K's Book Review

Hey everyone back again really quickly! I'm taking a brief break from the absolute hell-scape of homework, presentations, and papers that are all due on the same day. I haven't had time to read or to do any of my writing, which is the saddest part of all of this to me. But I need a break and I promised I would do a review for this book, so I shall. First things first, this is a zombie book. By far my favourite genre of books (if it can be considered its own separate genre). When I do get brief moments at school when I decide paying attention is for people going somewhere in life I like to reread a variety of different zombie novels. If there's anything I've learned from studying them it's that to stand out among the many out there it has to be unique. And this book is unique in the way that it draws off the classic zombie story. Let me tell you about it: Dallas is just your normal teenage girl. She's in high school and dreams of being a singer when she gr...

Hey everyone. I hope you are having a good Monday. Since we are now getting a butt load of snow it makes for the perfect time to do a lot of reading. Even with all the school work I have to do I'm managing to get in a few books here and there. For the longest time I haven't been reading second books in series because I don't have time to read them. But now that I am stranded on campus for long hours without my laptop I've been taking the time to catch up on all the books I haven't had time for in the last little while. This is technically the second book in the series, the first of which is called Allison Hewitt is trapped. I did a review for this book probably over a year ago. At the time I knew this book was from a different point of view with a different story. But because of the first couple chapters I read I decided I didn't want to read it at the time. Now that I have read it I remembered how much I enjoyed reading the first book. Let me tell you a ...

Hey everyone I hope you had a great weekend. It's Halloween today and the perfect day for a spooky, scary book. So when the Tick-or-treaters finally call it a night you can finish off the evening with the perfect eerie book. I had been searching around the net for a book that would be good to read leading up to Halloween when I came across this one. It was highly recommended by a few different sight. The description seemed to have an original spin on things so i thought I'd give it a shot. From the very first chapter I noticed that this was a new take on a zombie novel. The longer I read the more things began to change. I had many more questions than the beginning that seemed like there would be no answer to. Let me tell you a bit about it: Over a week after a horrible virus spread through the globe five survivors huddle together in a Bradley Fighting Vehicle traveling across the country. Before all of this they were ordinary people without any fighting experience. The...

Hey everyone I hope you had a great weekend. As you may have noticed Halloween is quickly approaching. I’m so excited to read all of the spooky stories that are posted this time of year. If you have any requests for horror, thriller, or paranormal books you’d like me to read drop me a line through my contact form along the right hand side of the page. This week I finally broke down and bought a book that I’ve been seeing in stores for years. The only reason I did was because it was on sale at my bookstore on campus for $2. Even then it sat in my bag until I literally had nothing else to read. The first thing I noticed when I started looking at the book was it was written by an author I had read before. This wasn’t overly reassuring for me since I didn’t have the best review for his first book I read. Despite this I tried to have an open mind. Right from the start I enjoyed the story. I expected more drama and bullsh!t based on the description but for both sides of the argument th...

Hey everyone I hope you had a good Thanksgiving (for those of you in Canada). I was lucky enough that my boyfriend had the day off to make me and my roommate a nice dinner, since I was unable to make it home to be with my family due to work. But despite being so busy I still managed to get a book read for today. For the last couple weeks I have been looking for good Apocalypse books with little luck. I saw this book but the description didn't really fit what I was looking for. When I couldn't find anything else to read I said "screw it" and read it anyway. The first thing I found when reading the book is that it was WAY better than the description lead on. There was a whole other theme to the story that wasn't even mentioned in the description. The moment I started I couldn't put it down and within 24 hours I had read the second book and was working on the third book. So let me tell you a bit about it: Alex ran away from her Aunts place to fulfill her ...

Hey everyone, I hope you had a great weekend. This week I started reading a book called UFO Files that I found at the bookstore for $2. But one thing I find about this book, which I haven't finished reading yet, is that it really makes me want to read other books. It's not that the book isn't good (it's alright) but there is something about the themes it talks about that makes me want to read a book with that theme. So because of that I ended up finding this book. Amanda Hocking has a long history of writing books for the teen audience. I first ran into her books when I read her Switched at Birth trilogy, which I don't think I did a review for on this blog. Since I recognized her I thought I would give this book a shot. The description of the book was very basic. It has the classic "girl in a zombie apocalypse trying to find someone she loves" feel. And there is something about a book set in the 'after apocalypse' centred around the apocalypse...

