Monday, May 26, 2014

Blur by: Steven James

Blur by: Steven James

Edition: E-book
Pages: 368
Publisher: Skyscape
Published: May 27th, 2014

Purchase: Amazon | Bookdepository

Goodreads Synopsis: The isolated town of Beldon, Wisconsin, is shocked when a high school freshman’s body is found in Lake Algonquin. Just like everyone in the community, sixteen-year-old Daniel Byers believes that Emily Jackson’s death was accidental. But at her funeral, when he has a terrifying vision of her, his world begins to rip apart at the seams.

Convinced that Emily’s appearance was more than just a mere hallucination, Daniel begins to look carefully into her death, even as he increasingly loses the ability to distinguish fantasy from reality.

What’s real? What’s not? Where does reality end and madness begin?

As Daniel struggles to find the truth, his world begins to crumble around him as he slips further and further into his own private blurred reality.

Full of mind-bending twists and turns, Blur launches a new trilogy of young adult thrillers from Steven James, a master of suspense.

My Thoughts:
*I was given an E-book copy of this book by the author in exchange for an honest review*

As I began reading this book I found myself trying to piece together all the things that were happening in order to make sense of what happened to Emily.  I later found that it is best to just read the story for what it is because there are so many twists, especially at the end that will have you torn between who committed these crimes regarding high school students.  When I thought I had everything figured out the story would twist again leaving me so confused.  This is a good thing in my opinion because it will keep you entertained all the way til the end of the book.  I do have to admit that some parts in the middle of this book were slow but I felt that this was necessary in order to have the ending develop like it did.  Daniels character was very sweet and kind but at times I felt like he wasn't all the way there.  To me he just felt really empty, if that makes sense, so at times I found him to be boring.  I also liked the whole idea of him trying to figure out what had happened to his fellow schoolmate, even when everyone else didn't look any further into her death.  I found this book to be a little gory in some sections (which was awesome!), especially where Emily was concerned.  I couldn't stop myself from saying, "OMG Emily what are you doing?!!!!"  There were a few things that I did have issues with and wanted to know more about.  For instance, I think that Daniel's friends reacted to relaxed and understanding when he told them about the Blurs.  Also I want to know more about Daniel's mom and the story behind her, I just felt like there wasn't much said about her but every now and then she would make an appearance in the story which I found to be kind of odd.  Like I said before I think that some of the characters just seemed to be "empty", I felt like I couldn't really get a feel for their character because they acted so bland at times.  Ty is the exception though, he was really weird and frightening, but I still wanted to know what his deal is because he is way to creepy to not have an understanding as to why he behaves the way he does.
Overall, I think that this is a really good paranormal YA book that kept me guessing from start to finish.  The whole concept was awesome and very unique compared to a lot of books that are out now.  Before reading this book, I couldn't get a grasp on the title, Blur, but now that I am finished reading it I think that it was the best name that could have described the events that took place in this book.  I am very excited to see what happens in the second book of this trilogy, Fury, because I need to know more!!!  I would recommend this to anyone who likes to read paranormal fiction, or just wants a new take on the YA genre.

Final Verdict: 4 stars

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