Tag: Netgalley

#Prettyboy Must Die by Kimberly Reid

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PBMD

#Prettyboy Must Die by Kimberly Reid

Published: February 13th 2018 by Tor Teen

A CIA prodigy’s cover is blown when he accidentally becomes an internet sensation in #Prettyboy Must Die, inspired by the #Alexfromtarget story.

When Peter Smith’s classmate snaps a picture of him during a late night run at the track, Peter thinks he might be in trouble. When she posts that photo–along with the caption, “See the Pretty Boy Run,”–Peter knows he’s in trouble. But when hostiles drop through the ceiling of his 6th period Chem Class, Peter’s pretty sure his trouble just became a national emergency.

Because he’s not really Peter Smith. He’s Jake Morrow, former foster-kid turned CIA operative. After a massive screw-up on his first mission, he’s on a pity assignment, a dozen hit lists and now, social media, apparently. As #Prettyboy, of all freaking things.

His cover’s blown, his school’s under siege, and if he screws up now, #Prettyboy will become #Deadboy faster than you can say, ‘fifteen minutes of fame.’ Trapped in a high school with rabid killers and rabid fans, he’ll need all his training and then some to save his job, his school and, oh yeah, his life.

NOTE: I received an ARC of this via Netgalley. This in no way influences my opinion.

When I first saw this on Netgalley, I decided to request it because it looked like a quick, fun, cheesy read – something that would just cheer you up and let you escape for a couple go hours. However, this book did not cheer me up, and I actually ended up DNFing it. The characters, the descriptions and some of the ideas that the author had left me eye rolling pretty hard – to the point where I’m pretty sure that my eyes got stuck in the back of my head.

I’m going to start off with the MC. I struggled to really engage in this story because I found Peter/Jake to be extremely unlikeable. He was constantly complaining and whining and was pretty condescending toward others – whether it was just his thoughts and the way in which he saw people or whether it was things he said to other characters. He was horrible the person who was supposed to be his best friend within this book and it just grated on my nerves. I physically couldn’t connect to him as a character because I found no relatable qualities in him whatsoever. Despite his many mistakes etc. he still acted like he was better than everyone else and it really drew me out of the story.

His best friend’s back story (Bunker) also seemed completely out there and extremely unlikely. His dad took him underground (for reasons I have forgotten) and he doesn’t resurface for 15 years. It then seems unlikely to me that he is able to get into a relatively prestigious school on a scholarship and that he would be relatively sane of mind and pretty current with the times when he has been underground for the past 15 years. Surely he would have various psychological, if not also physical, issues that would confine him to a hospital/unit until he has be rehabilitated into the real world?

I think the biggest issue for me, and ultimately what led me to putting the book down, is the way in which Peter (the author) dismissed the possibility of a character being the hacker he’s looking for because: She’s English and beautiful and she has an amazing English accent and her hair smells English (Strawberries and Vanilla, who knew? Pretty sure my hair currently smells like coconut, so does this make me not English?), and she kisses super amazing and she’s English and Rich as hell… Did I mention that she’s English? This is what the book basically read like for me and to dismiss a female character because of these relatively shallow things got on my goat. It made me angry and I actually put the book down because I just couldn’t face reading anymore.

All in all, I was pretty disappointed, and irritated, with this book. I was expecting something fun and cheesy and got quite the opposite. I gave this book 1/5 stars.

Find Me Here:

Instagram/Twitter/Goodreads

Goodreads Monday

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Goodreads Monday is a weekly meme hosted here. To participate, choose a random book from your TBR and show it off. Don’t forget to link back here and feel free to add your link to the comments so that others can see what you picked! 

Hey guys! I hope you all had a great weekend 🙂 It snowed here again – I was hoping for warmer weather, but no. Hopefully it will warm up sometime this week.

Anyway, this weeks pick for me is an ARC copy of a book that I have that releases later this month! I am extremely excited to get to it (probably be my next read after I have finished up the book I am currently reading), and I am hoping it lives up to my expectations.

