Deception Blog Tour - Excerpt + Giveaway

Today I have the honor of closing the Deception blog tour, hosted by Mundie Moms!  This is a HUGE honor because it's my first Mundie Moms' blog tour, and to be included at all is just so cool (also, do you see all the totally awesome bloggers I"m part of this tour with!?).  You can check out the previous stops on the tour here.

I read and loved Defiance so I'm excited that I get to show you all a sneak peek at it's sequel, which is on shelves now! (Although due to the large number of books in my library I've been unable to read.)

The Book;

Baalboden has been ravaged. The brutal Commander's whereabouts are unknown. And Rachel, grief stricken over her father's death, needs Logan more than ever. With their ragged group of survivors struggling to forge a future, it's up to Logan to become the leader they need—with Rachel by his side. Under constant threat from rival Carrington's army, which is after the device that controls the Cursed One, the group decides to abandon the ruins of their home and take their chances in the Wasteland.

But soon their problems intensify tenfold: someone—possibly inside their ranks—is sabotaging the survivors, slowly killing them off. The chaos and uncertainty of each day puts unbearable strain on Rachel and Logan, and it isn't long before they feel their love splintering. Even worse, as it becomes clear that the Commander will stop at nothing to destroy them, the survivors begin to question whether the price of freedom may be too great—and whether, hunted by their enemies and the murderous traitor in their midst, they can make it out of the Wasteland alive.

In this daring sequel to Defiance, with the world they once loved forever destroyed, Rachel and Logan must decide between a life on the run and standing their ground to fight.

The Author;

C. J. Redwine lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with her four beautiful kids, an amazing husband, two fairly crazy cats, and a dog. She has books in every corner of her house, an impressive Harry Potter memorabilia collection, and a bunch of really cool friends she doesn't get to see nearly as much as she'd like to. She is also the author of Defiance.

The excerpt;

"...... What better way to pay a debt than to keep his ridiculously headstrong daughter alive and well?"
"She is ridiculously headstrong, isn't she?" A weary smile tugs at my lips. The rest of my life might be an ugly lie, but I can trust Rachel to be exactly who she's always been.
He rolls his eyes. "I care about Rachel, but you have to admit she's unbelievably stubborn. Bossy. Never listens. Never! Keeping up with her is a full time job. There'll be no rest for the man who chooses to spend her life loving her."
I feel a little lighter. "I'll rest when I'm dead."
"I want to explain what you saw. I think it's important that you understand."
"Yeah, I'm still wondering what the girl I love was doing in your lap." 

WHAT!? You guys, what is going on here!? Also, IS THIS FROM LOGAN'S POV!? AHHH!!!! It's such a tiny snippet but I just want the book even MORE now.  Okay, that's it, I'm going out and buying this book today.  Is anyone else?

Giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And be sure to check out the first book in the series, Defiance, if you haven't already!

Review-The Coldest Girl in Coldtown

This book has been on my radar for quite some time.  Vampires in today's YA culture have been romanticized.  They are a secret and the main character somehow stumbles upon that secret, and then, shockingly, they want to BE a vampire, because who wouldn't want to spend eternity as a teenager (Actually, I would hate that. I would hate that SO much it's not even funny).  Having never read any of Holly's many books despite the fact that I've met her I decided that this would be my first, and started it with possibly too high hopes.  For years I've been hearing tales of Black's beautiful writing in her Curse Workers series, and I'm not sure quite what I was expecting but I think it was a little different than what I read.  Don't get me wrong, it wasn't bad, I enjoyed it well enough, but if you hear so many things about an author and that's not what you get it can be a little confusing.  This book has caused some controversy with Black's fans though, so maybe this isn't what her previous series are like.  I was pleased with her take on vampires for quite a few reasons.  One, they're dead. Okay, yeah, all vampires are dead...or well, undead, but these vampires are dead and cold.  They drink blood, as all (most?) vampires do, and there's a very clean-cut process as to what happens if you're bit.  It's a VIRUS, which I loved.  The one thing I didn't love was that despite obviously getting into the bloodstream no matter how many times you were infected if you didn't turn into a vampire there was no immunity, which isn't how things like that work.  The world KNEW about the vampires, which is a pretty new twist (the only book that does this that I'm aware of is the True Blood series, which is by NO means a YA book).  Black also didn't make the vampires all mushy, despite the fact that in that world they are considered celebrities to some.  They kill people because they are vampires.  There are blood and guts and quite honestly some slightly weird vampire kissing happening, so this isn't a book looking for those of you who want a fluffy romance. It's a dark book at times, so come in prepared.  Black writes with a LOT of detail, which because I'm new to her writing might or might not be what she always does, I don't know.  Things are wrapped up well enough in the book that it COULD be a standalone, and at this point in time I can find no talk of a sequel, but I can see it being made into at LEAST a two book series, and I would enjoy seeing what happens next.  Sure, I didn't love this book, but it was enjoyable and different, and it kept me captivated enough that I would read another book set in the same world with the same characters, and I will definitely be picking up Black's other books, hopefully sometime in the near future (although who knows?).

