EXCERPT
Sketch wraps his arm around my waist and
smiles in the glow of the flashlight.
“Who’s up for a séance?” he asks.
Corpse automatically agrees, and Carli
does because Corpse does. Plus, this whole ghost thing doesn’t freak her out
nearly as badly as it does me, but I’m not going to let them know that.
“Man, no,” Ink protests. “You don’t know
what the hell you’re going to be letting into one of our bodies, and with my
luck, whatever it is will be coming up into my body!”
“Ink, dude, it’ll be fun,” Corpse says
from somewhere in the darkness. “If you’re that scared, just go back and wait
by the car.”
“Scared? I’m not scared. I’m just not
stupid,” Ink mumbles, but he follows us to the stage nonetheless.
The boards of the stage groan beneath my
feet, begging me to go no further. An old, dusty piano sits alone on the edge
of the stage. Its yellow keys smile maniacally at me from the darkness
surrounding us. Even with the beam of the flashlight, I feel lost in the
darkness around us.
Sketch props the flashlight on the stage
to stand with the light facing toward the ceiling.
“Alright,” he says, sitting down on the
dusty boards. “Let’s all join hands.”
We all sit down in a circle around the
flashlight. Sketch sits to my right, Ink to my left. At least one of them would
try to save me from any demons.
“Corpse, you want to try to contact this
Elijah kid?” Sketch asks. “I’m still new at communicating with the dead.”
Corpse’s face is dark and sinister in
the dim light, and it does nothing to calm the feeling of dread flowing through
my veins.
“Elijah, we come before you as guests in
your great music hall,” Corpse says. With every word that leaves his lips,
Ink’s grip on my hand tightens. “If you are here, please give us a sign. We do
not want to harm you in any way. We just wish to speak with you. If you have
the strength, please, use our friend Ink as your temporary body.”
“Don’t you tell him that!” Ink screams.
“Are you crazy, you stupid–”
But whatever Ink was about to call
Corpse is cut off by the sound of iron wheels being tugged.
It’s the curtain.
MY REVIEW
ISBN: 978-1491283615
ASIN: B00DU7G8JM
Series: Mutilated
Publisher: Self/Indie
Pages/File Size: 169pages/1414KB
Formats Available: E-Book
BLURB from Goodreads
Punk rock band Mutilated Arteries has been seventeen-year-old Becca's world (aka obsession) for the last year. When the band schedules a concert in her hometown, she and her best friend Carli are the first ones in line to buy tickets. The night is everything she expects it to be and more, especially after making friends with the new super-cute bassist, Sketch.
Becca's mom warns her not to fall for a rock star because rock stars are always on the road - or they die in a plane crash, like her mom's favorite band did twenty-something years ago. But after the band's tour bus breaks down and they're stuck hanging out in Roizen Hills for a week, it's hard for Becca not to fall for Sketch and his caricature drawings and toxic green eyes.
Becca knows Sketch is leaving as soon as the bus is fixed, and she can't be his fan-turned-girlfriend anyway because of the lead singer's "No Girlfriends" rule. Plus, there's something strange about the guys that Becca can't quite decipher... like how they won't reveal their real names, their always-changing odd appearances, and the guitarist's obsession with blood and zombies. Still, Becca wants nothing more than for Sketch to mutilate her heart...but it just might not be in a way she expects.
INITIAL THOUGHTS
Approaching reading this book I was unsure whether I would really enjoy it or not. I'm not totally sure what my expectations were, I don't read a lot of "lighter" "chick-lit" so I kind of either love them or hate them.
MY REVIEW
I received a free e-copy of this book from the Author via Oops I Read It Again Book Tours in exchange for my honest review and posting on this date as part of the blog tour.
The cover is quite hunting in that you see the heart drawn on the window and the red background with the condensation dripping down the window almost mimicking blood. I really like the style of the font of the Authors name and the book title. It has a calligraphy feel to it.
Would the cover make me pick the book up (if it was in paperback) from a bookstore shelf? Yes, it is bright enough to catch my attention and the heart and dripping condensation leave you wanting to know who drew the heart and what it represents.
So now to the book, at the outset it seems the book is going to be a straight forward tale of three girls going to see their favourite band at a local venue, then things turn a little more sinister.
Becca loves more "out there" bands than her friend Maddy, though her other friend Carli also has the same taste in music. How can I describe the girls relationship? Becca and Carli are BFF's and Maddy though a friend is kind of the "third wheel". This shows in the section of the book where they go shopping nd Maddy sort of turns her nose up at the "Emo shop" that sells band tee's etc. the shop that Becca already spends much of her money in! where she treat herself to the other band she loves t-shirt, a Depressed Michael band tee.
As Becca begins to see similarities between the bands lead singer and the lead singer of a band her mother loved years ago. Is it possible that Nightmare could actually be the same guy, the Brian Hawkins her mum still raves about?
So Becca, Carli and Maddy are going to see their favourite band, though the band is more like an obsession to Becca. The band is called Mutilated Hearts and consists of lead singer Nightmare, his younger brother Banshee, Corpse, Vertebrae (bassist) and Ink (drummer). The bassist Vertebrae has just left the band so the girls will get to check out the new bassist as it will be his first official concert with the rest of the band the night the girls go to see them.
The band members certainly seem to live up to their gory names, with Ink literally being covered in tattoo's, and Corpse is quite plainly and simply obsessed about zombies and the dead!
The girls go to the mall to buy some new clothes for the gig. Becca bumps into an attractive guy who ends up telling her his name is Sketch and that he is playing with his band at the venue the girls are going to. So Becca and sketch part ways with Becca kind of promising to look for him at the venue. I mean yeah his band may not be Mutilated Hearts but if they are on the same bill they must be decent.
So Becca is getting ready at home when her mum has a "talk" with her. It's a mother daughter heart to heart where Dawn tells her daughter not to get carried away as she did years ago "making out" and "giving her heart" to the lead singer of Death Of Darkness, Brian Hawkins. Dawn gave her heart to Brian, who then had to fly to his next gig and his plane crashed and all aboard dies in the horrific fire that followed the crash. Of course Dawn (Becca's mum never ever truly got over the loss of her first love). though whilst talking and reminiscing with Becca admits if the crash had not happened she would not have married Becca's father and Becca possibly would never have been born.
So the girls go to the concert and guess who the new bassist for Mutilated Heart's is . . . . .
I really don't want to say a great deal more about the story. Lets just say that two of the girls, Becca and Carli end up living the fan girl dream to begin with until things take shady turn. It seems that Becca and her mum Dawn may have similarities but so do the bands they love, Death Of Darkness and Mutilated Hearts too.
So did I enjoy the book? I really, truly loved this book. Becca and Carli live a little of the fan girl dream of really meeting their favourite band . . .
Would I recommend the book? I highly recommend this YA Chick Lit/FeelGreat book.
Would I read a Book Two (if available)? I was thrilled to see that there is in fact going to be a book two, and it's on my "Want To Read"list now!
Would I read other books by this Author? I will be taking a close look at any titles by this Author.
PURCHASE LINKS
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.com
