Shudder by Samantha Durante
Synopsis
-- Book 2 in the Stitch Trilogy --
It's only been three days, and already everything is different.
Paragon is behind her, but somehow Alessa's life may actually have gotten worse. In a wrenching twist of fate, she traded the safety and companionship of her sister for that of her true love, losing a vital partner she'd counted on for the ordeal ahead. Her comfortable university life is but a distant memory, as she faces the prospect of surviving a bleak winter on the meager remains of a ravaged world. And if she'd thought she'd tasted fear upon seeing a ghost, she was wrong; now she's discovering new depths of terror while being hunted by a deadly virus and a terrifying pack of superhuman creatures thirsting for blood.
And then there are the visions.
The memory-altering "stitch" unlocked something in Alessa's mind, and now she can't shake the constant flood of alien feelings ransacking her emotions. Haunting memories of an old flame are driving a deep and painful rift into her once-secure relationship. And a series of staggering revelations about the treacherous Engineers - and the bone-chilling deceit shrouding her world's sorry history - will soon leave Alessa reeling...
The second installment in the electrifying Stitch Trilogy, Shudder follows Samantha Durante's shocking and innovative debut with a heart-pounding, paranormal-dusted dystopian adventure sure to keep the pages turning.
Haven’t read the first book in the series? Check out my review here. Just
$0.99 at Amazon!
Review
The first book in this series, Stitch, is one of the best
books I have read this year. Needless to say I was very eager to read the
second instalment in this unique New Adult dystopian series. Whilst Shudder was
not quite as good as the first it was still amazing. It is packed full of
exciting action, thrilling suspense and beautiful romance. Although this does
not have the mind boggling twists of Stitch, there are still plenty of shocking
revelations that kept me on my toes throughout.
Samantha is a master of suspense; everything is shrouded in
mystery so you are never quite sure what is going on. This is further enhanced
by some characters from the first book being called different names (for
various reasons that will make sense if you read the book).
Alessa is so beautifully real in this book. She is working
for the rebellion yet part of her wants to stop fighting and just live a calm
safe life with those she loves. Throughout the book she struggles with the
moral dilemma of weather to just keep her friends and family safe or to risk
everything for the greater good. I loved this aspect of the book as Alessa’s earlier
thoughts make her final choices so much more moving.
Isaac is such a great character and I one of my favourite
parts of Shudder is that we finally get to see him and Alessa together. They
have such a beautiful romance though of course it has a lot of pressure being
put on it by external influences.
The secondary characters come alive more in this book. A
favourite for me was “Phoenix” who seemed to have such a fresh understanding of
all that was going on. Both her and also Nikhil are two of the characters who
had minimal roles in book 1 to then become important figures.
This book is from a few more pov’s than the first which
helps to give the reader a greater perspective of the whole story. We even get
to see how Paragon and all that is happening is viewed by those who created it.
Now that is a very interesting perspective to see.
Overall this is another fantastic book by Samantha Durante.
I was expecting an incredible read and Shudder did not disappoint. The ending
comes with a few shocking reveals that (yet again) leaves me desperate to read
the next (and final) book of this trilogy. I highly recommend Shudder and if
you are yet to read Stitch then what are you waiting for? Read it now!
*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest
review, this has not affected my opinions or rating in any way*
Try it for yourself!
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Inspiration for "The Bones Incident"
There’s an incident early on in
Shudder where Alessa and Isaac are happily strolling through the forest until
they stumble upon a clearing that’s littered with something a little bit disturbing: bones. Some instinct in Alessa kicks in and they
take off, only to be hunted down by a pack of terrifying creatures that they
can’t quite put a name to. This is one
of my favorite scenes in the book,
and I think that is does a good job drawing a visceral reaction of fear from
readers partly because it’s based on a true story – this actually happened to me.
Okay, okay, I wasn’t chased down
by a pack of bloodthirsty monsters. But
everything else depicted in that scene is taken directly from personal
experience. Here’s what happened:
I was 13, and had just moved into
a new house that was bordered by acres and
acres of wetlands. One of my younger
brothers and I decided to go exploring one afternoon as the sun hung low in the
sky, and we set off into the woods, carefully picking our way through the swampy
marshes for what felt like hours.
Finally, we were relieved to land
on some dry ground, a well-beaten deer path trailing off into the trees. We strolled along chattering excitedly about
how cool our new property was, until my foot kicked something.
I had trouble placing noise that
issued from the impact – my first thought was that it was a couple of old cans. But it wasn’t quite a metallic sound, and
instead was almost like hollow wood. I
peered down to inspect, squinting my eyes in the now semi-darkness. And what I found there set my heart racing.
It was the full skeleton of some massive animal, picked dry and gleaming. My foot had brushed against some of the leg
bones and clattered them together.
For some reason something inside
me just snapped. My heart jumped into a sprint, and my feet
quickly followed suit, with only a short, “Nicky, RUN!” as explanation. I’m not sure if my brother even got a glance
at what I’d seen, but he knew enough not to hesitate. Together we dashed out of the woods, all
thoughts of avoiding the muck and mud of the wetlands forgotten as we rushed as
fast as our feet would take us to safety, finally emerging on the lawn mud-splattered and panting.
In retrospect, I’m not sure what
exactly it was that scared me so deeply.
Even my beta readers commented on this – “What was Alessa so afraid of? They’re just bones!” I still couldn’t tell you exactly why this
experience elicited the reaction it did, but I can promise you this: the fear
that Alessa (and I) felt in that moment was a 100% genuine reaction. Though rationally I knew that a dead animal
(a deer most likely) couldn’t hurt us – and that it had most likely died of
natural causes, since there are no predators (besides humans) in our area large
enough to take down a deer of that size – some primitive instinct in my body
just kicked in and told me to get moving.
And I, like Alessa, am glad I did. Otherwise, Shudder would have been down one
heart-pumping scene. And Alessa would
have gotten eaten by monsters. :-)
About the Author
Samantha Durante lives in Westchester County, New York with her husband, Sudeep, and her cat, Gio. Formerly an engineer at Microsoft, Samantha left the world of software in 2010 to pursue her entrepreneurial dreams and a lifelong love of writing. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Jerome Fisher Program in Management & Technology, Samantha is currently working full time for her company Medley Media Associates as a freelance business writer and communications consultant. The Stitch Trilogy is her debut series. Learn more about Samantha at
www.samanthadurante.com.
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Giveaway
Enter to win an ebook of Shudder open internationally! Good luck.
Enter the Giveaway HERE!!!
Fearsome Dreamer
,
Portal 24
,
The Rig,
Belle Epoque
,
Death & Co.
,
Vivian Versus the Apocalypse,
Stray,
The Beautiful and the Cursed (The Dispossessed),
Vortex (Insignia)
,
The Key To The Golden Firebird,
The Ghost Bride
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