PBMD

#Prettyboy Must Die by Kimberly Reid

Expected Publication: February 13th by Tor Teen

A CIA prodigy’s cover is blown when he accidentally becomes an internet sensation in #Prettyboy Must Die, inspired by the #Alexfromtarget story.

When Peter Smith’s classmate snaps a picture of him during a late night run at the track, Peter thinks he might be in trouble. When she posts that photo–along with the caption, “See the Pretty Boy Run,”–Peter knows he’s in trouble. But when hostiles drop through the ceiling of his 6th period Chem Class, Peter’s pretty sure his trouble just became a national emergency.

Because he’s not really Peter Smith. He’s Jake Morrow, former foster-kid turned CIA operative. After a massive screw-up on his first mission, he’s on a pity assignment, a dozen hit lists and now, social media, apparently. As #Prettyboy, of all freaking things.

His cover’s blown, his school’s under siege, and if he screws up now, #Prettyboy will become #Deadboy faster than you can say, ‘fifteen minutes of fame.’ Trapped in a high school with rabid killers and rabid fans, he’ll need all his training and then some to save his job, his school and, oh yeah, his life.

Find Me Here:

Instagram/Twitter/Goodreads

The Switch by A. W. Hill and Nathaniel Hill

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TS

The Switch by A. W. Hill and Nathaniel Hill

Published: August 28th 2017 by Curiosity Quills Press

IMAGINE THAT you could change your world with the flip of a switch. You might be prettier, more athletic, more popular, or even living on an exotic island, because your history—your world line—would be different. But here’s the catch: you have no way of knowing if the reality on the other side of that switch will be better… or much worse.

JACOBUS ROSE is a fifteen year-old who believes—as many fifteen year-olds do—that his life could use improvement. School is a numbing routine, and his parents’ marriage seems to be imploding before his eyes. ‘Maybe I was born into the wrong world,’ he thinks. Lured by his best friend, CONNOR, into a strange little house containing nothing but empty rooms and an oversized circuit breaker, he’ll discover that reality comes in a plural form, and that our choices create a continuous web of branching worlds, any of which is as ‘real’ as another.

A solo odyssey becomes a duo, a trio, and then a quartet, as Jacobus befriends other interdimensional travelers along the way: GORDON NIGHTSHADE, the veteran pilgrim and chief theorist; MOSES DeWITT, the alley cat with an old soul; JEMMA DOONE, a girl of many-worlds who becomes the main river home for Jacobus and his crew; and finally, his lost friend Connor, who just may have preferred an alternate universe to his own.

THE SWITCH is the story of their journey home. The question is: if they get there, will it be the same place they left behind?

Note: I received a review copy of this book via Netgalley. This in no way influences my opinion.

I first discovered this book on Netgalley. The cover is eye catching and the premise sounded extremely promising – so of course, I had to request it! However, for me, this book fell flat and didn’t live up to its promise – I ended up DNFing.

I think my biggest issue with this book was the writing style itself. Whilst I don’t mind the author breaking the fourth wall and having the characters’ speak directly to the reader, it has to be done right for it be successful. For me, it wasn’t done right and was written more as if the character was stood with me talking to me, rather than hooking me into the story itself. The writing was very much “and then this happened, and then that happened…” which irritated and bored me. The writing style itself affected the execution and it just didn’t work for me.

Another issue I had with this book was the plot. Whilst the premise sounded extremely promising, I don’t feel that the plot lived up to my expectations. It was relatively repetitive, which made me want to put the book down and do something else. I loved the idea of multiple realities and all of them being different, but I would have liked to have seen more of the reality that he switched to before he switched again. The multiple switches in such a short space of time meant that we didn’t really get to see a lot from the other characters and how they changed etc.