When I was in high school two of my friends were very into this series and I used to hear them talk about it all the time. At the time I was interested in a different sort of books so I never thought about reading them until now, when I was in the need of some well rated popular books. I loved the idea of everyone older than 14 being a danger to society. Some of you may remember that a few weeks ago I read Quarantine where anyone in their teen years was the danger to the adults. This contrast works greatly when read back to back because you get to see two complete opposites of the same sort of story. Big difference with this books than most I read, it is set in London, England instead of the USA. It's a great change in my opinion. In the US it is much easier to get guns than it is in England (so I have been told) so the children had to actually be creative in finding ways to fight off the adults and defend themselves. I would have liked the have read more about the story star...

Hey everyone I hope you are having a good Monday. A few weeks ago someone reached out to me about downloading this book from Kobo or Amazon since it was free. I figured, since it was a free book, I didn't have much to lose. I checked out some of the other ratings for this book, as I normally do to get a few different opinions before forming my own, and it didn't look promising. While I always look at the lowest and highest review for the differing opinions I found it hard to find a good review. For my own opinion I tried not to think too much about the negative things I read. The author didn't have the strongest voice and I had a problem with the dialogue since it wasn't very realistic. The story itself had promise but I found it was just another take on a popular topic. Since Zombies have become such a popular part of our culture I find an author has to have a very unique new way of presenting them to catch anyone attention in a big way. But let me tell you what I...

Oh my goodness everyone, it is finally happening! For the first time I am hosting a book giveaway on my blog! But because this is the first time and I am short on money at the moment I am only opening it to US and Canada entries. Sorry about that. If I get a really good turn out for the giveaway I might consider opening it up to other countries. I will be giving away ONE copy of The First Days by Rhiannon Frater. Because it is my copy it isn't in PERFECT condition but it is in pretty good condition. I always take care of my books. The Link to my review on this book is here: http://ksteenbookreview.blogspot.ca/2014/03/the-first-days-by-rhiannon-frater.html Please read the rules before you enter this contest! THIS IS IMPORTANT! RULES No purchase or payment required. The odds of being selected as a winner depend on the number of entries received. To enter this contest you must be 18 years of age or older or the age of majority in your country. You must be a resident of The...

Hey everyone I hope everyone had a great holiday season and is looking forward to returning to their everyday lives... I know, I'm not either. But now we have hopefully all caught up on well needed sleep and have had a lot of books to read. Last night I decided it was time I actually read a book before the review today. I know; bad. But this is a quick read with a lot of details. I can certainly see why this is meant to be a series of episodes in future books. This book is more like the first in a series of short stories than an actual book. Let me tell you a bit about it: Riley is having a pretty bad day. First: he didn't get the job he was hoping for. Second: He lied to his grandma, the only person he has in his life, about getting the job. Third: Someone has eaten his neighbour.... When he comes home and finds the body of his neighbour lying in the parking garage he knows something is wrong. His worst worst thoughts are confirmed when he sees the body come to life a...

1. Kitty Hawk: This whole series has been such a great discovery for me. Growing up I loved Nancy Drew and this book has offered me the same girl packaged in a Canadian Goose jacket. Not only is every book set in a different location around the world but the author has done so much research that I wouldn't even be able to tell if he hadn't been there himself. 2. Under a Broken Sky: Post apocalypse at its best here with a scientific undertone. See how different groups react to the new world through the eyes of a man who is no hero by any standpoint. Start riots, steal whenever you cat, and watch out for the funnies. This book kept me glued to the pages from start to finish. 3. The Secret Apocalypse: First book free on Kobo and other e-readers. Imagine the zombie apocalypse. Now imagine it on an island. Now imagine it in Australia where the entire island has been sealed off from the world and no one outside the island knows what is going on. Follow one girl as she fights to ...

Hello everyone! I hope you are all recovering well from your holiday festivities in time for the new years celebrations. I have taken advantage of the money I received from family to restock my book collection. But before that I read this book, which was free through Kobo and Amazaon. I wouldn't exactly call this a novel. It is more of a short story or a novella then a full blown novel but it still had a pretty good story line. Let me give you a short description. Emma is a typical American girl who has just graduated from nursing school. Wanting to do something different and make a difference in the world she volunteers to assist in the Ebola Crisis in Africa. She is flown in and gets to work as soon as possible. But something isn't right inside the camp, from the strange doctors that are trying to keep the volunteers as far from the truth to the strange cases of people dying from the disease only to still be alive the next day. Emma wants to look deeper into the case...

Hey everyone I hope you are having a good day. This week I got my hands on a copy (online) of this book by James Harden. For some reason it was showing up Free on my Kobo but I liked it so much that I purchased the second book in the series just to help support the author.  You all know how much I love a good Zombie novel and I really love it when the author puts an original spin on things whether it be in story or in writing style. In this case it was the story that had the original spin on it. Let me tell you a bit about it. Rebecca has survived what we are told was a horrible incident back in Australia and that she was the only known survivor of the incident. She is being interviewed about the incident which has been kept quiet by the Australian government and the American military. Rebecca flashes back to when the events all started on the first day of school in Australia. The first anyone knew anything was wrong was when the school shut down on the first day due to hea...

Good morning everyone! Okay, maybe it isn't morning anymore but for the sake of my pride I will say that it is morning and I am writing this before school (not after classes). As some of you may know after reading my previous post last week I have started reading books on my device as ebooks. This one was the first book I read. I have to say it worked out better than I expected considering I stayed up until 1 in the morning reading on my phone until I finished and passed out with my phone on my chest. When I woke up I read another book in one sitting. So far everything is working out nicely with the device reading. But let's talk about Allison Hewitt: We start our story hearing from Allison on a military network as she blogs about the first days of the outbreak. Her and a few of her coworkers managed to hide themselves away in the break room when their bookstore was attacked. In the break room they have fridges, back-up generators, and security cameras so they can keep ...

SPOILER ALERT! The Walking Dead Comics Police officer Rick is shot one day while on the job with his partner Shane. He wakes up several months later in an abandoned hospital with no idea what happened. As he wanders around trying to find a person he stumbles upon mass hordes of the undead. He accidentally kills one before escaping from the hospital to the outside world where he finds his hometown destroyed. He steals a bike from a dead woman on the ground and tries to make it home when a young boy knocks him unconscious. When he wakes up he meets his attacker a young boy and his father who thought he was undead. He helps them break into the police station to get weapons and then asks them to come along with him as he goes to find his wife and son in Atlanta, where he thinks they would have gone. They thank him but say they are safe where they are. Rick takes a horse from a local barn and rides down the deserted road towards Atlanta. The city there is abandoned and quiet unt...

1. World War Z: Not only did this book show the best style of writing I have seen in a long time but it also had a story that was everything you could ever want in a Zombie novel. I find the most important part of any zombie story is the outbreak itself and how life has changed from before it happened. When a story jumps in after the outbreak occurs it doesn't have the same effect as when they show you people trying to survive as the world goes to hell around them. World War Z demonstrated, without a reasonable doubt, that life for different people is changed dramatically when the world goes to hell. In the novel you will read from a different persons perspective in each chapter telling their story from their country. The book is organized so that the stories are told in order from the beginning of the outbreak to those who tell of how they survived during, all the way to the present day in novel time when they are living in their new world. There is no competition of my shelf tha...

Good morning everyone! This week I decided to go back to read a Young Adult book. Not long ago my blog was specifically about reading teen books but I changed that as over time I found it was important to read outside of just teen books. A true reader reads a variety of genres.  I had seen this book in the book store and, being a fan of Alice in Wonderland, I thought I would give it a shot. While there are a few references to the original story this book doesn't relate much to Alice in Wonderland at all. Alice loves her sister more than anything. On her 16th birthday she decides that for her gift (since her parents forgot her birthday) she wants to go to her sisters dance performance. The only problem with this is that their dad is crazy. Ever since they can remember their father has been a crazy drunk who refuses to allow anyone to leave the house after dark. He sees monsters that no one else sees and stands guard every night with a gun despite the fact that no one besides ...

Hey Everyone I hope you are all having a good Monday. To be honest I almost forgot that I had to do a review today since I am so busy competing in a International scavenger hunt. If you have heard of Gishwhes.com you might understand what I am talking about. But I remembered now right before I left to go dress up like a monster and run around town hall taking pictures in a Kale hat. Confused? Good, that's the point. Anyway, this week I thought I would do another zombie book since I love them so much. I found this one and it had a few pretty good reviews. I was expecting another zombie outbreak novel but this wasn't like others I have read. Let me tell you a bit about it: Joe Ledger is not your average cop. He is skilled in many self defence courses and is looking to move up shortly on the ladder. When he is suddenly targeted by the FBI because of his involvement in a raid on a warehouse where he killed several terrorists, including one man who seemed almost dead, he know...

SPOILER ALERT! World War Z The book follows many different points of view being taken down in an interview format with the author as the interviewer. We start with a man who was a doctor who treated patient zero. He remembers how the boy lost his toe after being attacked while treasure hunting with his dad. He then grows sick and when he attacked several of the villagers he was locked away and restrained. As he is trying to diagnose his friend warns him to get out of the country. Before he can do so he is locked away. By time he gets out the war was already underway. Another man tells his tale of smuggling people, some with infected passengers, out of the country. Eventually he takes all the money he made and gets away knowing the infection is spreading to other countries now. The next man worked in the military and was looking for terrorists when he stumbled upon what look to be an attack. They find many people from a terrorist group dead, all from what appeared to be their ...