Word to Dreams: Review/2 Giveaways for First Impression: A Shadow Maven Paranormal by Pauline Creeden

First Impression:

A Shadow Maven Paranormal

by Pauline Creeden

Genre: YA Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Mystery
Expected Release Date: March 31, 2014
Designed by: http://www.alchemybookcovers.com/

Tour Host: Lady Amber's Tours

Synopsis:

Chira Kelly thought she didn’t need anyone…until she met Ben.

Because of one ugly rumor, Chira lives as an outcast at her school. Which is fine with her, because she works better alone. Always has, always will. And at least she has her one and only true friend, Tasha. When Tasha insists that they join a group to visit a possibly haunted abandoned old schoolhouse, she's wary, but joins her friend. Because of that decision, their lives are in jeopardy as a malevolent spirit targets the group. Tragedies and accidents pick them off one by one, and Chira finds herself drawn to the one person who can see the truth. But can he protect her?

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EXCERPT

Ben pulls open the office door and stands to the side to allow me to go first. The hallway that was empty only a short while ago is now full of kids and their incessant conversations. With a shrug, I eye his class schedule quickly. Except for second and sixth period, we have exactly the same schedule. He’s in all of the advanced classes, too. Only he has gym for second period, and Latin for sixth – opposite of my schedule, except I take French.

Piece of cake.

I glance up at him again, and his eyes meet mine. My breath hitches. Something in his intense gaze makes me feel like he’s measuring me. And there’s something strange about his eyes. They’re brown, but I can tell he has colored contacts. Why would anyone color their eyes brown?

Something about the way he’s looking at me makes my heart flutter. A sniffle escapes me before I can stop it. Ugh. I clear my throat and start in the direction of first period. “Follow me.”

We elbow our way down the freshman hall toward the second floor, but before we start up I point down the way. “Do you know what your locker number is?”

Ben nods and pushes his backpack up on his shoulder further.

I wait for a second and then smile. “What is it?”

“706.” He has a slight accent and his voice is deeper than I expect. I suppress a shiver at the jolt that the musical timbre of his voice sends through my body. I’m resonating like a tuning fork. I really want him to speak again with every fiber of my being. What’s with me?

“Uh…okay.” I swallow, trying to regain composure. And take him to the general area of the locker. “Here it is.”

He looks at it, nods, and returns his gaze to me.

“I know you don’t have any books to put in it, but do you want to try out the combination?”

He lifts one shoulder in a shrug and spins the combo quickly through the three numbers. I purposefully look around so he knows I’m not peeking. He opens the locker wide, nods toward me and then closes it again.

“Great. We have first period over here.”

“You and I have the same first period?”

My body vibrates again, and I blink hard. So glad my back was to him so he couldn’t see the effect his voice has on me. I swallow and face him. “Actually, yeah. Our schedules are very similar. It’s a smallish school so there’s only a few tracks that juniors can be on.”

He nods, and his eyes are half lidded as if he’s bored already.

I lead him toward our class room. “We don’t really have assigned seats, so you can pretty much sit anywhere you want. I’ll show you to the gym at the end of class. I have French next, but it’s not too far from there.”

I lead him to the front of the class, and my friend, Tasha Brown gives me a wan smile and raises her eyebrows, looking back and forth between me and Ben. She mouths, Who’s that?

I roll my eyes and put up one finger toward her to let her know I’ll tell her in a minute. Then I turn to the teacher. I hand him the schedule from the office. “Hi, Mr. Scott. This is Ben Oscuro, a transfer.”

Mr. Scott sets down the Mountain Dew he was drinking and offers Ben a wide grin. He puts a hand out for him to shake. Ben hesitates but takes the hand in what looks like a firm grip. Mr. Scott shakes his hand afterward. “That’s some grip you’ve got there.” He laughs and leans down to the bottom drawer of his desk and hands Ben a Geography text book.

