Tear You Apart Blog Tour: Review + Giveaway

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for Tear You Apart! Today I'll be sharing my review of the book with you - and don't forget to enter the awesome giveaway! To follow the rest of the tour, click on the banner above.

Tear You Apart (Beau Rivage)

Author: Sarah Cross

Genre: YA Fantasy/Fairy Tale Retelling

Release Date: January 27, 2015

Publisher: EgmontUSA

Description:

An edgy fairy tale retelling of "Snow White" set in the world of Kill Me Softly for fans of Once Upon a Time and Grimm.

If you want to live happily ever after, first you have to stay alive.

Viv knows there’s no escaping her fairy-tale curse. One day her beautiful stepmother will feed her a poison apple or convince her on-again-off-again boyfriend, Henley, to hunt her down and cut out her heart before she breaks his. In the city of Beau Rivage, some princesses are destined to be prey.

But then Viv receives an invitation to the exclusive club where the Twelve Dancing Princesses twirl away their nights. There she meets Jasper, an underworld prince who seems to have everything—but what he really wants is her. He vows to save her from her dark fate if she’ll join him and be his queen.

All Viv has to do is tear herself away from the huntsman boy who still holds her heart. Then she might live to see if happily ever after is a promise the prince can keep. But is life as an underworld queen worth sacrificing the true love that might kill her?

Faced with a possible loophole to her "Snow White" curse, Viv goes underground, literally, to find the prince who's fated to rescue her. But is life safe in the Underworld worth the price of sacrificing the love that might kill her?

POP CULTURE CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF TWISTING FAIRY TALES: ABC's Once Upon a Time and NBC's Grimm continue to pull in high ratings. And with the anticipated Angelina Jolie Maleficent (2014), the film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods (2014), and Kenneth Branagh's Cinderella (2015), Hollywood is infected with fairy tale fever.

CAMEOS FROM FAVORITE CHARACTERS: Viv, who first appeared in Kill Me Softly trailed by her brooding boy-toy Henley, takes center stage in this new Beau Rivage tale. Other familiar characters including Blue and Jewel are back to help her defy her destiny.

TEENS LOVE THIS FAIRY TALE WORLD: Kill Me Soflty was a 2013 YALSA Teens' Top 10. Readers have been clamoring for a sequel.

A FRESH TAKE ON THE FAMILIAR: Drawing on "Snow White," "The Twelve Dancing Princesses," and "Rumpelstiltskin," Tear You Apart is very conscious of the way these stories have pervaded pop culture, twisting known tropes into an exciting new story that can stand on its own.

Tear You Apart is another installment in a young adult fantasy series where the majority of the main characters have been given fairy tale curses - only it takes place in the present time. The mixture of the two - our current society and the various fairy tales we all grew up listening to and reading - gives this book a truly original style and makes it stand out from the other fairy tale retellings that are quite popular lately. In this book, the main focus is on our heroine - Viv - whose mother gave her the Snow White Curse before she was born. She has known the story behind her curse her whole life, including the two possible endings that will come from it. Things aren't so bad with her stepmother, Regina, when she's younger and has her best friend Henley to play with. Feelings grow between the two of them and Viv finds herself falling in love with her best friend - and vice versa - which is awesome. Then, on Henley's sixteenth birthday, a fairy curses him to be a Huntsman - the very one that will be commanded to cut out Snow White's (Viv's, in this case) heart by her stepmother. Viv tries to reassure herself that everything will turn out fine, like the story. Henley won't rip out her heart and some random prince she's never met will come sweep her off her feet to a happily ever after. Neither of these situations is the one that Viv truly wants - she wants her happily ever after to be with Henley, her true love. When a dark prince of the Underworld sets his sights on Viv and promises to spare her from her curse as long as she becomes his princess - Viv is even more confused about what to do. Should she go to the Underworld with the prince, where she doesn't know how things will turn out or if they'll even be okay - or does she stay and let her curse play out, with Henley cutting out her heart or with some unknown prince coming to save her? Viv must decide what she's willing to risk - her life, her heart, her happiness - to be with Henley? Or will she play it safe and take the easy way out, with the consequence being never to see Henley, her father, or her friends again? 

I've read some of the recent fairy tale retellings that have been published recently and I've enjoyed the majority of them. Most put a small twist or spin on the story to either modernize it or give it a different outcome. This book does both of those things and then some. I loved how the story was focused on Viv and Henley - the equivalent of Snow White and the Huntsman - with the other details included; Viv's stepmother Regina, her father, the magic mirror, and so on. But in the world the author created for this series, we aren't just limited to the characters of one tale. Several others from various fairy tales and stories are present throughout the book and some are even included in the narrative itself, which is something new and fun. I absolutely adored the world the author built for this series! As I mentioned, it's all set in modern/present times - so the characters go to school, drive nice cars, have cellphones and iPods. The way that the author can mesh together the familiar and age-old characters into this modern world is downright amazing. I loved every single detail that we're given - from the descriptions of the other Cursed people in town, to the different places - such as the country club and then the Underworld - and everything in between. It's written so elegantly that I could shut my eyes and transport myself into this world beside Viv. The detailed descriptions along with the vivid imagery makes it an enchanting place - which fits right in with the entire theme. I have to admit that I loved all of the characters in the book - from the main ones to the secondary and even the ones only mentioned in passing. I felt like I got to know them personally, so I could hate Regina for the way she talks to Viv; and I adore Henley for a ton of different reasons. As the description for the book states, fans of the TV series Once Upon a Time will like this book - I have to admit that statement is completely true on my end. It felt like I was inside (on the set?) of the show or that the show was actually based on the world inside the books - it's interchangeable. I'm going to stop fangirling and rambling and just sum it up like this: If you are a fan of the fairy tale retelling boom going on right now, you definitely need to read this book. Even if you're not the biggest fan of retellings or fairy tales, I still highly encourage you to read this one. It's truly unique and will pull you into its world right from the beginning. Basically I think that everyone needs to READ. THIS. BOOK. NOW. You won't regret it - you'll be begging for more. Luckily, I haven't read the other books yet, so I can go back into that magical place without having to wait until the next book is released.

A New Favorite With an Absolutely Enchanting World Inside its Pages!

Sarah Cross is the author of the fairy tale novels Kill Me Softly and Tear You Apart (coming January 2015), the superhero novel Dull Boy, and the Wolverine comic "The Adamantium Diaries." She loves fairy tales, lowbrow art, secret identities and silence.

AUTHOR LINKS:

Website: http://www.sarahcross.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2699594.Sarah_Cross

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thesarahcross

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sarah-Cross/216488005087186

Tumblr: http://fairytalemood.tumblr.com

Personal Tumblr: http://sarahcross.tumblr.com

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/sarahcross/

BOOK LINKS:

Amazon Paperback: http://tinyurl.com/ns3zpm3

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/tear-you-apart/id905818619

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/tear-you-apart-sarahcross/1119612015

Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/es-ES/ebook/tear-you-apart-2

Book Depository: http://www.bookdepository.com/Tear-You-Apart-Sarah-Cross/9781606845912

Don't forget to check out the other books in the series:

 

Kill Me Softly

After the Ball

Twin Roses 

Giveaway: (1) SIGNED copy of Tear You Apart - Open to US only!

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

**A giant thank you to the awesome people at EgmontUSA for sending me a copy of the book for review and for providing the signed book for my giveaway!**