{BookTalk} The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone: Adele Griffin

Rating: 75%

Series: None

Genre: Realistic Fiction,  Mystery, Multi-Media, Young Adult, Fiction,

Publisher: Soho Teen

Publication Date: August 12, 2014

Page Count: 256

Format: Hardcover

Source: Library

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Goodreads Synopsis: National Book Award-finalist Adele Griffin tells the fully illustrated story of a brilliant young artist, her mysterious death, and the fandom that won't let her go.

From the moment she stepped foot in NYC, Addison Stone’s subversive street art made her someone to watch, and her violent drowning left her fans and critics craving to know more. I conducted interviews with those who knew her best—including close friends, family, teachers, mentors, art dealers, boyfriends, and critics—and retraced the tumultuous path of Addison's life. I hope I can shed new light on what really happened the night of July 28.

Disclaimer: BookTalks mean that there are clearly marked spoilers, so proceed at your own risk.

Who Would I Recommend This Book To?

For fans of mysteries, unreliable narrators, and psychological thrillers like the Mara Dyer Trilogy, We Were Liars, Andrew Smith,

Background & Backstory?
I had no genuine desire to read The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone until my school's library got the book in and my librarian and I delved into this lengthy conversation about how to shelve multi-media novels. With that in mind, coupled with the intriguing premise, I had to read it.

What Was My Reaction Upon Finishing?

WTF!

Multi-Media Books | My latest Sofia Speculates dives into the nitty gritty of multi-media novels and my overall opinion of them, but now I want to discuss the way Adele Griffin used art to truly bring this story to life. Addison Stone is an art prodigy, so naturally, Griffin supplies us with photographs of her work from sculptures to drawings to paintings. What is more, there are also photographs of Addison with various characters in the story, aiding readers in picturing certain scenes and crucial events in the overall story arc. I have to admit that not all of the graphics made sense in the context they came from, nevertheless, they enriched the reading experience of this particular story, succeeding in their job of being the various threads making up a great tapestry.

The "It's Not a Biography" Issue | My school's librarian originally had issues with how to shelve The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone because Adele Griffin goes to painstaking measures to get the reader to believe Addison's story is a true one. Obviously, everyone in America would have heard of Addison Stone had she been a real person, but the amount of "newspaper clippings," "magazine articles," and "photographs" of her truly added to the larger-than-life image Adele painted of her protagonist. My librarian also pointed out that she would have loved to know how Griffin accumulated all of the photos/images and the whole behind-the-scenes process of creating this book.

Is this book a mystery? | One of the issues the librarian and I discussed was the mystery behind Addison Stone. As readers, we delve deeper and deeper in Addison's life, every bit and piece of people's narration being thrown onto the grand canvas known as the big picture of this story. But because of the way it ended, on has to ask themselves if Adele Griffin intended for it to be a mystery. I accepted the truths the author presented, but another reader could have easily interpreted the premise as a call to action "to find out what really happened." The best comparison I can make is with the book We Were Liars in terms of the type of character Addison was as well as the air of mystery and "something is not alright" that surrounded the novel.

Toxic Relationships & Teenage Love | The majority of the bookish community detests insta-love and love shapes of any kind. While it can be annoying, I never usually effected as much as I was with the dynamics between Addison, Lincoln, and Zach. She become so involved, both emotionally and physically with the both of them at different times. I have never once read about a relationship in a novel before and said to myself, "She should get out of this ASAP because of how bad he is for her." because I truly believe that she may not have gone to the same extremes she did, had it not been for the unhealthy relationships she was involved in,

How Likely Is It That I Will Read Another Book By This Author?
50%

There is obviously no way Adele Griffin could possibly write another book like this, and I wouldn't be able to expect that either, but based off of everything that made up The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone, I will likely pick up another book by Adele Griffin. 

Conclusion: The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone is a gorgeously accomplished multi-media, multi-perspective masterpiece surrounding one unforgettable girl and an even more unforgettable story that will stay with you.

{BookTalk} All Fall Down (Embassy Row #1): Ally Carter

Rating: 35%

Series: Embassy Row #1

Genre: Contemporary, Realistic Fiction, Mystery, Young Adult, Fiction,

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Publication Date: January 20, 2015

Page Count: 310

Format: Physical ARC

Source: Scholastic 

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Goodreads Synopsis: Grace can best be described as a daredevil, an Army brat, and a rebel. She is also the only granddaughter of perhaps the most powerful ambassador in the world and Grace has spent every summer of her childhood running across the roofs of Embassy Row.

