Descent Into Temptation review

I have this friend (well, maybe not a friend, but someone that I know on both FaceBook and a weightloss website called MyFitnessPal) who wrote a book and was actually brave enough to publish it, which is more than I have done. I write books (I have 6 completed or mostly completed as of today, but have NOT been published or even looked at by an agent), and then they just sit on my computer waiting for the “right moment” to be rewritten. I just started the rewrite on my first book I ever completed, and it was finished eighteen years ago!!!

Regardless, this friend asked me if I had read her book, and it shocked me because I had no idea that she was a writer! I said no, but told her I would download it and read it. And so, my Descent into Temptation began.

Descent into Temptation was written by Rachel Doan Funk, and it is the story of one man’s ride from sanity to insanity and beyond all because of one woman. I can tell you that I don’t normally read this kind of book, but I could almost see the events playing out like a Lifetime movie. Come on, ladies, you know the one I’m talking about. The one that comes on at ten o’clock on a Thursday when there is nothing else on, and pretty soon you are sucked in, gripping your seat every time that you see the man, cringing about what he’s going to do.

The book starts out innocently enough, with a man staring out a window. He spots a woman just getting off the bus, and from that moment on, it seemed that woman was the only thing that filled his conscious.

Rachel does a great job of making the reader want to continue with reading. The man makes it is personal business to hunt down this woman, even having full scale hallucinations involving the woman. There is one part of the book where it seems as though he has forgotten all about the woman, but then when his co-worker comes in to cover some of his clients, to the man’s shock, the work that the man had been doing turns out to be pages are filled with obscene drawings and nothing of any work related matter. I think it is then that the man finally snaps (although I am sure that others would disagree), accusing his friend and co-worker of trying to blackmail him by placing the pages of filth in place of all the “work” he had done.

The story doesn’t stop there. Several days before he has been exposed as having a problem, he moves in next door to the woman, spending his waking moments fantasizing about the woman and what he is going to do with her. So, as anyone can figure out from the review thus far, you can see where the book ends up going, so I will not spoil the actual end of the book.

The book is a definite psychological thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat as you work your way thru it. There is some detailed sex and language in the book, but given what the man was thinking and going thru, it fit and did not seem to be thrown in just to shock or tantalize the reader.

I give this book my full recommendation and suggest that you pick it up. It is available on her Amazon page in both paperback and for the kindle so you have your choice of how to read it. Rachel has something with this book, and I would gladly read another book by her, and I suggest you read Descent into Temptation.

Overall rating: 4.25/ 5.00 stars.

As always, if you like what I have to say, please leave me feedback below or send me an e-mail at childofking88@aol.com. If you don’t like what I have to say, please leave me feedback below or send me an e-mail at childofking88@aol.com.

As always, be kind, please rewind, and remember two wrongs may not make a right, but three rights always make a left.

Two Book Reviews: Time Killer and The Secret Of Genetic Corp X

Time Killer review


Todd Thiele’s book Time Killer is an edge of your seat thriller about a man who has made it his mission to rid the world of the people that personally wasted his time. I have to tell you, when I first read the premise of the book, it intrigued me, because a lot of murder mysteries are just retreads of an old story with a new paint job, but not Time Killer. Todd drops you in the middle of the first murder and keeps the story rolling from there.

And the two detectives are written just like something that I seem to be seeing on most of the cop shows I watch. A grizzled veteran gets teamed up with a new kid and they have to overcome their prejudices and preconceived notions about each other and work together to solve the murders before it is too late. I was definitely glad to see that this book was subtitled Max Larkin Mystery #1, as I look forward to future stories between the two of them.

The plot was another thing: I, for one, could not figure out who the killer was until he was “revealed” and he explained what his motive for doing the deed was. Todd’s writing style is one that will keep you guessing and even after the killer is revealed, he will keep you reading until the final page with the twists he puts in.

The only bad part of the book is the language. There is a good bit of profanity in it, and I think that may have deterred me from giving this a perfect score.

All things considered, this is a very well written story, Todd, and I look forward to the next one.

Todd’s book is available on Amazon.com, as well as on Barnes and Noble, and is definitely worth your time and money to pick up.

Overall rating: 4.25/ 5.00 stars.





The Secret of Genetic Corp X review

My first love has always been sci-fi and fantasy, so when I read the description of The Secret of Genetic Corp X, it sounded like a story that I would be interested in. So, I downloaded it, and when it came up for my reading pleasure, I dug in, excited at what it could bring.

Instead, the story seemed to drag, as it did not have that much sci-fi or fantasy in it. The premise of the story was about a girl who was supposed to be the leading researcher for Alzheimer’s, but an accident changed her somehow. But, I was treated to a story that was about a girl who plays thru a video game to find out about her father, husband, and self, as well as the company that she used to work for.

Meanwhile, her father is involved with some sort of Mafia connection that ends up trying to blackmail him with what they knew about the company. In the end, it was a lot of fluff, but no real substance.

The one redeeming quality of the book was the twist that comes towards the end, when the daughter’s true identity is revealed. Unfortunately, I had kind of figured that out when I started in on the book.

