Excerpt: Bad Blood by Nicky Peacock

BAD BLOOD
by Nicky Peacock

Amazon UK  |   Amazon US |  Evernight Teen

“I am Britannia. I am your protector. I will fend off the hungry hordes of undead hands that reach toward you. I am your steadfast defender. I will stand between you and the zombie masses as they try to taste your flesh. I am strong, unyielding, and dedicated to your survival. All I ask from you… is your blood.”

A five-hundred-year-old bloody game of vengeance will need to be put on hold if vampires are to survive the zombie uprising. Britannia and Nicholas, bitter enemies and the only two surviving vampires left in London, have to work together to save un-infected humans and deliver them safely to a vampire stronghold in the Scottish Highlands. Unable to drink the zombie ‘bad blood’, the remaining vampires need the humans to stay alive. But will the vampires tell the survivors who they are and what they want from them? Will Britannia be able to hold back her vengeance for the greater good? Is survivor Josh the reincarnation of Britannia’s murdered true love? And can she bring herself to deliver him to the ‘safe’ hold? Survival instincts run deep, but bad blood can run deeper.

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Bad Blood EXCERPT

We ran to the hospital. On the way, we encountered hardly anyone, alive or dead. Where were they all? When we arrived at the hospital car park, I understood. Zombies were pack animals. A massive crowd of them were crammed in and around the main building like they were waiting for a concert to start, all barely paying attention to their surroundings and seemingly swaying against the force of gravity. The other thing was the smell. When watching horror films filled with shuffling zombies, the horror came from their ghastly looks—the reminder that death has a tight grip on us all, well, most of us. But what the filmmakers should focus on—if they could—was the acidic rank odor zombies gave off. They had been dead barely twenty-four hours. It took a normal human body at least thirty-six hours to really start to smell, and that was with a vampire’s heightened senses. These guys smelled like they’d been out in the sun for three weeks covered in rubbish and besieged by wily maggots. They were mostly intact, though. Maybe this hospital had been Zombie Ground Zero. Most had turned so quickly their comrades hadn’t had time to feed.

Mortal Danger by Ann Aguirre [ARC REVIEW]

TITLE: Mortal Danger
(Immortal Game #1)
AUTHOR: Ann Aguirre
PUBLISHER: Feiwel & Friends
PUB DATE: Aug 5 2014

Revenge is a dish best served cold.

Edie Kramer has a score to settle with the beautiful people at Blackbriar Academy. Their cruelty drove her to the brink of despair, and four months ago, she couldn't imagine being strong enough to face her senior year. But thanks to a Faustian compact with the enigmatic Kian, she has the power to make the bullies pay. She's not supposed to think about Kian once the deal is done, but devastating pain burns behind his unearthly beauty, and he's impossible to forget.

In one short summer, her entire life changes, and she sweeps through Blackbriar, prepped to take the beautiful people down from the inside. A whisper here, a look there, and suddenly... bad things are happening. It's a heady rush, seeing her tormentors get what they deserve, but things that seem too good to be true usually are, and soon, the pranks and payback turns from delicious to deadly. Edie is alone in a world teeming with secrets and fiends lurking in the shadows. In this murky morass of devil's bargains, she isn't sure who—or what--she can trust. Not even her own mind...

Source: Goodreads

Rating:

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“Game on.”

I’ve come to love Ann Aguirre’s storytelling and writing style through the Razorland trilogy. I loved the character building she has done with Deuce and Fade, and her world building skills were vivid and captivating. That was enough to convince me to watch out for her next books, and that is how I came to read Mortal Danger.

Mortal Danger is a paranormal romance mixing in the creepy urban legends that we might have heard at some extent, like Father Frost, Bloody Mary, etc.

I made a mistake of reading this book in the middle of the night. I didn’t know there was an upcoming “Bloody Mary” scene, so it’s no surprise I had to stop reading after that part. It wasn’t that big of a deal, but I easily scare so I had to find some random funny comic strip online just to get it off my mind. Damn! These things really should come with a warning!

While I don’t mind cliché’s in books since some authors can actually pull it off and lead it to be something a reader can appreciate and indulge in, this one was a miss. The instant romance between the protagonists, Kian and Edie, was not convincing. The villains, the plot, and all the drama weren’t any better either. I felt like everything was too strained. It also felt like I was being forced to like Edie with all that was happening in her life.

Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake [REVIEW]

TITLE: Girl of Nightmares (Anna #2)
AUTHOR: Kendare Blake
PUBLISHER: Tor Teen
PUB DATE: Aug 7 2012

Summary from Goodreads:

"It's been months since the ghost of Anna Korlov opened a door to Hell in her basement and disappeared into it, but ghost-hunter Cas Lowood can't move on.

