Absent by Katie Williams‏

Summary from Goodreads

Forever is a long time to be stuck in high school.

Seventeen-year-old Paige is dead, the victim of a freak fall from the roof during Physics class. Now she’s a ghost, permanently bound to the grounds of her high school. It isn’t all bad, she can find out everyone’s secrets, which can be amusing—for a while.But then Paige hears something that isn’t amusing at all: the rumor spread by the most popular girl at school that her death wasn’t an accident—that she supposedly jumped on purpose. Paige is desperate to stop the gossip, but what can a ghost do? Then Paige discovers something amazing. She can possess living people when they think of her, and she can make them do almost anything. Maybe, just maybe, she can get inside the girl who’s responsible for the stories. . . and have a little fun turning the tables while she’s at it.

Katie Williams’s second novel is a suspenseful page-turner full of eerie wit and a touch of the otherworldly.

My Review

I adored the whole idea of Absent because it's quite a bit different from anything else I have came across in the genre. To be honest though I was a little disappointed with the first half of the book.

I didn't connect with the characters and  I don't think they were developed as well as they could of been. I just wanted to get inside the head of main character Paige and really get to know her. I was left wondering about the secondary characters too. The book is 182 pages long and I can't help thinking if it was a bit longer would I have connected and loved the characters as much as I so desperately wanted to?

Now the second half of the book is fantastic, I was glued to the pages and the suspense was electric. I was completely shocked and I really didn't see certain things coming. The storyline really did step up it's pace and I really couldn't get enough.

Everything clicked into place so perfectly coming up to the end and the writing demanded my full attention. I would rate the 2nd half of the book a big 5 stars, so I'm sure you can understand my frustration at the first half.

The storyline follows Paige, who is a dead 17 year old that died from supposedly falling off the school roof! Paige's ghost is stuck roaming the corridors of her high school with 2 other ghostly pupils. But when Paige hears the rumour that she jumped off the roof - she knows she can't just stand by and watch anymore....

The bit that I love the most was when Paige discovers that she can inhabit someones body if they are thinking of her. So she tries to inhabit people's bodies to tell everyone that she didn't commit suicide! But things won't be plain sailing!

All in all I enjoyed this ghostly tale, it is full of mystery, is a touch eerie and is a lightening quick page turner!

3/5 Stars!

*Special thanks to Chronicle Books for the review copy*

Carly :)

Icons by Margaret Stohl - Blog Tour!

 Icons by Margaret Stohl

Your heart beats only with their permission.

Everything changed on The Day. The day the windows shattered. The day the power stopped. The day Dol′s family dropped dead. The day Earth lost a war it didn′t know it was fighting.

Since then, Dol has lived a simple life in the countryside - safe from the shadow of the Icon and its terrifying power. Hiding from the one truth she can′t avoid.

She′s different. She survived. Why?

When Dol and her best friend, Ro, are captured and taken to the Embassy, off the coast of the sprawling metropolis once known as the City of Angels, they find only more questions. While Ro and fellow hostage Tima rage against their captors, Dol finds herself drawn to Lucas, the Ambassador′s privileged son. But the four teens are more alike than they might think, and the timing of their meeting isn′t a coincidence. It′s a conspiracy.

Within the Icon′s reach, Dol, Ro, Tima, and Lucas discover that their uncontrollable emotions - which they′ve always thought to be their greatest weaknesses - may actually be their greatest strengths.

Bestselling author Margaret Stohl delivers the first book in a heart-pounding series set in a haunting new world where four teens must piece together the mysteries of their pasts - in order to save the future.

 Trailer

 I'm reading Icons at the moment and I will be posting a review within the next week or two - so watch out for that. Harper Voyager will be running a super giveaway on their website on the 17th May,you could win a goody bag of YA/crossover books - so be sure to check it out!

Just What Kind of Mother Are You? by Paula Daly - Review, Guest Post & Excerpt

Summary from Goodreads

She's gone and it's your fault. You were supposed to be watching your best friend's 13-year-old daughter, and now she's missing.

But you know she's not just missing - she's been taken. Because Lucinda is the second girl to be abducted within a fortnight. And the first was found on a busy high street, naked and severely traumatised. No one expects the next to be so lucky.

You're going to have to figure this out - who did it. Because if you don't, then Lucinda will be next. And you'll never forgive yourself.