All in all, this book can be something to read if you need something to kill time, but don’t expect it to bring any ground breaking revelations into your life.

This book is available at Shannon McRoberts’ Amazon.com page.

Overall rating: 3.00/ 5.00 stars.


As always, if you like what I have to say, please leave me feedback below or send me an e-mail at childofking88@aol.com If you don’t like what I have to say, please leave me feedback below or send me an e-mail at childofking88@aol.com.



As always, be kind, please rewind, and remember two wrongs may not make a right, but three rights always make a left.

Man of Steel Review

(CAUTION: Spoilers contained)



"Look, up in the sky!"
"It's a bird."
"It's a plane".
"It's Superman!" --- Superman radio and television serial

To say that I am a Superman fanatic is kind of like saying that the Sahara is a small patch of sand. I have loved Superman for as long as I can remember, so when I first heard rumblings of a new Superman movie three years ago, I can say that I could hardly wait.

Then the announcement came out that Henry Cavill would be playing the Last Son of Krypton and the interweb exploded with negative criticism. “He’s British! He’s too short! Who is this guy?” Having seen Cavill in the Tudors (and loved his acting), I looked forward to someone trying on the red and blue spandex for the reboot of the greatest franchise of the 1980’s. I knew that no one would “replace” Christopher Reeve, but this generation needed a Man of Steel.

Then I saw the first preview trailer when the Hobbit came out and was again geeked at the reboot, but the wait seemed far too long.

Well, the wait for me to see Man of Steel finally ended Thursday night with the Wal-Mart premiere night prescreening of the movie. The local theater had four screens running the movie (three in 3D, one in regular 2D). I went to the 3D version of the film, but fully intend to go to the IMAX and 2D versions in the next several weeks.

After sitting thru previews for Prisoners, 300: Rise of an Empire (also a Zack Snyder film), Gravity, and for some reason 2 previews each of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and Pacific Rim, the screen showed “Wal-Mart Premiere Night” and we were treated to a brief interview with Zack Snyder about the movie, along with sound bytes from Zack, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Laurence Fishburne, and Michael Shannon.

Then the main event of the evening started: the movie begins on Krypton, but this is definitely not the Krypton of the Donner Superman films: the landscape is rich and lush, and there are “dinosaurs” roaming the planet! I say “dinosaurs” because that is the closest word I have to describe these creatures. The picture changes to Lara giving birth to baby Kal, with Russell Crowe (Jor-El) and several robots standing watch. This was the first actual geek out moment of the movie for me, because the robots were similar to the ones that were in the Fortress of Solitude with Superman during the “Death and Return of Superman” story arc from the early 90’s.

The scene changes to Jor standing in front of the council of Krypton telling them about the soon demise of Krypton (which every Superman fan knows is coming), when Zod comes blasting into the chamber and kills one of the council members. He and Jor have a standoff, each of them trying to persuade the other that his way to save the planet was better. The meeting breaks up with the council being escorted out and Jor as a fugitive from Zod at this point, and actually goes thru a great fight scene as he makes his way out of the chamber. Jor escapes and sends a message to Lara, advising her to “prepare the craft.” He has to get something and would be there soon.

Jor hops on a winged lizard, and flies off to retrieve the object, and lands at his house after having his lizard shot by one of Zod’s ships. He and Lara have a little discussion about Kal and how she doesn’t want to lose him, but ultimately, the place Kal in the ship and prepare it for blast off. At this time, Zod reappears with his guards and he again confronts Jor about the future of the planet, and tries to convince Lara to abandon the blast off. She ultimately sends the ship off.

Zod and his guards are subsequently arrested and subsequently tried and sentenced to 300 cycles in the Phantom Zone. A ship containing Zod and his minions is sent into an orbit of sorts and disappears from view.

Krypton explodes and we see Kal’s ship reach earth, and as it is going for its descent, the scene shifts to an Alaskan fishing boat, where we get the first shot of Henry Cavill, dressed in fishing attire with a full beard. After hearing that an oil rig is about to explode, the ship’s captain tells “Joe” (what Cavill is known as) to go get the ship ready for any survivors, but Joe is gone…. To the rig! He climbs up on the rig and helps to save the men, and it is here that you see Superman’s strength for the first time.

After the rescue, the movie flashes back to the first time that Clark had his supersenses come out, and it shows how he “overcame” them with the help of his mom.

The scene shifts back to present day, and Clark/Joe has another flashback after seeing a school bus to his first time saving someone. After the flashback, Joe hears about something going on on Ellesmere Island and decides to go check it out. It is there that intrepid ace reporter Lois Lane makes her first appearance. There is some kind of ship that is surrounded by ice that is twenty thousand years old, and she has come out to find out what is going on. She runs into “Joe” and he saves her from one of the robots that were around at his birth.

Being the vigilant reporter, Lois writes an article about this mystery man, and tries to get it published at the Daily Planet. Perry doesn’t want to because of it being about aliens, so she gives the report to one of her blogger “friends”, and sets out to find out more about the man that saved her. She finally tracks him down at Jonathan Kent’s grave, and we are shown how Jonathan dies. I have to admit, I was crying a little at this part.

