Blog Tour: Earth (Elemental #1) - Review + Giveaway

Title: Earth
Series: Elemental #1
Author: Shauna Granger
Publisher: Self-published
Release Date: May 1st, 2011
Source: Received for Blog Tour
Format: E-book
Synopsis:Shayna and her two best friends have the abilities to manipulate and control the four elements, earth, air, water and fire. While learning to hone their growing powers, they discover a new and malicious presence in their sleepy beach town. Someone is performing blood magic and threatens to expose their small magical community. So far only small animals have been slaughtered, but then the nightmares start.

Shayna suffers nightmares of being chased and sacrificed only to wake up bloodied and bruised. She thinks her magical blood is the ultimate target for the final blood rite. When an innocent girl, Tracy, is kidnapped Shayna knows it’s only a ploy to draw her out; she can’t let someone die because of her.

My Thoughts:

I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I loved this book; I never thought I would like it so much given how I felt nothing happened in the beginning. After 50 pages, all I remembered reading about was a typical school day for Shauna and her best friends, Steven and Jodi. I was thinking ‘where’s the plot’, and ‘am I going to have to read about her everyday life for another 200 pages?’ But then, sometime after that, I was completely absorbed in the book; the mystery and suspense was gradually building up and I couldn’t wait to reach the end. While I’ll admit some parts were very predictable, and I was hoping for a twist, but the constant action, and secrets waiting to be unravelled diverted my attention away from the expected parts, instead, causing me to focus on exactly what was happening in the present. The writing was just that addictive!

Shayna was a brilliant protagonist! I totally loved her selfless personality, her loyalty to her friends, even ones who she doesn’t know well, and of course, her bravery. What more can you expect? I guess the only issue I had with her was her initial attitude towards Jensen. I mean, how could you verbally attack and then ignore such a hot guy? (haha) Then again, I loved the banter between Shay and Jensen; it was so cute and hilarious, and the unmistakable chemistry between the two had me almost screaming for something to happen between them already! Unfortunately there were only a couple of scenes dedicated to our heroine and her love interest ( *sigh*), but I’ve no doubt the relationship between these two will develop in the next book!

The dialogue between all the characters felt remarkably real. I only just finished reading a book where the dialogue was so poorly written that I felt it was an adult trying desperately to sound like a child. I guess I have an aversion to books with poorly written and unnatural dialogue, so in every book, I pay special attention to the dialogue. I was pleasantly surprised (yet again) about how natural the dialogue sounded. It truly felt like these teens were having a real conversation. There were no unnecessary lines, and the sentences flowed perfectly!

I was especially intrigued by the use of magic in this book. Shayna, Steven and Jodi all have the ability to control and use the elements Earth, Fire and Air respectively, (and water, although I don’t think the character whose element is water has been introduced yet.) The descriptions of Shayna using her magic were so vivid that it captured my entire attention.

Overall, this was an absolutely amazing debut, filled with constant action, relatable characters and a flawless writing style! You will find yourself in another world, experiencing all the adventure with the characters, rather than sitting on the sidelines and reading it word for word. My advice? Enter the giveaway below, cross your fingers and hope you will win an ebook copy of this because really, you won’t be disappointed!

Rating: 4.5 stars

~Giveaway~

As part of the blog tour, Shauna has kindly offered one ebook copy of her novel Earth. To enter, simply comment below with your email address. Giveaway is international and will end on the 30th October.

There will be a chance to win an e-copy of Earth on every blog stop, so make sure you check them all!

~Grand Prize~

There will be two grand prizes:

- Grand prize will be a signed copy of soon to be released Air and a bookmark

- Second Grand Prize is a signed copy of Earth and a bookmark

To enter, comment on every blog post of this tour. On the 29th October, go to this blog to complete your entry.