#BlogTour LIES LIKE WILDFIRE by JENNIFER LYNN ALVAREZ #BookReview #TheWriteReads @The_WriteReads @penguinplatform #LiesLikeWildfire #UltimateBlogTour

Delighted to be with you today as part of the Blog Tour for the wonderful LIES LIKE WILDFIRE by JENNIFER LYNN ALVAREZ..  My thanks to the author, publisher and The Write Reads for putting the tour together and letting me be part of it all!

ABOUT THE BOOK

An intense high-stakes story about five friends and the deadly secret that could send their lives up in flames, perfect for fans of Karen McManus and E. Lockhart.

In Gap Mountain, California, everyone knows about fire season. And no one is more vigilant than 18-year-old Hannah Warner, the sheriff’s daughter and aspiring FBI agent. That is until this summer. When Hannah and her best friends accidentally spark an enormous and deadly wildfire, their instinct is to lie to the police and the fire investigators.

But as the blaze roars through their rural town and towards Yosemite National Park, Hannah’s friends begin to crack and she finds herself going to extreme lengths to protect their secret. Because sometimes good people do bad things. And if there’s one thing people hate, it’s liars.

PUBLISHED BY PENGUIN

PURCHASE ORDER

Amazon

MY REVIEW

This is a thrilling, and chilling!, YA novel that explores the dark sides of youth, where the consequences of their action spirals out of control!  And what follows is the story of lies,tension, regrets and betrayals and I thoroughly enjoyed it – I can already picture the drama series on TV!!

A group of friends are out in the woods and accidentally start a fire – the impact of which is deadly! They don’t want to admit responsibility for their actions so they make a pact to stay silent – they weren’t there. They saw nothing.  But that involves trying to cover their tracks and soon cracks start to appear in their stories, and as the death toll rises, the conscience of some of the group starts to get the better of them… much to the disgust of others.

This is a really clever book as it covers so many relevant topics of the time – the dangers of using flames in a dry area and how quickly that can spread and how the local areas have to deal with the devastation of one reckless act.  It does get  very dark at times but really does show the impact of peer pressure and how selfish some people can be to save their own backsides.  

It is fast paced and disturbing but a gripping read showing the impact of a rash decision that leads to such devastating consequences for so many innocent people.  How quickly life can change…..

★★★★

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#BlogTour WHAT BEAUTY THERE IS by CORY ANDERSON #BookReview #TheWriteReads @The_WriteReads @penguinplatform @coryanderwrites

Delighted to be with you today as part of the blog tour for WHAT BEAUTY THERE IS by CORY ANDERSON.  My thanks to the publisher, author and TheWriteReads team for putting the tour together and letting me be part of it all!

ABOUT THE BOOK

When everything you love is in danger, how long can you keep running to survive? Life can be brutal Winter in Idaho. The sky is dark. It is cold enough to crack bones. Jack knew it Jack Dahl has nothing left. Except his younger brother, Matty, who he’d die for. Their mother is gone, and their funds are quickly dwindling, Jack needs to make a choice: lose his brother to foster care, or find the drug money that sent his father to prison. 

So did I Ava lives in isolation, a life of silence. For seventeen years her father, a merciless man, has controlled her fate. He has taught her to love no one. Did I feel the flutter of wings when Jack and I met? Did I sense the coming tornado? But now Ava wants to break the rules – to let Jack in and open her heart. Then she discovers that Jack and her father are stalking the same money, and suddenly Ava is faced with a terrible choice: remain silent or speak out and help the brothers survive. Looking back, I think I did . . . 

Perfect for fans of Patrick Ness, Meg Rosoff and Daniel Woodrell, What Beauty There Is an unforgettable debut novel that is as compulsive as it is beautiful, and unflinchingly explores the power of determination, survival and love.

