Monday, December 9, 2013

Review + Blog Tour + Giveaway: North Pole Reform School by Jaimie Admans

North Pole Reform School
Author: Jaimie Admans
Date of Publication: November 6, 2013
Genre: YA rom-com, fantasy

Blurb:
Mistletoe Bell hates Christmas. So would you if you had a name like hers. Her Christmas-mad parents make the festive season last all year, and with another Christmas looming, Mis doesn’t think she can take any more. After her carelessness causes an accident at school, it seems like things can’t get any worse.

Then she wakes up to find The Ghost of Christmases Ruined in her bedroom.

She is taken to the North Pole, to a reform school run by elves determined to make her love Christmas. Stuck in a misfit group of fellow Christmas-haters with a motley crew of the weird and even weirder, watched over by elves day and night, she doesn’t expect to meet cute and funny Luke, who is hiding a vulnerable side beneath his sarcastic exterior. She doesn’t expect to fall in love with him.

But all is not as it should be at the North Pole. A certain Mr Claus is making the elves’ lives a misery, and pretty soon Mistletoe and Luke are doing more than just learning to like Christmas.

A YA romantic comedy in which Santa is the bad guy, teaching reindeer to fly is on the curriculum, and zombies have a fondness for Christmas music.
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Suitable for older teens and upwards due to bad language




Review:
A purple moose appearing in your bedroom in the middle of the night probably should be a nightmare induced by a lot of psychedelic drugs, but in this case Mistletoe (Mis or Misty for short) Bell gets a visit from said moose and ends up in quite a different kind of adventure. Landing herself in the North Pole Reform School because she doesn't just hate Christmas but has ruined it for someone else, she is dropped in the middle of a domed civilization at the arctic with all the not-so-imaginary characters you'd expect there: elves, reindeer, Santa and zombies. Okay, so maybe you weren't thinking zombies but this book has them and I think you'll get a kick out of them. Mis goes through a lot while she is at the North pole and you can really see a character change from the beginning to end, while still holding a humorous tone through most of the story. 

The characters are the ones that really make this book move, and not just Misty. They are funny and snarky but equally damaged and in dark places that they need this slap of reality, even if it does come from a red and green clad elf. They have real situations that hurt each and every one of them that created this loathing of Christmas, so you felt for them once you found out there reason for the hate. The whole point of this school was to make them realize what they were doing to other people, and they do get that lesson, but I didn't expect to feel for these characters and I did. I'd call that successful story telling. 

Mis and Luke made a really cute romance to solidify a complete and whole book. It happened organically, which I love, just by being in a similar situations and understanding each other's pain. After understanding came the ability to lean on each other and then the next step towards romance. Take notes here, because this is how love is SUPPOSE TO HAPPEN! No quick, love at first site, wishy washy love here and that is so rare that it made reading this book so worth it even if I hated the rest of the story-which I didn't. It maintained an imaginative fantasy world but held it down with real feelings and emotions from the characters and that's why this holiday story should be on your own TBR list!- My Opinion- Buy it! 


Get it here: Amazon


About the author:

Jaimie is a 28-year-old English-sounding Welsh girl with an awkward-to-spell name. She lives in South Wales and enjoys writing, gardening, drinking tea and watching horror movies. She hates spiders and cheese & onion crisps. She has been writing for years but has never before plucked up the courage to tell people. Afterlife Academy is her third novel and she hopes you enjoy it. There are plenty more on the way!

Check her out:
Website: http://www.jaimieadmans.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/be_the_spark
Facebook: http://facebook.com/jaimieadmansbooks
Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/oDXZj


GIVEAWAY!

2 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for such a lovely review, Kathy! I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for being part of the tour too!

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