Let the Right Book In

I was so excited to have the opportunity to interview the author of one of my favourite books so far this year, Tiffany McDaniel! I've corresponded a lot with her through e-mail and she is quite literally one of the most warm, lovely people I've encountered during my bookstagramming days. McDaniel talks about the long road to getting published and the difficulties she encountered along the way, as well as her thoughts on the physical book vs kindle debate. Oh, and the books you definitely must read in your lifetime!  Photo Credit: Jennifer McDaniel Hi Tiffany, can you give a brief description of what your debut novel, The Summer that Melted Everything, is about and where you got your inspiration from? Tiffany: The Summer that Melted Everything is about a man who one day puts an invitation in the newspaper, inviting the devil to town. A boy, claiming to be the devil, answers the invitation, only this boy is not your stereotypical devil of red flesh and horns. This s...

Set in a secluded castle that is now being used by the US government as a military asylum, The Ninth Configuration tells of a facility that houses 27 officers who have recently suffered from a mental break. Have the inmates truly lost their minds, are they faking it to avoid combat, or is something else going on? Colonel Vincent Kane is a Marine Corps psychiatrist who is called in to try and help uncover the cause of these bizarre obsessions, but he has his own demons to contend with. "You're convinced that God is dead because there's evil in the world - then why don't you think He's alive because of the goodness in the world?" Okay, as a pre-warning to anyone who may be interested in reading this book, it's a bit different and quite unusual compared to most other books I've read. The start in particular is pretty confusing, but once you get into it, it becomes very addictive. It's a relatively short book at only 170-odd pages, yet some...

The classic vampire tale of Count Dracula, forming the foundation for all the vampire mythology that was to follow. A gothic, dark classic telling the story of Count Dracula as he moves location from his castle in Transylvania to England in a bid to find new prey and fresh blood.  "There are darknesses in life and there are lights, and you are one of the lights, the light of all lights." Okay, so I am officially a lover of Dracula. From the very first page, I was hooked. Usually it would take me longer than a week to read a 400 page book, but I was using every spare minute I had to race through this book. I was reading it while blowdrying my hair, while waiting for the kettle to boil... that's when I know I'm digging it! Bram Stoker was a genius - well of course he was, he was Irish *smug face*. Dracula is a masterpiece, end of. The gothic scenery depicted in Dracula is stunning. It makes me want to go back and live in that time period, inhabiting a ...

Is this my favourite box so far (obviously excluding the very special King box)? Possibly! It's a strong contender anyway. I often feel like my first NRB will always be my favourite, as it was just the excitement of finally getting one...and also getting that Edgar Allan Poe tote. LIFE MADE. Anyway, the Feast has shaped up to be a deliciously dark box, so let's look at the contents! First, let's discuss the books included this month. The new release for this month was Come to Dust by Bracken MacLeod - I've never read this author before so I'm intrigued! Synopsis is as follows: Ever since her mother abandoned her, five-year-old Sophie has had to depend on her uncle Mitch for everything. Though their life is difficult, he works hard to keep their family together, despite the obstacles in their way. But just when everything seems to be looking up for them, it all comes crashing down when Sophie dies tragically. Mitch descends into a crippling grief, n...

The devil has come to the sleepy town of Breathed, Ohio, in the form of a young boy. Fielding Bliss quickly forms a friendship with this fallen angel, now known as Sal, and he is welcomed into the Bliss family home. However, tensions quickly rise within the town, accompanied with soaring temperatures as the townsfolk begin to believe this child is actually who he proclaims to be. "Sometimes this world is like red fences in the snow. There ain't no hiding who we really are." Okay, I feel like I should open this review by clarifying that is NOT a horror book. It's not scary, it's not about the devil in a stereotypical sense. It's about so much more than that. It's about racism, homophobia...it looks at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, how we are so quick to judge people on some aspect other than who they really are. It gave me real To Kill A Mockingbird vibes, so if you love that book - pick this up! The story moves between two timelines, ...

Evil resides in Derry, Maine. Whether that is in the form of Pennywise the Dancing Clown, a werewolf or a leper, it pulses through the heart of Derry and has done for many years. IT focuses on a group of children, the Loser's Club, as they try to overcome evil and face their biggest fears in order to do so. "Maybe there aren't any such bad things as good friends or bad friends - maybe there are just friends, people who stand by you when you're hurt and who help you when you feel not so lonely. Maybe they're always worth being scared for, and hoping for, and living for. Maybe worth dying for too, if that's what has to be. No good friends. No bad friends. Only people you want, need to be with; people who build their houses in your heart." Excuse me while I curl up into a ball and bawl my eyes out... IT was my first King and it really was what got me hooked onto King's writing. I was almost apprehensive at rereading this masterpiece - not jus...