Week in Review #142

The Week in Review is where I combine Stacking the Shelves, The Sunday Post and It's Monday! What are you reading?  If you have never joined in on these meme's you can check them out by clicking on the meme and it will take you to the host blog.

It's been a while since I did one of these, mainly as I keep forgetting to do them on Saturdays and don't have time on Sundays before church to write one up. Anyway, not a lot has happened in the time I have been gone. :) This past week we have had a lot of rain, and I am tired of rain and could use a few dry days as I need to mow.

This week I watched a lot of killer animal type movies as I know it's strange but I find them relaxing. I watched mostly ones I have seen before like Killer Crocodile, Mega Python vs Gateriod, but I did watch a few new to me ones like Robo Croc which was pretty good, but the worst one was Bears on a Ship, that was so dumb, you could tell it was someone in a costume. This movie is newer, I think 2025, even being a indie film, I would think they could do better. I will stick with my older movies and the rubber Croc over any new killer animal films.

Well, that is all I have to chat about so hope y'all have a great week and happy reading!

What I read:

• Beast Business - This was a novella in the Hidden Legacy series and it was good.
• Last Kids on Earth and the Forbidden Fortress - Book 8 in the series and really fun.
• Night of the Vam-Wolf-Zom - Last book in a fun little series. 
• Train to Impossible Places - First book in a series and I thought it was fun.

Currently Reading:

• The Widow Spy - Historical fiction about the first Pinkerton female and it's not the greatest.
• The Captain's Clue - Second book in the Parable Port series and so far it's fun, but only around 19% in.

What did you read last week?

Two Bloggers One Book ~ Stage Fright by Wendy Parris

 So today we have a middle grade book as it's Middle Grade May and so Barb and I decided to read one together. After you see what I thought, go on over to Booker T's Farm and see what she thought. :) 

A new locked room scary story about twelve-year-old Avery, who plans a séance at a deserted theater to bond with her friends, only to realize they’re locked inside with someone—or something—else. This spine tingling read is perfect for fans of Katherine Arden and Lindsay Currie! When Avery returns to her hometown after moving away a year earlier, she is hoping to jump back into her friend group as if nothing’s changed. Unfortunately, new interests, secret crushes, and changing dynamics get in her way. To reunite her BFFs, she suggests they host a séance at an abandoned theater that was the site of a horrible tragedy. What starts as a fun outing, soon becomes a fight for survival after the group gets locked in…and discovers they’re not alone.

Avery has moved away and so she is not as close to her old friends as she was, but she is coming back to her hometown and is excited to hang out with her friends but even though it's only been a year everything seems a bit different. Her friends were all acting different, first Paige didn't even show up with the two boys to pick her up, but the two boys (I can't remember their names) didn't seem to be getting along like they use too. 

They used to have a detective club and so Avery thought it would be something to bring them back together and suggested doing a seance in an abandoned theater as a kid was killed there and they thought it might be interesting to see if they could see a ghost. 

Once they get in the theater they find more than they bargained for as not only is there a ghost but maybe something much more sinister and it wants to keep them all there! 

I thought this was a fun middle grade spooky books, not to spooky but has enough to give kids a fright. The characters learned a lot as even in that year they had grown a bit apart and started new hobbies, had other friends. The main character learned that she needed to also make new friends at her new home and she could still be friends with her old friends.

4 stars

Two Bloggers One Book ~ Bats by William W. Johnstone

Today we have a fun killer animal book! We read this in April as I participate in something called Old School April. Once you read what I thought, go on over to Barb's blog at Booker T's Farm to see what she thought. :) 

“Bats” is a fast‑paced horror thriller about a massive swarm of vampire bats invading the southern United States and developing a deadly taste for human blood.

The novel follows the terrifying arrival of bats migrating north from Central and South America. At first, they appear as scattered groups, but soon they gather into thousands, forming a black cloud of predators sweeping across wetlands and small towns. As the attacks escalate, it becomes clear that these aren’t ordinary animals—the bats have grown aggressive, coordinated, and increasingly fixated on human prey.

So I love a good killer animal book, but you never know what you're going to get when you start in on one. I am happy to say that this one was pretty decent. It's from 1993 so it probably has a few things that some people might not like but that never bothers me. 

Johnny is an ex-military man was pretty high up in intelligence and has settled down in a Louisiana parish where he has built himself a kind of fortress type house that nobody is going to get into without him knowing as he does have a few terrorist organizations that would love to get ahold of him. He kind of comes off as a man who is extremely hardened and, in a way, he is but he also has a soft spot in there too. One of the things I really liked is how well he took care of his dogs. 

One day, his dogs were acting really weird and he heard a weird noise outside. He didn't think much of it until later when heading to town he finds a dead cow on the side of the road, but it wasn't just dead it was drained and had a bunch of bites on it. A trooper was coming by, and he flagged him down and this is how Johnny gets involved with a battle with Bats. He realizes these are not ordinary bats and he goes about protecting his home, making a wire mess area outside for his dogs to do their business and the bats can't get to them. (Great pet owner!) 

Some scientists show up, and a veterinarian named Blair, who ends up staying at Johnny's. They get video of the bats when try attacking Johnny's house and these bats are not ordinary bats, they are larger, smarter and just plain creepy. Before they would find out how to kill them, they decimated several parishes, or at least those who refused to evacuate when told about the danger. 

A lot of government bureaucracy and things that would just drive you mad happened while they tried to figure out how to get rid of these bats. It was filled with a lot of blood, gore and carnage and was a medium paced book. My real big complaint about this book was that it took to long to end. There was a point when you thought oh this is the end and then it kept going and it was at this point where it was just the author doing as much damage to people and so more blood, gore and carnage. 

I really liked the characters in this one, Johnny though hardened and said he would never marry anyone, just sort of fell into a steady routine with Blair as she stayed there and you knew she wasn't leaving. A couple displaced kids also end up staying there. The cops were not stupid and worked well with Johnny in trying to get rid of the bats. Only stupid people were the ones who wouldn't listen, but they didn't last long. :) Now, there were animals killed in this book, but it was expected. It kind of gets a pass because the two dogs of Johnny's were so well taken care off.

4 stars