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CLP Blog Tours Book Review: Omni by Andrea Murray

Reviewer: Samantha

Andrea is on tour now with CLP Blog Tours and Omni

Summary:

Pierce only wants a shot, a real shot, and not just the excuses he’s been handed his whole life. Harmony wants to escape her future, the future she fears will be chosen for her. After their chance meeting, they might get exactly what they want.

Since taking over the US government years earlier, the Omni party has created a perfect existence. From consorts to job assignments, every choice, every facet of life is under their control. Each citizen has a specific role in one of the four strata. Seventeen-year-old Pierce is a Drudge, the lowest social stratum in society. For over two years, he’s hoped–prayed–that his upcoming aptitude test will finally free him from his virtual slavery and give him a chance at a better existence. When he rescues Harmony, an Artist and member of the most successful stratum, at a publicity event for her latest movie, his life takes an unbelievable twist. With his gallant act and good looks, he becomes a media sensation. Every stratum in society seeks his membership for their publicity, but as he becomes closer to Harmony, Pierce realizes what fame in the all-seeing eye of Omni is truly like. His choices will not only affect him but Harmony as well. The life Pierce thought he wanted may not be worth the cost to either of them.

In this retelling of the classic story of Paris and Helen, love must struggle against an ultramodern, ultracontrolling society. They will risk everything, even challenging the all-seeing eye of the Omni government. But will the prize be worth the cost?

Review:

I just love these types of books, yet I don’t often read them. Does that sentence make sense? I didn’t think so. I am drawn to books that are created from the author’s imagination. Murray builds us a world in Omni that made me think – could we be like that one day? The scary part is that I honestly think we’re not that far off, which is just downright freaky. The storyline is fast-moving, intense, and the book is well-written. The cliff hanger made me want to read the next offering right away, so I hope that one comes out soon! One I highly recommend.

4.5 stars

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Book Review: Lost Lake by Sarah Addison Allen

In the aftermath of her husband’s death, Kate’s grief has caused her to sleepwalk through life. While she grieves, Kate’s controlling mother-in-law, Cricket, helps care for her daughter, Devon. When her grief begins to subside and she “wakes up,” Kate discovers that Cricket has taken over her life. Cricket has sold Kate’s house and business and enrolled Devon in private school. While packing up, in preparation to move into Cricket’s home, Kate discovers a long lost postcard from her Great Aunt Eby. Kate and Devon impulsively decide to visit Eby at Lost Lake, GA, where Kate had experienced her “last best summer” when she was twelve.
Eby owns a quaint lakeside resort, frequented by an odd cast of characters each summer. Motivated by financial issues and a desire to travel, Eby agrees to sell Lost Lake. Once word of the pending sale spreads, the community rallies to show appreciation for all Eby has done. Kate also gets reacquainted with Wes, whom she met when she was twelve. Eby, Kate and Wes, like many other guests at Lost Lake, have broken hearts and harbor secrets from their pasts.
I don’t think I’ve ever read a book quite like this. The characters were all a bit odd, yet they’re likable and relatable. Grief is a central theme of the book, but so is healing. Allen’s writing is very effective in conveying that – “When your cup is empty, you do not mourn what is gone. Because if you do, you will miss the opportunity to fill it again.”
The writing is very descriptive, which is of course, a good thing. I struggled a bit though, because the scenery she created was very realistic, but not necessarily appealing to me. I wasn’t quite sure why everyone loved Lost Lake so much. There’s a bit of mystery surrounding everyone, but I had no idea that one mystery in particular would be so pivotal. The plot of the story is a slow boil, building to an unexpected climax – I can honestly say I was shocked by a “big surprise.” There are some unusual paranormal elements in the story: a talking alligator, ghostly visions and magical charms, which give the story its unique magical allure – you’ll need to forsake reality to appreciate the symbolism of these elements.
4 stars

In My Mailbox: Week of February 17

Title: The New Ever After
Author: Julie Farley
Received: CLP Blog Tours
Synopsis:
After becoming a widow with three small children, Heather Meadows is starting a new life. She has a sexy new husband, newborn twins, and a blossoming career as a writer. But with the advent of summer comes an avalanche of worries about doing it all and being enough. In her quirky style that drew readers to Tripped Up Love, Heather works through her new challenges and surprises with the fortitude she found she had when her first husband died. Only this time, her strength is put to the ultimate test as she faces losing not only her best friend but her new happily ever after as well.

