The Tower

Book Review

Title: The Tower

Author: Nicole Campbell

Rating: ★★★★★

Date Published: June 21st, 2017

Publisher: Self-published

Genre: YA Contemporary/Paranormal

Page Count:  345

Follow Author: website, Insta, FB, Twitter

Buy Book: Amazon
Add to Goodreads

Synopsis:

"On our sixteenth birthdays, our kind is gifted with awesome powers. Except no, not really because this isn’t Narnia, or Hogwarts, or whatever other mythical realm where witches supposedly live. This is Elizabethtown, Illinois, and much to the chagrin of the local chapter of Susie-Homemakers, we live here."

All witches understand that the universe is a scary sort of powerful on a good day. On a bad day? Well, that’s when The Tower card shows its face during a reading. As summer draws to a close before the beginning of junior year, Rowyn Black is tired of seeing that card stare up at her from the table. Rowyn, Reed, and Rosalyn have made it through just about every dramatic storm their sarcasm could weather during their seventeen year friendship, and it would be nice to have a quiet semester. Rowyn hopes that the only thing The Tower foretells is the frightening sight of the school parking lot come the first day- full of more jacked-up trucks and cut off shorts than a Luke Bryan video. True to its nature, however, the universe doesn’t care much for hopes and wishes, and when the promise of The Tower comes crashing down, they might fall right along with it.


My Thoughts:

I was sent a copy of this book by the author in exchange for an honest review.

This book had my emotions all over the place, I laughed, swooned, got mad, cried, ugly cried and then cried some more! I absolutely loved this book and every character in it! It was not what I was expecting, it was better! Nicole has become one of my favorite authors and has loved to make me cry, but I am not mad because this book was so real and raw! It dealt with friendship, loss, grieve, first love, depression, and family relationships; it tackles so many things that we go through when we lose a loved one and the author did it so well, she did not try to sugar coat it one bit.

Rowyn, Reed and Rosalyn families are in the same circle so, these three have known each other since they were in diapers, they have learned spells together, and now they're all in high school trying to figure life out together! I really liked all these characters, but my favorite must be Reed, I know, I know, I am adding another book boyfriend to my ever-growing list. I absolutely loved everything about him how he treated his friends, the way he joked, how he put Row before himself. Rosalyn was another one of my favorites she was so bubbly, and it was impossible to now feel bubbly reading her chapters. I really liked Rowyn, but I really did feel like shaking her around in some chapters, but at the same time I knew exactly where her emotions where coming from, learning to cope with loss is not easy especially when you are a teenager, she went through such amazing character growth and towards the end I absolutely fell in love with her characters flaws and all. 

The author tackled the topic of grieve so well, like I said above she left nothing out! The emotions the characters were feeling, and the way they were acting was so raw and real. She also talked about how the characters got bullied because they were different, I really enjoyed how the author dealt with those situations.  The author also when into depth about the catchers beliefs, I learned so much about paganism what they believe in, the holidays they celebrate, how they learn about spells and so much more! I absolutely adored this novel and miss the characters so much. If you are looking for a good contemporary look no further this is the book for you and even if you are not looking for a contemporary, I highly recommend it to anyone!

SandraTheBookWorm

Q&A with Author of Pinny the Bowling Pin!

Im Honored to be part of the Pinny the Bowling Pin blog tour! I will kick it off with some Q&A that I was able to ask the awesome author of this adorable book Leah Ward! Stay tuned for the next couple of days, I will have a full review for this book tomorrow! Leah Ward Thank you so much for letting be a part of this and taking the time to answer me questions.

1. Is this your first book?
 This is actually going to be my third book. My first was a poetry
 collection and the second was a YA novel. I didn't mean to cross over
 to
 so many genres, it just seemed to happen that way!

 2. When did you decide to become a writer?
 - I began writing poetry when I was a freshman in high school, and had

 so many poems that after a few years it formed into a complete
 collection. Once I had experienced being published, it was so
 addicting
 that I craved to do it again, except a little different. I had always
 dreamed of writing a full length novel, and I knew that now was my
 chance. So, I took it.

 3. Why do you write?
 - I write because I simply love it. It's addicting, refreshing and it
 is
 a very calming experience. Also, it's such a great feeling of
 accomplishment to know you've created a story, or sometimes an entire
 world, and people enjoy reading it just as much as I do writing it.

 4. Where do your ideas come from?
 - My ideas and thought processes are so random that it's pretty crazy.

 Normally I'll think of something in shower or driving down the road
 (both of which I h

ave no pen and paper available). But, the idea for
 Pinny came about when I went bowling one day and could not bowl a
 strike
 for the life of me.

 5. What is the hardest thing about writing?
 - The hardest thing would probably be editing and marketing. I love to

 just write straight through, letting the words pump and flow from my
 mind, but I really dislike going back and nit picking the grammatical
 details. Also, finding people to read your book! Whew, it's tough!
 Putting together tours, and signings, and events, and the list goes on

 and on. It can get pretty tiring but I absolutely love writing and the

 stories I create so I certainly wouldn't trade it.

 6. Which writers inspire you?
 - I have a few inspirations. First and foremost the Captain Underpants

 series was like my favorite series when I was getting involved with
 reading. They are so witty and kid friendly, and I love it! Next would

 be Diary of a Wimpy Kid (OMG I sound like I'm twelve years old) but
 seriously, the guy is a genius. The books are golden for their age
 range, and what's fantastic is that the books appeal to older "kids"
 as
 well. I'm twenty one and I think the concept is brilliant! Lastly,
 John
 Green. Do I need to say more? The way he writes... I just... Words
 can't...

 Exactly. I loved The Fault in Our Stars and I am set on buying
 everyone
 of his books now and I don't even need to know what they are about.
 He's
 that good. I will read anything he writes, it's so sarcastic and witty

 that it's hilarious. I hope that one day I can be half the writer that

 he is.

7. What genre do you prefer to write about?
 -I actually prefer to write fiction novels, mostly Young Adult.
Although, children's picture books are seriously growing on me lately.

 Maybe it's because when I was a kid, that's what I first fell in love
 with, and I hope that kid's will fall in love with Pinny.

8. What inspired you to write this book?
- I partially answered this question with an earlier question but I'll

 go into more detail. When I went bowling a few months back, I just
 couldn't bowl a strike. I'm normally an average bowler, bowling
 anywhere
 from three to five strikes a game. But this, this game, it was killing
 me. There was always ONE pin that would refuse to fall. I turned to my

friend, a little annoyed and said, "Can ANYONE get a strike today?"
 Then
 I looked to the other bowlers and as fate would have it, I saw two
 people bowl right after me and each had one pin left! "This is so
 ridiculous!" My friend agreed and then I said, "Ha I should write a
 book
 about this." Half jokingly. And in those moments where the bulb lights

 above your head, and your jaw drops out of realization that this is a
 magical moment, Pinny was created.