Edge of Truth Blog Tour: Review & Giveaway

I am super happy to have the Edge of Truth blog tour here today. This was an intriguing book and I am excited to share a review with you today!

To check out the other tour stops, click on the tour banner.

Edge of Truth

Author: Natasha Hanova

Publication date: June 6th 2013

by Sapphire Star Publishing 

Genre: YA Dystopia

~Synopsis~

Citizens who report to work on time, obey the Overlord’s laws, and stay off the Synbot’s radar, live long lives. Long, dull, monotonous lives.

It’s not a bad plan for someone with a hidden, emotion-based ability to trigger earthquakes. In a world pitted against her, sixteen-year-old Rena Moon strives for a life beyond working herself to death at the factory. Seeing an alternative, she risks selling relics from the forbidden lands at Market. It becomes the worst decision she ever made. Someone kidnaps her best friend in exchange for the one thing that would end her oppression. 

Driven by loyalty, Rena and seventeen-year-old Nevan Jelani, soulful composer, green thumb extraordinaire, and the secret love of her life, plot to rescue her friend and reclaim her salvage. Still, the thought lingers whether Nevan is a true hero or another thief waiting for his chance at her loot. Events spin wildly, deepening Rena’s suspicions and pushing her limit of control. With more than her chance for freedom at stake, she must decide if she’s willing to kill to protect what’s precious to her. For once, the Overlord isn’t holding all the power, but can Rena live with being reduced to what she’s trying so hard to escape?

~Review~

Edge of Truth was a very intriguing and different kind of dystopian novel than I am used to reading. It actually felt like it had a little more of a sci-fi element to it but I think that it worked. There was a supernatural spin on this one that I really liked.

The main character, Rena, is a 16 year old girl who is considered an "other," which is someone with supernatural abilities. She must keep them a secret because the government would take her if they knew she had these abilities. She is able to feel vibrations within the earth and she can send vibrations back which can cause earthquakes. She convinces her best friend, Blaze, to sneak out into off limits territory where they find a bunch of old, valuable artifacts in some caves. They decide to take some back to sell at market. This is where all of their troubles begin when Blaze is kidnapped for the artifacts they find. Rena must find a way to rescue her before it is too late.

Rena is a pretty strong teenage character. She has been through a lot with the loss of her mother and the burden of having to help so much to take care of her brothers. Her family is from a poorer sector of the colony and she so desperately wants out of there. She is a very loyal friend and she would do anything to protect the ones she cares about. She has a secret crush on an older boy, Nevan and I really enjoyed her interactions with him. She seems to be the type of girl to say whatever is on her mind and sometimes she inadvertently does it with Nevan, causing her to make embarrassing confessions to him. I felt my cheeks get a little red with embarrassment for her with each slip of the tongue. However, she is also really witty at times and her banter back and forth with him is really entertaining. He knows how he affects her and he definitely plays it up.

"Sweet Mother Earth. I'm sorry. I didn't know. I didn't mean to sit on your bed. I mean, I always wondered what it would be like but..." She caught the flash of crinkles on Nevan's forehead adn the slackness of his jaw before she spun toward the door."

Nevan is clearly intrigued by Rena and I think the more time he spends with her, the more enamored he becomes. I love his protectiveness over Rena and his desire to fight for her and keep her safe. He risks his life to help her save Blaze and even though Rena questions his motives, I think her skepticism was mostly from insecurities that he may not have feelings for her. It was obvious to the reader that Nevan had feelings for Rena and in the end I think he proved it to her.

"When his lips touched hers, his breathing hitched. Rena's stopped altogether. He drew her face tighter, nose pressed against her cheek as his hands glided over her ears until his fingers touched the nape of her neck. He pulled back enough to gaze into her eyes."

The only thing I was missing from this book was more world building and development. A huge part of dystopian novels is the world that the characters are now living in and I wasn't able to picture the colony or the civilization. I don't really get a good feel for the society and the lives of the characters within this society. I would have liked the book to dig a little deeper into these details. It was a little slow in the beginning but once the story got going, I was very intrigued and sucked into the mystery. The author threw a little twist in there towards the end and it was definitely a shocker that left me reeling for a few minutes. In the end, I liked the way that it played out and the ending left it open for more but wasn't a cliffhanger to drive you crazy.

~IPOD Picks~

"Radioactive" by Imagine Dragons

"Iridescent" by Linkin Park

AUTHOR BIO 

Natasha Hanova is an award-winning author of young adult and adult dark fantasy/paranormal fiction. Her short stories are published in Undead Tales 2, October Nightmares and Dreams, and Once Upon a Christmas. She is a member of Novel Clique, YALitChat, and an Affiliate member of the Oklahoma Writer’s Federation, Inc. She lives in Kansas with her wonderful husband, twin boys, and daughter.

Links:
Twitter- www.twitter.com/natashahanova

Facebook- www.facebook.com/AuthorNatashaHanova
Goodreads-http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/584183.Natasha_Hanova

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*An eBook arc of this book was provided to me by the author for an honest review. All thoughts expressed in this review are my own, unbiased opinions.*