Guest Post/Review: Eve Hallows by Robert Gray

Posted by Lizzy on Dec 18, 2012 in reviews | 1 comment

I’m sorry that this post is a day late.  My little one has the flu again and wouldn’t stay asleep unless I was holding him.  So, I wasn’t able to write up my post until today.  I have a horrible (wink) guest post by the author, Robert Gray and then the review of the first book of the series, Eve Hallows and the Book of Shrieks.  More than likely, you will see a review of the sequel soon because this book combines all of my favorite things into one fun and lovable book.  If you like Trick or Treating, The Nightmare before Christmas, The Adams Family, or anything else gothic and fun….then you will love this series too!  Thanks for I Am a Reader, Not a Writer for hosting this tour.  Click HERE for the tour schedule.

Since the Eve Hallows series is all about monsters, I asked Robert Gray to tell me which monster was his favorite.  

Favorite Monster

Guest Post by Robert Gray

My all-time favorite monster … Hmm, that’s a tough one.  There are so many great ones to choose from.  I’d say the one that had the biggest impact on me, though, was Freddy Krueger from the Nightmare on Elm Street Series.

As a kid, I was a big fan of Freddy.  Of all the slasher flicks from the 80s, Freddy was the only one that truly terrified me.  Jason and Michael were okay, but seriously, as long as your laces were tied and you replaced your car battery within the last five years, you could get away from those two numbskulls easy enough.  But Freddy, he invaded your dreams.  There was no getting away from him, because you had to go to sleep sooner or later.

And knives for fingers … Hello?  Whenever I heard those knives scrape against anything, a blanket would be over my head faster than you could say, 1, 2, Freddy’s coming for you, because what happened next was not gonna be pretty.

I even pay a small tribute to Freddy in the Eve Hallows books.  He’s mentioned briefly in Book of Shrieks as a possible special agent for URNS, and did you notice the currency used in Gravesville?  Kruegers.

Eve Hallows and the Book of Shrieks by Robert Gray

Genre:  MG Paranormal

Publisher:  Self Published

For fourteen-year-old Eve Hallows, life can be summed up in one word—horrible.  She has the most horrible friends.  She lives in a horrible old castle.  Even her family is a bunch of horrible monsters.

However, in the monster-inhabited world of Gravesville—a world where messages are sent through Ouija boards, jack-o’-lanterns get facials to suit their moods, and the worst thing Eve has to deal with are those annoying zombie tourists who overrun her favorite graveyard during the Halloween season—horrible means wonderful.  And everything for Eve is perfectly horrible.

But her life is about to go head over heels when a mysterious group known as The Source starts terrorizing Gravesville.  Now she must move to the human world—where everything is opposite … and for Eve, that’s absolutely adorable!

 

I love books that turn cliches upside down.  What’s good is bad and what’s bad is good in this fun paranormal story.  Eve is a human living in a world very similar to Halloween Town.  She’s the only one of her kind, but it is the human world that scares her.  When her family moves to New Jersey (hey, that is a pretty scary place – at least on the highways) Eve starts out determined to be miseable and hate every human she meets.  What she learns instead is that it doesn’t matter if a person is human or monster – its what’s inside that counts.

This book is not only fun, but relevant   Eve struggles to retain her own individuality despite the bullying and pressure to “fit in”.  Her cultural differences (in that words “we” think are derogation are compliments where she grew up) play a huge role in the plot, instead of being a cute quirk.  Not only that, but even the minor characters play recurring important roles in the book.  There’s not one person who shows up as a filler and with all the colorful characters, its quite a feat to make each one uniquely important to the story.

I like how Eve does her own thing.  She’s not afraid of adults – which is a rare thing to find in books for this age group.  She follows her head and her heart no matter how unorthodox her solutions to the problems that arise.

Not only is the book fun, but the splashes of humor and mystery make it a non-stop read.  Had I not been sick, I would of instantly picked up the sequel to read after finishing Eve Hallows and the Book of Shrieks.  Since I love Halloween, monsters, and paranormal, I think that this book is my favorite MG of the year.  I recommend it to kids, teens, and adults!

(I received a copy of this book as part of a blog tour in exchange for my honest review.)

 Also check out the sequel!

Robert Gray is a writer.  If that job description doesn’t impress you, how about fantasy writer? Too general? Well, he doesn’t get insulted if you call him a horror writer. If horror’s not your thing, then scratch out horror and replace it with suspense. And for the kiddies, you can slap on a YA or MG in front of that title.

Gray lives in Bushkill, Pennsylvania with his wife and two children.