 ‘Beautifully written and superbly constructed, Anderson pulls you onto a chilling footpath of love and loss and keeps you there until you’ve read every last word’ Ruta Sepetys, bestselling author of Between Shades of Grey

Twitter: @coryanderwrites 

Website: https://coryanderson.us/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coryanderwrites/ 

Amazon UK Link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/What-Beauty-There-Cory-Anderson/dp/0241441714/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=what+beauty+there+is&qid=1616251655&sr=8-1 

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44779579-what-beauty-there-is?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=cy9S5ruE50&rank=1 

MY REVIEW

If your heart doesn’t break for Jack in this story, then there’s something wrong with you!! This is an extraordinary story about a young boy soldiering the weight of his family problems on his shoulders.  His father is in prison, he found his mother after she committed suicide and now he’s having to protect his younger brother from people wanting to settle scores.

His father was jailed for his part in a robbery, and the money is still missing, so his partner wants to find out where it is – and he won’t stop until he gets what he wants. His daughter, Ava, meets Jack at school when he helps her out, so she is then torn between family loyalties and her concern for Jack and his brother.

The story has such a dark and unsettling vibe throughout, as Jack seems to face one hurdle after another.  But he’s driven and determined and willing to do whatever it takes to keep his little brother safe, and find a way to put their pasts behind them.  You sense his trepidation when reaching out to ask for help from people as he just doesn’t have much trust in others – and no wonder with what he’s had to face before.

This is a story that packs a punch and is beautifully written.  Prepare for an intense read that keeps you spellbound as you turn every page.

★★★★★

#BlogTour BAD HABITS by FLYNN MEANEY @penguinplatform @The_WriteReads #BookReview

Delighted to be with you today to share my thoughts on BAD HABITS by FLYNN MEANEY – all part of a wonderful Blog Tour put together by The Write Reads!

ABOUT THE BOOK

Hilarious, bold, sparky and surprising, this is the funniest feminist book you’ll read all year.

Alex is a rebel from the tip of her purple fauxhawk to the toes of her biker boots. She’s tried everything she can think of to get expelled from her strict Catholic boarding school. Nothing has worked so far – but now, Alex has a new plan.

Tired of the sexism she sees in every corner of St Mary’s, Alex decides to stage the school’s first ever production of The Vagina Monologues. Which is going to be a challenge, as no one else at St Mary’s can even bear to say the word ‘vagina’ out loud . . .
published by Penguin Books

PURCHASE LINK

Amazon

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Flynn Meaney is the author of The Boy Recession and Bloodthirsty. She studied marketing and French at the University of Notre Dame, where she barely survived the terrifying array of priests and nuns, campus ghosts, and bone-crushing athletes who inspired Bad Habits. Since completing a very practical MFA in Poetry, she works for a French company and travels often between New York (when she’s in the mood for bagels) and Paris (when she’s in the mood for croissants).

MY REVIEW

This was the much needed lighter read that I needed in these darker times we find ourselves in!  Alex is a fun and funky character who doesn’t know the meaning of the word ‘conforming’ and is desperate to do things her own way – no matter the consequences!!  She’s standing up for her rights but that isn’t always going to be well accepted at her very straight laced boarding school!!
You do feel sorry for her as a person as the school has become her family – her own parents are way too busy to do the ‘parenting’ thing so have shipped her off to a Catholic Boarding School – so you can understand why she’s desperate to rebel.  She wants some attention and she doesn’t care how she gets it!  Wanting to perform the Vagina Monologues with her Feminist Club isn’t going to have too many fans amongst the staff, but they set her a challenge and she is ready to accept that challenge!!
There’s lots of the normal teen stuff in this book that you can always relate to – friend issues, teen angst, boys being boys – and it made for a really entertaining read to follow her on her quest for success with her play!  This is no Mallory Towers though and this is a book of the times, with buzz words galore!!
Alex is a character who is not backwards in coming forwards, and I loved her attitude and ‘can do’ attitude! A funny and pleasing story!

★★★★

All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai – book review

THE BLURB

When Tom loses the love of his life, time travel seems like the only answer. . . what could possibly go wrong?

