Review and International Giveaway of Stitch by Samantha Durante

Goodreads Book Description: Her heart races, her muscles coil, and every impulse in Alessa's body screams at her to run... but yet she's powerless to move.

Still struggling to find her footing after the sudden death of her parents, the last thing college freshman Alessa has the strength to deal with is the inexplicable visceral pull drawing her to a handsome ghostly presence. In between grappling with exams and sorority soirees - and disturbing recurring dreams of being captive in a futuristic prison hell - Alessa is determined to unravel the mystery of the apparition who leaves her breathless. But the terrifying secret she uncovers will find her groping desperately through her nightmares for answers.

Because what Alessa hasn't figured out yet is that she's not really a student, the object of her obsession is no ghost, and her sneaking suspicions that something sinister is lurking behind the walls of her university's idyllic campus are only just scratching the surface...

The opening installment in a twist-laden trilogy, Stitch spans the genres of paranormal romance and dystopian sci-fi to explore the challenges of a society in transition, where morality, vision, and pragmatism collide leaving the average citizen to suffer the results.

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

My Review:  I requested a copy of this book from the author to review and she graciously complied. I had some trouble rating this book-- it's between a 3.5 and 4, but closer to a four, which is what I ended up rating it.

Stitch by Samantha Durante is an amalgam of genres-- but I won't say more so the reader can discover its secrets without me ruining it. In brief, Alessa is a college student who has lost her family and is still dealing with the aftermath. In her sorority house, she sees a handsome ghost who she must learn more about. With her best friend Janie, Alessa goes further than she could imagine to connect with this ghost from the past.

There's a lot to like about this book. I love all of the twists and turns and the characters are very likeable. I was impressed with how I didn't see one of the big twists coming, and I thought it was nicely done. I like Alessa, the main character, and Janie, her best friend, was probably my favorite character.

That said, I had a couple of issues with this book. First, there is a lot of telling of backstory, rather than showing. The prose is the strongest when we are in the action. Because there is a lot of introspection, I wonder if this would have been better written in first person instead. Also, I wasn't thrilled about the change in perspective randomly in the middle. I think either it should have been upfront with alternating chapters between characters or just one character's viewpoint the whole time.

Overall, I think it was a solid first novel that with some tweaks could have been great. 

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