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Book Review: The Darkest Corners by Kara Thomas

Apr 21, 2016

The Darkest Corners by Kara Thomas

Pages: 336
Publish date: April 19 2016
Publisher: Delacorte: Random House Children’s
ISBN: 0553521454
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU

The Darkest Corners is a psychological thriller about the lies little girls tell, and the deadly truths those lies become.

There are ghosts around every corner in Fayette, Pennsylvania. Tessa left when she was nine and has been trying ever since not to think about it after what happened there that last summer. Memories of things so dark will burn themselves into your mind if you let them.

Callie never left. She moved to another house, so she doesn’t have to walk those same halls, but then Callie always was the stronger one. She can handle staring into the faces of her demons—and if she parties hard enough, maybe one day they’ll disappear for good.

Tessa and Callie have never talked about what they saw that night. After the trial, Callie drifted and Tessa moved, and childhood friends just have a way of losing touch.

But ever since she left, Tessa has had questions. Things have never quite added up. And now she has to go back to Fayette—to Wyatt Stokes, sitting on death row; to Lori Cawley, Callie’s dead cousin; and to the one other person who may be hiding the truth.

Only the closer Tessa gets to the truth, the closer she gets to a killer—and this time, it won’t be so easy to run away.

The Darkest Corners:

I received an e-arc of The Darkest Corners by Kara Thomas from Random House Children’s via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review, this has in no way influenced my thoughts and feelings about the book.

The Darkest Corners is probably one of my favourite YA psychological thrillers. This book will mess with your mind and you will have no idea what is coming next. There are twists and there are turns.

The Darkest Corners follows protagonist Tessa as she returns to a place that she was not keen on returning to. She left Fayette with she was nine when a travesty rocked her world, she tried not to think about the things that happened before she left – she tried to lock them away, but when she returns everything starts to crumble.

Then we have Callie, she is the one that stayed, but she was never the same again. She parties every weekend to hide from the memories that were burned into her mind and hasn’t talked to Tessa since she left. So when she returns, everything comes back to haunt her.

I really enjoyed Tessa, she was such an intriguing protagonist. She has gone through so much up until now and through the novel she has to go through more. My heart broke for her so many times.

Callie, annoyed me at times, but I understand why she was the way she was. Like Tessa she has gone through hell and her mechanism of dealing with it was different to Tessa’s.

We see throughout The Darkest Corners that their friendship is quite strained. They haven’t talked to each other in forever and when events are brought back into the light that happened the summer before Tessa left – you know there is going to be trouble.

I really enjoyed the writing style of Kara Thomas in The Darkest Corners. It was quite easy to read, but the way that she can flip the plot on its head was brilliant.

I liked that The Darkest Corners had little to no romance. I usually find it quite hard to read a book without romance, however the book was that engaging that it didn’t need it for me.

The book had me on the edge of my seat. I didn’t know who to believe, what to believe or what was going to happen next. There were some things that I did guess, but that had nothing to do with the main plot. The book kept me thinking and I could not put it down, until I knew what had happened.

Nevertheless, we see questions that Tessa has been asking herself for years come into light. About Callie’s dead cousin, to what really happened that night.

Overall, The Darkest Corners by Kara Thomas is a mind-blowing, heartbreaking, intense thriller, which questions; truth, friendship and if someone can manipulate what they thought had happened. It shows us that family is not always family, not matter what you believe. If you like any book that will mess with your mind and ask you to question everyone, then this is the book for you.

Have you read The Darkest Corners? Did you like it? Are you going to read it? Let’s Chat.

Cover Reveal: Hallowed Ground by Rebecca Yarros

Dec 12, 2015

Welcome, Welcome to the cover reveal of Rebecca Yarros’ Hallowed Ground. Hallowed Ground is the fourth book in her Fight and Glory Series and it’s the sort of sequel to the first novel Full Measures.

I love this series – it’s not common that I read New Adult series but I do love to from time to time and let me tell you I love the Fight and Glory. It’s fun, hot, sexy. It makes me cry and laugh and smile. They are so fun to read but I normally end up in tears because hey they are about Military boys.

Anyway check out the beautiful and awesome cover for Hallowed Ground.

Hallowed Ground by Rebecca Yarros

Publish date: 25th January
Publisher: Entangled: Embrace
ASIN: B0191K3HWW
Purchase: Amazon UK – Amazon US

There are some debts you can’t repay.

Josh Walker is loyal, reckless, and every girl’s dream. But he only has eyes for December Howard, the girl he’s craved since his high school hockey days. Together they have survived grief, the military, distance, and time as they’ve fought for stolen weekends between his post at Ft. Rucker and her college at Vanderbilt. Now that Josh is a medevac pilot and Ember is headed toward graduation, they’re moving on—and in—together.

