ANNOUNCEMENT: CONFESSIONS CLOSING FOR THE HOLIDAYS!

So the days are practically permanently dark, the tree is up and the turkey is in the freezer. That can only mean one thing…….

It’s nearly Santa time!

REVIEW: Adam Howe - Die Dog or Eat the Hatchet

Genre: Horror

Publisher: Comet Press

Publication Date: 3^rd Nov 2015

Pages: 238

MY REVIEW:

A copy of Die Dog or Eat the Hatchet was sent to Confessions of a Reviewer by the author Adam Howe in exchange for an honest review. This is said review. This book is published by Comet Press.

So this fella Adam Howe, contacts me to ask if I would review his novella Gaitor Bait. After seeing another friend of mine had read it and loved it I gladly agreed. A little while later Adam contacted me again to let me know Gaitor Bait was now part of a collection of three novellas known as Die Dog or Eat the Hatchet and would I like it instead. Call me greedy or clever but three is always better than one to me. Right?

This is what I thought.

DAMN DIRTY APES

Reggie is a bouncer at The Henhouse. When one of the “girls”, Eliza and her fella Lester barge into the club one day claiming to have been attacked by a Skunk Ape, The Henhouse’s owner, Walt, sends Reggie out to the woods to see what he can find.

Along with Salisbury, a self-proclaimed Skunk Ape hunter, and also Lester and Eliza, Reggie goes on the hunt for the monster that has dragged their friend Ned off into the woods.

Will they find the Skunk Ape? Does it even exist? Will Ned still be alive?

CONFESSIONS OF A REVIEWER TOP FIVE 2015: THE OVERALL TOP FIVE!

Welcome back to the Confessions of a Reviewer’s top five lists!

This is it! The overall top five books of 2015!

Now, if you have been following the posts through the week, you will obviously know that more than five made it through to the top five. So, that left me with a dilemma. Do I now do a top seven, or stick with a top five and bin a couple?

I decided to do neither. I had to be totally honest about how I felt about these books. There were a couple of positions where I just could not split books. I decided therefore, to go with my heart and below is what I came up with.

This list is basically my favourite books of the year. I have had a wonderful year in terms of reading and I have been lucky enough to read some of these before anyone else had a chance to, and for that I am eternally grateful.

I urge you to buy any of these books if you have not already. You will be supporting some great authors and giving them encouragement to continue with their writing and keep us entertained for years to come.

This list is made up of books I have read this year so the books may not necessarily have been published this year.

So let’s get to it and don’t forget to buy buy buy!

CONFESSIONS OF A REVIEWER TOP FIVE 2015: THE HORRORS!

Welcome back to the Confessions of a Reviewer’s top five lists for 2015!

Tonight we have the top five Horrors! My definition of a horror for this list is a novel written by a single author that would obviously fall under the horror genre and, eh, scare me a bit. Some books that I would put in this class will have psychological horror elements in the story, as well as jump out your skin horror elements. To me horror covers a very large range of writing as you will see in my list.

This list is made up of books I have read this year so the books may not necessarily have been published this year.

I have judged these books purely on the basis of how much they entertained me individually. The books will be listed first, with links to reviews and links you can use to buy them. At the bottom of the page you will find all the info you need on the individual authors.

This is a category I struggled to narrow down to just five books so please forgive me for having a couple of joint positions. Plus, it’s my blog so I get to choose. Na na na naaaaah nah!

Also I don’t subscribe to the adage that, if say, first position was a tie, that second position is skipped and the next falls into third.

So let’s get to it and don’t forget to buy buy buy!

CONFESSIONS OF A REVIEWER TOP FIVE 2015: THE THRILLERS!

Welcome back to the Confessions of a Reviewer’s top five lists!

Tonight we have the top five Thrillers! My definition of a thriller for this list is a novel written by a single author that would obviously not fall under a category like horror or romance. Some books that I would class as a thriller will have other elements in the story, such as crime, mystery or even the paranormal. To me thriller covers a very large range of writing as you will see in my list.

This list is made up of books I have read this year so the books may not necessarily have been published this year.

