Wednesday, March 6, 2013

VBT: Giveaway & Review ~ Open Heart by Emlyn Chand





Simmi Shergill's life is a mess. Her powers of psychic feeling are on the fritz, and Grandon Township's sudden population boom has brought quite a few unsavory characters to town. She also looks like an over-blown balloon in her size 14 pants, but not even starving herself seems to be helping.

At least she has Alex, the boyfriend who loves her so much he'd do anything for her. Last summer, he even risked his life to protect her from the mysterious boy everyone was convinced wanted to kill her.

Just one problem: she's not so sure she feels the same way. Is Alex really the man of her dreams? Why can't she stop fixating on her would-be killer, Dax? Part of her wants to run screaming in the other direction whenever Dax is around, while the other part longs to run into his embrace, no matter whom she'd hurt or what she'd risk.

Simmi's loyalty is on the line. Whom will she choose—the blind seer who loves her, or the charming telekinetic with "bad idea" written all over him? Emotions run high in the tension-packed book two of the Farsighted series.





Amazon * Barnes and Noble


Other books in the series..








About The Author... 

From an early age, Emlyn Chand has counted books among her best friends. She loves to hear and tell stories and emerged from the womb with a fountain pen grasped firmly in her left hand (true story). Her affinity for the written word extends to absolutely every area of her life: she has published three novels and three children’s books with plans for many more of each, leads a classics book group with almost five-hundred members, and, of course, runs the whole shebang at Novel Publicity.

The book that changed Emlyn’s life is Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crocket Johnson. It opened her eyes to the world that could exist if only she was willing to create it—a lesson she has never forgotten. While she enjoys all types of novels, her greatest loves are literary fiction and YA. She’s best known for her Farsighted series and is developing a slow but steady following for the Bird Brain Books. She’s eager to see how her women’s fiction novel, Torn Together, will be received by the reading masses.


Website * Goodreads * Twitter * Facebook * Blog


My Thoughts:

This book, while good, was a little heavy for me. It dealt with some typical teen issues. Simmi has an eating disorder and while it is necessary to hear about these types of things, I found it depressing. I never was one to understand what could make people do that to themselves.

This book also has a love triangle. Simmi can't seem to make up her mind between Alex and Dax. I felt bad for Alex and I didn't like Simmi very much in this book. Which makes it difficult to like when you dislike the main character.

There were a lot of new characters arriving to Grandon. Some with abilities and some without. Some who seem to be friends and some who I'm not sure of. I'm looking forward to finding out more about them.

I like that there is such an awesome mixture of ethnicity and different types of characters.

Overall I enjoyed it but I liked Farsighted much more than this book. I read to escape life and it's problems. I don't like to deal with heavy topics when I'm reading. That is one of the reasons that I prefer paranormal books. This book was just to heavy for my liking. Add in the fact that I didn't care for the main character and you can see why I didn't love this book as much as the last.

I will be reading the next book though. I'm looking forward to delving into Shapri's pysche in Pitch.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion. I liked it but not as much as Farsighted.


***How do you feel about difficult topics? Do you like to read about characters dealing with them? Or, are you like me and prefer to avoid heavy topics?***


GRAND PRIZE: Kindle or Nook -- Winners choice!


a Rafflecopter giveaway


Find the Tour Schedule here.


22 comments:

  1. I have Farsighted waiting on my Kindle. It's next on my list of To Be Read books. I've been following Emlyn online learning about the series, and it seems like a good one.

    I do prefer not to read about heavy topics. Like you I read to escape. However, with this being a YA book, I think the audience might be more open to reading about things that they themselves are dealing with and learning about ways to get help and deal with these issues.

    As for your comment about not likely the character very much and having trouble liking the story, I'm dealing with that on a recent book I read as an advanced reader. Technically the story is a good one and I read the whole story, I couldn't really put it down, but I kept complaining to my husband that I hated this character and wanted the love interest to "RUN." Typically in a love story you root for them to get together in this one I didn't. So, I can definitely relate to your feelings there.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brenda, this is Josette! Just realized I'm logged in differently ;) I had to change my accounts.

