Superpowers Don't Always Make You A Hero

SURPRISE! I have a slight curveball for you guys today as it doesn't exactly fit with my Believathon reading of children's books, nor does it fit with my Nanowrimo! I HAVE A CONTEST FOR YOU GUYS!

Those lovely people at Electric Monkey and I got chatting on Twitter recently about the third and final book in the Monster trilogy, Hero. I admitted that I hadn't read this trilogy nor the previous series this follows, the Gone series (PUT THOSE PITCHFORKS AND TORCHES DOWN!) but I wanted to do something as I know some of you guys LOVE this series. "Could I host a small contest or something for Hero?" I ask and they replied, stupidly fast, "Why not do a contest for the whole trilogy?"

So, dear reader, I am hosting a small contest where one winner will win the entire MONSTER trilogy!

Now, before I go any further, let me chat what this series is about. Set after the dramatic conclusion of the Gone series, we follow Shade who witness the dome coming down, thinking that it would be the end of the troubles. How very wrong everyone was. Shade swears to never feel powerless again and then, four years later, she finds part of the meteor that began it all and discovers that she is changing, mutating...

And that's where the real troubles begins...

Actually, let me throw this book trailer up. That might explain better than me!

So, to co-inside the release of the final book in the trilogy, Hero, Electric Monkey is letting me do a contest where one winner will win the entire MONSTER trilogy!

Now, before I go any further with rules (it's been a while since I've held a contest on the Pewter Wolf so bear with me), I do want to say that I have been told this trilogy does come with trigger warnings for violence.

Ok, now the rules/boring stuff. To enter the contest, you need to fill in the GoogleForm below. This is a UK address only contest and the contest will close on Friday 15th November 2019 at 7pm! The winner will be chosen at random using random.org, and then will be announced on Twitter. The winner will, then, be emailed by me to get their address so Electric Monkey can send them out! And don't worry - once all that's done, all info will be deleted.

All good? Any questions, pop me an tweet/email and will answer the best I can. All that is left to say is GOOD LUCK and may the odds ever be in your favour.

4 Weeks of Summer - Monster

I got a copy of this book back in March at the UKYA Blogger Awards. I know, it's been a while, but compared to some other books I have on my TBR pile, this hasn't been in my TBR pile for long.

After rereading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and not ready to reread Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix just yet as part of my Harry Potter 2015 Reread Challenge, I looked through some of my books and, unsure what to read next, made my other half pick my next read out of handful of books, based on the first sentence and, when down the last 3, read the last line and chose this.

Nash thinks fighting to become Head Girl at boarding school Bathory would be the biggest battle of her life. But that was before her brother vanishes. That's before she's left trapped in the school with some other students - a mix of misfits. That's before the snow storms hit, leaving them trapped. That was before the only adult looking after them vanishes without a trace. That's before fear of The Beast of Bathory begins to grip them...

Something dark is outside the school, wanting to come in. Or is the thing the girls fear already within the walls of the school...

Ok, am going to be honest with you. I am very torn over it. I didn't enjoy it as much as I hoped, but there are good points to this book.

Let's deal with the good points first. When we were first told about this book, it was sold using the tapeline "Malory Towers meets I Know What You Did Last Summer". And this does work. If you are a fan of Lois Duncan's I Know What You Did Last Summer or James Dawson's Cruel Summer, this would work for you. It has a gentle hints of boarding school drama and mythology but as the story moves forward, it slowly turns darker and tense. And I really liked the writing style. The writing is one of the weird reasons I read this story.

However, I have problems that I am wondering if am about to fall into a reading slump and wondering if I am being harsh with this. But... ok... here's the thing... it never grabbed me. I liked the writing, yes, but there are other factions to making a story work. I don't know why, but I thought this was very slow - if you're going to say the Marton goes missing on the back, it should happen quite quickly, right? Nope. It happens around the halfway point. And when there were plot twists, it felt like there was no clues to lead us to this point. Or, if there was, it was so subtle, you missed it (and if this is the case, CJ works this brilliantly).

I think my main problem is that I never cared. I never cared that this characters were in danger, nor did I feel that these characters were in mortal peril. I never cared for any of the characters so I never worried about them. I need to care for characters in whatever situation they find themselves in, whether it's a love situation, a family situation or a life-or-death situation.

While I think some of you guys will like it and find it the perfect Winter chiller, it just wasn't for me, I'm afraid.