Updated 11/1/19 Do not ask me to remove a review because you don't like the rating....this will happen.

The Crystilleries of Echoland

REQUESTED TO REMOVE MY AMAZON REVIEW BECAUSE I GAVE A 2 STAR REVIEW BY AUTHOR!!!

So normally this is not something I would do but I feel this is extremely wrong. I review books for onlinebookclub.org somewhat frequently. After I submitted my review to onlinebookclub they asked me to put a short review on amazon as well, so I did. However, I gave the book a 2-star review.

The author, using her real name Tal Boldo, sent an email to Scott, the owner of onlinebookclub asking to reach out to me for me to take the review down because of it being a 2-star review. I naturally refused. To do so would not only be morally wrong but also against Amazon's rules. I feel as a book reviewer it is my job to provide an honest review of the books I read and I will not change them or remove them just because the author doesn't like it.

 Here is a copy of the email that was forwarded to me by Scott from Tal Boldo regarding my review:

Subject: Help with 2-star Amazon Review
Date: Wed, 30 Oct 2019 21:52:21 +0000
From: Tal Boldo
To: Scott


Scott,

I believe that 2 club members have recently posted the first 2-star reviews on Amazon. As the book was a gift, I think the author's choice not to share the review on Amazon ought to be respected. Although I do not know the reviewer's names on Online Book Club, it seems likely that they originated from the club because I provide no free books elsewhere. Scott, perhaps you have a way of discovering whether the writers are club members. I would greatly appreciate your help and advice once again!

Amazon review by Melissa Espenschied

Amazon review by Amie M. Allen

Respectfully yours,

Tal Boldo

Here is my Amazon review of the book:

The Crystilleries of Echoland is a book series that seems to have gotten fairly popular very quickly. I had to read it to see what everyone was talking about. It appears to draw readers in with similarities to books like Harry Potter and is even geared towards the same age group.

Echoland is the home of Echos or our reflections and there is currently a law in place that if a Sound (someone from our world) dies then their Echo must die as well. Will is the Sound of the Prince of Echoland and must team up with him in an attempt to change this law of death. Of course, there are those who don't want them to succeed and have no problem traveling between our realm and Echoland, a land of ice, to stop Will and the Prince.

Normally I like fantasy and young adult books but there was something that felt off about this one. It could have been that the way Echoland was described made me picture a world that was nothing but an icy blue with no contrast to it. It also could have been the fact that the book ended up confusing at times and the writing was choppy.

Either way, I imagine a child, around middle school-aged, would still enjoy this book with very few complaints. Yet an adult might find it a bit dry.

My full review that I sent to onlinebookclub is here:
https://nightreaderreviews.blogspot.com/2019/10/review-crystilleries-of-echoland-by-dew.html
(It is a longer review so I just linked to it)

The amazon rules state:

"Can I give free or discounted copies of my books to readers?
You may provide free or discounted copies of your books to readers. However, you may not demand a review in exchange or attempt to influence the review. Offering anything other than a free or discounted copy of the book - including gift cards - will invalidate a review, and we'll have to remove it. To learn more, see our Community Guidelines."

If you wonder about the difference in the ratings its because onlinebookclub has their own 4-start system that I have to convert to a 5 star for Amazon and Goodreads. Any questions feel free to message me.

Normally I do not do things like this but I must speak out against what I feel is like the equivalent to "buying" a review.


Start Update


Response from Online Book Club to me refusing to change or remove my review.


OnlineBookClub.org Review Team Support
1:35 PM (37 minutes ago)
to me

Hi, Melissa,

Thank you for getting back to me.

I am sorry if I was not clear. I am absolutely not at all asking you to
change your review.

Rather, we gave you a book in exchange for you to write an honest review
of the book at OnlineBookClub.org.

You chose to not only review the book at OnlineBookClub.org, but also
post an additional review on Amazon.

So I am asking if you are willing to remove the review that you posted
on Amazon. I'm not asking to remove your OnlineBookClub.org review, or
asking you to change your review.

