ARC Review – ‘Mirror Image’ by Michael Scott & Melanie Ruth Rose

Title: Mirror Image
Authors: Michael Scott & Melanie Ruth Rose
Genre: Horror
Date of Publication: 23rd August, 2016
Page Count: 352 pages (hardcover)
Synopsis: (from Goodreads)

A mirror that feeds on human souls wreaks destruction on those around it in this new novel from internationally bestselling author Michael Scott and Melanie Ruth Rose. In an auction house in London, there is a mirror no one will buy. Standing seven feet tall and reaching four feet across, its size makes it unusual. Its horrific powers make it extraordinary. For centuries, the mirror has fed off of the lives of humans, giving them agonizing deaths and sucking their souls into its hellish world.

When Jonathan Frazer, the wealthy owner of a furniture and antiques shop in Los Angeles, buys the mirror at an auction, he believes he is getting the bargain of a lifetime. With its age and size, it is easily worth eight times what he paid for it. At this point, the mirror has sat dormant for years. But within days of Jonathan’s purchase, the deaths begin again. One employee is crushed when the mirror falls on top of him. A few days later, the corpse of another is found in front of the mirror, brutally stabbed. A third is burned beyond all recognition. All the while, an enormous man with a scarred face is following Jonathan, demanding that he give him the mirror and killing any police officer that gets in his way.

The police are becoming desperate. As the death toll rises, Jonathan himself becomes a suspect. He knows there is something wrong with the mirror. He knows it’s dangerous. But he cannot bring himself to get rid of it. Everyday he becomes more captivated by the mirror.

For the mirror is awakening, and its powers are resurfacing.

I need to preface this by saying that I am definitely not unbiased – Oculus is one of my favorite horror movies and pretty much the main impetus behind me requesting this ARC. My expectations were high, and happy days, they were actually met!

Geek {Chic} Monthly – August 2016

Geek {Chic} Monthly provides you with 4 – 5 fandom-inspired merchandise, all matching the month’s chosen fandom/theme. In addition to jewelry, you may also receive other goodies such as decals, stickers, coin purses, tea tins and cord organizers.

Geek {Chic} Monthly
Cost: $15.00 USD per month.
Shipping Costs: $3.00 to the US / $10.00 to Canada / $15.00 to the rest of the world.
Payment Method: Credit Card.
Mailed Out: by the 15th of each month.
**Note: this subscription auto-renews and you are billed on the 15th of each month**

My box was sent on the 12th of August and arrived a week later on the 19th. 🙂 It’s funny to me how sometimes boxes travel halfway around the world and yet still have a similar ETA to boxes sent within Australia… *eyes AusPost*

Nerd Block’s Vinylpalooza 3.0 Review

Nerd Block is a monthly pop culture subscription box service designed to appeal to geeks and gamers, and catering to a variety of interests with the Classic Block, Arcade Block, Horror Block, Sci-Fi Block and more.

I decided to take a gamble on Vinylpalooza 3.0, a limited box (now sold out) that offered 4 Pop Vinyls and 2 Dorbz figures for $19.99 USD plus shipping. That seemed like an incredible deal, considering the franchises that were supposedly up for grabs! Every box was meant to be different with 6 Funko products from a variety of pop culture sources, including the following:

Spoiler alert – this was not the case at all. Most people ended up getting the exact same box, which was very unfortunate for those who ordered MULTIPLE boxes after being reassured on Facebook that each box would have completely distinct pops and little chance of duplicates.

Even worse, only a couple of the popular IPs from their promotional material featured in the boxes – look, nobody EXPECTS that the pops they love and hope for the most will be in the box, but based on the advertising, we do have a reasonable expectation that there is at least a CHANCE that some people will be receiving pops from, say, Suicide Squad or Captain America or Star Wars. We purchase these boxes in the hopes that we will be lucky enough to be one of those people, but that was not even a remote possibility here.

Aside from the box I received (the most common one sent out), there were only two variations: Exhibit A and Exhibit B. These weren’t wildly varying either, mostly different characters from the same franchises.

ARC review – ‘Follow Me’ by Tiffany Snow

Title: Follow Me
Author: Tiffany Snow
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Expected Date of Publication: 4th October, 2016
Page Count: 335pages (paperback)
Synopsis: (from Goodreads)

Brilliant, quirky twenty-three-year-old China Mack is totally satisfied with her carefully ordered, data-driven life. A computer prodigy who landed a coveted programming job at the cutting-edge tech company Cysnet before even graduating from MIT, China is happiest when following her routine: shower before coffee, pizza only on Mondays, bedtime at ten thirty sharp.

