BLOG TOUR # 33 - BOOK REVIEW /GIVEAWAY - CICADA by BELLE WHITTINGTON - CICADA # 1

Today on Novels On The Run's stop of the blog tour I have my review of Cicada and the giveaway below.

ENJOY!

By: Belle Whittington
Published By : CreateSpace
Released : Available Now
Details : Digital , 114 Pages

RATING : 4 INTRIGUING MYSTERY STARS!!

Summertime for Blair Reynolds and her friends had always been carefree and fun... until the summer they happened upon something that was not human. As they band together in a fight for their lives, Blair's true love becomes something more than human. Something unnatural. And their survival depends entirely upon their ability to keep a secret.

BOOK REVIEW by Michelle :

Belle Whittington

I joined the blog tour for Cicada, without knowing anything about the book. I liked the cover. I liked the title of the book. Sometimes I prefer to know nothing about a book, so I have no expectations or reservations. It is a whole fresh experience for me. 

I am going to say, although the cover is very pretty, I am scratching my head to find the significance of the image to the story within the pages. I am not being judgemental , not unless I am missing something? What I mean is the cover gives absolutely no indication to the story within.

The title is awesome! I LOVED!! The whole significance of the Cicada title in Belle’s writing. This is a wonderfully original aspect of her story.

It is going to be hard to write this review without giving away the story, so I will talk about characters .

Blair was a character I did have trouble connecting with, her character felt like more of a story narrator, even though not the whole time. I would have loved to have gotten to know her more. 

Blair’s brother Andrew, has some physic ability about him. I really liked Andrew and his character had a form of growth from start of the book to the end of the book. Something that wasn’t quite as apparent with Blair. Andrew intrigued me, he was a bit mysterious in his behaviour as the pages kept turning.

David is Andrew’s mate, and as far as mates, best buds go, he is a good one. He rolls his sleeves up and dives in. He also has a soft spot for Natalie.

Mum is a funny one. She talks in rhymes when she speaks to Blair and she has her own bakery , Sprinkles. Blair’s mum has lost her other son, Aaron , Andrew’s twin and her husband , they were both murdered. So things have been tough on her. A great mystery lies in their murders.

Blair is apprenticing with her Grandpa who is a vet. These skills will come in handy in this story. Grandpa is a great peer for Blair and Andrew.

Everett to me is the star of this story. The nerdy , bug boy, who is quite brave, intelligent and really surprised me by the end of the book. I loved him before I knew him better, I adored him by the end, but also , there lies a mystery.

I was quite fascinated where Belle took me in her storytelling. I would have liked to have seen it a longer story, only because I felt that the characters needed more fleshing out.

Blair has dreams/nightmares that weave their way into the storyline quite nicely. There is a lot of mystery that keeps the reader turning the pages. I personally would love a good editor to give this book a cuddle as there is something special in Belle’s writing but I think it needs a little cuddle. Sometimes I think things moved too quickly, without a bit of fleshing out, but there is a great story here. The mystery is intriguing and right until the end , we are left with the right amount of mystery for ‘Fireflies’, book 2.

This is a Cicada shell, he has already popped out. I have actually watched this
process happen slowly when we were camping once, quite amazing.

I LOVE the title for book 2, as it has a significance to the storyline in a round about way, I am trying not to give anything away here, to a character in Cicada # 1.

I loved the villains as they were quite creepy and they kept me guessing. I loved another character who I would have liked to have gotten to know more, I think it would have given the reader more emotion. Dang, it’s hard not saying what I want to say. The book blurb has given nothing away, I just checked, so I shall keep it all a secret too. The book trailer gives more away.

Visually , I saw the scenes very well, and enjoyed this band of friends sticking together, and not letting fear stop them from helping a stranger that was so different from themselves, who learned quickly to blend. And that is all I will hint at.

Belle does have a wonderful idea here , I am looking forward to reading Fireflies, I am left incredibly intrigued and I am looking forward to more Everett...... oh I want to say, but I can’t.

From a reader point of view, I am still rating this quite high, because I loved the original story line , it felt like a Babushka doll, where more than one mystery was within the main mystery.

Everett is on my Team T-Shirt, I would just liked to have had some more fleshing out of other characters. On my digital reader this book was only 114 pages long, so I am not being picky, I don’t think??

Michelle

BLOG TOUR STOPS

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Grand Prize: The author is giving away an electronic firefly in a jar in honor of the sequel to CICADA called FIREFLY. You can see a video of the jar here.

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Links: 

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12144652-cicada

Author Blog: http://bellewhittington.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/BelleWhittington.Author

Twitter: @AuthorofCicada