Let me know your thoughts.



Thank you,
Scott
OnlineBookClub.org

My reply

Scott,

As it happens that is not true.

After I put my review on Online Book Club I was prompted by the website to put a review on Amazon. In fact, if I wouldn't have the review on Online Book Club would not have been fully processed, as I am sure you know.

I do not put my reviews for Online Book Club on Amazon or anywhere else unless prompted to do so because of the plagiarism issue. I used to on my first two reviews but quickly leaned that's a bad idea.

Also don't you think asking for a review to be removed is "influencing the review" as stated as unallowed per Amazon's rules? I do. 

The fact is I even have proof that I was requested to put a review on amazon as the below message shows:

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: OnlineBookClub.org Review Team <noreply-rt@onlinebookclub.org>
Date: Thu, Oct 24, 2019 at 4:03 AM
Subject: Amazon Review Request for The Crystilleries of Echoland
To: <fangedwolfgirl@gmail.com>


Hi,

The author of "The Crystilleries of Echoland" has requested that you also post an additional review of the book on Amazon.

This is not required, but we are passing on the favor request. If you do post a review on Amazon, it does not need to be nearly as long. Just a couple sentences will do. However, please do not copy and paste your review from OnlineBookClub.org to Amazon. Instead, please write a couple new sentences as your Amazon review.

IMPORTANT: Amazon uses a 5-star system, but OnlineBookClub uses a 4-star system. So please do NOT blindly copy your rating. For example, a 4/4 rating should be put in as a 5/5 on Amazon, not a 4/5.

For reference, following is the Bookshelves page for the book:

 https://forums.onlinebookclub.org/shelves/book.php?id=326446


Once you have posted the additional review, please confirm on the History tab of the Review Team Page:

 https://forums.onlinebookclub.org/review-team/history.php


Thank you,
OnlineBookClub.org  

So as you can see it was not just my choice to post on Amazon, I was asked to do so. I am sorry the author doesn't like it but I will not take it down.

I hope you understand,
Melissa

As any of you reading this can see I am not going to back down. There is nothing wrong with the review I posted and I was even asked to put one on Amazon, which as you can see he is trying to deny, good thing I do not delete emails.

End Update

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Review: The Crystilleries of Echoland by Dew Pellucid

The Crystilleries of Echoland by Dew Pellucid is a book in which parallel worlds meet in an interesting fantasy story with children teaming up to save the day. I noticed quite a few things that had a strong resemblance to other popular young adult books such as The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman and Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling. The similarities were mainly, but not limited to, each orphan having a pet of some kind as well as many characters being able to turn invisible. It is important to note that the book was extremely well-edited.

Children all over disappeared without a trace and even their parents have no memories of what happened to them. None of the missing children ever return, except for one. This one chid is Will Cleary. Sadly Will does not know where he and the missing children were or how to bring the others back, including his sister. Then one day Will finds himself under attack by Fate Sealers and learns the truth about Echoland, a world parallel to ours.

Will learns that a law was passed in Echoland ruling that if a Sound (someone from our world) dies their Echo must die as well. Will is the Sound to the Prince of Echoland and in an attempt to kill the Prince the Fate Sealers are after Will. Will must return to Echoland in disguise, pretending to be another one of the missing children and live in an orphanage. All so he can work with his Echo to reclaim the throne and abolish the Law of Death.

What I liked best about this book was the concept of our world being the world of Sound and the parallel is that of the Echos. Echoland is a great representation of the opposite of our world. Everything there seems to be colder and duller than our world making it feel like a shadow or Echo (which I imagine was the author's intention). What I didn't like was that I frequently found the book to be dry and boring. At times it felt like it stalled out completely. There were also multiple areas where the writing felt slightly out of order or choppy. I wish I could explain just why the book came across this way, but I am unsure.