Now, at age sixteen, she's come back to stay - in order to solve the mystery of her mother's death. In the process, she uncovers an international conspiracy of unsettling proportions, and must choose her friends and watch her foes carefully if she and the world are to be saved.

Disclaimer: I requested this ARC from Scholastic and they so generously sent me a copy to review, but that does not effect my 100% honest opinion. 

Would I Buy It?

10%
There is a smaller chance than usual of me purchasing this novel because I dislike the cover AND I didn't enjoy it as much as I had hoped to. If I begin to enjoy the series (because as I said in my video, now I HAVE to continue reading because of that ending), I will probably purchase a boxed set in paperback.

Plot: 33%

Premise: 90%

Characters: 35%

Romance: 20%

Originality: 40%

Cover: 30%

Title: 60%

Feels: 50%

Writing Style: 30%

Pacing: 30%

Ending: 70%

Quotes: 20%

How Likely Is It That I Will Read Another Book By This Author?

75%
Even though All Fall Down wasn't the best book I have ever read by Ally Carter, but Heist Society #4 will come out someday and I can't miss out on a chance to see Hale/Kat together in an entire novel. Plus, I disliked the first Gallagher Girl Novel and LOVED the rest of the series.

Conclusion: While I usually love Ally Carter's books, this was a confusing, unexpected disappointment in character and plot, but I will be reading the sequel because of the suspenseful ending.

{Book Review} The Madman's Daughter #1: Megan Shepherd

Rating: 7/10
Series: The Madman's Daughter #1
Genre: Gothic, Thriller, Romance, Historical Fiction, Horror, Mystery, Science Fiction, Young Adult, Fiction,
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Publication Date: January 29, 2014
Recommended For:
Page Count: 420
Format: Hardcover
Source: Library

Goodreads Synopsis: Sixteen-year-old Juliet Moreau has built a life for herself in London—working as a maid, attending church on Sundays, and trying not to think about the scandal that ruined her life. After all, no one ever proved the rumors about her father's gruesome experiments. But when she learns he is alive and continuing his work on a remote tropical island, she is determined to find out if the accusations are true.

Accompanied by her father's handsome young assistant, Montgomery, and an enigmatic castaway, Edward—both of whom she is deeply drawn to—Juliet travels to the island, only to discover the depths of her father's madness: He has experimented on animals so that they resemble, speak, and behave as humans. And worse, one of the creatures has turned violent and is killing the island's inhabitants. Torn between horror and scientific curiosity, Juliet knows she must end her father's dangerous experiments and escape her jungle prison before it's too late. Yet as the island falls into chaos, she discovers the extent of her father's genius—and madness—in her own blood.

Inspired by H. G. Wells's classic The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Madman's Daughter is a dark and breathless Gothic thriller about the secrets we'll do anything to know and the truths we'll go to any lengths to protect.

Would I Buy It? While I immensely enjoyed The Madman's Daughter, I wasn't head-over-heels in love, and probably couldn't justify buying it unless it was in hardcover and I got it for a bargain price.

Reaction After Finishing Gaaah! Why did I read all of this to end up with this thing? (My finishing reactions are oh so eloquent) There was so much build-up for the end of the book, and I kind of think it was almost the cheaters way out. While I didn't guess it, it was also kind of predictable.

Genre????? What I would like to ask to anybody who has ever read this novel is, "How the heck do you contain ALL that this book is into a neat little genre?" If you look at what I listed for the genres, as well as what other Goodreads users have said, we have categorized The Madman's Daughter as "Historical Fiction," "Science Fiction," "Horror," "Fantasy,""Mystery," and "Romance." If you didn't know, those are A LOT of genres, and even books with weird premises and complex premises don't normally have THAT many genres. 

Mystery and Horror? So, I haven't read much horror, and I'm not the biggest "blood and gore" kind of girl. Nevertheless, I agree that this book should be categorized as horror, not because of ghosts, goblins, or other supernatural creatures.... but because of how horrifying it was at times. The synopsis The Madman's Daughter purposefully does not goes into detail about the various creatures and creations Juliet's father has brewed up in his laboratory.

