The Forsaken (The Children of Cain Book 1) Review!

I've recently reKINDLED my love of reading by shopping on Amazon's Kindle Store. As a kid, I always made it my goal to read 100 books per summer. When I actually got into trouble, I had my Harry Potter books taken away (yes...I'm THAT generation!). When Twilight took the world by storm, I was there...soaking up every word. The Series of Unfortunate Events books held me captive until I finished them, and the Percy Jackson books caused my heartrate to quicken in excitement. With so many amazing authors and fantastic stories absorbed in my lifetime, I consider myself hard to please when it comes to books. I read them, always, but often I know within a chapter or so if I'm going to be happy with my decision.

As someone addicted to her Kindle, I've downloaded MANY of the free books put out by new authors looking to make a name for themselves. More often than not, sadly, I'm not super impressed. However, when offered a free review copy of The Forsaken (The Children of Cain Book 1), I was excited. I loved the somber, dark feeling that I got from reading the title. I was intrigued and immediately loaded it up onto my Kindle. I set to reading right away, and I'm SO happy I did. Sometimes you discover a story and you can't believe you haven't read it yet after having it waiting on your for weeks or months. This is one of those stories.

I really, really don't want to spoil it for anyone, but I will give the basics. The story opens with Gwen, running towards - she doesn't know what - and away from - again...she has no idea. A close brush with danger leaves her in the hands of strangers who deliver her to a hospital to deal with her severe frostbite and various other ailments. She's then left to the custody of the local Catholic orphanage, where her path crosses with Adam/Raven (she renames him). She has great difficulty fitting in, and soon realizes that she and Raven are meant for each other (as friends...Gwen is 5 at this point and Raven is a few years older). Extremely advanced for her age, Gwen intimidates and even scares the other children. This is due in part to her unusual eyes. She and Raven soon begin to discover the sides of themselves that they always knew existed and set them apart, but didn't quite know about yet.

Again, I hesitate to give away too much of the story, but there are several conflicts at the orphanage, which lead to the odd pair becoming runaways and living on the streets for years, using their unusual powers to survive.

Once the pair are detained, they are split up, and all seems lost for Gwen. She enters an institution-like school (like medical institution) and pretends to be on her best behavior until she is sent to a foster home that, appearing perfect from the outside, is actual horror and hell. As she struggles to fit into middle school culture, she deals with aggression, abuse, and trying to protect a new "little sister" that she has come to love.

The entire book is a total treat. It's an adventure that you seriously don't want to miss out on. I can see this series being optioned for a movie in the future, and I will fangirl like crazy!

 Between growing to love and understand the characters, to watching them develop, and mature physically, to feeling their emotions and fears, it's not hard to be absorbed completely into the story. The language is beautiful and detailed and the story flows so smoothly! There's not a boring moment, and your heart is yanked along for the ride. At the end of book one, I don't feel satisfied. I want MORE of this series!! I'm SO excited to be able to jump right into book two and see what happens next. Review coming soon!!

Snag your copy of Book 1 of The Children of Cain series here!

Book Review: "Rooted and Four Other Disturbing Stories"!

Lately I've been on a supernatural and human psychology kick. I'm watching documentaries, reading books, and just generally immersing myself into this genre. When I saw the opportunity to review a free copy of "Rooted and Four Other Disturbing Stories" by Shane Hall, I jumped at the opportunity and was ecstatic to see that I was approved for the promotion! The cover of the book intrigued me, as a film photographer. It looks like a double exposure of an angel statue's face with an eerie, leafless forest. The cover definitely drew me in. It's especially well done considering that Shane Hall is a first time author!

The book was a very quick read, which I didn't quite expect. I love for these stories to be drawn out and extremely detailed. There was plenty of detail there...but my only complaint is that the writing is SO good that I wish the stories were much longer. I finished the book in about an hour of on-and-off reading, with plenty of distractions. However, the story caught my attention and held it until real life beckoned. :) There are five stories within the book: "Vivian's Videos", "How to Satisfy the Keymaker", "John Adams Two", "A Friend in the Depths", and "Rooted". Some are shorter than others, but they all convey plenty of information. I think my favorites are "How to Satisfy the Keymaker" and "A Friend in the Depths".

In "How to Satisfy the Keymaker", the story reads as a how-to (obviously). It's very instructional and you get the eerie feeling that the author is directly talking to you. Without spoiling, it makes you think about what you would do - and who you would sacrifice for yourself in the given situation.

"A Friend in the Depths" is the story that left me wanting the most. The suspense is insane, and your curiosity is peaked. Along with that, the conversation with the two characters allows you to begin to get attached to them. Right at the most dramatic moment of the story, though....it's over. And that hurts my heart, SHANE HALL! (Yes...I'm yelling at you!) ;)

Really, though...this is an explosive start for a new author. The book is very well written with no grammatical or spelling errors, provides plenty of entertainment, and hooks your interest like a fish-human-creature that wants to eat you.  

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE add onto "A Friend in the Depths" and PLEASE write a 1000 page book. I cannot wait to see where these stories go and where Shane Hall is in the coming years! Congratulations on your debut and very best wishes!