The Rogue Mountain

A creature hidden in the mountains, lurking, watching, waiting.  Down below a town living to survive with hellish beings living in their backyard, learning to protect themselves from the creatures of the mountains.  Three teenagers long for a life away from wood devils and hell cats.  A woman doing everything she can do to survive while another lives in a perpetual nightmare.  A monster hunter comes on a mission to cleanse the area of the beasts, only to bring unwanted attention from the witch on the mountain.  Secrets rise to the surface and a town finds out the truth behind their fears.  Welcome to the Rogue Mountains where nothing is ever what it seems.


I will start the disclaimer that this book is not available yet, it is set to release in October, October 3rd I believe.  But I had the honor of sort of beta reading this book for an author dear to me.  This is the debut novel for Joshua Tarquinio.  The book is a mix of supernatural/post-apocalyptic thriller, horror, fantasy, self-realization, with a touch of questioning theology.  The story centers around a small town outside of Pittsburgh after an apocalyptic event that opens the doors to the supernatural.   Now this town learns to survive with various beings attacking them, and the knowledge that there is a witch hidden in the mountains that no one has ever been able to go near. Three teens are the only entertainment in town, but long for something more.  Everyone basically lives their lives one day at a time hoping to survive, hoping to one day be free of the beings that prowl their woods and mountains.  Then a monster hunter, Del Ballatine rolls into town with the intent of ridding them of these creatures.  He and naïve Nigel venture out to the woods and happen upon a hell hound, which they take down.  But this gains the attention of the witch in the mountain and all hell breaks lose, literally.  Secrets are revealed and the state of the village changes forever.


The novel does start out a little slow with a great deal of background on the characters, and takes a little bit of time to build up to the climax.  But those details are necessary in understanding the characters and why they act and react the way the do in situations that arise further into the book, also this gives you an understanding of the town functions together, how they arise to the mob mentality so to speak.  Through this part you form a connection with the characters and town in general.  It helps with the wow factor and the twists that's happen throughout the novel.  Tarquinio does a fantastic job dragging his readers into his world, and holds them under a spell, much like the cave worm in his story.  One of my favorite elements in the story was a being known as a nightmare, one that attaches itself to a person and causes them to live in a state of a living nightmare.  It preys on the happy memories and changes them into nightmares.  It is literally the stuff of nightmares and almost makes your skin crawl.  The creatures he creates in this book are not only characters, but become apart of the atmosphere as they lurk in the shadows.


There are times in the novel when some of the characters question the existence of God in that the book takes place 20 years after the Biblical apocalypse takes place and well the world didn't end.  So characters wonder where is God, did he ever exist, is there such as thing as intrinsically evil or can a supposed evil being redeem itself.  A couple points in the story I found myself audibly whispering "no" when something happen.

I am excited to see what else Tarquinio has in store for readers with sequels, prequels or other stories unrelated to this one.  He has a knack for bringing the thrill of the unknown to the surface and his readers.  I highly recommend this book to those who enjoy supernatural thrillers, horror, fantasy, adventure.  Because I am a little bias for the fact the Josh is a dear friend of mine and my opinion of the book reflects my friendship, I will not rate the book the way I normally do.  But will simply say definitely keep your eyes out in October for when the book is release.

The Woman In Cabin 10

Lo is a travel journalist scheduled to go on a luxury cruise for an assignment.  A few days before the cruise is to set sail, he apartment is broken into shaking her up and causing her to be more on edge and frightened than normal.  It disrupts her sleep, eating and emotions.  But she decides to go on the trip anyway and try to get ahead in her field.  While there she meets people perfect for networking during a dinner.  Afterwards she tries to find some sleep only to woken by a sound in the cabin next door, and the sound of the sliding door opening and a something being thrown overboard.  Her heightened nerves already on edge she notified security and he informs her that no one was in Cabin 10.  She goes on a wild goose chase to find this woman she knew was there and figure out what really happened and who on the ship could be a murderer. 