I have judged these books purely on the basis of how much they entertained me individually. The books will be listed first, with links to reviews and links you can use to buy them. At the bottom of the page you will find all the info you need on the individual authors.

So let’s get to it and don’t forget to buy buy buy!

CONFESSIONS OF A REVIEWER TOP FIVE 2015: THE SHORTS!

Welcome back to the Confessions of a Reviewer’s top five lists for 2015!

Tonight we have the top five Shorts! My definition of a short for this list is a single short story or novella written by a single author. It still, to this day, seems to be a grey area as to when a story becomes a novel and is not classed as something shorter. My definition may differ from others but the stories included in this list are not quite novel length for me.

This list is made up of books I have read this year so the books may not necessarily have been published this year.

I have judged these books purely on the basis of how much they entertained me individually. The books will be listed first, with links to reviews and links you can use to buy them. At the bottom of the page you will find all the info you need on the individual authors.

So let’s get to it and don’t forget to buy buy buy!

CONFESSIONS OF A REVIEWER TOP FIVE 2015: THE COLLECTIONS!

Welcome back to the Confessions of a Reviewer’s top five lists for 2015!

Tonight we have the top five Collections! My definition of a collection for this list is a collection of short stories or novellas by the same author in one book. This means some of them may have five stories in them and some may have twenty but all written by the same person.

This list is made up of books I have read this year so the books may not necessarily have been published this year.

I have judged these books purely on the basis of how much they entertained me on a collective basis. The books will be listed first, with links to reviews and links you can use to buy them. At the bottom of the page you will find all the info you need on the individual authors.

So let’s get to it and don’t forget to buy buy buy!

CONFESSIONS OF A REVIEWER TOP FIVE 2015: THE ANTHOLOGIES!

So to the Confessions of a Reviewer’s top five lists proper!

I am kicking things off tonight with The Anthologies. Now I am doing things a little bit different. My definition of an anthology for this list is a collection of short stories or novellas by different authors in one book. This means some of them may have five stories in them and some may have twenty.

This list is made up of books I have read this year so the books may not necessarily have been published this year.

I have judged these books purely on the basis of how much they entertained me on a collective basis. The books will be listed first, with links to reviews and links you can use to buy them. At the bottom of the page you will find all the info you need on the authors or presses that produced the books.

Obviously a couple of them have so many contributors that it would take me forever to list them all so I have listed details for the presses.

So let’s get to it and don’t forget to buy buy buy!

CONFESSIONS OF A REVIEWER TOP FIVE 2015: THE OH SO CLOSES!

So…..what does it mean to be a part of the Oh So Close brigade?

It’s very simple actually. This a list of books that didn’t make my top five lists.

BUT, if I was to do a top ten list then these would definitely be in there.

This is the difficult part about end of year lists. There are inevitably ones you wanted to add to the top list but then if you did that, the list could be endless.

So to that end, this is a small selection of books I read this year that I thought were worthy of a mention even though they didn’t make the top five. They were just outside! By the way, these books are in no particular order.

If you haven’t checked any of these out, you will find links to my reviews, links to buy them and all the author info you need at the bottom of the page.

Remember to come back tomorrow night for the top five Anthologies!

REVIEW: Iain Rob Wright - The Gates: An Apocalyptic Horror Novel

Genre: Horror / Apocalyptic

Publisher: DeadPixel Publications

Publication Date: 27^th Aug 2015

Pages: 330

MY REVIEW:

So Iain Rob Wright. I have been open and honest enough over this past couple of years to whole heartedly admit I love his stuff. I think he is a fantastic writer and one of Britain’s brightest talents. I know him personally as well. Some people would say this will always result in a biased review. Iain knows me better than that. If I read something of his and though it was utter crap, I would tell him, and you.

Also the fact that I know him as a friend doesn’t get him any favours when it comes to Confessions of a Reviewer. The fact that The Gates was released in August and I am only getting around to reading it now should bolster that fact.

One question remains then. Is The Gates utter crap? Let’s find out.

The world is carrying on as normal for people on every continent. Everyday lives continue with boring routine. Until the day mysterious black stones appear in random locations, in every country of the world.

When people approach the stones they die. No one who touches them survives. This situation repeats itself no matter where the stones are located. Then they start to open. When they open, they literally open the gates to hell.

