Monday, October 9, 2017

Review + Book Birthday Giveaway: Broken Chords by Jessica Bayliss

Happy Book Birthday to Jessia Bayliss for her novella Broken Chords releasing TODAY!! To celebrate this special occasion, I did a review of Broken Chords and I'm hosting some giveaways!!

Title: Broken Chords
Author: Jessica Bayliss
Genre: YA Horror
Publication Date: Oct 9, 2017
Publisher: Leap Books


Synopsis:

They rip, they tear, they feed, and you never come back again.
Here’s how last year’s Gypsy Cob Music Festival should have gone. Lenora “Lenny” Ragno was supposed to rock her duet with her long-time crush, Jeb, during the open-mic competition. Then, swept up in the glow of success, he’d finally kiss her. Instead, Lenny choked on stage and spent the whole year dodging him online. And avoiding playing her fiddle in public. She thought her worst nightmare was behind her, but she was way wrong.

Now, she’s back at Gypsy Cob where avoiding a public performance is about as impossible as hiding from Jeb. She thinks facing him will be the scariest part of the festival, but when one of their friends talks everyone into trying astral projection, Lenny catches the eye of a demonic entity that marks her as its own.
Whenever it wants, the demon can pluck Lenny from her reality and transport her to a hellish between-world, haunted by its countless, gruesome victims. If she doesn’t want to become one of them, she must discover the nature of the demon’s hold on her and remove it. But how can she defeat a literal demon when she can’t even get over her personal ones.


Review:

I adored Broken Chords!  Let me start off by saying that I am a huge fan of Horror books. Broken Chords being described as "Poltergeist meets Insidious at a music festival" by Jessica Bayliss, it immediately captured my attention and I had to read it.  And it lived up to all of that hype and MORE!  I read this at night, which added an extra layer of scariness, which I highly recommend doing!  I love being scared and having the anxious feeling of what will happen next.  

The novella starts off by one of Lenny's friends picking up a book about astral projection at a psychic's tent at Gypsy Cob, a huge, outdoor music festival. Then the group of friends all try astral projection at night.  Then all "hell" breaks loose for Lenny. As if it wasn't bad enough that she choked up on stage the year prior at Gypsy Cob with her friend Jeb, now she has another problem to deal with, aside from having to perform again this year. A demon.

Broken Chords definitely spooked me when Lenny astral projected to the Hellish between-world and encountered a demon, tortured souls, creepy monsters, and  creatures.  And with enchanting spells and eerie songs in the underworld, it'll make your skin crawl.  The world building in this novella is spectacular. The sinister descriptions of this frightening in-between place in the astral realm were gruesome enough to make you feel like you were really in the demon's lair, including smells, atmosphere, and the setting.

What I also liked about this horror novella, was the fact that it had a nice balance.  It wasn't all horror.  There is a nice blend between a contemporary feel and a horror novella, through alternating worlds of the present day at a music festival, and the hellish demon's world.  So don't worry if horror books aren't your thing.  This novella appeals to those who like contemporaries or those who are fascinated by musical instruments, concerts, and musicians. Music is a big part of this book. Also if you are into psychics or intrigued by astral projection or the supernatural/paranormal, this novella will satisfy your craving too.

The characters in the novella are interesting, relatable, and daring!  There is a nice humanistic feel to the main character Lenny, who goes through trials and tribulations like teens in real life do.  Lenny feels all the angst of a real teen crush, so the reader gets to see how that romance plays out with Jeb. Also Lenny's character goes through a hardship at the music festival and you get to see how she handles it and how she tries to "conquer her demons" both in the real world and the astral world.  You'll have to read the novella to find out how her encounter with her "demons" went.

The characters are strengthened as the novella progresses, and themes of facing your fears and trying to conquer them, having courage, failure and the importance of never giving up, and encouraging others are vitally sprinkled throughout this novella.  Competition is also part of the book at the music festival, and it teaches you that we're really only in competition with ourselves.  We are the only ones who really choose whether we are winners in life.

Overall, I loved Broken Chords!  It was a wonderful and inspiring story.  It had the perfect blend of horror and contemporary, and really spoke to my "soul." It did what a horror story should do, which was scare me.  But what's nice is that it was never so overwhelmingly scary where I couldn't handle it.  I know some people might be concerned about that and say they can't handle being too frightened by a horror book, so they avoid it. But this one I believe you're able to handle. Jessica knew the right amount of scare level to make it just right.  It's a great Halloween read.  Broken Chords was mesmerizingly spooky as much as it was emotionally captivating.  You will definitely be spellbound by this novella. I highly recommend it to everyone!

RATING: 5/5 STARS





2 Giveaways:

I will be having two giveaways on my blog today.  One is a giveaway of Broken Chords, which Jessica Bayliss was awesome enough to giveaway! The other is a Bookish Delight's blog giveaway that has items in it that were inspired by Broken Chords. I call it the Broken Chords Book Birthday Giveaway.  It has psychic elements to it by what you'd find in a psychic's tent at the music festival in Broken Chords, such as a "FREE SPIRITS" candle, and a grow your own crystal kit. It also has a demon/devil's horns headpiece and tail. Also a Poltergeist and Insidious DVD, which Broken Chords was described as by Jessica Bayliss. And you'll also get some ghoulish candy of monsters, dead souls, and a demon you'd find in the Hellish between-world! And lastly, you'll get a Halloween bag where I will put all of your goodies in since Broken Chords is released in October.


GIVEAWAY #1:


Broken Chords Book Birthday Giveaway
Open Internationally. Ends Oct 22, 2017 at 11:59pm PST 
USA will get full Prize Pack Below.
International will get Insidious & Poltergeist DVD only (due to shipping costs) + $10 Amazon Gift Card

To Enter, click the link below that says "CLICK HERE TO ENTER THE BROKEN CHORDS BOOK BIRTHDAY GIVEAWAY PACK". The link will take you to a giveaway form that you must fill out. It just asks for your name and email to contact you if you win. It also has optional bonus entries. *NOTE: THIS IS A DIFFERENT FORM TO FILL OUT THAN GIVEAWAY #2 FORM. EACH GIVEAWAY HAS THEIR OWN FORM).





1. Comment about my review of Broken Chords in the comment box below. +20 

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***DON'T FORGET TO ENTER GIVEAWAY #2 BELOW FOR A COPY OF BROKEN CHORDS BY JESSICA BAYLISS***





GIVEAWAY #2:


BROKEN CHORDS BOOK GIVEAWAY


Enter the giveaway Rafflecopter form:



2 comments:

  1. I can't wait to read this. I love a good scare! Your review was perfectly written to describe the story. I also love the cover! (jozywails@gmail.com)

    ReplyDelete