Freefall by Mindi Scott

Freefall by Mindi Scott

Synopsis:
How do you come back from the point of no return? Seth McCoy was the last person to see his best friend Isaac alive, and the first to find him dead. It was just another night, just another party, just another time where Isaac drank too much and passed out on the lawn. Only this time, Isaac didn’t wake up. Convinced that his own actions led to his friend’s death, Seth is torn between turning his life around . . . or losing himself completely. Then he meets Rosetta: so beautiful and so different from everything and everyone he’s ever known. But Rosetta has secrets of her own, and Seth will soon realize he isn’t the only one who needs saving . . .

Review:
And so continues my love affair with debut authors. Mindi Scott strikes gold with her first novel, a beautiful contemporary book with a fantastic male protagonist. I decided to read the book after taking part in a chat with Mindi and genuinely being smitten with her and I was equally smitten with Freefall.

While Mindi oozes sweetness in her vlogs and tweets, her writing is full of angst and guilt and pain in the best possible way. Seth is broken, he found his best friend dead, he is drinking and doing drugs, about to fail out of school and has very little regard for life but he is able to turn it all around and going on the journey with him is very enjoyable.

Scott never hides from any of the painful emotions, drinking or drug use. Instead, she describes all of Seth’s vices with a beauty that allows the reader to feel empathy for him. When Seth meets Rosetta he begins to turn his life around but what I loved is that Scott doesn’t write a typical “good girl swoops in and rescues bad boy” book. Instead, she gives Seth other motivations to improve his life, including a great class and teacher, good friends and a supportive, although unorthodox, mother. Seth’s life improvements really come from within and it is because he is already putting in the work that his relationship with Rosetta is enjoyable to read about.
Rosetta has her own issues to deal with but I liked that they didn’t take the focus from the main character, but complimented him perfectly and when all was said and done her issues really weren’t resolved, although it was easy to sense she would get there…someday.

I also think Scott wrote amazingly complex supporting characters, particularly Kendall who is layered, complicated and lovable enough for her own book (hint, hint Mindi! I want a spinoff with Kendall).

Be sure to come back on October 1 when Mindi will stop by for a guest post as part of the Teen Book Scene blog tour! Mindi is also part of the wonderful new group, The Contemps, which I blogged about the other day.

I reviewed this book as part of 1 ARC Tours.

This book goes toward my Summer Break Reading Challenge and 2010 Debut Authors Challenge

The Deadly Sister by Eliot Schrefer: 1 ARC Tours

The Deadly Sister by Eliot Schrefer

Synopsis:

Abby Goodwin is sure her sister Maya isn't a murderer. But her parents don't agree. Her friends don't agree. And the cops definitely don't agree. Maya is a drop-out, a stoner, a girl who's obsessed with her tutor, Jefferson Andrews...until he ends up dead. Maya runs away, and leaves Abby following the trail of clues. Each piece of evidence points to Maya, but it also appears that Jefferson had secrets of his own. And enemies. Like his brother, who Abby becomes involved with...until he falls under suspicion.

Is Abby getting closer to finding the true murderer? Or is someone leading her down a twisted false path?

Review:

This book surprised me, in a really good way. I started out thinking the book was a really straight forward mystery that did a great job of showing how the family dynamic changed in the face of incredibly tragedy but there is so much more to it.

Schrefer does something really interesting in this novel, playing with the readers tendency to trust the narrator. I always do, I assume that what I am being told by the narrator is the truth but what happens if the narrator is too close to the story. It added a whole new layer to the book that I didn't see coming and was really happy with.

It is a story about what happens when a family gets wrapped up in a murder investigation, and the family relationships are really well written and explained. In the final third of the novel, Schrefer turns the whole plot on its head and really surprised me in a reader. He also does it in a really subtle way that added even more suspense.

I expected a straight forward murder mystery with some family drama thrown in, which I would have been fine with and enjoyed. What I got was more, and I couldn't put it down. This is a definite read for any mystery lovers out there.

I reviewed this book as part of the 1 ARC Tour.

This book goes toward my Summer Break Reading Challenge

If anyone else has reviewed this book leave a link in the comments. I would love to know what you thought.