Jan 8, 2013

{Blog Tour} Book Review + Giveaway: Taste - Kate Evangelista

Title: Taste
Author: Kate Evangelista
Release Date: April 29th 2012
Publisher: Crescent Moon Press
At Barinkoff Academy, there’s only one rule: no students on campus after curfew. Phoenix McKay soon finds out why when she is left behind at sunset. A group calling themselves night students threaten to taste her flesh until she is saved by a mysterious, alluring boy. With his pale skin, dark eyes, and mesmerizing voice, Demitri is both irresistible and impenetrable. He warns her to stay away from his dangerous world of flesh eaters. Unfortunately, the gorgeous and playful Luka has other plans.
When Phoenix is caught between her physical and her emotional attraction, she becomes the keeper of a deadly secret that will rock the foundations of an ancient civilization living beneath Barinkoff Academy. Phoenix doesn’t realize until it is too late that the closer she gets to both Demitri and Luka, the more she is plunging them all into a centuries old feud.
When I get curious about something, the saying "curiosity killed the cat" always pops into my head for some reason. But curiosity is a hunger that will demand to be sated until it is, and like what happens to me almost always, it leads to a fascinating discovery for the heroine in Taste, Phoenix.

At first, Phoenix seemed like a girl who didn't care about anything. She didn't know it, but I felt like she lived her days like she was without purpose—until she broke curfew, of course. That event kicked off the story and truly plunged Phoenix into the world of breathtakingly beautiful flesh eaters. She made a brave and selfless decision right at the start and gave her best to go through with everything that came with that decision, and I really admired her for that.

But Phoenix couldn't have guessed that getting her heart ripped in half by two very different but equally, um, pleasing-to-the-eye males would come with that decision. First was Demitri, Phoenix's constant savior who preferred to keep the truths about him hidden. Because of something—I'd never guessed this part, so I'll keep it that way for you all—his effort to avoid her became useless, and with Phoenix more than attracted to him, a hot romance ensued right off the bat. Insta-love came to mind, but I soon understood that it was far from that.

Which was much to the dismay of Luka, the third side of the triangle. So unlike Demitri, he answered as much of Phoenix's questions as he could. He was naughty and nice, but like our first guy, he had his own secrets and the most share of emotional baggage. And as was the case with love triangles in other books, I loved Luka more than our protagonist's chosen guy. Phoenix can keep her hands on Demitri, though, because Luka's mine *evil laugh*.

Although Phoenix's dive into these guys' world changed her for the better, it showed her true self in the process. Her attitude was often inconsistent: headstrong and bad-ass one minute, nothing but lovesick the next. That irritated me more than her bouts of acting like a spoiled kid that always put her—and worse, those around her—in undesirable situations.

But aside from my few problems with Phoenix, I had no other complaints throughout this book. Kate wrote a wonderful and creative world of flesh eaters, spun it with so much action and high stakes, and balanced everything with the right amount of butterfly-inducing romance that the ending brought me to tears, but you'd have to read Taste to find out if they were happy tears or not.


MY FAVORITE PART was the catfight. It was childish of Phoenix to start it, but it was really entertaining, lol.

RATING:


About the author:
When Kate Evangelista was told she had a knack for writing stories, she did the next best thing: entered medical school. After realizing she wasn’t going to be the next Doogie Howser, M.D., Kate wandered into the Literature department of her university and never looked back. Today, she is in possession of a piece of paper that says to the world she owns a Literature degree. To make matters worse, she took Master’s courses in creative writing. In the end, she realized to be a writer, none of what she had mattered. What really mattered? Writing. Plain and simple, honest to God, sitting in front of her computer, writing. Today, she has four completed Young Adult novels.



Check out the book trailer for Taste!

For the tour, Kate will be giving away 5 digital copies and 1 print copy of Taste! Winners will be chosen on January 17.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
 
Follow the tour here!
January 7

Guilty Pleasures
My Library in the Making

January 8 
Read Your Writes Book Reviews
The Revolving Bookcase
A Dream Within A Dream

January 9
The Readers Roundtable Young & the Restless
What's On the Bookshelf
Lebooksquirrel

January 10
Fade Into Fantasy
The Solitary Bookworm
My Life With Boys and Books
Storey Book Reviews

January 11
The Book Whisperer
High-Strung
Book Bitches Blog

January 12
Heart Braking Reviews
Moosubi Reviews!
Open the Page

January 13
Bookittyblog
Just Me,Myself,and I
Smardy Pants Book Blog

January 14
Sugar and Spice Book Reviews
The Reflections of a Bookworm
Cover2CoverBlog

January 15
My Life Beyond Labels
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Dizneeee's World of Books

January 16
Reality Bites! Let's Get Lost!
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5 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for being part of the tour, Kazhy! *hugs*

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  2. I've had my eye on this book! Thank you for the giveawy! :o)

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  3. Wow this book looks and by the review sounds very intriguing, great review Kazhy! :)

    I wouldn't mind winning either a digital or print copy, but i would be so overwhelmed if i won a print, i have never one anything in any giveawy yet, and have never ever won a print copy or ever had one even given by an author, now that would be a dream come true for me!!!

    ((((hugs))))

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  4. Thanks so much for the giveaway!

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  5. How did you get the cover? It is interesting.

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I love reading your comments so post away! <3

Also, I appreciate the thought but this is now an award- and tag-free zone :D