Blog Tour Review, Guest Post, & Giveaway: Into a Million Pieces by Angela V. Cook!

Title: Into a Million Pieces
Author: Angela V. Cook
Release date: January 27 2015
Format: ebook

Book Summary:

Allison McKready is a succubus. So is her twin sister. But while Allison spends her summer

break hiding in the library behind her Goth makeup, Jade fools around as often as she can.

Allison can’t believe Jade would ignore their mother’s fatal example so recklessly, but

concealing a cursed bloodline and its dangerous effects is far from Allison’s only problem. Mean

girl Julie’s snob mob is determined to ruin her summer, and Aunt Sarah’s Bible thumping is

getting louder. Only her new friend, Ren Fisher, offers safe haven from the chaos of her life.

When one of Jade’s risky dates leads to humiliation and sudden tragedy, Allison reels, and Ren

catches her. But as her feelings for him grow, so does her fear that she’ll hurt him—or worse—in

an unguarded moment. The choice is coming—love him or save him—but Allison might not live

to make it. One way or another, the curse will have its due.

Guest Post:

Do You Offend? Yeah? Awesome!

After I wrote the first draft of INTO A MILLION PIECES, I let it sit for several weeks. I always do this to gain distance from the story before diving into edits. That particular time, I might’ve gained too much distance, because once I started reading over it, there were scenes I couldn’t believe I’d written. We’re talking about the types of scenes that make your face heat up and cause you to giggle like a thirteen-year-old girl. Yep, I’d had forgotten how… umm… steamy some parts of the story were.

Since I write for the young adult audience, I actually wondered if I should tone down the scenes to make them less offensive. Instead of them being PG13, they could just be… PG. Instead of describing the make out session, I could just say they made out. However, it didn’t take long for me to realize that not only were those scenes vital to the storyline, but they had to be hot and steamy. I had to show my characters walking that dangerous, fine line and their temptation to cross it. Changing those scenes, making them less sexy, would've compromised my story.

I don't think anyone should write for the purpose of offending (is there anything worse than a book/movie where the f-bomb gets gratuitously thrown around for shock value?), but I also don't think you should write worrying you might. If what you write doesn't offend someone, then it's probably not worth reading. I know—OUCH! Harsh words, eh? But the truth is, no one wants to read fluff.

The young adult genre is always "offending" people. Cheerleaders get mad because they get portrayed as snobs. The goth community doesn’t like being portrayed as freaks. Atheists hate books about angels, Christians hate books about demons, and blah, blah, blah. My point is, everyone is different; no matter what you write, there's no telling how people will perceive it. Write what feels true to the story and characters, and don't worry about offending people. The worst that can happen is you get people talking, and that's not always a bad thing.

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About the Author:

Angela V. Cook lives a very unexciting, but never boring, life with her husband and two children just outside of Detroit. Like most writers, she’s been making up stories for as long as she can remember and can’t imagine a life that doesn’t involve creating worlds.

Angela loves to write novels for teens because it’s the best outlet for her sarcastic personality, immature sense of humor, and love of romantic firsts. Her idea of the perfect day involves a quiet house, a good book, and a piece of cheesecake. Or two.

Website | RAP | Twitter

Review:

★★★★

I was really excited when I was asked to be a part of this tour. My favorite genres are that of fantasy and young adult, so I thought this would be right up my alley. And then I saw the cover, which is absolutely gorgeous. I knew I had to read it... And I'm so glad I did!

What really drew me in to this book was the fact that it's a paranormal book that features succubi as the main characters. While I knew fully what that race of creature is, I honestly cannot recall ever reading a book, young adult or otherwise, that centered around a succubus character. Don't get me wrong, I love me some werewolves and vampires, but this was such a refreshing change of pace from the young adult paranormal genre. It's worth reading, honestly, for that little fresh sip of water alone.

The book features twin succubi lead characters that are written with unique, distinct traits. Allison is the bookish, quiet one and Jade is the one who goes out and has reckless fun. I was expecting to like Allison the most because I myself am bookish and goth, but I actually really liked Jade. They compliment each other quite nicely, and I enjoyed reading their story and watching them navigate their lives, as well as learn to handle and come to terms with the succubi curse that they inherited.

I think this book will appeal largely to a teen audience. There's swearing and succubi and cruses and adventure- I mean, what's not to like, really? This is also a clean read, which is another refreshing change of pace for me.

The writing is well done, and Cook does a really good job of blending fantasy into a contemporary story. The descriptions are all all well detailed, and the main characters were all well developed. That being said, there was a pretty big cast of side characters I didn't overly care about too much, but the appeal of Allison, Jade, and Ren more than made up for it. It's a quick read but there's a lot in here, and I think that fans of young adult paranormal fantasy will gobble it up.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Follow the rest of the tour here!

Giveaway:

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