Strange Ideas: Death Destiny and Decisions by Louise West
Published on May 18th, 2013 by the author
Buy this book at: Amazon
Disclaimer: The author provided me a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you Louise!
Synopsis:
Strange Ideas: Death, Destiny and Decisions- four brand new tales to creep you out and mess with your head, plus another chance to read the popular short story, Late: a ghostly tale.
A Flip of the Coin: Do you believe in Heaven and Hell? Jimmy didn’t, until a stranger appeared at his death-bed with a shocking proposal…
Stamp: Ben awakes from a one-night-stand with a hangover and an unusual souvenir. What does it mean? And what happened to the girl who gave it to him?
Rock God: Adored, idolised, worshipped. In our celebrity-obsessed culture, pop stars are treated like gods. But how far do their powers actually go?
Superstition: Laura knocks on wood, avoids black cats and never walks under ladders. Her husband calls her a freak. Maybe he’ll wish he had believed her…
Late: a ghostly tale: Long after the children have escaped for home, a lone schoolteacher is working late. But is she really alone? Is someone there that she can’t see? And, if so, what do they want?
Rating: 
Review:
First a breakdown of how I arrived at my rating. This book contains 5 short stories, the 4 stars is the average of how I felt about each story. Individually I will discuss the stories here.
A Flip of the Coin: 4 stars. This was a good story to begin with because it allowed you to dip your toes into this collection and get a feel for how things would proceed. The story itself was very intriguing as well, which helped a lot. It set the bar for the remaining stories in a good way. It was very reminiscent to me of the “weighing of the heart” ceremony in ancient Egyptian religion. They believed that when you died, you stood before Osiris and he weighed your heart against the weight of the “feather of truth”. If your heart proved heavy then you did not go to salvation but if your weight proved light then you earned salvation in the afterlife. This had the same idea behind it but with a more modern twist. I really liked that. The only place this story fell short was with the ending. I appreciate that it’s a short story but I was hoping to not get left hanging quite that much. But overall, I really liked it.
Stamp: 2 stars. This story was something of a disappointment unfortunately. It started off well and I was intrigued to see where it was going. But once we were told about the stamps, my first thought went to “I bet it turns out like XYZ.” Unfortunately I was right. I was hoping there would be a twist in there someplace but it never came. The story progressed (interestingly) in exactly the manner I thought it would from the beginning and ended the way I thought it would. A good story but the predictability lowered the rating.
Rock God: 4 stars. This little storyline was the most surprising for me. I started off thinking that I wouldn’t really like it that much. I suspected I knew where the story was going and I just wasn’t in love with the narrating character. To be perfectly honest, she came across like a bit of a selfish bitch. I didn’t really like her that much. But then the story took a turn when things starting getting explained. I found myself giving my book a sideways glance and thinking “No, you didn’t just do that did you?”. The ending however is where this became so great. I didn’t see it coming at all because I was so wrapped up in everything else that was going on. Truly a great little piece.
Superstition: 5 stars. This one was my absolute favorite of the entire collection. It was interesting and intriguing but humorous too. Usually when I find myself giggling in books like this isn’t because it’s so terrible but not so for this one. I found the narrating character delightful and I was so amused by her that I forgot there was supposed to be something strange about this whole thing. The story flowed so naturally and I just loved it.
Late: 1 star. This last story just didn’t do it for me. It started off alright and I was intrigued with what was going on but the novelty quickly wore off and I wanted something to happen. And it did, but then went from exciting into rather mundane. For some people this may be a great story, but it bored me after awhile. I have to admit that I started to skim and considered going back to Superstition to read that again instead.
About the author:
Louise West is currently teaching and surviving in rural Lincolnshire, famed for its beautiful open sky and not much else. She dreams of rainy days and cups of tea. She and her faithful terriers love long walks on the beach, where they can bounce in the surf and she can paddle with her shoes on. She will only eat trifle if her Nan made it.
Sometimes she has Strange Ideas.
Sometimes she writes them down.
Links:
(Blog) www.louise-west.blogspot.com
(Book website) www.strangeideas.webs.com
(Author website) www.louisesloveoflife.webs.com
(Amazon UK) www.amazon.co.uk/Louise-West/e/B00AMMTWW8/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1367835864&sr=1-1
(Amazon US) http://www.amazon.com/Louise-West/e/B00AMMTWW8/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1367836012&sr=1-2-ent
Written Among The Stars 