      Delete
    2. Glad to see you back i was wondering where you left^^;;

      Delete
    3. I was wondering as well. Although it makes sense now. lol!

      Josette, do you want me to change your MVC picture to your new one or leave it?

      Also, sometimes hard topics are unavoidable and yes it probably is good for some of the teens to hear about it. I just wasn't really expecting it and don't really care to tackle that topic.

      Delete
    4. Please leave the one you already have. I'm in the process of creating separate identities for my writing/editing and my personal. But, I happen to like that picture LOL

      It's nice to know I was missed ;)

      Delete
    5. Will do, and you most definitely were missed!

      Delete
  2. Hum i read to escape too... life is already difficult as it so i prefer to read and find things that make me hope ( happy ending and such) it help to go on in real.
    So i tends to avoid heavy topics too....however i think that perhaps, for some to read about a character having the same problem as they have could be helping ( if it's well written and not encouraging bad behaviour of course) so i'm not against them but i prefer to be warned before jumping in a book and them feeling depressed when i needed the opposite.


    As for Simmi... the last post in when you told us about the different books in teh series, i had already expressed how i didn't approve or like her behaviour.....reading this one just confirm that i don't like her at all....in a sense she is cruel to Alex while he was all kind an,d supportive to her so i don't like her at all

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I liked Simmi in the 1st book but I really did not care for her in this one. :-(

      I agree it is good for people to know they are not the only ones suffering with a problem. I don't mean to sound uncaring, but I am more of a black and white person with very little gray area. In other words, there is right and wrong and very little area in between for me. I never could understand how people can do that to their body. I understand that it is a sickness to a degree but I have a very hard time sympathizing with people who seem to create their own problems.

      Delete
  3. +JMJ+

    I don't mind characters having unusually heavy crosses to bear, although I'm not very sympathetic when I think they are creating their own problems and living off the fumes of the drama. If Simmi's eating disorder is realistically and tastefully handled, the book shouldn't be a problem for me.

    On the other hand, you know how I feel about love triangles . . . =P

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Her problem is written realistically.

      Yes I know how you feel about love triangles.

      Delete
    2. +JMJ+

      I think everyone does because I can't shut up about it! ;-P

      Delete
  4. I like to read them. Its interesting to see how they deal with them and alot of times you can relate or learn from them.
    -Amber

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. True, sometimes you can relate to them or learn from them.

      I just prefer to escape reality when I read.

      Delete
  5. I agree with you I would rather not read anything too heavy because it depresses me. I read to relax and some topics would be too stressful.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't like to walk away from a book with negative emotions swirling around me because of what I just read. Usually that's what happens to me when the subject is too heavy. :-(

      Delete
  6. I usually like to keep it light however have read a few that had a lot of difficult topics. For example I'm a fan of Sherrilyn Kenyon's and her Acheron had heaps of material in it and some of it hard to swallow.
    I don't read too much material like that because I don't want to be depressed after I read but want to happy :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I read some of Sherrilyn's books but haven't read any with heavy subjects yet.

      I don't like walking away upset either.

      Delete
  7. I like when they deal with realistic, difficult issues. Gives people ideas.
    debby236 at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's a scary thought. Do we want to give people ideas that they may not have had otherwise?

      Delete
  8. It all really depends for me, if the heavy topics are written in a way that is thought provoking than I normally love books like that but sometimes I get irritated if the author throws in a heavy topic such as rape and makes it sound like a bad day at the mall. Overly done is not good and understated/vague is often worse so if it's a situation like either of those than I rather the heavy topic be left out all together.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thank you for the thoughtful review, Brenda. Open Heart was depressing to write, too, but I really wanted to put forth a YA protagonist who wasn't perfect. Shapri is a MUCH more upbeat character. I think you'll really enjoy Pitch when it comes out in May :-D

    Emlyn

    ReplyDelete