Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Review of The Grave Winner by Lindsey Loucks and INT giveaway

The Grave Winner (The Grave Winner #1) Goodreads Book Description: Leigh Baxton is terrified her mom will come back from the dead -- just like the prom queen did.

While the town goes beehive over the news, Leigh bikes to the local cemetery and buries some of her mom’s things in her grave to keep her there. When the hot and mysterious caretaker warns her not to give gifts to the dead, Leigh cranks up her punk music and keeps digging.

She should have listened.

Two dead sorceresses evicted the prom queen from her grave to bury someone who offered certain gifts. Bury them alive, that is, then resurrect them to create a trio of undead powerful enough to free the darkest sorceress ever from her prison inside the earth.

With help from the caretaker and the dead prom queen, Leigh must find out what’s so special about the gifts she gave, and why the sorceresses are stalking her and her little sister. If she doesn’t, she’ll either lose another loved one or have to give the ultimate gift to the dead – herself.


My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

My Review:  I was given this book by the author in exchange for an honest review.

The Grave Winner by Lindsey R. Loucks doesn't fall into an easy category. The genre is most similar to a YA horror/paranormal (like the wonderful Anna Dressed in Blood), but I don't want readers who aren't into horror to discount this book. It has a lot of really terrific paranormal elements and is a wonderful read. I'm not a horror buff either and I loved it! This book stars Leigh, a typical rebellious teenager that has just experienced what every other teen hopes not to experience-- the death of her mother. A popular girl at school has just come back from the dead, and Leigh is determined not to have her mother come back that way. But events take an ominous turn and she struggles to keep her family and friends safe as creepy things start to happen. She also gets into a bit of a romantic triangle between a cute graveyard caretaker and the brother of her best friend. Will Leigh be able to work all of this out in time?

I loved this book. Every time I thought I could pigeonhole the book, it surprised me in some way. I had some questions along the way that I wasn't sure would be answered, but they were, in a most satisfying way. The characters are terrific-- I think I would have been lucky to have friends like Leigh and Jo in high school. The two love interests sizzle, although I think I definitely have a soft spot for the best friend's brother, Callum. The setting is creepy and appropriate.

I have to mention this as well-- Loucks has the best swag I've ever seen any author have. The items she has are pivotal players in the book, and I was delighted to see how those elements revealed themselves. I think it's a talent to have swag that enhances the book even more.

Overall, a terrific and creepy read-- make sure you have a warm blanket, pet, or significant other to squeeze during the scary parts! I'll be watching Loucks career from here on out.


Now enter to win this great book and her terrific swag! 

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19 comments:

  1. When I was young I made the mistake of watching Stephen Kings IT, which I now find to be really funny, but it scared me back in kindergarten.

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  2. This sounds like a great book! I don't usually read scary books though because I really get scared at night.

    I got scared by Gremelins when I was a kid...

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  3. I don't remember much "scary something" from when I was little since I always made sure never to watch or read anything scary (I know, it must be pretty boring)... so anyway, what scared me the most are hearing ghost stories from people. I could just imagine the stories they tell and I end up sleeping with the lights on which when I think about it kinda irritates my mom, lol

    - Diana
    chaoticreader.blogspot.com

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  4. Love the giveaway! Thanks

    Oh, uh, The Wizard of Oz and Jimanji. Those monkeys...*shudder*.

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  5. I wasn't allowed to watch scary movies, but the one "scary" book I read, Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn completely FREAKED me out. Thanks for the giveaway! :)

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  6. I wasn't allowed to watch scary movies, but the one "scary" book I read, Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn completely FREAKED me out. Thanks for the giveaway! :)

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  7. I don't remember being scared of a certain book, but I used to be scared of watching the Ghost Whisperer.

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  8. I think "Yaya" was the most terrifying. Even though I watched it during daytime, I was still scared! It's a Filipino horror movie. I shouldn't have watched it... :/

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  9. I used to watch Sivad who hosted Fantastic Features in Memphis... Scared me to death every week with a different thriller. Night of the Living Dead comes to mind as a horror movie I will never forget... I will never forget that voice... "I'm coming to get you Barbara..." Still sends shivers down my spine. Now... my son and I are HUGE fans of the Walking Dead and we just saw World War Z this past weekend and loved it. :-)))

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  10. OMG! Night of the Living Dead. I still get shivers down my spine thinking about "I'm coming to get you Barbara..." Now... my son and I are huge fans of The Walking Dead and we just enjoyed World War Z last weekend... Your book sounds great! I trust reviews from Ensconsed in YA... a 5 star review from her and I have to get the book... :-)))

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  11. Believe it or not, I was terrified of the Wicked With of the West when I was little, so I didn't see the whole Wizard of Oz until I was 7 or so. Then I watched Dracula and wasn't scared at all. :)

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  12. The Exorcist. I walked in on my foreign exchange student watching it when I was a little girl and it scared the crap out of me! I had trouble sleeping for months!

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  13. The movie series of The Leperchan.

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  14. The Child's Play. Thanks for the awesome giveaway! :D

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  15. Well, I'm...let's just say, OLD...so the scary movies that we're out when I was a child we're mostly the Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street franchises. I tell you what, the first Nightmare on Elm Street scared the crappies outta me!!! Course I was only like 8 or 10 when I saw it too, which made it all the more scary to me! But I had a brother who's 4 years older and sister who's 2 years older and of course I wanted to do and see everything they did and saw, so... I guess my mom just gave up trying to keep me from seeing that stuff :) As far as books, Stephen King and Dean Koontz both had my heart :) IT by King and INTENSITY by Koontz were, in my opinion, the scariest that each of them wrote. Phew!! For some sick reason, I still love to watch scary movies and read creepy books - and I LOVE finding a female author who can creep me out!! Can't wait to read this :)

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  16. Hmm...I dunno..Hard to say, really. If they scared me too much, I kind of blocked them from my memory...

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  17. Thanks for the giveaway!

    The child catcher in Chitty chitty bang bang!

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  18. Ugh, I forgot the name of the movie, but it was the one with the scary doll that carried a knife around.

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