BLOG TOUR: The Row by J.R.Johansson - Review + Giveaway

Title: The Row
Author: J.R. Johansson
Genre: YA Mystery
Release Date: October 11th 2016
Publisher: FSG/Macmillan
Part of A Series?: No, A Standalone
I Got A Copy Through: The Publisher via NetGalley

Summary from Goodreads: A death sentence. A family torn apart. One girl’s hunt for the truth.

Seventeen-year-old Riley Beckett is no stranger to prison. Her father is a convicted serial killer on death row who has always maintained that he was falsely accused. Riley has never missed a single visit with her father. She wholeheartedly believes that he is innocent.

Then, a month before the execution date, Riley’s world is rocked when, in an attempt to help her move on, her father secretly confesses to her that he actually did carry out the murders. He takes it back almost immediately, but she cannot forget what he’s told her. Determined to uncover the truth for her own sake, she discovers something that will forever change everything she’s believed about the family she loves.  

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Also available October 11^th by the author, the paperback of CUT ME FREE!

A Father on Death Row

A Daughter Determined to Prove his Innocence

The Son of the Cop who arrested the Father

A Workaholic Mother

And the Biggest Question of All:

Who is the REAL Murderer?

As soon as I read the synopsis for The Row, I knew I HAD to read it. It sounded like a real page turner, and I LOVED the very sound of it. 

Short and Sweet: A GREAT thriller, with a great plot, and the ever present who-dunnit element that could been a whole lot better. 

Long Version?: I loved the characters - Riley's unflinching loyalty and strength even when her father was going to be killed by the state, I LOVED Jordan, his analytical mind and most of all how he was with his kid brother, Matthew. I even loved the mother, who was in so much pain I just wanted to reach in and hug her.

Another thing I really liked was that the author had the power to make me believe in the dad's innocence, then made him look guilty and back and forth, which is EXACTLY what good thrillers should let you do - GUESS and not be predictable. 

A few things that could have been better, to make this a proper experience could have been: 

1) ACTUAL GRUESOME details about the case. Rather than giving us a censored version of 'violent' murders, they could have given us MORE EVERYTHING. More details, how far apart the murders were, just SOMETHING other than their names and that they were murdered. It didn't feel very a) real or b) brutal to me, and that ruined the effect a bit. 

2) Another thing I would have LOVED was to see some old articles, some police transcripts or evidence or interviews with the convicted that would help me get a more holistic view of the case in general, over what was slowly becoming a Riley (The Daughter) Monologue. 

All in all, a book that could have been better, but a GREAT read still the same.

J.R.  Johansson's books have been published in a dozen languages and more than twenty countries worldwide. She has a B.S. degree in public relations and a background in marketing. She credits her abnormal psychology minor with inspiring many of her characters. She lives in Utah with two sons, a wonderful husband, three cats, and a hot tub named Valentino. She is represented by the stellar  Kathleen Rushall of Andrea Brown Literary Agency.

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BLOG TOUR: The Killer in Me by Margot Harrison - Review + Quotes + Giveaway

Title: The Killer in Me
Author: Margot Harrison
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Release Date: July 12th 2016

Genre: Young Adult, Mystery, Thriller, Horror, Contemporary, Fiction

Synopsis: Hasn't he lived long enough? Why not? I could take him like a thief in the night.
This is how the Thief thinks. He serves death, the vacuum, the unknown. He’s always waiting. Always there.
Seventeen-year-old Nina Barrows knows all about the Thief. She’s intimately familiar with his hunting methods: how he stalks and kills at random, how he disposes of his victims’ bodies in an abandoned mine in the deepest, most desolate part of a desert.
Now, for the first time, Nina has the chance to do something about the serial killer that no one else knows exists. With the help of her former best friend, Warren, she tracks the Thief two thousand miles, to his home turf—the deserts of New Mexico.
But the man she meets there seems nothing like the brutal sociopath with whom she’s had a disturbing connection her whole life. To anyone else, Dylan Shadwell is exactly what he appears to be: a young veteran committed to his girlfriend and her young daughter. As Nina spends more time with him, she begins to doubt the truth she once held as certain: Dylan Shadwell is the Thief. She even starts to wonder . . . what if there is no Thief?

WHAT EVEN WAS THIS BOOK?

And I mean that in an I'm feeling everything, but I don't know how to process it kind of way (not the terrible kind)

THIS BOOK IS MADNESS PERSONIFIED.