Out September 3, 2013

4/5 dust spirits

*Thanks to Little, Brown Books for Young Readers for providing me with an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Review-Wild Cards

A few years ago I stumbled upon Simone's Perfect Chemistry series and fell in love, there's pretty much no other way to describe it.  Her characters have real problems, which make them seem more like real people who just happen to have a book written about them (like when Pheobe in Friends writes a book about everyone else and basically just writes whatever they do and say).  That and Simone write some pretty sexy guys.  I'm not entirely sure guys like Derek (or Alex, or Carlos, or Luis) exist in the real world, but if they do, until I find one for myself I'll have to settle for reading about them.  Derek is a classic Simone boy, he's hot, he's slightly broken, and he's got a snarky attitude to hide the pain.  This book actually reminds me a lot of Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally, because the main female character plays football on a high school team.  It's actually one of the things I love about the book.  Sometimes in YA fiction teenage girls are fluffy and, unfortunately weak, but that's not the case with Ashtyn.  She's spunky, she's fierce, and despite everything she fights for what she wants, even if everyone else says that she shouldn't have it.  I loved the dual POV, and the romance was super steamy.  I honestly believe that no matter what happens in a book there should be some times when you can't help but laugh, be that through snark or butt jokes I don't care, but it needs to be there because no matter what there's always that one person that makes life funny despite the possible crappy time you're having.  There was something I just can't put my finger on that makes this book slightly less than five stars, but I would highly recommend it. Fans of Suzanne's previous work will eat it up, along with fans of Miranda Kenneally, fans of football (probably girl fans though), fans of contemporary books, and fans of shmexy boys (but that's all of us now, isn't it?).  I can't wait to see what happens in the next book in the series, although I think it will be a companion set in the same city but with different main characters.  At this point I'm basically addicted to anything that Simone writes, and I hope that she will keep writing for an extremely long time.

Out September 24, 2013

4.5/5 dust spirits

*Thanks to Bloomsbury/Walker for providing me with an e-ARC of this book in return for an honest review

Review-Insurgent

Whenever I read a sequel I find that I have more trouble reading it than I did the first book, and that's probably because of two reasons.  One, after reading book one I'm expecting something, and there's a good chance the book WON'T live up to the first one.  Two, I've pretty much decided that second books are meant to tear your heart to pieces.  Having said all of that I wasn't really worried about the first thing, because I'd heard from everyone that this book was even better than book one, and in regards to the second thing, well, Veronica already played chicken with your emotions in the first one, so it's wasn't hard to figure out she would do it in this one as well.  The fact that it took so long for the action to start in book one turned me off a little bit, and despite the fact that the end of Divergent left you expecting action right away in the next book it wasn't exactly like that.  Sure, there was action in the book, and I loved the fact that we got to see deeper into other factions and met more characters that were Divergent, but there were moments when I cringed.  Tris is a great character, she's smart and resourceful, and I really enjoy seeing Four any time he decides to show up.  Personally I think they make a really good team, but there were some times in this book when I just had to go "you're both being SUPER stupid, just, come on, stop that."  But of course they're fictional and have already been written, so they can't.  All in all I was again pretty pleased with the outcome of this book, although like it's predecessor there's just something that makes it just miss that 5 star rating, although I can't put my finger on it exactly.  This time the spoilers that I encountered around the Internet were pretty minimal, so there were some surprises that I didn't see coming and caught me slightly off guard, although I did find myself somewhat emotionally detached from all of the characters in this series, just kind of watching as an outsider, like I was watching a movie (although that very well could have just been me).  Based on what everyone said I was also expecting a cliffhanger of epic proportions (think Delirium by Lauren Oliver), but what I found was more along the lines of The Testing.  You knew the book had to end somewhere because, well, it's not the last book in a series, and it sets us up for whatever comes next, but it doesn't make you wonder if your book is missing pages, which is what I was expecting based on how everyone else reacted.  I will be reading the last book to see how it all wraps up, and with the trailer for the first movie just having debuted I'm sure I'll be watching the movie as well, because, well, let's face it, it can't be as bad as the Eragon.  Basically I'm right up there with the other fans waiting for everything to come out, although I might not be as...rabid.

