Welcome to my stop on the Shudder Blog Tour!
About Shudder:
Synopsis:
It's only been three days, and already everything is different.
Paragon is behind her, but somehow Alessa's life may actually have gotten worse. In a wrenching twist of fate, she traded the safety and companionship of her sister for that of her true love, losing a vital partner she'd counted on for the ordeal ahead. Her comfortable university life is but a distant memory, as she faces the prospect of surviving a bleak winter on the meager remains of a ravaged world. And if she'd thought she'd tasted fear upon seeing a ghost, she was wrong; now she's discovering new depths of terror while being hunted by a deadly virus and a terrifying pack of superhuman creatures thirsting for blood.
And then there are the visions.
The memory-altering "stitch" unlocked something in Alessa's mind, and now she can't shake the constant flood of alien feelings ransacking her emotions. Haunting memories of an old flame are driving a deep and painful rift into her once-secure relationship. And a series of staggering revelations about the treacherous Engineers - and the bone-chilling deceit shrouding her world's sorry history - will soon leave Alessa reeling...
Paragon is behind her, but somehow Alessa's life may actually have gotten worse. In a wrenching twist of fate, she traded the safety and companionship of her sister for that of her true love, losing a vital partner she'd counted on for the ordeal ahead. Her comfortable university life is but a distant memory, as she faces the prospect of surviving a bleak winter on the meager remains of a ravaged world. And if she'd thought she'd tasted fear upon seeing a ghost, she was wrong; now she's discovering new depths of terror while being hunted by a deadly virus and a terrifying pack of superhuman creatures thirsting for blood.
And then there are the visions.
The memory-altering "stitch" unlocked something in Alessa's mind, and now she can't shake the constant flood of alien feelings ransacking her emotions. Haunting memories of an old flame are driving a deep and painful rift into her once-secure relationship. And a series of staggering revelations about the treacherous Engineers - and the bone-chilling deceit shrouding her world's sorry history - will soon leave Alessa reeling...
The second installment in the electrifying Stitch Trilogy, Shudder follows Samantha Durante's shocking and innovative debut with a heart-pounding, paranormal-dusted dystopian adventure sure to keep the pages turning
My Thoughts:
*Warning: This review may contain spoilers for book #1, Stitch. I will do my best to be as Shudder spoiler-free as possible but please read at your own risk!*
Shudder picks up pretty much exactly where Stitch (read my review here) left off. It's only been a few days and Alessa and Isaac are still working their way through the forest to find the rest of the rebellion members. Unfortunately, they aren't alone out there. Something dangerous and deadly is stalking them and Alessa is starting to have strange visions and sensations. She doesn't know exactly what it is or why it is happening, but she needs to learn the truth quickly before it is too late.
First off, I have to say that I am so excited to be getting back into Alessa's world. Even though it has actually only been a few months since I read Stitch, I feel like I have been waiting a lifetime to read the next installment of this series. Yes, I know. I am incredibly impatient! Thankfully though, Shudder was definitely worth the wait. Told in alternating chapters, we not only get to hear more about Alessa and Isaac but from a few other surprise characters as well (more on that in a bit).
The relationship between Alessa and Isaac is a strong one and I was thrilled to finally see real interaction between them out in the real world without the interference of The Engineers. Even though they were facing an incredibly dangerous journey, they still made time to get to know one another again and even spend a little "quality" time together, if you know what I mean... They took care of each other, watched each other's backs and even had some often funny banter. I'd like to think that should I ever find myself in Alessa's situation (and I'm crossing my fingers that I don't because oh man that would be awful) that the husband and I would still be able to communicate even half as well as these two characters.
Aside from Alessa and Isaac's relationship, there is much more happening with her. There are strange creatures stalking Alessa and Isaac that don't seem like animals but aren't human either. We also get to know The Engineers and learn a few of their shocking secrets that I just did not see coming, and to top it off we watch as Alessa starts having strange dreams about Joe, her first crush and Isaac's brother. Even though this seems like quite a bit for Alessa to be dealing with all at once, it didn't read like it. The author does a fantastic job of incorporating all the different parts of the story without it feeling like information overload. I appreciated this quite a bit since a lot of times with so many different storylines happening at once it can become confusing and hard to keep an interest in it. But if anything, this only kept me turning the pages faster.
Like I mentioned above, the story alternates between several characters' lives. Alessa is the main character of course, but we also get a little bit of a surprise. I'm talking about the return of Nikhil, the boy who Alessa had met back in college who had disappeared after their one partial date. I'm so incredibly happy that the author brought him back and gave us a chance to learn more about him and why he was on the drama with Alessa. I'm sure I'm not the only one who was wondering about him.
Lastly, the other character we learn about is referred to as "Phoenix". Right away we know that there's really only two people this character could be: Janie or Lizzie. I immediately had my suspicion as to who it would be but again, the author did a great job in messing with my head every time I thought I had it figured out for sure. I think this storyline might have been my favorite just because of the mystery of it all and I felt quite bad for everything that Phoenix had to endure.
Overall, Shudder was every bit as amazing as Stitch and I can't wait to get my hands on book three. It has everything you could want in a story: mystery, action, and a little bit of romance. I can't recommend it enough. If you enjoyed Stitch, you are going to love Shudder so don't waste any more time and go out and read it immediately!
Purchase Shudder:
Amazon (Kindle $2.99, print $8.99)
Barnes & Noble (Nook $2.99)
Smashwords (multiple e-book formats $2.99)
Also available ($2.99 e-book) in the iTunes store, Kobo, and wherever e-books are sold
About the author:
Samantha Durante lives in Westchester County, New York with her husband, Sudeep, and her cat, Gio. Formerly an engineer at Microsoft, Samantha left the world of software in 2010 to pursue her entrepreneurial dreams and a lifelong love of writing. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Jerome Fisher Program in Management & Technology, Samantha is currently working full time for her company Medley Media Associates as a freelance business writer and communications consultant. The Stitch Trilogy is her debut series. Learn more about Samantha at www.samanthadurante.com.
Visit Samantha at:
Facebook: Stitch Trilogy | Author Samantha Durante
Twitter: @SamanthaDurante | Hashtag suggestions: #Stitch, #StitchTrilogy, #Shudder
Giveaway:
*I received this book for free in exchange of an honest review. This did not influence my opinion in any way and all views and opinions expressed are 100% my own.
I just love the book cover, think it's awesome. Nice review, sounds like a good book! :)
ReplyDeletestorytellershannon.blogspot.com