Blog Tour - Keystone by Misty Provencher *Reviews and G!veaways!

I am excited to be part of the Keystone by Misty Provencher Blog Tour! On this stop of the tour, I'll be hosting reviews for both Cornerstone and Keystone. The Cornerstone Series by Misty Provencher is a great new paranormal series about a girl who discovers that family secrets sometimes run deeper than she'd ever imagined and that unearthing them can lead to life changing events.

Cornerstone
by Misty Provencher
Published: November 17, 2011
Available: Amazon

Synopsis:

Nalena Maxwell has been branded ‘The Waste’ at her new school, due to her mom's obsessive paper hoarding. Nalena desperately wants something to change in her life, but when she receives a sign (and it's the wrong dang one) inviting her into a mysterious, ancient community, too much changes. What she knew of her family, what she thought of her life and what she believed about her future, is no longer applicable. Seventeen years worth of family skeletons come crashing into Nalena's life and it is the boy...the one that smiles at her like he wants to hear everything she'll ever say...that already knows her powerful secrets. But it is only Nalena that can choose between protecting the life that is already crumbling beneath her feet and the one that might sacrifice everything she could ever have.

Review:
I can't really say what I was expecting when I started reading Cornerstone. The synopsis gives just a hint of what the story is about, yet it was intriguing enough for me to want to read it. Maybe it was that lack of specifics that helped me keep my expectations in check.

Nalena is a very sympathetic character. She lives with her hoarder mother, and endures the ridicule of her classmates without turning into a whiney mess. Nali's love interest, Garrett, is interesting without being overly mysterious and is believable in his actions (meaning he's a teen guy, who on occasion acts like a teen). I really like that although  Nali is attracted to Garrett, she doesn't fall all over him and doesn't let herself become obsessed with him.

Provencher does a great job of building the foundations of her hidden world, and I love that even though they aren't obvious about their existence, they aren't living in complete hiding either.

As soon as I finished Cornerstone, I was ready to pick up Keystone. Provencher definitely has a great start to a new series!

Keystone (The Cornerstone Series, #2)
by Misty Provencher
Published: July 31, 2012
Available: Amazon, B&N

Synopsis:

There’s a man-made storm coming, like a rip in the world, and it’s called the Cusp.

Struggling to fit into the destiny she’s accepted, Nalena Maxwell has been left with one objective: she must find her murdered grandfather’s Memory. Stolen and hidden away by her own father over seventeen years ago, the Memory could be the key to ending the Cusp and destroying the Ianua’s rival community, The Fury.

Driven by each individual’s selfish desires, The Fury has always lacked the loyalty and organization it needs to be an actual force of power.

Until now.

Someone masterminded the Fury’s massive attack on the Ianua, slaughtering twelve of their thirteen community leaders, the Addos. Now there are rumors that the 13th Cura, to which Nali belongs, has gone to the Fury, manipulating the last Addo in order to control the other 12 Curas.

As the Cusp brings the Fury and their own communities against them, Nalena’s Cura must preserve the Ianua, but finding the key to the Cusp isn’t as simple as it seems.

Review:

When I finished reading Cornerstone, I immediately began reading Keystone, and I'm glad I did. Keystone picks up right where Cornerstone left off and we are thrown right back into the world of the Ianua.

Nali has made her choice and joined the Ianua, but the easy existence she had imagined when first learning of them is gone. Instead they are facing an attack from The Fury and have to battle not only the enemy they know, but also those hidden within their own walls. 

Keystone takes the paranormal aspects to a deeper realm, and Provencher does a great job in describing elements of the Ianua's lives within a believable limit. Her descriptions of the Ianua's abilities and force fields was really interesting and I didn't feel lost trying to picture what was going on. There was enough detail that I had something for my imagination to work with, but not so much that I was bogged down trying to get it right.

Probably the part I loved the most was that Nali really learns to stand on her own in this book. In Cornerstone, she relied on others to protects her and guide her, and ultimately she was only involved in a small part of the action. In Keystone however, she is a protector, and although she may not be the greatest fighter she gives it everything she has. Best of all, she uses her brains. There was one point where another character was trying to manipulate her into doing something, but she stood her ground, making a choice based on smarts and not on a defensive reaction.

I am very interested to see where Provencher is taking the series and am looking forward to the next book in the series (which hopefully won't be too long in coming!).

 

 

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