The #MysteryNovember Book Tour Day 2 Shelley Pickens @shelleypickens

Welcome to Day 2 of this year’s #MysteryNovember Book tour.

Our guest today is Shelley Pickens and her book Unhinged.

Being normal isn’t always a good thing, especially if it ends up killing you.

Aimee, the sixteen year old girl who can see your every memory with just one touch, is fresh out of the torture room after risking everything to capture a killer. Despite her instinct to avoid contact with others, she tries her best to find a new normal at school—perhaps even a boyfriend. But for those who are cursed, happiness and normality aren’t easy to obtain. A bizarre illness spreads like wildfire through the school and causes those around Aimee to lose their sanity before falling into a coma. Slowly, all the people she loves succumb to this strange disease.

Alone and terrified, she must use her curse to find a way to save her family and friends. As she delves deeper and deeper into their memories, she realizes David, a delusional person from her childhood, is the bigger threat that could destroy her. Despite the danger that surrounds her, she struggles to solve the puzzle before it’s too late to help those she cares for the most.

But as David moves closer to eliminating her, one puzzle still remains. Will she be able to save herself?

Where is your home town?

I had the distinct misfortune of living in one of the most humid places on earth – Columbia, SC! But as the capital of South Carolina, it is also a beautiful, safe place to grow up and build wonderful childhood memories. Though, to this day, I still won’t eat our beloved state crop – Okra! YUCK!

What do you like about writing in the mystery genre?

I can’t honestly remember a time when I was young that I haven’t thought about writing some poem or short story after my mind has revealed its latest creative idea. Yet, after a teacher in my master’s program demolished my writing style, I couldn’t write for a good decade. It wasn’t until I saw a television special highlighting the Journey of one of my favourite authors – J.K. Rowling – that I became inspired enough to pick up my pen once again and begin writing novels. With my best friend’s encouragement, I jumped blindly and not so bravely into the world of publishing this past July.

What sub-genre of mystery does your book fit?

Must I just pick one? 😉 I love reading romance, anything YA or Paranormal and almost anything Dystopian. Though I do love a great mystery, I can’t quite get into horror books. The only exception to that is Dean Koontz’s Odd Thomas series. I’m totally in love with goofy Odd!

Where is your book set? 

“Unleashed” takes place at a high school in rural Georgia. The setting is based off of the actual high school at which I currently work as a Spanish teacher. ¡Arrrriba!

Can you introduce us to the main characters?  

But there’s a new threat rising up to greet her. A bizarre illness spreads like wildfire through the school and causes those around Aimee to lose their sanity before falling into a coma. Slowly, all the people she loves succumb to this strange disease. Alone and terrified, she must use her curse to find a way to save her family and friends. As she delves deeper and deeper into their memories, she realizes David, a delusional person from her childhood, is the bigger threat that could destroy her. Despite the danger that surrounds her, she struggles to solve the puzzle before it’s too late to help those she cares for the most. But as David moves closer to eliminating her, one puzzle still remains. Will she be able to save herself?

Aimee is a strong willed survivor who chooses to live her life alone and away from others. She is the epitome of a Goth girl with long blonde hair dyed black, a nose ring and covered head to toe in black clothes to deter people from interacting with her. She loathes all human contact because she’s cursed. Her curse is that if she touches you, she absorbs all of your memories, all of your secrets. She has great inner strength and truly does desire friendship yet lives a lonely life for an obvious reason: she doesn’t want to absorb any more horrible memories of killers.

Where can readers find out more about you and your writing?       

Book trailer for book 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLbiytP_bEk

 Book Trailer for book 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQvKX0rb-Zg

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22798155-the-haunting-of-secrets

Twitter: https://twitter.com/shelleypickens

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shelleypickensauthor

Website: www.shelleypickens.com

Publisher: http://www.fireandiceya.com/  

If you are interested in my story “Unhinged” or the first book, “The Haunting of Secrets”, (and I hope you are!) please visit any or all of the sites below. The coolest is my book trailer done by the video class at my high school with actors from drama!  

When I’m not writing or teaching, you can find me surfing Facebook or twitter for all the latest news, tidbits and gossip! I share all my new adventures in life and in writing on both Facebook and Twitter. I am sorry to say that I am very new at blogging but post as much as I can when I’m not running around taking my hot mess kids to either baseball or soccer.

Where can readers find your book?  

Amazon US: http://goo.gl/0jNSRM

Amazon UK: http://goo.gl/I5DyOq

Barnes and Noble: http://goo.gl/ZUC0Ig

Publisher Site: http://www.fireandiceya.com/authors/shelleyrpickens/unhinged.html

The Haunting of Secrets (book 1)Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00M2E3IVK/ref=nosim?tag=bookdire-21&linkCode=sb1&camp=2378&creative=8430

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/459523?ref=booksdirect

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-haunting-of-secrets-shelley-r-pickens/1119986452?ean=9781612359298&offerid=239662

Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/The-Haunting-Secrets-Shelley-Pickens/dp/1612359299/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1412615352&sr=8-1&keywords=the+haunting+of+secrets

 Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/535634

Amazon UK: http://goo.gl/I5DyOq

 

Rosie’s Book Review Team #RBRT Unhinged by @shelleypickens #YA #Thriller #bookreview

Today’s second team review is from Barb she blogs here http://barbtaub.com/

Barb has been reading Unhinged by Shelley Pickens

My Review: 4  stars out of 5

Is it clinical depression if you’re cursed? Aimee Richardson, a sixteen-year-old high school student, should know. After all, she’s been through hell. It killed her. But she emerged, still cursed but with a loving adoptive mother, best friend, and even a boyfriend. Life should be good, right? Well, not if she’s still doomed to experience the memories of people she touches.

