Mar 20, 2013

{Blog Tour} Book Review: Scarlette - Davonna Juroe

Thanks for dropping by my stop for the Scarlette blog tour! You can follow the tour here.

Title: Scarlette
Author: Davonna Juroe
Release Date: October 12th 2012
Publisher: BumbleB Media, Inc.
Source: ecopy from author
Scarlette, an 18-year-old peasant, lives under a dark threat. A nightmarish creature lurks in the surrounding forest, killing the villagers one by one. When Scarlette's grandmother survives an attack, Scarlette learns that her grandmother hasn't suffered the bite of just any normal animal.
Now desperate, Scarlette searches throughout her province to find a cure. But there are those who want to keep their pasts hidden. As she begins to uncover the dark secrets of her village, Scarlette is befriended by a local nobleman and a woodcutter who share a gruesome history with the beast. To save her grandmother, Scarlette must unravel their mystery and solve an age-old crime. But as she pieces together the clues, Scarlette finds herself torn between the two men, both of whom want to be more than friends and hold the key to the cure.
What if Little Red Riding Hood was Real?
Based on both the Grimm and Perrault versions of Little Red Riding Hood and set against the terrifying, historic Beast of GĂ©vaudan attacks, this dark YA retelling blends two epic legends, giving the fabled girl-in-the-red-cloak a new, shockingly real existence.
I'm not sure, but I think Scarlette is the first fairy tale retelling that I read. Based on Little Red Riding Hood, I expected something simple, so this one's a very nice surprise.

Scarlette lived with her hateful mother and loving grandmother. Times were hard in their little town because of wolf attacks, but they survived. At least until her grandmother became the next victim.

Scarlette was an okay character for me. She had a good heart and a wise mind, but problems kept coming for her one after another, testing her resolve to save her grandmother and complicating her already tragic circumstances even more. Still, I felt like I wasn't able to connect to her. 

My mind probably skipped through it when I read the blurb, so I was surprised to find the romance that later turned into a love triangle. Don't be put off by that, though, because it's very minimal, not occupying even a quarter of the book I think, but it was good. Scarlette wasn't torn by love more so than trust, but as the reader, truths were more transparent for me than her.

Up until the end, Scarlette was full of mystery and suspense, and almost everyone of the secondary characters became prime suspects for me. The ending was a little bit rushed, but it still had me at the edge of my seat.

MY FAVORITE PART was the epilogue.

RATING:

About the author:
Davonna Juroe stays up way too late, has a severe garlic food allergy, and loves all things 80’s. She wonders if all this could actually mean she's a vampire. 

In high school, she wore way too much glitter eye make-up. And in between many Disneyland visits and reading R.L. Stine’s Fear Street Series, she joined the high school drama department and may have developed crushes of the serious kind on many a theater boy. After many a broken heart (*sigh*), Davonna moved to the quaint, wooded village of Kalispell, Montana. 

When she’s not writing, she shops @ thrift stores for hot-pink-Jem-and-the-Holograms-inspired-outfits, eats gluten free desserts, drinks tea out of antique teacups, and spends too much time on deviantArt, Pinterest, and Goodreads. 

Scarlette is Davonna’s debut novel of epic-historical-fairy-tale-proportions, which she knows the Brothers Grimm would say is wicked cool. 

Currently, she's represented by fabulous independent agent Roxanne McHenry who is waving wands to make all of Davonna's dreams come true. 
Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter | Shelfari | Pinterest

Instead of a giveaway, Davonna has something better. On the last day of this blog tour, March 23rd, Scarlette will be free on Amazon! Make sure to mark your calendars for that ;D

1 comment:

  1. Kazhy, thanks for your thoughtful review of SCARLETTE and being a part of the blog tour! Just wanted to let you know that SCARLETTE is being re-released this weekend and includes a new short story from the woodcutter, Francois', perspective along with a new author's note on the history of Red Riding Hood. It will be offered for free on both March 23rd & 24th via Amazon. Thanks again. :) http://www.amazon.com/Scarlette-Paranormal-Fairy-Tale-ebook/dp/B009PU7TJQ

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