Friday Face Off: Tiny Texan

 

Friday Face Off is a feature by DVArtist, Art, Food, Gardening to show off faces, no matter the medium, no matter if it's human, alien, animal, monster, or anything else. It can be something you captured, created, or found.

For my Friday Face Off I decided to show off my photography every week. I'll post one of my favorite photos of a face every week and just show off that one photo.

Book Review: One House Left by Vincent Ralph

Title: One House Left

Author: Vincent Ralph

Publisher: Wednesday Books

Publishing Date: August 27th, 2024

Read: December 13th, 2024

Pages: 320

Audio Length: 9 Hours 9 Minutes

Genre: YA horror thriller

TW: death of a child, gore, bullying, schizophrenia, mental health issues, abandonment, toxic relationships

Series: Standalone

Source: Audio

What it's about:

“Ready or not. Whatever you do. The Hiding Boy is coming for you.”

Sixteen-year-old Nate Campbell grew up in the shadow of Murder Road – a street cursed by the vengeful spirit of the Hiding Boy.

Every few years, for nearly six decades, a different house on that street has been the scene of a tragedy.

Nate and his family move to a new town as they try to outrun the curse once and for all. But, when he is pulled into his new friends’ urban legend club, new ghost stories merge with old until there is nowhere left to run.

What I thought:

Vincent Ralph is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. I was a little bit bored at the beginning of this, but I had to know what was going on, everything was kind of hush hush at the beginning and even through out the book, they'd almost tell us something then change it up, which was both annoying and made me HAVE to keep reading.

The ending though, like the last third of the book made up for the whole thing. I ended up really enjoying it, even though it's not my favorite of his, I would say it's probably either my second or third favorite. I did like it.

Cover:

I actually really like this cover, I love how all of his are bright and creepy at the same time. They seem to fit the book well.

Story:

I love anything urban legend. Like really love. This is one I hadn't heard before so it's not just like a lot of other books I've read about urban legends that use pre-existing urban legends. How many times can I say urban legends?
Anyway.

I think it was a unique story, it's something I would love to read more about if it were a real urban legend (There I go again) and I think it felt like it was a realistic one even if it wasn't ACTUALLY realistic. It read like it could've really happened.

Pace: 

Ehhh, like I said before it was a bit slow. Once it picked up it was fine, it was just rough getting there. 

Writing: 

I kind of love Vincent Ralph's writing. He has the same style for all of his books and they just work.

Characters: 

I uh, didn't really care for any of the characters. The love interest was almost a manic pixie dream girl, like "She's not like most girls" type, and I feel like we were supposed to love her, but I didn't. The MC was okay, I didn't like or dislike him, the family was okay. Just all kind of okay.

Ending: 

The ending made the whole book. That's why I rated it a 4 because that ending.

Narrator:

Overall:

Overall I really enjoyed this book, even if it was a bit slow. It was unique and the ending left me crazy.

A little Snippet:

“The first murder—like most murders—took everyone by surprise.”

― Vincent Ralph, One House Left

Possible books of likeness:

Author's info:

Vincent Ralph is the bestselling author of YA thrillers 14 Ways to Die, Lock the Doors and Secrets Never Die. All three novels are New York Times bestsellers and Lock the Doors is also a USA Today bestseller, an Edgar Award nominee, and the winner of the Southern Schools Book Award. His fourth book - One House Left - is out in August 2024, as is his first story for younger readers - A Boy Called Book.

Other books I've read by this author:

Watch With Me: Arctic

     

Movie: Arctic

Genre: Adventure Survival Drama 

Rating: PG-13

Length: 1 Hr 38 Mins

Release Date: February 1st, 2019

Director: Joe Penna

Stars: Mads Mikkelsen, Maria Thelma Smáradóttir, Tintrinai Thikhasuk

What it's about: 

A man stranded in the Arctic after a plane crash must decide whether to remain in the relative safety of his makeshift camp or to embark on a deadly trek through the unknown.

What I thought:

So this movie was a bit slow, like the entire movie was kind of slow. It had a few exciting parts but for the most part it's just him trying to survive and get to where he can be rescued.

And by the end I had so many feels. I was scared and worried and I *cried* at the end. It was actually really really good and I'm glad I watched it.

If you like emotional survival movies where you don't know if the character will survive or not definitely watch this one. 

Overall:

If you liked this movie then watch...

Fun facts:

Overgard's ID photo shows a younger Mads Mikkelsen. It is the same photo used in the TV show Hannibal to show a young Hannibal Lecter.

The bear in the film is real. Shooting the beast was cheaper than drawing.

The character's name in the film is "H. Overgard." The H is never defined, but has been hinted as Hannibal by the director.

The movie had a cast of three actors and 14 credited producers in various roles.

The plane Overgård lives in is an Antonov An-2.

The ID card found on the woman from the helicopter is in Thai only. A real Thai ID card is written in both English and Thai. Also, in Thai Spelling, when he writes the message on leaving the plane, the word just translates as "identity card", not a personal name.

Overgard hikes through the snow without snowshoes or skis. This would not be possible. Snow over such a distance would vary in density and your feet would sink. Also he wears no protective goggles or glasses, he would almost certainly get snow-blindness which would take days to recover from, effectively leading to his death.