June 12, 2013

BLOG TOUR REVIEW & GIVEAWAY: Triangles

Triangles, by Kimberly Ann Miller
To Be Published June 18, 2013
Publisher:  Spencer Hill Press
Format: ARC received from Spencer Hill Press
Genre:  Young Adult Paranormal
To Buy:  Amazon  * Barnes & Noble

Rating:  3.5 STARS

(From Goodreads) A cruise ship. A beautiful island. Two sexy guys. What could possibly go wrong?

In the Bermuda Triangle—a lot.

Hoping to leave behind the reminders of her crappy life--her father's death years ago, her mother's medical problems, and the loser who’s practically stalking her--seventeen-year-old Autumn Taylor hops on a ship with her sister for a little distraction. When she wakes up in the Bermuda Triangle, she fears she's gone nuts for more than one reason: that loser’s suddenly claiming they're a happy couple... a hot guy is wrapping his arms around her and saying "Happy Anniversary"... and suddenly, she’s full of bruises, losing her hair, and getting IV medication. Autumn visits the ship's doctor, hoping for a pill or a shot to make the craziness go away. Instead, she's warned that these "alternate realities" could become permanent.

She just has to ask herself one question—how the hell is she going to get out of this mess?


You know that movie Groundhog Day where the crabby news reporter is inexplicably forced to repeat the same day over and over again, and as a result, he comes to appreciate those around him and realizes what an ass he's been? Well, Triangles is like that. Only featuring a bitchy teenage girl. On a sunny cruise to Bermuda instead of stuck in snowy Punxsutawney. 

Autumn is about to start her senior year of high school. Except, she's not. She's decided to quit school and get out of dodge. Her dad died years ago and her mom has been in a coma the past six months. Autumn's older sister is looking after her and a cute sweet boy, Joey, has been dogging her to go out with him. Thing is, Autumn is convinced that she poisons everyone around her, so she's determined to keep all those who care about her at arm's length. 

The Bermuda cruise is supposed to be a getaway for Autumn and her sister. Except, Joey is on the cruise too. As well as Marcus, the hot bad boy. And, then three mornings in a row after the ship goes through the Bermuda Triangle, Autumn wakes up in a different reality - one where she and Marcus have been together a year, one where she and Joey have been together for two years, and one where Autumn has terminal cancer. 

I kind of love the premise of this book. There's always been so much mystery and intrigue around the Bermuda Triangle. I'm a little surprised that more paranormal books aren't written about it. When Autumn starts waking up in different situations, I was captivated and driven to find out more. 

The beginning of Triangles, however, was a bit slow. Getting to the point where the Autumn starts having her epiphany, was a little difficult for me. Mostly because I pretty much hated Autumn. She was absolutely awful in the first third of the book. I've said it before - it's hard for me to love a book when I don't love the main character. Although my opinion of Autumn did improve later, my irritation at her attitude in the beginning made it hard to wade through. 

Joey, too, was hard to like in the beginning. He seemed like such a wishy washy wimp. The beginning Joey and the end Joey seem almost like two different characters. After Autumn awakens from her last alternate reality and winds up back in the real reality, Joey is strong and brave and sweet and very dateable. In the beginning, he was kinda creepy and stalkerish, honestly. I definitely like the end Joey better. 

There's a lot of things to love about Triangles: the Bermuda Triangle, a cruise ship, end Joey, interesting alternate realities. It's a pretty short novel. At only 175 pages, I finished it in just a few hours, slow beginning notwithstanding. If Autumn was just a little softer and Joey just a little more congruent, Triangles would be really great. As it is, although the beginning needs some work and the characters need a little more development, the ending is satisfying and left me in a good place. 

Giveaway

In honor of the release of Triangles, Spencer Hill Press is giving away a cruise (yes, you read that right) in the Triangles Win A Frikkin' Cruise Sweepstakes. To enter, go to Spencer Hill Press' website. Good luck!

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