Review & Giveaway: The Demon's Deadline by Tori Centanni

Nicki almost died in the car accident. Instead she was offered a deal.

Now she works for the demon Azmos, delivering his mysterious envelopes all over town. Only her boyfriend Cam knows the truth about her after-school job—Cam, who’s (thankfully) as understanding as he is gorgeous and smart. Nicki’s never had Cam’s bold ambitions; her only talent is guessing the killer in a horror movie. All she wants is to graduate high school, marry Cam someday, and live happily ever after… but lately her work for the demon’s pulling her into deeper danger. Danger that threatens her life and also the bonds that matter most to her. Her best friend Melissa, whom she’s forced to lie to. Her grieving father. And Cam.

But is it even possible to free herself from the contract that saved her life?

And what if she did manage to untangle herself from the arcane world forever — without it, what kind of life does Nicki have left? Once you've seen death and darkness, once you know that magic is real, how can you ever go back to being a normal teenager?

It’s finally time Nicki faced her own demons....

REVIEW

Nicki made a deal with the demon, Azmos.  In return of her life back, Azmos uses Nicki to deliver mysterious letters to complete strangers.  The only person who knows about this is Cam, Nicki's boyfriend.  When her job gets more dangerous and even the demon himself is not safe anymore, Nicki needs to choose between her beautiful life and the demon job.  Even though the choice seems obvious, Nicki doesn't seem to think so.

Nicki is easy to relate to.  An average girl with insecurities of her own and low confidence, Nicki loves to be a demon messenger more than her secure life.  Her actions, although not appreciable, has some reasons behind.  And being a teenager, I know this can happen.  And Cam, Nicki's boyfriend is a perfect boyfriend one could expect.  I was loving Cam more and more, every time Nicki made a mistake and Cam has to deal with it.  And then the demons themselves - not much back story there. But the author has made a room for it in the next book of the series.

The story was unique and easy at the same time and author's talent in writing only made it much better.  It was a short read and I was not ready to turn off my Kindle when it ended.  I needed more...especially after that taste of the second book in the end.

4.5 STARS!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

 Tori Centanni is a nerd girl and a recovering goth. She likes dark, quirky stories with elements of humor. When not reading or writing, she can be found baking, watching too much television, and wrangling cats. She lives in Seattle, WA.

AUTHOR ONLINE: Website | Twitter | Tumblr | Goodreads | Instagram

GIVEAWAY

Tori will be giving away $20 Amazon Gift Card (INT) to a winner of the below Rafflecopter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

4.5 STAR Review & $50 Gift Card Giveaway: Bluff by Lenore Skomal

Original Title: Bluff
Author: Lenore Skomal
Publisher: Lenore Skomal Press
Release Date: October 1st 2012
Source: From "Novel Publicity"
Genre: Psychological Thriller

BUY @ AMAZON

"To the medical world, I was a host body, surviving only to bring a new life into the world. And while I wanted to die more than anything in the world, I never wanted this. No, I never wanted to cease to exist. This was the worst death of all.”

Jude Black lives in that in-between, twilight place teetering on death but clinging to life in order to bring her baby into this world. Only she knows the circumstances surrounding her mysterious fall off the bluff that landed her in the hospital being kept alive by medical intervention. Only she knows who the father of her baby is. In this poignantly crafted literary novel, the mystery unfolds and the suspense builds as the consequences of Jude’s decisions threaten to reveal everyone's deceptions, even her own.

Bluff offers a sensitive look at essential questions such as the value of human life, the consciousness of those in a coma and the morality of terminating life support. At the core is the story of a tragically misunderstood woman who finds peace, acceptance, understanding and even love on her deathbed.

REVIEW

My first thought: I am going to recommend this to everyone, who can read emotional novels.
Second thought: Wait, I think I am going to cry. :(

The first reason I picked this up: BLURB.  Read the above blurb.  After reading that, I just can't pass this on.  And like so many other books I accepted for review, I am glad again for my decision.

There are some things we consider as good and bad.  But, that obviously differs from person to person.  When I read about each of the characters in this book, it only made me feel like an immature girl.  Reason?  Let me explain..

Jude, the protagonist of this novel, is always sad and prefers loneliness.  The novel starts with Jude falling off a bluff (a high steep bank (usually formed by river erosion)), heavily injured.  She is rushed to the hospital, due to some anonymous call to 911 about the 'incident'.  Then we meet Frances, Jude's best friend (actually, the only friend), who has been with Jude for nearly two decades.  Jude completely adores Frances, while Frances trusts and loves Jude unconditionally.  Then there is another bomb thrown at you -- Jude is pregnant.  In spite of Jude's battered condition, the baby is healthy and can be saved.  So, there starts the questions:

• Did Jude commit a suicide?
• Is this a murder?
• Who is the father of the baby?
• Will Jude survive enough to provide nutrition the child?
• Will the baby survive?

With all these questions still running in your mind, there are many papal issues, whether Jude must be continued with the life support system, that you have to worry about.

And then there are other characters --

April:  Jude's sister.  Working as a secretary and mistress to her boss.  Jealous of her sister and loathing Frances, April's entry in Jude's life (or existence) after twenty years is another shocking change.

Mary Shannon:  Nurse and neighbor of Jude.  Although portrayed with many flaws at the beginning, she did show her brighter side in Jude's case.

Gay:  God, I don't even know whether I hate or like her.  I think I am leaning towards hate.  Well, she is Jude's mother, who made her life more miserable and now, dead.

Jude's unborn child's dad:  I just HATE YOU!

There are so many other minor characters, but coming back to 'feeling like an immature girl', you see why?  I learnt again that people have different sides.  Not all are good, but not all are bad.  There are motives behind everyone and I really appreciate the author for making me understand and agree to that fact.  I know this, but I still judge people on how they behave to 'me' - not with who they really are (because I never take the pain to know?  Yeah, maybe!)  This is what makes me feel immature.

