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Tuesday 26 June 2012

A Review for Deadly Hemlock by Kathleen Peacock

Deadly HemlockPosted by Donna
Expected Release Date: July 5th, 2012
Finished Date: May 23rd, 2012
Publishers: Simon & Schuster UK
Source: For Review
Format: Paperback
Pages: 416
Buy : Amazon UK / Amazon US / The Book Depo

Mackenzie and Amy were best friends. Until Amy was brutally murdered.
Since then, Mac’s life has been turned upside down. She is being haunted by Amy in her dreams, and an extremist group called the Trackers has come to Mac’s hometown of Hemlock to hunt down Amy’s killer: A white werewolf. 
Lupine syndrome—also known as the werewolf virus—is on the rise across the country. Many of the infected try to hide their symptoms, but bloodlust is not easy to control. Wanting desperately to put an end to her nightmares, Mac decides to investigate Amy’s murder herself. She discovers secrets lurking in the shadows of Hemlock, secrets about Amy’s boyfriend, Jason, her good pal Kyle, and especially her late best friend. Mac is thrown into a maelstrom of violence and betrayal that puts her life at risk. Kathleen Peacock’s thrilling novel is the first in the Hemlock trilogy, a spellbinding urban fantasy series filled with provocative questions about prejudice, trust, lies, and love.

The Review: 4.5Deadly Hemlock is one of them books that I went into with no expectations,  so I was thrilled that this book utterly surprised me. It threw me so many amazing surprises that overall, it was a fantastic read. 

In Deadly Hemlock werewolves are no longer in hiding after being discovered by the government. The werewolf gene called the ‘Lupine Syndrome’ is being spread to other people by bites or scratches.
Mackenzie lives in a town called Hemlock and she is trying to deal with the death of her best friend, Amy who was brutally murdered by a werewolf. However, Amy isn’t the first person to be killed, and a man hunt is starting to take place, to wipe all the werewolves out. Mackenzie however, believes there is more to Amy’s death than what she’s been told, and takes it upon herself to find out the truth. But what she isn’t prepared for are the secrets and lies that come out, and thing turn dangerous very quickly for her. Can Mackenzie solve Amy’s murder without getting herself killed? And can she protect the people she loves?

Finally – another werewolf story that is on par with Andrea Cremer’s Nightshade series. I love werewolf stories, but the one’s I’ve read recently all tend to have the same story line, so I’m so pleased that Deadly Hemlock is completely and utterly unique. In my opinion this story has quite a dystopian feel to it – especially with the werewolves being so out in the open, so I was shocked to find out it’s being classes as an urban fantasy, however dystopian or urban fantasy, it was fantastic nonetheless.

The characters were a joy to read about too. Mackenzie, Jason and Kyle have all lost their way since losing Amy – some more than others, but with Mackenzie’s strong personality trying to keep them all together, it was nice to see how tight their friendship was. Mackenzie really was a stand out character for me, I adored both her relationships with both boys and I think the author did a great job with the love triangle too.  I’m usually one that isn’t keen on love triangles, but the author didn’t make it the key point in the book; it was more a back-story and it was great. She really left me battling with who I wanted Mackenzie to end up with and overall, I’d be happy with either one of them.

Kathleen Peacock really has created a thrilling, suspenseful and captivating read with Deadly Hemlock. It's filled with secrets, lie’s, hope and love, and I loved every minute of it. Highly recommend to paranormal fans that are looking for a new and exciting series. 

A huge thank you to Simon & Schuster UK for giving me the opportunity to review this book.

19 comments:

nat cleary said...

So glad you liked it. I was the same and hadn't heard much on the book so when I read it I was blown away. I loved it and cant wait for more :) 

Erin W. said...

I wasn't a huge fan of this book but I still enjoyed it. Glad you did too. Fab review!

Ashley Robertson said...

Sounds like a good read. Thanks for your review, will add it to my Good Reads shelf :-):

Suzanne @ Paranormal Book Fan said...

I can't wait to read this. I just seem to have so much to get through first. Glad you liked it so much 

Michelle Chew said...

Wow! Glad to hear it's up to expectation! I can't wait to read it as well. 

Rebecca (Kindle Fever) said...

Fantastic review, Donna! I'm so glad you enjoyed this one as much as I did, it truly blew my mind. I expected to love it, but it's so unique and twisting that I was pleasantly surprised. 

Fara Nani said...

Gah! I haven't read the first one so I have to go through that first. Glad to know you enjoy it! Awesome review! :D

Fara @ Tumbling In Books

Jasprit said...

This sounds like amazing read, I admit lately I've become tired of the same paranormal stories, but this sounds like a fascinating new take on things! So glad you enjoyed it! I can't wait to read a copy! :)

Christy said...

I LOVED this book! It was beyond amazing. So glad to see you enjoyed it as well!

Andrea Modolo said...

I'm glad you liked this one. I was so happy to see that this was a unique werewolf story. The love triangle was amazing and totally unexpected for me. Definitely can't wait to see where Peacock takes the story next. Great review! :)

C.m. Connolly said...

Must check it out. Am a bit of a fan of all sorts of otherworldly folk. Have just started a Vampire Story as a serial on my blog (not sure how that will work), if its your thing swing by and have a look.

Looking forward to your next review.

Sam @ Realm of Fiction said...

I've heard nothing but good things about this. I'm glad it stands out from other werewolf books. Great review Donna! :)

Rebecca said...

I haven't heard much about this one but I'm hoping not knowing much will result in me liking it! Glad to hear you enjoyed it :D It seems alot of people weren't expecting much but were pleasantly surprised!

Carina said...

Lovely review, my dear! I really enjoyed (Deadly) Hemlock as well and can't wait to continue reading this series. ♥

Suzanne @ Paranormal Book Fan said...

I can't wait to read this one but I haven't even bought it yet because I seem to have so many review books that are coming up soon. Glad you really enjoyed it though. 

Brodie said...

On par with the Nightshade series? Sets itself apart with a unique storyline? Dystopian feel? DAMN.  Those few sentences along has me RIDICULOUSLY excited, not to mention the rest of your review!

 Also very happy to hear the love triangle was properly explored - I don't mind reading them, but I need them to be believable so I can invest. I LOVE being torn between choosing the guy too! 

Cannot wait to dive into my copy. Awesome review!

Diana Giote said...

Great story.  It seems very beautiful paranormal thriller. I love the werewolves and I would really like to live in a world where werewolves are no longer in hiding.
Great review! 

Alyssa_Susanna said...

LOVED this book. Totally different from what I was expecting. I never really liked werewolves, but gosh. This book was a good one. Still don't really like werewolves, just the ones in this series. I really like Mac, and Kyle, and somewhat Jason. NO LOVE TRIANGLE PLEASE MS. PEACOCK. I really hope she doesn't ruin the series with that. Yes, a series can definitely be ruined by the love interests (cough cough that Nightshade series you mentioned). Just an opinion. I hope there's more to this series! There better be, after that ending. lol. Thanks for the review!!!!

Alyssa Susanna

Rebecca Hipworth said...

I've heard such good things about this book! I'm glad you love it, I'm sure I will too. :)

 
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