Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Blog Tour - 'The Forgotten Ones' by Laura Howard

Very pleased to be a stop on Laura Howard's blog tour for her new novel The Forgotten Ones (Book 1 of The Danaan Trilogy). Laura was one of the first authors to befriend me on Facebook and I've been waiting for this book for MONTHS now, lol! So check it out and catch my review below. Please feel free to leave your comments for me or the author at the bottom of the post - we love to know that our efforts are worth it to you. smiley Thumbsup




Synopsis:

Allison O'Malley's plan is to go to grad school so she can get a good job and take care of her schizophrenic mother. She has carefully closed herself off from everything else, including a relationship with Ethan, who she's been in love with for as long as she can remember.


What is definitely not part of the plan is the return of her long-lost father, who claims he can bring Allison's mother back from the dark place her mind has gone. Allison doesn't trust her father, so why would she believe his stories about a long forgotten Irish people, the Tuatha de Danaan? But truths have a way of revealing themselves. Secrets will eventually surface. And Allison must learn to set aside her plan and work with her father if there is even a small chance it could restore her mother's sanity.




My Thoughts:
(*mild spoilers follow - turn back now*)

Well I didn't actually read the synopsis before I started the book so I wasn't expecting anything of a paranormal nature, therefore I was a little surprised when faeries started showing up, LOL. However, it was really nice to read a book with more plot line than just the boy-meets-girl relationship. There is certainly an interesting budding romance between our young heroine Allison and Ethan, with whom she's been in love since first grade, and there is a devastating love story between Allison's schizophrenic mother and her long-lost father Liam, but the absence of sex scenes in this book was quite refreshing to me. But that may just be a personal thing because I read a lot of erotica. smiley Whistle

It was a quick read, even for me (my crazy schedule means I read bits at a time), moved along at an even pace, the characters were nicely developed and the story as a whole held my interest from start to finish (as an aside, I was over the moon that there were no spelling, grammatical or formatting errors, too! Hallelujah!). The cast of characters is huge, so pay attention, but the author does a great job in writing them all in a way that you follow along with relative ease, including at one point when Allison asks of one of the Danaan, "Who is so-and-so again?" which happened to be exactly what I had been thinking at that very moment, so thank you for that, Laura! As an aside, I do highly suggest referring to the guide at the end of the book for pronunciation of the beautiful Gaelic names of the Danaan, though. I promise you, you will NOT be able to pronounce them in your head yourself. smiley Laugh

Overall I very much enjoyed this book and didn't find much to really complain about at all. There were a couple twists that I never saw coming, which is always a good thing, and Allison's rejections of Ethan were appropriately wince-worthy (aw, poor, handsome boy! smiley Sorry ). The author's descriptions of the human world vs. the faerie world were straightforward but vivid. I would have liked a little more time spent on Allison's emotional reaction to meeting her father so suddenly, as the weight of a moment like that seemed a bit brushed off, but in general this is a good story that I want to continue reading in the sequel (and OF COURSE there's a cliffhanger!). 

Rating: Four Smooches! (out of five)  smiley Kiss smiley Kiss smiley Kiss smiley Kiss


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Meet The Author:





Laura Howard lives in New Hampshire with her husband and four children. Her obsession with books began at the age of 6 when she got her first library card. Nancy Drew, Sweet Valley High and other girly novels were routinely devoured in single sittings. Books took a backseat to diapers when she had her first child. It wasn’t until the release of a little novel called Twilight, 8 years later, that she rediscovered her love of fiction. Soon after, her own characters began to make themselves known. The Forgotten Ones is her first published novel.







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