As the story unravels secrets after secrets, it just kept me hooked.  Yeah, I was sad at most places, but the need to know more was so great, that I had to keep going on.

The author has written an amazing novel.  This is not your light read.  It needs some patience, more than that, an open mind.  But, I can assure you that you are in for a great read here.

This one is just going to hurt for some time.  But, that again is the success of this novel.

Really, I want to give this to 5 STARS!  But, this novel was something I never want to read if I want to move to some happy world and forget my real life.  For this reason, I give this 4.5 stars!

ACTUAL RATING: 4.5 STARS!

GIVEAWAY

Wanna win a $50 gift card or an autographed copy of Bluff?

1. Leave a comment on my blog. One random commenter during this tour will win a $50 gift card. For the full list of participating blogs, visit the official Bluff tour page.
2. Enter the Rafflecopter contest! I've posted the contest form below, or you can enter on the tour page linked above.

About the author: Lenore Skomal wants you to eat her books. Her passionate desire is to touch your heart, inspire you, and luxuriate in the world of the written word. She is an award-winning author with the single goal of resonating with others. Winner of multiple awards for blogging, literature, biography and humor, her catalogue spans many genres. With 30 years of writing experience, 18 books published, a daily blog and weekly newspaper column, the consistent themes in her work are the big issues of the human experience and adding depth and voice to the intricacies involved in living a multi-dimensional existence. She has won many Society of Professional Journalist awards, the Whidbey Island Writer's Conference honorable mention for best fiction, Writer's Digest 73rd Annual Fiction Contest, New York Public Library's Best Books for Teens 2003, and most recently, the 2012 Next Generation Indie Book Award for humor for “Burnt Toast.,” her first anthology of her award winning humor columns. From journalism, to literary fiction, to humor and biography, her writing is consistent, if not in genre, then in message. Connect with Lenore on her website, Facebook, GoodReads, or Twitter.

Get Bluff on Amazon.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

4.5-STAR Review: iFrankenstein by Bekka Black

Original Title: iFrankenstein
Author: Bekka Black
Release Date: September 16th 2012
Source: JKS Publications
Genre: Sci-fi, Young adult

Frankenstein comes to life for the wired generation.

Following her critically-acclaimed iDrakula, award-winning author Bekka Black breathes life into a modern re-telling of iFrankenstein, using only text messages, web browsers, tweets, and emails.

Homeschooled teenager Victor Frankenstein is determined to write his own ticket to independence: a chatbot to win the prestigious Turing prize and admission to the high tech university of his choice. He codes his creation with a self-extending version of his own online personality and unleashes it upon the internet. But soon he begins to suspect his virtual clone may have developed its own goals, and they are not aligned with Victor’s. The creature has its own plan, fed by a growing desire to win darker and more precious prizes: unfettered power and release from loneliness.

As the creature’s power and sentience grows and its increasingly terrible deeds bleed over from the online world into the real one, Victor must stop his creation before his friends and humanity pay the ultimate price. 

MY REVIEW

This is the retelling of the Frankenstein (original by Mary Shelley).  I do not know the original story of Frankenstein.  But, when I read a retelling, I have to know the original story right?  So, I referred the fastest way - Wikipedia.

So, coming back to the review of iFrankenstein, I loved it.  Victor is a computer geek, upset with his dad (calling him The Sperm Donor), never having time with Elizabeth - the girl he likes/maybe love, and on a mission to create a chatbot to win the prestigious Turing prize.  Soon, Victor creates a chat box with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and leashes it in the Internet world.  This chatbot is designed to act as a Virtual Victor, i.e., it takes the input from all of real Victor's cyber world - Facebook, Tweets, MySpace, etc.

Soon, Victor finds that his profiles are being hacked in Facebook and MySpace and bad content gets posted.  His dead mother's personal e-mail gets hacked.  And Victor finds himself stuck in something impossible to explain or explore.

Have to admit - I was thrilled.  And after a long time, I stayed late to finish this novel.  The characters are created just to support the story - not vice-versa.  I am new to this author - but I would love to try some more of her work.  This author can really write and knows how to deliver.

And the best thing about the author is "SHE RETOLD A CLASSIC NOVEL JUST IN EMAILS, BROWSERS, CHATS, PICTURES AND TEXT MESSAGES".  If someone told me that before, I would have laughed at the idea.  But, now, I am just amazed by the author's talent at giving a full novel with just a few messages.

And the other reason I love this book is its ending - okay, not going to spoil it for you.  But, I can't not say it - its not the same ending of the original Frankenstein.  I don't like tragedies - so, you have some sort of happy ending here.

The only reason I didn't give this book 5 stars, is I lost my thrill once I finished reading.  Best books will have that quality of retaining the feeling for a long time.  But only hours from finishing the book, I don't have that excitement.   The other small flaw is the starting of the novel - its a bit slow and needs getting used to.

WARNING: Those who are not used to the cyber/mobile world, please download a sample, before buying it, so that you know whether you can understand them.

4.5 STARS!

SOME NOTES

About Turing Award:

The ACM A.M. Turing Award is an annual prize given by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) to "an individual selected for contributions of a technical nature made to the computing community". It is stipulated that "The contributions should be of lasting and major technical importance to the computer field". The Turing Award is recognized as the "highest distinction in Computer science" and "Nobel Prize of computing".

The award is named after Alan Turing, mathematician and reader in mathematics at the University of Manchester. Turing is "frequently credited for being the Father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence". As of 2007, the award is accompanied by a prize of $250,000, with financial support provided by Intel and Google.

Source: Wikipedia