Monday 22 October 2012

Something Wicked Comes stop [Review, guest post and giveaway]: The Forever Girl Series, Vol. I: Sophia's Journey (Volume 1) by Rebecca Hamilton


I am beyond excited to be a part of Something Wicked Comes, a month long blog event hosted by Heidi @ Rainy Day Ramblings and Lila @ Babbling About Books! As a part of the hop, I am thrilled to post my review of The Forever Girl: Sophia's Journey (Volume 1), an AMAZING paranormal romance that made a pretty awesome Halloween read along with a guest post by the author, Rebecca Hamilton and giveaway of one paperback and FIVE e-copies of The Forever Girl!

GUEST POST:

Hi everyone! I’m Rebecca Hamilton, and I’m super excited that Pooja invited me over to his blog this Halloween for a guest post! I wasn’t sure what to blog about, but seeing as I’m in a nostalgic mood as I sit down to write this, I’ve decided to share the things I think no one should miss on Halloween.

Pumpkin Picking/Carving

If you’ve never gone pumpkin picking before, well, what rock are you living under? I think this is one of those festivities that not enough people participate in. Really, WHEN ELSE can do this? I guess it seems like a lot of work . . . finding a pumpkin patch, picking out a pumpkin, taking it home to gut it and carve it . . . but it’s an experience! And it’s something you only get to do once a year. Well, I suppose you could do it more often, but it’s all in the spirit of the holiday. Don’t miss out. In fact, if you do decide to carve a pumpkin this year, I hope you’ll email me a picture (theinkmuse [at] gmail [dot] com). I’ll feature it on my blog!

Halloween-themed Food

Candy is a given, off course. You even have your Halloween staples, like candy corn (when ELSE do you eat candy corn). And if you’re having a party, maybe you buy a Frankenstein mug, fill it with candy corn, and have all your party guests guess how many pieces of candy corn are in the mug. Winner gets the candy—and the mug! But there’s a lot of other cool Halloween-themed foods out there, and I recommend not settling for candy.

Why not have BRAINS for dinner? (Spaghetti!) Or prepare your guests some SLIME punch! If you’re feeling really festive, use a witch’s cauldron as a serving bowl! Or if you have kids, check out one of the billion articles on the Internet with fun Halloween recipe and treat ideas! I’ll even make it easy for ya, and get you started. Check these out!

The bottom line is, don’t miss out on the chance to be festive with your food! Find the perfect recipes and indulge!

Halloween Houses and Haunted Hayrides

When I was growing up, one of the BEST parts of Halloween was the haunted hayrides and haunted houses. But no one said adults can’t enjoy the same kind of activities, with or without kids. Halloween only comes once a year. Do a little research and find out what is available near you! If you live near any amusement parks, they might have some kind of Fright Fest for you to attend. But often there are other activities that are local as well to participate in. If you aren’t sure how to look these things up, simple type in “Haunted House (your zip code)” or “Haunted Hayride (your zip code)” and you should be able to find something local to you. I personally prefer the Haunted Hayrides because there is nothing more enjoyable than experiencing the outdoors in the fall!

Scary Movies!

If you’re a forward thinker, you rented all your favorite horror movies a week ahead of time, or already own them all! But there’s always television freebies. You simply CAN’T have Halloween without scary movies! If you’re the type to like to stay in instead of go out, why not have a horror movie marathon?

And if you’re a book nerd like me, looking for some scary books to get lost in this holiday, I’ve put together a small recommendation list for you!

Jack Ketchum’s Girl Next Door

R.P. Krauls Mirrors of Anguish

Bram Stoker’s Dracula

Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House

Joe Hill’s Heart Shaped Box

So, what are your plans this Halloween? Do you have a list of must see Halloween movies?

Thank you so much for the awesometastic guest post, Rebecca! I'm stoked for Halloween! :)

MY REVIEW:
Publication date: 26th January, 2012
Publisher: Immortal Ink Publishing
Links: Amazon | The Book Depository | Goodreads
Source: e-copy obtained from author
Rating: 4/ 5 stars
[from goodreads]

Sophia's family has skeletons, but they aren't in their graves.

At twenty-two, practicing Wiccan Sophia Parsons is scratching out a living waiting tables in her Rocky Mountain hometown, a pariah after a string of unsolved murders with only one thing in common: her.

Sophia can imagine lots of ways to improve her life, but she'd settle for just getting rid of the buzzing noise in her head. When the spell she casts goes wrong, the static turns into voices. Her personal demons get company, and the newcomers are dangerous.

One of them is a man named Charles, who Sophia falls for despite her better judgment. He has connections that might help her unveil the mystery surrounding her ancestor's hanging, but she gets more than she bargains for when she finally decides to trust him.

Survival in his world, she learns, means not asking questions and staying out of the immortal council's way. It's a line she crossed long ago. If Sophia wants to survive the council and save the people she loves, she must accept who she is, perform dark magic, and fight to the death for her freedom.