It appears this book was written for slightly younger readers. Middle school to early high school students would probably find this book enjoyable. It falls clearly in the fantasy category and is a relatively easy read. I rate this book 3 out of 4. Ordinarily, I would enjoy a fantasy or young adult book, yet I was unable to get into this one. This may have been due to the writing style or the way the plot was confusing and dragging. Most likely it was a combination of both. For a fantasy book, it was not engaging at all. I was going to rate it a 2 out of 4 however since I can not explain exactly what it is that caused me to feel like something was "off" about this book I can not take points away from it.

Author Interview: Jessica Parish of the Pugalugs Series

Interview with Jessica and Mark Parish, author of the Pugalugs series.

About Pugalugs

Q: Pugalugs currently has five books in the series. Do you plan on writing more and if so how many?

A: Yes, depending on the success of the first 5 books, I have over 30 titles planned... the potential for Pugalugs to go off on adventures now he has found the magic bone (in the book by the same title) is endless. It would be nice to do some educational books (geographical, spelling, numbers etc) if I get the chance.

Q: How much research went into writing Pugalugs? How long did it take you to complete writing it?

A: Months and months of research. I wanted to learn how to write and produce a children's book, not just write a story and submit it for publishing so I learned everything there is to know about publishing a children's book before I even started to write the stories. The books took about 2 weeks to write and get things to where I was satisfied with the text. I would say the time needed to create the design for the illustration took more time. All in all, I'd say about a month per book!

Q: Was there any specific reason for the names that you gave the characters? Specifically, how did you come up with the name Pugalugs?

A: I thought long and hard about the main character's name. My husband and I spent many an evening discussing it and coming up with ideas. Eventually, I decided on Pugalugs because my husband's mum used to call him "Bugalugs" when he was a child and so I just swapped the B for a P and Pugalugs was born. The characters of the books are based on my own Pugs (The main character's name is actually "Rocky" in real life but Dug and Bella are actually real names).

Q: What compelled you to write Pugalugs?

A: The books were inspired by a real-life event. My husband's father (Granddad in the books) dog-sits for our dogs. One day my husband got a frantic call from Granddad whilst he was at work to say that he had been out gardening and the dogs were with him but when he turned round they had disappeared. He had left the garden gate slightly open and they had escaped. My husband left work immediately to try and find them but there was no sign of them. Over 2 hours he searched. We were devastated as we thought they may have been stolen or worse knocked over on the roads.

Later that afternoon when we had given up hope, my husband got a call from his work on his mobile (he was still looking for them) to say the local vet had been in touch and somebody had kindly realized that the dogs were two escapees and took them to the vets. They had been found about 1 mile away from home outside a local country pub!

So that is what inspired the books. We always wondered what adventures they had been having during the time they had gone missing. And to this day we are amazed at how far the dogs managed to get without being injured or stolen. They had to cross two main roads and a number of side roads to get to the pub (called the Gerrard Pub).

Q: What do you think it is about Pugalugs that has made it so popular?

A: I think Pugs are a very popular breed of dog which definitely helps. Who can resist a cute cuddly loveable pug? My illustrator did a fantastic job of translating what I wanted the characters to look like (it took many many revisions to get it 100% right) and I think they look great which also helps. 

About Writing

Q: What made you decide to start writing?

A: I studied English A-Level and always had a desire to put pen to paper but never had the inspiration until we experienced the dogs escaping. So it was being a Pug fanatic that really started things off.

Q: What do you use when you write (for example do you use a computer, have a special pen or notebook)?

A: I always use a notebook and pencil to scribble my ideas down. The stories fill out from there. I still have the old note pads with the original scrawl. Who knows, one day they may be worth something!

Q: Do you start writing with a specific story or plot in mind or do you just "go with the flow"?

A: Yes, the idea is there in my mind before I start to put pen to paper. A lot of thought has gone into it before I actually start to write.

Q: Writers are often believed to have a Muse or something that they draw inspiration from, how do you feel about that?

A: Yes I definitely get my inspiration from the dogs.

Q: Are you currently working on any other books outside of the Pugalugs series? If so what can you tell me about it?