Which brings us to the next issue, which was the characters. They fell mostly flat for me, but I think that was because the authors didn’t give us enough time to really get to know and care about the characters before switching them out for another reality and a new set of personalities. I didn’t have that reader/character connection because I felt that I wasn’t given the opportunity to really get to know anyone other than Jacobus

All in all, I was pretty disappointed with this book. Whilst the premise itself was extremely promising, I don’t feel that it lived up to that promise. I gave this 1/5 stars.

Find me Here:

Instagram/Twitter/Goodreads/Litsy @ Lauren’s Page Turners

November Wrap Up

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Hey guys! I hope you all had a great November. I decided to fill this post out as the month went on rather than all at once at the end of the month and it has definitely helped! This post hasn’t taken nearly as long as it wold have done if I had done it all at once and I think I am definitely going to keep filling out my Wrap Up posts throughout the month. Looking back over the month, I definitely need to go onto a book buying ban until at least the new year! I feel like I had a great reading month and I am well on my way to completing this year’s Goodreads Reading Challenge with 87/90 books read so far.

Read:

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Physical Books read this month! Missing is The Crown’s Fate by Evelyn Skye because I traded it for another book with someone 

Bought:

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Physical books bought this month! I found a website that is similar to Book Outlet but for Germany and I may have gone a little wild!

ARCs Acquired:

Goodreads Monday:

Special Posts:

Book of the Month

I’ve decided to add a new feature to my monthly wrap ups and that is the Book of the Month. This will be my favourite book read during the month! So, this months book of the month is a from an author I wasn’t expecting to love because I disliked all of her previous works!

WC

Warcross by Marie Lu

Published: September 12th 2017 by G. P. Putnam’s son book for Young Readers

My Review

Amazon: Warcross

For the millions who log in every day, Warcross isn’t just a game—it’s a way of life. The obsession started ten years ago and its fan base now spans the globe, some eager to escape from reality and others hoping to make a profit. Struggling to make ends meet, teenage hacker Emika Chen works as a bounty hunter, tracking down players who bet on the game illegally. But the bounty hunting world is a competitive one, and survival has not been easy. Needing to make some quick cash, Emika takes a risk and hacks into the opening game of the international Warcross Championships—only to accidentally glitch herself into the action and become an overnight sensation.

Convinced she’s going to be arrested, Emika is shocked when instead she gets a call from the game’s creator, the elusive young billionaire Hideo Tanaka, with an irresistible offer. He needs a spy on the inside of this year’s tournament in order to uncover a security problem . . . and he wants Emika for the job. With no time to lose, Emika’s whisked off to Tokyo and thrust into a world of fame and fortune that she’s only dreamed of. But soon her investigation uncovers a sinister plot, with major consequences for the entire Warcross empire.

This has been a fantastic month for me and I cannot even believe that it is nearly the end of the year already! In other news, I have already put the Christmas decorations up (bar the tree) and the house is looking pretty festive!

How has your month been? Feel free to let me know in the comments and feel free to add your links to monthly wrap ups so I can see what you guys have been up to!

Find me Here:

Instagram/Twitter/Goodreads/Litsy @ Lauren’s Page Turners

 

You Will Be Mine by Natasha Preston

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YWBM

You Will Be Mine by Natasha Preston

Expected Publication: February 1st 2018 by Sourcebooks Fire

Amazon: You Will Be Mine

Book Depository

A YA thriller about a group of friends that starts receiving notes from a secret admirer whose words of adoration quickly become deadly.

Note: I Received an ARC of this book from Sourcebooks Fire via Netgalley. This in no way influences my opinion

For me, Natasha Preston became an author to look out for after reading The Cabin. It had me hooked from beginning to end and the ending was absolutely shocking. So when Sourcebooks uploaded this to Netgalley, I just had to read it! This book had me guessing throughout, but there were some things that I feel were a little unbelievable, considering the situation.

This book follows a group of six housemates at university as they begin to get notes and they start getting murdered. The police are trying to catch the culprit, but they don’t seem to be getting anywhere. I felt like this book was obvious in the sense of who it wasn’t. The characters had an idea of who they thought was the perpetrator from the very beginning and they often blamed this character for the events throughout the book – so obviously it wasn’t the character that they thought it was. I think I’ve been reading too many murder mysteries… I know the tricks of the trade… or the books.

