Review: Holy Smokes
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 7, 2014
Eighth Note is book 1 in the new Fire Ballad series by Kimberly Stedronsky. This book dives into the life of Eva Reed, whom we met in the Roam Series. Now, don’t get all squirrely on me now because I’m here to say that one doesn’t have to read the Roam Series (but you really should anyway because they’re the best books ever) in order to enjoy this new series because Ms. Stedronsky does a bang up job giving the best cliffs notes rundown from her 6 book Roam series in the first 5 pages of Eighth Note. And this isn’t the forced, “Well I guess I have to give my readers some backstory so here it is,” word-vomit-crap that’s thrown out there so us poor readers aren’t totally lost. Nope, her re-cap is seamless and makes total sense.Anyway, Eighth Note is a bit different from Roam as it slides a bit more into the horror genre then being a straight-up PNR. And when I say horror, I mean it’s creepy; think The Grudge style not Texas Chainsaw. This is the kind of horror that’s totally up my alley. In Eighth Note we are introduced to a world of binaural beats, sound waves, entrainment of brainwaves, frequency, possession, and the paranormal. Basically we learn how certain sounds, or frequencies, when overlapped, can influence the brain thus making us open and susceptible to some freaky shizzzz i.e., demonic possession and the like. Ummm yeah - creeeeepy.It’s been a while since I’ve read any horror but I wasn’t really skeptical. I knew from reading Kimberly Stedronsky’s previous works that she was a super-de-duper talented author. And if all else failed and I didn’t like the story, then I knew I would have applauded her writing skills in the very least. Well, I won’t keep you in suspense and longer. After the first 10 pages I was hooked, and finished the book in 1 day! It was that awesome!!! I love Eva Reed even more now then I did in the Roam series. And I just adore Cole Mathison. Cole didn’t have a very huge part in the Roam series so it was nice to see his character really take shape and come to life. The banter between the two characters (Eva and Cole) had me laughing out loud so may times that I received the funny looks and curious glances from both kids and husband. The comic relief was a welcomed reprieve after reading some of the disturbing events that take place in the book. Yep, I was grateful for that. Otherwise I would have been sleeping with the lights on, and then, being too afraid to open my shower curtain the next morning.Honestly I can’t say there was anything that I didn’t like about Eighth Note. The cover art is brilliant, the writing top notch, the premise unique, witty, and captivating. There was resolution in the end but enough of an opening to further continue the Fire Ballad series.So if your a fan of movies like The Grudge, and Constantine. Love heroines that kick demon arse, spout out snarky retorts, and have a bit of fiery passion then you must read Eighth Note! I promise you will love it.