Blog Tour: Review of Truly, Madly, Deadly by Hannah Jayne

Title/Author: Truly, Madly, Deadly by Hannah Jayne
Publisher/Date published: Sourcebooks Fire, July 2nd 2013
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley
Buy this book at: The Book Depository

Goodreads summary: Sawyer Dodd has it all. She's a star track athlete, choir soloist, and A-student. And her boyfriend is the handsome all-star Kevin Anderson. But behind the medals, prom pictures, and perfect smiles, Sawyer finds herself trapped in a controlling, abusive relationship with Kevin. When he dies in a drunk-driving accident, Sawyer is secretly relieved. She's free. Until she opens her locker and finds a mysterious letter signed by "an admirer" and printed with two simple words: "You're welcome."

I don't think I've ever mentioned how much I love Pretty Little Liars. The TV show, I haven't read the books yet (though the boyfriend's sister tells me they're fun). And reading Truly, Madly, Deadly felt a bit like watching an episode of Pretty Little Liars!

Sawyer was a likeable, is very much troubled, heroine. She's had to deal with her boyfriend's death and the aftermath in which she felt she couldn't admit he'd been abusing her. I'd actually thought this would be much more on the foreground though. It's mentioned and at times we see her cringe away from people because of it, but we don't really get to see exactly what he did to her. I never really felt like I knew much about Kevin and why he did what he did.

I really liked the witty banter between Sawyer and her best friend Chloe. They'd been friend for ages and it showed in how well these two knew each other. She's the stable factor in Sawyer's tumultuous home life, with a father remarrying and procreating with his new wife and her mother being far away.

I couldn't quite figure out how much time had passed between the events in Truly, Madly, Deadly and Kevin's death. It seemed fairly recent. And this also meant that although I absolutely got that he'd been hurting her, it did seem strange that she seemed so ok with everything. I don't know, the guilt she felt over kissing Cooper felt very real, but other than that I didn't really get much of an emotion from her over the whole thing.

Truly, Madly, Deadly really shows how easy it is to make someone look bad. It's very easy to get framed for something. It's very easy for someone who knows you well to come into your life and with the best intentions scare the crap out of you and do others serious harm without people finding out who it is. And OMG, IT IS SO CREEPY!! I was suspecting EVERYONE and totally didn't figure out who had done it in the end!

I zipped right through this book in about 3-3,5 hours! I was just on the edge of my cushion (lazing around on the balcony, holla) and even postponed my DINNER so I could read the end! It's a fast, easy read and I really like Hannah Jayne's writing style!

And in the end when we got told the who in the WHODUNNIT??? I was SO not expecting that! I mean, seriously, it was SUCH a surprise, but looking back I cannot believe I didn't figure it out! Hannah Jayne had definitely left clues around the novel and one big one that I am really kicking myself for not seeing! I totally loved that I couldn't see it coming form miles away, because it made it believable that Sawyer and the people around her didn't see it!

Also, reading this book and watching PLL, I'm SO happy that nothing every happened around my high school.

My rating: 4 stars

Made me crave: PIZZA!

Blog tour, review AND giveaway of Catherine by April Lindner!

I am so excited to be part of this blog tour!! Thanks for having me!
For the full tour schedule, go here.

Title/Author: Catherine by April Lindner
Publisher/Date published: Poppy, January 2nd 2013
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley

Goodreads summary: A forbidden romance. A modern mystery. Wuthering Heights as you’ve never seen it before.

Catherine is tired of struggling musicians befriending her just so they can get a gig at her Dad’s famous Manhattan club, The Underground. Then she meets mysterious Hence, an unbelievably passionate and talented musician on the brink of success. As their relationship grows, both are swept away in a fiery romance. But when their love is tested by a cruel whim of fate, will pride keep them apart?

Chelsea has always believed that her mom died of a sudden illness, until she finds a letter her dad has kept from her for years — a letter from her mom, Catherine, who didn’t die: She disappeared. Driven by unanswered questions, Chelsea sets out to look for her — starting with the return address on the letter: The Underground.

Told in two voices, twenty years apart, Catherine interweaves a timeless forbidden romance with a compelling modern mystery.
AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | GOODREADS | FACEBOOK

Ok, confession time: I never much cared for Wuthering Heights. *hides* I can't help it, in Wuthering Heights, Catherine REALLY annoyed me and I could never truly understand what was so great about her or Heathcliff and that kinda ruined the story for me. BUT I am always up for a retelling and I have to say that I enjoyed Catherine a lot more than the original story!

I liked that the POV alternates between Catherine through her diary entries and Chelsea, Catherine's daughter. It's really interesting, cause obviously I knew the general storyline, but I like that April Lindner gave her own spin to it. It definitely had a contemporary feel instead of just feeling like it was forced into a modern jacket and that's something I really appreciate, because it can get that way sometimes.