Hardcover, 320 pages

Published April 25th 2013 by Bantam Press 

AmazonUK US Book Depository 
 

Excerpt
 

Kate doesn’t have a proper job. She and her husband get a steady stream of income from renting holiday cottages. So all Kate has to do when she gets home is put her washing machine on, and write thank-you notes to people she doesn’t really like.

I’m jealous of Kate’s life.

There, I’ve said it.

It’s taken me a while to get to this point. Before, and I couldn’t admit it. I used to complain to Joe. Blame him in a round about way for my having to work full-time, blame him for the fact I had to face every day exhausted, and—

My phone is ringing.

I pull it out my pocket and see that it’s Sally. Perhaps the minibus has not turned up. Maybe the driver’s not been able to start the engine in the cold weather.

“Hi, Sal, what’s up?”

Sally is crying. Big, choking sobs. She can’t get her words out.

“Mum?” I can hear noise in the background, more crying … the sounds of traffic. “Mum …. something really bad has happened.”
 

My Review
 

Wow - this is a brilliant debut! I opened it and was instantly intrigued, it only took a couple of pages and I was completely sucked in and loving every chilling second.

Paula Daly has woven this tale in such a brutally honest way that it makes for one seriously believable read. I was shocked, horrified, numb but I simply found it impossible to look away.

The characters are so good, I related to Lisa in more ways than one and I found myself comparing certain aspects of out lives. It's fair to say that I really got Lisa and I managed to click with her in a way I have never clicked with characters in the past.

I was annalysing all of the characters a lot and was always wondering and questioning the things going on in their lives. I really like a book that can keep you constantly on the edge and Just What Kind of Mother Are You definitely does that.

The storyline is every mothers worst nightmare and I was truly terrified throughout. A missing girl - the second in the area and if that wasn't bad enough it's your best-friends child that you were supposed to be minding at the time. This story follows the complex search for the girl and the skeletons that fall out of everyone's closets in the process.

The ending is whopping success and I honestly wasn't expecting it at all - I was so excited reading it. Everything wrapped up so wonderfully that I really couldn't believe how easy things worked out.

Paula Daly's physiological thriller is an epic page turner that will blow your mind in so many earth-shattering ways. I actually think it is the perfect book that is a definite must read that I can't recommend enough. Go on pick it up - you'll be hooked!

5/5 Stars!

*Special thanks to Bantam for the review copy*

Carly :)

About the Author
 

 Paula Daly was born in Lancashire. Before beginning her first novel JUST WHAT KIND OF MOTHER ARE YOU? she was a self-employed physiotherapist. She lives in the Lake District with her husband, three children and whippet Skippy, and is currently at work on her second book THE DAY BEFORE YOU CAME.

You can find Paula on Twitter 




 

Paula's Guest Post on Inspiration 
 

This book came about after watching an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show. One of Oprah’s recurring themes is getting the right balance in life, and after treating countless, exhausted, working-mothers in my physiotherapy practice, it was at the forefront of my mind as well.

The programme showed school administrator, Brenda Slaby. It’s 6 a.m. and Brenda’s driving her two young children to separate childminders, then continuing on to work. It’s the first day back after the long summer break and a particularly busy time lies ahead. Eight hours later and a co-worker rushes into Brenda’s office, to break the news that her baby is still inside the car. Brenda’s had so much on her mind that she has forgotten to drop her youngest child off, and little Cecilia dies of heatstroke in the hot August sun.

I was heartbroken by this woman’s story. At the time Brenda described herself as ‘the most hated mother in America’; she received death threats, and outraged mothers wanted her tried for murder.

As I watched all I could think was: that could have been me.

I, too, had once been so overwhelmed with balancing children and full-time work that I could have missed the one thing no person wants to miss.

This preyed on my mind and I was certain I wanted to write about it - I just didn’t know how. I write thrillers. I knew I couldn’t possibly do Brenda’s story justice. As time went on, though, I couldn’t stop thinking about how women push themselves nowadays. How they push themselves to be perfect mothers, perfect employees, often at the expense of their health, and their relationship with their spouse, frequently putting other women down for not operating at such a high level.

