Kirkus and VOYA reviews!

Hi friends!

I am so thrilled (like, beyond happy) to share these two early reviews of ENVY, from Kirkus and VOYA. It's one thing to hear positive feedback from your best friend and your editors and your family members -- in fact, it's a great, heartwarming thing that I value tremendously. That said, it's a horse of a completely different color to read reviews from strangers -- especially critical, close-reading strangers like the folks at Kirkus and VOYA.

I'm proud of ENVY. It's my second book, and I think it shows. I believe that I grew as a fiction writer over the course of last year, just as I expect to continue growing and learning over the course of this year, and every year to come after that. It's wonderful affirmation to have outside observers recognize that ongoing evolution.

Without further ado...

Here's the one from Kirkus Reviews (Aug 1, 2012):
The Furies from Greek mythology return to terrorize high school students in this heart-pounding follow-up to 2011's Fury.
Skylar is new to the small town of Ascension, Maine. She's moved from Alabama to stay with her aunt and harbors a guilty secret that makes her a prime target for the Furies. Manifesting as three eerily beautiful sisters, one of their lot, Meg, easily fools Skylar into thinking she is her friend and begins to engineer the girl's downfall. Meanwhile, deeply sympathetic Em, who made a desperate bargain with the Furies to save the life of her friend/love interest, JD, frantically searches for a way to destroy them, even as she undergoes disturbing changes. This metamorphosis is seemingly one of the central mysteries of the novel, but it will be clear to readers long before it is actually revealed-some plot tightening might have served to better preserve the suspense. However, the melding of myth and modern-day high school life works well, usually striking an appropriately unsettling tone but at times even resulting in some wickedly funny passages-"That's all it took...Boy sees girl attempting sacrifice in graveyard, boy falls back in love. Why didn't I think of that before?"
The Furies make pleasingly vicious villains; horror fans won't want to miss this second in a planned trilogy. (Horror. 12-18)


And here's the one from VOYA:
At the end of Fury (Simon Pulse, 2011/VOYA August 2011), Emily Winters has to bind herself to the three avenging Furies in order to save a childhood sweetheart, with the promise that her sacrifice cannot be revealed (“We made a deal. Don’t you remember?”). Now Emily is dealing with the emotional repercussions, as J. D. will no longer talk to her, and she is not quite sure what the new rules are. In addition, the Furies are not done with the town of Ascension, or Emily. Some new players are added to the game when Skylar moves in; she is getting a lot of major attention, but vanity has consequences. Emily also finds herself attracted to a mysterious high school dropout that goes by the name Crow. All of these elements come together like a witch’s brew of evil to a boiling point and showdown but not an ultimate conclusion, as there is still another book set for the trilogy.
As with Fury, Envy deals with real-life issues under the cover of a paranormal fantasy. In part, the school is still reeling with the supposed suicides of former students. In addition, there are some rich mystery and paranormal elements vying for the reader’s attention as Emily and Drea continue to look for the roots of the Furies and how to protect their friends from their wrath. The Furies themselves have a rich, menacing presence that puts a nice dark edge on the atmosphere. Envy has all the elements in place for a paranormal series that readers will keep coming back for, and the Furies are an element not often seen in the paranormal world, which gives this series a unique perspective and storytelling richness.


So...can you tell why I'm so psyched to share this book with you in just over a month!?!


And don't forget -- pre-orders rule. Over the course of the next few days I'll be announcing some sort of pre-order contest, so keep your eyes peeled for that!


xo-E