Blog Tour: Glow Girl by M. Weidenbenner (Review) + Giveaway
Happy Wednesday everyone! I'm back with another review as part of the RockStar Book Tour. Keep reading for my review, information about the author, and a giveaway!
Series: Droit Series, #1
Publication: October 31st, 2019
Source: ARC Copy
Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle, B&N, iBooks, Kobo
Multi-Award-Winning and Best-Selling Author, Speaker and Writing Coach.
Willow is just your average sixteen-year-old girl. Okay, maybe not so average. She can heal animals. For her own safety, her veterinarian parents have made her promise not to use her powers. But sometimes her compassion just takes over, and she can't help ... well ... helping.
Willow is a Droit, but hides her Droitism because people like her are feared and hated by those without special abilities. Two of Willow's schoolmates, rumored to be Droits, have simultaneously disappeared.
When Willow's non-Droit friend, Rain, is targeted, Willow wonders whether she should get involved--even if that means putting herself in the line of fire.
A mysterious new friend, Trae, just might be the key to unlock her courage.
In the end, she has a choice: she can deny who she is or declare her ability to heal, but either way, her life will never be the same again.
I should by saying that this book was an unexpected gem of enjoyment. I finished it over the course of two days and was readily surprised by my eagerness to read page after page. Glow Girl can be classified as a YA science fiction novel that takes place during the near future of our world. In this futuristic version of earth not much has changed except for the fact that there are a new "type" of humans that are classified as Droits. These humans have special abilities and often discriminated against for these same abilities. Willow, an unidentified Droit, has the ability to heal animals and fears the outcome of her life if she is discovered to have these abilities.
"'We can't have this kind like her, use...um...that stuff...just think how disruptive the school would be. If sh attended the school for her kind she would have learned the tools---."'
While I typically focus on the character development in most of my book reviews, this book did extremely well in terms of plot development. Weidenbenner does a great job of providing the reader with just enough information to understand the basics of this version of earth, but not enough that it drives away the suspense of knowing what's to come next. A lot of the plot is driven from Willows inability to accept the idea that she is a Droit and how her identity as a Droit could change not only her life, but the lives of individuals around her. Pair that with another character that is seemingly obsessed with her ability to heal animals and you have a fast paced plot that reads a lot like an X-Men comic where teens and adults are discovering that they are "mutants." There were a lot of unexpected twists in this book especially towards the end. It left off on a major cliffhanger that left me wanting th next book. In fact, I contacted the author via Twitter with questions I had about the characters in the final chapters of the book. I also loved that the book addressed themes of acceptance instead of discrimination. The Droits in this book face prejudice for their abilities and there are groups that attempt to both stop and encourage the continuation of this prejudice behavior. It definitely aligned to how different races and ethnicities are currently treated in the US.
"'It's just that I was caught between a sour pickle and a jalapeno. Either way it was going to bite.'"
The characters within Glow Girl were interesting and unexpected. One of the most captivating parts of the character development was the relationship between Willow and her aunt FiFi. During the entire book, Willow struggles heavily with her identity as a Droit and yearns to blend in. She struggles a lot with her self-esteem; however, she builds this amazing relationship with her aunt that assists her in finding her own voice in a way that she didn't expect. Their relationship truly illustrated the familial support that Willow had when going through her identity transformation. The only critique that I had was with a part of character development. I truly enjoy romance books; however, I struggle with YA books that include romance that isn't well developed or seems added for the sake of being added. I'm a firm believer that every YA book doesn't have to include romance, but it seems to be a trend within the publishing industry.
"I smiled, inwardly hating how she referred to Droits as them. But I'd don the same thing--discriminated against people I didn't know, people I feared because they were shunned and I was, until recently, secretly like them. I was so confused."
Glow Girl was exceptionally well written novel with accessible text and an easy to follow, fast paced plot. The ending not only left me wanting more, but also gave me a new found respect for the main character Willow. She goes through a lot in the course of the novel, but still remains strong and true to her character. If you're a fan of science fiction books that deal with characters gaining or recognizing powers I would definitely recommend checking this book out.
AWARD-WINNING and AMAZON BESTSELLING AUTHOR.
GOLD Medal WINNER in the 2014 READERS' FAVORITE International Awards.
Bronze Medal Winner in Dan Poytner's Global eBook Awards. Winner of the
Kindle Book Promotion Awards. SPIRIT and INSPIRATION MEDALS in the NEW APPLE
LITERARY AWARDS.
AWARD-WINNING SPEAKER. John Maxwell Team Leader.
To obtain a free copy of one of Michelle's children's books, and receive
her newsletters, go to www/MichelleWeidenbenner.com/gift/
Michelle is an author, speaker, trainer and coach dedicated to leaving a
legacy of leaders who care about bringing value to others and equipping the
future generation. She's also known as the UNCOVER AGENT who helps people
uncover their messages so they can UNLEASH them into the universe.
She grew up in the burbs of Detroit with five brothers. No sisters. Each
time her mom brought the boy bundle home from the hospital Michelle cried,
certain her mom liked boys better than girls. But when her brothers pitched in
with the cooking, cleaning, and babysitting--without drama, Michelle discovered
having brothers wasn't so bad. They even taught her how to take direct
criticism without flinching, which comes in handy with book reviews.
CACHE a PREDATOR and ECLAIR GOES GEOCACHING are currently hidden in
geocaching sites throughout the US. If you'd like to see where they might be in
your area, please log in to geocaching.com and search for trackables at IN
SCRIBE--that's Michelle.
Giveaway Details:
50 winners will receive an ebook of GLOW GIRL,
International. Via Goodreads
Goodreads Book Giveaway
Glow Girl
by M. Weidenbenner
Giveaway ends November 28, 2019.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.
Tour Schedule:
Week One:
10/28/2019
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Excerpt
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10/29/2019
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Review
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10/30/2019
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Review
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10/31/2019
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Review
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11/1/2019
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Review
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Week Two:
11/4/2019
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Review
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11/5/2019
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Review
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11/6/2019
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Review
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11/7/2019
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Review
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11/8/2019
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Review
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Week Three:
11/11/19
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Excerpt
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11/12/19
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Review
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11/13/19
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Review
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11/14/19
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Review
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11/15/19
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Review
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Week Four:
11/18/2019
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Review
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11/19/2019
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Review
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11/20/2019
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Review
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11/21/2019
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Review
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11/22/2019
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Review
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