Blog Tour Review & Giveaway: Such a Secret Place by Cortney Pearson

Title: Such a Secret Place

Series: Stolen Tears #1

Author: Cortney Pearson

Purchase: Amazon | BN

Release Date: April 1st, 2015

About the Book:

Raids splatter across the news--Arcaian soldiers are stealing magic left and right, using it against the people they steal it from.

When sixteen-year-old Ambry Csille's brother gets taken in one of these raids, her utter fear and panic should be enough to invoke tears in any normal world. But for Ambry, tears are a thing of the past.

Because of a spell, people can no longer feel emotion; not enough to cry, and definitely not enough to defend themselves against the tyrannical soldiers stealing her people’s magic. A rare vial of enchanted tears chooses Ambry to reverse the spell, and soon she finds herself the target not only of the Arcaians, but of battle-scarred Talon Haraway, who wants the tears for his own reasons.

All Ambry wants is to rescue her brother, but when her tears get stolen, Ambry determines to work with Talon to get them back. Any day the Arcaians could drink her tears. Any day they’ll succeed at draining her people's magic completely, and all hope will be gone—not only for her brother, but for her world.

About the Author:

Cortney Pearson is a book nerd who studied literature at BYU-Idaho, a music nerd who plays clarinet in her local community orchestra, and a writing nerd who creates stories for young adults. Cortney lives with her husband and three sons in a small Idaho farm town.

Purchase: Amazon | Facebook | Twitter

Review:

★★★★


Cortney Pearson is one of those authors whose name I see all over the blogosphere, but whose books I had never read. I was excited to get a chance to read Such a Secret Place for the review tour. I'm a big fan of both fantasy and young adult literature, so I thought this would be up my alley. All in all, this was a decent read.

I wasn't really a big fan of the main character throughout the novel, but I didn't hate her either- I still was rooting for her throughout the book. It just got to some points where she really, really annoyed me. It was kind of like that one friend that we all have that you love dearly but just want to shoosh them sometimes. Most of the time, I was able to push this aside to focus on other aspects of the book, such as the awesome world building. I really liked the way that magic was integrated throughout both the world that Pearson created as well as the plot of the story. I liked that there wasn't really instalove, though there is a romantic kindling. I adore Talon, and I can't wait to read more of him in the next book in the series.

This book is rather complicated at times, but that's part of why I liked it. I think that's part of what I like about fantasy in general- the intricacies of a new world, and of the new creations or races or what have you that take up that world. The writing got a bit flowery for my liking in some parts, but overall I thought Pearson was really well detailed. It was easy to get lost in the story and swept up in Ambry's adventures.

Unrelated to the content of the book, I also really like the cover design. I think it's a fair reflection of the story within, and it'd catch my eye on a display.

I'd recommend this to fans of YA fantasy, especially ones that feature magic as a key part of the plot. While this wasn't a perfect read for me, I enjoyed it well enough and I would definitely consider picking up the next book to read more about Talon and Ambry. The strongest element to this story is the world building, which I absolutely loved.

I received this book in exchange for my honest review.

Giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway