Here Official Blog Tour

Here (On the Otherside #1) 

by Denise Grover Swank 

Genre: YA paranormal/mystery/romance 

Format: paperback, 330 pages + ebook

Blurb: Sixteen year old Julia Phillips buries herself in guilt after killing her best friend Monica in a car accident. Julia awoke in the hospital with a broken leg, a new talent for drawing and false memories of the accident, in which she dies and Monica lives. The doctors attribute this to her head injury, but no one can explain how a bracelet engraved with her name ended up at the scene of the accident. A bracelet no one has ever seen before.

Classmate Evan Whittaker paid Julia no attention before the accident, let alone after. Now suddenly he’s volunteering to tutor her and offering to drive her home. She can't ignore that his new obsession started after his two-day disappearance last week and that he wears a pendant she’s been drawing for months. When the police show up one night looking for Evan, he begs Julia to run with him, convincing her that Monica is still alive. Julia agrees to go, never guessing where he’s really from.

About the author: Denise Grover Swank lives in Lee’s Summit, Missouri. She has six children, three dogs, and an overactive imagination. She can be found dancing in her kitchen with her children, reading or writing her next book. You will rarely find her cleaning. Denise is represented by Amanda Luedeke of MacGregor Literary.

You can find out more about Denise and her other books at her website  or email her at denisegroverswank@gmail.com You can also follow her on Twitter or friend her on Facebook. 

Giveaway: 

The author will giveaway one ebook copy to a reader who comments below. Please leave your email address if you want to enter. This giveaway ends on April 18. 

Our review: 

The creepy cover immediately drew me in and I knew Here was a book I wanted to read. I was immediately drawn into Julia's story by her voice. At first she comes across as very sad and I feel her pain as the truth about what happened to her friend Monica is revealed. After a crying jag in the cemetery something happens to her, which she can't remember, but the after effects linger within her, pieces of it infusing her with the girl she used to be. Despite the somber tone, I was never bored by or taken back by Julia's melancholy. I sympathized with her and became her cheerleader as she fought to come back to her life. Classmate and school hottie, Evan, begins to draw her in with his smiles and kind words.

Yet underneath Julia's interactions, with her family fighting to stay together after her car accident and her shutting them out, with dealing with school and trying to catch up on the classes she's failing, and especially with her dealings with Evan, there's this under current of mystery--there is something 'else' working its way through Julia's story.

Here is an extremely intriguing read, a 'quite' read with a unique twist. Author Denise Grower Swank (who also wrote an adult thriller I enjoyed, Chosen) writes with a nice, fluid style (every word counts!) and the pacing in Julia's story moved at a great pace. She gave us just enough information to constantly keep me reading, all the while trying to figure out exactly what's going on with Julia's episodes, her doodling, and why Evan has suddenly taken such an interest in her. I can't give anything else away except to say I consider myself an adept reader in regards to mysteries but this story truly fooled me. The twist Here takes was something I never saw coming and was thrilled to see. I really liked Here and hope to see more of Julia in the next book in the On The Otherside series.

HERE Blog Tour

April 9:
The Fairytale Nerd ~ Excerpt #1
The Autumn Review ~ Review & eBook Giveaway
Chapter by Chapter ~ Review
Realm of Fiction ~ Music Playlist & eBook Giveaway
Books to the Sky ~ Review
Mrs Mommy Booknerd’s Book Reviews ~ Review & Interview with Julia
JJ iReads ~ Review & eBook Giveaway
Nicole’s Library ~ Review

April 10:
Xpresso Reads ~ Top 10 with Author & eBook Giveaway
Book Briefs ~ Review & eBook Giveaway
Book Lovers Paradise ~ Excerpt #2 & eBook Giveaway
Young Adult Book Reviews ~ Review

April 11:
Little Library Muse ~ Review
Jaclyn’s Musings ~ Review
Book Labyrinth ~ Review
The Cozy Reading Corner ~ Excerpt #6 & eBook Giveaway
Fictional Distraction ~ Review & eBook Giveaway
Lilly Road ~ Review
The Life of Fiction ~ Excerpt #3
Novels On The Run ~ Excerpt #4 & eBook Giveaway
Splash Of Our Worlds ~ Review
Courtney’s Book Nook ~ Review

April 12:
Refracted Light | Young Adult Book Reviews ~ Interview with Evan & eBook Giveaway
Letters Inside Out ~ Review
Into the Hall of Books ~ Review
Bookworm Lisa ~ Review & eBook Giveaway
My Cute Bookshelf ~ Excerpt #5 & eBook Giveaway
The Bookish Babes ~ Review & eBook Giveaway
Ivy Reads ~ Review

April 13:
Paranormal Indulgence ~ Review & eBook Giveaway
Comfort Books ~ Author Interview
Mercurial Musings ~ Review & eBook Giveaway
Esther’s Ever After ~ Review & eBook Giveaway
Dreaming Dreams No Mortal Ever Dared ~ Review
Reader Girls ~ Review & eBook Giveaway
Kindling the Fire ~ Review
Melissa’s Eclectic Bookshelf ~ The Writing Cave & eBook Giveaway
A Tale of Many Reviews ~ Dream Cast & eBook Giveaway

This tour is presented by AToMR Book Tours.