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There's been a major update and overhaul and the blog has moved. Only posts pre-2015 are on this site. But please check out the new website here.

Gotta Hit this Deadline -- Plus a Blog Makeover

So over the course of the 4+ years of writing my novel I'd say I've made about 10 different deadlines for myself. I've only met three of them. As you can imagine this is pretty frustrating, so I'm determined to make the one I've now set. Until that happens I've gotta leave off the blog for a bit. (all reviews that were scheduled will still happen just a while later) Cause it seems like every time I sit down to work on finishing the last bits of revision for my novel I work on my blog instead. But if I do make this deadline I'm going to do a really fun blog mini-makeover afterwards so stay tuned. Here's hoping I can actually do what I've set out to do.

Peacock Flock Review #22 - Stitch



Stitch 

Author: Samantha Durante

Length: ~ 314 pages

Genre: Romance/Dystopian

Heat level: Clean  

Stars: 4 Stupendous Purple Stars 




Book Summary:
Her heart races, her muscles coil, and every impulse in Alessa’s body screams at her to run… but yet she’s powerless to move.
Still struggling to find her footing after the sudden death of her parents, the last thing college freshman Alessa has the strength to deal with is the inexplicable visceral pull drawing her to a handsome ghostly presence. In between grappling with exams and sorority soirees – and disturbing recurring dreams of being captive in a futuristic prison hell – Alessa is determined to unravel the mystery of the apparition who leaves her breathless. But the terrifying secret she uncovers will find her groping desperately through her nightmares for answers.
Because what Alessa hasn’t figured out yet is that she’s not really a student, the object of her obsession is no ghost, and her sneaking suspicions that something sinister is lurking behind the walls of her university’s idyllic campus are only just scratching the surface…
The opening installment in a twist-laden trilogy, Stitch spans the genres of paranormal romance and dystopian sci-fi to explore the challenges of a society in transition, where morality, vision, and pragmatism collide leaving the average citizen to suffer the results.

Review:
We really liked this novel. We thought the idea of a college girl falling in love with a ghost was great enough but we were even more pulled into the story as twist after twist appeared and the premise shifted drastically. The characters were done really well and it was easy to connect with Alessa -- her narrative voice was wonderful. We also felt immersed in the setting and loved seeing things from Tristan's point of view too. The major twist halfway through that changed this from a ghost-love story to the premise of one of my favourite Jim Carrey movies (we won't tell you which one for obvious reasons :D) was a complete shock and so totally unexpected that it left us reeling, in the best possible way. We couldn't put the book down. The only negative was that we wanted a little more from the ending. It is the first part of a series but we wanted a bigger climax. We wanted the resolution at the end to be harder to arrive at. Still a great read though and we eagerly await the next book!










That's it from the flock! 



 

Peacock Flock Review #21 - Bitnapped


Bitnapped 

Author: J. T. Carroll

Length: ~ 137 pages

Genre: Suspense

Heat level: Clean  

Stars: 2.5 Somewhere Between Stars 


Book Summary:
Kelly graduated from MIT, but it wasn't enough to secure her dream job in this economy. Instead, she labors as an intern at a software company. On the way to work one morning, Kelly interrupts a masked man who is kidnapping her despised boss, Rupert. The kidnapper decides to bring Kelly along for the ride. Kelly and Rupert must escape to prevent the kidnapper from stealing six million dollars. Abandoned hundreds of miles from their office with no money or ID, they have less than twenty-four hours to return to the scene of the crime and stop the theft. Can two computer programmers outsmart criminals and emerge unscathed? The clock is ticking.


Review:
We really wanted to like this book. We liked the premise of geek turned crime stopper and we really enjoyed the narrative voice in the first couple of pages. But everything seemed to peter off after that. Our biggest issue was not connecting with Kelly. There wasn't really any character arc over the story and little to no description of her reactions and feelings. We wanted things to be more sensory and to feel immersed in the setting. The (very slight) romance/flirtation between Rupert and Kelly felt forced. We did really enjoy the 'little Italy' street that was created in New Jersey and thought that was an interesting idea. However, the novel really needed to be fleshed out. Much too short. We also felt the plot was too linear. A problem would be presented and then solved very quickly. There weren't any real setbacks or twists, the first solution presented always worked, or there was some convenient fix. The two main characters were kidnapped on page 1 and had escaped where they were trapped within 15 pages. There were quite a few cliches that brought us out of the story narrative and we felt the reasons behind why Rupert and Kelly took on the bad guys instead of going to the police weren't plausible enough. In essence this was a story that had a good premise and some great potential but unfortunately fell short of the mark. 










That's it from the flock! 



 

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