In the beginning of the book, we find out that Juliet and her now deceased mother had been cast off by society because of a scandal surrounding her once revered father for "butchering." *Haymitch Abernathy voice* Butchering doesn't even cover the half of it sweethearts. If you have a squeemish stomach, or strong ethics when it comes to animal cruelty, The Madman's Daughter is SO not for you.

I'm not even going to try to get into what Juliet's father does. The gist of it is that he is a mad man who is trying to create the perfect human (and of course, has a tragic backstory  about how humanity is cynical and jaded), and operates on animals so they look, think, act, and speak like humans, but still retain animal-like innocence. This (of course) backfires, which is what drives a lot of the plot.

Ughhh, an Annoying Love Triangle *flips hair* The love triangle and the annoying characters nearly ruined this novel for me and is what took off that star. The best comparison I can make is to the Selection Trilogy. Juliet is like America Singer. Montgomery is like Aspen. Edward is like  Maxon. I can tolerate A LOT from love triangles. In fact, I even like them when they add a kick to the story (Shatter Me), but I cannot stand them when the narrator is indecisive and can't make up her mind. Also, it's one thing when I concretely know who I want the girl to end up with (Shatter Me), it's another when I'm torn between them (Legend), and it is a whole other freaking ball game where I don't give a crap who she ends up with as long as she chooses one and stays with her decision. At one point, on page 309, I even said in my Goodreads Updates, "This is getting a bit ridiculous." I feel that I didn't get to know the characters enough to care or sympathize with them, and so many of their actions/dialogue seemed like cardboard, like something from a Disney Channel sitcom. 

Juliet COMPLETELY flipped out when she thought for one sliver of a moment that her relationship with Montgomery was threatened by a girl who A. was 5 years younger than him B. more of a little sister/family for reasons later unveiled C. not in the slightest bit competition. 

While the love triangle added to the story, it seemed a lot more like a plot device than something added for the reader's enjoyment. I love a little romance, but it would have made the story a lot shorter and faster if almost all of the love triangle was cut out. The characters, however were necessary for certain "OMG" moments and turns in the plot.

Every time Juliet changed her mind like a girl changes clothes (she did both quite frequently)

Historical, Scientifical, and Fantastical.... Four words: Mad Scientist In London.

When you categorize a book as "Science Fiction," you automatically think of books set in the future with some crazy thing that has happened/gone wrong in society because of science. Yet that isn't the case, there can be scientific aspects in a story, that are just a wee bit too much to fathom, which is what turns the story into fiction. The work that Juliet's father does is drawn from basic scientific principles, but (I'm pretty sure) they can't happen/wouldn't actually work. 

When you categorize a book as "Fantasy" all you are saying is that it is an idea removed from normal reality [thank you Merriam Webster]. This particular definition is synonymous to the word "fiction," so fantasy can technically just refer to something unrealistic, such as the different creatures Juliet's father (he was never given a name) had created which is what adds the larger-than-life fantastical element to it.

When you categorize a book as "Historical," you're simply stating that it took place in the past. And of course, whenever you think of London in a novel, the story always takes place a long time ago sometime before the 1950s. I mean, a novel set in present day London? Hogwash! Unless you're reading The Kane Chronicles with Sadie Kane. Anyways, it doesn't state the exact time or year The Madman's Daughter it takes place in, but it seems to take place during the turn of the century at the very beginning of the industrial revolution, and before women were regarded as nothing other than delicate creatures made to play instruments, do needlepoint, and make babies. 

What happens when all three genres are tossed into the Nutri-Bullet blender of awesomeness? 

A Gothic Thriller.

Now, I had never heard of this specific genre before, but that is exactly what The Madman's Daughter was. "relating to a style of writing that describes strange or frightening events that take place in mysterious places" BAM! That is exactly what this book is. I mean, the Webster dictionary couldn't have described it better. The strange and frightening experiments taking place on the mysterious island. What else can you say about it? 

Thriller means "work of fiction designed to hold the interest by the use of a high degree of intrigue, adventure, or suspense" and The Madman's Daughter was definitely that. I read some reviews that said it was slow paced, and I honestly haven't got a clue what those people are talking about. The feels were being stimulated nearly every moment of the novel, and in reality television like format, revelation, after exclamation, after explanation unfolded around me. It was as if a ball of yarn had been tangled, and every section that was untangled was a new and exciting part of the story.

