Book Friday: Afterworlds Review & ARC Giveaway

Helloooooooo lovelies!

 

It’s Tawney twin here and today we’re talking about Scott Westerfield’s Afterworlds. We had the pleasure of reading this book before publication by receiving an ARC from BEA. Here’s a little about the book.

Darcy Patel has put college on hold to publish her teen novel, Afterworlds. With a contract in hand, she arrives in New York City with no apartment, no friends, and all the wrong clothes. But lucky for Darcy, she’s taken under the wings of other seasoned and fledgling writers who help her navigate the city and the world of writing and publishing. Over the course of a year, Darcy finishes her book, faces critique, and falls in love.

Woven into Darcy’s personal story is her novel, Afterworlds, a suspenseful thriller about a teen who slips into the “Afterworld” to survive a terrorist attack. The Afterworld is a place between the living and the dead, and where many unsolved—and terrifying—stories need to be reconciled. Like Darcy, Lizzie too falls in love…until a new threat resurfaces, and her special gifts may not be enough to protect those she cares about most.

 

Afterworlds is a great concept for a story! This novel is actually a story within a story. Scott weaves both stories together using every other chapter for us to follow each story. There are two main characters. the first is Darcy Patel. Her story is told in third person. Darcy just signed her first publishing deal for a story she wrote while in high school, Afterworlds. With her book deal she moves to New York where she discovers the ins and outs of being a newbie author. She mingles with other authors at a YA Drinks Night. This is where she meets another debut author Imogen. They become fast friends but soon love blooms and the two are together 24/7. But Imogen has her secrets and they begin to unravel while Darcy is trying to figure out the world of publishing. Darcy’s story is a contemporary story where we follow her trying to edit Afterworlds, write the sequel to Afterworlds, talking to her agent, hanging with other authors and trying to survive first love. It’s a wonderful story of what the publishing world is about.

Our second main character is Lizzie. She’s Dacy’s main character in the book she just signed Afterworlds. Her story is told in first person. We begin Lizzie’s story at the airport when terrorists attack. The only thing Darcy can do is play dead, and dead she does. A little too much to the point she crosses over to the world of the dead.  There she meets Yami and her brother Yamaraj, Yama for short. Yama tells her she’s a psychopomp and begins to teach her how to survive with the dead. But soon she wants to help the ghost of her mother’s childhood friend against a pedophile. But with power things can go wrong and they do. Lizzie grows close to Yama and we watch her love grow for him as she even finds out what he truly is. Lizzie’s story is a paranormal adventure which starts off with a bang.

Back and forth we follow both girls through their trials of first love and the obstacles life brings. I have to admit I liked Darcy’s story a lot better than Lizzie’s.  Lizzie’s was a great paranormal story but I didn’t connect with the character more than I did with Darcy. I wanted to see more in the world of publishing and her connection with Imogen. It was nice to see a diverse relationship that isn’t much offered to readers. I give this book 3 stars. I liked the writing and how both worlds flowed together but I just wasn’t interested in Lizzie as I was Darcy. Both worlds also seemed to become depressing with the downs and out of relationships. I would like to see Darcy sell her second book and how the relationship with Imogen is going. I want more about the publishing world. Lizzie’s story I’m not sure I would follow again so I’m probably I wouldn’t read a sequel. 

 

Here’s your chance to read Afterworlds before it comes out! Go enter to win an ARC.

For some reason WordPress doesn’t like rafflecopter so click the link below.

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Good luck!

Love

The TWINS