Whilst I knew who it wasn’t, I had other suspects throughout the book. Both guesses turned out to be wrong and I only started getting an inkling of who it was going to be toward the end. The book left me guessing and I loved the way that the events were described and the ultimate ending and explanation that was given. I felt like the explanation was well thought out, but I would have liked to maybe have seen more of the relationship dynamic between the characters (I don’t want to spoil it) to really give weight behind the actions themselves.

I did feel like a lot of the actions of the characters were a bit unbelievable considering the circumstances. There was a lot going on with the murders etc. but the characters often acted pretty stupid and ultimately did things that were getting them hurt/murdered. Even after the first couple of times, they carried on acting stupid and it grated on my nerves.

I would have also liked to have seen more of the relationship dynamic between the character they believed were committing the murders and the rest of the housemates. I feel like flashbacks would have been a great tool to add to the book to help give it that extra bit of depth with the characters themselves and the readers.

Can we also just talk about that ending. I should have really guessed that an ending that shocking would have come from this author after reading The Cabin, but I forgot and it sprung on me. It has definitely left the future open for the characters and for the reader’s imagination to run wild on what could happen next. It was a great way to leave it as either a standalone or even as something the author could come back and visit in the future with a follow up book.

All in all, I enjoyed this book and the plot itself. I felt the murders were well planned out and the explanation was definitely fitting to the book itself. I absolutely loved the ending and would not be opposed to a second book! I gave this book 4/5 stars.

Find Me Here:

Instagram/Twitter/Goodreads/Litsy – @ Lauren’s Page Turners

 

Six Little Secrets by Katlyn Duncan

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SLS

Six Little Secrets by Katlyn Duncan

Expected Publication: November 24th 2017 by HQ Publishing

Some secrets can never stay hidden for long…

Six teenagers meet in Saturday detention: a brain, a beauty, a cheerleader, a rebel, a recluse and the new girl.

But someone is watching. Someone has made sure that they are all in the same room at the same time. Someone knows that each of them is hiding a terrible secret…

…and by the end of detention, everyone will know the truth.

Note: I received an ARC copy of this via Netgalley. This in no way influences my opinion.

I stumbled across this book whilst looking through titles on Netgalley. The cover and blurb immediately drew me in and I had to know what was going to happen. Unfortunately, I was hugely disappointed with this book and I found it relatively predictable.

The biggest issue within this book for me was the characters. They are completely superficial and there is no depth created – we see short snippets of the characters a few days earlier (what ultimately lands them in detention) and we find out the secrets they didn’t want everyone to know. However, other than that, we don’t really delve into the lives of the characters; there is no connection created between the characters and the readers and it makes the book difficult to read because I didn’t really care about them enough to not want them to get hurt etc.

The secrets they didn’t want everyone to know were also pretty cliche to the genre. It was nothing mind blowing and they were all pretty predictable. I was expecting something that would have really shocked me and it never came. The reasoning behind what someone was doing to the characters during detention was also uninteresting and cliche. I feel like a better reason could have been thought out than what was given.

The book didn’t have enough time to develop any aspect of it – plot wise or with the characters. We see a couple of the punishments and then the reason was suddenly told by the perpetrator and then… nothing. Suddenly our characters, who previously had NOTHING in common, were suddenly all best friends and walking down the school hallway together? The relationship between the characters never developed during the events to warrant them suddenly being connected to each other. There was no consequences for the perpetrator, either, they just suddenly disappear – which is completely unrealistic. No social media, no online print, not anywhere to be found anywhere even though we eventually find out their real name…

The author also skimmed over the issue of Teacher/student relationships without actually delving into the the societal issues and the consequences that it has on the student as well as the teacher – along with the school and the community itself. It is a problem that we face in todays society and it was gleaned over without enough of an explanation or representation. The other issues from the other students should have also been represented in a much more in depth and personal way to really show the issues and the consequences of those – whether they be the issues the characters themselves face or the effect they have on the society within the book.

