REVIEW: Guardian (+$25 Amazon GC Giveaway!)

Title: Guardian

Author: Natasha Deen

Series: N/A

Pages: 192

Date Published: September 1st, 2014

Publisher: Great Plains Publishing

Format: ebook

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Source: Goddess Fish Blog Tours
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Synopsis:

For seventeen-year-old Maggie Johnson, transitioning the dead isn’t hard. What’s tough is surviving the insults and pranks of Serge Popov, high school thug and the dumbest jock to ever set foot in Dead Falls, Alberta. When she finds him dead from alcohol poisoning and later discovers his spirit trapped in her room, she figures it’s a case of divine justice. Let the jerk rot. But someone—or something—has a different agenda. If Maggie doesn’t help Serge cross over, she’ll die at the hands of the otherworldly entity that’s taken an interest in the deceased bully. As she digs into the circumstances of Serge’s death, now classified a murder, she’ll uncover the secrets hidden by the world of the living and the wonders revealed by cities of the dead—if her investigation doesn’t kill her, first.

~My Thoughts~

YA is my absolute favorite age group to read right now. There's something about that self-discovery and optimistic outlook that teenagers have for their future that gets me every time. Guardian is morbidly cool...it deals with tough issues like bullying, drug abuse, and murder. While my teenager-hood seems blessed in comparison, everyone goes through issues like this in highschool, though I hope with the exception of murder...yeesh. 

Maggie is 17, old for the genre, and she is very intelligent and resourceful which I loved. She's still very young and naieve, but she has her wits about her and has at least started sorting out who she is as a person. Seeing her go through her struggles, and using her creativity and strength to figure out the plot-Maggie is someone you can really stand behind. 

 I think my favorite part of this book was Natasha's writing style. With the explosion of independent-or I should say...non-traditional- publishing, I now feel that it's a shot in the dark of if I'm going to be reading something that is well-written, or something that was cobbled together and sent in as an unedited mess. Fortunately, Natasha's writing is some of the former, and was a joy to read. The flow was smooth and articulate and the pace raced forward without seeming rushed or too much. A very good read all around! 

Oh, and the story was set in Canada! (Eh!) 

~Try an Excerpt!~

Crap.

I hated the guy, but I was sorry he was dead. Seventeen is young to off yourself. And I was super creeped out that he’d decided to do it in my car. But that was Serge. He always had to be the last to give you the finger—even from the grave. I flipped my cell around and phoned my dad.

He picked up on the third ring. “Hey, baby girl, what is it?”

The sound of his voice—soft and gentle—soothed me. My whole life, it’s never been anything but me and my dad, which made us both seriously over-protective of each other.

I went for a casual tone and said, “Hey, Dad, I got a problem here.”

Through the phone lines, I felt him stiffen.

“Yeah?” There was an edge to his voice, like he was ready to put on a military uniform and turn our beat-up minivan into a Sherman tank.

“Nothing like that—well, a bit like—Dad, Serge’s body’s in my trunk.”

There was a stunned pause, “Maggie, what did you do?”

“What! Nothing—!”

Okay, maybe I deserved that. One day, I’d live down the sausage incident but right now, I was staring at the cadaver of my six-foot-three-inch tormentor. It didn’t seem like the time to argue over the past. “He killed himself…in my car.”

There was a worried, processing silence on the other end.

“You sure?”

“I think I know a dead body when I see it.”

“No, I mean about him killing himself. You sure someone didn’t dump him in your car?”

Well, thanks a lot daddio. That just added a whole new level of creep-me-out to the October night.

~Meet Natasha!~

Award-winning author Natasha Deen has written everything from fantasy to comedy, mystery and horror, and she was the 2013 Regional Writer in Residence for the Metro Edmonton Library Federation.  When not working on her manuscripts, she inhales disgusting amounts of chocolate and wrestles her furry children for a spot on the couch. Visit her at www.natashadeen.com.

Author Links:

www.natashadeen.com

www.facebook.com/natasha.deen.9

www.twitter.com/natasha_deen

www.goodreads.com/author/show/1314477.Natasha_Deen 
Natasha will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour, and a $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn host.

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