{Blog Tour} Book Review + Giveaway: Visited - Janine Caldwell

Welcome to my stop for the Visited blog tour! You can follow the tour here.

Title: Visited
Author: Janine Caldwell
Release Date: May 25th 2013
Publisher: Self-published
Age Group: Young Adult
Source: ecopy for blog tour
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Seventeen-year-old Joanna Murphy has lost faith in her life. Vying for her mom’s attention, she’s resentful of her stepdad’s intrusion to their family. Her best friend, Tommy, has no clue she’s in love with him as he dates girl after girl without noticing how it tortures her. The final kicker, though, is God’s sick joke to make her freakishly tall when everyone knows boys prefer petite girls.

Then in a bizarre accident Joanna meets James, a breathtaking teen who appears to her after an unusual falling star sighting. Suddenly, her dream for an alien encounter becomes all too real. But when she finds her life has been made unrecognizable, she’s forced into an explosive study of the original design for her life that just may have her regretting every wish she ever made.

Honestly, I expected Visited to be as sci-fi as the other YA alien books I've read like JLA's Lux series and Melissa West's The Taking trilogy, but it didn't go down that road. The "alien" and "living the dream life" shenanigans were interesting but the book gave more focus on the characters, and my investment in them was what kept me reading.

The main character, Joanna, was nothing if not relatable. Or maybe that's just me identifying with her—selfish, solitary, awkward, insecure, and a wee bit spoiled. If I were her, I'd have reacted the exact same way she did when she deduced that James was an alien. Indeed, two of the very few things we didn't have in common were her height advantage and a guy BFF.

I've said this a few times before, but I'm seriously loving books on alternate realities/parallel universes right now. Seeing the what-ifs get answered is fascinating; add to that a gorgeous alien and I was just hooked. James' true identity was revealed early on in the story but his mission wasn't, giving this book some kind of a thriller vibe.

Addictive, romantic, and a real eye-opener, Visited was made even more unique with a plot twist from nowhere near the end. The writing was uncomplicated yet beautiful, but at times it had more breaks than I'd have liked. But ultimately, I loved this book for two reasons: the realistic open ending regarding the romance (I swear this isn't a spoiler), and the important lesson of "Appreciate what you have."

MY FAVORITE PART was Joanna's second fall-off-the-roof moment :3

RATING:

 

About the author:

Janine Caldwell was born in Concord, CA and raised in the small San Francisco Bay Area town of Clayton. Four days after her high school graduation, Janine attended California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo and graduated with a degree in English.

Janine now lives in Anthem, AZ with her husband and two sons. As a lifelong literature fanatic, she knew it was only a matter of time before she would become obsessed with writing her own work. With relatives like the Brothers Grimm and Anita Loos (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes), she figured fantasy writing had to be in her DNA.

Books published by Janine include Visited, a YA coming-of-age fantasy, Rematch and Double Fault—the first two books of The Vortex Series. The final book in this YA fantasy romance, Deuce, will be released fall 2013.

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