Woman in Cabin 10 is Ruth Ware's second novel, and is taking the literary world by storm.  She has the strong ability to create a suspenseful, edge of your seat thrill of a tale.  She develops a story that takes the reader on a wild goose chase of a who done it, heightened with the unknown identity of the woman in cabin 10 as well as Lo's own anxiety and fears after being burgled a few nights before the cruise.  Ware, draws on the readers emotion to create the suspense and thrilling atmosphere of this novel and keeps the reader guessing.  There are a lot of twists and turns in this novel, although there were plot ideas that arose but were never expanded on, such as the internet/phone service being an issue.  She does a great job at building the suspense and making the reader want to know what will happen next.




The characters were a little hard to get attached to, maybe because there were so many to keep track of, I'm not sure.  Your heart goes out to Lo in the beginning, but she self medicates with alcohol a little too much in the novel, but again that plays into the storyline.  I downright despised Ben and couldn't believe Lo continued to trust him after his actions after dinner the first night.  I wanted more of Cole and some of the other characters, especially Anne and Richard.  The pacing starts out slow, but then picks up after the possible murder happens, but even then it still feels just a little bit slow as readers and assaulted with numerous possibilities and theories, though none of them are really followed up on.  Regardless of a few faults this book is a real attention getter from the beginning and keeps you interested/entertained until the very end.


I enjoyed it and finished within an evening.  I would recommend this highly to other mystery, and fiction lovers.  I give it a happy 4 star rating and look forward to what Ruth has in store for us next.


** If you haven't yet, check out the review for Ruth's debut novel In A Dark Dark Wood.

Vicious Deep by Zoraida Cordova

I was able to receive this book through Reader's Legacy which is an awesome book reader community and place to buy books.  I discovered it accidently one day and love it.  So Vicious Deep is a story about Tristan, a high school student who serves as a life guard for the beach at Coney Island.  When a freak storm sweeps Tristan away, he is discovered alive 3 days later, a completely different person.  He begins have weird nightmares and noticing his senses have gotten stronger.  Then suddenly he grows a new appendage...a tail.  In  a short time he learns his mom was a mermaid princess and the Sea King wants Tristan as his next heir.  But Tristan needs to compete with other members of the royal court in order to find the scattered pieces of the king's Trident.  But the other champions are not the only people hunting Tristan and his friends.  Will Tristan be able to accept his fate as a merman and find the pieces he needs to become king?

I am happy to see a YA fantasy novel focusing on a male lead, lately most of my leads have been strong females.  Not only do we have a male lead in this tale, but also a merman rather than a mermaid.  It begins with Tristan coming off as a douchebag, male slut type of character kissing random girls at parties and breaking hearts.  But as the story progresses he becomes a strong character with his interests and concerns shifting to accepting his new heritage and what decisions he needs to make.  Will he accept being the new king or will he sacrifice his tale to be with the girl he loves?  Only we don't find out the answer, we have to read the next book(s) in the series to find out, and I for one cannot wait to get my hands on the next book in this series.

 Cordova does an excellent job at presenting readers with a tale that is both entralling and unique.  While the idea of mermaids is not new, most stories focus on women, not mermen.  This story adds a new twist to a treasured legend and makes it possible to believe in these creatures again.  I love the addition of mythology with Poseidon, and how the race has dwindled throughout the ages.  I also enjoyed the element that the merfolk have magical powers unique to each one rather than focusing on the lore of mermaid leading humans to their deaths.    I was completely captivated with this story and read it within the night, I refused to go to bed until I finished the story, and  I may have grumbled when I got to the end because I didn't want it to end.

Congratulations to Cordova for a wonderful story and meeting a need in the fantasy/folklore genre.  I anticipate reading more novels in the series as well as any other written.  I would give this a 4 out of 5 simply because there were moments that seemed like they did not fit in with the story, but there are so many other elements that kept me on the edge of my seat.