Nina Barrows can see a serial killer in her head. She can see him when he's driving his car, when he's with his family, when he's in his secret lair with all of his weapons and she can see him killing people. And she's inside his head when she does.

At first, she tried not sleeping. After all, if she never sleeps, she can never see him, right? But after a pill incident and rehab and a brutal murder, Nina Barrows decided that if she was the only person who knew this man - The Thief - then she has to do something about it. 

She looks into his mind, into everything he does, trying to find the next opportunity to take him down. There's just one problem - she doesn't know if he really exists. 

I LOVED THIS. AND ALL THE CRAZY IT BOUGHT WITH IT.

Never in my life has a book caused me to question it and myself so much. There were these bouts of insanity from Nina, where I thought that she was making all of it up in her head, then it switched to Warren (poor, sweet, SWOONY Warren) who was a reliable narrator and he found evidence, and I was believing EVERYTHING, until he started second guessing himself and then I went WHAT.

I loved that Margot Harrison had the power to keep me guessing and FEELING ALL THE MADNESS until the very end.

If you're looking for a book to play with your mind, THIS SHOULD BE YOUR NEXT ONE.

QUOTES:

"He serves death, the vaccum, the unknown. Always waiting. Always there. 

"Which was worse, being a thing or being nothing? 

People are eager to believe the best-case scebario, don't want to know the worst."

Follow the The Killer In Me by Margot Harrison Blog Tour and don't miss anything! Click on the banner to see the tour schedule.

I was raised in the wilds of New York by lovely, nonviolent parents who somehow never managed to prevent me from staying up late to read scary books. I now work at an alt-weekly newspaper in Vermont, where my favorite part of the job is, of course, reviewing scary books and movies. The Killer in Me is my first novel.

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BLOG TOUR: The Girl I Used to Be by April Henry - Review + Favourite Quotes + Giveaway

Title: The Girl I Used to Be 
Author: April Henry
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Release Date: May 3rd 2016

Genre: Young Adult, Mystery, Thriller, Contemporary, Suspense
Part Of A Series?: Standalone
I Got A Copy Through: The publisher via NetGalley

Synopsis: When Olivia's mother was killed, everyone suspected her father of murder. But his whereabouts remained a mystery. Fast forward fourteen years. New evidence now proves Olivia's father was actually murdered on the same fateful day her mother died. That means there's a killer still at large. It's up to Olivia to uncover who that may be. But can she do that before the killer tracks her down first?

I love murders that keep me on the edge of my seat, like REALLY REALLY love them. I mean, what's the point of writing a book about a murder that isn't even convincing?

Olivia Reinhart used to be someone else. Now, she's an emancipated minor living by herself, working a minimum wag job. She used to be Ariel Benson, the girl who's father killed her mother, then abandoned her and ran away. She was the sad little girl that nobody wanted, that nobody bothered with. 

Until now.

The book starts off with a bang, with the cops knocking on Olivia Reinhart's door, telling her that her father has also been dead all along, and not the person to blame like everyone thought. It pulls you right in to the story, and Henry's writing keeps you gripped. Olivia/ Ariel was a great narrator, each world filled with pain and strength and the ability to love and be loved that was taken from her. Henry really makes you feel for her. 

I loved all of the secondary characters, all of the people from her parent's past. Actually, I loved the idea of them, but none of them were fully explored. As she found out a little more about each one of them, and each chapter ended with a version of "Did they murder my parents?" I felt like I knew more about them, and their possible motivations, but the ending was so abrupt, it ruined the whole everyone-could-have-murdered-my-parents thing the book had going. 

A book with a brilliant 90%, and a ending that let me down, but one that I would still recommend! 

QUOTES: 

"It's crazy to think someone you once loved, who once loved you, could stab you and keep stabbing you. Even after you were dead.

I'm not going to forgive. Someone murdered my parents and left them underneath the cold sky and thought they got away with it. They were wrong."

Follow the The Girl I Used To Be by April Henry Blog Tour and don't miss anything! Click on the banner to see the tour schedule.

I write mysteries and thrillers. I live in Portland, Oregon with my family.

If you've read one of my books, I would love to hear from you. Hearing from readers makes me eager to keep writing.

When I was 12, I sent a short story about a six-foot tall frog who loved peanut butter to Roald Dahl, the author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He liked it so much he arranged to have it published in an international children's magazine.

My dream of writing went dormant until I was in my 30s, working at a corporate job, and started writing books on the side. Those first few years are now thankfully a blur. Now I'm very lucky to make a living doing what I love. I have written 13 novels for adults and teens, with more on the way. My books have gotten starred reviews, been picked for Booksense, translated into six languages, been named to state reading lists, and short-listed for the Oregon Book Award. 

