Torn Away Blog Tour: Review + Giveaway

Torn Away by Jennifer Brown

Release Date: May 6, 2014
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Rated: YA 14+
Format: eGalley
Source: NetGalley
Buy: Amazon ● The Book Depository
Goodreads ● Website

Born and raised in the Midwest, Jersey Cameron knows all about tornadoes. Or so she thinks. When her town is devastated by a twister, Jersey survives -- but loses her mother, her young sister, and her home. As she struggles to overcome her grief, she's sent to live with her only surviving relatives: first her biological father, then her estranged grandparents.


In an unfamiliar place, Jersey faces a reality she's never considered before -- one in which her mother wasn't perfect, and neither were her grandparents, but they all loved her just the same. Together, they create a new definition of family. And that's something no tornado can touch.

I agree with Giselle's (Xpresso Reads) advice in her review of Torn Away: I STRONGLY recommend not reading the blurb. It actually gives a lot of the story away! But even so, I really enjoyed this book. I’ve never been in a twister or tornado before. The only natural disaster I’ve been in would have to be a typhoon back when I was living in the Philippines. I constantly hear about these happening in the south of the US and the pictures really show how destructive these can be. It was really moving – and scary quite frankly – to read about Jersey’s experience in Torn Away dealing with and the after-effects of this natural disaster.

This was a really short read, and for that reason I felt that it might have packed a LOT in too few pages. I honestly thought it should have been slightly longer, because I mean, it barely scraped the bucket of emotions I was looking forward to reading about, especially character development. This was the only thing I would have really improved, but oh well, there’s still a lot to take in with this novel!
Jersey was a great character, but she didn’t come without her flaws. I understand that she’s completely lost everything, but does she need to be so bugging and relentless all the time? It was near the end where I started to hate her (you’ll see why). Obviously at the end, I came to finally like her, but otherwise she can be a little bit too mean. There are several other characters in the book that you come across, some of them great, some of them awful, so there’s a whole palette of emotions and reactions to go around.

What I did love was the scene of the tornado. It was, as I’d mentioned before, very vivid and detailed, and you could really feel Jersey’s fear coming off the pages. It was one of best written scenes of the book and I could imagine myself in that situation because of the wonderful and horrifying descriptions Jennifer Brown has incorporated.

A story that comes from the heart, Torn Away will blow readers away. Raw and powerful, do NOT hesitate to pick this one up because it will hold you tightly in it’s grasp long after you’ve finished reading. This was my first Jennifer Brown novel, and it definitely won’t be my last.

If you like this, try...

• If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch ● Goodreads
• Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer ● Goodreads

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JENNIFER BROWN

Two-time winner of the Erma Bombeck Global Humor Award (2005 & 2006), Jennifer's weekly humor column appeared in The Kansas City Star for over four years, until she gave it up to be a full-time young adult novelist. 

Jennifer writes and lives in the Kansas City, Missouri area, with her husband and three children.

Website ● Twitter ● Facebook

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Giveaway time!

Thanks to Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, one person can win...

a paperback copy of Torn Away!

Unfortunately, as the publisher is mailing this, it is open to the US ONLY

Enter via the Rafflecopter below

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Thank you to IFB Tours for having me along! 

Follow the rest of the tour by clicking on the tour banner at the top of the post or by clicking HERE.