Even being dead isn’t enough to get you out of maths class.
Dying wasn't on sixteen-year-old Riley Richardson's to-do
list. And now, not only is she dead, but she's stuck in a perpetual high school
nightmare. Worse still, she's stuck there with the geekiest, most annoying boy
in the history of the world, ever.
In a school where the geeks are popular and just about
everything is wrong, Riley has become an outcast. She begins a desperate quest
to get back home, but her once-perfect life starts to unravel into something
not nearly as great as she thought it was. And maybe death isn’t really that
bad after all...
Welcome to Afterlife Academy, where horns are the norm, the
microwave is more intelligent than the teachers, and the pumpkins have a taste
for blood.
I'm Choosing This Because:
Well,
Jaimie is an author that I follow on Twitter (and talk to a lot, you should all
follow her too she's really lovely!) and I watched with interest as she geared
up to release her first YA book. Now as I saw the cover (more on that later)
and the blurb, I realised that this is a book that I definitely wanted to read.
So when I found out that
http://www.readingawaythedaysblogtours.blogspot.co.uk/ was organising a
tour I signed up straight away. So here I am writing this up for my blog tour
review. YAY!
Judging a Book By Its Cover:
Okay,
there's no other way of saying this: OMGZ IT'S SO PRETTY!!! I mean it. While
yes it is essentially just a pretty girl let me tell you why it works better
than most. I love the way it's mainly grey with just the touches of colour. I
do love how instead of going for a really strong colour (like red), it's a
slightly more subtle shade of purple-pink. It looks really classy. I appreciate
classy looking covers and this one definitely is. One of my favourite covers of
the year so far.
Pricing the (possible) awesomeness:
Now this is
only available as an ebook (I know, sad times, I want to stroke it too.)
hpwever the advantage of ebooks is how cheap they are and this is no exception.
You can get hold of your very own copy of Afterlife
Academy on Amazon for just 99p! I hope you do because it's good to support
indie authors (well nice indie authors anyway...)
Well this
was a different kind of read when it comes to the paranormal genre. I actually
mean that. I've never come across a book quite Afterlife Academy before. Jaimie's idea of the afterlife for teens
is actually something that I really liked and wanted to read more of. Which is
probably why I finished this in a day to be perfectly honest with you! So now
I'm going to point out a few things that stood out for me, because that's how I
roll.
The school
- I loved the idea of the Academy. It was refreshing and I liked the lesson
ideas and everything. (I know, so informative!) I'd have liked if we could know
more of the origins of it though and what exactly they were doing and what
actually happened. It just was. It was a big mystery and while I love those I
really wanted to know more about the actual history of the Academy. This is
just me because I'm awkward and I genuinely think it'd make a good story...
*cough* Jaimie *cough* Not that I'd ever suggest that an author should write
more... *shifty eyes*
The
greyness - I really was intrigued by this idea. It was something that I really
liked, it was refreshing for me to get to imagine a story in shades of grey.
Normally it's all about colour so the chance to imagine something else was
refreshing. I personally played it like an old movie. It's an awesome way to
imagine a book. I might do that more actually. Anyway off topic... I liked that
it gave the book a different feel than it would've otherwise had.
The writing
style - I have to say that the way the book is written makes it so easy to read
and enjoy and I definitely want to read more from Jaimie. Her style is so easy
and engaging and made reading the story a complete breeze. I read this in less
than a day because it's such an engaging story and I really couldn't put it
down! Considering the fact that I've been reading rather slow recently this is
such a high compliment. This story made me want to read. It made me want to review.
It made me remember why I love reading so much that I started a blog.
Riley - Riley is our main character, she's
also my main issue with the book. I just couldn't bring myself to like her. She
was so offish and rude and then she complained at how she was treated. To be
perfectly honest I didn't really believe in her and she only ever struck me as
caring about herself. She's the kind of girl that bullied me in school and
girls like her choose the stupidest reasons to pick on others. I wanted to just
slap her or something. She’s just an awful girl and I couldn’t stand her. On a positive note she kinda grows a bit
right at the end but it's too little too late for me, the damage is done and I
can't like her.
Anthony - He's a likeable kinda guy. I enjoy
him, I like what he brings to the story. Is he my favourite character? No. I do
like how he's not your typical hero though. He's a total geek and let's all be
honest, geeks are sexy. His niceness is what drew me to him and his ability to
not be selfish and stuck in his way and let how he was treated in the past make
him a bad person. Saying this though, I worry about his taste in girls, I
really do. He could do so much better.
Dinner Lady - Now we get to my favourite
character!! I love her, I love her microwave. I actually need her microwave.
Anyway back to her. She just lit up the canteen scenes for me and she had a
presence and I really appreciated everything she did for Riley, even though I
don't think Riley deserves such loyal and thoroughly nice people on her side. There’s
this one moment between her and Riley that had me in absolute stitches but I’m
not going to tell you what it is because I really don’t want to spoil anything
for you. Now I want you to know that Dinner Lady has a name, there’s a reason
why I’m not using it though.
Overall Afterlife Academy is a great take on
life after death. It's a quick, easy read with characters to love and hate and
a storyline to die for. I love the fact that it's not a series. It's so rare to
come across a standalone YA novel nowadays and I'm reminded of why I like them.
Also another reason I enjoyed this is simply because I got to discover a new
author. An author that I like. There’s
just a simple joy in being able to do that. Sure there are things that I’d
change about the book, but it’s still a genuinely good story.
A
great book though it has flaws. As an indie book this is wonderfully put
together. The cover rivals that of traditionally published ones and so does the
actual content. I definitely think fans of YA paranormal type books and also just
YA romance would really enjoy the world that Jaimie Admans has created here.
This does
have a bit of swearing in it, so if you’re a teen that doesn’t like swearing
I’d stay away. Or if your parents aren’t into that sort of thing. I know it
happens sometimes.
I also want
to thank Jaimie and Megan at Reading Away the Days Blog Tours for allowing me
to read this! I had a blast!
Jaimie
is a 28-year-old English-sounding Welsh girl with an awkward-to-spell
name. She lives in South Wales and enjoys writing, gardening, drinking
tea and watching horror movies.
She hates spiders and cheese & onion crisps.
She has been writing for years but has never before plucked up the courage to tell people.
Afterlife Academy is her third novel and she hopes you enjoy it. There are plenty more on the way!
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1 comment:
Yay! I know I already said it but it definitely deserves repeating - thank you so, so much! I'm thrilled you enjoyed the book, Char! Thank you for such a lovely review! :D
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