All in all, I was pretty disappointed with this book. The characters were superficial at best and the issues were not represented properly to show the consequences for the characters involved, along with the community as a whole. I was expecting a lot more from this book and it just didn’t deliver. I gave this book 1/5 stars.

Find me here:

Instagram/Goodreads/Twitter/Litsy @ Lauren’s Page Turners

Alone by Cyn Balog

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alone

Alone by Cyn Balog

Expected Publication: November 1st 2017 by Sourcebooks Fire

When her mom inherits an old, crumbling mansion, Seda’s almost excited to spend the summer there. The grounds are beautiful and it’s fun to explore the sprawling house with its creepy rooms and secret passages. Except now her mom wants to renovate, rather than sell the estate—which means they’re not going back to the city…or Seda’s friends and school.

As the days grow shorter, Seda is filled with dread. They’re about to be cut off from the outside world, and she’s not sure she can handle the solitude or the darkness it brings out in her.

Then a group of teens get stranded near the mansion during a blizzard. Seda has no choice but to offer them shelter, even though she knows danger lurks in the dilapidated mansion—and in herself. And as the snow continues to fall, what Seda fears most is about to become her reality…

Note: I received an ARC copy of this book from Sourcebooks Fire via Netgalley. This in no way influences my opinion.

I absolutely loved Cyn Balog’s Unnatural Deeds, so when I saw that she was releasing a new book later this year I just had to read it. I was not disappointed! I was completely hooked on this book and read it in one sitting.

We are introduced to our MC from the very first page – along with the problems she has (I don’t want to say too much because SPOILERS!). The way in which we are introduced to her and the description had me immediately hooked – I absolutely had to know what was going to happen to this character and where certain aspects of her personality etc. were going to take us. Seda was a likeable character throughout the book despite the way we are introduced to her and I enjoyed watching her develop as a character as things progressed because it was easy to forget about certain things (again, trying not to be spoilery). She definitely came across as someone who could be a friend once she comes out of her shell. She definitely started changing with the arrival of the stranded teens and I feel like the interaction helped her to come out of her shell and to be a bit more loose.

What I also really enjoyed about this book was the family dynamic that Seda had with her mother and siblings. It was easy to empathise with Seda and the problems her parents were having and it made her more of a likeable character when watching her interact with the two sets of twins and her mother. We also learn other various aspects of her family, which become important later on in the book, which also made her easier to like and relate to.

Another aspect of this book that I really enjoyed was the setting itself. At the beginnign of each chapter was a little chapter heading describing something about either the house/rooms in the house or the way that Seda’s Aunt and Uncle used to run it. The author cleverly wove bits of fact of certain historic people and slightly changed their stories to make it fictitious at the same time – which gave it the air of creepiness. The set up of the house with certain props etc. definitely helped to set the scene for events that happened later in the book, whilst constantly keeping an air of subtle creepiness.

The pacing of this book was just right. It starts off at a relatively normal pace and then things start to get creepier, which had me completely hooked. It also begins to speed up as events start happening later in the book and keeps readers on their toes right up until the very end!

What I most enjoyed about this book was the fact that this was not an ‘in your face’ kind of scary book, but rather took a more subtle and psychological approach, whic made the ending even more shocking. I absolutely did not see the big reveal that came at the end and was left utterly shocked when this book ended! Certain things were revealed, other things happened and it just led up to a finale that left me completely gobsmacked! I recommended it further as soon as I had finished!

All in all, I absolutely loved this book and I cannot wait to have a finished copy on my shelf! Balog is fast becoming one of my favourite authors and I cannot wait to see what she writes next. I gave this book 5/5 stars.

