Hey everyone, we are BACK! It was a long but much needed break; I cannot imagine doing this plus school plus exams (which went iffy-ish despite our blogging break ;D). The first think we have up for you is a blog tour review for Stars In Her Eyes by Clare C. Marshall, the latest book by her and the first novel in her new series: The Sparkstone Saga. We have tons of reviews lying in wait, I promise WE WILL GET TO THEM no matter how long it takes to catch up. I refrained from reading too much these last few weeks so Dani and I wouldn't be pounded down by need-to-do-reviews. We have a few author-request reviews coming before the end of May, so look forward to that too :)
Stars In Her Eyes (Sparkstone Saga #1) by Clare C. Marshall
Steph's Rating: 4 stars
Overall Rating: 4 stars
Publication Date: May 13th, 2013
Publisher: Faery Ink Press
Format: e-ARC
Thanks so much to Clare C. Marshall and Faery Ink Press for this review copy in exchange for our fair and honest review.
Goodreads Synopsis (clicky link for G-reads page):
Burn hot and cold.
Read minds.
Disappear at will.
Dream your own death.
Welcome to Sparkstone University, where some students are more gifted than others.
When Ingrid learns she’s been accepted at the hyper-secretive Sparkstone University, she is sceptical. It’s an honour to attend, apparently, and yet barely anyone has ever heard of the place.
And everyone seems a little too happy that she’s there: especially when she meets Sunni and her group of friends. They seem to already know Ingrid. As if she was expected. Expected to save Earth from an imminent alien invasion. Like she has superpowers or something.
As if magic and mutations exist. As if aliens are really planning to attack.
That just sounds ridiculous. There’s no such thing.
…right?
Wrong.
Read minds.
Disappear at will.
Dream your own death.
Welcome to Sparkstone University, where some students are more gifted than others.
When Ingrid learns she’s been accepted at the hyper-secretive Sparkstone University, she is sceptical. It’s an honour to attend, apparently, and yet barely anyone has ever heard of the place.
And everyone seems a little too happy that she’s there: especially when she meets Sunni and her group of friends. They seem to already know Ingrid. As if she was expected. Expected to save Earth from an imminent alien invasion. Like she has superpowers or something.
As if magic and mutations exist. As if aliens are really planning to attack.
That just sounds ridiculous. There’s no such thing.
…right?
Wrong.
Steph's Review:
I'm usually not a big sci-fi fan, but I thoroughly enjoyed Stars In Her Eyes. While this is not Clare Marshall's debut book, it is the introduction to her new series: Sparkstone Saga. I felt this was an adequate beginning to her new realm, and if you are looking for a quick and easy read, this is for you!
Ingrid has been accepted into the prestigious Sparkstone University in middle-of-nowhere Alberta. It is invitation only, no applications. Kind of an oxymoron in my opinion, but there's a reason for it. Ingrid knows she's smart and gifted; she's been a stellar student and musician her whole life, but it's flipped around when she arrives at Sparkstone. Here, she learns just how special she truly is, along with the other students at this university. Creepy enough, everyone seems to know just who Ingrid is, and even worse, they expect her to be their savior: from an outer-planetary alien attack that is. She wants nothing to do with it and is ready to pack her bags and report to the police that people out in rural Kansas are going loco, but when a startling and unexpected attack occurs, Ingrid knows that this alien business might really all be true. To help her newly found friends and to save the school from imminent threats, Ingrid must look deep into herself and discover the very powers she holds within.
I really liked Ingrid's story: it's wild, intense, and keeps readers on their toes. The superpowers Clare came up with were exciting to learn about, and it all reminded me a lot of X-Men (which I love!). If your a sci-fi or fantasy lover, you will surely enjoy this tale. This story is action packed to the core, especially since it's short. While it started out a little on the slow side in my opinion, this story increases page fast. I was little bit confused when Clare got to the big reveal because it all came so suddenly that my brain could not even process the information. I had to reread those pages about 3 times before I really got the situation at hand.
Monsters. Are you afraid of them? The authors takes on aliens is original--originality is always refreshing--but holy crap. I was pretty scared of these aliens by description only. It was a good scared because it kept be completely engrossed in absolute horror, but this is a warning to people who are scared of all things slippery and slimy. I really enjoyed Clare's writing style in this book because she describes the scenes in depth, but it doesn't have the too-much-info feeling that I get from some longer books. Definitely something I thought was wonderful!
Ingrid herself is pretty spunky. I loved that she really thought out the problem at hand and didn't just eat everything people revealed to her. She has an independent mind, and reading from her POV is as intriguing as it is exciting. She is a big girl and doesn't let anyone boss her around. I also really like her because of her good taste...British Guy...yum :). There is a slight romance developing here, and I can't wait to find out more about that!
This climax was absolutely explosive. In an intergalactic battle for her and her friend's lives, Ingrid must discover the true reason behind the alien's attack on Earth. Startling secrets are revealed that I can't believe I missed from the start, because they change everything about Sparkstone. The ending left me reeling and wanting book 2, but unfortunately I'll have to wait a while for that one.
The only problems I felt with this were too many secrets, and rushing. As I said, this is a fairly short novel. Some of the events I feel were glazed over too quickly and it left me confused sometimes, making me having to go back and reread portions to understand the next one. The other problem was secrets. There are so many secrets involved in this that I really had no clue which secret went with what after they were revealed. I also wish we learned more about Ingrid's powers, which I'm hoping will be explored more in book 2.
I am a pretty fast reader though and I tend to skip words when I read, so you may not find this book confusing at all! It's fast-paced and exciting, and I recommend this to anyone who is in need of a quick and interesting read!
About the Author:
Clare Marshall grew up
in rural Nova Scotia with very little television and dial up internet,
and yet, she turned out okay. She has a combined honours degree in
journalism and psychology from the University of King’s College, and is a
graduate from Humber College’s Creative Book Publishing Program. She
founded Woulds & Shoulds Editing and Design
in 2010 for self-published authors looking for quality editing and
design services. When she’s not writing, she enjoys playing the fiddle
and making silly noises at cats. Within is her first published novel.
Find Clare around the web:
Facebook: http://facebook.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/
Author Goodreads: http://www.
Thanks for participating in the blog tour!! One correction: Sparkstone is in northern Alberta, not Kansas. I'm Canadian, and so I have Canadian settings whenever possible. :)
ReplyDeleteWhoops, sorry about that. Got that fixed! No idea what I was thinking when I typed in Kansas :)
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