My Boo's Review: Shirtless Bear-Fighter! by Jody LeHeup, Sebastian Girner

Every once in a while on here, I'll be posting my fiancée Emily's reviews on here. She doesn't blog on her own, but sometimes she needs to let her book feelings out in the world, and that's where Bitches n Prose steps in. (She also drew that banner. Ain't she cute?)


Title: Shirtless Bear-Fighter!
Illustrators: Nil Vendrell, Mike Spicer
Authors: Jody LeHeup, Sebastian Girner
Format: Paperback, 164 pages
Pub. Date: December 6 2017
Source: Goodreads First Reads


Book Description:

"After being betrayed by the bears that raised him, the legendary SHIRTLESS BEAR-FIGHTER wanders the forest he's sworn to protect, fist-fighting bears, eating flapjacks and being the angriest man the world has ever known!

When wild-eyed, super-strong bears attack the citizens of Major City, Shirtless ventures into the human world to do what he does best...PUNCH THOSE BEARS IN THE FACE! But all is not as it seems. Someone is manipulating Shirtless...and only by confronting the demons of his past can Shirtless hope to save his future!

A heart-filled, hilarious, tall tale for the ages...you don't want to miss SHIRTLESS BEAR-FIGHTER!

Collecting SHIRTLESS BEAR-FIGHTER! #1-5"

Review:

★★★★★

In a world where bears run amok all around the globe, the world turns to one man.... SHIRTLESS BEAR-FIGHTER! Betrayed by the bears who raised him, Shirtless has vowed to fight ALL bears and protect the forest in this timeless epic adventure.

Y'all, I was so excited when I received this book in the mail that I started reading it immediately. The bear punching action started only a few page flips from the cover, in all of Shirtless's naked, pixelated dongle glory. This man does not like to wear pants, he lives in a bear-house, and god help you if call his flapjacks "pancakes". Shirtless has a heartbreaking past akin to every vigilante superhero. It's like Wolverine and Batman had a feral, bearded baby. I love him.

Enter FBI agents Burke and Silvia, who come to the forest to ask Shirtless to fight the bearrorists who are attacking the nation. Burke, the senior agent in command, has been in more wars than humanly possible, and he will definitely make you question his age and his sanity when he recounts the battlefields he's fought on. The only one who seems as confused about Burke's 14 American Conflicts is agent Silvia, a young agent keen on playing by the book and following orders until she learns her instincts are more important.

There is a malicious force behind the bear attacks, someone who has been feeding them magic bacon to control them, and bend their bear-will to his own. His motives are for shitty revenge against Shirtless, all for the growth of his three-ply TP company.

All in all this was a fantastic read. There was always something to make me laugh on pretty much every page. The whole story seems to be parodying big name superheroes while also creating a superhero. It's hilarious and I'm 100% here for more Shirtless adventures.

I give this book 5 out of 5 bear-stars.

I received this copy in exchange for my honest review.

My Boo's Review: Escape from Wonderland by Raven Gregory!

Every once in a while on here, I'll be posting my girlfriend Emily's reviews on here. She doesn't blog on her own, but sometimes she needs to let her book feelings out in the world, and that's where Bitches n Prose steps in. (She also drew that banner. Ain't she cute?)


Title: Escape from Wonderland
Series: Escape from Wonderland #1-6
Author: Raven Gregory
Format: Paperback, 199 pages
Pub. Date: April 2014
Source: Zenescope Entertainment


Book Description via Goodreads:

The beginning of the end is here. The final piece to the Wonderland trilogy brings the powerful story of Calie Liddle full circle. Her infant daughter was taken from her arms and brought into the realm of madness. Now Calie must re-enter the one place she has tried for so long to escape. The moment of truth has arrived as the girl who became a woman now sets out to become a hero. The one person who can prevent pure insanity from escaping into this world must now find a way to defeat madness itself. The final chapter of the most intense, riveting and addictive comic book series you have read in years has arrived and this time around there may be no escaping Wonderland.

Review:

★★★★★

First I want to say that my edition is exactly the same, only with a soft cover. Once the proper edition is added to Goodreads, I will edit my review appropriately.

I freaking loved this! I'm a huge Alice in Wonderland fan, and all of the dark and twisted takes on the classic story. I found this at a Half-Price Books store and couldn't pass up on the bargain even though I've never read parts 1&2, and I can tell you right now I'll be searching everywhere to snatch them up soon enough.

