Review and Contest: Fall by Jennifer Hurst

Synopsis (from GoodReads): Women and construction shouldn't mix. At least, that is what the client; Mr. Blackwell thinks when twenty-one year old Julia D. Halstead is promoted to project manager to remodel a turn-of-the-century schoolhouse into a bed and breakfast. However, the schoolhouse contains a dark secret that has been hidden for nearly a hundred years. A secret that will unleash the Furies of Hell and cause the Angels in Heaven to weep as ethereal brothers, Matthew and Nathan battle over Julia's very soul.


Review: A promising new series begins here, with Jennifer Hurst’s debut self-published novel Fall. Although it’s not perfect, Fall was an enjoyable read with engaging characters and an exciting story-line. 

Julia, or JD as she prefers to be known, was a strong protagonist and had interesting quirks - she was completely organized when it came to her construction work, but also let her impulsivity take over a little too much in her normal life. She showed a strong work ethic, always wanting to prove herself in the very male-dominated industry she worked in. I enjoyed getting inside JD’s head - she made some very funny comments throughout the novel, but I would have liked to have seen her more fleshed out as a character. I felt like there was something deeper that the author could have explored, but I hope this will be resolved in the sequel.

The brothers, Matthew and Nathan, were compelling love interests. I feel like the two brother love triangle trope is a little worn out, but here it did work. Although I felt like JD rushed into things with the two a little too haphazardly, this was resolved and I came to understand her decisions better. I’m looking forward to more depth being added to both relationships in the sequel, I think this will be an intriguing love triangle to follow.

Overall, I found this a promising start to a new series. The characters were strong and the plot was gripping, with plenty of twists to keep readers interested. I definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys reading paranormal romance, especially you’re interested in reading about characters more mature than the typical teen protagonists that dominate this genre. 

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 

Buy the book: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/71705  
Jennifer Hurst's Website: http://jenniferhurst.wordpress.com/ 


Contest Information

In conjunction with this blog tour, Jennifer is holding a contest.  It will involve any of the blogs that Jennifer visits or where her book is featured and will close on December 31st, 2011. The entrants have to answer three questions about the book they’ve read (bought, borrowed, or stolen - shame on you) and post a link to Jennifer's website on their Twitter, Facebook, or blog (need link for verification).

Then the names will be entered in a random name picker generator (http://textmechanic.com/Random-Line-Picker.html) and announced on Jennifer's website (www.jenniferhurst.com) on January 31st, 2012. The winner will receive a gift certificate for a night’s stay at the actual bed and breakfast where the story takes place.

Other prizes include an autographed copy of FALL, and she will randomly select 3 contestants’ names to use in the sequel to FALL. Plus, they will receive a free copy of that book when it is published.

Each blog that Jennifer Hurst visits will have a different set of questions people can answer, and they may enter as many times as they want - but they can enter once per blog site that they visit. So the more sites you visit, the more you can enter your name, thus increasing your chances of winning the gift certificate, a copy of the book FALL, and your name in the sequel.

Get the book, read the book, and then read over the questions below.  Once you have your answers, e-mail them to Jennifer.  fall.jenniferhurst@gmail.com

Your privacy is respected and your email address will NOT be used for anything but the contest.   Once the contest is over - your email address will be deleted from the database.

Here are the questions for you to answer:

What did JD buy for Missy for Christmas?

What famous outlaw called Torrey home for awhile?

What was Butch Cassidy's alias?

If you would like to visit the other sites, go here for the master list of all participating sites: http://fallbyjenniferhurst.wordpress.com/

Best of luck, and thanks for participating!

Review: Across The Universe by Beth Revis

Synopsis (from Goodreads): Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone - one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship - tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next.

Now, Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

Review: Across The Universe is one of my first forays into the sci-fi genre, and although I didn’t love it, I still found it an enjoyable read with some great world-building.

The chapters detailing Amy’s claustrophobia while being trapped in the ice were, in my opinion, the strongest of the book. I could feel the horror right along with her, and I applaud Revis for being able to evoke that kind of response. These chapters really showed her strength as an author, and I wished more of this had been captured in the later chapters.

I enjoyed getting to know the ship along with Amy, all the rules and rituals that she saw. This world-building was the author’s strong point and was definitely a highlight. I liked all the secrets behind the Elder/Eldest plot and the Season was particularly disturbing. I hope we’ll see some stronger characterization in the next book now that this is out of the way, because I felt that sometimes it was lacking compared to the detail that went into the world-building. 

Now for the romance - or lack thereof. I’m not sure what I missed, but I just didn’t feel any spark between Amy and Elder. I actually wanted Amy to end up with Harley - and I’m sure that’s not what the author intended. I think the next book will explore the relationship more, so hopefully my mind will be changed.

Across The Universe is a solid debut that has some strong world-building and interesting characters. I’m eagerly awaiting the sequel and am excited to see where Revis takes this series.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

The Lipstick Laws by Amy Holder

Note: The Lipstick Laws is released on April 4th 2011. Big thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

Summary: At Penford High School, Britney Taylor is the queen bee. She dates whomever she likes, rules over her inner circle of friends like Genghis Khan, and can ruin anyone's life with a snap of perfectly manicured fingers. Just ask the unfortunate few who have crossed her.   For April Bowers, Britney is also the answer to her prayers. April is so unpopular, kids don't even know she exists. But one lunch spent at Britney's table, and April is basking in the glow of popularity. But Britney's friendship comes with a high price tag. How much is April willing to pay?

Review: While reading The Lipstick Laws I couldn’t help thinking it would have been the perfect book for me at age 14. However, being almost 18 now, there was a little bit of a lack of a connection between the characters and I that prevented me from loving this book as much as I thought I would.

The characters in The Lipstick Laws were a big part of what saved the novel for me. The plot itself is quite cliched, but add in these wonderful characters and the result is quite surprising. April was a great protagonist, frequently coming out with witty observations - I laughed out loud numerous times, something I don’t normally do. The supporting characters were great too, all realistic and flawed - although sometimes the flaws were a little too obviously told, instead of subtly shown to the reader. Even Britney had some redeeming qualities and even though she was horrible, it was easy to understand why and feel empathy for her.

One thing that I noticed was that the story line seemed to be very derivative of Mean Girls but just toned down for a younger audience. Maybe it was because I had just watched the film before I read the book, but I found more than one similarity - the revenge aspect being a biggie. It wasn’t a huge deal, because there were enough differences to make it its own story, but for me it was just that wee bit too similar.

Overall though, The Lipstick Laws was a quick, enjoyable book. Although it wasn’t quite the right fit for me, I know there will be countless other readers who will enjoy it. I would recommend it most for 13-15 year olds.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

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