As demons and fallen angels storm out of the newly opened gates, people all over the world must fight. The fight is for survival and to try and find a way to defeat this seemingly unbeatable army from hell. Millions will die but a few will rise to the occasion and find courage and fight within themselves and a drive to try and save mankind.

But is it too late to close The Gates?

ANNOUNCEMENT: CONFESSIONS TOP 5 LISTS COMING NEXT WEEK!

So the time has finally come. Confessions of a Reviewers first ever Books of the Year has arrived!

Starting next Sunday, I will be publishing what I consider to be my favourite books of the year. I will be doing this in categories and then, on the final night, I will list what have been my favourite reads this year whether a full novel, a short story or a collection.

REVIEW: Mark Allan Gunnells - Fort

Genre: Horror

Publisher: Sinister Grin Press

Publication Date: 19^th Nov 2015

Pages: 85

MY REVIEW:

A copy of Fort was sent to Confessions of a Reviewer by the author, Mark Allan Gunnells, in exchange for an honest review. This is said review. This book is published by Sinister Grin Press.

I have only read a couple of other things by Mark Allan Gunnells before. One was his short story, Santa’s Little Spy in the anthology, Widowmakers and the other was his collection, Welcome to the Graveyard and Other Stories. I loved the former but wasn’t that keen on the collection. Unfortunately, I read these before starting the blog so have no review to link to. I had heard good things about Fort so I was delighted to be asked if I fancied a copy. This is what I thought.

A group of college students are trapped in their dorm. Outside, the world is ending. Groups of zombies are roaming the campus searching for food. Human food. Inside, food is also an issue. It’s running out.

Led by the unofficial group leader Alan, an ambitious expedition to the dining hall to raid it for supplies is undertaken. They need something to keep them going until the National Guard arrives to rescue them.

Will they get the food? Will they be rescued? Maybe they just need to sit tight in their dorm, aptly named, The Fort.

REVIEW: Thomas S Flowers - Dwelling (Subdue Book 1)

Genre: Horror

Publisher: Limitless Publishing LLC

Publication Date: 8^th Dec 2015

Pages: 306

MY REVIEW:

A copy of Dwelling (Subdue Book 1) was sent to Confessions of a Reviewer by the author Thomas S Flowers in exchange for an honest review. This is said review. This book is published by Limitless Publishing LLC.

Thomas S Flowers III. It’s a name you may not be familiar with. I have only read one other thing he has written which was his short story Lanmo in the wonderful anthology, The Black Room Manuscripts from The Sinister Horror Company. You can read the full review, which includes the Lanmo review here. I absolutely loved Lanmo. It was one of my favourites in the book so when I got the chance to read Dwelling I jumped at it.

Little did I know that this book would affect me in oh so many ways.

A group of friends who have been together since their childhood are now adults, with troubles they could never have foreseen when they formed the “Suicide Squad” back in 1995.

With lives affected by war, in so many devastating and different ways, physical and psychological problems are slowly becoming the least of the group’s worries.

When Maggie moves into 1475 Oak Lee Road, an evil is unleashed. An evil hell bent on bringing the friends back together. An evil hell bent on destroying everything.

INTERVIEW: Thomas S Flowers: Part Two

Welcome to Part Two of Confessions of a Reviewers’ interview with Thomas S Flowers.

In tonight’s section, Thomas starts by answering some specific questions on his newest book Dwelling (Subdue Book 1), continues to talk about his writing and life in general and tackles The Ten Confessions.

I think you will agree that this part of the interview is some of the most “from the heart” speaking you are ever likely to see.

It’s only Tuesday but go grab something nice like a pizza and a beer, sit back and relax, but mostly……enjoy!

COAR - Moving on to Dwelling, what was your intention with this one? What did you want to achieve with this?

TSF - At bottom, I want Dwelling to be an entertaining story. I want people to read and to be able to put themselves in the shoes of the characters and the situations they each face or endure. And if Dwelling can do that, I’d hope it could perhaps do a little more. To give a difficult perspective many have never experienced. The twenty two a day statistic for veteran suicide is shocking, yet also distanced. What does that number even mean? My hope is that Dwelling can give my audience an insider peek at the reality, not necessarily the standard, of living with traumatic memory.