His friends remind him that Anna sacrificed herself so that Cas could live—not walk around half dead. He knows they're right, but in Cas's eyes, no living girl he meets can compare to the dead girl he fell in love with.

Now he's seeing Anna everywhere: sometimes when he's asleep and sometimes in waking nightmares. But something is very wrong...these aren't just daydreams. Anna seems tortured, torn apart in new and ever more gruesome ways every time she appears.

Cas doesn't know what happened to Anna when she disappeared into Hell, but he knows she doesn't deserve whatever is happening to her now. Anna saved Cas more than once, and it's time for him to return the favor."

Rating:

“I love her.”
“She’s dead.”
“That doesn’t mean to me what it does to other people.”

I’ve been editing this review for several hours now. Most of my thoughts give out the entire story of the book. A few spoilers here and there would have been fine but where my thoughts were going? Well, it just might ruins the whole book those who haven’t read it yet. So instead, I’m going to keep this short but be warned, it still has spoilers.

I barely recognized the Cas I witnessed here in Girl of Nightmares. The Cas I knew from Anna Dressed in Blood seemed like a long forgotten shadow of a person over how Cas is behaving now. I get that he’s heartbroken, and I sympathize. But that doesn’t mean I’d let him wallow in his misery. I needed his spark back.

Girl of Nightmares has taken a whole new step – from a simple love struck ghost hunter to a world of people using the power of the athame for reasons they believe is right. It was a little unnerving to find that this story took a turn from hunting ghosts to finding a replacement for Cas as the wielder of the athame. How did we get to that point anyway? Is it because he’s defying the Order? But hasn’t he been doing that for the most part of his life? His dad did the same thing anyway and this is the only time the Order thought of doing so? Maybe I overlooked some parts of the book…

While Anna Dressed in Blood was spooky and yet filled with awesome action scenes, Girl of Nightmares is downright creepy and a little disturbing for my taste, with all the blood, sacrifices, cults, and did I mention blood? Yeah… like, lots and lots of blood! *shudders*

I think it was clear from the start that Cas and Anna’s relationship (if we could call it that) was doomed before it even began. His obsession over finding her again was a little too extreme, but I can’t deny that he’s the ever determined Cas I once knew [and I still admire him for that]… it just threw me off a bit.

Let’s face the fact that a love story between a ghost and a human, albeit a ghost hunter, is unlikely to have a happy ending. And although it was sad… I see this a fitting ending.

The Madman's Daughter by Megan Shepherd [REVIEW]

TITLE: The Madman's Daugther
(The Madman's Daughter #1)
AUTHOR: Megan Shepherd
PUBLISHER: Balzer + Bray
PUB DATE: Jan 29 2013

Summary from Goodreads:

"In the darkest places, even love is deadly.

Sixteen-year-old Juliet Moreau has built a life for herself in London—working as a maid, attending church on Sundays, and trying not to think about the scandal that ruined her life. After all, no one ever proved the rumors about her father's gruesome experiments. But when she learns he is alive and continuing his work on a remote tropical island, she is determined to find out if the accusations are true.

Accompanied by her father's handsome young assistant, Montgomery, and an enigmatic castaway, Edward—both of whom she is deeply drawn to—Juliet travels to the island, only to discover the depths of her father's madness: He has experimented on animals so that they resemble, speak, and behave as humans. And worse, one of the creatures has turned violent and is killing the island's inhabitants. Torn between horror and scientific curiosity, Juliet knows she must end her father's dangerous experiments and escape her jungle prison before it's too late. Yet as the island falls into chaos, she discovers the extent of her father's genius—and madness—in her own blood.

Inspired by H. G. Wells's classic The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Madman's Daughter is a dark and breathless Gothic thriller about the secrets we'll do anything to know and the truths we'll go to any lengths to protect."

Rating:

“But I couldn't get the image out of my head of the beast strapped to the table, Father humming while the candle wax slowly dripped, and Montgomery assisting. I felt betrayed, as though the boy I'd idolized was nothing more than a fantasy.”

I never thought I would find myself picking up The Madman’s Daughter. Gothic thrillers aren’t the kind of books that catch my interest… until now.

The Madman’s Daughter was disturbing, grotesque and incredibly sinister for my taste. Can you believe I actually liked it? I know. It was a shock for me to. A crazy loon of a man, Dr. Moreau, Juliet’s father, makes for quite an impressive character. Even though he creeps the hell out of me, he was definitely a character worth pondering over. Witnessing his experiments, albeit disgusting and wrong, I didn’t know whether to be concerned or intrigued.

