Shade Me Book Review + #Giveaway

Shade Me
Nikki Kill #1
Jennifer Brown

Genre: YA Mystery Thriller, Suspense
Release Date: January 19, 2016
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

ISBN: 978-0062324436
ASIN: B00WR0F4D4

Pages: 448
Goodreads Rating: 3.28
My Rating: 5.0

Book Description:

Nikki Kill does not see the world like everyone else. In her eyes, happiness is pink, sadness is a mixture of brown and green, and lies are gray. Thanks to a rare phenomenon called synesthesia, Nikki’s senses overlap, in a way that both comforts and overwhelms her.

Always an outsider, just one ‘D’ shy of flunking out, Nikki’s life is on the fast track to nowhere until the night a mysterious call lights her phone up bright orange—the color of emergencies. It’s the local hospital. They need Nikki to identify a Jane Doe who is barely hanging on to life after a horrible attack.

The victim is Peyton Hollis, a popular girl from Nikki’s school who Nikki hardly knows. One thing is clear: Someone wants Peyton dead. But why? And why was Nikki’s cell the only number in Peyton’s phone?

As she tries to decipher the strange kaleidoscope of clues, Nikki finds herself thrust into the dark, glittering world of the ultra-rich Hollis family, and drawn towards Peyton’s handsome, never-do-well older brother Dru. While Nikki’s colors seem to help her unravel the puzzle, what she can’t see is that she may be falling into a trap. The only truth she can be sure of is that death is a deep, pulsing crimson.

Shade Me is award-winning author Jennifer Brown’s first book in a thrilling suspense series about Nikki Kill.

My Take on the Book:

Well that was completely unexpected.

This book was nothing like what I expected it to be... It was so much more. Nikki Kill was by far one my absolute favorite characters. This was probably my favorite book of 2015. A perfect way to end the year.

I loved everything about this book and its characters, this felt like a new twist on the classic who dun it tale. When you think you have the story solved, the author presents you with another possibility and you are left questioning your own gut.

I think what I liked most was the ending. I can't really get into what about the ending I liked as that would give away the whole story and defeat the whole purpose of you reading it! 

I can't stress how much I enjoyed this book. It was unique and enthralling and while you may have read a story like this, it will never have all the components that make this one so great.

5 Quills

I can't recommend this book enough to you all. Its got a strong female lead like no other. And while she has her moments of typical heroine stupidity, she's young so its not something thats too annoying and it doesn't mess with the flow of the story. I do wish there was more to the story because a lot is left unanswered but then again life is never really tied up all pretty in a nice little bow.

I look forward to reading more from this author and more importantly, this character.

About the Author

Jennifer Brown is the author of acclaimed young adult novels, Hate List, Bitter End, Perfect Escape, Thousand Words, and Torn Away. Her debut novel, Hate List, received three starred reviews and was selected as an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, a VOYA "Perfect Ten," and a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year. Bitter End received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and VOYA and is listed on the YALSA 2012 Best Fiction for Young Adults list. Her debut middle grade novel, Life on Mars, was released in 2014, and her second middle grade novel, How Lunchbox Jones Saved Me from Robots, Traitors, and Missy the Cruel will be released in summer 2015. She also writes women's fiction under the name Jennifer Scott.

Jennifer writes and lives in the Kansas City, Missouri area, with her husband and three children.

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The Foxglove Killings by Tara Kelly Release Day Blitz

The Foxglove Killings
Tara Kelly

Genre: Young Adults Mystery, Thriller

Release Date: September 1, 2015
Publisher: Entangled Teen

Summary:

Gramps always said that when the crickets were quiet, something bad was coming. And the crickets have been as silent as the dead. It started with the murdered deer in the playground with the unmistakable purple of a foxglove in its mouth. But in the dying boondock town of Emerald Cove, life goes on.

I work at Gramps's diner, and the cakes―the entitled rich kids who vacation here―make our lives hell. My best friend, Alex Pace, is the one person who gets me. Only Alex has changed. He's almost like a stranger now. I can't figure it out...or why I'm having distinctly more-than-friend feelings for him. Ones I shouldn't be having.

Then one of the cakes disappears.

When she turns up murdered, a foxglove in her mouth, a rumor goes around that Alex was the last person seen with her—and everyone but me believes it. Well, everyone except my worst enemy, Jenika Shaw. When Alex goes missing, it's up to us to prove his innocence and uncover the true killer. But the truth will shatter everything I've ever known about myself—and Alex. 

 

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About the Author

Tara Kelly adores variety in her life. She’s an author, one-girl-band, graphic designer, editor, and photographer. She lives in Sin City with her beloved guitars, sound design master husband, and a fluffy cat named Maestro.

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A Review on Things in Ditches by Jimmy Olsen!