With a nod, I return to Tasha and squeeze into the desk next to hers. Because I’m at Jackson Hall partially on scholarship and partially on my father’s insurance money, I’m somewhat of a social pariah. My only real friend is Tasha, a pariah herself, being one of the few African-American kids in the school. Still she tends to be more popular than me, because at least her family does have money. And then there’s that rumor…

“So who is the new hottie?” Tasha hops up and down in her seat.

I shake my head at her. “You are one big hormone, you know that? Sure, he’s cute, but is there any guy in the room you don’t consider a hottie?”

Tasha scans the room, considering for a moment with her hand on her chin and a very serious expression on her face. Her hair is in the typical pigtail braids she usually uses to play up the uniform. She has on no sweater, and her shirt is one size too small, causing the buttons at the front to bow and expose part of her red bra. Finally she returns her gaze to me. “There’s only one guy in here that doesn’t rank hottie.”

“Really? Who?”

She leans in conspiratorially and whispers, “Mr. Scott.”

I nearly choke on a laugh as I eye the middle aged, balding teacher at the front of the room. But I have to admit, Jackson Hall is a prep school. And no one can afford to make their children look their best more than the wealthy. I guess if I take my father’s words to heart, it’s better to be the poor kid in the rich kids’ school…than the other way around. Right?

Tasha’s smile returns and I follow her gaze to figure out why. Ben Oscuro walks down the aisle between us and takes the desk right behind mine. The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. I close my eyes and take a deep breath. He smells like pine and mint, and it reminds me of the outdoors. When I open them again, Tasha’s smile has grown impossibly wider. She leans towards me and whispers, “What was that you said about hormones again?”

I shove my elbow toward her but she dodges me with a giggle.

I would like to thank the author for providing me a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This story is on the shorter length, just over 100 pages but it's full steam ahead from the get-go. Do not think you will read this book in interludes, not going to happen. It sucked me right in and before I knew it, I was on the last page. Written from one POV, Chira's, it makes for a great mystery because you don't get to know what's going on in anyone else's head.

What kept this from being a 5 star was that it was such a short story that parts of the story got expedited instead of being allowed to brew slowly and come to fruition on its due time. One minute your one place, the next you are somewhere completely different, which caused me to do a bit of rereading to adjust my feel of the scenery and situations. The whole Shadow Maven persona is touched on but I felt that more should have been put into it. You learn about it but than it's more in the background where it should have been more in the forefront. This is just the first story of more to come and it felt like the author desperately wanted to get it out to go further with the characters which I didn't really mind, because I've already felt a connection with the characters.

The intertwining of the different layers of this story worked very well. You got to learn more about the characters without having to take time away from the mystery at hand. The tragedies were played out well, emotions rung true, and the continuing action was a big bonus. There was definitely a character that was hinted on but no story really grew from which makes me wonder if the author will be touching on this person and bringing bits and pieces of him in as the series goes on. The budding friendship of Chira and Ben is full of wit and an attraction that can't be denied.

Now this book centers around a haunting, rumors, suicides, missing girls, kidnapping, assaults and more. The person behind it all is a well kept secret, until it's time to know. I think that readers 15+ are who this book is for. Those younger may find themselves with even more questions and parents may not take well to the questions they may ask. Having said that, I also feel that this book would interest readers of any gender.

I look forward to reading more of this series and will anxiously await news of books to come.

Author Bio:

In simple language, Pauline Creeden creates worlds that are both familiar and strange, often pulling the veil between dimensions. She becomes the main character in each of her stories, and because she has ADD, she will get bored if she pretends to be one person for too long. Pauline is a horse trainer from Virginia, but writing is her therapy. Her books have hit #1 on the Amazon Bestseller List and Armored Hearts won the 2013 Book Junkie’s Choice Award in Historical Fiction. First Impression: A Shadow Maven Paranormal is her first mystery. It’s a dark urban fantasy and will be released March 31, 2014.

Links:

Website: http://paulinecreeden.com

Facebook: http://facebook.com/PaulineCreeden

Twitter: http://twitter.com/P_Creeden

Goodreads: http://goodreads.com/PCreeden