My Rating: 4 Stars Now here is a collection you don’t read every day. Twisted tales that not only give you shivers but also make you rethink a thing or two. A collection of 16 short stories and 10 poems that explore several themes going from space exploration, time travel to mythology and supernatural events that will make you sleep with the lights on. If you found yourself stuck in a shoe sized-box for eight centuries, what would your plan be to escape? A parasite that enjoys your nightmares, how far would you go to get rid of it? If you had the choice between sparing or killing a creature, what would you choose? Is the darkness between reality and the dream world real? What if it’s out to get you? First, I must say, the introduction is chilling to the bone and beautifully written. I got hooked on the book right from the beginning. There are certain short stories that spoke more to me than others, and some of them are: • A Deal in the Dark is a reminder to be careful about what you wish for and to whom you make it to; • Just the Ticket gives a whole new meaning to “The Devil is in the detail”. Like it happens in our daily life, read contracts with attention and read the small letters carefully. You never know when you’re being tricked, and the price of falling for it; • Breaking the Cycle brings out the fear of closed spaces that took my breath away and made me stopped reading for a few moments. For claustrophobics, this one is a killer, literally. • Nightmare’s Eve, good boys get gifts on Christmas, naughty boys get… a very different present-bringer. Where did the good Santa go? Was he ever good to begin with? He does look a bit pale there. A great, creative twist to your usually happy Christmas tale! Certain poems kept replaying in my mind, even days after reading them the first time. Unwound, Upon Reflection, Merlin’s Lament, Lost at Sea and A Never-Setting Sun, talk about loss, the truth behind a mirrors reflection and the nostalgia of lost moments and memories. I found them to be touching and melancholic. I think Stephen Provost uses prose to explore his imagination and poetry to express feelings that he couldn’t express quite as well as writing about them. But then again, this is my own interpretation. The style of writing is amazing. Stephen Provost is a master with words both in verse and in poetry; it’s like music written with words instead of music notes. It seems like there’s an influence of the gothic style in his writing in all his works which brings out a feeling of melancholy. I recommend this novel to the fans of short-stories and of stories and poems that drift between genres. Thank you Xpresso Book Tours and the author Stephen H. Provost for allow me to participate on the book tour of Nightmare's Eve.
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My Rating: 5 Stars A great novel filled with action beautifully described and with a memorable plot. It’s a very enjoyable wild ride! In a distant future, Demons and angels are at war and Earth is the battlefield. Poverty, death and power struggles are the consequences of a war that doesn’t seem to have an end. But a prophecy that has been passed down for 600 years describes that a man half-angel half-demon will change the course of the war and the fate of Earth. His name is Drake Blackfaith and this is the beginning of his journey. It has been a while since I’ve read a novel that takes place in the Heaven/Hell reality but I couldn’t get enough of it. From adventure, action to romance this instalment creates the perfect base for the other novel that comes after. The plot is very well-developed and all its details are important to the story and its characters. In the beginning of the novel, there is a lot of information to process but the author gives space to the reader to actually understand it. The war is brutal and it’s easy to see who the good guys are and the bad guys but even so, humans suffer in the hands of both. It’s an action-packed novel with a number of twists that arrive unexpectedly. The descriptions are incredible and they pulled the reader straight to the story. I really enjoyed reading and imagining this world with all the details the author provided: nothing satisfies me more than a world built in solid grounds; its halfway for me to fully enjoy a book. All of the characters have enough depth to actually seem real and they aren’t perfect. The protagonist Drake is easy to relate to and even easier to feel for him and his inner struggles. He isn’t perfect, and despite the fact that he is half-light and half-darkness, he acts and feels like a human being. The reader can see his character development throughout the story and grow into the man that will change the world. I highly recommend this book to fans of the reality of angels and demons in a future setting. I want to thank D.L. Colón for reaching out and sending me a free digital copy of his book in exchange for an honest review. |
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