Ember never wanted the Army life, but loving Josh means accepting whatever the army dictates—even when that means saying goodbye as Josh heads to Afghanistan, a country that nearly killed him once before and that took her father. But filling their last days together with love, passion, and plans for their future doesn’t temper Ember’s fear, and if there’s one thing she’s learned from her father’s death, it’s that there are some obstacles even love can’t conquer.

Flight school is over.
This is war.

About the Author

Rebecca Yarros is a hopeless romantic and lover of all things chocolate, coffee, and Paleo. In addition to being a mom, military wife, and blogger, she can never choose between Young Adult and New Adult fiction, so she writes both. She’s a graduate of Troy University, where she studied European history and English, but still holds out hope for an acceptance letter to Hogwarts. Her blog, The Only Girl Among Boys, has been voted the Top Military Mom Blog the last two years, and celebrates the complex issues surrounding the military life she adores.

When she’s not writing, she’s tying on hockey skates for her kids, or sneaking in some guitar time. She is madly in love with her army-aviator husband of eleven years. They finally can call Colorado home along with their gaggle of rambunctious kiddos and snoring English Bulldog.

Book Review: An Inheritance of Ashes by Leah Bobet

Sep 14, 2015

An Inheritance of Ashes by Leah Bobet

Pages: 336
Publish date: October 6th 2015
Publisher: Clarion Books
ASIN: B00QPIO73M
Purchase: Amazon UK – Amazon US

The strange war down south—with its rumors of gods and monsters—is over. And while sixteen-year-old Hallie and her sister wait to see who will return from the distant battlefield, they struggle to maintain their family farm.

When Hallie hires a veteran to help them, the war comes home in ways no one could have imagined, and soon Hallie is taking dangerous risks—and keeping desperate secrets. But even as she slowly learns more about the war and the men who fought it, ugly truths about Hallie’s own family are emerging. And while monsters and armies are converging on the small farm, the greatest threat to her home may be Hallie herself.

An Inheritance of Ashes

I received a copy of An Inheritance of Ashes by Leah Bobet in exchange for a review from Clarion Books via NetGalley. This has no way influenced what I think of the book.

An Inheritance of Ashes is one of those slow burning books. It takes a while to get to the main action, however I think it worked in its favour. It is such a beautiful book, the writing is captivating and the storyline is quite interesting.

I love my fantasy books, if you didn’t know that by now and An Inheritance of Ashes is a fantasy book that is quite enjoyable.

It’s really hard to explain what An Inheritance of Ashes is about without giving too much away and confusing you. The storyline isn’t that confusing, but trying to explain it might be.

An Inheritance of Ashes follows sixteen-year-old protagonist, Hallie and her sister Marthe who are trying to maintain their family farm while a strange war is ending. Marthe is pregnant and awaiting the return of her husband and as time goes on she is losing hope. Hallie hires a veteran as an extra pair of hands to help with the farm, on the other hand everything isn’t what it seems.

In reality I quite enjoyed Hallie as a character as she was fun to read about, nevertheless I felt like there was this disconnection between her and the story. I don’t know why, I felt that she was somewhat bland in a way. I enjoyed reading her, but I felt that she had no real character arc. She rather stayed the same the entire book.

Marthe, I have a love/hate relationship with her. I understand that she is pregnant and she doesn’t know if the father of her baby will ever be back, but gosh she was mean. I truly hated the way that she treated Hallie, like she was nothing. That she could boss her around and nothing came from it. It was all too much for me. I wanted to give her a slap across the head. And towards the end when she finds out what Hallie is keeping from her – holy moly – like seriously. I couldn’t stand it. But then I realised what she was going through, what she had gone through and it made me sympathise with her a little bit.

I felt that the world building lacked… a lot. I was so confused at times to what was going on. Then there are these ‘Twisted things’ that just pop up and aren’t given any explanation of what they are and what they do. Also the war with the gods was confusing. I was asking all these questions and the answers didn’t come clear. Who are these gods? What are these gods? Why are they fighting these gods? Some answers at the end of the book, but I was still confused about the world.

I really enjoyed the romance. It was the slow burning kind and that is nice to see in a young adult book. Normally everything is all rushed and it’s so unrealistic. But it was really well done.

I overall enjoyed the book, I didn’t love it and I didn’t ate it. I thought that it could have been done better and that would have made it a truly wonderful fantasy read. The characters weren’t very likable but you didn’t hate them all. If you are looking for a quick fantasy read; then you might want to try An Inheritance of Ashes.