I.M. Internet Message

Rating:
Summary: Unbelivable!!!
Review: Bookstores can pidgeon hole but this can belong in several.
Stephanie Simpson-Woods has created in her first novel a mix of Horror, Lust, Mystery, Humour and more.

Set in Northern Carolina in America, we find Lily Wagoner.
Lily is a freshman at Brandley University and is one of the DJ's of the college radio. She comes across Tristan from New York on a late night Internet session. Lonely and still a virgin she wants to find out more and more of this mysterious character and eventually wants to meet in the flesh.
The book starts slow to make the reader feel the surrounding landscape and characteristics of all the people.
Things get very strange and wonderful and frightening but I'll stop there as I really don't want to ruin the enjoyment you will have with this book.
Already writing her second novel titled ' Gloomy ' , this is an astonishing debut from a new author I think may well become a great for our times.

Rating:
Summary: Internet Message
Review: I've always hated knowing that the good guys are going to prevail, and that the bad guys always get what's coming. I rooted for the machines in the Terminator movies. So I was pleasantly surprised to find a twist on that old formula when I read Internet Message. Our heroine is not saved, as we suspect she will be. Lilly is the token innocent, virgin, reluctant victim, and we are sure she will transform into reluctant hero. Instead, to my surprise and delight, she transformed into a nasty blood sucking mistress, as powerful in her badness as she was shimmering in her goodness. These characters are fun to read, but what makes Internet Message stay with you is the unique spin Woods puts on it; the nice guy does NOT get the girl, the ultimate heroes are not who we think they will be, and there is no sentimentality sparing the lives and undeaths of our main characters. In vampire transformations, Woods left barely a soldier standing, and it was good, unclean fun.

Rating:
Summary: Fast Paced Must Read
Review: I.M. is a modern vampire tale without the weigh of myth exploration as is so often the case today. The author has cut through all of the excess to bring to you a delightfully dark, highly entertaining tale of sinister destiny. This is the kind of novel that grips you from the first word and takes you for a fast paced ride, dropping you breathless and full of wonder at the conclusion. The characterization is superb, with perfect detailing provided to the supporting cast allowing you a full picture of not only the main characters life, but every one around her as well. I should also add here that sexy and mysterious Tristan is my idea of a bad guy; Ms. Simpson-Woods sure knows how to make her female readers tingle with delight. This is a novel for all lovers of horror, with plenty of death, blood, betrayal, and evil to make us all smile a wicked little smile.

I give my highest complements to Stephanie Simpson-Woods for creating an interesting and enjoyable vampire tale, which is not an easy task. Allot the time needed to fully become one with this novel because it is most definitely a page-turner that you won't want to put down. After reading this, the next time I'm on line, I wont be as quick to click on the accept button when I get an I.M.-unless it's Tristan that is.

Rating:
Summary: Couldn't Put It Down
Review: Stephanie Simpson-Wood's I.M. Internet Message was one of those books that one has to keep reading. Once I got through one chapter I couldn't put it down until I finished it. It was inventive and stimulating, not your average horror story.

I can't wait to see more from Simpson-Woods. This new writer is going to go far.

Rating:
Summary: I.M. Internet Message
Review: Stephanie Simpson-Woods wrote a novel about vampires, maybe the most over-written and beat-to-death genre on this planet. I began my journey into her story with doubts of gaining any enjoyment. After all, it's all been said and done too many times.

But, somewhere along the line I became caught-up in the character's lives and worried for their safety. Poor Lily--surrounded by friends, ghosts, and vampires--became a person I cared about. Her struggles, both internal and external, were brought to life in a vivid way. I worried for her when she left a bar with Tristen, I wanted to tell her to listen to her mother's warning, I cared.

And until the last page, I was in Lily's corner wanting to aid in her plight.

Bottom line: I did gain enjoyment from I.M., and can recommend this book to anyone with a heart.

You'll care too.

Perry McGee

Rating:
Summary: Queen of The Night
Review: Vampire folklore has been, and still remains, one of the top selling night stalkers of all time. They intrigue us as mortals and as devoted horror fans worldwide. The father of vampires, Bram Stoker, brought this mythological symbol to us in the late eighteen hundreds. Since then, with the help of: Poppy Z. Bright, Stephen King, William Hill, Anne Rice, Nancy A. Collins, Richard Laymon, and many others, you can read how this devilish creature has existed; not only to survive on living blood, but in the deep recourses of our imaginations.

Stephanie Simpson Woods brings us an expeditious tale that will arouse in more ways than one. It is a classic stake through the heart holy water battle between good and evil with a twist.

The pages smolder with heated lust and yearning desire. Woods pulls this off effectively. Don't be deceived. Her characters are ruthless when it comes to taking mortal lives. In the conclusion a new breed of vampire is born. Will she write a second installment to this story? We can only hope.

-Kingdom of Shadows Book Review

Rating:
Summary: What's a little blood between friends?
Review: Vampires. I can't get enough of reading about vampires and while some may spout this is a dead end subject, I beg to differ. Authors as well as producers have been resurrecting these stories for some time with new twists, angles, and storylines. Case in point, from accomplished writer Stephanie Simpson-Woods, I. M. Internet Message is a novel that gives the reader a fresh idea, enticing characters, and an unexpected bittersweet ending. If you are a fan of vampires, this will quench your thirst and remind you why they will never go away.

Our main character Lily is very likeable; and I found myself caught up in her daily routine and inner thoughts. She is a young college student, sharing an apartment with two other roommates and pulling a stint as a radio DJ at night. Sleep isn't her friend, and spends countless nights waking from the same terrifying dreams, ones that seem a little too real. Unable to shake the disturbing images, she goes online and strikes up an important friendship with a mysterious man named Batt. He offers an outlet for Lily to open up and share her feelings. For months they log on and talk, two people with mutual respect for one another, finding comfort in their chats, and both unsure where it all is going. One night he asks for them to meet, and more than just their friendship changes.

Tristan, a silent walker of the night, is bound to Lily in love and devotion. He has a request to fulfill, one given to him by his very own maker. At night he haunts her dreams and waits for the invitation to taste her essence and take her soul. With her destined to be his mate, no one will stand in his way.

One by one Lily's roommates and close friends change, heated desires take over and fresh blood runs thick. The identity of Tristan's maker comes to fruition, but perhaps a little too late.

This is a spellbinding tale packed with subtle horror, poetic eroticism, suspense, and class. The dialogue alone is engaging, realistic, and drives the action and events along. There is never a lag between the storyline and transitions of central characters and chapters. The ending alone is a gem and quite surprising. I look forward to more works by author Stephanie Simpson-Woods, she has a talent that like a vampire, is timeless.

Rating:
Summary: What's a little blood between friends?
Review: Vampires. I can't get enough of reading about vampires and while some may spout this is a dead end subject, I beg to differ. Authors as well as producers have been resurrecting these stories for some time with new twists, angles, and storylines. Case in point, from accomplished writer Stephanie Simpson-Woods, I. M. Internet Message is a novel that gives the reader a fresh idea, enticing characters, and an unexpected bittersweet ending. If you are a fan of vampires, this will quench your thirst and remind you why they will never go away.

Our main character Lily is very likeable; and I found myself caught up in her daily routine and inner thoughts. She is a young college student, sharing an apartment with two other roommates and pulling a stint as a radio DJ at night. Sleep isn't her friend, and spends countless nights waking from the same terrifying dreams, ones that seem a little too real. Unable to shake the disturbing images, she goes online and strikes up an important friendship with a mysterious man named Batt. He offers an outlet for Lily to open up and share her feelings. For months they log on and talk, two people with mutual respect for one another, finding comfort in their chats, and both unsure where it all is going. One night he asks for them to meet, and more than just their friendship changes.

Tristan, a silent walker of the night, is bound to Lily in love and devotion. He has a request to fulfill, one given to him by his very own maker. At night he haunts her dreams and waits for the invitation to taste her essence and take her soul. With her destined to be his mate, no one will stand in his way.

One by one Lily's roommates and close friends change, heated desires take over and fresh blood runs thick. The identity of Tristan's maker comes to fruition, but perhaps a little too late.

This is a spellbinding tale packed with subtle horror, poetic eroticism, suspense, and class. The dialogue alone is engaging, realistic, and drives the action and events along. There is never a lag between the storyline and transitions of central characters and chapters. The ending alone is a gem and quite surprising. I look forward to more works by author Stephanie Simpson-Woods, she has a talent that like a vampire, is timeless.

Rating:
Summary: I.M.
Review: When a young nurse is accosted by a man needing blood late one night, a series of events is set in motion that years later, her daughter will not be able to stop. That daugher, Lily, grows up with a constant yearning for love that she only finds on the internet. Her ideal man seems to be a guy who calls himself Batt, and he has a lock on her soul that not even her closest friends can break. Batt is a vampire that her own mother created, and now that he's entered Lily's world; he is hungry.


Fans of happy endings need not apply here. Inconsistent characterization and a rather depressing ending detract from the potential interest in this book.

Rating:
Summary: I.M. Internet Message by Stephanie Simpson-Woods
Review: While much of the writing in "I.M. Internet Message" lacks maturity, conciseness, and at times leaves you wishing that it would come to an end already, there are a few sections of this paperback that show some potential.

Set in the small, backwater college town of Brandley, North Carolina, Simpson-Woods' first novel takes us into the all too familiar world of the vampire. Lily Wagoner is a not-so-typical student who has her own show at the college radio station and spends much of her free time corresponding, via the Internet, with a mysterious man she knows only as BAtt. When BAtt mentions that he will be in a neighboring town and wonders if Lily would like to meet him, she readily agrees, and so begins her journey into a dark world that will involve most of her friends, and reveal parts of her past that are better off left buried.

Overall, I think "I.M. Internet Message" would have been much more interesting had the vampires been left out, and a more believable, and more sinister, villain been used in their place. But that just might be me. In the end I can't rate this book higher than a four (out of ten) and I can't picture very many people thinking they got their money's worth after shelling out what I consider a ridiculously high cover price of $19.95

Gary West
The Dream People