I really liked Chelsea. Though I thought it wasn't very responsible of her to just go off without telling her dad and start looking for her mother without telling ANYONE where she's going and just putting her complete trust in total strangers, BUT she's a nice girl and I loved that she sometimes just blurted stuff out without first thinking about it. I recognized a little of myself in that quirk, and I know how you can just want to take it back, so I could relate to this part of her. I liked that she doesn't just give up and doesn't really take no for an answer when something is important to her.

I REALLY disliked Wuthering Height's Catherine, but Catherine's Catherine (lol) not so much. She did make me roll my eyes a couple of times with her thinking that 'nobody had ever loved each other as much as she and Hence', I mean SERIOUSLY?? Talk about self-absorbed. But other than that I was rooting for her even though I knew things couldn't end well.

So, SPOILER ALERT: of course Chelsea discovers what happened to her mother. And I was kinda wondering: what kind of incompetent policemen were on this case? Because really, if a 17-year-old can solve it in basically no time at all, WHAT HAVE YOU ALL BEEN DOING??? It was a bit too easy. How did they not suspect this person of killing her? And ugh, Catherine, how could you go to this person and NOT think, gee, maybe I should tell someone I'm going there? HELLO, this is how you get killed. UGH. It's like yelling at the TV and expecting the candidates of a show to hear you and get the answer right...

So rant over.

I very much liked Catherine by April Lindner and am happy to report that I liked it better than the original version. Catherine was more likable, the writing was more engaging and while I did have some minor problems with it, I was very entertained throughout reading it! I'm even more excited to read Jane soon, because that is a retelling of one of my favourite classics :)

My rating: 4 stars

April Lindner is the author of two novels, Catherine, a modernization of Wuthering Heights, and Jane, an update of Jane Eyre. She also has published two poetry collections, Skin and This Bed Our Bodies Shaped. She plays acoustic guitar badly, sees more rock concerts than she’d care to admit, travels whenever she can, cooks Italian food, and lavishes attention on her pets—two Labrador retriever mixes and two excitable guinea pigs. A professor of English at Saint Joseph’s University, April lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two sons.

TWITTER | WEBSITE | BLOG | GOODREADS


GIVEAWAY TIME!!!
Up for grabs is a hardcover copy op Catherine by April Lindner to 3 lucky winners!

The rules:
US only.
Must be 13 or older to enter.
Giveaway ends July 4 at 11:59 p.m.
Winners will be chosen via Rafflecopter and contacted by email.

So what are you waiting for? Go enter!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Road From The West by Rosanne E. Lortz

Title/Author: Road From The West (Chronicles of Tancred #1) by Rosanne E. Lortz
Publisher/Date published: Madison Street Publishing, September 2nd 2011
How I got this book: received it from the author as part of the Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tour

Summary: "A tale of Courage, Conquest, Intrigue, and Honor.
You know the Knights Templar, you know Richard the Lionheart — now learn the story that started it all in the adventures of the First Crusade.
Haunted by guilt from the past and nightmares of the future, a young Norman named Tancred takes the cross and vows to be the first to free Jerusalem from the infidels. As he journeys to the Holy Land, he braves vast deserts, mortal famine, and the ever - present ambushes of the enemy Turks — but the greatest danger of all is deciding which of the Crusader lords to trust. A mysterious seer prophesies that Tancred will find great love and great sorrow on his journey, but the latter seems intent on claiming him before he can find the first. Intrigues and passions grow as every battle brings the Crusaders one step closer to Jerusalem. Not all are destined to survive the road from the West."

I really love historical fiction and getting to know more about the periods that flashed by in my high school history classes, but we never really delved into. I sometimes wonder that we skipped over the interesting things like crusades and ancient Greece and Rome and discussed the first and second World War until I snoozed through it all...

Anyway, I have never read a book about the crusades before, sure it was mentioned, but not in detail. So I was really excited to be reading this book and discover more. And it succeeded on the acount of teaching me more about this time period.

As for the story part of it: I felt there was something missing for me. I think it might have been that I didn't really connect with Tancred and didn't really care what happened to him. Like when his brother died. Seriously, his brother was the perfect example of too-stupid-to-live and he actually died because of it (appropriate right?). Also, something that happens towards the end, where he chooses meeting a pretty girl over fighting in a battle that was HUGE and what he was actually there for... This didn't seem realistic to me and I didn't really like the whole romance.

Maybe it's also the fact that I'm not religious. At all. I don't kwow, there were just several things that bothered me.

BUT: that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the book. Cause I did. I enjoyed reading about the intrigue among the different captains leading the crusade. I really liked the woman who is in love with Tancred, though he doesn't know it. And you know, it made me curious to find out more about the crusades.

My rating: 3 stars



Road From the West Book Tour links:

Tour Schedule
Rosanne E. Lortz's Website