Hey, lovelies! It gives me great pleasure today to host Kelly
Vincent and her new book, “Finding Frances”! For other stops on her Goddess Fish
Promotions Book Tour, please click on the banner above or any of the images in
this post.
Be sure to make it to the
end of this post to enter to win a $40 Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift Card!! Also, come back daily to interact with Kelly
and to increase your chances of winning!
Thanks for stopping
by! Wishing you lots of luck in this
fabulous giveaway!
Finding Frances
by Kelly Vincent
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GENRE: Contemporary YA
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BLURB:
Retta
Brooks thinks her life is on track after convincing her overprotective mom to
stop home-schooling her and allow her go to Buckley High. She comes home from a
night out with friends to find that her whole world has changed, and she has
extremely hard decisions to make. Not to mention finding the answers to
questions some people would rather she not know. Is she strong enough for what
lies ahead?
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EXCERPT TWO:
I
Googled everything I knew about the crash. I had the rough date, so I searched
for news records of wrecks then. But there were tons, and the old newspaper
records required payment. I found a few sites that would let me search accident
reports by state, which made me realize I didn’t even know for certain where
the crash had happened.
I
did know that right after it happened, Mom had moved us to Buckley and rented
this house. I’d been born in Lincoln, Nebraska, so maybe it had happened in
Nebraska. Yet I’d always assumed we had already been living somewhere in Iowa.
Maybe it was Mom’s family who was from Nebraska. But where else in Iowa had we
lived? Des Moines, since that was the newspaper I’d found?
Also,
it occurred to me that it was weird we didn’t have much money. If all those
people had died, surely Mom inherited money or got insurance money. It made no
sense.
Googling
everybody who had died brought up records of long-dead people with similar
names and nothing more. What if it was all made up? What if those weren’t their
names at all? What if I was adopted—or worse, kidnapped? That would be crazy.
But it also would explain why Mom was so paranoid.
Could
that really be it?
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MY BOOK REVIEW:
This book was intriguing, captivating, suspenseful, authentic,
compelling, and emotionally consuming!!
First
off, I was very shocked to find out what the main theme throughout this book
was. I definitely was not expecting this
book to revolve around domestic violence.
I found the blurb to be somewhat misleading and perhaps too vague for
this heavy topic to just be thrown onto the reader. As a former child who had faced my dad physically, mentally, and emotionally abuse my mom and I and even
having been kidnapped and almost killed by him, this topic is not something I take
lightly. I think most abuse victims like
myself have triggers and even after years of survivorship can quickly be in an
uncomfortable state-of-mind when certain memories come crashing back. I understand the author wanted to keep the
plot elements secret to not spoil the story.
However, I personally think there should have been some mention or warning
that this book focuses on domestic abuse so readers like myself aren’t startled
when it’s sprung on them.
I really enjoyed
reading this book and I’m really glad I read it. However, I wish I had known about the premise
of this book, before stumbling into it and having all those emotions come
racing back.
I appreciate
that the author puts a spotlight on such a dark topic. She also doesn’t hold any punches as she
tells this story in a raw, realistic, true to life fashion – instead of the sometimes-usual
cotton candy story line take that down plays the toll dv plays on victims and
their families – emotionally, physically, and mentally.
This book focuses more on the ripple effects of domestic violence rather than the actual account and physically shown abuse.
This
story felt so true and authentic – and scary similar to things my mom and I
went through. I really liked the main
character, Retta and couldn’t help but easily connect with her! I so wanted to tell her it was going to be
okay and this will only make you stronger.
Words that I can say now as an adult and survivor.
I think the author did an amazing job on her character
development as these characters were so real and personal on many levels!
Thankfully,
unlike Retta’s mom, my mom didn’t keep secrets from me. We’ve always had a very close relationship
and it would have been hard to keep from me since I could remember the abuse. But like the main characters, we cut all
family ties, and we ran. We moved every
6-9 months as he hunted us. Like the book
reveals, dv cases back then weren’t taken seriously and police often looked the
other way as it was a “personal family matter.”
Thankfully, there are now stricter laws and more awareness – including thanks
to this book – but today’s stats still list that more than ten million people experience
domestic violence in the U.S. each year!!!
I liked
that this book also focused on Retta’s experiences and how it was shaping her
outlook on men and her future. Retta
worries that the guy she likes may turn out to be like her abusive father. I personally can’t help but still look for
the warning signs when I meet someone new.
This topic isn’t often highlighted or mentioned and I appreciated that
the author included this story line into the book. Domestic violence changes the way victims
think, act, and perceive others.
I also enjoyed the passages where Retta was connecting with her mom though her music, clothes, shoes, posters, scrapbooks, etc. Retta getting to know about her mom before everything changed were some beautiful and sweet character arc development moments.
I really liked that the author included a note at the end of the
book that detailed background information on domestic violence, warning signs
and characteristics of abusive relationships, and information on how to get
help.
This book has a creative story line that evenly flows, excellent
writing style with well-described scenes, strongly-developed characters, is
steady paced, and completely keeps you fully engaged!!
All in all, I really enjoyed reading this book and would
absolutely recommend it! I think all
contemporary young adult readers will like this book too! So, add it to your TBR List and get to
reading - you won't be disappointed!
Did you find this review helpful?
If so, please, please, please mark it as
helpful on Amazon here:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/review/R1MKQZPANJL0L2
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR BIO:
Kelly Vincent wrangles
data weekdays and spends the rest of her time playing with words. She grew up
in Oklahoma but has moved around quite a bit, with Glasgow, Scotland being her
favorite stop. She now lives near Seattle with three cats who definitely help
her write her stories. She’s also working toward the Red Earth Master of Fine
Arts in creative writing at Oklahoma City University.
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CONNECT WITH KELLY:
Kelly’s Beautiful Furbaby, Zmije
(pronounced zmee-yuh)
Kelly’s Adorable Furbaby, Marlowe
PC - @
http://kellyvincent.net/about
Website:
Blog:
Twitter:
Pinterest:
Instagram:
BookBub Author Page:
BookBub Book Page #1:
BookBub Book Page #2:
Goodreads Author Page:
Goodreads Book Page:
Amazon Author Page:
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BOOK BUY LINKS:
Amazon Kindle eBook:
Amazon Paperback:
Barnes and Noble NOOK eBook:
Barnes and Noble Paperback:
Kobo eBook:
Apple iBook eBook:
Google Play eBook:
The Book Depository Paperback:
BAM! Books-A-Million Paperback:
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GIVEAWAY INFO:
Kelly will be awarding a $40 Amazon or B/N GC to
a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.
**This post contains affiliate links and if clicked and a
purchase is made, I may receive a small commission to help support this
blog. This does not cost you anything,
it just helps pay for all those awesome giveaways on here.**
This contest is sponsored
by a third party. Fabulous and Brunette is a registered host of Goddess Fish
Promotions. Prizes are given away by the
sponsors and not Fabulous and Brunette. The featured author and Goddess Fish
Promotions are solely responsible for the giveaway prize.
Kelly ~ Good morning! Welcome back! It is great to have you here again! Congrats on your new book and good luck on the book tour! I really enjoyed reading and reviewing your book, thanks for providing the copy! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting again and for the nice review--and the pictures of my cats :)
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great book.
ReplyDeleteGreat review!
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed the post, sounds good!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds so good thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteYour book sounds great and I'm glad I got to learn about it. Thank you!
ReplyDelete