June 9, 2017
Welcome to my stop on the Secrets of Skin and Stone Blog Tour hosted by YaReads Blog Tours!
Title: Secrets of Skin and Stone
Author: Wendy Laine
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Published: June 5th, 2017
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Synopsis
Something is wrong in Hidden Creek. The sleepy Alabama town is more haunted than any place fiend hunter Grisham Caso has ever seen. Unearthed graves, curse bags, and spilled blood all point to an evil that could destroy his gargoyle birthright. The town isn’t safe for anyone, and everyone says fiery Piper Devon knows why.
Piper wants to leave Hidden Creek behind. She’s had enough of secrets—they hide in the shadows of her room and tell her terrible things are coming. Too-charming city boy Grisham might be her only chance to save herself.
To survive, Piper and Grisham have to shed their secrets and depend only on each other. But what lurks in Hidden Creek still might take everything away from them, including each other.
There aren't nearly enough gargoyle stories in the YA world, so when I heard about Secrets of Skin and Stone, I knew I had to read it and am so glad I did. Grisham (Gris) and Piper are now two of my favorite characters for this year, and the storytelling was fab.
Told from the alternating POVs of Gris and Piper, Secrets of Skin and Stone is about Gris, who's a Watcher by birthright and transforms into a gargoyle to fight off monsters called fiends. Gris is called by family members to investigate the little town of Hidden Creek, where he meets more fiends than he ever has before as well as a firecracker of a girl named Piper.
I can't tell you how much I love Piper because she's a real character with real flaws. She's her own person, strong and resilient, and I really enjoyed her fiery personality. Piper engages in self-harm with cutting and has a form of OCD that isn't as easily recognizable due to the symptoms. I identified with her so easily because I used to be a cutter, just not with OCD.
For any readers out there who could be triggered by this type of self-harm, there is a warning from the author at the beginning of the book. The cutting scenes are pretty detailed. There's a lot of misinformation out there about cutting, and I felt the author did a great job with portraying it in a realistic and sensitive manner. Hopefully, this will open up discussion about a problem that's difficult and uncomfortable to talk about but which needs to be brought out into the open.
Gris and Piper each have a lot of secrets they feel they can't tell the other, but the thing is, they can only work together on the problems in Hidden Creek if they shed their inhibitions and trust one another. I liked that Piper didn't immediately fall for Gris's charm, although I'm not convinced that Gris was trying to be charming anyway. Watching the two of them grapple with trusting each other was realistic and interesting.
While the ending was neat and tidy, (actually a little too tidy, hence four stars instead of five), I'd love another trip back to Gris and Piper where they could once again investigate fiends together.
For any readers out there who could be triggered by this type of self-harm, there is a warning from the author at the beginning of the book. The cutting scenes are pretty detailed. There's a lot of misinformation out there about cutting, and I felt the author did a great job with portraying it in a realistic and sensitive manner. Hopefully, this will open up discussion about a problem that's difficult and uncomfortable to talk about but which needs to be brought out into the open.
Gris and Piper each have a lot of secrets they feel they can't tell the other, but the thing is, they can only work together on the problems in Hidden Creek if they shed their inhibitions and trust one another. I liked that Piper didn't immediately fall for Gris's charm, although I'm not convinced that Gris was trying to be charming anyway. Watching the two of them grapple with trusting each other was realistic and interesting.
While the ending was neat and tidy, (actually a little too tidy, hence four stars instead of five), I'd love another trip back to Gris and Piper where they could once again investigate fiends together.
My Rating:
About the Author
Wendy Laine is the penname of author Wendy Sparrow. Writing is in Wendy’s blood as are equal parts of Mountain Dew and chocolate. Wendy has been telling tales since she was a child with varying amounts of success. Her parents clearly anticipated her forays into the paranormal because she heard “The Boy Who Cried Wolf’ over and over.
She lives in Washington State with a wonderful husband and two quirky kids and is active in Autism and OCD support networks. She can usually be found on Twitter where she’ll talk to anyone who talks to her and occasionally just to herself.
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