A: No, I work full time as an accounts assistant. If the first 5 books take off properly then I will create time to write more but for now, I'm happy to have produced 5 books.

About Jessica Parish 

Q: What do you like to do in your free time when you are not writing?

A: I like to keep fit so I run (have done 1/2 marathons and 1 marathon). I'm also a bit of a tomboy in that I like motorbikes/motorbike racing (I ride on the back with my husband) and Rugby League. I live in St. Helens and so am a big St. Helens Rugby League Fan.

Q: What is your stance on physical books vs. e-books? How do you feel about audio-books?

A: Any book is good but I am a big fan of physical books. The smell and feel of a book add to the reading experiance I believe and it is nice to see a collection building on a bookshelf as opposed! I do read a lot of e-books on my kindle for convenience when I'm on vacation.

Q: What font do you like the most? What font do you like the least?

A: Haven't really thought about it. I do like Calibri and probably copperplate gothic is one I'm not keen on.

Q: What was your favorite book as a child? What is your favorite book today?

A: Goosebumps as a child. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins today. 

Q: What is your favorite quote (from anything/anyone)?

A: If you think you can, you can. (Norman Vincent Peale)

Q: In honor of the season, what is your fondest Halloween memory?

A: Making your own costume out of a bin bag as a child...how times have changed!

Q: Is there anything else you would like to share?

A: The Pugalugs Trick or Treat Book is my second favorite after the Christmas book.

About Charity Efforts

Q: Pugalugs has gotten a bunch of press, how does this make you feel?

A: I'm quite a reserved person and don't really like being in the limelight but when I do see an article in the press it makes me feel proud of my achievements. 

Q: If you do not mind sharing, in total how much has been given to charity thanks to your books?

A: I haven't really kept a record but I have done literally 100's of book signings in stores like BHS (before it closed), Debenhams, Tesco, and other book shops where I would donate £1,000 from each book sale so I would say a minimum of £5,000 to various charities. I also donated 1000 of each book (5000 books) to Alder Hey Children's hospital which they now give to poorly children and sell in their gift shop.

End Interview

Review: A Warrior's Blush by Shannon Whittall

A Warrior’s Blush by Shannon Whittall is an action-adventure fantasy story with just a hit of romance. This book could z easily be the beginning of a very interesting series if the author wanted to go that route with it. The ending is also surprising, but I do not encourage any readers to skip ahead in the book to see what I mean.

Lenora Belavier has been held prisoner and was used as a slave in the female prison, Golnar. It is here in Golnar that Lenora makes two names for herself. The first is Iron-Will for the excellent blades she forges. The second is Golnar’s Ghost, for protecting her fellow prisoners from the guards without them finding out who the ghost is. One day after much planning Lenora escapes from Golnar and brings an eleven-year-old prisoner, Mear, with her. Elijah finds Lenora (who has now adopted a new name) and Mear injured in the desert and takes them to Drodal’s Keep for healing.

In Drodal Lenora endures training for a magical ability that she does not believe she possesses, by a temperamental Elijah. Mear, on the other hand, seems to be enjoying her freedom and wonders off for some unknown reason. Lenora and Elijah slowly form an unlikely friendship as they start looking into the appearance of Bolgran, the evil monsters controlled by Myrna. Myrna, the evil Queen who Lenora was fighting against when she was arrested has learned of Lenora surviving Golnar and seeking refuge at Drodal. In an attempt to destroy her enemy Myrna floods Drodal with Bolgren and it doesn't look good for the small keep.

What I liked best about this book was that it was not predictable nor was it confusing. The twists in the story were extremely enjoyable and even surprised me. I am purposely leaving these twists out of the review as to not ruin them for the interested reader. What I did not like was how some of the characters and creatures were named similar to each other. The biggest of these issues was Bolgran, a terrible monster, and Brogan, a blacksmith. This did cause a bit of confusion because one is obviously evil and the other is not.