Quotes 7.75/10:

"Not handsome in the classic way like Montgomery, but more subtle, deeper, as if his true handsomeness lay in a story behind those bruises and the crumpled photograph. Something to be discovered, slowly, if one was clever enough to decipher it." --- 91

This phrase is how Juliet describes Edward to us in the beginning. And am I the only one who thought "and you're going to make darn well sure that you're going to be the one to decipher his story." Even in you haven't read the book? Do you feel it was her dying wish to uncover the mysteries behind Edward? *spoiler alert* She did.

"The interior doors have a safeguard. Only five-fingers can open them." --- 126 Juliet's Father

And for those of you who haven't read the book, "How well do you think that worked out for everybody?"

"Thous shalt not drink spirits! Thous shalt not eat flesh of living creatures! Thous shalt not roam at night! Thus shalt not kill other men! This is the word of your god!"

This is the list of commandments that Juliet's father created in order to keep his creations in check and tame. Let's just say that when regression (aka when everything goes to hell) happens, his creations don't obey them.

Conclusion: The Madman's Daughter was a breath of fresh air, and in a genre I haven't picked up before. Despite annoying characters and romance, the premise of the book was horrific and intriguing with non-stop action, and shocking turns of events. This book will challenge your sense of right and wrong and will leave you one burning question, "What does it mean to be human?"

If you have read the book.... I want to know what your opinions were, if you loved it or hated it.
Were you shocked at the ending?
Who do you ship with Juliet?
Has your point of view on human versus animal changed?

If you haven't read the book.... Do you now want to, even though the love triangle annoyed me to no end?
Have you ever read a Gothic Thriller, or anything like it?
What do you think of the premise? Are you immediately repulsed, or intrigued?

  

{Blog Tour+Giveaway+Review} Assured Destruction: Michael F. Stewart

Rating: 6.5/10
Series: Assured Destruction #1
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Science Fiction, Computer Science, Young Adult, Fiction,
Publication Date: March 22, 2013
Publisher: Non Sequitur Press
Page Count: 185
Format: eBook
Source: Xpresso Book Tours


Goodreads ~ Amazon ~ Barnes & Nobles

Synopsis: Teenage hacker, Janus Rose, doesn’t care about the moral choices of living multiple lives online, until the real life consequences of her actions enslave her to the local PD’s High Tech Crime Unit, forcing her to become the very creature hackers hate, a spook. 

Jan owes the world nothing. Her father left without a word. #BIGSECRET Her mother has progressive Multiple Sclerosis. And Jan juggles the need to complete homework with the need to keep pizza on the table, running the family computer recycling business. Living in an industrial park with crappy Feng Shui, Jan’s pretty sure that the only one she can depend on is herself. Maybe. And yet, just because she knows how to code, people seem to think they can depend on her to save their butts and solve their crimes.

Jan does take short cuts. She skirts the shadows of what’s right and wrong. But she has to; if she’s not multitasking then she fails out of school, or the family loses the business, or someone dies ... 

It’s a brave new world. Welcome to ASSURED DESTRUCTION.

About the Author:

Website ~ Goodreads ~ Twitter ~ Facebook

After crewing ships in the Antarctic and the Baltic Sea and some fun in venture capital, Michael anchored himself (happily) to a marriage and a boatload of kids. Now he injects his adventurous spirit into his writing with brief respites for research into the jungles of Sumatra and Guatemala, the ruins of Egypt and Tik’al, paddling the Zambezi and diving whatever cave or ocean reef will have him. He is a member of the International Thriller Writers and SF Canada, and the author of the Assured Destruction series, 24 Bones, The Sand Dragon, Hurakan, Ruination and several award winning graphic novels for young adults. His most recent project, The Terminals, has been optioned for television by Sudden Storm Entertainment.

Michael lives in Ottawa, Canada with his wife and four daughters. He tries very hard to keep life an adventure both on and off the page. Please come find me on Goodreads.

