Review + Giveaway: Shudder by Samantha Durante

It's only been three days, and already everything is different.

Paragon is behind her, but somehow Alessa's life may actually have gotten worse. In a wrenching twist of fate, she traded the safety and companionship of her sister for that of her true love, losing a vital partner she'd counted on for the ordeal ahead. Her comfortable university life is but a distant memory, as she faces the prospect of surviving a bleak winter on the meager remains of a ravaged world. And if she'd thought she'd tasted fear upon seeing a ghost, she was wrong; now she's discovering new depths of terror while being hunted by a deadly virus and a terrifying pack of superhuman creatures thirsting for blood.

And then there are the visions.

The memory-altering "stitch" unlocked something in Alessa's mind, and now she can't shake the constant flood of alien feelings ransacking her emotions. Haunting memories of an old flame are driving a deep and painful rift into her once-secure relationship. And a series of staggering revelations about the treacherous Engineers - and the bone-chilling deceit shrouding her world's sorry history - will soon leave Alessa reeling...

The second installment in the electrifying Stitch Trilogy, Shudder follows Samantha Durante's shocking and innovative debut with a heart-pounding, paranormal-dusted dystopian adventure sure to keep the pages turning.

Stitch was one of those books that, even months and months later, has stuck with me. Five glowing stars, but the thing that made it difficult to review was the fact that I didn’t want to spoil anything for those who hadn’t had the privilege of reading it. Same goes here, and it’s so hard not to just gush about all the things I love about this series so far! To sum it up, Samantha Durante has this wonderful talent for taking it to the next level. Topping it off with a writing style that keeps you hooked, Samantha never fails to throw you for a loop, smacking you head on with surprises that you never see coming.

We jump right into the action with Shudder with Alessa and Isaac on the run, doing their best to survive winter storms, attacks from strange creatures, and the fear of the disease that’s wiped out the population. Where unusual circumstances left you wondering what their truths really were in Stitch, we really get to attach ourselves to these characters in Shudder. Their relationship and the way they hold each other up is amazing. You can’t not fall in love with them.

I’m a huge fan of multiple perspectives. I know a lot of people tend to find it disorganized or confusing when reading, but trust me, Samantha Durante pulls it off in a way that I’m sure every reader can appreciate. We get to see different sides of the story, get to feel the different emotions from various points of view. Not only that, but we are able to become close not only to Alessa and Isaac, but other characters who play an important role. How can you not become invested in a story with all that at your fingertips?

One element of Samantha Durante’s novels that has struck me is the world building and description. You really do feel like you’re there with the characters in whatever environment they find themselves in. Not only that, but the history and the background that she lays out as a foundation is done really well, allowing the rest of the story to be built in a way that seems effortless.

Shudder builds and builds and builds, intriguing you from the very beginning, making you question and wonder to again slap you in the face with another twist. Nonstop action, beautifully written characters, and impeccable world-building, this is definitely a series to add to your shelf.

Samantha Durante lives in Westchester County, New York with her husband, Sudeep, and her cat, Gio. Formerly an engineer at Microsoft, Samantha left the world of software in 2010 to pursue her entrepreneurial dreams and a lifelong love of writing. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Jerome Fisher Program in Management & Technology, Samantha is currently working full time for her company Medley Media Associates as a freelance business writer and communications consultant. The Stitch Trilogy is her debut series. Learn more about Samantha at www.samanthadurante.com.

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Enter the Giveaway HERE!!!


Cheers!!

Cover Reveal: Shudder by Samantha Durante

Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of reading and reviewing Stitch by Samantha Durante. My thoughts were as follows:

Stitch holds nothing that you expect. It got me thinking, left me perplexed, and had me reeling. This story starts out on one side of the spectrum, takes you for a loop, and finishes on the other.

(Full Review) 

Needless to say, I was pretty excited to discover the release of the next book in the series, Shudder, this June, not to mention the fact that we now have a cover to go with the title :).

It's only been three days, and already everything is different.

Paragon is behind her, but somehow Alessa's life may actually have gotten worse. In a wrenching twist of fate, she traded the safety and companionship of her sister for that of her true love, losing a vital partner she'd counted on for the ordeal ahead. Her comfortable university life is but a distant memory, as she faces the prospect of surviving a bleak winter on the meager remains of a ravaged world. And if she'd thought she'd tasted fear upon seeing a ghost, she was wrong; now she's discovering new depths of terror while being hunted by a deadly virus and a terrifying pack of superhuman creatures thirsting for blood.

And then there are the visions.