This book is age-appropriate for readers who are at least in high school. Younger readers would enjoy most of the story but would have to be mature. The rape and abuse of female prisoners is a big driving factor for Lenora and readers must be able to handle that. Overall I rate this book 3 out of 4. While it was a good book the name issue felt a little sloppy and lost it some points with me. I would still recommend this book to people who like fantasy but they would have to pay close attention to the names.

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Review: The Mandore Rose by Cyril James Morris

The Mandore Rose by Cyril James Morris is set in the early 1950s yet, for the most part, it feels like it could be set in modern-day. It also has a prologue from the 1700s but it takes a while for the connection to be made. This book can easily be read in a day or two.

Just Riley is a young Romany girl who is ordered by her elder to take her caravan and run away. This is not because of anything she has done. She must run in order to protect herself from the man pretending to be her uncle after her mother died just so he can steal from her. Just Riley now has to survive on her own with her horse Pixe and her spirit guide, The Bangled Lady for companions.  That is until an accident at the beach puts her in contact with Big Pierre and Rhys.

Rhys teaches her how to hunt for crabs and they quickly become friends. Big Pierre owns and works on a crabbing boat and gives Just Riley some work. When Pierre takes Riley with him one day she meets the Monks and Lady Caldey on their island. The Lady agrees to have an instrument repaired for Just Riley and the two feel a bond right away. After learning to trust one another Just Riley learns that they each have a ring identical to the other. It is with these rings and a little bit of luck that they start on an adventure that may lead them to the truth about who Just Riley really is.

What I liked most was how the main character is called “Just Riley”. At first, I found this to be annoying and awkward, but after the reason is explained I fund it to be cute, if not a little sad as well. What I did not like was that I wish the book would have explained the difference between Romany and Gypsey. This is because on multiple occasions people in the book confuse the two and Riley seems to be insulted by that. I feel like many people (myself included) do not know the difference and would benefit from the explanation.

People who enjoy historical mysteries would enjoy this book the most. This book is appropriate for just about all readers even those in middle school. It is not too heavily historical that it is not enjoyable. I give this book a 3 out of 4 ratings. While there is not anything wrong with this book I could not give it a perfect score. The book just was not compelling to read. While it is classified as a mystery it really doesn't have a quality that made me curious about what was happening.

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Review: What if... by Corrina Joy

What If… by Corrina Joy is one woman’s story as she explores her ‘what if..’. A word of warning though, this book is full of both happiness and heartbreak. Depending on the reader’s current emotional state and lifestyle this book could be very depressing or uplifting.

Joy Chambers feels like there is something missing in her life. Her husband is a hardworking man but puts money and sports above caring about her. He doesn't pay attention to her or her needs and lets her take care of the house and children alone. The crushing loneliness of her marriage mixed with her longing to feel true love and joy again propels her to take a half-hour break at the beach. This is so that she can emotionally let go before returning to her daily chores. A random wave knocks her into the water where she hits her head and comes across her “magical little relic”.

Upon twisting this relic Joy gets transported to a different dimension where her life is significantly different. There is one common theme in each dimension that she visits, Jerry. Unconditionally but was unable to be with him in her original dimension. For some reason on another each one of Joy’s visits is cut short and so is her time with Jerry. How Joy’s story ends is completely up to the reader thanks to two very clever options for endings by the author. Both of the endings are extremely different but as the book says “Her destiny is in your hands...”

What I liked best was all the different dimensions that Joy visited while trying to find what was missing from her life. I did notice one thing that may or may not have been true. It seemed to me that each ‘dimension’ was really just a different time period in the same dimension or the world. As if Joy only changed dimension once and visited important points in that dimension. What I did not like was in the first chapter Joy explains her life to the reader. She talks of just existing, not living, and an unnamed husband who does not seem to care for her or emotionally support her, and their children. After she finds her magical little relic they are not mentioned again. I can not help but wonder about Joy’s feelings about leaving them behind, especially her kids. What becomes of them?

This book is directed more towards adults. Specifically, those who find themselves wondering what their lives might be like if they had done things differently. At the same time, this book is just as enjoyable for everyone else. I rate this book 4 out of 4. This book was beautiful. Over its 188 pages, Joy finds what element in her life she needs in order to feel whole. The final twelve pages or so consist of two alternate endings (an amazing and unusual concept) so the reader can decide exactly how Joy’s life turns out.

https://www.austinmacauley.com/book/what-if
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BOOK GIVEAWAY ALERT!!! The Adventures of Pugalugs: The Beginning

BOOK GIVEAWAY ALERT 

Jessica Parish, the author of Pugalugs, in partnership with Austin Macauley Publishing has authorized the giveaway of three copies of The Adventures of Pugalugs: The Beginning. To enter the giveaway please follow these simple steps: 

1) Like, Share, and Comment on the facebook post, tagging 3 friends.

2) Follow Night Reader Reviews https://www.facebook.com/nightreaderreviews/ 

and 

Austin Macauley Publishinghttps://www.facebook.com/AustinMacauleyUSA/

The Adventures of Pugalugs: The Beginning by Jessica Parish is just the first book in an adorable five-book children’s series. These books are about a cute and curious pug puppy and his siblings. For a full review of the first book click here: https://nightreaderreviews.blogspot.com/2019/07/review-adventures-of-pugalugs-beginning.html. Jessica Parish has also raised quite a bit of money for charity through the use of her books. She has even taken her own pug puppy, Rocky, to book singings with her. These books would make great Christmas presents for any young child. 

Don't forget to follow Jessica Parish for more updates on the Pugalugs series and be on the lookout for her author interview with Night Reader Reviews. 

*As this is the first giveaway Night Reader Reviews has hosted it will run for two weeks so be sure to sign up before 10/29/2019. Winners will be announced by 11/01/2019 at the latest. All winners will be requested to provide their address in a privet message. All costs will be covered by Austin Macauley Publishing.*

Review: The Devil's Workshop by Donnally Miller

The Devil’s Workshop by Donnally Miller is one of the few books that I felt like I had to read twice, and did. Even after that I still feel like I am missing quite a bit of what this book has to offer. If there were ever a book that deserves to be torn apart (and I mean that in the best possible sense) and be studied in depth to have all the hidden meanings exposed this is it. However, I am not the one to do it.

Tom and Katie love each other to the point that when Tom leaves to work on a ship for a while, Katie gives him an extremely special engraved pocket watch to take with him. Little does Tom know, he helped bury the Son of Light shortly before leaving and this has thrown the world into chaos. Katie loses her job at the mansion where she lives and finds herself traveling with a dog and a lovesick man whom she has no affection for on a journey to find Tom. Meanwhile, Tom has lost Katie’s pocket watch, was thrown overboard, and is trying to make his way back to her. Thanks to Deirdre, The Queen of the Witches, the journey these two lovers are on is excruciatingly long and dangerous.

The Indians who live peacefully in the Forest have started to band together in preparation for driving “the white man” back into the sea where they came from. Slaves have also started rebelling all along the Coast and are being hunted by a military who wants them destroyed. Making things even worse Pirates are causing the roads to be unsafe for travelers and Tom finds himself mixed up with them. All the while Deirdre is playing her games with each of the separate groups. The only way to set everything right once more is to create a new Child of Light.

I enjoyed how all the characters seem to cross paths at one point or another in ways that are more natural than forced by the author. All the trials that Tom and Katie are willing to endure in an attempt to see each other again restore a person’s faith in humanity and love. At the same time, the book forces the reader to question just what is love and why will we go to the ends of the Earth for it. What I did not like was that there were a few different times where I would lose track of who was talking or what was going on. I am not sure if this was in any way due to how the book was written or because I was not devoting the amount of attention to the book as it deserves. Even so philosophical books are expected to confuse readers at times and force them to re-evaluate passages, so it in no way changes my opinion of this book.

