Thursday, July 31, 2014

One Past Midnight by Jessica Shirvington (ARC Review, Guest Post, Giveaway)













Welcome to my stop on the One Past Midnight blog tour!
I have a review and five random facts for your reading pleasure, but be sure to click the banner above to view the tour schedule and all the other goodies in store.
Don't forget to enter the giveaway at the end!

Series:
Standalone
Genre:
Young Adult, Paranormal, Science Fiction
Publication.Date:July 22, 2014
Pages:352 (ARC Kindle)
Published By:  Bloomsbury USA Children's
Website:Jessica Shirvington 

One Past Midnight on Goodreads
My review copy:
Received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Where to get:



Name of overseas edition of Between The Lives.

Above all else, though I try not to think about it, I know which life I prefer. And every night when I Cinderella myself from one life to the next a very small, but definite, piece of me dies. The hardest part is that nothing about my situation has ever changed. There is no loophole.

Until now, that is...

For as long as she can remember, Sabine has lived two lives. Every 24 hours she Shifts to her ′other′ life - a life where she is exactly the same, but absolutely everything else is different: different family, different friends, different social expectations. In one life she has a sister, in the other she does not. In one life she′s a straight-A student with the perfect boyfriend, in the other she′s considered a reckless delinquent. Nothing about her situation has ever changed, until the day when she discovers a glitch: the arm she breaks in one life is perfectly fine in the other.

With this new knowledge, Sabine begins a series of increasingly risky experiments which bring her dangerously close to the life she′s always wanted... But just what - and who - is she really risking?(Goodreads)



Quotes from an uncorrected ARC copy and are subject to change
Above all else - though I try not to think about it - I know which life I prefer. And every night when I Cinderella myself from one life to the next, a very small, but definite, piece of me dies. The hardest part is that nothing about my situation has ever changed - the only thing I can be certain of is that my body clock is different than everyone else's.
"So you have a type then? I asked, teasing despite my racing heart.

He tilted his head toward me, amusement playing in his eyes. "No, I've always been more interested in finding a one of a kind."
If you love a person, you love them fully, or there's not point.
"You said you wanted someone to know you. Maybe I just want to have someone know me too. Without you in this world, the memories of every moment we've shared together will be gone. We only exist because others see us. Part of my existence . . ." he said with swallow, ". . . an important part, only exists because you are here to see it."
"Some things are so real you can feel them to your core. It doesn't matter where you go, they go with you. Anywhere."
You were right. I was lost. But you found me, between the lives. (This line is kind of spoilery, but I love it so freaking much, I had to include it.)



Jessica is beyond a doubt one of my favorite authors. I absolutely love The Violet Eden Chapters and it kills me that I have to wait for her books to be published in the US. Although, as one of my Australian blogger friends pointed out, we pretty much get everybody else so it's only fair to give them someone. I suppose turnabout it fair play.

One Past Midnight is an incredibly beautiful story. Sabine lives two lives and switches back and forth at midnight each night. I found it interesting that her other live is put "on hold" when she is not living it. It's almost as if her lives are in parallel dimensions. She mentions at one point traveling to her other house and it being marginally different, that things from life in Roxbury are slightly off while she is living her life in Wellesley. After breaking her arm in one life and finding it not broken in her other life, she decides that maybe it's time to choose one life over the other. But which one is the "right" one?

Sabine soon begins to realize that neither life is perfect as things begin to slowly spiral out of control in Roxbury, while she fights to control the seemingly perfect life in Wellesley. Around this time we encounter Ethan in Roxbury, whom she becomes determined to make him believe in her two lives.

The romance between Ethan and Sabine is unconventional, beautiful, heartbreaking, and wonderful. It shifts from a mere friendship to something so much more. A relationship that shows you that comfort can come from the most unexpected places, things don't always go as planned, it's not always as bad as it seems, and just maybe there's always hope.

Jessica's writing is simply amazing. She writes a heartbreaking tale a girl who is completely alone, despite her two lives, and finds comfort and solace in the oddest of places. I found One Past Midnight impossible to put down. The characters, even the secondary ones, are well developed and can stand on their own. As a reader you get attached to each of her lives and cannot imagine how she could pick between them.

I did The Dance of Feels many times while reading this book and even got caught doing it once in the kitchen at work - totally worth it. There are moments of hope, heartbreak, violence, and love - Jessica goes all in with her novels and this one is no different. While I did predict the ending, we're talking the beginning of the last chapter so not entirely predictable, I found it to be the perfect ending. (This is where the being busted from The Dance of Feels comes into play.)

I cannot stress enough how much I love One Past Midnight. If Jessica hadn't already been granted a spot of my short list of "Auto Buy Authors," this novel would have done the trick.





5 Random Things About Me (Jessica):
  1. I love skiing
  2. When I was a kid I stole $10 from my fathers wallet so I could buy 200 5c gobstoppers (I got in BIG trouble!)
  3. I love to travel and hate to be away from home at the same time
  4. I once drove down the Champs Elysees in Paris --- on the wrong side!
  5. I lived in London for 6 years




Jessica Shirvington is the author of THE VIOLET EDEN CHAPTERS also known as THE EMBRACE SERIES, stand alone novel, BETWEEN THE LIVES and has an exciting new duology called DISRUPTION on the way in 2014.

An entrepreneur, author, and mother living in Sydney, Australia, Jessica is also a 2011 & 2012 finalist for Cosmopolitan’s annual Fun, Fearless Female Award. She’s also one of the lucky few who met the love of her life at age seventeen: Matt Shirvington, a former Olympian and current sports broadcaster for Foxtel and Fox Sports. Married for twleve years with two beautiful daughters, Sienna and Winter, Jessica knows her early age romance and its longevity has definitely contributed to how she tackles relationships in her YA novels.






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