A Dream Within A Dream: Saving Ben Blog Tour: Review & Giveaway

Saving Ben
Author: Ashley Farley
Genre: New Adult Contemporary Mystery

Release Date: January 31, 2013

Buy Links: Amazon / Barnes and Noble

Description:

Life is sweet for Katherine Langley. A freshman at the University of Virginia, she is free from the drama of her parents’ dysfunctional marriage and ready to focus on studying to become a nurse. Her brother, Ben, belongs to the hottest fraternity on campus, and her new roommate, Emma, is beautiful and charming, a party girl whose answer for a hangover is happy hour. She is also a psychopath.

When Katherine’s obsessive-compulsive overprotective brother succumbs to Emma’s charms and falls dangerously off-track, Katherine must save Ben from himself. Lives are threatened and someone disappears on New Year’s Day. The only evidence left: a single set of footprints in the snow.

From the university campus to a cozy cottage on Carter’s Creek, Virginia, Saving Ben is a haunting tale of love and loyalty, anger management, substance abuse, and betrayal.

Saving Ben is a compelling New Adult contemporary mystery novel that follows main character Katherine "Kitty" Langley as she wakes on New Year's Day to find her older brother's girlfriend, Emma, missing from the house and a single set of footprints leading out to their dock. Flashing back to how things with Emma all started, we see how Ben is taken by Emma's beauty and charms and how they eventually fall apart - all of which is leading up to the event we read about at the beginning of the book. Did something terrible happen to Emma? Is she missing, or worse, dead? And who is to blame?

This was an intriguing mystery that was full of twists, turns, and lots of back story. The author builds the mystery and suspense by introducing the reader to the end of the mystery straight away at the beginning of the novel, then skips back in time to show how seemingly innocent events led up to the present. Kitty is a great main character for the story. She's not only smart, devoted to friends and family (especially her older brother, Ben), but she also gives the reader immense insight into their family dynamics and a front row seat to her brother's life. The plot was imaginative and complex, with several factors combining to concoct the present dilemma. I loved how the author incorporated the back story of the characters to allow the reader to witness the progression of events through the eyes of Kitty. It gives us a glimpse of why things happened the way they did and who or what might be responsible. Aside from being a great mystery, the novel also touches on deep topics such as friendship, love, betrayal, family, and how far one will go to rescue and protect someone they love. Definitely recommended for fans of mysteries as well as those looking for a great story to lose themselves in for awhile.

I wrote a novel, SAVING BEN, in honor of my brother, the boy I worshiped, the man I could not save. It’s not a memoir, but a story about the special bond between siblings.

I'm a wife and mother of two teenagers. I have lived in Richmond, Virginia, for seventeen years, a city I love for its history and traditions. Personal experience with my brother inspired me to become involved with the leadership symposium in my son’s school where I’ve helped bring in speakers to raise parents’ awareness of the alcohol and drug problems children face. When I’m not steering volunteer committees or working on my next novel, I can be found swimming laps or playing tennis.

Links:

Website: http://ashleyfarley.net/

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6916019.Ashley_Farley

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AshleyWFarley