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Disclaimer: I received this book from Xpresso Book Tours which does not affect my honest review in any way,

*I'm trying out a new review format where I list the Pros and Cons of the book, so bear with me*

Pros:

• What I loved most of all about Assured Destruction was the concept of a single girl (Janus Rose) taking the hard drives of people, and giving them new lives. She dedicated hours of lives to their Twitter Profiles, Facebook Accounts, and Blogs. Each person is/was supposed to be different, but in actuality, they were an outlet for Jan, and each person was a part of her -as if you had sliced the many sides of her personality in eighths, and gotten each one of her identities. There was the sarcastic and snarky Heckleena, the shy Frankie, and a number of others. 

• I'm not saying that Jan was a lonely, depressed teenage girl by any means, but she definitely wasn't the most social, and her computers (yes, there were multiples, maybe around five or six) were her links to the outside world as well as constant companions during long hours in Assured Destruction when her mother, who has MS, couldn't operate the case register. She even named her computers, and they were a lot like her friends, or babies whichever term floats your boat. 

• *This is a really random detail, but one I highly enjoyed in the book* Jan has to read the book The Bell Jar for an assignment (I'm too lazy to confirm if that is a real book), and write an essay. The book -according to her at least- is extremely dull in the beginning, but what helps her, and hooks her interest in, is that she uses the power of social media to write her report. I'm not saying she steals ideas and plagiarizes, what she does is a lot more clever. As Jan reads, thinks, reacts, questions, and infers during The Bell Jar, she updates all of her secret identity's social media accounts, as if they are the ones reading the book. For example, one person will tweet about a certain scene that happened, another will create a Facebook group about it, then another will create a GIF, and another will post about it on Tumblr.

• Another aspect of this story was the technology. I'm here to tell you that I know hardly anything about computers, except for the basics that any other 21st century teenager should know. I don't know how to hack. I don't know how to create viruses. I don't know how (or have the creativity) to create apps and send them off to the Apple Store to get thousands of downloads. Jannus Rose knows how to do all of that and more. So, Michael Stewart took a risk with that because he used a lot of computer talk. Yet, he did it in a way so that simple minded people -such as myself- could understand exactly what Jan was saying and doing, but it was also complex coding and all of that computer stuff. I sound illiterate, but I truly know nothing about computers themselves.

• That was one epic ending. I don't want to give anything away, but I will say that the it is a nail biter because Jan has to get out of a pretty tough situation. Then, there is her punishment for another thing which kind of gives away the entire first book's plot. My point is.....it is a killer ending.

Cons:

• One issue I had with Assured Destruction was the world building. I'm not saying it was bad, but I was also extremely unclear as to when the story was taking place. If I were to guess, I would say a few years in the future, around 10 at the very latest. Apple/the App Store is still in existence, Twitter, and Facebook are mentioned a lot, and so is Photoshop. Jan also has a single computer -named Gumps- that doesn't have access to the internet, so it isn't so far into the future that people don't know how to operate a computer without internet access. My point is that technology is constantly changing, and social media can become 'in' or 'out' in the span of a week

• Romance. I'm sure there are male authors that can write a good romance, in fact I know there are, like John Green, but the majority of them are romance writing impaired, and Michael Stewart does not escape the what I consider 'normal' tendencies of a male YA writer. I don't know if it was just that I wasn't paying attention, or this was actually true for other readers, but frankly, I was confused with the romance. Stewart attempted to have this love triangle angle going between Jan and these two other guys, and one becomes her boyfriend later, but I am still confused because there wasn't too much differentiation between the two. Needless to say, Jan and What'sHisFace are not my newest OTP.

• Characters: While Jan Rose was a very strong character that could no doubt stand up for herself in nearly any situation, the other characters in Assured Destruction were just "meh". I didn't really connect with them on a deep level, and felt like I didn't really know them as people. The teachers, villains, and even the two boyfriend contenders just sort of drifted together in my mind, and I couldn't distinguish very well between them.

Conclusion: Assured Destruction has a captivating premise, and gives a lot of insight on the technological world that readers ages 10 and up could come to love.

The Cellar: Natasha Preston

Rating: 6.5/10 

Series: The Cellar #1
Genre: Young Adult, Mystery, Thriller, Kidnapping
Publication Date: March 1, 2014
Recommended For: Fans of the Body Finder
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Page Count: 347
Format: Paperback

Source: Bought from Powells

Goodreads Synopsis: Nothing ever happens in the town of Long Thorpe – that is, until sixteen-year-old Summer Robinson disappears without a trace. No family or police investigation can track her down. Spending months inside the cellar of her kidnapper with several other girls, Summer learns of Colin’s abusive past, and his thoughts of his victims being his family…his perfect, pure flowers. But flowers can’t survive long cut off from the sun, and time is running out….