A few weeks later, I was in the supermarket car park and bumped into a woman I’d not seen for a while. As I walked away from her, I was left feeling slightly crappy about my life - she’s one of those women who’ll subtly put you down, put your children down, too, given half the chance. I sat in my car thinking, who is friends with that woman? She must have some friends. But for the life of me I couldn’t fathom why anyone would want to put up with her.

Suddenly it struck me: What if you were to lose her child? What if you were so overwhelmed with work and life that you took your eye off the ball, and it was her child who went missing?

This terrified me.

Possibly the only thing worse than your own child going missing would be to be responsible for the disappearance of a friend’s.

I began writing immediately, fuelled by this fear. Just What Kind of Mother Are You? is the result.

On The Cover #40

 On The Cover is a feature I am going to do every(ish) Saturday, I will pick one book cover that sticks out, is really interesting or just beautiful. I think the cover of a book is very important, it's the first thing a person sees and some of the time it's the reason why a person will pick a book up and read the back. I will just pick a book that catches my eye from throughout the week.
 

So come on Book Cover Lovers, share with me your favourite book covers.

My Pick This Week:
 

  Starling (Starling #1) 

by Lesley Livingston
 

 Summary
 

Mason Starling is a champion fencer on the Gosforth Academy team, but she's never had to fight for her life. Not until the night a ferocious, otherworldly storm rips through Manhattan, trapping Mason and her teammates inside the school. Mason is besieged by nightmarish creatures more terrifying than the thunder and lightning as the raging tempest also brings a dangerous stranger into her life: a young man who remembers nothing but his name--the Fennrys Wolf. His arrival tears Mason's world apart, even as she feels an undeniable connection to him. Together, they seek to unravel the secrets of Fenn's identity as strange and supernatural forces gather around them. When they discover Mason's family--with its dark allegiance to ancient Norse gods--is at the heart of the mystery, Fennrys and Mason are suddenly faced with a terrifying future.

Set against the gritty, shadowed back-drop of New York City, this first novel in award-winning author Lesley Livingston's epic Starling Saga is an intoxicating blend of sweeping romance and pulse-pounding action. 

Hardcover, 352 pages

Published August 28th 2012 by HarperTeen
 

Have you seen any beautiful covers on your travels this week?  

A Shade of Vampire by Bella Forrest

Summary from Goodreads

On the evening of Sofia Claremont's seventeenth birthday, she is sucked into a nightmare from which she cannot wake.

A quiet evening walk along a beach brings her face to face with a dangerous pale creature that craves much more than her blood.

She is kidnapped to an island where the sun is eternally forbidden to shine.
An island uncharted by any map and ruled by the most powerful vampire coven on the planet. She wakes here as a slave, a captive in chains.

Sofia's life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn when she is the one selected out of hundreds of girls to join the harem of Derek Novak, the dark royal Prince.

Despite his addiction to power and obsessive thirst for her blood, Sofia soon realizes that the safest place on the island is within his quarters, and she must do all within her power to win him over if she is to survive even one more night.

Will she succeed? ...or is she destined to the same fate that all other girls have met at the hands of the Novaks?

Paperback, 147 pages

Published December 14th 2012
 

My Review
 

Just when you have officially had enough of all things vampires, along comes this little gem and makes you realise how much you love them all over again - If they are set apart form just you typical vampire tale.

To be completely honest I wasn't expecting too much with a page count of only 144 pages, but I am so pleased to say that size didn't matter on this occasion, this bowled me over and I was more than pleasantly surprised.

Bella Forrest has brought a different sort of vampire book the the table here and I think it outshines quite a few other big players in the genre. Her writing is brilliant and I instantly got wrapped up in this fabulously imagined world with it wonderfully rich descriptors.

The characters are very intriguing and I liked all of them for their differences. My favourite would have to be Derek Norvak who can be very dangerous and quite charming depending on the circumstances. Main character Sofia is really great, I clicked with her quite early on and I found her to be very down-to-earth and intelligent.

I'm not going to try and sum up this one in my own words because the summary (above) does so perfectly with out giving anything away.

I loved the end section and things have been set up so brilliantly for what I expect will be lots of awesome things to come in the next book - which I just can't wait for.

If your after a quick, action packed vampire story, that is packed full of dark characters and a complex storyline - then A Shade of Vampire is definitely the book for you!

4.5/5 Stars!

*Special thanks to Bella Forrest for the review copy*

Carly :)