Then Zod shows up on Earth and demands that Kal be surrendered to him or the planet would face his wrath. Kal does, and for some reason, Lois is taken on board the Kryptonian ship with Kal. Jor shows up and tells Lois how to escape and how to destroy Zod.

After Lois’ escape and subsequent rescue by Superman, Zod decides to make Earth into New Krypton, which leads to the final showdown between Superman and Zod. This fight is a true knock-down, drag out that leaves much of the city of Metropolis in ruins. The ending of the fight harkens to when Superman took on Zod from the Pocket Universe in the classic Superman comics.

After you have seen this film, you will notice that I have left certain things out of the review, so the whole movie is not completely described for you here. But, I sat in silence for the entire two hours and twenty-eight minutes of the film, waiting for what the critics had panned this film for, and frankly, I didn’t see it. Yes, Jor’s reappearance on every Kryptonian ship was different, but when he explained that he had designed the ships, it kind of made sense that he could have his memory in any or all of them. But, the reason that he did appear was there, so it was not something thrown in just to further the plot.

Is Man of Steel the Superman that fans have been looking for? In this fan’s opinion, yes. Only time will tell if it becomes the start of the new Superman and Justice League franchise. But with only the violence being a problem as far as family-friendliness (there were only 5 cuss words in the whole movie), I would definitely recommend this movie for both fans and non-fans alike.



Plot: 9.8/10
Humor: 9.5/10
Family Friendly Language: 9.9/10
“Family Friendly” Violence: 9.0/10
Nudity/Suggestive Situations: 9.9/10


Overall Rating 9.7/10



I plan on enjoying this movie several times before it leaves the theater, as well as getting the DVD of it, possibly the collector’s edition with a iTunes ready version for me to watch when I have had a bad day and need the Last Son of Krypton to cheer me up.

As always, if you like what I have to say, please leave me feedback below or send me an e-mail at childofking88@aol.com. If you don’t like what I have to say, please leave me feedback below or send me an e-mail at childofking88@aol.com.

As always, be kind, please rewind, and remember two wrongs may not make a right, but three rights always make a left.

Edenwitch books #1 and 2 reviewed

I was recently given the opportunity to read two books by Sam Hammack. To be honest, this was the first time that I had heard of Mr. Hammack, but was intrigued just by the name of his first book on Goodreads, The Witches of Jericho. So, I signed up to do the review on both books, and when they came up in my list, I dove in, excited and ready for what was in store.


The first of the Edenwitch series, The Witches of Jericho, centers around the story of a young witch named Sophia. Sophia is determined to find her mother, who has been coming to her in her dreams, or I should say one specific dream that ends with Sophia waking up gasping for breath. The search leads Sophia to the town of Jericho, where she and her mother, another witch, and father, a protector called a Guardian, spent Sophia’s early years, before almost all the witches were gathered up and killed, along with the Guardians.

Having heard the stories of the creatures that watched and preyed on witches, Sophia carefully makes her way back into the town and sets about trying to find her mother. Sophia ends up finding a fellow witch, almost by accident. Sophia cannot sleep one night and sees someone coming out of a deserted storefront, and ends up following that person back to the hotel that Sophia is staying in, and as a result, finds that it is the hotel desk clerk, who is sneaking around and trying to find all the old manuscripts of magic spells that were left in Jericho when the purge of witches took place.

Meanwhile, her father sets out on his own journey to make sure of his daughter’s safety as well as get answers about some things that were bothering him and ends up trailing someone who is intent on finding a witch, and ends up killing the tracker’s apprentice in the process. Her father ends up getting injured and somehow ends up at the house of his mentor.

The story in The Witches of Jericho is well written, and deep in detail, but it leaves the reader hanging at the end, which I suppose is Mr. Hammack’s intent, since this is a 6 part series. I would definitely recommend it for others to read, but make sure that you have as much of the series as is available (there are three books available as of this review) to read consecutively, so the cliff hanger at the end of the book is not as noticeable.

The second of the Edenwitch series, Voodoo Spells, continues the story of Sophia and her father, as they continue their quests. Trouble ensues when it is discovered that both Sophia and her friend are witches and they must flee the city, and end up trying together to find Sophia’s mother together, even if it means finding an evil witch who may end up trying to kill them both.

Meanwhile, the mentor and Sophia’s father, who has been nursed back to health, set off for the “end of the world”, a mythical place the mentor had located once before and had devoted most of his life trying to get back to.

As with the first book, Voodoo Spells ends abruptly with a cliffhanger, so I would definitely recommend picking up the entire series as has been written so it can flow continuously for you. I unfortunately at the time only had these two books (I recently picked up book three and will be starting it soon), but the writing is very well executed and can keep you entertained for several hours. It, along with book one, are both well worth the read.

Both books are available at Sam Hammack's Amazon page, and are well worth the 99 cents each.  


As always, if you like what I have to say, please leave me feedback below or send me an e-mail at childofking88@aol.com. If you don’t like what I have to say, please leave me feedback below or send me an e-mail at childofking88@aol.com.

As always, be kind, please rewind, and remember two wrongs may not make a right, but three rights always make a left.