I'm actually being good this time, and writing this review less than a day after I finished it. YAY ME! You know what that means? Everything about this book is fresh in my mind. The first thing I would like to establish are my extremely mixed feelings regarding this book. The really good part of it was that it was a page turner, and the whole, "I couldn't put it down once" phrase applied. The bad part is that I was beginning to feel bored once Summer was kidnapped, which was about 40 pages into the book. 

So how could I be bored and have this be a page turner all at the same time? 

Well....I don't know how that could happen either. I credit my interest in this book to my not having read a book where the protagonist gets kidnapped in probably over a year. So that would credit a large portion of my like/dislike for this book. That book I read a year ago (January 8, 2014- according to Goodreads) was The Last Echo by Kimberly Derting. One of the reasons (okay, the only one) that my "Recommended For" section says "Fans of the Body Finder" is because of the parallels I drew between the two books. 

BOTH books had kidnappings done by psychopaths that want to take care of their girlfriends

That fact might seem small and insignificant to someone who hasn't read either book, but that is the entire basis of The Cellar's plot. While The Last Echo had a lot more to its plot, I still think that its freaky how similar the two books are.

On a completely non-plot based factor, the covers are freakishly the same. The Body Finder Quartet has a theme where every cover has a simple picture of a flower. I'm not exactly clear why or what the significance of that is which may be because it was over a year ago when I was no where near book reviewing, so I had just floated through books like a little bee to multi-colored flowers (no pun intended). The Cellar's cover however does have a lot of significance because it was flowers that Colin/Clover renamed the girls he kidnapped and because of what flower symbolize in our world. 

The cover of the version of The Cellar I read gives a much darker, grim feeling of something dark, dank, disgusting, and a soul-sucking void of torture. When in actuality, the cellar was fully furnished with a kitchen, shower, bedroom, etcetera. The title 'The Cellar' also seems misleading to myself. Preston truly delves into the horrors of a psychopath in this book, so much in a way that makes you question your own sanity, which is what a psychopath would want (I'm just guessing because I have never met, or wish to meet a psychopath). With the emotions she evokes, the thoughts she provokes, one would expect a more twisted title. Something double-meaning(ed), simple, silent, and deadly. Everything I'm obviously over thinking. 

The narration was one thing I loved and hated with this book. The Cellar was narrated by three people -Summer/Lily, Colin/Clover, and Lewis- and perfectly interspersed with flash backs. What I loved was Lewis' desperation in trying to find his girlfriend, and Colin/Clover's inside look into the criminal mind. Summer/Lily's narration however seemed like nothing special. I feel an urge to call it flat, but as the same time she was full of desire to escape the cellar and wanted to get back home like any normal person would in her situation. I know she reacted the way she 'should' have (or was expected to), and there's nothing I can specifically pinpoint about her voice that I didn't like. 

I just didn't. That's the truth.   

This phrase is a guarantee to get me locked up in a mental asylum, or just a sign of Natasha Preston's good writing but, "I loved Colin/Clover". He wasn't on the villain-you-love-to-hate level, but something even deeper and subtler because he actually believed what he was doing was right. The same way you would say "McDonalds is unhealthy, and Exercise is good for you" is how he justified murdering 'dirty' prostitutes and kidnapping girls to keep them 'safe' and 'pure'. 

Conclusion: This book made me very conflicted because of the narration, plot, and twisted mindset of 'the Flowers' captor that was gripping, yet not completely satisfying at the same time. I will definitely be rereading this in about a year to see how my opinion might change.   

{Blog Tour+Giveaway+Review} The Making of Nebraska Brown

Rating: 6/10

Series: Standalone

Genre: New Adult Mystery 

Publication Date: February 6, 2014 

Publisher: Immortal Ink Publishing

Page Count: 311

Format: Digital

Source: Reading Addiction Virtual Blog Tours Amazon ~ Barnes & Nobles ~ Kobo
 
Synopsis:

The last thing eighteen-year-old Ann Leigh remembers is running from her boyfriend in a thick Nebraska cornfield. This morning she’s staring down a cool Italian sunrise, an entire continent from the life she once knew. The events of the eighteen months in between have inexplicably gone missing from her memory. 