The Girl Who Wasn’t Dead by Samantha Boyette

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the girl who wasnt ded

The Girl Who Wasn’t Dead by Samantha Boyette

Expected Publication: September 12th 2017 by Bold Strokes Books, Inc

Prom was supposed to be the biggest night of senior year, but for Jenny Lewis it was the night she almost died. The night someone drugged her, loaded her in a car, and dumped her body in the river.

The next morning, her soaked prom dress was found on the riverbank. Her body was never found. People whispered that she’d killed herself or gotten drunk and stupid. People moved on, went to college, and stopped thinking about her. Months later, her ex-girlfriend and three other classmates received a text from an unknown number accusing them of her murder and claiming to have proof.

The text? It came from Jenny, not dead and ready to figure out who tried to kill her. There’s going to be an impromptu reunion and no one is leaving until the would-be murderer steps forward.

Note: I received an ARC copy of this via Netgalley. This in no way influences my opinion.

I first discovered this book on Netgalley, and after reading the blurb, I absolutely had to request it! It instantly drew me and I knew I had to read it and find out what happened. Unfortunately, I didn’t love this book as much as I wanted to and had to force myself to finish it toward the end.

This book centres around what happened to Jenny on the night of prom and trying to figure out who nearly killed her. She sends texts to characters who she believes may or may not have had something to do with it and gets them to meet her in a secluded cabin. The book is told from various POVs as each character recounts their version of what happened that night and where they were etc.

I think the biggest issue I had with this book was the fact that, for me, the multiple POVs all blended together. I didn’t feel like any one of the characters really had a voice that stood out on their own and I had to double check from who’s perspective I was reading before I carried on. I don’t feel like any new or explosive information was added by each of the characters every time the night was repeated, so the book felt extremely repetitive to me, to the point where I just wanted to put it down and do something else.

Another issue I had with this book was that it didn’t feel realistic enough for me. I understand Jenny being scared, but if someone had tried to kill me, I would not be meeting them in a secluded cabin four years after the fact – but rather would have gone to the police on the same evening! Jenny was too friendly with people she suspected to have had something to do with her attempted murder and even let a couple off the hook far too easily based seemingly on the history they have together. After certain events (no spoilers), I felt like the characters didn’t really care about it and it almost felt like it was thrown under the rug despite the seriousness of it.

Another issue with this book I had was that I had already figured out who it was based on their behaviour. It was easy to see who had done it because they were acting guilty – so the supposed plot twist that happened wasn’t really that much of a surprise to me. I don’t feel like the explanation that was given was really sufficient for the character to have done something that crazy and, again, I feel like it was thrown under the rug after the events were over.

What I did like about this book was the pacing of things after the ‘plot twist’ arrived. Whilst it was relatively slow through the first 70% and the last 10%, things started heating up and it made it interesting to read after the issues the rest of the boo faced. The events in the cabin in this 20% made me want to continue reading again – until about 90% where it slowed down and I didn’t really feel that the characters cared all that much.

All in all, I was relatively disappointed with this book and was expecting a lot more. It was repetitive and unrealistic, and the characters also felt 2D. I gave this book 2/5 stars.

Before I Let Go by Marieke Niejkamp

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before I let go

Before I Let Go by Marieke Niejkamp

Expected Publication: January 23rd 2018 by Sourcebooks Fire

Days before Corey is to return home to the snow and ice of Lost Creek, Alaska, to visit her best friend, Kyra dies. Corey is devastated―and confused. The entire Lost community speaks in hushed tones about the town’s lost daughter, saying her death was meant to be. And they push Corey away like she’s a stranger.

Corey knows something is wrong. Lost is keeping secrets―chilling secrets. But piecing together the truth about what happened to her best friend may prove as difficult as lighting the sky in an Alaskan winter…

Note: I received an ARC of this via Netgalley. This in no way influences my opinion.

I have extremely mixed opinions about this book. I felt constantly compelled to carry on reading, but at the same time, I was left with more questions than answers and I often felt like the book didn’t flow as well as it could have done. The book felt choppy and I feel like things could have been explained a little better.

