Nocturnal Meetings of the Misplaced
R.J. Garcia
The Parliament House Publishing
326 Pages
Publication date: May 1st 2018
Genres: Suspense, Young Adult
Get a copy here!
Mystery surrounds the town of Summertime, Indiana, where fifteen-year-old Tommy Walker and his little sister are sent to live with relatives they’ve never met. Tommy soon makes friends with his rebellious neighbor, Finn Wilds.
Finn invites Tommy to late night meetings in the woods, where Tommy gets to know two girls. He forms a special and unique connection with both girls. The meetings become a place where the kids, who don’t fit in at school, or home can finally belong. As the group of friends begin to unravel clues to a cold case murder and kidnapping— they learn the truth is darker and closer than they ever imagined. Even if they live to tell, will anyone believe them?
Book Trailer:
Author Bio:
R.J. Garcia is a wife and proud mom. She earned her MSW and worked with foster children and as a school social worker. Writing has been her other great love. She has published several non-fiction pieces. She has been writing short-stories for as long as she can remember. To her amazement, those short stories became novels!
Quick Reasons: great use of accents/vocal arrangements for the audiobook; enthralling, captivating mystery; loved the use of dual POVs AND dual time shifts; I had a hard time connecting with the characters and the writing
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- fishing for more
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- entertaining
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- WUT?!
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- watch for gore
HUGE thanks to R.J. Garcia, The Parliament House Publishing, and YA Bound Book Tours for having me as part of the book tour and sending a complimentary copy of this title my way! This in no way changed my review of or opinions on this book.
This was a hard one for me, Penguins. I was super excited because, AHHH AUDIOBOOK YAAAAAS! because…there’s been a lot happening in my world, and I thought maybe this would help me be able to get a book read and still get other things done as well. And it DID do that…but I struggled, because I got suuuuuper bored pretty early on and just couldn’t connect with the story/writing/characters.
That’s not to say any of those things are bad, of course! While the writing itself seemed to do a LOT more telling than showing, to me, the use of dual POVs and changing time shifts were done really well and helped to pull this story together into an enthralling, captivating “mystery.” The characters were super intriguing–I kept wanting to further figure them out/get into their heads. And while there was a super intense air of mystery surrounding the story being told, I just couldn’t connect unfortunately–more my problem than the book’s, though, I promise!
That race to the finish line–and the missing links in the puzzle–was at turns entertaining and horrifying. I will put a TRIGGER WARNING here, for those who need it. If you’re easily triggered by physical, domestic abuse, PLEASE PLEASE take care while reading this title.
Overall, this was super intriguing, though probably not the best fit for me personally. The dual POVs and the shifting time lines really helped to pull in an air of mystery and suspense, while the multi-faceted characters helped back the story up. Please do remember, though–trigger warning. Keep yourselves safe, Penguins. And welcome… to Summertime, Indiana, where the night hosts secrets.
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