4.5/5 dust spirits

Authors Are Rockstars Tour Suzanne Young Interview + Giveaway

Today I'm part of 2nd annual Authors ARE Rockstars blog tour.  This is my second year participating in this super cool tour, and this year I'm hosting AMAZING author Suzanne Young!

Now, the first order of business is this WHY is Suzanne Young a rockstar author?  Let me give you just a few reasons.

1.) She's a teacher!  Yup, that's right, she's a high school creative writing teacher!  It doesn't get much better than that.  Sure, it's great if you're an author and share you craft with the world, but Suzanne goes one step farther and shares her craft with budding authors my age!  And she's super dedicated to them!  Earlier this year she was set to go on tour for her newest book (and by that I mean her newest book written ALONE) The Program but her classes had finals when she would be gone, so she STAYED with them.  Now, this made me grumble because, Dude, I wanted to see her on tour (she was supposed to come to my city), but the fact that she gave up an all expenses paid tour to stay with her classes?  Major props there.  I respect that ALL the way.

2.)  She writes books that are DIFFERENT.  Cheerleaders that go undercover to catch cheating boyfriends?  Angels that are meant to be forgotten?  A teenage suicide epidemic?  Now really, be honest, now often do you read about those things in YA?  I'll answer that for you, NEVER!  Some people say that we're all just writing the same story over and over again with different details, but those people have obviously not read Suzanne's books.

3.)  She writes with EMOTION.  Granted, most of the time that emotion ends up being sadness, so you're sitting there reading her books and you find yourself making these weird strangled noises that make other people go "that's not a good sound" (What is this from!? Know the answer?  You get an extra entry in The Program giveaway!).  Maybe you're thinking, "but I don't WANT to read a book that will make me cry, I want to read a book that will give me tummy butterflies and make me laugh" and I totally get that, but the best part is SHE DOES THAT TOO!  You show me a book that makes you laugh and swoon AND cry (that's NOT written by John Green and isn't a contemporary) and I'll read it ASAP.

There are like, a dozen more reasons I could come up with, but I'm sure you're all going "get on with it already, besides, we ALL know how super she is!"  Today I'm SO happy to have Suzanne here on my blog with an interview.  At the end of the interview I've also personally added FIVE giveaways, so make sure to check those out as well.

Author Interview;

Hi Suzanne, it’s an honor to have you on the blog today because I’ve just adored all of your books that I’ve read.

PLTF: A week from today you’re newest book will hit shelves.  You co-wrote Just Like Fate with fellow YA author Cat Patrick and it’s a little different than your previous books.  What can we expect in JLF?

SY: Just Like Fate is a story about choices and how one small decision can change our lives. Do our mistakes define us? In the novel we see two possible scenarios play out (no supernatural elements needed), and watch as a girl ultimately deals with responsibility and first love.

PLTF: What was it like writing a book with Cat?

SY: It was a blast! Cat is a great storyteller and together I think we really did something special. We alternated chapters at first, surprising and entertaining each other, and then we both revised and edited to keep the voice seamless. It was a perfect pairing for me.

PLTF: The Program would probably best be described as a dystopian novel, but I think at its heart it’s so much more than that.  It deals with a really hard subject, teen suicide, and although it’s filled with love and support there’s this undercurrent of fear that seems to run through it.  Why teen suicide (or suicide in general)?  And where did you come up with the idea for The Program in the book?

