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The Last Thing You’ll Ever Hear by Jan Dunning – Blog Tour Book Review
About the Book
Have you ever been so obsessed with someone that you start to lose yourself?
Wren and Lark are rivals first and sisters second, so when mysterious music producer, Adam, and his DJ prodigy, Spinner, come to their small town, the game is on to impress.
Lark is soon taken under Adam’s wing, but as she’s pulled deeper into his web, distancing herself from friends and family, Wren starts to suspect that there’s a more sinister side to Adam. And when the sisters get a chance to perform at Enrapture the most talked-about festival of the summer, suddenly there is a lot to lose…
Can Wren put her own ambitions aside to save her sisters life?
One thing’s for sure: after this summer, nothing will ever be the same again.
About the Author
Jan Dunning’s debut Mirror Me, a YA thriller that reimagined the tale of Snow White, set in the high-fashion world was crowned winner of the Oxfordshire Children’s Book Award 2024.
A former fashion model, Jan lives in Bath with her family, and in addition to her writing and photography, works as an art teacher.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jandunningbooks/
What I Thought
Over the past couple of days I’ve been totally enraptured by this thrilling book.
The Mackenzie family are a small English town’s equivalent of the Von Trapp Family. Parents Mac and Paloma were once in a band, and their one hit is suddenly used by a TV programme which propels them to popularity again. Off they go on a reunion tour of Norway which turns them into classic Point Horror parents – out of the picture for havoc to ensue.
Sisters Wren and Lark appear to have inherited their musical prowess but there is no love lost between them. Younger sister Wren feels very much shoved into the shadows by her sister’s effortless talent.
When they both get spotted by an up and coming DJ and are invited to audition for the mysterious Enrapture festival their rivalry gets kicked up a few octaves.
Wren was an excellent YA protagonist with an amazing character arc, from annoying younger sister to I’m going to save the day – and my sister.
Lark is initially presented as an ethereal supernatural talent and leans ever more into this as the book progresses. It’s also quite horrifying to see her carefree nature crumble as she begins to believe the messages she is given about herself.
Wren’s best friend and unrequited love Danny is both the bridge and the snapped string between the sisters. A talented musician who has acquired deafness, this is a nuanced and intimate portrayal. I was intrigued to read the author’s notes about this in the acknowledgments and don’t know how I missed the fairytale reference. When you read this see if you spot it.
Then there are the villains – the enigmatic music producer Adam and his protege, who morphs into him as the book progresses. Do they both get what they deserve by the end of the book – I think we could have a great debate about this.
The sense of danger in this book kicks off with a bang. With missing and dead girls and a friend literally falling into a coma. Then it backs off to be replaced with excitement which turns into feverous nightmare. I was quite a few steps ahead of our main character, and that is very much the point. We side with Danny, immune to the music.
The ending is claustrophobic and pacy. The threat is all too real and ominous.
This tale of sibling rivalry and incel entitlement mixes in brainwashing music and cults. It builds to a crescendo and has your heart hammering for the sisters at the heart of the story. With the summer music festival vibes this is a perfect read for sunny days and red skies at night.
Huge thanks to Bee at Kaleidoscopic Tours and Scholastic for the gifted copy. Opinions are my own. I haven’t been listening to tainted music!
Check out the other stops on the tour too.
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Channel Fear by Lisa Richardson – Book Review
About the Book
A Heart-in-mouth YA Horror-Thriller, perfect for teen fans of The Haunting of Hill House.
Iris is obsessed with star YouTube ghost hunting duo, Zach and Lucas, who disappeared at an undisclosed location several months ago. Iris- who heads up her own unsuccessful channel with co-hosts Byron and his girlfriend Molly – has been searching for the location ever since.
When they stumble across Long-abandoned Thornhanger House, the trio set aside their toxic love triangle to explore, and find Zach and Lucas’s abandoned equipment inside… complete with their last day of filming.
As they watch the footage? A horrifying truth emerges: whatever came for Zach and Lucas is coming for them too…
Lisa Richardson bursts onto the YA scene with a spine-chilling horror-thriller, bringing a terrifying fresh new angle, haunted with breathtaking twists.
About the Author
Lisa Richardson has a first-class honours degree in Creative and Professional Writing and works as a production editor. When not writing, Lisa can be found reading, binge-watching Netflix with her sons, or running and taking photographs along the Kent coast.
Follow her on Instagram: @lisarichardson_21
What I Thought
This book was a wild and thrilling ride. So much so that I needed a break half way through, even though I desperately wanted to keep reading to find out what happened.
