My hands smell like dirt, not the worst thing in the world.

 

On another note the one downside to gardening is fucking bugs. Especially anything grub related, with their nasty, fat, squishy, gross little bodies doing god knows what it the ground. I hate digging around in the dirt minding you own business having a good time and randomly coming across one of those nasty buggers. I came across 4 today *shudder* just thinking about them gives me the heebie-jeebies. Ugh.

A book that makes me happy. 

 

 

 

Pages 30-51. YOU KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT! *waggles eyebrows*

Review of both Stitch (#1) and Shudder (#2) by Samantha Durante plus giveaway - 5 winners 

It's a cold and snowing winter as Alessa and Isaac work to survive outside of Paragon on their mission days after their dangerous escape. Alessa and Isaac are searching the frozen, snow covered land for the right place for the Rebel's to take up command post. A Base. Something strange is following and watching Alessa and Isaac. Alessa is also coming face to face with something new to her as well, glimpses of the past - other peoples pasts. She can feel and see the last thoughts of those who have passed. Alessa even comes to realize she can feel the creatures stalking them, emotions. There are strange new things in the world, and where they are coming from, no one knows.

We start right where Stitch left off, but in a meeting of those who created this life structure. There is more behind what they've done, a reason, but I don't know what that is yet. We learn a great deal of their workings in this second book. This book teaches a great deal about those who created Paragon, the Engineers, and why they are all here.

The last hundred pages are wonderful, and well connected with great leads from one point to the next. Before that, I felt like there were abrupt lead ins that told us what was coming next and what was going to happen before it happened. There could have been smoother transitions. I do have one small pet peeve. Many probably won't even buck at it. Hyphens. They are strongly used, overuse for me. I would have used commas or created new sentences. But that is just a pet peeve of my own.

I really enjoy the story idea and where Samantha takes what happens and changes things here to create her world. I do get a feel of Hunger Games from some of it, but without the games part. There are many things that are new to us in this book. Alessa and her feelings are completely new in this book. Along with the dangers of the stitch done to people. And we learn of the history.

We learn a great many things of the world history. The bombs, the impact of the bombs, the war, and the plague that infected almost all of the human race that lived through the bombs. Even the stories of how our characters got to Paragon along with how Paragon was created.

We read from Alessa's and Isaac's point of views again. We also get to hear from Nikhil and another female the Engineers (creators of Paragon) call Phoenix. By doing this, boy do we learn a great deal. And get a bit closer to Nikhil as well.

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“Shudder” is one of the new releases that I was really looking forward to. After reading “Stitch”, the first book in the trilogy, I couldn’t wait to learn more about the dystopian world Samantha Durante created, about Paragon, and the virus. “Shudder” did not disappoint in this respect, because it answered many questions regarding the war, how the deadly virus broke out, and how Paragon turned from a quarantine zone that was supposed to keep people safe, into a prison that kept people away from reality and tried to give birth to a new society.

Unfortunately, though, I found it quite slow compared to “Stitch”, which kept me on the edge of my seat and was full of twists and turns. And Alessa, a character that I really liked in the first book, had this annoying tendency of complaining all the time and asking herself over and over why all these things happened to her. Now, I can understand that she was under pressure because the fate of all the rebels in Paragon depended on her and Isaac, but at some point she just kept repeating the same things, and all she could think of was her doubts. She also made Isaac feel very insecure and powerless, which seemed kind of selfish of her. In this book I think I liked Isaac better than Alessa.

I also loved the chapters where we get to know Nikhil better. In “Stitch” he was a minor character who only appeared towards the end, but in “Shudder” he has a more important role. I liked that I got to see the prison through his eyes, and learn more about the dramas, and how he had been “stitched” many times for different shows.

The part with Alessa being an empath was also very interesting, as well as the bloodthirsty creatures that followed and attacked Isaac and Alessa when they were outside of Paragon. Even though the book did not have the twists and turns that made “Stitch” such an exciting read, it was still very enjoyable. The plot was creative and well-thought, and the structure of the entire story was flawless. The best thing was that it gave me the chance to learn about Paragon from different points of view. The chapters centered on Alessa and Isaac revealed more about the world outside Paragon and the resistance, the ones centered on Nikhil offered a glimpse of what happened in Paragon’s prison, and the ones centered on Phoenix gave me the chance to see how the ones who created and ran Paragon saw everything. So, I can say that “Shudder” has a pretty complex plot and world-building.

Now all I have to do is sit tight and hope that the last book in the “Stitch” trilogy will be released soon enough. I’m really curious to see how everything wraps up, because “Shudder” ended in a serious cliffhanger.