SY: I’d been writing a contemporary novel on suicide for a long time, but I couldn’t find the right tone. In fact, although much of the story was true, it wasn’t coming across as believable. Non-fiction can be weird like that. I’d also started on two other novels that weren’t quite right and set them aside. One day I realized I could fit the three stories together in an amazing way.

I created new characters and used elements from the other novels. The emotions in The Program are based on real emotions, and it wasn’t until I exaggerated the world (a suicide epidemic) that the big feelings really seemed to work.

The Program is personal to me—and I’m very proud of it.

PLTF: NEXT year we will finally see what happens to Sloane after her adventures in The Program.  The Treatment doesn’t come out until the very end of April, but maybe you could give us a small snippet to help tide us over?

SY: THE TREATMENT starts off immediately after book 1 ends. We’ll get a chance to see Sloane and James escape. We’ll meet the rebels. Realm will return. But the epidemic has gotten worse and The Program isn’t going to let Sloane and James get away so easily. THE TREATMENT has more action, more desperation, and more of The Program. 

You can read the first chapter of THE TREATMENT here: http://goo.gl/VOgx0s

PLTF: And last but not least what are you working on now?  There’s an untitled book attributed to you on goodreads, is that something we can expect to see in the future?

SY: Right now I have two new books coming out after THE TREATMENT, but they haven’t been announced yet. On top of that, I’m currently working on a new idea I’m SUPER excited about. It will have mystery, romance, horror, and a strong emotional element that I don’t want to give away.

 A few quick questions;

Favorites

Favorite Doctor? David Tennant

Favorite SyFy original movie? Sharktopus

Favorite Joss Whedon production? Early Buffy

This or that

Contemporary or paranormal/fantasy/sci-fi? I like to mix them together. So fantasy with a contemporary feel.

Happily ever after or happily never after? Happily Ever After. 

Zombies or vampires/werewolves? Vampires (I still love True Blood). 

Fill in the blank

If a book is too sweet, I generally won’t read it.

The last book I read and loved was The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black.

If I had to live inside a book I would choose something with a lot of romance, but little death.

One upcoming book I’m excited about is Where the Stars Still Shine by Trish Doller.

Thank you so much for answering all of my questions today Suzanne and I can’t wait to read more of your books.  If you keep working we’ll keep reading (wow, that was super cheesy!).

About Suzanne;

Originally from New York, Suzanne moved to Arizona to pursue her dream of not freezing to death.  She currently resides in Tempe, where she teaches high school English.  When not writing obsessively, Suzanne can be found searching her own tragic memories for inspiration.

Suzanne is the author of several books for teens, including THE PROGRAM, A NEED SO BEAUTIFUL, and A WANT SO WICKED.  Find her on Facebook or follow her on twitter.

Her Books;

• The Naughty List (goodreads | amazon)
• So Many Boys (goodreads | amazon)
• A Good Boy is Hard to Find (goodreads | amazon) *only available as an e-book
• Just Like Fate [August 27, 2013] (goodreads | amazon | Cat's website | my review)
• A Need So Beautiful (goodreads | amazon | my review)
• A Want So Wicked (goodreads | amazon | my review)
• A Desire So Deadly [November 5, 2013] (goodreads | amazon)  *only available as an e-book
• The Program (goodreads | amazon | my review)
• The Treatment [April 29, 2014] (goodreads | amazon) 

The Giveaways;

Thanks to the release of Just Like Fate and the fact that Cat is a Seattle local Suzanne is coming here to tour with her.  That means that I can get ALL of the books I have planned for these giveaways SIGNED.  

Rules;

• You must be 13 years or older to enter
• You MUST provide your mailing address.  In previous contests I've had problems where I get a book personalized and the person never answers my email so then I have a book with a name in it that I can't use!  (it even gives you an extra chance to win, so there is NO excuse!)
• You MUST have a US/Canadian address. If you live outside of the US/Canada and have friends/family you can mail it to, great, if not, I'm sorry but you can't enter.  (Please note this isn't because I don't love my international followers, I DO, very much, it's just that with five books and crazy postage rates [and also now being a poor college student] I just don't have the money!
• I am not responsible for any lost, stolen, or damaged prizes.
• Should you win an ARC you must swear NOT to sell it.  If I find out you did you will be excluded from any further contests.

