Posts Categorized: Review

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Here Tour Stop

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Today is my stop on the Here Blog Tour, hosted by A Tale of Many Reviews, and I’ve got my review for you as well as a fun This ‘N That interview with Denise. You also have a chance to win a copy! How’s that for a great day!? 🙂

Here
Denise Grover Swank
Series: On the Otherside, #1
Release date: November 11th 2011

Goodreads / Purchase

Sixteen year old Julia Phillips buries herself in guilt after killing her best friend Monica in a car accident. Julia awoke in the hospital with a broken leg, a new talent for drawing and false memories of the accident, in which she dies and Monica lives. The doctors attribute this to her head injury, but no one can explain how a bracelet engraved with her name ended up at the scene of the accident. A bracelet no one has ever seen before.

Classmate Evan Whittaker paid Julia no attention before the accident, let alone after. Now suddenly he’s volunteering to tutor her and offering to drive her home. She can’t ignore that his new obsession started after his two-day disappearance last week and that he wears a pendant she’s been drawing for months. When the police show up one night looking for Evan, he begs Julia to run with him, convincing her that Monica is still alive. Julia agrees to go, never guessing where he’s really from.

*A copy was provided by Denise Grover Swank for review purposes*

Here starts off as a sort of light contemporary romance with a glimpse of possible paranormal elements to come. I wasn’t very impressed at first, I felt it was all very cliché, thus I was foreseeing another “same old” predictable paranormal romance. However, at the turn of a page, I was completely baffled by a sudden change of events which essentially transforms it into a rather dystopian/sci-fi novel. This was a very welcome change as, up to this point, I wasn’t really feeling it with this book. But boy was it interesting! I can’t say very much else without spoilers, but I can tell you that the plot becomes action packed, highly fascinating, and undoubtedly original.

After Julia’s accident – the one where her best friend died – things have been a bit off. She can now draw, she has no memory of the accident, and she’s suddenly caught the attention of the school hottie. Even though the plot at first didn’t completely captivate me, I did find a liking to Julia from the start. I liked her voice and being in her head. It’s emotional; her guilt over killing her best friend is tangible, her mindset is realistic and I understood her. This connection to her easily made the seemingly ordinary plot more engaging. Once you hit about half way, though, nothing about the plot is ordinary!

With a fair amount of romance in the story, we do have a pretty big love triangle in the mists. I wasn’t particularly fond of it as it felt as if Julia was taking advantage of the situation at one point, but I did like the characters involved. The boys are full of charm and wit; they are definitely a great part of the cast. I think we could have easily done without the current triangle’s appearance. The situation is VERY peculiar, though; I do admit that it’s thought-provoking, if nothing else.

This being the start of a series, there is more discovering and digesting, than actual world building. We could have gone deeper now that I think about it, but I was so enticed by what we were uncovering that questions only arose afterwards – which is fine since there’s more to come. I’m particularly curious about the alternate school from the first part. It sounded very ominous, but nothing came of it. I also hope we get to go back and learn what all happened once Julia’s world collapsed.

A complete and fantastic surprise, Here turned out to be extremely different than what I initially expected. We get a story that is exciting, authentic, as well as mind boggling; it makes you contemplate the ramifications of what has happened. I especially recommend it for fans of dystopians who like a deviation from the norm.

4 Hot Espressos

10 “Favorites” Interview with Denise Grover Swank

1. Favorite movie/actor/actress? Hmm… this is hard. All I can think is that there is one actor I will just about always go see in a movie—Will Smith.

2. Favorite song/singer? This changes often. Currently stuck on repeat is Relient K

3. Favorite place you would love to visit? Other than Starbucks? (See below) The beach. I love the ocean.

4. One item you cannot live without?  My iPhone (yes, I think that makes me pathetic.)

5. Who would you like to meet? (dead or alive) Wow. I’m so lucky to have some awesome people in my life. Umm… I’d love to chat with Suzanne Collins about how her concept for the Hunger Games developed.

6. Favorite hobby?  Reading and gardening

7. Guilty pleasure? Starbucks—I visit too often.

8. Favorite author and/book?  Sarah Addison Allen. I’d love to write as beautifully as she does when I grow up. 😉

9. Do you collect anything? Other than children and dogs? No. 😉 ( I have six kids and three dogs.)

10. Favorite color?  Currently: steel blue. Ask me again tomorrow and it’s bound to change. I’m a Gemini. Enough said. 😉


 Denise’s Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter

Denise Grover Swank lives in Lee’s Summit, Missouri. She has six children, three dogs, and an overactive imagination. She can be found dancing in her kitchen with her children, reading or writing her next book. You will rarely find her cleaning. Denise is represented by Amanda Luedeke of MacGregor Literary.

