Review Tour & Giveaway: All her Secrets by Kate Avery Ellison

Book Blurb:

Nothing is as it seems in this psychological YA thriller set in a not-too-distant future.

A GIRL WITH SECRETS

Eighteen-year-old Victoria, the daughter of inventor and visionary-genius Bill Faraday, was almost murdered by a stranger four years ago. She's been trying to forget the incident ever since.

When Victoria discovers something that might explain why she was brutally attacked, she heads home from college to uncover the truth. Then, she’s kidnapped.

A GUY FROM THE WRONG SIDE OF THE TRACKS

Sam’s just a poor kid from Valley City, but he knows who Victoria is as soon as his cousin Craig drags her from the trees. He doesn’t want anything to do with what appears to be a revenge kidnapping, but Craig has a gun and needs someone to take the fall if things go wrong.

A DESPERATE PLAN TO SURVIVE

Craig and his buddies imprison Sam and Victoria in an abandoned mountain cabin to await ransom. Putting aside mistrust for tentative friendship, Victoria and Sam conspire to escape together, and the close quarters ignite a startling attraction between them. Then they discover strange tunnels beneath the cabin. And what they find inside the tunnels proves more bizarre.

With a plan in place to escape, freedom seems within reach. But Sam and Victoria are both keeping secrets about their past.

And secrets can be deadly.

Publisher: Self-Published

Release Date: October 18, 2016

Genre: Young Adult Psychological Thriller

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My Review:

4 Out Of 5 Stars

In a future society, technology has made advancements, allowing robots to become the primary workforce. People have lost jobs due to the robots and unrest and poverty are on the rise. Victoria is the daughter of the man who created the robot technology, and for that she was made a target for a violent attack. Now years later she thinks she found answers about the attack, just to be kidnapped. Sam is a poor boy trying to do his best to keep his grandmother in her assisted living home and his younger sister at college. When he finds himself in a dire financial situation, he takes up his shady cousin's offer for a job. Victoria and Sam's worlds collide in a violent way, and if the pair can work together, they might get out of it alive.

I had stumbled across this book and it sounded intriguing, but I really did not spend much time pondering what it would be. I had no idea how complicated, twisty and dark the story was going to be either. To say the least, I was pleasantly surprised by what I read. I would classify this as a romantic suspense, but don't expect any physical romance, only the slow developed mental kind where no physical contact occurs (because it literally can't, but whatever).

The world building was really well done and surprisingly subtle. I enjoyed the small changes here and there, where it seemed like my current world but then something would pop up or be referenced to that really brought home the differences. I would say the story had an almost Dystopian feel to it, but not quite except for the central location of the story. Robots were a crucial part of society as domestic workers and a cheap labor force, as well as the perfect sanitary pet, but not everyone loved them, as seem by the protests. But also factor in the strange group of people who live in the woods and are referenced as an ominous threat. The society was so layered and complex, the only way to understand would be to read the book.

The pacing in the story was incredibly spot on for building the tension and suspense in the novel. The chapters would alternate (for the most part) between Sam and Victoria's narration. Sometimes they would be a few pages, other times just a sentence or two (especially in the parts where I was holding my breath to see what happens), but it was absolutely perfect for increasing my interest and my anxiety for what would happen next. When I first started the book, I thought this would be a slow read, but I found myself not able to put the book down, planning just one more chapter and the chapters were so short I wanted one more and the cycle continued. I love this style of writing, the short bursts that lure me in until the next thing I know, I am finished with the book.

The ending was a good mix of surprise and intrigue. I enjoy that this was a standalone story, but I would not mind another trip back to this world, maybe with a side character as the protagonist (like Sam's sister). I can't help but to think of the quote from the movie Speed, about relationships formed during intense situations don't last, but I may just be a pessimist. I enjoyed this read and look forward to more from this author.

I received this title from the publisher in return for my honest review.

Author Bio:

Kate Avery Ellison decided she wanted to be an author when she was five years old, and with hard work, determination, and the support of loved ones along the way, her dreams of telling stories for a living came true in 2011 with her first novel, The Curse Girl, and continued with her Amazon bestselling series The Frost Chronicles and numerous other fantasy and science fiction novels. She loves putting a dash of mystery in everything she writes, an ode to her childhood spent reading Nancy Drew, Agatha Christie, and Sherlock Holmes, and she can’t resist adding a good twist in the story wherever she can.

Kate wishes she could live in a place where it’s always October, but until that’s possible, she makes her home in humid Atlanta with her husband, son, and two spoiled cats. When she isn’t dreaming up her next novel or holed up writing it down, Kate can be found binging her favorite shows on Netflix, reading on her Kindle, building intricate train track configurations with her toddler, and playing board games with her husband and friends.

You can find her on her website, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads and Amazon

Rafflecopter for All Her Secrets Virtual Blog Tour Giveaway:

Kate Avery Ellison is offering one (1) lucky winner a $25 Amzon Gift Card and five (5) runner-ups an eCopy of one of her books (winner’s choice)! To enter, simply fill out the Rafflecopter below:

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Blog Tour provided by Barclay Publicity