I would only recommend this book to adult readers. While there is nothing inappropriate for readers in high school, the philosophy would probably be a bit much for them. The casual reader should also be prepared for a long and at times difficult read. Nonetheless, I rate this book to be a perfect 4 out of 4. People who do not realize what kind of book this is would probably put it down during the first few chapters and give it a low rating for being hard to read. Those that realize what they are reading will find that the seemingly random ramblings do make sense if you slow down. There is a wonderful plotline and a beautiful love story (thankfully not a mushy one) that takes place throughout the book if readers are willing to take their time and look.

https://www.donnallymiller.com/

Review Re-post Before Interview and Giveaway

The following is a review for Lithium written by Asina C. In honor of October and Halloween Asina C has agreed to an interview which will be posted soon along with a giveaway of the book Lithium. If interested please read the following review and keep an eye out for the interview and giveaway coming soon.

Lithium by Asina C is not the typical book style that comes to mind when I think about a fiction book based in Chernobyl. Normally I would expect such a book to be full of zombies or mutants who go around terrorizing a group of tourists that get lost but that is not the case with Lithium. Instead, this book mixes truth with science and a little bit of fantasy and gives readers a different type of story altogether. This book also talks about the Red Forest in Chernobyl and it sparked an interest in me to look up some pictures of the forest. I also did not notice too much that widely away from the actual facts about Chernobyl, though I would by no means consider myself to be well informed on the subject.

Zurin has lived with her mother for all of her twelve years in a small shack in Pripyat. Her mother has always kept Zurin inside her home for fear of radiation sickness and being seen. This is in part because the area in which they live is believed to be uninhabitable because of all the radiation still in everything following the explosion. Zurin has always been obedient to her mother’s rules until one day when her mother goes to get supplies and Zurin decides to step outside for the first time but may have been seen by someone.

Then one day, shortly after her birthday Zurin wakes up to find her mother gone and blood on the floor. Zurin then ventures out into the Red Forest in search of her mother but gets extremely lost and succumbs to radiation sickness. Luckily she is found by a young couple who works for a travel company and snuck into a restricted area of Chernobyl to take pictures for their website. The couple takes Zurin to the hospital and adopts her once she gets better. As fate would have it months later Zurin returns to Pripyat in search of her mother yet again and finds herself in an abandoned hospital. It is in this hospital that she learns the truth about her mother and her life up to this point. Her only hope is to team up with a doctor she is not completely trusting of, the young couple, and a man she has never met before.

What I liked best was the idea of people still being able to live in a highly irradiated area such as Pripyat with few side effects was interesting. The book also offered some mystery as to who Zurin and her mother are and why they chose to continue to live in an isolated area such a Pripyat. What I liked least was a little more complicated. I understand the fact that people exposed to nuclear radiation and or uranium may mutate both physically and/or mentally if they survive. What I did not understand was Nikolav’s goal by purposefully mutating the patients who survived the explosion but were trapped in the mental ward of the hospital.

This is definitely a young adult book, but for many, after high school, I feel like it would quickly lose its strong appeal. It is a good book but I feel like it would need to be a little more detailed, making the book a bit longer in order for it to have more of an appeal to adults. I ended up rating this book a 2 out of 4. This is because while I enjoy books set around Chernobyl (especially if mutated people or zombies are involved because it offers a plausible explanation for it) this book fell short of my expectations. One of the main issues I had was how the book fails to give solid reasoning and jumps from one topic to another.

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https://www.goodreads.com/…/sh…/40248897-melissa-espenschied

BIG UPDATE

Big Update for Night Reader Reviews

I am planning on not only having reviews here soon but also hosting giveaways and author interviews. These new additions have made me realise that I need to expand out from just one little blog. Night Reader Reviews now has its own facebook page https://www.facebook.com/nightreaderreviews/ for readers to like and follow. It also has a new email address for those who need to contact me directly about the reviews bookreviewsatnight@gmail.com. In the near future, it is also in the plans for an Instagram account to be created as well so keep your eyes out.