Book Review: Running From Secrets by Stephanie Void

Title: Running From Secrets 

Author: Stephanie Void
Series: N/A
Pages: N/A
Publisher: Self-Published
Date of Publication: 23rd January 2010
Source: Author
Synopsis from Goodreads: Bethany has never felt as alone as she feels in Linwood—until she dreams up Chime, a woman on the run because of a magic crime she didn’t commit. The dreams get more and more urgent, so Bethany tries to banish them by writing them down, only to discover she’s stumbled into the role of unwitting controller of Chime’s world.

Chime is real here, and so is the possessed queen, minion army, mysterious professor, Vault Five, wind chimes with a secret code, child’s rhyme that can kill, the naked painting, and other things Chime’s story leads her to.

She has to fix the story without erasing Chime and her world, because if she erases Chime, she will die as well.

My Thoughts:
I didn't really know what to expect from this book. I was pleasantly surprised, and I'm happy to say that I really enjoyed the book.

After the death of her twin sister, Bethany and her family move to Linwood. Bethany feels so alone, that is, until she suddenly dreams up a girl called Chime, and a whole world and story for her. At least, she thinks she's only dreamt it up. But, she soon finds herself inside Chime's world, inside the world that she's written down. In this world Chime is real, and she's running away from the very real queen who is trying to kill her.

This book is a story within a story, and I thought that that aspect of the book was really well done. It's one of those things that is either done really badly or really well, and luckily, this one is good :) I really liked how Stephanie made it so that Bethany knew a huge amount about the world because she'd written it, but when she was there, she didn't know what was going to happen to either her or Chime. It helped me to understand the world more (which I thought was rather confusing but more on that later) and it gave it a little bit of suspense too.

I mostly liked the characters, although I was always getting confused by David and Duluge - I could never remember which was which... I liked Bethany, I thought she was very real and believable, if a little irrational at times. For example, when she just agreed to pose naked for a BOY; I found that to be a little strange... I did like how she coped with all the things that happened to her and Chime in New Velerethland though, and I thought she was very noble and brave at the end.

I also really liked Chime. My only complaint was that she was quite weak at times in the book, where she could have been stronger and tried harder to do things, instead of just giving up. Her romance with either David or Duluge (I can't remember which one, they're all mixed up in my head) was sweet too, and I liked how it was very much a sub plot in the story, and it could have been fine without it.

The plot was well thought out and very fast paced. Lots of things happened in a short space of time, and while that could be confusing, I followed it almost perfectly I think, and I really enjoyed reading about Bethany and Chime's adventures in New Velerethland. The whole possession of the queen plotline made for an interesting book, and it was great to read.

As I said before, I got rather confused about the world of New Velerethland. It was very confusing and to be honest I think the author has it so planned out and so detailed in her head that there was just too much information crammed into not enough words. Maybe if it was spread out over the book more I would have understood about the world and what it consisted of, but unfortunately every time I tried to imagine the world that Chime lived in, I didn't know what to picture in my head, which is the main reason why it got 4 stars instead of 5.

Overall though, I really enjoyed reading Running From Secrets. I could look over all the confusing aspects and just enjoy the plot, which I thought was very well thought out and written. It was action packed, interesting, and there were times where I couldn't stop reading. I'd recommend it to YA fantasy fans who like books with lots of fast paced action.

*Thanks to the author or sending me this in exchange for an honest review. In no way has this affected my opinion of the book. 


My Rating:

I give it 4 Feet!

Challenges:
2011 eBook Challenge #18
2011 Paranormal YA Reading Challenge #44
2011 100+ Reading Challenge #80