Snow Flower contains much that is beautiful and joyous - the terror, sadness, and frustrated potential is almost balanced out. Almost, because it remains a very sad story. Two thumbs up.
2481963
This was quite a story based on history.  The author did a great job making the reader feel and see the insaneness of this part of history.  It was a disturbing story that I could not read again.  Not sure the title fits the story.
1086410
I loved the writing style of this disturbing novel. The descriptions were so unique and painted such a detailed picture of the life of these girls. The story got inside my head and remained there for many days after I finished reading even though I didn't want it to. The suspense builds effectively to the climax, but this novel is not for the timid.
89273
I expected to see a lot of places that I would want to go to. A lot of what is in the book is creepy
2342901
How could nearly 30,000 people be killed by a volcano unless they were not paying attention?  The volcano had been erupting for a month, raining ashes on St. Pierre just four miles from the crater.  There were earthquakes, mudflows, and birds dropping dead out of the sky.  Yet in a weird twist of mass psychology, very few people evacuated.  In fact, many actually moved into the city just before the catastrophe.
Part of this strange true story is told by the victims themselves though letters and cablegrams they sent in the weeks before the disaster.  I felt I got to know some of the characters so well that their actions almost seemed reasonable!  Almost.  I'm sure I would have been inclined to evacuate if I had been living in St. Pierre in May of 1902.
The author has done a great job of bringing the many pieces of this story together.  A lot of readers will be fascinated by the parts about the scientists and journalists trying to determine what was happening.  Others will be intrigued by the political shenanigans.  However, as a social worker, my favorite parts were the human stories of decision and indecision, love and conflict, and the ability of the human spirit to cope with adversity.  A facinating book!
4950533
There's an art to writing surreal horror fiction. Overall, the world of a conventional horror novel (or novella in the case this this book) is, for the most part, the real world. "Normal". Into it, something unreal or horrific is introduced. In a novella like Green Tsunami, which falls into my personal definition of surreal, something unreal and horrific is introduced to a world that is, or has become, itself horrific. The setting for this story is a world changed so dramatically it's become nightmarish in its own regard - an unexplained event has occurred, a slimy green wave (the the main characters have come to call it a tsunami) has washed over everything in the world, and has, and is continuing to, transform everything (organic and inorganic) into something alien and new. When the bonds of storytelling are freed up and not confined to staying in a conventional, "real" world setting, the story can become so weird it gets in the way of any real plot, or it becomes an integral part of book and the characters themselves, like this one.

This review's starting to get surreal. Let me step back.

The story is written by the brilliantly talented husband and wife team L.L. Soares and Laura Cooney. Each chapter is an email sent by either the husband, Aaron, to his wife, Joy, or vice versa. Joy is trapped, a prisoner, essentially, in the office building where she was working when the tsunami hit. Aaron is at home. Many buildings were destroyed in the wave, many others have been altered into strange, alien forms, but the electricity still works sporadically and so does email. This situation is convenient for the plot to move forward, but is often questioned by the characters themselves, who suspect that this may be more deliberate than they realize.

Aaron and Joy had been going through a rough patch in their marriage, noted by the terse way in which Joy responds to her husband's emails. They learn what the world has become for each, and more importantly as the story progresses what has become of their troubled son, who was in school when everything went green.

I was surprised how well the story of Aaron's search for Joy and their son, all the while dealing with his own body's strange metamorphosis (everyone caught in the wave, who survived, were changed in some surreal - there's that word again - way) and Joy's situation being held captive by oddities they call "Balloon Heads", was conveyed through nothing but emails.

I assumed in reading this that the authors wrote their respective character's parts (L.L. doing Aaron's emails and Laura doing Joy's), but I could be wrong. Regardless, their writing in the past has always been strong and this is no exception. The book is inventive and, most importantly, engaging. One of those stories where you want to read just - one - more - chapter and suddenly it's over.

Now, be warned. This is not your average horror story, like I said. The setting and events are quite surreal (not to the vast extent of, say, Cisco's The Divinity Student, though written just as well) and can bend your brain in directions it usually doesn't need to in a Koontz novel. But if you want a story that's way out of the box, but tells a fascinating, and often touching, story, check this novella out.
2125115
This book is a mesmerizing and wild ride; sinister, yet lively and greatly entertaining.  This was the first book I've picked up in a while, and now life has become this book, and a series of annoying interruptions.

When I pick the book up, it draws me into that possibly alternate, but also possibly real world of ancient legend, genetic destiny, modern terrorism on a titanic level,
and "The Gift", and the pages fly by.

And then the wife calls me for dinner, and the magnificent show collapses in on itself, and reality floods in.

Until next time, my friend...
2163190
This story was awfully intense and extreme, too much so for my taste, but I got into it just the same.  So now I really want to know what ultimately happens to Molly!