Tales From The Gas Station - Jack Townsend

First off, I want an emotional support Jerry... well, a figurine anyway, as the real thing would be impossible to live with.

I am not even going to bother breaking this one down book-by-book as it just builds and builds in books 1-4 and the bonus novellas are just icing on top of a very funky cake.

Jack Townsend is not your average gas station employee. He suffers from a rare form of insomnia that will eventually kill him as he never sleeps. He's never met the owners- an odd mom and pop duo he only interacts with over the phone - but they trust Jack to keep things running smoothly as the station's only full-time employee.

Jack is not even the best kind of employee as he tends to sit behind the counter and reading odd books, often not even noticing customers entering and shopping until they slam their items down on the counter. But he is willing to cover the crazy night shift as the part-timers tend to wind up with horrible accidents, missing limbs or go missing entirely. Those who do survive tend to quit within days.

After all, this is a town where odd things happen and the crappy gas station outside of town just happens to be ground zero.

Psychotic raccoons, plants with human hands growing from them, a local politician named Keifer who keeps coming back from the dead and the odd cult compound down the road. It's a town of missing person posters from those who wandered into the woods and never returned. And who is the cowboy who haunts the station bathroom and why is he there?

This station is so active that it has its own police deputy assigned to handle all of the strange inccidents that occur there.

Jack is possibly going insane, maybe not, but who can say when you haven't slept for nearly a year. But the locals that visit the station aren't all in their right minds either.

Enter Jerry. When the rest of his cult members disappear, Jerry finds himself spending more time at the gas station, and earning himself a part-time position. While Jack is often in over his head, Jerry is a laid back heavy smoker, drinks anything he can get his hands on, including his homemade booze and has yet to meet a drug he will refuse.

He is also foul-mouthed and quick with the most off-the-cuff responses to any situation. Oh, and he's unafraid of anything- often rushing in with his fists, gun, baseball bat, or his favorite- a katana sword. Jerry is definitely holding onto some secrets, but you just want to hug him... or just pat him on the head like a big try-sexual pet.

You will wonder just what in the world you got yourself once you open the pages and follow along, but it will also leave you automatically reaching for the next book in the series as you won't be ready to walk away from this universe anytime soon.

There are so many one-off characters as well as loads of recurring ones, and just because someone has been buried, don't count on them staying there.

This horror comedy series will keep you scratching your head, on the edge of your seat and giggling maniacally at all things Jerry. A wild ride through the realm of the supernatural and other-worldly.

There's no sex, but Jerry has a talent for mouthing off in conflicts, turning just about everything into inuendo. There is a lot of f-bombs and other swearing, smoking, drinking, drug use, blood and violence, including the loss of limbs and people getting the crap beaten out of them.

And a lot if it happening to poor Jack.

Depending on your kids i'd say it would be okay for older teens and adults- if your kid has been approved to read Stephen King then you can hand these right over. It's safer than most of King's works anyway, and far more entertaining rather than oure nightmare fuel.

And be sure to check out the author's website as you'll find Jack's blog is there as well as other fun goodies.

Backwards Fairy Tales by Callie Thomas

So far there are only two books in the Backward Fairy Tale series- officially. Author Callie Thomas's Jacklyn and the Twisted Beanstalk was written as part of the Autumn Fairy Tale series, but it fits nicely in here as it is set in the same universe and has a couple small crossovers.

There will be more books coming, with Callie including a survey in her newsletter back in February of this year with a short list of fairy tales we would be interested in seeing next. However, with the recent release of The Overdue Kiss (a modern-day romance between a librarian and a motorcycle riding math teacher- which I recommend for romance lovers), Callie has posted that she's torn between a return to fairy tales or writing another book set in the Overdue Kiss setting.

It may be a bit if a wait for a new entry to the Backwards universe, but I am trying my hardest to be patient.

As this is my first book review posting, I am debating on a series review as a whole or breaking down the individual books. I am going to start with individual, but that may change in the future.

So first is A Forest Of Stolen Memories.

Here we open with Rose’s wedding day. It should be the happiest day of her life, but there is one little problem- she has no memory of who she is, what is going on or why she is in a cathedral wearing a massive wedding dress. In a panic she bolts, grabs a horse and flees from the city with her betrothed, the crown prince, and his guards hot in pursuit.

She has no idea where to go to escape when she sees a man in the distance heading for the woods. What she doesn’t know is that the forest Cedrick is heading into is protected by a magical barrier. In desperation she convinces him to allow her in and to guide her to whatever local village allows her to hide away until she figures out what the curse is upon her memory.

Little does she know Cedrick has secrets he is hiding from her. Secrets about who he is and the fact that they had already met once before the forest’s edge. All she knows is there is an obvious attraction building that she doesn’t want to lose.

So many beautiful moments happen during her stay in the wood- and I don’t want to spoil anything- before Rose’s memories come tumbling back, along with the awareness of what Cedrick, the man she has come to love, has been keeping from her, and just who and what she left behind.

This is the second of the Backwards Fairy Tales, and let’s us know what happened to Marigold, Rose’s younger sister who was kidnapped. The kidnappers figured since it was a royal carriage that it held Rose, but instead they found Marigold, a self-professed nobody.

Realizing their error the kidnappers toss Marigold into the sea to drown, but instead she is rescued by a Merman determined to keep her alive as his mate.

What follows is an epic journey- we meet a wide range of characters from both above and below the waves as Marigold tries to make her way home to her family, all while towing Ryken, her Merman mate alongside, and slowly gains her own sense of self worth.

Consider this as book 0.5 in the series as it is a prequel to A Forest of Stolen Memories. This cute play on the Jack and Jill nursery rhyme with Jacklyn being Jack and Gillian (Gill) as Jill.

Jacklyn is tired of how the farmers are treated by the nobility and how little those who work the fields are allowed to keep. She hides a pumpkin away from the soldiers collecting her parents' tribute, and must pay the price when her deception is discovered.

Gillian, her neighbor and best friend, has joined the kingdom's guard and, unfortunately, is sent to bring Jacklyn and her pumpkin in.

In desperation Jacklyn trades her pumpkin to a mysterious woman for magic beans said to grant your heart's desire, but when the magic goes awry and threatens Gillian's life, Jacklyn must decide what it is that she truly wants as she tries to save the life of the man she finally realizes she loves.

This is a shorter read but it will still enchant you, even if you want to smack Jacklyn for every bonehead decision she makes, while Gillian makes up for it in spades with his swoon-worthy manner and ability to balance out Jacklyn's stubbornness.

All three stories are clean and appropriate for pretees, teens and adults of all ages and are set to charm their way into your fairy tale and romance-loving heart.