[Blog Tour & Giveaway] Twisted By Holly Hook & Runners Roast Storm Chaser Coffee

Title: Twisted
Series: Deathwind Trilogy, Book 1
Author: Holly Hook
Publisher: Holly. A. Hook
Publication date: December 15th 2013
Page Count: 203 pages
Age Rating: Young Adult
How I got my hot little hands on it: Received a copy to review
Purchase: Amazon

Sixteen-year-old Allie’s going on the vacation of her life: tornado chasing. What can possibly go wrong with that?

But a terrifying, magical experience leaves Allie shocked and confused, and she learns that she now bears an awful curse.

Every time there’s a storm, she turns into a tornado. Literally.

Allie has no choice but to flee her hometown–if she stays, her new powers could harm or even kill everyone she loves.

She must return to the plains and find those who made her this way. But this journey is only the beginning of her adventure.

Twisted is the first book of the Deathwind Trilogy, a new young adult and teen paranormal romance series. The second book, Torn, is also available. Book Three of the Deathwind Trilogy, Unleashed, will be released in Summer of 2015.

My Review

I have one word for you: were-tornado.

Yes, you read that right; the main character of Twisted gets turned into a were-tornado – a person who, under the right circumstances (in this case, anytime she finds herself in a storm), transforms into a tornado. Needless to say, this book is a little weird, but weird in that wonderful, unique, and wholly original way – and I loved it!

The creative, imaginative plotline had me hooked from the beginning – storm-chasing teen gets turned into a force of nature herself? Yes please! The main character is named Allie which I think is funny because of the colloquial term “Tornado Alley” for the area of the U.S. where tornados are most common – she’s “Tornado Allie”. Very cute. Allie faces some tough choices in this book, some for which there are no good choices, just less bad – and she has to live with the results. I’ve never thought “What would it be like if a tornado had feelings or a conscience? What if the tornado felt bad about all the destruction left in its path, but had no other choice?”, but now I know the answer and it’s kind of sad, never thought I’d feel sympathy for a tornado before.

I loved Twisted from beginning to end. That’s not say that there weren’t a few little things that bugged me. The first was the presence of a love-triangle between the main character, her male best friend since forever who sticks by her, and a new boy she meets while trying to get some answers about her new circumstances (he understands what she’s going through in a way that best friend boy just can’t) – I pretty much dislike all love-triangles, so this is nothing against this book in particular, just a bit of a pet peeve of mine. The second thing is I was left with some questions that I felt the book kind of left hanging, but I guess that’s why it’s a series huh? I’ll have to read the other books in the Deathwind series and see if all my questions are answered.

I really enjoyed Twisted. It’s so different than other YA paranormal books out there and I definitely think it’s worth a read on that alone. I absolutely want to read the other books in The Deathwind series and I would definitely read other books by the same author.

The events of Twisted all begin because Allie loves storms and goes on a storm chasing tour – she never expected that soon she would be chased by storms instead of the other way around. Runners Roast Storm Chaser Coffee (update: this coffee is no longer available, but I’ve linked to a comparable coffee) is a smoky, dark roast coffee that will give you the pick me up you need to hopefully stay ahead of the storm (I wouldn’t recommend chasing after any storms just in case you find the tables turned and the storm chasing after you instead).