Howdy!

I’m so excited to be helping out with a blog tour today! This is for Kimberly McNeil (AKA Amy Williams) and her book Meg Mitchell and the Secret of the Journal! I’d had this book on my kindle for a while now and offered to do a review since it would give me an excuse to actually read it, which ended up being a fantastic decision for me. 🙂

Before we get there, here’s a bit about the book itself.

Stories never end. They just get bigger.

 

You only have to turn the page.

 

Meg Mitchell lives in a castle, but she’s no wilting princess. Raised in an alien world by adoptive parents, she spends her time fighting Centaurs, training as an Andai warrior, and chilling in her favorite willow tree.

 

But when Meg uncovers her birth father’s journal, she discovers a cousin she didn’t know existed. Meg and her little brother and sister travel through an interdimensional rip to San Francisco to search for their cousin, setting off a chain of events no one could have foreseen.

 

When her sister is kidnapped, Meg enlists the help of teenage detective Barb Taylor and her genius little brother Jim. Following clues dropped by a mysterious benefactor, they embark on a cross-country adventure to rescue her sister and find Meg’s cousin.

 

Family is everything to Meg, but not all is as it seems. In her quest to reunite her family, she may lose more than she ever imagined.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Crosshair Press

Goodreads

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My Review

4.5/5 stars

This book started out a little slow for me. I was kind of confused. There was a lot going on. Castles, centaurs, energy swords, trains, inter-dimensional portals, talking foxes…

But I kept pushing because I trust the author and I knew it would pick up. And it pretty much took off at the speed of light. I read probably 70% of it in one sitting and stayed up really late to finish.

Meg protects her family and she’ll do anything to keep them safe. She was very down to earth and real. Danny, her younger brother is hilarious and I relate to his constant need for eating and snacking perhaps a bit too much. Jenny is a big sweetheart and I loved her unwavering faith in her family and especially in Meg.

Ronnie = <3. His way of talking was a bit hard to get used to at first, but he really grew on me. Also, I have been promised Samurai and I need more about him please. Barb and Jim were great. Jim was adorably awkward and actually almost got eaten by his coat at one point… 🙂

So I went into this story thinking it was going to be a fairly standard “find the missing parents/family” quest, but it quickly morphed into something more elaborate and crazy, and I loved it! And nothing really got wrapped up! Some things did, but there are waay too many mysteries left out there. And of course the ending. 😮

Each chapter from the Mitchell’s POV has quote from their dad, and it added a really neat personal touch. Some of my favorite quotes are from the chapter headings.

I highly recommend this book. The plot is twisty and turny and the characters are all relateable and real. There’s some awesome fantasy/sci-fi going on, smashed together with an epic adventure in modern day San Francisco and Texas. (ALSO! When they go to Texas, they go to Odessa which is basically my hometown! So it was super fun to see west Texas highlighted in an accurate manner, and the Odessa jackrabbits. lol!) It’s all about family and doing whatever it takes to protect each other, even when someone’s not blood related, and that’s my favorite kind of story.

So go read this book. The only thing you will probably regret is staying up super late like I did. I really enjoyed it, and I know I for sure would have loved it as a teenager. And I have many questions, so I can’t wait for A. the Samurai story I know is coming, and B. the next book in the series. 🙂

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About the Author

Amy Williams is a novelist, freelance writer, founding member of Crosshair Press LLC, and professional nerd. You can find most of her work under the name A.C. Williams, but she also writes young adult fantasy (The Legend of the Lightkeepers) under the pen name Kimberly McNeil. Amy is single and lives in her family’s 100-year-old farmhouse on five acres in the middle of the Kansas prairie. She loves cats and drinks far too much coffee.

Connect!

Website  — Facebook — Twitter — Instagram — Google Plus

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Giveaway!

Want to dive into a new world? Enter to win an e-copy of Kimberly McNeil’s Meg Mitchell & The Secret of the Journal as well as get a preview of her upcoming short story Stan Hawthorne & The Broken Sword. (Open internationally.)

ENTER HERE!

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Don’t miss the rest of the tour!

Blog Tour Schedule

Wednesday, November 1^st   

Review & Interview – dolphin18cb

Thursday, November 2^nd  

Review & Guest Post – Thorn & Vine

Character Interview – Unicorn Quester

Friday, November 3^rd  

Author Interview – Lands Uncharted

Fan-Made Book Trailer – Unicorn Quester

Author Interview – Welcome to Arhyalon

Saturday, November 4^th  

Review – Live Life Reading

Review & Author Trivia – Of Pens & Paper

Monday, November 6^th  

Review – It’s Storytime With Van Daniker!

Spotlight – The Hermit Librarian

Author Interview – Taneisha’s Book Blog & More

Tuesday, November 7^th    

Author Interview – Jebraun Clifford ~ dream.write.repeat.

Wednesday, November 8^th

Review – The Overactive Imagination (You are here 🙂 )

Thursday, November 9^th

Blog Tour Wrap-Up – Unicorn Quester

Friday, November 10^th

Review – Taneisha’s Book Blog & More

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So there you have it! Like I said, I loved this book and highly recommend it!

Do you read urban fantasy? What interests you most about this book?