All at once she’s living with Tommy, an attractive, young foreigner asking for her continued love. Though he’s vaguely familiar, she recalls a boy named Shane in America who she reluctantly agreed to marry. Juggling a new world while her old one is still M.I.A is difficult enough without the terrifying movie scenes spinning a dizzy loop in her mind: glimpses of a devastating house fire, a romance gone wrong, an unplanned pregnancy, and a fractured family – each claiming to be part of who she once was – a girl and a past somehow discarded. 

Ann Leigh must collect the pieces of herself to become whole again, but she doesn’t know who to trust especially when Tommy’s lies become too obvious to ignore. And above all, her heart aches to discover what became of the child she may or may not have given birth to. 

The Making of Nebraska Brown tells the story of one girl’s coming apart from the inside and the great lengths she’ll go to reclaim herself and find her way home.

About the Author: Website ~ Twitter (1) ~ Twitter (2) ~ Facebook ~ Blog ~ Goodreads



As a young girl who spent her allowance on Nancy Drew mysteries, Louise realized that one day, she might have a story of her own to tell. Maybe even more than one story. After years focused on raising her children she eventually reconnected with her passion for creative writing. She soon began to craft a large collection of short stories which were published in the inspirational online magazine, Faithhopeandfiction.com. Shortly thereafter, she authored her first novel, Wishless, a contemporary YA, released in 2011.

Louise devotes a portion of each day to honing her skills. She has several other novels currently in various stages of development. A confirmed bibliophile, Louise enjoys reading outdoors on a warm spring day and watching her pup chase leaves on a breeze. She looks forward to meeting others who share her love of the written word and invites you to visit her blog, her website and follow her on Twitter and Facebook.

 
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I have to admit that I didn't like the book very much to begin with. In fact I was terribly confused and lost for the first 20 pages. Gradually, I grew to like the book a lot more, and plot aspects started making sense and falling into place. But I do have to warn readers that it is confusing in the beginning. One moment a random guy named Shane is touching Ann Leigh's boob, then she flees into a Nebraskan cornfield, then she's called Ana in Italy, and she finds out a lot of time ,has passed and it's 2004, AND she is now Multi-lingual. It sounds extremely confusing,mans it is. Gradually, we learn that Ana/Ann has no recollection of the time that has passed, and everyone around her thinks she's gone crazy because she was obviously well integrated, and even engaged to a man named Tommy in Italy. This Tommy is a devout, and compassionate man that would do anything for Ana/Ann. While he's taking her to all of their favorite places, she starts to remember her time and life in Italy.  But she's also haviing flashbacks about her time in Nebraska, where she learns that Nebraska is her home, was also engaged to be married to the guy Shane. Ann/Ana even makes a list of known facts ant herself, which at the beginning, end up being 7. What Ann/Ana finds out is that Tommy has a split-identity of a sort.  When her future husband tells her that he's taking her on a trip to 'The States' she jumps on it as a chance to go to Nebraska and try to reclaim her memory to find out what the hec happened to her. 

What I found a little confusing, yet unique was that there was hardly any translation from Italian, and what ever language people were speaking to English. The crucial bits were translated by Ann, but the not-so-crucial items were not. It was also confusing for the main character, until she discovered that she actually could understand people. Sadly I am not Ana, so I don't know what each chapter title (is that a thing?) means. Luckily I had a handy dandy mother that did. But others wouldn't, so just be warned about the Romance languages that you don't know. 

The romance is also a debatable, because Tommy and Shane don't seem like the best of guys either way you soon them. At home, Tommy is loving,loyal, and all other positive adjectives that start with L (Just Kidding ant the L part). But he becomes this terrifying person when he deals with work at the office. Shane haas an inumerable amount of faults which include being a cheap jerky wimp that Ann is constantly asking herself why she agreed to marry. 

Despite being confusing at times, and having unnapealing boyfriends, I did like Caiola's writing style. She wrote in a way that was both descriptive and concise at the same time. There was wonderful figurative language that wasn't cliche or cheesy. There was also subtle humor when Caioloa described various events occurring around Ana that I loved because she wasn't trying to be funny

Conclusion:while it was slightly confusing at times, The Making of Nebraska Brown I a wonderfully written mystery that people are sure to love