Walking in the Shadows by Cassandra Giovanni Book Blog Tour

Today I'm participating in the book blog tour for Cassandra Giovanni's latest novel Walking in the Shadows. Huge thank you to Megan over at Reading Away the Days for hosting this blog tour and letting me join in on all the fun.

Title: Walking in the Shadows

Author: Cassandra Giovanni

Published: October 27th, 2012

Book rating: 4 stars

Cover rating: 5 stars

Seconds seem like a lifetime when the life you lived is slowly drained out of you by those who care not what you felt, hoped, or dreamed. When the darkness comes it is all-consuming; there is no light and there is no pain. It is the never-ending loss of hope that now consumes me as I die in his arms.
This is Abigail Martin’s nightmare. After her parents become the first victims of a serial killer obsessed with the vampire saga, "Crimson Reign," Abigail does the only thing that she thinks will save her from her parent’s fate–she becomes some one else. As Vera MacIntrye, she falls in love with the very handsome Tad Knightley, and then walks into her first day at her new school to see him standing at the front of the classroom. He’s every teenage girls fantasy, but as he writes “Mr. Knightley: AP British Literature” across the white board Vera realizes the one person who filled the gaping hole in her heart will soon rip it wide open again.

Vera struggles to adjust to being a ‘normal’ teenager with very adult responsibilities like paying the rent, buying groceries and making sure that lights stay on, while being drawn time and time again back to her off-limits teacher. What’s worse is he is drawn to her too, and their worlds refuse to stay apart when Tad finds Vera screaming in terror in the parking lot after the winter formal. The murderer has struck again and is getting closer to the next target–Vera. Tad will do whatever he can to save her, even if it means losing his dream job, but will it be enough when the murderer is closer than anyone ever thought?

Having read Cassandra's debut novel In Between Seasons I must point out I feel like this book showed a different style of writing and she can definitely pull of both! In her debut novel she told the story of Kate and Hunter through dialogue. In Walking she tells the story in a completely different way and after reading her first novel I had felt she could only get better as an author and I was completely right! I absolutely loved Walking! This book is not only a romance novel but a mystery. Tad and Abigail's (I'm going to be using her real name, not the one she was given for protection.) relationship was so cute. I was cheering for them the entire time just wanting them to be able to be with each other and happy without complications or problems to stop them! If I didn't like Abigail so much as a character I'd go and snatch Tad up from her because let me tell you he is SWOON worthy!! This man is drop dead sexy and so, so sweet! The way he is portrayed throughout the story by Cassandra was perfect and his name is definitely on the never ending list of my book boyfriends. I love how strong he tried to be throughout the book and how he ended up always trying to fight for his relationship with Abigail instead of just giving up like she suggested they do. Abigail was such a strong person, I can not imagine how difficult it would be to lose your parents from a serial killer let alone lose them in general. It was so hard for me to watch her beat herself up throughout the story and not see what was so obvious. She had been through so much and come out the other side, if someone was put in her situation half of them wouldn't be able to come out as strong! I think Tad did a great job trying to show her how beautiful a person she truly was! Okay, enough ranting about how perfect Tad was. The mystery side of this novel comes from the fact that the serial killer decided to be psycho and follow poor Abigail to her new life. The killer decides to strike again and Abigail feels like she's going to be next. I assumed who the killer was earlier on in the book but when I was actually told who it was I was completely freaked out. The killer is literally some psycho path who needs to be locked up in a mental hospital!! I loved the twist of the Crimson Reign aspect of the murders and I highly recommend you all read this book. The story was beautifully written and the ending was perfect, I was definitely tearing up! It was such a great book, I didn't it to end.

Favorite Quotes

They didn't understand, for we were Shakespeare and they were mere actors in the play. - Abigail

Seconds seem like a lifetime when the life you lived is slowly drained out of you by those who care not what you felt, hoped, or dreamed. - Abigail

 

 

Cassandra Giovanni is an avid writer of young adult novels and can't wait to share her work with you. The genres of her novels include dystopian, paranormal, mystery and romance all aimed at appealing to adults and young adults alike. Her personal goal with her writing is to show the reader the character's stories through their dialogue and actions instead of just telling the reader what is happening. She began writing at a very young age, in fact from the moment she could draw she was telling stories that way. At age seven she won a contest in American Girl Doll to have a chapter she had written published. She stopped writing in high school and started writing again after seeing the movie creation of a book. It inspired her to start writing again and since then its been something she just can't let go.

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