One thing I loved about this GN is that I didn't need to have read the previous stories to understand what was happening in this one, there was sufficient and important background information provided when it was needed to keep the story flowing and on pace. I was never left wondering what a character's motivation was, or what their connections to each other were for very long, and I appreciate that in graphic novels especially.

Another thing I loved was the stunning artwork, for a gritty and gore-y Wonderland, every page was filled with vibrant colors and exquisite details. One of the details I really liked were the signs on the trees in the forest that constantly changed their text to deliver sass, snark, and quips like an actual being in conversation. They were hilarious for the few pages they appeared, I highly recommend taking the extra minute to read each sign, it's definitely worth it.

The last thing I'd like to mention is the few pages in the back of the book that show the drawing process of some of the panels and full page art, from how it was blocked out with basic forms to half inked drawings, it really shows how much effort and detail goes into these books. And as an aspiring artist myself who often had a lot of trouble with portions and angles of view, these pages were helpful as a learning or reference tool, and I personally find that kind of nifty.

I would definitely recommend Escape From Wonderland and it's predecessors to fans of Alice in Wonderland, and fairy tales with a dark and twisted, modern spin to them.

My Boo's Review: Feral by Holly Schindler

Every once in a while on here, I'll be posting my girlfriend Emily's reviews on here. She doesn't blog on her own, but sometimes she needs to let her book feelings out in the world, and that's where Bitches n Prose steps in. (She also drew that banner. Ain't she cute?)


Title: Feral
Author: Holly Schindler
Format: ARC
Pub. Date: August 26th 2014
Source: Holly Schindler



★★★★★

Five stars.

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How far would you go to escape the horrors of your past? To regain the life you had before? Well, for junior journalist Claire Cain, moving states away wasn't far enough. Danger and mystery follow her from Chicago to Peculiar, Missouri where she stumbles upon the corpse of a missing high school student in the woods behind the town's school, and it's up to Clair to figure out the truth behind the girl's death.

Wow guys. Wow. This is probably the fastest I've ever finished a book of this size (apart from the Harry Potter series) I literally could not put it down. The synopsis did not lie when it said "The Lovely Bones meets Black Swan". I could see influences of both stories and how they came together beautifully to create this psychological thriller.

It's been a while since I've yelled at the pages like one would yell at a movie screen; asking who did it, voicing my opinions, pleading to be right or wrong, shouting out in fear or surprise. I must admit I let out a string of "oh god oh god oh god"s and a generous amount of colorful swears more than a few times during my read.

Feral is not just the name of this book, it's a theme that resonates throughout the story. Feral are the cats that overpopulate the small town of Peculiar. Feral are the nightmares that haunt Claire. Feral are the scars left behind by her attack, and the attackers themselves.

I absolutely loved all the characters in this book, even the ones I thought I shouldn't. They were all written fantastically, and their personalities were really set apart. No one really blended into the other, and it made it very easy to distinguish who was who.

Another thing I loved was that there was no love interest with the main character, Clair, as I feared there would be when she first meets Rich Ray in Peculiar, Missouri. Nothing more than friendship blossoms between them, and that is SO refreshing to see. There was nothing to distract from the main plot of the book, and that, I think, was what helped me fly through it so fast. There was no side distractions, every turn of the page brought me closer to knowing the truth.

One of the greatest things about this read was that I was never sure about who the killer was until the very end. I jumped from character to character and back to a previous character- I probably suspected everyone at one point or another, and the reveal still surprised me.

The only tiniest issues I had were two things. Claire's over use of "ground beef" to describe her body after her beating in Chicago- the scene haunts her so she goes back to it frequently, and for me, there was just too much ground beef, but not enough to hinder my enjoyment of the story. And sometimes sentences seemed either lazy or incomplete to me. An example being something like " "I don't know." he grunted, turning the keys in the ignition." " To me it just seemed like there should be more to the end of the sentence. But again, in no way did it hinder the flow of the story or my enjoyment.

All in all, this was a brilliant read, and I so enjoyed how enthralled I got reading it. It's rare for me to be completely submerged in a book from page one. And I hope you all find the same enthrallment as I did. I definitely recommend this book to fans of The Lovely Bones, Black Swan, Stephen King, and M. Night Shyamalan to name a few.

Thanks so much to the author, Holly Schindler, for giving me this book in exchange for an honest review. I loved it, as you can tell.

Review by my boo, Emily.