Lisa Loves Literature: Blog Tour: Review and Giveaway

Friday, September 15, 2017

Blog Tour: Review and Giveaway - Odd and True by Cat Winters

Book info:

Title: Odd and True
Author: Cat Winters
Release Date: September 12th, 2017
Publisher: Amulet Books
Source: Finished copy received from publisher for honest review
My rating: 4 stars
Find it: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iBooks, The Book Depository, Goodreads
Synopsis:

Trudchen grew up hearing Odette’s stories of their monster-slaying mother and a magician’s curse. But now that Tru’s older, she’s starting to wonder if her older sister’s tales were just comforting lies, especially because there’s nothing fantastic about her own life—permanently disabled and in constant pain from childhood polio.

In 1909, after a two-year absence, Od reappears with a suitcase supposedly full of weapons and a promise to rescue Tru from the monsters on their way to attack her. But it’s Od who seems haunted by something. And when the sisters’ search for their mother leads them to a face-off with the Leeds Devil, a nightmarish beast that’s wreaking havoc in the Mid-Atlantic states, Tru discovers the peculiar possibility that she and her sister—despite their dark pasts and ordinary appearances—might, indeed, have magic after all.

My Review:
This was a really good book. It's one that as you read you may start out thinking that for sure it is going to be about monsters. But then as you get going, there are things that happen that make you start to wonder if the book is really going to have monsters, or if they are all the product of some wild imaginations and used to help put more normal, human "monsters" in an easier place to deal with in their minds. But really, it doesn't matter which part of the story it is, which type of chapter, it kept you reading. While I really love all things monster and supernatural, and that is what drew me to the story in the first place, there was actually parts of the book where we were getting a look at what really happened, real world stuff, and I was upset when that part would leave off in order to go back to the part of the story that was in the supernatural world, or at least you thought it was.

I'm not going to tell you for sure whether it actually was a supernatural monster or monsters in the story, you need to read and find out for yourself. But the hunt to get there to find out is definitely worth your time. And I wasn't disappointed in the way it all ended in any way really. The book did a great job at looking how not all monsters are supernatural, and how you don't have to be a big strong man or have a gun or other fancy tools in order to defeat the monster. It makes you see how there are chances for redemption, and there really are reasons to keep your family close and stay with those who are there for you and have been there for you. The reasons why people do things may not always be what you expect. And everyone deserves a chance.

I also like how at the end of the book you get a really great epilogue, as well as a little section from the author with a list of resources in case you want to know more about any of the aspects in the book, both supernatural as well as scientific or historical. This is my first book by the author, although I've had her other books on my TBR, and now will have to make sure to go back and read them soon!

About the Author:

Cat Winters’s critically acclaimed debut novel, In the Shadow of Blackbirds, was named a 2014 Morris Award Finalist, a 2014 Best Fiction for Young Adults pick, a 2013 Bram Stoker Award Nominee, and a School Library Journal Best Book of 2013. Her upcoming novels include The Cure for Dreaming (Amulet Books/Oct. 2014) and The Uninvited (William Morrow/2015), and she’s a contributor to the 2015 YA horror anthology Slasher Girls and Monster Boys. She lives in Portland, Oregon. Visit her online at www.catwinters.com.

Photo by Tara Kelly

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