Genre: Horror/Comedy/Fantasy/Vampires
Description:
“On vacation with her boyfriend, Nicky soon finds herself in a
predicament as he's kidnapped by a tribe of vampires. Miles from home, she reluctantly
joins a dwarf and his coyote, who have their own score to settle with the
beasts, and travel across the country to try and save her man before he's gone
for good. In the shadows of recent California forest fires, will Nicky defeat
the hungry, bloodthirsty horde and perform an impossible rescue or will she
become a victim herself?”
Author:
“Paul Aster Cohen is an award winning journalist for The News of San
Patricio weekly newspaper and a fiction writer. His novellas, I Wear My Sunglasses at Night and Once Upon a Time in Rehab, will be
released in the coming months. He is working on the second novel of his Koufax
series while seeking agent representation. He spends what little free time he
has with his wife and three children who live with him in Corpus Christi.”
Appraisal:
This novella, I Wear My
Sunglasses at Night, was a welcome diversion. It’s a quick read full of
action, gore, and humor. Nicky has convinced herself that her boyfriend is
going to propose to her on this special trip they are on. Nicky is a health
food freak and exercises every day. She has tried to change her boyfriend,
Derrick’s, lifestyle to be like hers. Every time they argue Nicky strips
all
her clothes off and the arguing stops. Nicky feels like she won the argument.
When Derrick is ‘kidnapped’ by being forcefully taken from their motel
room by vampires, Nicky isn’t going to let these goons take her man. She puts
up a good fight, beaten to a bloody pulp, but keeps going back for more. I kept
expecting to learn she has a super power, but no, she’s human. There are some
surprising twists that keep the story moving forward as Nicky, her delusional
dwarf protector, and his pet coyote, Sheky, hunt down the tribe of vampires who
took Derrick.
Mr. Cohen’s colorful imagery and unique vampires pulls the reader into
the story. I generally try to stay away from horror stories, and didn’t realize
one of the genre tags was horror until I started writing my review. I’d call it
horror-lite. The ending confrontation blew me away. I did cheer for Nicky every
time she killed a vampire, even though I was totally grossed out. I would like
to see I Wear My Sunglasses at Night
go through another round of editing. The one thing that threw me out of the
story is in the beginning Nicky’s hair is brown. Later in the story her hair is
blonde. The other proofing errors are just an annoyance.
Bottom line — I Wear My Sunglasses at Night is a unique story
with vampires. It’s a quick fun read with proofing issues. If those kind of things
bother you then maybe this story is not for you. Otherwise, if you like kickass
female leads with a quirky sidekick you’ll likely enjoy this novella.
FYI:
Lots of blood and gore as well as adult language that may not be
acceptable for some readers. You’ve been warned…
Format/Typo
Issues:
More proofing misses than there should be for this length of story.
Mostly missing or extra words, as well as a few wrong words.
Rating:
*** Three Stars
Reviewed
by: ?wazithinkin
Approximate
word count: 20-25,000 words
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