Title: Here (On the Other Side #1)
Author: Denise Grover Swank
Genres: contemporary high school/sci-fi otherworldliness
Rating: 3.6 stars
Source: e-book from the author for an honest review
Summary: Sixteen year old Julia Phillips buries herself in guilt after killing her best friend Monica in a car accident. Julia awoke in the hospital with a broken leg, a new talent for drawing and false memories of the accident, in which she dies and Monica lives. The doctors attribute this to her head injury, but no one can explain how a bracelet engraved with her name ended up at the scene of the accident. A bracelet no one has ever seen before.
Classmate Evan Whittaker paid Julia no attention before the accident, let alone after. Now suddenly he’s volunteering to tutor her and offering to drive her home. She can't ignore that his new obsession started after his two-day disappearance last week and that he wears a pendant she’s been drawing for months. When the police show up one night looking for Evan, he begs Julia to run with him, convincing her that Monica is still alive. Julia agrees to go, never guessing where he’s really from.
There's two distinct parts to here. The first half I didn't like: pretty much contemporary and the first real interaction I see of Julia is her freaking out over the "popular guy" looking at her. That didn't help me get to like her. Also, she's in a huge slump (which is understandable) but I found myself kind of depressing reading about how depressed she was, and how she wasn't trying to do anything about it. So where the beginning didn't at all grab my attention, I had heard and read there was something completely different about the other half so...
The second, I really liked. Here comes the otherness cool stuff. She gets transported to...well another place. There's futuristic techy gadgets, strange customs of the familiar people, and side effects...how's that for mysterious? I feel I shouldn't say much, cause if you haven't guessed it by halfway through the book then it's a pretty awesome surprise.
Most of the events and mysteries in the first half I actually predicted easily. From the first page I could tell what would end up happening (who Evan is and all these subtle foreshadowing hints related to the prologue), but I will admit toward the end of the book, the plot took so many frantic turns that it was easy to let myself stop analyzing and go with the flow, not guessing.
This story is hugely character driven, which is absolutely great for the development of Julia, but for the second half, I only got glimpses and mentions of this alternate world. I wanted more of that, but that's a personal preference, not necessarily what Here is supposed to focus on. Understandable.
As for Julia's romance. First of all, I don't like a love triangle to become very established in the first of a series. That's immediately off-putting to me. Second, it's pretty instalove in a high-schoolish manner. Redeemably, the whole instalove thing is explained in the second half. Even Julia almost admits sometime that it's a bit odd for Evan and Reece to suddenly like her. (Doesn't stop her from gladly taking attention from both.)
It might look like I'm complaining about pretty much everything in here (haha) but I really enjoyed the story and everything not complained-about, I did like. And even though it's in the YA category, I think it could be one of those tween books easily; the romance it very PG and there isn't any outstanding violence.
Cover Love? Absolutely. This cover rocks and really relates to the story. She's standing on her reflection! And the color tones are all purpley creepo.
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And I'm happy to be a part of the cover reveal for the second book, There:
Warning: The blurb for Book Two has spoilers for those who haven't read Here so read no further if you want to avoid those spoilers!
There's RELEASE DATE: December 24, 2012
Summary (same as the back cover ^^): Julia Phillips’ world is an alternate universe away.
Trapped in a land where government leaders want her dead, Julia is forced to run for her life with Evan
and Reece, the two boys who brought her here. They’re on their own in a hostile landscape ruled by
scavengers and thieves.
But Evan is battling a deadly infection, and Julia finds herself racing against time as she tries to find the
medicine that will save his life. She and Reece find an unlikely ally—Jo, a girl they free after finding her captured in a bandits’ hideout.
As the four travel across the country, Julia has something else to worry about—her memories are slowly being replaced by the Julia of Evan and Reece’s world. Will they find a way to send Julia home before it’s too late? Or will Julia’s body and mind be trapped THERE?
But Evan is battling a deadly infection, and Julia finds herself racing against time as she tries to find the
medicine that will save his life. She and Reece find an unlikely ally—Jo, a girl they free after finding her captured in a bandits’ hideout.
As the four travel across the country, Julia has something else to worry about—her memories are slowly being replaced by the Julia of Evan and Reece’s world. Will they find a way to send Julia home before it’s too late? Or will Julia’s body and mind be trapped THERE?
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Click below to buy Here! The ebook will be on sale for $.99 on Amazon, B&N, Kobo & Smashwords until Friday, November 30th! Don't miss out. :)
Don't forget to enter the Here giveaway on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/38434-here
And:
About the author:
Denise Grover Swank lives in Lee's Summit, Missouri. She writes urban fantasies without vampires and werewolves. She also writes romantic comedy mysteries set in the south. Denise has six children, three dogs, and an overactive imagination. She can be found dancing in her kitchen with her children, reading or writing her next book. You will rarely find her cleaning.
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