The memory-altering "stitch" unlocked something in Alessa's mind, and now she can't shake the constant flood of alien feelings ransacking her emotions. Haunting memories of an old flame are driving a deep and painful rift into her once-secure relationship. And a series of staggering revelations about the treacherous Engineers - and the bone-chilling deceit shrouding her world's sorry history - will soon leave Alessa reeling...

The second installment in the electrifying Stitch Trilogy, Shudder follows Samantha Durante's shocking and innovative debut with a heart-pounding, paranormal-dusted dystopian adventure sure to keep the pages turning.

Seriously, this is a series you don't wanna miss! Keep scrolling to enter the giveaway! Open internationally, the winner will receive a print ARC of Shudder for their library. 

Enter the Giveaway HERE!!!

Samantha Durante lives in Westchester County, New York with her husband, Sudeep, and her cat, Gio. Formerly an engineer at Microsoft, Samantha left the world of software in 2010 to pursue her entrepreneurial dreams and a lifelong love of writing. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania's Jerome Fisher Program in Management & Technology, Samantha is currently working full time for her company Medley Media Associates as a freelance business writer and communications consultant. The Stitch Trilogy is her debut series.

Visit Samantha via

Twitter ~ Facebook ~ GoodReads ~ Website

Get Stitch for

only $2.99 :)

Enjoy!!


Happy Reading Everyone :)

Review + Giveaway: Stitch by Samantha Durante

Her heart races, her muscles coil, and every impulse in Alessa's body screams at her to run... but yet she's powerless to move.

Still struggling to find her footing after the sudden death of her parents, the last thing college freshman Alessa has the strength to deal with is the inexplicable visceral pull drawing her to a handsome ghostly presence. In between grappling with exams and sorority soirees - and disturbing recurring dreams of being captive in a futuristic prison hell - Alessa is determined to unravel the mystery of the apparition who leaves her breathless. But the terrifying secret she uncovers will find her groping desperately through her nightmares for answers.

Because what Alessa hasn't figured out yet is that she's not really a student, the object of her obsession is no ghost, and her sneaking suspicions that something sinister is lurking behind the walls of her university's idyllic campus are only just scratching the surface...

The opening installment in a twist-laden trilogy, Stitch spans the genres of paranormal romance and dystopian sci-fi to explore the challenges of a society in transition, where morality, vision, and pragmatism collide leaving the average citizen to suffer the results.

First of all, I want to thank Samantha Durante for the opportunity to read and review her novel. :)

This story... took a popular genre and made it into something unique. At first, I thought I was reading a ghost story... then there were suspicions about time travel and wormholes... and after all that "drama," the truth came out, and it was... shocking. But the thing is, the truth is there the whole time, it's just that we don't see it for what it is ~ the real story.

Yes, it appeared that Alessa had stumbled upon some fantastically twisted kind of hell.

There's so much that I would like to say about this story, but I feel that I must bite my tongue at the risk of drawing blood in order to keep from giving it all away. Just trust me on this... the truth is so much better than the lie. You start out wondering where everything is going to lead ~ how can this possibly end well? But you end up surprised, doing a double take, as the story goes from being... a little off the wall... to relaying events that dig much deeper than we would have thought.

Stitch is beautifully written ~ the descriptions completely draw you in, building this world that you can almost touch. I really fell in love with the characters, especially as the pieces of their stories fell in to place. We learn about them, dream by dream, bit by bit, and I found that they were easy to connect to, although I also feel that this first novel just scratched the surface. We learn about the characters as they discover their true selves, and our perspective is changed as the novel progresses, making us want to learn more about them and the relationships they've formed. It felt like an introduction, but it does a fabulous job in laying the groundwork for the rest of the trilogy.

Stitch holds nothing that you expect. It got me thinking, left me perplexed, and had me reeling. This story starts out on one side of the spectrum, takes you for a loop, and finishes on the other.

My review is short this time around because a lot of what I would love to say would spoil it all! But I will say that I highly recommend this novel, and I will absolutely be looking out for future books.

(Don't forget to enter the giveaway below!)

Five out of five stars :)

*****

Visit Samantha Durante via

GoodReads ~ Twitter ~ Facebook ~ Website 

Enter the giveaway HERE!
Happy Reading Everyone :)


~ Keely ~

Teasin' Tuesday Prelude

Tuesday Prelude is a meme that stems from Should Be Reading's Teaser Tuesday. I found I was never able to keep my teasers to two sentences, so I changed things up a bit and created a post that was a little more in depth, introducing you to the character(s) and the story (without giving anything away of course).