The Forever Girl is a full-length Paranormal Fantasy novel that will appeal to lovers of paranormal romance, urban fantasy, witches, vampires, ghosts, paranormal mystery, and paranormal horror.
Halloween is round the corner and I cannot think of a better paranormal romance to curl up with than The Forever Girl. Gorgeously written, with great attention to detail and a well thought out backstory- I felt a part of Sophia's journey and couldn't put it down till I hit the last page. It's creepy, fun and the story behind the title that is revealed piece by piece blew me away.

Sophia, a girl of Wiccan faith, is stuck in a town she wants to escape, dealing with her bipolar mother who's off her meds and heavily influenced by their neighbour, Mrs. Franklin, who will not rest until Sophia sells her ancestral property to the Church for a pittance. The buzzing in her head has now morphed into a scramble of voices, possibly enhanced by the positive energy ritual she had performed. A night out at Club Flesh with her friend Ivory only strengthens her conviction that there is something more to her not-so-coincidental presence in the midst of a killing years ago, documents left by her grandfather and the creatures who are now after her.

I loved how the author gives us a clear, clean account of the Wiccan faith; dispelling all the myths associated with it. The paranormal creatures and their origins in the world created by Hamilton are also well fleshed out. She takes her time to lay out all the pieces in the puzzle in front of us; making us truly feel a part of Sophia's journey. The first paragraph alone gave me the chills and from then on, I was hooked.

Charles, Sophia's paranormal love interest, also immediately endeared to me. Their relationship made sense and while it followed a pattern reminiscent of Twilight, Charles and Sophia approach the dilemmas in their relationship way more logically and as for their chemistry... let's just say mind blowing is an understatement! Some quotes that made me laugh out loud:

“I must be pretty special to have followed you here but arrived first.”

"You're not so interesting that I came to watch you sleep, darlin'."

The Forever Girl  is an amazing take on all things paranormal; set in a world with vampires, shape shifters, witches and fire elementals with back-story that incorporates the Salem witch trials. It is an intricately woven and well written gothic romance of obsession, creation and purpose that transcended generations; filled with twists and turns that took me by surprise! Definitely a great Halloween read. I cannot wait to read the second book in the series!

Rating: 4/5 stars

And do not forget to enter the giveaway for a chance to win a paperback copy or one of five ecopies of The Forever Girl, Vol 1 (Thank you so much, Rebecca, for donating the copies for giveaway!):

a Rafflecopter giveaway  

20 comments:

  1. I really do like a good Halloween-esque book here and there. I'm not sure i'll have much time to read them this year, but I AM in a detective fiction class...so I've been reading some interesting murder mysteries that fit the atmosphere.

    I'm also a big kid at heart, so I LOVE halloween themed food. :)

    -Lauren

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  2. Another book for my ever growing TBR!

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  3. The Forever Girl sounds like a perfect read for fall, and I am so glad you enjoyed it. Loved the guest post. Pumpkin carving, hayrides and candy corn are staples at our house this time of year!

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  4. I've never even heard of a haunted hayride before and have never gone pumpkin picking either. LOVE Halloween themed treats, but probably not brave enough for slimy soup. Great post! I'll have to see if the farm I am going to next weekend has pumpkin picking :)

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  5. I plan on scary movies until dark then heading out for some fireworks. waa haa haa

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  6. Great post! Anxious to read this book and I'm officially hopped up for Halloween now. :)

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  7. I am here finally! I loved this post. The Halloween food ideas were great and I pinned it on Pinterest! Loved the scary book list I have been dying to check out Joe Hill as I am a huge SK fan! Anyway I would love to read this book! I am all about gorgeous writing and I would like to know more about Wiccan. Thanks for being a part of Wicked!

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  8. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays! I have a feeling I'm going to really like this book series!

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  9. Great post! I enjoy scaring myself silly and already have many scary movies picked out for next week. :D Pumpkin carving sounds like fun too. I totally want to do that one day!

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  10. aw, this does sound like a fun Halloween read! i love all the PUMPKIN flavoured things for Halloween. :D

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  11. Ooh, I'm excited to check out this book. It looks all kinds of mysteriously interesting.

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  12. I like seeing a paranormal story that incorporates Wicca.

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  13. Ooo! The Forever Girl! I did win a copy from Rebecca so I need to read it soon! I love how the book has an interesting take on the paranormal aspect too ;)

    Awesome review, Pooja ♥ Glad you enjoyed it!

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  14. Thanks for the giveaway. Sounds pretty interesting :)

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  15. I love this post! Halloween- related crafts can be so much fun to create, especially when it involves food. ;) The Forever Girl sounds really, really great too. :) Fantastic review, Pooja!

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  16. I haven't heard much about this book but it definitely looks intriguing!

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  17. Wow, I love this guest post! Unfortunately, I've never been pumpkin picking *hides shameful face* but now I see that I must. ;)
    And fantastic review :) I've previously never heard of this one but it sounds great! Thanks for alerting me about it; it sounds like the perfect spooky read for Halloween...

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HI. Thanks for reading! Feel free to comment. :)