Title: Never Google Heartbreak
Author: Emma Garcia
Received: Bookouture
Synopsis: Viv’s ex-fiancé, Rob, proposed to her three months after she slept with him – she thought it was one of those whirlwind romances you read about in magazines. Five years later, after Rob calling off the wedding for the third time, she has finally moved out.
As Viv passes through the three essential stages of grief (denial, vodka, disastrous haircut), she becomes determined that it’s not too late to try and get Rob back. One drunken declaration of love at an extremely inappropriate moment later, and Viv’s scruffy, tequila-swilling best friend Max is there to pick up the pieces.
Just when Viv’s starting to realise that maybe the real thing has been under her nose all along, she makes what might just be the biggest mistake of her life…
Can love sneak up on us unexpected? What’s the answer to heartbreak? And what’s a girl to do when even the Internet doesn’t have the answer?

Title: Social Death
Author: Tatiana Boncompagni
Received: Get Red PR
Synopsis: Money and fame can conceal all manner of deceit, but only for so long. A beautiful socialite is brutally murdered in her exclusive New York City apartment building. A financier’s trophy wife and the night doorman are the last two people to see her alive. There’s no sign of forced entry. No known motive. Just a neighbor’s account of overhearing a heated argument outside the victim’s apartment on the night of the murder. Clyde Shaw has built a career covering brutal crimes for the FirstNews network, but this story may be more than the top news producer can handle. The murder victim, Olivia Kravis, is the daughter of FirstNews’s mogul founder-and Clyde’s best friend since childhood. As a high-stakes network ratings war begins, Clyde’s own privileged yet troubled past comes back to haunt her, and she’s forced to choose between finding her best friend’s killer and losing everything-her job, her reputation, even her life. Long-guarded secrets. Millions at stake. And only Clyde holds the key to unlocking the truth.

Title: Schasm
Author: Shari Ryan
Received: BookTrope
Synopsis: Chloe Valcourt drifts between two worlds: the dark reality of her domineering mother and feeble father and the vivid fantasy of her imagination. With her condition comes the harsh observation of doctors who intend to cure her of it. But a chance encounter with a handsome and vaguely familiar young man in her dream world hints at the possibility of hidden truths—and a life she can’t remember. As her drifts become a greater escape from the cruelty of the real world, Chloe finds herself lost between what is real and what is imagined, questioning her very existence. Can she remain in the lush new imagined landscape to find happiness in a realm of her own invention? Is she doomed to return to the harsh reality of the outside world forever? Or will she become trapped somewhere between the two…unable to return to either?

Title: Tea and Primroses
Author: Tess Thompson
Received: BookTrope
Synopsis: Nothing is as it seemed in calm, quaint Legley Bay.

Famous novelist Constance Mansfield lived a seemingly straightforward – if private – and somewhat predictable life. Friends, beloved daughter Sutton, a beautiful home, and all the success an author could wish for. A perfect life….but was it?

When a hit and run accident suddenly takes her mother’s life, Sutton finds hidden secrets with her heartbreak. Emotional walls she assumed Constance had built to protect her privacy may have been to protect something – or someone – else entirely. Family and friends return home for support, including her own lost-love, Declan. He’s the first thing she craves to help her cope with her loss and the questions she’s left with, but he’s also the last person she wants to see. Will he be able to put down roots at last?

Can the loss of true love be the making of a life, or is it destined to be the undoing of everything? When money, power and love combine across time, anything is possible.

Novel Spotlight and Giveaway: The Fever Tree by Jennifer McVeigh

Now available in Trade Paperback, THE FEVER TREE by Jennifer McVeigh (Berkley Trade Paperback Reprint; 978-0-425-26491-1; February 4, 2014; $16)!  When it was first released…