Elan Mastai’s breakthrough novel brings a whole new dimension to a classic love story

So, the thing is, I come from the world we were supposed to have.

That means nothing to you, obviously, because you live here, in the crappy world we do have.

But it never should’ve turned out like this. And it’s all my fault – well, me and to a lesser extent my father.

And, yeah, I guess a little bit Penelope.

In both worlds, she’s the love of my life. But only a single version of her can exist.

I have one impossible chance to fix history’s greatest mistake and save this broken world.

Except it means saving one Penelope and losing the other forever – and I have absolutely no idea which to choose . . .
Praise for All Our Wrong Todays

‘A thrilling tale of time travel and alternate timelines with a refreshingly optimistic view of humanity’s future’
Andy Weir, author of international bestseller The Martian

‘A novel about time travel has no right to be this engaging. A novel this engaging has no right to be this smart. And a novel this smart has no right to be this funny. Or insightful. Or immersive. Basically, this novel has no right to exist.”
Jonathan Tropper, New York Times bestselling author of This Is Where I Leave You and One Last Thing Before I Go

‘Elan Mastai has conjured up a witty and freewheeling time-traveling romance that packs an emotional wallop.All Our Wrong Todays is a page-turning delight’
Maria Semple, author of Today Will Be Different and Where’d You Go, Bernadette

Amazon UK – Kindle edition out now.  Hardback release date 2nd March 2017

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

“All Our Wrong Todays” is my first novel, but I’ve been working for the past 15 years as a screenwriter. I’ve written movies for both independent production companies and the Hollywood studios, including scripts for Fox, Sony, Warner Brothers, and Paramount. My most recent film is “What If”—also known as “The F Word”—a comedy starring Daniel Radcliffe, Zoe Kazan, Adam Driver, Mackenzie Davis, Megan Park, and Rafe Spall, directed by Michael Dowse. I was fortunate to win the Canadian Academy Award and the Writers Guild of Canada Award for my screenplay. I was born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia and currently live in Toronto, Ontario with my wife and kids and an Australian Shepherd named Ruby Slippers.

MY REVIEW

Wasn’t really sure what to expect when I started this! I don’t read that much sci-fi and seeing the time travel element of this story had me a little worried as to what was in store for me as a reader – I just wish I could send myself back in a time-machine now and start reading this all again so I can savour it all once more!! Loved it!

Tom Barren lives in 2016 – but a 2016 unlike ours! It is full of automated life, decisions made for you – a world where everything is perfect. Sounds idyllic?! Not for Tom and he’s nostalgic for the real world of good and bad experiences. Tom is the perfect character to be the narrator of this story as he’s the idiot to his genius father – never seemingly good enough and missing his beloved mother. So we get to enjoy and share his every thought and action as he tries to live up to something he isn’t – he’s not quite sure what he’s supposed to be so when a chance to achieve some respect from his father by travelling back in time to witness the moment in time that changed the world as we know it – Lionel Goettreider invented the future in 1965 and he is the most famous man in the alternate 2016 timeline as his vision became their reality.

So what happens if the impossible happens and we could travel back in time to witness those moments in time that we all know so much about? Tom is about to find out and things aren’t all as he imagined – the genius plan had some pretty big flaws! And then what happens when you return from that moment and your version of 2016 has changed beyond recognition?! Full of people you know, but don’t know at all?!

This is more than a sci-fi/time travel novel as it features a lot of human emotion as he deals with love, grief and all those self doubts that we as humans often feel. And it is also very funny!   It is written in a really punchy way and never gets bogged down in too much ‘geeky’ detail and that is what kept me engrossed from start to finish. I loved the Tom character along with Penelope too who had her own dreams but her destiny was also changed by a quirk of fate and, like life, leads on to new experiences and dreams to unfold.

This exceeded my expectations so I can highly recommend it for those of you looking for something a little out of the ordinary!