A Dream Within A Dream: Suspicion Blog Tour: Review + Giveaway

Welcome to my stop on the Suspicion blog tour presented by Random House Children's Books! Today I have my review of the book - and don't forget to enter to win your own copy!

Suspicion

Author: Alexandra Monir

Genre: YA Mystery/Fantasy

Release Date: December 9, 2014

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Description:

Mysterious. Magnificent. Creepy. Welcome to Rockford Manor.

"There's something hidden in the Maze." Seventeen-year-old Imogen has never forgotten the last words her father said to her seven years ago, before the blazing fire that consumed him, her mother, and the gardens of her family's English country manor.

Haunted by her parents' deaths, Imogen moves to New York City with her new guardians. But when a letter arrives with the news of her cousin's untimely death, revealing that Imogen is now the only heir left to run the estate, she returns to England and warily accepts her role as duchess.

All is not as it seems at Rockford, and Imogen quickly learns that dark secrets lurk behind the mansion's aristocratic exterior, hinting that the spate of deaths in her family were no accident. And at the center of the mystery is Imogen herself--and Sebastian, the childhood friend she has secretly loved for years. Just what has Imogen walked into?

Combining a fresh twist on the classic REBECCA with a spine-tingling mystery and powerful romance, SUSPICION is an action-packed thrill ride.

Praise:

"Take The Princess Diaries and add magic, murder and mystery, and you've got SUSPICION. A delightful read!"— Amy Plum, author of the of the international bestselling Die For Me series

"If Hitchcock had directed Downton Abbey, the result would have been this book. Alexandra Monir takes us on a gripping, nonstop thrill ride with just the right amount of supernatural and an ending that you definitely won't suspect. I devoured it in one sitting."— Jessica Brody, bestselling author of the Unremembered trilogy

Suspicion is a gripping mystery filled with twists and turns that will have the reader eagerly devouring each page to find out what will happen next. The story begins with our leading lady, Imogen Rockford, trying to live a normal life in NYC after the tragic deaths of her parents seven years prior. After her parents died, she was sent to live with her godparents - close friends and neighbors of the family. All these years later, Imogen is beginning to believe that she can let the past rest and move on with her life - until a mysterious man named Harry Morgan begins calling her and sending her letters. Imogen finally contacts Harry behind her "parents" backs, only to find out that her grandfather and her dear cousin Lucia have both passed away - leaving her as the sole heir to Rockford Manor, as well as a Dutchess. Imogen feels it's her duty to her family to accept her new title and inheritance, and moves to Rockford Manor in England. Things at the mansion are not as she remembers them and it seems as though secrets and lies haunt the halls - even hinting that the deaths of her family members weren't accidents at all. Everything that happened all those years ago, combined with all the strange occurrences now, have one thing at the center of both - Imogen. Along with Sebastian - a close childhood friend that she was in love with years ago. With nothing as it seems, will Imogen and Sebastian be able to unravel the mystery surrounding Rockford Manor before it's too late?

This was a really quick and fun read for me. I have to admit that the story was pretty slow at the beginning and it felt like it was dragging along and going nowhere. Once the action and mystery picked up, however, the pace quickened and I found myself lost in the pages. There were so many secrets, lies, twists, and turns throughout this book that it was constantly throwing me off. I would think that I had it all figured out, only to have a huge twist in the plot happen and break apart my theory. I always enjoy trying to figure out the big mystery of a book before the main characters do, but this one was hard to pinpoint - which made it all the more entertaining for me as a reader. The characters were pretty rounded, especially Imogen and Sebastian. I liked watching their relationship rekindle once Imogen returns to England, and I have to admit that I was totally rooting them on. The writing itself was well written overall, but it did have some areas that seemed to drag on with no point and began to bore me (like at the beginning, as I mentioned above). There are parts like this throughout the book, which really dampened my experience as a reader because my mind would start to wander and go off on tangents - until I finally made myself pay attention again until the plot picked back up. Overall, this was a good book and a fantastic mystery - I absolutely loved the dark feel of the setting as well as the strange happenings and, of course, the romance between Imogen and Sebastian. I would recommend this book to fans of the genre as well as those who like retellings or reimaginings of classic titles.

Author and recording artist Alexandra Monir broke onto the scene in her early twenties with the release of her popular debut YA novel, the paranormal romance TIMELESS (Delacorte Press/Random House). The book caught on quickly, landing on the Barnes & Noble Bestsellers chart and being named one of Amazon's "Best Books of the Month." The sequel, TIMEKEEPER, was published in 2013. Both books in the series have been featured in a variety of media, from USA Today to teen magazines and websites such as J-14, JustJaredJr, Teen.com and Justine Magazine. SUSPICION (Random House; December 9, 2014) marks Alexandra's first novel outside of the Timeless series, as well as her first foray into the mystery genre. Her fourth YA novel for Random House will be published in April 2016.

Alexandra is also a singer/songwriter, known for integrating music into her books' pages. She wrote and recorded three original songs to accompany TIMELESS and TIMEKEEPER, which were released as the album "The Timeless EP" and distributed by Jimmy Buffett's record label, Mailboat Records. She additionally recorded a new song to be released along with Suspicion, and is composing a stage musical geared toward Broadway. Alexandra is the granddaughter of the late Monir Vakili, the foremost Persian opera singer.

Alexandra currently resides in Los Angeles, California. She has been invited to speak at middle schools and high schools across the country, and at major events including Comic-Con, Bouchercon, the Iranian-American Women's Leadership Conference, and New York Public Library's annual Teen Author Festival, among others. (Author info and image taken from Goodreads)

Author Links:
http://www.alexandramonir.com/
http://www.twitter.com/TimelessAlex
https://www.facebook.com/TimelessSeries?ref=br_tf