Careful to wear gloves and avoid skin-to-skin contact, she keeps even those she loves at a distance. But when people at her school begin to fall prey to a mysterious “illness” that drives them to homicidal madness, she has to question even the precarious life she’s carved out for herself. Sixteen years of experience taught her to be suspicious of others, but when those she loves become the next victims of the plague, she’s forced to turn to two strangers for help. Brett, another student at her high school calls her his “dark princess” and seems driven to provide assistance. And Dr. Evans, a forensic pathologist, seems strangely familiar with the specifics of Aimee’s curse.

I haven’t read the first volume in this series, so there are a few details I don’t know. But for the most part, author Shelley Pickens provides just enough backstory to make Unhinged work on its own. As dark fantasy, magic in Unhinged is a curse. The threat is that it will be used to mind rape the populace into submission. Apparently, it can only be defeated by the most powerful thing in the (YA) universe—love.

I ignore the gun and look David straight in the eyes. “You’re right. You’ll never be my equal. Because you have no idea how to love.”

David laughs. “Love? Who cares about love? I’m about to be the most powerful man in the world. You can take your love and shove it.”

Aimee is, for lack of a better term, the Eeyore—the teen version of the gloomy grey donkey of A.A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh. She only wears black, reminds us with virtually every breath that she’s cursed (not to mention a social disaster), and has unrelievedly pessimistic trust and self-esteem issues. “But cursed people don’t get happy endings. Sadly, the cursed never live long enough to see them.” However, we also see a different Aimee through the eyes of the people who value her. And over the course of Unhinged, the Aimee we initially meet has to change and grow into the person everyone else sees, and who is willing to save everyone because she’s the only one who can. “Well, screw that. If I have to die to save the ones I love, than that is what I choose–no one else.”

The pace stutters a bit in places, with the story setup—numerous examples of fellow students and others succumbing to the “sickness”—being great for shock content but a bit repetitive. Although there are a surprising number of references to faces covered with various emotions and voices that drip things, the writing is for the most part clear, competent, and often lovely. Take, for example, Aimee’s reliving of her boyfriend’s memories from the first time he sets eyes on her:

“What I thought was the worst thing that could happen to him, he sees as the best. Perhaps we are all destined to fall for that one person that is able to see us as we wish we could see ourselves—perfectly imperfect.”

There are a few plot holes (nobody ever seems to just pull out their cellphone and summon emergency assistance), some gory scenes, and much foreshadowing for the next book in the series, but for the most part Unhinged is just what it sets out to be: a dark, occasionally gruesome, thrill ride and a great example of the genre. I would give it four stars and look forward to more from this talented author.

Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

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Rosie’s Book Review Team #RBRT Unhinged by @shelleypickens #YA #mystery

Today’s team review comes from Karen she blogs at https://mytrainofthoughtson.wordpress.com/

Karen chose to read and review Unhinged by Shelley Pickens

My Opinion

This second instalment of The Haunting of Secrets series takes the readers back to 16-year-old Aimee. She still doesn’t like to touch people as she automatically learns all about their past when this happens. Something has changed, though: she had to realise that she loves Logan.

With Unhinged, Shelley R. Pickens has created an intriguing sequel to the story of a girl who tries to keep to herself. Her secret is only known to Mary who adopted her four years before, to her friend Dejana and to Logan. When some classmates start behaving weirdly, Aimee can’t even guess how fast life as she knew it is turning worse as the ones she loves most also seem to lose their sanity. Who is friend, who is foe – it is hard to tell. Unhinged is a very gripping read with a three-dimensional main character; the more I learned about her, the more I liked her. Shelley R. Pickens develops the story in a great way – it gets more and more thrilling as the story proceeds. I was drawn into the story right away, was really close to Aimee and all events. While reading, Aimee became like a friend and/or a dear family member. I’m looking forward to reading the next instalment! Unhinged is a great read for young adults as well as fans of paranormal and mystery reads.

This a book to read again. Highly recommended

Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Rosie’s Book Review Team #RBRT Unhinged by @shelleypickens #YA #Thriller

Today’s team review is from Heidi, find her on facebook here https://m.facebook.com/#~!/heidi.simon.921?ref=bookmark

Heidi chose to read and review Unhinged by Shelley Pickens

Unhinged

By Shelley Pickens

Review by Heidi Lynn

 

First, I would like to thank Shelley Pickens for providing me a copy of this book so I may bring you this review.

 

Unhinged by Shelley Pickens is the second book in the series The Haunting of Secrets #2. I did not have the opportunity to read the first book. However, I feel this could be read is a standalone book. If you would like to get to know the characters and their storyline better I suggest you read the first book.

 

Aimee’s special gift of seeing people’s memories with one touch originally intrigued me to read this book. It was a different type of Mystery that I am used to reading. It was full of mystery, suspense, fear, violence, sickness and evil memories. Once I started getting into it I could not put it down until I was finished. I needed to know why all of this evil was happening around Aimee.

 

Shelley’s book Unhinged was very well written. The details in her descriptions made you feel like you were there. Aimee, Logan and Dejana’s characters were very likeable. I could relate to Aimee as she was kind of an outsider and felt invisible. I admired Logan for always being there for Aimee. I liked the friendship bond that Aimee and Dejana shared. Plus, I loved the unique name Dejana.

 

There was one section of the book that struck a chord with me.

 

“That’s the funny thing about fate; people think it’s written in stone. They believe the age-old adage that you must ‘accept’ your fate; but that just isn’t true. It is simply a way for people to accept the things they can’t change. If something good happens, then “fate lends you a hand.” If something awful occurs, then “fate is cruel.”

 

If you are seeking very suspenseful read I highly suggest Shelley Pickens Unhinged.

Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com