Drowned Blog Tour: Review, Guest Post & Giveaway

Posted July 23, 2014 by Melissa in Uncategorized / 4 Comments

I’m super stoked to have Drowned’s blog tour stop at The Reader and the Chef! This book is nothing short of amazing and I hope many get to get their hands on this book soon. Scroll down this post to read my review, a guest post from the author and the tour wide giveaway!
Title: Drowned
Author: Nichola Reilly
Series: Drowned #1
Genre: YA Fantasy
Publisher: Harlequin TEEN
Published: June 24th, 2014 
Page count: 304 pages
Format: eBook

Source: Provided for tour in exchange for honest review

Book Summary:

Coe is one of the few remaining teenagers on the island of Tides. Deformed and weak, she is constantly reminded that in a world where dry land dwindles at every high tide, she is not welcome. The only bright spot in her harsh and difficult life is the strong, capable Tiam—but love has long ago been forgotten by her society.

The only priority is survival.

Until the day their King falls ill, leaving no male heir to take his place. Unrest grows, and for reasons Coe cannot comprehend, she is invited into the privileged circle of royal aides. She soon learns that the dying royal is keeping a secret that will change their world forever.

Is there an escape from the horrific nightmare that their island home has become?

Coe must race to find the answers and save the people she cares about, before their world and everything they know is lost to the waters.

 *The Reader’s Review*

     My rating: 5/5 stars

I need the sequel NOW. This book is sooo good and such a surprise because it’s unlike any other book out there. It’s weird, it’s unique, and it will pull you underneath its pages. I hope you know how to swim!
The story takes place on a tiny island known as Tides. Supposedly, it’s the last bit of earth that hasn’t been completely covered by the floods. Each day when the tides rise, the habitants are forced to line up on a platform according to their number and wait for the tides to lower if they don’t want to be carried away by the ocean. Life is hard on the tiny island since food is scarce and the odds of making through another day are pretty slim thanks to all the casualties, and even more when you are only a one armed girl.
Everything about Drowned was unusual and unexpected, from the one-armed heroine to the castle secrets withheld by the royal. I must admit that at first, it was a bit hard for me to get used to Coe and her life in the tiny island of Tides because I silly enough, had my doubts on Coe’s ability to kick ass thanks to her “deformity”. However, not only did she kick ass, but she also rocked the whole island from its core! She didn’t need to have all of her limbs to dream and fight for what she wanted, she went for them all the way.
Tiam was another character I loved from this book. The guy had an amazing attitude and cared for Coe right from the start.  I adored his innocence (and Coe’s too) when it came to showing feelings. This island hardly knows what love is, let alone what a hug or a kiss means. Yes, my favorite part of this book is when Tiam and Coe discover what a Kiss truly is *happy sigh*.
There is so much more about Drowned I wish I could tell you right here and now, but I don’t want to spoil the book for you. All I have left to say is that this book is a must and I hope many read it. It may be a bit weird, yes, but it’s the good weird you can’t stop yourself from loving.

The Inspiration Behind Drowned 

I used to spend my summers at the Jersey Shore and sometimes there
would be storms that would make the ocean on our East meet the bay on our West,
so I’ve always had enormous respect for the power of the ocean. Now, I live in
Pennsylvania, but I make it to the shore as much as I can. I guess you can say
the ocean has a big hold over me—there is nothing I miss more than the smell of
the ocean breeze as it floats in the windows at night.
For DROWNED, maybe 5 or 6 years ago, I was lying in bed, missing the
ocean, and I kept thinking a group of survivors who lived on an island, and
twice a day, whenever the tide rolled in, they were forced to squeeze together
on the only dry land—a small platform that only got smaller as the days dragged
on. The survivors would each be given a spot on the platform based on their
“worth” to society—the more important people would be safer, in the center,
where the dregs would be at the very edge. Weak and deformed Coe, the main
character, is still a child, so she’s in the center, but when she turns 16, an
adult, she is destined to be cast out to the edge.  
It’s post-apocalyptic, because mostly everyone is dead, except for
this small group of 496 survivors. But they’re not rebuilding their world—they
can’t. Land is constantly eroding. I’ve always been haunted by that last line
of T.S. Eliot’s poem The Hollow Men, “This is the way the world ends/Not with a
bang but a whimper.”  And for these people,
that’s it. Life is slowly fading away, like the last embers of a fire that’s
been stamped out.
That’s a heck of a lot of hopelessness, so I thought I should
introduce one bright spot to the world, one ray of hope. Coe may, on the
surface, be weak and pathetic. But she is strong in other, hidden ways. She is
obsessed with fairy tales, since that’s the only remaining book on the island,
and the one she reads constantly. No one else can read, so she is the only one
who believes in these fantasies of love and heroism and loyalty and happily
ever after. She is hopeful.

The rest of the island is filled with an interesting set of
characters—the fight for survival has worn many of them down, driving them mad
or bloodthirsty. But perhaps Coe has the power to convince others that all is
not lost, which would make her the most valuable person of all. 
Meet the author

About Cyn Balog:
Cyn Balog is a normal, everyday Jersey Girl who always believed magical things can happen to us when we least expect them. 

She is author of young adult paranormal novels; FAIRY TALE (2009), SLEEPLESS (2010), STARSTRUCK (2011), TOUCHED (2012), and her most recent release: DEAD RIVER (2013).e. 

She lives outside Allentown, Pennsylvania with her husband and daughters.She also writes under the pen name Nichola Reilly

Nichola Reilly is Cyn Balog’s post-apocalyptic fantasy-writing alter-ego. The first book in her series, DROWNED, will be releasing from Harlequin TEEN sometime in 2014, followed by a sequel, BURIED, in 2015.

Website Twitter Facebook | Facebook – Nichola | Goodreads  | Twitter – Nichola

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Follow the Tour:

July 14th – Like A Bump On A Blog  – Promo/Excerpt 

July 15th – Cabin Goddess  – Playlist/Excerpt/Recipe 

July 16th – Fandom Monthly Magazine – Review/Top 10 

July 17th – Bookish – Review 

July 18th – All Things Romance – Review 

July 21st – I Feel The Need The Need To Read  – Review/ Top 10 

July 22nd – Bookraptured – Review 

July 22nd – Sleep. Eat. Read. – Review 

July 23rd – Bookish – Debbie – Review 

J uly 23rd – The Bookish Confessions – Review/ Top 10 

July 23rd – The Reader and the Chef – Review/GP 

July 24th – Ohana Reads  – Review 

July 25th – Guest Review – Karin Baker  – Review 

July 25th – The Cover Contessa – Review 

July 25th – Little Red’s Book Reviews – Review/Playlist

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4 responses to “Drowned Blog Tour: Review, Guest Post & Giveaway

    • You must! Gosh I loved it so. I'm just afraid people won't give it a chance because of how different and limited Coe seems to be at first. She's not. She's fantastic. 🙂

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