A Need so Beautiful

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Program

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Just Like Fate

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Naughty List

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review-The Infinite Moment of Us

When a book that you read has a letter from the author at the front it usually does well to actually read that letter (I hope that they will put this letter in the finished copy, although I'm never sure) and when you see the word "sex" in that letter you know there are going to be very mixed reactions about what the story holds.  I have never read a book by Lauren Myracle before (although I do own Shine) but based on the letter she wrote and the fact that she tackles subjects that are iffy made me very hopeful about liking her.  What I found inside this book was a slightly modernized, more philosophical, and happily-ending version of Forever by Judy Blume.  Myracle tackles first love, and sex, and doing what is best for YOU in this book, and as a whole I was pleased with how she handled everything.  One of the things I liked the most was actually the fact that she wrote the book from a male AND female perspective, which I think was a smart idea that really helped the story an enormous amount.  The writing was lyrical in some places and there were some rather deep ideas played with that, because of the way they were approached, fit really well with the story and the characters.  That being said there were moments when I was slightly frustrated with the characters.  I totally understand the fact that both characters are new to romantic relationships and this is their first time being in love but a few of their actions made me go "really?"  Maybe that was part of the story though, because it's supposed to show the ups AND downs of first/teenage love, which I think it did quite nicely.    One of my favorite parts of the book was actually the main character's best friends (both main characters who had different best friends), and I would love to see what happens to them, and at the same time what becomes of Charlie and Wren in the future, although I'm not sure that either of those things will happen.  Hopefully this will be one of those books that turns into a classic, very much like Forever is, because I think there are a lot of things teenagers could learn from it that would be beneficial in today's day and age.  In my opinion Myracle should keep writing books for teens, especially ones that push some boundaries and make some people uncomfortable, because in the end those are the ones that mean something and are read long after they have been published.  I hope to be able to read the other novel of Myracle's that I own because I'm sure it will also be approached with just as much grace and talent, which is not something that can be said for every book.

Out August 27, 2013

4/5 dust spirits

*Thanks to Amulet for providing me with an ARC in return for an honest review

Review-Divergent

I found an ARC copy of this book at my school library before it came out and I decided that it looked pretty good, so I took it and put it on my TBR pile.  It sat there, and sat there, and I bought a finished hardcover, and then I gave my ARC away to someone less fortunate than me, and I regret that EVERY DAY.  By the time book three had a title and a cover I had pretty much decided I would wait until the it came out and read all three books at once, but I started reading this book in a store and, well, you  know how that goes.  People have raved about this book since day one, and I've heard just about nothing but praise about it from everyone who has read it, which is a good thing, but it can also cause a problem.  If everyone tells you that this is "the best book they've read in a long time" you're going to hold it to pretty high expectations, and I did.  Thankfully I wasn't let down too much.  The world was fascinating and the idea of factions was a nice twist in regards to other dystopian novels.  Reading about the characters was so much fun, and I found my heart beating faster when the action ramped up, which I think takes talent.  Veronica has oodles of that, and the fact that this is her debut novel makes it even more amazing.  the one thing that I was unhappy with was the fact that, being a dystopian novel, I expected something to be wrong with the government, but it took a lot of time to get to that part.  I'm not saying that it wasn't there, because it was, but there was still a big part of me that went "where's the corrupt government the main character will have to bring down?  I'm halfway through the book and it's not there."  There were moments when I wanted to poke the book and go "where are you hiding the evil government!?"  All of this being said I really enjoyed the book, and I'm very glad that I can jump right into book two without having to wait an entire year.  I'm interested to see what happens next, and where Tris and Four, and although most of the "surprise" moments didn't catch me off guard because of the Internet I was still flipping pages to see what it all meant, who was who, and where it all would end up.  And yes, I did make a list of the factions with what they stand for because with such weird names I got confused, but I think I have it down now...I think.

