Monday, October 10, 2016

The Extraordinary October Tour: Extraordinary October by Diana Wagman



Hi All!  Today is my stop on the Extraordinary October Blog Tour hosted by Xpresso Reads.  The minute I saw this beautiful cover and read the synopsis for the story, I knew I had to have this book.
A huge shout out goes to Giselle from Xpresso Reads allowing me to be a part of this tour.  And thanks to Diana Wagman for sharing the protagonist, October Fetterhoff, with the world. I think you will enjoy her as much as I did.


Title: Extraordinary October
Author: Diana Wagman
Publisher: Ig Publishing
Date of Publication: Oct. 11, 2016
Genres: Paranormal, Young Adult


Synopsis:


October is an ordinary girl. From her plain looks to her average grades, there seems to be nothing special about her. Then, three days before her eighteenth birthday, she develops a strange itch that won’t go away, and her life is turned upside down. Suddenly, she can hear dogs talk, make crows fly, and two new and very handsome boys at school are vying for her affections. After she starts “transplanting” herself through solid rock, October learns that she is not ordinary at all, but the daughter of a troll princess and a fairy prince, and a pawn in a deadly war between the trolls and the fairies. Now October will have to use all of her growing powers to save her family, and stop a mysterious evil that threatens to destroy the fairy world.
In the fantastical vein of authors such as Julie Kagawa and Holly Black, Extraordinary October takes us on a magical journey from the streets of Los Angeles to the beautiful and mythical underground fairy kingdom.



My Thoughts:
Extraordinary October is an interesting book that's about a young girl about to turn 18, who gets a terrible itch and her whole world she knows gets flipped on its head! She slowly starts to realize elves, fairies, trolls, and magic is real.  And she, October, finds herself embroiled in all of it.  
First off, the protagonist's name is pretty cool and unique : October.  It's hip, fun, and festive!  
The one thing that I really admired about our main character, October, is that she isn't perfect.  She is immature, hormones going 100 miles an hour, and she makes mistakes.  Sometimes a lot.  There are times that she can learn from her mistakes; other times she doesn't.  I think this trait makes her more relatable to most teenagers than any other characters.  

Speaking of other characters, the supporting ones are very entertaining.  There were times I enjoyed them more than our main one. Especially, Luisa and Chris or Green.  They were honest and kind.
I also enjoyed seeing the magical world through October as she slowly accepted what she was seeing.  The little scenes that played out while she was out and about: the man talking to little buzzing creatures, the woman with the elf on her shoulder, and of course hearing animals talk.  
Who wouldn't want that little power?!!?  

Extraordinary October seems to be a character driven plot solely relying on our characters to get the story moving along.  Therefore at times I found it to be exciting but others it moved a tad bit slower than usual.

There were times I thought the "Ha, ha, ha" after every joke got old.  I would have liked less of those and more credit giving to the reader to reach the inference to the joke without the explanations pointed out each time.  

I also wasn't too happy with the obvious love triangle that was put out there from withing the first few chapters.   There was also a huge insta-love concept that could have been toned down a good amount and we could have still developed the blossoming relationship found there.

Other than these techniques, I found Extraordinary October to be a fun read, with a surprising twist about the villain and even her own parents.   The ending, I felt, was overall an enjoyable one with no noticeable cliffhanger.  It was well rounded and could be a stand alone or even the first book in a series.  

I would have to give this book a 3 heart rating!

Want to pick up your own copy?


Get to the know the Author:

Author Bio: 



I have always written and always wanted to be a writer, but didn’t think I could make a living at it. So I became a mime. (You can imagine what my father had to say about that.) I worked on the streets of NYC with two partners, stopping traffic in front of the Met and annoying tourists. When, to my great surprise, that didn’t work out, I returned to school in film–thinking screenwriters made a living. And when I had ten scripts and my agent had stopped returning my calls, I wrote a novel. I did it just because I wanted to love writing again and not think about selling or casting or marketability. That novel was Skin Deep, and it’s a testament to writing from your heart that the first person to read it, bought it. I’ve been trying to write from the heart ever since.

 Author links: 




Giveaway Time:
We are super lucky today to be a part of this amazing giveaway going on right now!  You have up for grabs some beautiful fairy lights to help light your way in your darkest hour.  

Be sure to click on the link below to be taken to the rafflecopter for the giveaway!

 http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/d04251231433/


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