One of the things I both liked and disliked about the book was the flashbacks. It often went back in time and then came back to present day etc. Whilst I usually like this style of writing when used well, I don’t feel like it added anything extra to the story. It gave us snippets of the past between the two characters, but I don’t feel like it was entirely useful in understanding what happened. If it had been used better and given us more of an insight, rather than the snippets we were given, I feel like it could have really helped the readers and we could’ve gotten a better idea of the bigger picture.

Another issue I had with this book was the fact that I didn’t feel that much empathy for the characters. I feel like the chopping and changing between past and present stopped me from really connecting to the characters. Also, the author used a variety of different minority groups, to the point where I felt like she was using them to try and be different rather than actually representing them as they are. Corey was Asexual whilst Kyra was pansexual and bipolar at the same time. Whilst the bipolar was represented (as far as I know – I don’t understand a lot about the disorder, but some), I feel like it could have been represented more, rather than becoming the side issue. What I did like was the fact that no one really understood Kyra or what she was going through. I feel like this is so true to society because a lot of people misunderstand illnesses such as these and that leads to the sufferers feeling lonely and like an outsider – which is exactly what Kyra was feeling.

What I did like about this book was the creep factor. The town, the people and history of Lost Creek was completely eerie and it definitely had me wanting more. I had to know what was going to happen next and where it was going to go. I loved the spa and the feeling of abandonment that it had because I feel like it added something to the state of mind Kyra had before her death. The people were also completely creepy. I can definitely understand how the two MC’s felt like outsiders because it was a completely close knit community with secrets.

Another issue I had with this book was the ending. I felt like I had more questions about the characters and the events that led up to Kyra’s death than I did answers. There was some issues with the plot that confused me and which were never actually addressed. I also felt like the ending was a bit anti climatic considering the things that had happened before hand – I almost felt like there was something/a certain event that was missing that I would have liked to have seen, but it never happened. (I don’t want to say too much because spoilers).

All in all, I have completely mixed reviews about this book. I felt completely hooked by it and I had to know what was going to happen next, but at the same time I feel like it had its issues and could have been better. This book definitely has a lot of potential! Also, I just want to mention that I absolutely love the cover! I gave this book 3.5/5 stars.

Death Knocks by Miranda Hardy and Jay Noel

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Death Knocks

Death Knocks by Miranda Hardy and Jay Noel

Published: September 26th 2014 by Quixotic Publishing

Who knew a knock at the door could rupture your entire world?

They don’t demand money or possessions…they want much more than that, they want your life.

Maverick is preparing for senior year: he’s no longer stuck in the “friend-zone” with the girl of his dreams, he’s looking forward to choosing the right college and being on his own, and he plans to have a blast along the way.

But a knock on the door changes all of that forever.

Maverick begins a mind-altering, life-changing journey to discover the truth—a truth that certain individuals will do anything to keep hidden.

Death Knocks is a Young Adult paranormal thriller about the strange global phenomenon known as the Black-Eyed Kids. Take a creepy and exciting ride in a world where myth meets reality.

Note: I received a review copy of this via Netgalley. This in no way influences my opinion.

I think the first thing that drew me toward requesting this book is the cover! It definitely sucked me in, and as soon as I read the synopsis, I knew I had to request it. Unfortunately, this just wasn’t for me and I ended up DNFing it.

I think, whilst the synopsis is definitely unique, the execution definitely lacked. I liked the idea of taken this particular urban legend because it’s not particularly represented (as far as I have seen). I struggled to keep up with the idea of the kids being what they were and I felt like it didn’t really fit into the urban legend scene itself in the sense of what it is.

I also found it difficult to connect to the characters. I felt like it was extremely choppy and it didn’t leave much room to get to know the characters themselves. Without that connection, I didn’t feel compelled to actually pick the book up and read it and often found myself doing something else.

Unfortunately this book just wasn’t for me and I don’t really have much else to say because I didn’t get that far into it. I felt like the writing was pretty choppy and didn’t allow connections to be made with main characters. I gave this book 1/5 star.