4.5/5 dust spirits

Review-Antigoddess

Last December Kendare let me reveal the cover for her newest book, Antigoddess, and of course because I love her and her books I was SO excited to do it.  I know some of you feel a little blah about this cover after the amazing covers Tor gave to her debut novel and it's sequel, but it really captures the essence of the book.  After reading the first sentence I was hooked, and although it took me more time than usual to read this book it was amazing in every way.  I think the reason it took me so long to read it was because the chapters were so long.  That made it feel like the book was longer than it really was, and I was having an off couple of days because it was crazy hot. Having said all of this it's time to talk about basically how much I adored this book.  First there was the concept.  Dying Greek gods? Uh, YES PLEASE! I'm not a huge history fan, actually, that's a crazy understatement, unless it has to do with World War II or ancient Egypt I don't really care, but this book has a whole bunch of Greek gods and references a whole bunch of events from history, which I thought would be a problem, but I liked the way that Kendare brought it into the now.  She kept her signature humor and snark as well as not pulling punches when it came to violence, language, sex, or death.  The characters were so much fun and the story so unique I was just pulled in and immersed in the world that Kendare had created.  She really hit the head on the nail when it came to how the gods, now stuck in today's world, would likely act.  Fans of Kendare's previous novels will enjoy this book, as well as bringing in an entirely new set of fans who love Greek mythology and the gods that go along with it.  I can't wait to see what happens next, but I'll basically read anything she writes because I love her and her books, but seriously this book, it's awesome and will hopefully be the next Percy Jackson (or something like that, seeing as I've never actually read those books so maybe I shouldn't make that comparison).

Out September 10, 2013

4.5/5 dust spirits

*Thank you to Kendare for providing me with an ARC of this book in return for an honest review (and a magnet)

Review-The Testing

I'm pretty sure that at this moment in time dystopian is the new vampire, so it doesn't surprise me that the range of topics covered in them go from asteroids to zombies.  I have to admit that the one thing that I didn't think could fit into a dystopian novel was school, but Charbonneau proved me wrong.  Now that I think about it it makes sense, school is already a competition, but GENERALLY not a deadly one.  The novel combined a Hunger Games type of base and then added your basic dystopian elements (seemingly perfect government, secret rebel groups, things not being what they appear to be, ect), and ended with a dose of creep-tastic SAT-like exams.  Recently I was talking with a bookseller about flawed characters, and I think that this one shows a good example of one who is flawed, but she's flawed in a good way.  Reminding me in more than one way of Katniss it was her kindness and honesty that earned her my respect, because in a world where it's kill or be killed some take that to the extreme and go off the deep end.  I think it helps us keep hope that despite all of the evil in the world there is also good, because without that where would we be?  One of the most interesting things about this novel, not counting the whole killer test thing, was that the cause of the broken world was very thought out.  It had seven stages, four that were man made and three that were geological, which I thought was ingenious, because I have very little doubt that should the world come to an end leaving only a handful of people left will be not because of some alien invasion or killer creatures, but from something of our own making, but that doesn't mean that however we ruin things the Earth won't try and help.  Although the book doesn't end on a huge cliffhanger, in fact, I saw it coming from a mile away, I'm glad I have an ARC of the second book that I can dive right into.  I can't wait to see what comes next in the series, and in the future I hope to see more work of hers.

4.5/5 dust spirits

Review-The Beginning of Everything

You know when you read a book and the entire time you find yourself nodding along because you know what it's like to BE the main character?  Okay, maybe you don't have a werewolf boyfriend or have someone trying to suck out your soul, or in this case, have a shattered knee that changed the course you thought your life would follow, but I connected with Ezra.  Sometimes you connect with a character because you're a teenage girl, or you were the one who got left out when all the good things happened, but to me the connection was deeper than that.  First let me say that this book, this is a book that I would write (minus all of the obscure literary references, because despite the fact that I'm a blogger I really don't have a soft spot for the classics and poetry. In fact, I kind of despite both. The thought of having to read them in high school made me cringe. Literally.) but all of the obscure little facts and pop-culture references? And the overall story ARC? Yup, that's how I envision my book going...should I ever actually get it on the page.  Every now and then you come across a book that, despite the fact that it's somewhat of an oddball, speaks to you on a some spiritual level (no, not religious, something DEEPER than that) and you end up wishing you wrote in your books so you could highlight all of the little passages that you just adored.  This, for me, was one of those books.  The fact that Robyn decided to write from a boy's POV and that she did some things that, let's be honest, in YA literature just don't happen all that often, all of those things just made the book that much better.  Honest truth right here though, this book won't be for everyone.  I can guarantee some of you are going to dislike it, maybe even hate it, and I wish I could say something like "if you liked x you should give it a shot, but if not maybe you should pass it up" but I can't say that because I'm almost positive this is going to be one of those books that resonates with some and falls flat with others, but unless you try it yourself you won't know which group you fall into.  As a blanket recommendation though I'm going to say go for it, pick up the book and read a few chapters, because it gave me that fuzzy feeling that maybe everything I want in my life could actually happen, or at least that I can go for my dreams.