But then things start to get a little…unpredictable.

First Jackson Cooper—Cysnet’s rich, gorgeous, genius CEO—assigns China to a dangerous and highly classified project for a government defense contractor. Her sixteen-year-old runaway niece suddenly arrives in town, begging to move in with China. And then there’s her sexy but oddly unsettling new neighbor, Clark…

Quickly the Cysnet assignment becomes disconcerting—and then downright scary—as key staffers turn up dead. China suspects she’s being followed and isn’t sure whom she can trust. For the first time ever, she’ll have to follow her instincts, rather than logic, if she’s going to survive.

Reading this was pure wish fulfillment – it made me so happy. 😀 I started reading in the evening and eventually had to force myself to put it away and go to sleep since it was after 1am in the morning! I was so reluctant to tear myself away, but then I told myself that if I didn’t stop, it’d be over way too soon.

ARC review – Aveline by Lizzy Ford

Title: Aveline
Author: Lizzy Ford
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Expected Date of Publication: 19th September, 2016
Page Count: 254 pages (paperback)
Synopsis: (from Goodreads)

Seventeen year old assassin-in-training, Aveline, is ready to die rather than submit to her fate working in a brothel to repay her late father’s debts. On the night she tries to end her life, a stranger stops her and offers a proposition: a clean slate, in exchange for her agreement to become the guardian of a young woman she has never met. Leery of the assignment and the man behind it, Aveline has no other option but to accept the deal.

Aveline’s suspicion that something is off about the arrangement magnifies when she meets her new ward, Tiana Hanover, the daughter of the most powerful man in Lost Vegas. Expecting a pampered princess with an attitude, Aveline is surprised to discover Tiana is little more than a slave – and harboring a secret the wealthy Hanover’s cannot risk being revealed in two months, on Tiana’s eighteenth birthday.

Determined to keep the Hanover girl alive, Aveline must learn how to protect Tiana from the other Hanover’s or wind up dead alongside her ward.

I really wanted to like this one. Judging by the glowing reviews on Goodreads, this appealed to several other readers, but alas, I was not one of them.

The synopsis sounds fantastic – I love strong female protagonists, I love assassins, I love female friendship or mentor/protegee relationships. And I will say that the action scenes were a high point in this novel. But I found the title character so exasperating that it made this book a struggle to get through!

ARC review – Chills by Mary SanGiovanni

Title: Chills
Author: Mary SanGiovanni
Genre: Horror
Expected Date of Publication: 27th September, 2016
Page Count: 320 pages (paperback)
Synopsis: (from Goodreads)

“True Detective” meets H.P. Lovecraft in this chilling novel of murder, mystery, and slow-mounting dread from acclaimed author Mary SanGiovanni . . .

It begins with a freak snowstorm in May. Hit hardest is the rural town of Colby, Connecticut. Schools and businesses are closed, powerlines are down, and police detective Jack Glazier has found a body in the snow. It appears to be the victim of a bizarre ritual murder. It won’t be the last. As the snow piles up, so do the sacrifices. Cut off from the rest of the world, Glazier teams up with an occult crime specialist to uncover a secret society hiding in their midst.

The gods they worship are unthinkable. The powers they summon are unstoppable. And the things they will do to the good people of Colby are utterly, horribly unspeakable…

I adore the premise of a small town facing unimaginable horror – it’s my favorite setting for horror novels, so I was looking forward to this book. However, while it was a briskly entertaining read, it didn’t really click with me on an emotional level and I found myself skimming through at some points.

Poptaria Limited Edition ‘Suicide Squad’ Box!

Poptaria is an Australian pop culture business that offers a monthly themed box designed to appeal to geeks and gamers as well as the occasional limited edition, special themed box. As you can see on their Past Boxes page, each box tends to contain between 5 – 7 items which may include pop vinyls, action figures, accessories, comics, books and more.

When I heard Poptaria was releasing a Suicide Squad-themed box due in time for the movie, I had to have it! 😀

This one cost $99.99 AUD! Thankfully it was my birthday recently and my lovely cousins bought this as my present, mwahaha ❤

Voliere’s Birdcage Box – July 2016

Voliere Luxury Products has The Birdcage Box on offer, which is a month-by-month Australian subscription box that promises over $75 worth of contents. Subscribers receive a variety of items from the Voliere range such as melts, candles and tealights as well as from different Australian businesses, which may include items like lip balm and body butter, plus accessories and other gifts.

Voliere Luxury Products
Cost: $60.00
Ships To: Australia only with free postage.
Payment Method: Paypal or Credit Card.
Mailed Out: First week of the month.
Note: subscriptions do not auto-renew.