And maybe, just maybe, if I could be so bold, raise awareness for the issues discussed in the book.

INTERVIEW: Thomas S Flowers: Part One

Welcome to Part One of Confessions of a Reviewers’ interview with a bright new star, and one I predict will be shining for a very long time, Thomas S Flowers!

If you don’t know a lot, or indeed anything, about Thomas then read on. In this interview Thomas was kind enough to take the time out to give us some detailed and, very candidly honest answers to all the questions I threw at him.

This is probably the most brutally honest and emotionally charged interview I have done to date.

In Part One, tonight, we find out some general information about Thomas and his writing and inspirations. In Part Two, tomorrow night, Thomas will give us some specifics on his new book, Dwelling (Subdue Book 1) and he also takes on the mighty Ten Confessions.

On night three as always, I will be posting my review of Dwelling.

Nothing left to say other than go grab some nibbles and a drink and sit back, but most of all……enjoy!

COAR - Welcome Thomas. Let’s start by telling everyone a bit about yourself in general?

TSF - I’m a husband and father first. I’m a writer second.

REVIEW: Iain King - Secrets of the Last Nazi (Myles Munro #1)

Genre: Thriller

Publisher: Bookouture

Publication Date: 9^th July 2015

Pages: 395

MY REVIEW:

I received an advance copy of Secrets of the Last Nazi by Iain King from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This is said review. This book is published by Bookouture.

I have never read anything by Iain King before. The reason I picked this up is purely and simply because, I liked the look of the synopsis when I saw it on NetGalley and everything else I have read from Bookouture has been absolutely top quality. I was hoping this would be the same.

In 2015, a well-connected ex SS commander dies. He takes with him the last remaining secret of the Nazi era. Or does he?

An international investigation is set up to try and uncover the secret Werner Stolz was protecting.

Led by an unconventional English military historian, Myles Munro, the team must chase every clue left behind to try and decipher them to discover exactly what Stolz was hiding.

What follows is a furious chase across three countries, dodging conspiracies and espionage at every turn. Some want the secret to go public. Some don’t. And there is a traitor in the team.

So modern day tales chasing Nazi secrets across Europe are something I love to read so I was really looking forward to this one. Although I enjoyed it I was left wanting more from the story. I’ll explain why.

ANNOUNCEMENT: NEW INTERVIEW COMING NEXT WEEK! 03/12/2015

I am very pleased to announce that next week, Confessions of a Reviewer will be publishing its latest interview. This time it is with horror writer, Thomas S Flowers!

Thomas has a new book out next week entitled Dwelling (Subdue Book 1). I have had the pleasure of reading this one early and trust me, it’s one you don’t want to miss. It's one of the most emotionally charged books I have read in a long long time!

SHOW-OFF AND TELL #17 - Shannon Kirk - Method 15/33

#17 In the Show-Off And Tell comes from a lady some of you may not be familiar with, Shannon Kirk. It’s her debut novel Method 15/33.

This is without doubt one of the greatest thrillers I have read in years. It is a fresh approach to the plot subject of kidnapping, seeing things from the point of view of the victim and believe me, the kidnappers are the ones who need to be scared in this one!

I gushed and gushed about this one when I reviewed it and to me, it is the perfect example of how perusing through the many publishers on NetGalley can be to your benefit. Every now and again you come across one you would never have seen otherwise and just occasionally, you will pick up an absolute gem like this one.

David Dubrow - The Blessed Man And The Witch - Second Edition with a Hot New Cover!

One of the many things that I love about having Confessions of a Reviewer is getting the opportunity to meet and interact with new people in the writing world.

One person that has proved time and time again to be a top bloke and ardent supporter of Confessions is the one and only David Dubrow.

I first got to know David when I reviewed his book, The Blessed Man And The Witch back in May of this year. Since then I would like to think we have become pretty good friends and as I say he supports the blog by sharing every single post that I publish.

For that I am eternally grateful and it’s about time I gave something back! So here it is. The hot new cover for the second edition of The Blessed Man And The Witch!