Richard Roberts | Books: The Cheapest Vacation You Can Buy

{June 5, 2014} {Review} Please Don’t Tell my Parents I’m a Super Villain by Richard Roberts

From Goodreads: Penelope Akk wants to be a superhero. She’s got superhero parents. She’s got the ultimate mad science power, filling her life with crazy gadgets even she doesn’t understand. She has two super powered best friends. In middle school, the line between good and evil looks clear.

In real life, nothing is that clear. All it takes is one hero’s sidekick picking a fight, and Penny and her friends are labeled supervillains. In the process, Penny learns a hard lesson about villainy: She’s good at it.

Criminal masterminds, heroes in power armor, bottles of dragon blood, alien war drones, shape shifters and ghosts, no matter what the super powered world throws at her, Penny and her friends come out on top. They have to. If she can keep winning, maybe she can clear her name before her mom and dad find out.

_______________________________________________________________________

Every child has dreamed of being a superhero, every adult has probably dreamed of it too, truth be told, and this novel allows readers to feed into that fantasy as Penny and her two best-friends take on the role of supervillain–but don’t tell their parents, retired superheros set on squashing the new threat to their society: the three young unidentified super-villains who are wreaking havoc everywhere they go…

Although unintentionally evil, the three young villains are lucky more often than not; quick thinking and chance put them in situations that the city eyes as well calculated, menacing, and truly evil. This hilarious mix-up will captivate readers as the story unfolds. With a fast action sequence, humorous situations, and villains who are really good at heart, this novel is sure to bring joy to all its readers. A tad long, but a ton of fun… If you enjoyed The Expendables, Despicable Me, or MegaMind, then this is for you.

I highly recommend it to readers of all ages–embrace your childhood fantasies. Four stars.

In exchange for an honest review, Curiosity Quills Press has been extremely gracious in providing me with a free copy of this novel.

Amazon | Kindle | Barnes and Noble

{September 11, 2013} {Review} Quite Contrary by Richard Roberts

From Goodreads: The secret of having an adventure is getting lost. Who ever visited an enchanted kingdom or fell into a fairy tale without wandering into the woods first?

Well, Mary is lost. Mary is lost in the story of Little Red Riding Hood, and that is a cruel and murderous story. She’s put on the red hood and met the Wolf. When she gives in to her Wolf’s temptations, she will die. That’s how the story goes, after all.

Unfortunately for the story and unfortunately for the Wolf, this Little Red Riding Hood is Mary Stuart, and she is the most stubborn and contrary twelve year old the world has ever known.

Forget the Wolf’s temptations, forget the advice of the talking rat trying to save her – she will kick her way through every myth and fairy tale ever told until she finds a way to get out of this alive. Her own way, and no one else’s.

______________________________________________________________________

I’m sorry to say that this novel just isn’t for me. I originally wanted to read it because I usually enjoy revamped fairy tales, but Mary completely turned me off from this story. I was expecting a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood with a contrary heroine, which in my mind meant more assertive a deviating from the meek path of Red in the traditional stories. But in this story, contrary actually stands for vile, obnoxious, cussing, kicking, punching, and vulgar interactions that don’t really sit well with me, especially as our “heroine” is just 12 years old. From the very beginning, with her blatant disrespect of her mother, I had an inkling I wasn’t going to enjoy the story on a personal level, and when Mary began cussing at everyone and everything, it was basically over for me. Now, Mary does have a few redeeming qualities in that she really does care about people, but she’s hard pressed to show it, and she’d rather kick someone in their private areas first and ask questions later. Honestly, I think this was more of a “shock the reader” type of story where crazy situations evolve and Mary responds vulgarly to them. Which, truthfully, isn’t my type of story. One star.