'Red Rain' by R.L. Stine

Back in the days of my elementary school's mobile book fair, R.L. Stine was starting to make waves with his, at the time brand new, series Goosebumps. It was enjoyable to a point. It always embodied a fun, campy spookiness, and each installment was always liberally littered with entirely unbelievable premises. Yet, even though I enjoyed them I never considered myself a great fan. I would argue that it was because by that age I'd already read half of Stephen King's offerings, and those - especially his earlier works - are truly the stuff of nightmares, so I'd already been desensitized to the spook in Stine's work.

Fast forward a few decades and I found myself intrigued by Stine's latest effort, 'Red Rain' in, dare I say it, the adult horror genre. To tell the truth I can't say I walked into it with particularly high expectations... in fact, I'd remembered so little of his writing style from before that I approached this much like I would a newly minted author.

But then I remember something: The only reason I ever went out of my way to get my hands on anything from Goosebumps was because my mom would always give me ten bucks to spend at the book fair. I'm not sure if you remember your grade school book fairs but the ones I attended were explosions of Lissa Frank (not interested), some series about twins named Jessica and Samantha (Sweet Valley High I think?) and other assorted garbage like locker mirrors, calendars, posters of Saved by The Bell actors and - oh yeah, a handful of semi-interesting books.

Why am I telling you this?*

Well, it turns out that I didn't really like R.L. Stine much growing up either - but when I saw this new title come up a yearning of nostalgia came with it. Unfortunately, for this title, it fell flatter then his kids books ever did.

Was the logo the scariest part of that series?

The premise of adorable twins being swiftly adopted by travel writer Lea and transplanted from their island home to suburban family life is so mundane it hurts. The writing is blocky, pedantic, technical and entirely devoid of a sense of humor. The characters are flat and predictable. What's worse than any of that is that it failed to scare me even once. No sharp intake of breathe, no struggle with myself on whether it would be best to keep reading and find out what happens or put it down and get a glass of water. None of that.

Overall, this one was dead, dry and boring. A book that I would imagine being a tough sell to even the most die-hard now adult Goosebumps fan. My final advise? Steer clear.

*I can almost hear you screaming at me to get to the point already! But you need to allow me a little time - I mean, we are deconstructing part of my childhood here.

This Months Waiting List

Those of you with sharp eyes may have noticed that the title of this T.T.P. segment has changed. What once was the Weekly Waiting List is now the new and improved Monthly Waiting List! Not only will you find out what's currently in my Kindle hopper, but I'll try and shed some light into what else you'll be seeing reviews for (i.e. things I've already read but have been too busy/tired/lazy to get a review up for yet) and why I might not have gotten through everything in my last queue.

So, let's start from the bottom of that list and work our way backwards, shall we? Bottom line is I didn't get to all the weekly reads because the goal of four books in a week was just a slight bit of an overreach. Turns out that in a normal week I can easily get through two titles, three in a stretch, four or more if, and only if, it co-stars my favorite blonde viking vampire*. That and two other titles (Blood of Anteros, (still feel absolutely gypped by that one) and the finale of Forest of Hands and Teeth), in conjunction with an entire five book series by Karen Moning did a fantastic job of preventing me from hitting my lofty, entirely unattainable, goal. So even though an entire month has practically flown by the Hangman's Daughter is only 50% completed - as an aside its absolutely one of the best books I've read all year and I'm embarrassed to admit that it's been shoved out of the way twice now so that I could get through other titles.

And that's the long and the short of it! Finger's crossed you'll see reviews up in the next week or so for the only outstanding title from last month, Hangman's Daughter and another for The Fever Series by Karen Moning (don't think I'll split this one into multiple reviews... nope... no I won't do it).

Enough of the excuses though. Here are the four titles I know I'm going to be churning through over the next thirty days:

1. 'Daughter of Smoke and Bone' by Laini Taylor
2. 'The Casual Vacancy' by J.K. Rowling
3. 'Red Rain' by R.L. Stine
4. 'Something from the Nightside' by Simon R. Green

A bit of a departure from the Y.A. that's been hogging up my time for the last... oh... three months now and I'm excited to take a bit of a break from it to be honest.

*Fun fact: The first time I picked up a Southern Vampire Mystery I literally got through all ten books over the course of seven days. No - I don't just sit at home all day and read thank-you-very-much. I've got bills to pay and a full time job to do it. But thinking about it now... I'm not sure that I slept much that week.

Not to Miss List: Autumn, 2012

Like the live-stream corgi puppies on the Pet Collective's YouTube channel, there are some thing you shouldn't miss this fall. For a taste of what I'll be doing as the weather cools off take a look at the list below:

• Early September, Doctor Who Season 7 kicks off with Asylum for the Daleks
• September 27th, "The Casual Vacancy", by J.K. Rowling
• October 9, "Red Rain", by R.L. Stine
• Mid October, "Redemption", Chosen #4, Denise Grover Swank
• October 23rd, "The Evolution of Mara Dyer", by Michelle Hodkin
• November 8, "Fairy Tales From the Brother's Grimm; A New English Version", by Phillip Pullman

Pullman hit the list mainly because of the powerhouse His Dark Materials. While I can't say I was absolutely in love with how the Pullman series ultimately ended (a little too heavy on the religious pushing for me), I'm insanely interested in seeing what he can do with a few classic fairy tales. 

Lesser known authors, that in my humble opinion you should be reading if you aren't already, also have entries coming. I'm truly looking forward to the captivating and creative continuations that Denise Grover Swank and Michelle Hodkin are sure to put out with their next efforts.

Then there's the could be great, could be horrible, but nostalgia inducing adult fiction entry from one of my favorite authors from way back when I was still in elementary school: R.L. Stine.* I'm still not sure how that one is going to pan out seeing as I've never read any of his adult novels but even still, I'm eagerly anticipating this title so that I can find out what he can do outside of the child-oriented Goosebumps series. J.K.'s book is on there for much the same reason.

Lastly, you'll have probably noticed that I've been a little sneaky and popped the upcoming season premier of Doctor Who into the top slot of what should be a list of book recommendations. Truth be told, I'm just trying to turn the entire world into Whovians. (And I'm chomping at the bit  for an official schedule announcement - come on BBC! Give us a date already!!)

*I know, you were probably thinking I'd say J.K. Rowling but while I did read through all her Harry Potter entries and I am certainly looking forward to what she can do outside of the young adult arena, I'm sad to say I experienced them mostly during my college years and am much less concerned about her ability to appeal to a slightly more.. um... 'adult' population.