Things in Ditches

Jimmy Olsen

Genre: Mystery and Suspense

Release Date: December 25, 2000

Publisher: North Star Press of St. Cloud

ISBN: 978-0878391585

Pages: 312

Goodreads Rating:  4.26

My Rating: 5

Book Description:

A murder mystery novel. The story of Phillip "Dutch" Cleland, a man with a hidden past and a future about to explode in his face. A seemingly average man whose love for two women drives him to such extremes that deception, even murder and suicide are no longer unthinkable.

When a lovely corpse is discovered near Dutch's hometown, the nearby ditches begin to yield a harvest of secrets, none of them comforting for Dutch. Soon he is forced to flee for his life, before his past and the police slip a noose around his neck.

Things In Ditches is peopled with small town characters that are so humorous and eccentric, their oddball antics enliven every paragraph and page. A reader can't help but be reeled in by the strange citizens of Willow River, until soon discovering they're really not so different from all of us and Dutch's story is the oldest story on earth; good and evil, betrayal and laughter. And finally, the power of love and friendship, forging one man's determination to overcome all odds, even death.

My Take On The Book:

One of my favorite shows this last summer was a show called “Motive”. I am not exactly sure what it was about the show that drew me in but something did and this book was no different. 

Just like the show, you are given the names/face of the killer and his/her victim with in the first 30 seconds, what you are lacking is the motive. Sure, we all have our own ideas as to was the motive is and more often than not, those ideas don’t pan out but it the case of this story, a clear line starts forming from point a to point b and everything starts to make sense… if you’re paying attention to detail that is.

Before I delve too deeply into the story’s plot let me say, one of the most appealing things about this title was the simplicity of its design. Things in Ditches does not have a flashy cover or fancy design, but that’s part of the appeal, it’s understated like the book’s many characters and the small town it takes place in. When you crack open he book, you are greeted by a clean and aesthetically pleasing font that is easy on tired eyes and a story to match. The title itself may have no real significance to readers at first but in due time, once you’ve gotten to know each character a little better, everything makes sense.

Each character is well planned and their story executed pristinely with no apparent inconsistencies. It’s a book I can really get behind.

I think one of the things that attracted me most was not the synopsis like most stories I review, but a review by John Molene from The Saint Cloud Daily Time. In the review he states “His name may be Jimmy Olsen but he writes like superman…” I’m a nerd and damn proud, so that complement in itself sold me. After reading Things in Ditches, I have to admit I agree wholeheartedly. Jimmy Olsen is one helluvah talented author who writes a gripping tale of a small town man that does the unthinkable and cheats on his wife, years later after the affair has ended the betrayal still strong in his heart leads him to commit an even more heinous crime, murder…

It is a murder mystery but definitely one that’s not written in the normal or typical sense. You have all the information almost off the bat, just a few missing key points. The story itself revolves around those few missing pieces, like what exactly would drive a many to kill his former lover years after their affair ended. This is the kind of book, with the kind of mystery to keep you turning pages without you even realizing it. Before you know it, you’ve reach the ‘about the author’ page. 

5 Quills

Keep a look out for my next review on “The Hero of Blind Pig Island” by this extremely talented author. I honestly forgot how much I enjoyed books that didn’t have a paranormal aspect until I read this book. If you have not read this, you might regret it. My only real disappointment with this book was its end. Not the ending of the book but just that the story had ended, that and my schedule being so packed that I didn’t get to read a review this title earlier.

About The Author 

Jimmy Olsen didn't start writing fiction until he was well past 40. In the tradition of American writers like Jack London and Louis L'Amour, Olsen spent much of his life seeking adventure. He began scuba diving in 1961 at age 13 and continues today. A machine-gunner in Vietnam, after two tours he settled down awhile, married, started a family, and graduated college with a BS in English. Still at college, he published his first national story in a diving magazine. A year later he moved his family to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic where he taught at a private American school and started the Republic's first professional diving school, Scuba Dominican, C por A. Hearing rumors of shipwrecks and gold, Olsen and a small group of adventurers discovered the site of the French Man-O-War Imperial and several other vessels. After five years in the Caribbean, Olsen completed his MA at the University of Alabama and returned to writing, taking a job with a daily newspaper in Athens, Alabama for a year before becoming an editor back home in Minnesota. This lasted four years before the thirst for adventure overtook him again and he was back in the diving business, traveling to dive destinations from the Caribbean to the South Pacific. The snorkeling scene in Thing In Ditches comes directly from the author's own rich experiences. Jimmy Olsen has written two additional novels, Scuba, due to be released next year and YR-71, a Vietnam seafaring adventure set near Da Nang. In addition, he's completed 20 short stories, some set in his native Minnesota and others from around the globe. Several of these have recently been sold and will soon be in print. Olsen continues to travel extensively, returning to the Dominican Republic to dive his old haunts only hours before Hurricane Georges. Equally at home at the keyboard of a computer or his ancient Royal, Olsen spends his writing days in a north woods setting without even the basic comforts such as running water or electricity and at his modern office in the city. He has three children, now grown, and lives with his wife in Minnesota.

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 “I received a free copy of the book from the author for my honest opinion. I was in no way compensated for this review and all opinions are expressly my own”