All Things Bright and Strange by James Markert

All Things Bright and Strange
By James Markert
Published by Thomas Nelson
E-Book ARC
// I received this ARC from #netgalley in exchange for an honest review //
This book comes out on January 30, 2018!

All Things Bright and Strange follows the story of Michael Ellsworth Newberry, who goes by Ellsworth, who's life is strange to say the least. He has survived things that no one could imagine and that make no sense. After the death of his wife and the loss of his leg, Ellsworth has lived a grumpy life that leads him to wanting to kill himself. An act he again survives when the gun doesn't go off. As the story continues, we see that the town of Bellhaven is not quite right. Something is happening that is affecting all the residents of the accepting small town. And all because of a mysterious chapel in the woods. What follows is a story of religion, self-doubt and fantasy straight out of biblical myth.

All Things Bright and Strange is an interesting book. When I say interesting, I mean I really don't know how I feel about it. The story is a mix of fantasy, religion and small town life that left me feeling like I had just watched an episode of Supernatural. If you don't know what Supernatural is, it is a TV show about two brothers who battle the supernatural forces of the world and all sorts of antics ensue. Anyway, I wasn't sure how to take the story at all. It started off well and good, but the story never seemed to find a solid footing. About halfway through the book I could begin to see where the story was going but I felt like chunks of the book were disjointed. The best way I can describe it is "close, but no cigar". It really just needed more detail, more depth. There needed to be more of a backstory to fully make the reader understand where the chapel came from and the people associated with it.

But for all my confusion, it really was a decent story that took a different approach to the eternal battle of good vs evil.

I give All Things Bright and Strange by James Markert a 📖📖📖 / 5 bookies. I recommend this book for an interesting read.

Downward Dog: Very Serious Haiku from a Very Serious Dog by Samm and Phinheas Hodges

// I received this ebook for free from #netgalley in exchange for an honest review //

Downward Dog: Very Serious Haiku from a Very Serious Dog
By Samm and Phinheas Hodges
Animal Media Group

This was a quick, funny read that really lightened up my bad day. The book is a series of haikus from the point of view of a dog. While obviously dogs can't write, I can imagine a dog actually writing poetry like this. I mean, I can see my dog writing this. Plus, the pictures are pretty awesome as well. Even the one sad haiku hit a nerve as I can imagine what it would feel like if I had to go through what happened in that particular haiku.

Overall, I give Downward Dog: Very Serious Haiku from a Very Serious Dog by Samm and Phinheas Hodges 📖📖📖📖 / 5 bookies and highly recommend for a good laugh.

The Dead House by Billy O'Callaghan

// I received this ebook for free from #netgalley in exchange for an honest review //

The Dead House by Billy O'Callaghan

Arcade Publishing - DRC

My first thought when I requested this book was that it was going to be a cookie-cutter haunted house story. You know, a group goes to an old house and finds out it's haunted. Maybe all the characters die but one that passes on the story? We've all read at least one story like that. But I couldn't have been more wrong. And I really, really don't like admitting when I'm wrong.

The Dead House is told from the point of view of Mike, an art dealer who goes to visit his friend and artist Maggie. We learn that Mike helps Maggie purchase a new house, a run down cottage in Allihies in Ireland after Maggie is nearly beaten to death by her then boyfriend. Maggie claims that the cottage is perfect (even though it needs a lot of rennovations) and will allow her to paint again after her tragedy. Once the cottage is finished, Maggie invites Mike and a few friends to a housewarming in the new cottage. During that time a Ouija board is brought out and the group is never the same again.

O'Callaghan's writing takes the reader to another place. I haven't read a book like this before. Just as the story revolves around artists and art, the writing style seems to do the same. The writing is so descriptive that immediately the reader can see the landscape in his or her head. Not many books have done this for me in quite this way. I really appreciated the way the writing sucked me into the story. I felt like I was there with Mike and that the evil he comes in contact with was with me too. The horror that was involved wasn't cliche or stale like I thought it would be. It was more psychological and brought to light in a way that kept me guessing.

However, at some points the sentences seemed too long and at points I lost the pace of the story wondering when a sentence would end. But those times were few and far between so it didn't cause too much of a problem. The only other real "problem" I had with the story was the abrupt ending and epilogue. The story seems to end in mid-thought and runs into an epilogue that didn't seem to fit. The continuing story in the epilogue could have just been added to the end of the book with no qualms. There was no jump in time or change of narration, so it threw me off. Not a huge problem, just a hiccup for me personally. 

Overall, The Dead House was a neat little horror story that made me question I whether I will ever even look at a Ouija board again. 

I give The Dead House by Billy O'Callaghan 📖📖📖.5 / 5 bookies and recommend it to horror lovers and general readers alike.

#netgalley #thedeadhouse #arcadepublishing #horror #mrsmadonnareads #suspense

Origin by Dan Brown

Oh Mr. Brown you've done it again! Origin is another fast-paced story with favorite Robert Langdon, a religious symbologist, and his timeless ability to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. In Origin, Langdon finds himself sucked into the announcement of the century! The mysterious, famous Edmond Kirsch announces that he has discovered something scientific that will shake the world of religion forever. However, all goes awry when Kirsch is assassinated in the middle of his presentation and Langdon and the future queen of Spain, Ambra Vidal, find themselves in a race against time to fully release the presentation to the world.

Origin is the fifth of Brown's books in the Langdon series and it is very similar to his other books while still keeping itself separate. Again we find Langdon with a beautiful, intelligent woman on his arm. Will he ever team up with a man? Ha ha. Anyway, I almost thought I was having deja vu while reading this book. I will admit that when I first started reading the book I thought it was just going to be more of the same. There's a murder, Langdon goes running through historic cities and some big mystery is revealed at the end. And while that is still basically what happens, it at least incorporates a completely different aspect that has not been touched on in other Langdon stories: technology.

Lets be honest, our world is becoming more and more reliant on technology and it is not always a good thing. Brown finds some interesting ways to tie that growing need for technology into a story of a man and woman on the run. I won't really go into detail because I don't want to give away too much, but we find that Langdon and Vidal are being guided through their adventure by Winston a very advanced AI created by Kirsch. And while it is cool to see a totally different aspect being written into the story, it is done in a way that is almost...boring. I found myself at about the halfway mark in the book and I had already solved the mystery of who had likely killed Kirsch. I don't know if it was because of the way Brown writes (he has been widely criticized for his lack-luster writing style) or that the mystery killer just wasn't developed well in the story. But I usually am pretty good at figuring out the mystery fairly early.

I will say, however, that Kirsch's presentation had me gripping the book for a hot second trying to figure out what he was going to reveal. And then I was like "oh". I think that was where the deja vu really kicked in. This book fits right in with current discoveries and realizations that are becoming more widespread in today's world. I believe that is almost why, however much I liked the book, it was a bit of a letdown. All that buildup and THAT is what you leave me with. Oh well. It was a good book nonetheless and I do recommend you read it and form your own opinion.

I give Origin by Dan Brown 📖📖📖.5 / 5 bookies.