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What am I doing?

Being a true Mainer, while my mother was pregnant with me, she was reading a book by Stephen King. Specifically she was reading The Dark Half by Stephen King. In that book there is a character named Shayla and that is where my name came from. Growing up in Maine already gives you a sense of closeness with Mr. King but having him be the reason for my namesake always drew me even closer to him. In fact, for my 23rd birthday I was gifted with Stephen King’s personal copy of The Dark Half that he signed for me.  I grew up watching many Stephen King shows and movies and read a few books. My favorite book of all time being The Long Walk by Stephen King, himself. All in all, however, I’ve only read about 5 of Mr. King’s books in total. I feel like this weird connection and fascination I have with him has ultimately only led me to one place. And that place is right here, preparing to read all his books. With all honesty, I get crazy ideas like this all the time but only seldom do I see ...
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Mr. Mercedes (2014)

Before reading:  I have been waiting for this day for a long time. We are beginning the Bill Hodges trilogy! I love getting a series from King and this is supposed to be a good one. In addition, this is our first introduction to Holly! I met Holly in The Outsider  so I'm excited to officially begin her "series" as well. There is also supposed to be a really good TV show version of this, as well. Lots of good stuff so let's get into it! After reading: No surprise here, this was a good book. This was one of King's grittier tales and I would place it more under the thriller category. I was looking back at his other titles and I believe this is our first real detective/thriller type novel that isn't a Hard Case Crime book. I really enjoyed it! I know we get quite a few more from this genre after this one so I guess King enjoyed it, as well. This was a great intro to the Billy Hodges trilogy. I really liked his character and I'm glad we get to see more of him. ...
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Doctor Sleep (2013)

Before reading:  I'm quite excited for this one. In case you were unaware, this is the sequel to The Shining.  Which, if you refer to my ranking list, is one of my favorite King books. I have not seen the movie yet and I have somehow managed to dodge any major spoilers. I know certain aspects of this book but I am, for the most part, going in blind. Let's go! After reading: As expected, of course this was a good read. It was definitely interesting, I would say. Technically, you would say this is a vampire story, however, it is completely turned on its head. It does not feel like a vampire story and you don't really get any of your typical vampire tropes. Per usual, we get great characters that are well developed and very likable. There is a unique yet familiar plot line that is, overall, a lot of fun. We get great villains with battles of good versus evil that isn't as cut and dry as you might think it should be. On top of all of this, we get a King sequel, which we don...
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Joyland (2013)

Before reading: Joyland  is the second story King put out under the crime/noir Hard Case Crime books after The Colorado Kid. I ended up liking TCK more than I expected to so I'm hopeful for this one. I know literally nothing about the plot but I do enjoy a little palette cleanser.  After reading: This is quite a short book so sadly this will be quite a short review.  This book, along with King's other Hard Case Crime stories, are some of the rare ones that have absolutely nothing to do with other King books. Yes, there are mentions of Maine in this one, but if you're just a crime/noir genre fan, you could completely read this as your first King book.  However...is this a crime book? I don't know, I guess technically it is butttttt. Going into this expecting a mystery/crime story, I was pretty disappointed. Let's start with the positives. This is Stephen King. The characters are great, the setting is detailed and immersive, the prose is great, and the story has a lot...
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The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole (2012)

Before reading: I don't really feel like saying anything here, I'm just so excited and my heart is so full to get to have a little kinda sorta journey back with the Ka tet. I'm not crying, you're crying. I'm also crying. After reading: And one more, I don't really feel like saying anything here either. So this one should be short and sweet for you. So good. It was so much fun to go back into this world and revisit these characters that we have spent so much time with and have been through so much together. It is a super quick read (it took me a hot minute because I took a vacation in the middle of it). It is just in-your-face fantasy and adventure. It really takes the more fantastical elements of the DT series and runs off with them. There is a lot of lore and world-building built in so that you're immediately back into this specific series. So much fun. We all know I'm a sucker for a story within a story. Well, this is a story within a story within a st...
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11/22/63 (2011)

Before reading: Eeeek, I'm so excited. This is one of the big guns that I've been wanting to read for a long time. There are supposedly some Dark Tower  ties and this is also supposed to be King's greatest romance novel. I watched a few episodes of the show but other than that, I'm going in fairly blind. Let's gooooo! After reading: Wow wow wow. While this wasn't my favorite book from King, I can easily admit that it is truly one of his best. It is beautifully written, action-packed, sci-fi, romantic, scary, funny...it is literally all the things. I don't know how he did it but he did.  I've said this before and I'm sure I'll say this a million more times...but King's books are all about the characters. Yes, the overall plot of this book is going back in time to stop the Kennedy assassination...but is it really? Jake is the real story here and oftentimes, the plot isn't even on his mind. In my opinion the book was a little long and there ...
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