This week's Prelude introduces you to Stitch by Samantha Durante:

As you can read in the synopsis of this book, Alessa is trying to pick up the pieces of her broken life at college after her parents tragically pass away. But something strange is going on at her suspiciously haunted sorority house. She keeps seeing flashes of this beautiful, yet troubled man. Is he a ghost? And how can someone from the past, someone who has already died, elicit such emotions within her, such an urge to find out more?

How did this strange apparition invoke such turmoil in her?

She feels like she knows him, like they are connected in some irreversible way, and they can save each other.

What had woken her? A scream. Her own scream. One word cutting through the blinding light and ringing clearly into the night. One word filled with all the pain, all the loss, all the hurt that one person could bear. Her own ravaged voice, desperate to bring back the one thing that meant everything to her, the one thing that would enable her to survive. "Isaac!" 

There's this feeling Alessa has that tells her that Isaac is more than just a ghost, that their lives are intertwined somehow. She's discovering "that she's not really a student, the object of her obsession is no ghost, and her sneaking suspicions that something sinister is lurking behind the walls of her university's idyllic campus are only just scratching the surface..." (GoodReads synopsis).

Yes, it appeared that Alessa had stumbled upon some fantastically twisted kind of hell. 

Happy Reading Everyone :)


~ Keely ~

Stacking the Shelves

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews in which we showcase our lovely new additions to our overloaded shelves :).

This week's treasures:

Her heart races, her muscles coil, and every impulse in Alessa's body screams at her to run... but yet she's powerless to move.

Still struggling to find her footing after the sudden death of her parents, the last thing college freshman Alessa has the strength to deal with is the inexplicable visceral pull drawing her to a handsome ghostly presence. In between grappling with exams and sorority soirees - and disturbing recurring dreams of being captive in a futuristic prison hell - Alessa is determined to unravel the mystery of the apparition who leaves her breathless. But the terrifying secret she uncovers will find her groping desperately through her nightmares for answers.

Because what Alessa hasn't figured out yet is that she's not really a student, the object of her obsession is no ghost, and her sneaking suspicions that something sinister is lurking behind the walls of her university's idyllic campus are only just scratching the surface...

The opening installment in a twist-laden trilogy, Stitch spans the genres of paranormal romance and dystopian sci-fi to explore the challenges of a society in transition, where morality, vision, and pragmatism collide leaving the average citizen to suffer the results.

Fall under the spell of Wake—the first book in an achingly beautiful new series by celebrated author Amanda Hocking—and lose yourself to the Watersong.

Gorgeous. Fearless. Dangerous. They're the kind of girls you envy; the kind of girls you want to hate. Strangers in town for the summer, Penn, Lexi and Thea have caught everyone's attention—but it’s Gemma who’s attracted theirs. She’s the one they’ve chosen to be part of their group.

Gemma seems to have it all—she’s carefree, pretty, and falling in love with Alex, the boy next door. He’s always been just a friend, but this summer they’ve taken their relationship to the next level, and now there’s no going back. Then one night, Gemma’s ordinary life changes forever. She’s taking a late night swim under the stars when she finds Penn, Lexi and Thea partying on the cove. They invite her to join them, and the next morning she wakes up on the beach feeling groggy and sick, knowing something is different.

Suddenly Gemma is stronger, faster, and more beautiful than ever. But her new powers come with a terrifying price. And as she uncovers the truth, she’s is forced to choose between staying with those she loves—or entering a new world brimming with dark hungers and unimaginable secrets.

Happy Reading Everyone :)

~ Keely ~

Spotlight: Stitch by Samantha Durante

Her heart races, her muscles coil, and every impulse in Alessa's body screams at her to run... but yet she's powerless to move.

Still struggling to find her footing after the sudden death of her parents, the last thing college freshman Alessa has the strength to deal with is the inexplicable visceral pull drawing her to a handsome ghostly presence. In between grappling with exams and sorority soirees - and disturbing recurring dreams of being captive in a futuristic prison hell - Alessa is determined to unravel the mystery of the apparition who leaves her breathless. But the terrifying secret she uncovers will find her groping desperately through her nightmares for answers.

Because what Alessa hasn't figured out yet is that she's not really a student, the object of her obsession is no ghost, and her sneaking suspicions that something sinister is lurking behind the walls of her university's idyllic campus are only just scratching the surface...

The opening installment in a twist-laden trilogy, Stitch spans the genres of paranormal romance and dystopian sci-fi to explore the challenges of a society in transition, where morality, vision, and pragmatism collide leaving the average citizen to suffer the results.

I thought it sounded pretty good myself. Add it to Goodreads, visit the author's website, or order it for your Kindle here. 

ALSO, stop by January 20th for my review and a fabulous giveaway courtesy of Samantha Durante :). *excited*

Happy Reading Everyone :)

~ Keely ~