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Review: The Calling by Kelley Armstrong

Posted by on 04/09/2012 • 31 Comments

The CallingKelley ArmstrongSeries: Darkness Rising, #2Release date: April 10th, 2012by Doubleday Canada (US: HarperCollins)

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Maya Delaney’s paw-print birthmark is the mark of what she truly is–a skin-walker. She can run faster, climb higher, and see better than nearly everyone else. Experiencing intense connections with the animals that roam the woods outside her home, Maya knows it’s only a matter of time before she’s able to Shift and become one of them. And she believes there may be others in her small town with surprising talents.

Now, Maya and her friends have been forced to flee from their homes during a forest fire they suspect was deliberately set. Then they’re kidnapped, and after a chilling helicopter crash, they find themselves in the Vancouver Island wilderness with nothing but…

Review: The Book of Blood and Shadow

Posted by on 04/07/2012 • 33 Comments

The Book of Blood and ShadowRobin Wasserman Release date: April 10th, 2012by Random House Children’s Books

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It was like a nightmare, but there was no waking up.  When the night began, Nora had two best friends and an embarrassingly storybook one true love.  When it ended, she had nothing but blood on her hands and an echoing scream that stopped only when the tranquilizers pierced her veins and left her in the merciful dark.

But the next morning, it was all still true: Chris was dead.  His girlfriend Adriane, Nora’s best friend, was catatonic. And Max, Nora’s sweet, smart, soft-spoken Prince Charming, was gone. He was also—according to the police, according to her parents, according to everyone—a murderer.

Desperate to prove his innocence, Nora follows the…

Review: Blood Rights by Kristen Painter

Posted by on 04/06/2012 • 22 Comments

Blood RightsKristen PainterSeries: House of Comarré, #1Release date: October 1st, 2011by Orbit

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The lacy gold mapped her entire body. A finely-wrought filigree of stars, vines, flowers, butterflies, ancient symbols and words ran from her feet, up her legs, over her narrow waist, spanned her chest and finished down her arms to the tips of her fingers.

Born into a life of secrets and service, Chrysabelle’s body bears the telltale marks of a comarré—a special race of humans bred to feed vampire nobility. When her patron is murdered, she becomes the prime suspect, which sends her running into the mortal world…and into the arms of Malkolm, an outcast vampire cursed to kill every being from whom he drinks.

Now Chrysabelle and Malkolm must work together to…

Review: Belles by Jen Calonita

Posted by on 04/05/2012 • 28 Comments

BellesJen CalonitaRelease date: April 10th, 2012by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

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Fifteen-year-old Isabelle Scott loves her life by the boardwalk on the supposed wrong side of the tracks in North Carolina. But when tragedy strikes, a social worker sends her to live with a long-lost uncle and his preppy privileged family. Isabelle is taken away from everything she’s ever known, and, unfortunately, inserting her into the glamorous lifestyle of Emerald Cove doesn’t go so well. Her cousin Mirabelle Monroe isn’t thrilled to share her life with an outsider, and, in addition to dealing with all the rumors and backstabbing that lurk beneath their classmates’ Southern charm, a secret is unfolding that will change both girls’ lives forever.

*A copy was provided by Hachette Book Group Canada…

Review + Giveaway: Grave Mercy

Posted by on 04/02/2012 • 47 Comments

Grave MercyRobin LaFeversSeries: His Fair Assassin, #1Release date: April 3rd, 2012by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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Why be the sheep, when you can be the wolf?

Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts—and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others.

Ismae’s most important assignment takes her straight into the high court of Brittany—where she finds herself woefully under prepared—not only…

Review: The Night She Disappeared

Posted by on 03/30/2012 • 28 Comments

The Night She DisappearedApril HenryRelease date: March 13th, 2012by Henry Holt and Co.

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Gabie drives a Mini Cooper. She also works part time as a delivery girl at Pete’s Pizza. One night, Kayla—another delivery girl—goes missing. To her horror, Gabie learns that the supposed kidnapper had asked if the girl in the Mini Cooper was working that night. Gabie can’t move beyond the fact that Kayla’s fate was really meant for her, and she becomes obsessed with finding Kayla. She teams up with Drew, who also works at Pete’s. Together, they set out to prove that Kayla isn’t dead—and to find her before she is.

*A copy was provided by Raincoast Books for review purposes* The Night She Disappeared, with only 240 pages, is a short but…

Review: Exiled by M.R. Merrick

Posted by on 03/29/2012 • 33 Comments

ExiledM.R. MerrickSeries: The Protector, #1Release date: June 28th, 2011

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Chase Williams is a demon hunter in the Circle, or at least he was supposed to be. On his fifteenth birthday, Chase stepped up to the altar to claim his elemental power, but it never came. Elemental magic is passed down to a hunter through the bloodline, but on Chase’s birthday, the bloodline stopped.

Exiled without the Circle’s protection, Chase has spent two years trying to survive a world riddled with half-demons and magic. When he has a run in with a frightened and seemingly innocent demon, he learns the Circle’s agenda has changed: the Circle plans to unlock a portal and unleash pure-blood demons into the world. Vowing to stop them, and knowing he can’t do…