Out August 27, 2013

4.5/5 dust spirits

*Thanks to Harper Teen for providing me with an ARC of this book in return for an honest review.

Review-Gated

Today I'm bringing you the second stop on the Gated blog tour hosted by Random House.  Below is a little about the book, the author, a review, and a giveaway of one hardcover copy!  

The Blurb;

She thought the evil lived outside the walls.

She was wrong.

In the Community, life seems perfect. The members of this isolated suburban development have thrived under Pioneer, the charismatic leader who saved them from their sad, damaged lives.

Lyla Hamilton and her parents moved here following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, looking to escape the evil in the world. Now seventeen, Lyla knows certain facts are not to be questioned:

Pioneer is her leader.

Will is her Intended.

The end of the world is near.

Like Noah before him, Pioneer has been told of the imminent destruction of humanity. He says his chosen must arm themselves and prepare to fight off the unchosen people, who will surely seek refuge in the compound's underground fortress--the Silo.

Lyla loves her family and friends, but given the choice, she prefers painting to target practice. And lately she'd rather think about a certain boy outside the development than plan for married life in the Silo with Will. But as the end of days draws near, she will have to pick up a gun, take a side, and let everyone know where she stands.

Woo, creepy right?

The Author;

Amy was born in Pennsylvania and spent most of her early years there. Many of her best memories are of hiding out in her room where she made up elaborate pretend play scenarios most often involving orphaned baby dolls and Barbies dressed in fashions made out of Kleenex. 

Amy was always attracted to writing, but she tried a lot of other jobs on for size first before settling into writing full time. At some point or another, she has been a collectible doll-maker, a fondue waitress, an inner city school teacher, and a stay at home mom. Currently she is writing full time and lives in a suburb of Tampa, Florida with her very supportive husband, their two creative and energetic daughters, one absurdly fat orange cat. 

Check out her blog HERE.

My Review;

First, I want to say that this book, it's about a girl who is part of, from the outside, what we would consider a cult.  I myself am not religious, honestly I think that religion is the cause of so many problems in the world it's not even funny, but I won't get into that here.  Basically what I'm saying is that to read this book you have to push everything out of your mind, all of your prejudices about religions and cults and everything else.  I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting when I started this book, but it's on several shelves as a dystopian novel.  It's NOT a dystopian novel.  If anything it's a contemporary novel, although the group in the novel thinks that the apocalypse is coming and that they need to prepare for it.  I myself have always been slightly fascinated with cults, mainly their leaders, but also the people who decided that they want to follow said leader.  Due to my point of view I couldn't really connect with the main character in the ways that I can with others, but I enjoyed seeing Lyla grow throughout the book.  Obviously I've never been in a cult before, but the reactions that all of the people in the group had, and just the Pioneer's overall personality really felt true to me.  I've not sure if Parker based this Community on any of the other famous cults out there, but it seemed like it could be a real group.  Sure, there were times when I really wanted to shake the main character because, really, how can you not see some of these things, but that's how it is in real life.  You don't see the monster in front of you until it's too late to do anything about it.  There was action in this book as well, and I enjoyed that as well, the thrill was there just like it would be with any other book.  I think fans of Lauren DeStefano's Chemical Garden series will like this book, although I do have to warn you that this book is not at all sunshine and butterflies.  It's dark, it's gritty, and it's real.  I commend the author for writing the book that she did, and I'll be interested to see what she comes up with next.

Out August , 2013

4/5 dust spirits

The Giveaway;

Random House has provided me with ONE hardcover copy of Gated to give away.  The contest is open for all residents of the US/Canada, and if you don't live in the US/Canada you can enter as long as you have an address that is within the country.  Just enter the rafflecopter giveaway below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Want to follow thee rest of the tour for interviews, guest posts, and more?  Check out the schedule HERE!

*Thank you to Random House for providing me with an e-ARC of this book in return for an honest review