While Juliet poses as a compelling protagonist, I find things I both like and hate about her. I feel such sympathy over her longing for a father, who has abandoned her all those years. I’m a daddy’s girl so that’s heartbreaking to hear. I admire her determination to discover the truth behind her family’s downfall and I knew her discovery would either make her finally trust his judgment or get her to stand up for herself against him.

I don’t really appreciate the love triangle between Juliet, Edward and Montgomery. I’m all for Montgomery on this. Really, it’s no competition! I don’t like that Juliet is dancing around these two guys. She says she’s in love with Montgomery and yet she gets twisted dreams all because she has the hots for Edward too. Here’s another heroine that I feel doesn’t deserve the man in their lives. If she truly loves him then she would not be thinking of the other guy otherwise. But who am I kidding, she’s a hormonal teenager, it was bound to happen. Still, it’s frustrating to read!

The Madman’s Daughter left me feeling so weird-ed out over the bewildering experience. But that kind of unique perplexity in a book – I like it!

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake [REVIEW]

TITLE: Anna Dressed in Blood (Anna #1)
AUTHOR: Kendare Blake
PUBLISHER: Tor Teen
PUB DATE: Aug 30 2011

Summary from Goodreads:

"Just your average boy-meets-girl, girl-kills-people story...

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until his gruesome murder by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father’s mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn’t expect anything outside of the ordinary: move, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he’s never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, but now stained red and dripping blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

And she, for whatever reason, spares his life."

Rating:

Cas Lowood might probably be the luckiest guy to still be alive.

After his father’s gruesome murder, Cas inherited a very extraordinary profession – he hunts down ghosts... and kills them, for good this time. When word got to Cas about a ghost named Anna haunting an old Victorian house in the small town of Ontario, he and his mom packed up and moved for the kill; literally speaking.

Every person that stepped into Anna’s house was never seen again. Every one of them dead, everyone except Cas. For whatever reason Anna and Cas have yet to figure out...

I do not read horror stories – at all! I tried reading one of the first volumes of the Philippine Ghost Stories collection but one page was enough to make me throw it across the room (and they say it’s not even that scary). Nor can you convince me to watch one more horror flick. Ten minutes in the theatre and I’d be screaming bloody murder if anyone forces me to sit for the entire movie. No way! I would most likely be the very definition of a scaredy-cat. I’m not proud of it, but it is the truth. So I think Anna Dressed in Blood is probably one of my most daring reads ever!

Ang Mga Kaibigan ni Mama Susan by Bob Ong

        

Ang Mga Kaibigan 
ni Mama Susan
by Bob Ong

English Translation: The Friends of Mama Susan

Rating:

I was skimming through the bookshelves at National Bookstore when I saw this book upfront near the cashier. When I saw Bob Ong's name, I just immediately grabbed a copy and went straight to pay for it. So when I started out reading the book, I had no idea what it was about. Also, I've already stopped trying to figure out what Bob Ong's books were really about not until I've read it up to the last page.

I didn't compare it with his other books because, let's face it, he's one of the most unpredictable writers in our country. One book cannot be compared with the other since they are all stand-alone. But then again, that's how it is for now. I can't say if he might think of creating a sequel... (Will he???)

Anyway, as I was reading the first few parts, I was confused... actually... up until finishing it I'm still confused. There are a lot of things left unanswered, like who's the girl Galo is talking about, what happened to Niko? What exactly had Galo been hiding? etcetera, etcetera. But I can see the point in some of that, the book was written in a first person view. Galo's journal could be compared to anyone else's in real life. We don't tell/write down everything that happens in our lives, especially the ones we want to forget or the ones we regret. 

Halfway through the book, it started to creep me out (I don't know if it's because of the book or because I get easily scared... I'll probably go with the latter.. ^^). A few pages left I was beginning to close and open the book. I was debating between stopping to take a breath or the urge of finding out what would happen next this instant! I shut the book hard when Bob suddenly scared the reader of being the spirit's next choice to possess. 

Although it scared me a bit, I don't think it was written simply intending to scare the reader. On my opinion, it was written to open the eyes of those who have lost their faith or have forgotten the power of God's love, or have taken Him for granted. As scary as Mama Susan can be, her words are strong. They were open and true. They reflect how our lives evolve through the passing generations involving technology, personality, choices, and spirituality. If you want to understand what I mean, then read the book. It's affordable and worth reading.