Unabridged Bookshelf: Charm & Strange Blog Tour: Review, Playlist and Giveaway

Welcome to my stop on the Charm and Strange Blog Tour! I have the pleasure of reviewing this book for you today, along with my picks for a playlist for this book and a tourwide giveaway. Make sure to check out everything happening on the tour by clicking the banner above.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Title: Charm & Strange

Author: Stephanie Kuehn

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Publication Date: June 11, 2013

Length: 224 Pages

Amazon | Barnes and Noble

When you’ve been kept caged in the dark, it’s impossible to see the forest for the trees. It’s impossible to see anything, really. Not without bars . . .
Andrew Winston Winters is at war with himself.
He’s part Win, the lonely teenager exiled to a remote Vermont boarding school in the wake of a family tragedy. The guy who shuts all his classmates out, no matter the cost.
He’s part Drew, the angry young boy with violent impulses that control him. The boy who spent a fateful, long-ago summer with his brother and teenage cousins, only to endure a secret so monstrous it led three children to do the unthinkable.
Over the course of one night, while stuck at a party deep in the New England woods, Andrew battles both the pain of his past and the isolation of his present.
Before the sun rises, he’ll either surrender his sanity to the wild darkness inside his mind or make peace with the most elemental of truths—that choosing to live can mean so much more than not dying.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Stephanie Kuehn is a YA writer who grew up in Berkeley, California, which is a quirky sort of a place with a ton of wonderful bookstores. Her very first job was working in one of those bookstores, and she's been a freakishly avid reader for as long as she can remember.

Stephanie's other passions include mental health advocacy, social justice, and sports of all kinds. She's currently living in Northern California with her family and their wild menagerie of pets.

Website | Twitter

MY REVIEW

**This is a review of an Advanced Readers Copy**

Charm and Strange is an intense, emotional story that keeps readers in the dark until the very few chapters bring a resolution that no one will see coming. The magic of the book is not knowing anything about it really, so there will not be many details in this review because I refuse to spoil the perfection that Stephanie Kuehn has created. The reason this book works so well is the way the story is told in glimpses of the present and past. There are multiple flashbacks but they really tie into the current story.

The main character Win, also offers a clouded if not murky viewpoint, which may not work for most stories but it works in Charm and Strange. The problem with this novel is going to be keeping spoilers from leaking out, and ruining the story for other readers. This type of book is so uniquely written that if the plot is spoiled even in the slightest, I really think it would ruin the magic for the reader.

I went into Charm and Strange without knowing anything more than the synopsis, and I think that really is just the perfect way to read this book. Just read and experience it without first getting your feet wet, just diving on into the story and let the flow of the story take you along for the ride. I know that this book is not going to be for everyone one, but it is the type of book that will stay with you.

Charm and Strange is so unique and mind-blowing that I fear that I am ruining it just by trying to express my feelings. If you want something unlike anything you have ever read, Charm and Strange is the one to read.

**Unabridged Bookshelf recieved this book from the publisher, in exchange for an honest review**

MY PLAYLIST
Here are just a couple songs that remind me of Charm and Strange, but I think the last one fits the best.