Mini Book Expo For Bloggers

Entitlement [Sheri's review]

Entitlement earns its place of top recommendation on Bookopolis Sheri's list:

Andy Kronk is from a lower-class family with little chance of ever leading a privileged lifestyle until he is discovered by an elite private school for his hockey abilities. There he is quickly befriended by Colin Aspinall, who is a member of one of the wealthiest families in Canada. Andy is thrown into the lavish yet complicated life of the Aspinalls when he is taken under their wing and spends his summers living with them.

Years later, biographer Trudy Clarke is doing an expose book about the lives of the Aspinall family and is trying to her to uncover the secrets that lurk within their personal and professional lives. Andy thought he had severed his ties with the Aspinalls until Trudy comes knocking on his door and they embark upon an in-depth interview forcing him to confront the demons of his past.

That is all I choose to say about this book’s plot because I feel that revealing any more would ruin the reading experience. There are a number of twists and turns that arise and I found myself really surprised by the turn of events in this book.

After a few minutes into my reading, I completely forgot that this book was a fictional and became engrossed into the lives of the Aspinalls and the mesmerizing hold they had over Andy. I really liked that I got a glimpse into each one of the characters lives and that alternative perspectives were included because it helped give a well-rounded account of what was going on. Jonathan Bennett’s writing is so compelling and he paints such detailed pictures of his characters that I actually had to look them up just to be sure that they were merely a figment of his wonderful imagination!

This book has so many interesting facets to it and brings up meaningful issues such as greed, power, identity and sexuality in an insightful and almost poetic way.

I read this book in one sitting because I literally could not put the book down. This is one of the best books I’ve read all year and I cannot recommend it enough!!
* 5 stars *

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More information

• Author Site: JonathanBennett.com
• ECW Press | Chapters.ca  | Amazon.com
• ISBN-10: 1550228560 
• ISBN-13: 978-1550228564

The Show That Smells [Kevin's Review]

Kevin from Local Blogger Writes World, didn't like The Show That Smells very much...

Bad Book. Bad Book. Bad Book. Horrible Tropes.  Bad Book. Bad Book. Stunt Typography. Bad Book. Bad Book. Bad Book. Vampires are all Homosexual Baby Killers.  Bad Book. Bad Book. Bad Book. Graphic and Morbid Rape Scenes.

Keep reading Kevin's review...

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More information

• ECW Press | Chapters.ca  | Amazon.com
• Paperback: 108 pages 
• Publisher: Misfit Book (October 2008) 
• ISBN-10: 1550228552 
• ISBN-13: 978-1550228557

In Tongues of the Dead [Tammy's review]

In Tongues of the Dead really speaks to Tammy:

In Tongues of the Dead is basically about a 400 year old manuscript called the Voynich manuscript, which is actually a real thing, that is written in a language that no one has been able to decipher. I don't want to give too much away about the book, but I will tell you that the story involves murder, the Vatican, angels and an autistic child.
* 5 stars *

Keep reading Tammy's review... 

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More information   

• Author Site:
• • Brad Kelln    
  • Blog: http://kelln.wordpress.com/     
  • Visit Dr. Kelln's facebook site
• ECW Press | Chapters.ca  | Amazon.com  
• ISBN-10: 1550228307   
• ISBN-13: 978-1550228304

Entitlement [august's review]

Over on Vestige.org, august got themselves a copy of Entitlement and left an in depth and detailed review that's a great read in itself. Here's a clip:

Okay, my own class sensitivity aside, Entitlement is a damned fine book. It's easy to go through the motions with the rich, especially if one isn't part of that life. Bennett never allows the Aspinalls to sink into parody or cliché, though not because they never do anything clichéd; rather they are self-aware, understanding that they fit quite comfortably into several of the stereotypes, but are entirely unwilling to apologize for what they are. They are quite alien and graceful, and above all, credible.

Keep reading august's review...

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More information

• Author Site: JonathanBennett.com
• ECW Press | Chapters.ca  | Amazon.com
• Hardcover: 288 pages 
• Publisher: ECW Press (September 1, 2008) 
• ISBN-10: 1550228560 
• ISBN-13: 978-1550228564

The Show that Smells [Jonita's review]

The Show that Smells made Jonita wrinkle her nose:

I requested this book from minibookexpo.com because I was hoping that it would faintly resemble Christopher Moore's "A Dirty Job". Moore has a way of taking an unusual supernatural situation and making it funny. "The Show That Smells" had the potential to be like that: funny, quirky, and interesting, but it fell unfortunately flat for me.

The plot: Jimmie, a country music singer, has tuberculosis and is dying. Carrie, his wife, will do anything to save him, including enslaving herself to Elsa, a fashion-designing vampire who wants to use Carrie as a model in her upcoming show revolving around circus freaks. Add Coco Chanel and the Carter family into the mix and you have the recipe for a quirky book/play. Or not.

* 2 stars *

Keep reading Jonita's review...

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More information

• ECW Press | Chapters.ca  | Amazon.com
• 1 copy still available
• ISBN-10: 1550228552 
• ISBN-13: 978-1550228557

 

In Tongues of the Dead [Brad Kelln]

 

 

Courtesy of ECW Press

 

In the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library of Yale University there lies a 400-year-old document that no one has been able to decipher. Twenty years ago the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) secretly placed a guard to watch over the document.

 

The guard, Father Ronald McCallum, is overwhelmed when an autistic child visiting the library appears to read from the manuscript’s pages. Finally its secrets will be revealed! Father Benicio Valori, priest and clinical psychologist, is sent halfway around the world to verify the boy’s ability to read the manuscript.

