Review: The Game

The Game by Shane Scollins
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Thriller, Suspense
Release Date: March 13, 2013
Buy Links:

Amazon

Book Description:

No matter where you are, they’ll find you, and put you in “The Game”.

Candice Laguna’s life is being systematically dismantled, by an unknown force, for a reason she can’t imagine. But she is about to become the unwilling star of a reality game competition the likes of which has never been broadcast to the world.

Just when things get darkest, a mysterious man snatches her from the grips of doom. He is a man who is not what he appears, and not who he says. He has no name and his motivation to help Candice is not what it seems to be.

The Game is a mystery/thriller with an unpredictable paranormal twist. It has action and adventure and plays up the everyday exploitation of reality television obsession gone wrong.

♥ ♥ ♥

Typically I enjoy books that have somewhat of a romance angle in them and while The Game did eventually end up having some unexpected romance, it was mostly a physiological thriller with a dash of paranormal element in it. And I loved every second of it. Shane Scollins is a God. No for real, I loved this story so much.

The plot centers around Candice Laguna and how her life is destroyed by a group of people who want her to be a part of the game. I don’t want to give away too much about what the game in the story is, but if I had to classify it I would say its The Hunger Games meets Awaken (Katie Kacvinsky).

Promotional Event: The Game

The Game by Shane Scollins
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Thriller, Suspense
Release Date: March 13, 2013
Buy Links:

Amazon

Book Description:

No matter where you are, they’ll find you, and put you in “The Game”.

Candice Laguna’s life is being systematically dismantled, by an unknown force, for a reason she can’t imagine. But she is about to become the unwilling star of a reality game competition the likes of which has never been broadcast to the world.

Just when things get darkest, a mysterious man snatches her from the grips of doom. He is a man who is not what he appears, and not who he says. He has no name and his motivation to help Candice is not what it seems to be.

The Game is a mystery/thriller with an unpredictable paranormal twist. It has action and adventure and plays up the everyday exploitation of reality television obsession gone wrong.

♥ ♥ ♥
Excerpt:

Candice tossed her bag on the wood chair by the door and kicked off her shoes. A part of her expected the phone to ring just before it did. The logical part of her mind screamed at her, just let it ring, or unplug the phone. But some sense of morbid curiosity dug at her spine.

She picked up the phone but didn’t say anything. She expected the voice of the little girl again, but that’s not what she heard. This time it was a man, an old man.

“Hello, Candice. Why didn’t you talk to me at the bar, when I called you earlier?”

She was confused yet again. “Who the hell is this?”

Promotional Event: Phantom (Dark Musicals, #1)

Phantom (Dark Musicals, #1) by Laura DeLuca
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Romance, Thriller
Release Date: March 30, 2012
Buy Links:

Amazon ♥ B & N ♥ Smashwords

Book Description:

The “Phantom” was a musical phenomenon that Rebecca had always found enchanting. She had no idea that her life was about to mirror the play that was her obsession. When her high school drama club chooses “Phantom” as their annual production, Rebecca finds herself in the middle of an unlikely love triangle and the target of a sadistic stalker who uses the lines from the play as their calling card.

Rebecca lands the lead role of Christine, the opera diva, and like her character, she is torn between her two co-stars—Tom the surfer and basketball star who plays the lovable hero, and Justyn, the strangely appealing Goth who is more than realistic in the role of the tortured artist.

Almost immediately after casting, strange things start to happen both on and off the stage. Curtains fall. Mirrors are shattered. People are hurt in true phantom style. They all seem like accidents until Rebecca receives notes and phone calls that hint at something more sinister. Is Justyn bringing to life the twisted character of the phantom? Or in real life are the roles of the hero and the villain reversed? Rebecca doesn’t know who to trust, but she knows she’s running out of time as she gets closer and closer to opening night. Only when the mask is stripped away, will the twenty first century phantom finally be revealed.

♥ ♥ ♥
Excerpt:
The orchestra tuned for its virtuoso, and Justyn stood ready. But no one else was ready for the magical performance he began. Beside her, Carmen was rambling on about something mundane. Rebecca elbowed her to silence so she could listen to the perfectly thrilling tenor. As she listened to the song unfold, the world around her started to slip away. Gone was the high school auditorium. Gone were the rowdy teenagers.

The Gothic stranger on the stage had become the embodiment of Erik, and Rebecca watched him in all his dark glory, belting out his tormented love through the words of his song. And she was as breathless with wonder as Christine herself must have been when the masked stranger serenaded her in the candlelit labyrinth of the opera house. In that moment, Justyn wasn’t just portraying the phantom. Justyn was the phantom.

Review: SIC

SIC by Scott Kelly
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Thriller, Mystery
Release Date: August 17, 2012
Buy Links:

Amazon

Book Description:

One rule: If another player taps you on the shoulder, you have to completely change your life within the next fifteen minutes. In front of everyone. Your car, your virginity, your grades, your identity – nothing is safe.

When five high school students from the wrong part of town devote their lives to playing the game David invented, they walk a line between insanity and enlightenment.

♥ ♥ ♥

It isn’t often that I read something and it leaves me speechless, actually that’s pretty rare. But I think it’s safe to say that [sic] by Scott Kelly blew me away. I’ll admit this isn’t my typical genre of books, I tend to stay in the paranormal romance area, but I am incredibly glad I decided to venture out into new territory.

It was the book blurb that initially drew me in and the story that unfolded in the following 208 pages was intense and original. I can honestly say I’ve never read a story like this before and the sheer concept of it fascinated and captured me. I could not put this book down. Jacob is compelling as he retells the story of David Bloom, Eureka, and the six.

While playing Eureka, six dysfunctional teens use the game to change their lives while psychoanalyzing every decision that people make and what makes a person who they are, circumstance or something else entirely. I like Jacob. I can’t help it, there is just something about the character that makes me want to reach out and be his friend.