How to Grow an Addict by J.A. Wright

Description
Randall Grange has been tricked into admitting herself into a treatment center and she doesn’t know why. She’s not a party hound like the others in her therapy group—but then again, she knows she can’t live without pills or booze. Raised by an abusive father, a detached mother, and a loving aunt and uncle, Randall both loves and hates her life. She’s awkward and a misfit. Her parents introduced her to alcohol and tranquilizers at a young age, ensuring that her teenage years would be full of bad choices, and by the time she’s twenty-three years old, she’s a full-blown drug addict, well acquainted with the miraculous power chemicals have to cure just about any problem she could possibly have—and she’s in more trouble than she’s ever known was possible.

This is my first time reading anything by J.A. Wright, and honestly I'm blown away.
How To Grow An Addict is an expertly crafted realistic look at a dysfunctional family and all it's ugly consequences. It made me laugh one minute and broke my heart the next. Poor Randall grew up with an abusive hard drinking father and a mother who popped pills to calm her nerves. From the time she was old enough to mix a drink she was playing bartender and fetching her mother's pills, and sometimes helping herself to one or 2 so she could calm her own nerves and get some sleep. Almost always made to feel unwelcome in her own home she looked forward to spending time with her Aunt Flo and Uncle Hank, until tragedy took even that small measure of comfort away from her. This was an amazing story. 5 out of 5 stars from me.

I received a complimentary copy for review

The Makings of a Fatherless Child by Chandler Alexander

Description

Chandler Alexander's The Makings of a Fatherless Child is a dark and riveting tale of a young boy, Amel River, growing of age in the Mississippi Delta all while trying to survive a broken home, poverty, fatherlessness, and a voice in his head that won't go away.

With the wisdom of a drunken stranger King Lee, the unspoken love of his best friend Sea’Sea, and the innocent eyes of his two-year-old nephew Javion, Amel embarks on an unknown journey of truth, understanding, and forgiveness, hoping that his journey will lead him to experience his ultimate definition of freedom, a life worth living.

 

 

The Makings of a Fatherless Child by Chandler Alexander
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I struggled over whether or not to leave a review for this book. I have mixed feelings about it. I have issues with much of the narrative and some of the dialogue. First the good...

This is a dark, gritty, brutal story. A coming of age tale in a poverty stricken city. Amel has known nothing but hard times his whole life. His father wants nothing to do with him, his mother is abusive and too wrapped up in herself to care or notice that Amel's clothes stopped fitting him years ago. He has hopes and dreams for a better life but circumstances, poor choices and his own temper conspire against him time and time again, dragging him down into a future that looks more and more bleak. This was a good story that could have been much better if only it had just a bit of polishing up before publication. The author states that they are a writer of "realistic fiction." Now I am sure that is where much of the dialogue fits in. It is raw, gritty and I suppose realistic. I am sure there are people who speak the way the characters in the book do, with mother****** and nigg** peppering every other word. You feel me? Aight? Some may take offense to the vulgarity, obscenities or ghettosims laced through-out but "I'm not even gone go there witcha." That was not what bothered me. However the constant typos and grammatical errors did begin to get on my nerves. Yes it is "realistic" to the way some people speak. But sometimes it seems the author forgot who they were even speaking about. For example seeing a man who had "my arm" around somebody's throat instead of his own arm. Or "I smiled at my little champ standing there crying, looking passed the big not on his head" "I said with a grimmest" "I threw a red brick on his body so there wouldn't be any figure prints" Not to even mention the woman who is wearing her "night grown" or having a "meth addition" I could go on but there is no point. Suffice it to say there are typos, misspellings and/or grammatical errors on every page.

At this point I actually reached out to the publisher to ask if these had been corrected. I did not get a response so today I went to amazon and downloaded the sample of the kindle edition which is currently for sale, and am sad to say that no these have not been corrected. I probably would have rated it 4 stars if corrections had been made even though some of the "realistic" parts are pretty outlandish.

If you can overlook this, it is a book worth reading.


I received a complimentary copy for review.

Night Show by Richard Laymon

Description

When the horror becomes real.

Dani Larson is the queen of horror movie special effects. Grisly murders and mutilated corpses are all in a day’s work for her. Nothing frightens her—not even watching herself torn to pieces on the screen. But now the gore is real, and Dani is terrified. She’s being stalked by the Chill Master, a psychopath who wants to be Dani’s apprentice, her lover, and eventually…her replacement. Can Dani find a way to survive? Or will this real-life horror movie scare Dani to death?

 

 

This was a quick and creepy read.

One night a disturbed youth who gets off on scaring people decides it would be great fun to lock a girl in the local "haunted" house as a prank. Something goes wrong and now this girl is out for revenge.

Meanwhile this disturbed young man has moved on to stalking Dani, a horror movie special effects expert. He insinuates himself into her life with dire consequences.

A fun and suspenseful read.

I received an advance copy for review.

A Dark Assortment by Mikey Campling

Description

Don't be afraid. They're just stories, aren't they? Sometimes that noise you can hear upstairs is just the old floorboards creaking as they settle down for the night. Sometimes. But there's no need to worry because, that face you saw at the window was just a reflection. There's no one else here. You're alone. But that's OK because you're safe in your bed. And all those things you fear deep down in the dark reaches of your soul... well, they only happen in stories, don't they? A Dark Assortment is a collection of seventeen stories; a chocolate box of handmade treats. But beware - beneath each richly decorated shell, there's a seed of delicious darkness. These stories with a twist are perfect for fans of Edgar Allan Poe, and if you enjoy books like Ray Bradbury's "Illustrated Man" and Roald Dahl's "Skin" then we'll get along just fine. Oh - before I go, I'll wish you all Sweet Dreams.

This was a quick read. I do love short stories but I am not a big fan of "flash fiction" and at barely over a page long several of these would fall into that category. I'm not even going to pretend that I understood the stories that were that short. However if you like flash fiction this may be the book for you. There were a few gems mixed in with the bunch, that were longer and that I did find enjoyable. Among those were "Listen" which is a modern version of the Tell Tale Heart, "Focus" about a blogger who is too wrapped up in himself to notice life passing him by, and "Christmas Comes But Once, about a man who has lost the holiday spirit but may have found himself. Or at least that is my interpretation.  I could very well be wrong. If you read it let me know what you think.
I received a complimentary copy for review.