 

When the manuscript is stolen, things begin to unravel. It becomes apparent the Vatican has sent others to investigate with orders to stop at nothing from keeping the document’s secrets from being exposed. Fearing for the child’s life, Benicio flees the country to Canada and trusted friend and psychologist, Dr. Jake Tunnel.

 

Despite being distraught by the diagnosis of a brain tumour in his five-year-old son, Jake reluctantly agrees to help his old friend. As events unfold, Jake is drawn into the mystery. Soon he and Benicio begin to unveil the biblical origins of the Voynich manuscript and why this autistic child can read it.

 

They realize that the Voynich Manuscript is the bible of the Nephilim soulless beings created by the crossbreeding of angels and humans, and despised by God. The angels responsible for their creation were banished from heaven and the monstrous offspring were thought to be destroyed by the flood of Noah’s time. Having the ability to read the manuscript leads Benicio and Jake to believe that Matthew must be a descendent of the Nephilim. And that the Vatican wants him and the book destroyed to protect the Church’s followers from the truth of God’s mistake.

 

About the Author

 

Brad Kelln is a clinical and forensic psychologist and special consultant on hostage negotiation to both the Halifax Regional Police and the RCMP. Dr. Kelln is a fan of fast-paced, action driven stories that include real-life mysteries and phenomenon

 

 

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More information 

   
• Author Site:
   
    
• Brad Kelln
      
• Blog: http://kelln.wordpress.com/
      
• Visit Dr. Kelln's facebook site
   
   
• Extra Info: [ToC, excerpt, sample image]
   
• ECW Press | Chapters.ca  | Amazon.com

 

Product Details

 

   
• 2 copies available This book is CLAIMED
   
• Hardcover: 240 pages
   
• Publisher: Ecw Press (April 1, 2009)
   
• ISBN-10: 1550228307
   
• ISBN-13: 978-1550228304

 

Shipping within Canada & US sponsored by ECW Press

A Week of This [Nathan Whitlock]

a Novel in Seven Days

Courtesy of ECW Press 

A brilliant, darkly comic, and startlingly honest novel, A Week of This follows the lives of an extended family over one increasingly desperate week. 

At the centre of the novel is 38-year-old Manda, a tough, sarcastic woman who has yet to make peace with the town she was brought to as a teenager after her parents’ messy divorce. Her estranged mother is crazy, her father is ill and in retreat, her damaged older brother is growing restless and distant, her stepbrother is a grown-up teenager without any real friends, and her husband is a tight-lipped, depressed store-owner who has been pressing Manda to have a baby.

Full of barbed dialogue and hilariously deadpan descriptions of family dynamics and the kind of awkward social dances that get performed every day, A Week of This is a book for people who always feel a little out of place, right where they are. People who are smart enough to know something has gone wrong, but can’t figure out how to fix it. People who know they aren’t kids anymore, but are not quite ready to grow up.

About the Author

Nathan Whitlock was the winner of the inaugural Emerging Artist in Creative Writing Award and the Short Prose for Developing Writers Award, as well as runner-up for the Bronwen Wallace Memorial Award. He is the review editor of Quill & Quire magazine. His writing and reviews have appeared in The Toronto Star, Saturday Night, The Globe and Mail, Maisonneuve, Toro, Geist, and elsewhere. He grew up in the Ottawa Valley and currently lives in Toronto with his wife and two children.

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More information 

• Author Site:
• Nathan Whitlock
• Blog: [TK]
• Extra Info:
• First Page 
• Excerpt
• ECW Press | Chapters.ca  | Amazon.com

Product Details 

• 2 copies available  This book is CLAIMED  
• Hardcover: 264 pages 
• Publisher: Ecw Press (May 1, 2008) 
• Language: English 
• ISBN-10: 1550228153 
• ISBN-13: 978-1550228151

Shipping within Canada & US sponsored by ECW Press

The Show That Smells [Derek McCormack]

Courtesy of ECW Press

The Show That Smells is the most SHOCKING story ever shown on the silver screen! 

It’s also the tale of Jimmie, a country music singer dying of tuberculosis, and Carrie, his wife, who tries to save him by selling her soul to a devil who designs haute couture clothing! 

Elsa is a powerful Parisian dress designer, and a vampire. She wants to make Carrie look beautiful, smell beautiful—and then she wants to eat her! 

Will Carrie survive as her slave? 

Will Jimmie be cured? 

Starring a host of Hollywood’s brightest stars, including Coco Chanel, Lon Chaney and the Carter Family, The Show That Smells is a thrilling tale of hillbillies, high fashion, and horror!

About the Author

Derek McCormack is the author of The Haunted Hillbilly, a novel about Hank Williams, which was published by ECW Press in 2003. It was named a “best book of the year” by both the Village Voice and the Globe and Mail, and was nominated for a Lambda Award in the Best Gay Fiction category. McCormack is also the author of the short-story collections Dark Rides and Wish Book, and of the non-fiction book Christmas Days, a history of Christmas in Canada. He regularly writes fashion articles for the National Post. He is currently creating a series of installations and mail-art projects for the Art Gallery of York University. He lives in Toronto.

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More information

• ECW Press | Chapters.ca  | Amazon.com

Product Details

• 5 copies available This book is CLAIMED
• Paperback: 108 pages 
• Publisher: Misfit Book (October 2008) 
• ISBN-10: 1550228552 
• ISBN-13: 978-1550228557

Shipping within Canada sponsored by ECW Press