I also review YA literature and mysteries and thrillers for the Oregonian, and have written articles for both The Writer and Writers Digest.

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BLOG TOUR: After The Woods by Kim Savage - Guest Post + Review + Giveaway

After the Woods by Kim Savage
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Release Date: February 23rd 2016

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Mystery, Thriller, Realistic Fiction, Suspense, Horror

Rate: 4 STARS!

Synopsis: Would you risk your life to save your best friend? 

Julia did. When a paroled predator attacked Liv in the woods, Julia fought back and got caught. Liv ran, leaving Julia in the woods for a terrifying 48 hours that she remembers only in flashbacks. One year later, Liv seems bent on self-destruction, starving herself, doing drugs, and hooking up with a violent new boyfriend. A dead girl turns up in those same woods, and Julia’s memories resurface alongside clues unearthed by an ambitious reporter that link the girl to Julia’s abductor. As the devastating truth becomes clear, Julia realizes that after the woods was just the beginning.

READ ON FOR A REVIEW, GUEST POST AND GIVEAWAY!

BLOG TOUR- Snapped Series by Ketley Allison- Review & Giveaway

Snapped Series by Ketley Allison
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance

Synopsis: “We have someone who saw you struggling with the deceased before using that knife. Your best friend, and our eye witness.”

In nine weeks Charlie Miller’s life goes from high-rolling perfection to a crypt of sin. All it takes is one night, one blade, and her boyfriend, best friend and new friends all either end up as suspects or dead.

Nate Westcott, a pierced, tattooed, charismatic lawyer, is a man she can’t have—but a seductive danger she can’t ignore. He’s cocky, infuriating, brilliant and wrong, yet he makes her question whether she really is the good girl she wants to be or more like the selfish killer everyone thinks she is.

And her body wants him in ways she’s not supposed to crave.
As the weeks close in, cracks start forming in her everyday world of pro football golden boys, law school domination and New York City nightlife. Everyone she cares about is at risk because one of them doesn’t love Charlie back. In fact, they want her out of the way. Disposed of. Set up.
One more step, and all Charlie has to do is fall through.

Week 1 starts now.

WHO WILL SNAP?
Snapped is Ketley’s New Adult Contemporary series with all the romance you’d expect, but the killer—and lovers—that you don’t.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/series/140069-the-snapped-series

Purchase:

--Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=snapped+Ketley+Allison

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AUTHOR BIO

Ketley Allison began her career by writing books as birthday presents for her friends (with her friend as the main character and opposite a super sexy lead, of course) before ending it in order to walk down a path she thought she was supposed to follow.

The writing bug never left her–and, in fact, would often bleed into the official papers she was supposed to write–so now Ketley’s putting down her suit and finally following her dream. While her friends are no longer the stars of her books, she still throws in bits and pieces of them into each and every one of her characters.

As a result, her books tend to focus a lot on friendships as well as love, because let’s be honest, friends are what really get you through–especially when your epic love turns into epic heartbreak.

Learn more about Ketley by visiting her website at www.ketleyallison.com

Author links:

http://www.ketleyallison.com/

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7190347.Ketley_Allison

https://twitter.com/KetleyAllison

https://www.facebook.com/ketleyallison

**GIVEAWAY**

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**MY REVIEW**

THESE SEVEN BOOKS DROVE ME TO THE BRINK OF INSANITY.

And what did I discover? That insane is a VERY fun thing to be- but my favourite part, is when I made it back into the realm of the relatively normal- with all the answers I needed!

But, GOOD LORD. Have you read the synopsis? If you haven’t, I suggest you do, and I’m sure some sort of notion will form in your head. I’m sure her boyfriend’s an asshole. I’m sure he cheats on her with her best friend- something. Because that’s what went on in my head before I started reading.

Now, take these notions, imagine them twisting to their (and your mental) breaking point, add in drama, hot boys, the paparazzi, New York City, stalkers and, well, MURDER and you have the Snapped series.

I’m not explaining it to you- because, for the life of me, I can’t. I pulled an all- nighter, felt frustrated, extremely intrigued and CRAZY on all levels- because that’s what reading the author’s words do to you. AND it send me on a MAJOR book hangover- like I literally couldn’t read anything else, because my mind was so occupied in these books.

I can’t sat more. I’m stopping. But seriously- I’d give this series a 10 GLOWING star rating, on five even;)- READ IT!