This leans heavily into lots of horror tropes and does it so well. Creepy dolls – check. Rocking chair – check. It’s The Blair Witch Project meets The Ring meets The Haunting of Hill House all wrapped up in one.
As a YA Horror there is nothing too gruesome featured but the suspense barely lets up. My poor racing heart.
We have 3 sets of characters. The original missing ghost hunting duo of Zach and Lucas who we meet through their found footage. Iris, Molly and Byron who we follow on their hunt for the duo, and finally the house, it’s grounds and its inhabitants. It’s up to you to determine whether those inhabitants are former or current!
Despite making some very questionable choices I did like all the characters and didn’t want to see any of them harmed. And as if all the ghost hunting wasn’t angsty enough we also have a love quadrangle but which pairing survives the night? (It’s described as a love triangle in the synopsis but in a haunted house tale who is to say the missing supposed deceased Zach is out of the picture!). Finally whichof our trio lives to reap the fame that having a viral ghost hunting video brings you. And is that worth the horror to get there?
For the reader I say yes it is well worth picking this one up. Not everything is 100% explained at the end but that leads to the unease, a call for a re-read, and maybe even opens up the chance for a sequel?
For the characters – hmmmmmm. I think I’ll leave the seances and EMF machines to them.
I’m off to read a rom com stat.
Mini-Review in page numbers:
Page 339 – Final page. I’d like to say this was when I sighed in relief – but I’d be lying!
Page 219 When our intrepid trio actually decide to leave the house!!!
Page 170 Where I literally noped out of reading because my adrenaline was spiking and it was dark.
Page 57 When any sensible person – who would be willing to visit a haunted building in the first place – would have left.
Page 8 Where I would have noped out of this adventure. That is – I would never have entertained the thought of going.
Thanks to Chicken House who reached out and provided a gifted copy. The level of fear expressed in this review is all mine!
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The Stranded by Sarah Daniels – #TheWriteReads #UltimateBlogTour – Book Review
About the Book
Welcome to the Arcadia.
Once a luxurious cruise ship, it became a refugee camp after being driven from Europe by an apocalyptic war. Now it floats near the coastline of the Federated States – a leftover piece of a fractured USA.
For forty years, residents of the Arcadia have been prohibited from making landfall. It is a world of extreme haves and have nots, gangs and make-shift shelters.
Esther is a loyal citizen, working flat-out to have the rare chance to live a normal life as a medic on dry land. Nik is a rebel, planning something big to liberate the Arcadia once and for all.
When events throw them both together, their lives, and the lives of everyone on the ship, will change forever . . .
About the Author
Sarah Daniels is an ex-archaeologist who escaped academia and now writes stories from her home in rural Lincolnshire. Her work has been published in various online magazines and has been nominated for best British and Irish Flash Fiction and Best Small Fictions.
If you want to contact her, you can do so at the following locations:
Website: http://www.sarahdanielsbooks.com
Instagram: @sarahdanielsbooks
TikTok: @sarahdanielsbooks
Twitter: @sarahdanbooks
What I Thought
I’m so very glad that dystopian ya fiction is making a comeback and was so excited to get into this one and it really doesn’t disappoint. This is a rip roaring fast paced thriller with our protagonists in constant danger.
Esther, so close to escaping the Arcadia and heading to university on land gets drawn into a rebellion she never knew was sleeping in the same room as her. Esther is dedicated to her studies, and to helping others, and her loyalty to the regime that will see her head toward a better left, is severely tested time and again. She is not a chosen one but she chooses to do the right thing, even when it hurts. And boy is there a lot of hurt in this book.
Nik has grown up an integral part of the rebellion and he has his biggest role still to play. When he ends up needing a medic, he and Esther get thrust together and start to realise all the ways they are connected.
I am so glad that this is a Duology and that the second book is out because I need more now.
Author Sarah Daniels has created a cast of morally grey characters with complex relationships and a situation that keeps you on the edge of your seat. The ship itself is as much a character as it is a hostile setting.
We get a third point of view character – Commander Hadley who really gives President Snow a run for evil bloke of the YA novel award.
With echoes of Demolition Man, The Hunger Games and Divergent, if you are a fan of white knuckle rides you need to pick this up.
Thanks to The Write Reads and the publisher for the #gifted copies of this and the second book in the Duology The Exiled. I’ll be sharing my thoughts on the thrilling conclusion next week. See what everyone else on the tour thought too.
kirstyes 