OXFORD WHISPERS Blog Tour + Review + Giveaway

Welcome to my stop on the Oxford Whispers Blog Tour! I loved this book, and you can read my review below. And don’t forget to enter the giveaway at the end of this post, where you can win your own copy of the book!

Title: Oxford Whispers (The Oxford Trilogy, #1)

Author: Marion Croslydon

Release date: October 8^th, 2012

Genre: Paranormal

Age Group: New Adult

Tour organized by: AToMR Tours

Amazon * Goodreads

SOOKIE STACKHOUSE GOES IVY LEAGUE!

Madison LeBon is dead set against the dead. She has vowed to ignore her Voodoo-stamped heritage and the psychic gift passed down through her Louisiana family. The world of the living is where she wants to belong.

But her resolution shatters when the tragic lovers in a painting—the subject of her first history class at Oxford—begin to haunt her. The lovers warn her against their own nemesis, a Puritan from the English Civil War.

College becomes more complicated when Madison falls hard for Rupert Vance, a troubled aristocrat and descendant of one of the characters in the painting. With the spirit of a murderer after her, she realizes that her own first love may also be doomed…

FALL IN LOVE FOR THE FIRST TIME… AGAIN

{Upper-YA/New Adult – Recommended 17+}

My Review:

In a word: ghostly, atmospheric, exciting and sexy!

I haven’t read much in the category of New Adult, but after reading Oxford Whispers, I really want to read more. The New Adult titles I have read seem to embrace the carefree aspects of young adulthood, mainly the fact that the characters still aren’t facing adult responsibilities. But since the characters are no longer minors, the authors are now free to explore their sexual awakening in a much more graphic way. I find this a very intriguing combination; it’s that time in your life when you’re old enough to be on your own, right before the adult burdens of marriage, work and child rearing come crashing down. College is a heady time in a person’s life, at least it was for me, and reading this book brought back many of those rowdy and rebellious experiences. Throw in the wonderful setting of Oxford College in England, and you have a winning combination.

Madison is a history student at Oxford, with good friends Pippa and Ollie to help her navigate the old historical city. But she is also trying to hide from her past. She has left her home in the Louisiana Bayou to try to escape the ghosts and visions that haunt her. Because Madison, you see, comes from a long line of Louisiana women who practice voodoo and can see spirits. But at Oxford, she discovers that she hasn’t left them behind at all. In class one day while staring at a painting called The Wounded Cavalier, she literally “falls” into the picture and witnesses the murder of a young girl. Drawn inexplicably to the three people in the painting, Madison decides to look into their lives. She approaches her history professor, Jackson McCain, who agrees to take her on as a research assistant.

As she begins looking into the history of The Wounded Cavalier, she meets Rupert Vance, a sexy and attractive but annoying boy who is on the rowing team. Rupert has access to some research materials that Madison needs, and they are reluctantly thrown together by Doctor McCain. Madison is attracted to Rupert, but he has a girlfriend and doesn’t seem to want anything to do with her. But when a series of strange accidents occurs and Madison’s visions of Sarah, Robert and Peter, the three people from the painting, become more and more detailed and real, Madison realizes she needs Rupert’s help to figure out what’s going on, as well as that of her friends and Doctor McCain, before time runs out and someone dies.

Although I did find the plot a little confusing at times, this story is beautifully written, and the characters are so well done that their interactions make up for some of the confusion. Madison is a strong female protagonist who is not only attending school in a foreign country, but trying to come to terms with her “gift” of seeing ghosts. We get to see her interact with her family back in Pierre Part, Louisiana, when she goes home during a school break. Her gift stems from the rich voodoo culture of the Bayou, and she gets strength from her grandmother who tells her that she must accept her visions, rather than fight them. I loved her family and the setting of Pierre Part, and I wished more of the story had taken place there.

As far as the boys go, I loved Rupert’s character the most. He’s got his own past to deal with, including a side story about his mother’s death. But although he resists his attraction to Madison and tries to avoid her, they can’t seem to stay apart, and there are a couple of pretty hot romantic scenes that you won’t find in young adult fiction!

And then there are the ghosts, who play big parts in the book. Sarah, Robert and Peter all have their own stories to tell, and they are mixed up with Madison and Rupert in ways you won’t believe. I loved the way the author brought the past into the present, and the way Madison’s life echoes that of Sarah’s. Croslydon uses evocative details throughout her story which bring everything to life, like the fact that Madison smells burning candle wax right before she sees a ghost. Her use of flashbacks into the year 1650 to explain the events from the painting helps us understand the motivations of the characters, both past and present.

Luckily this is only the first in a trilogy, so we can expect more adventures from Madison and Rupert. If you are looking for a book filled with secrets and lies, ghosts and visions, romance and danger, look no further.

About the author:

In addition to being an author, I work as an entrepreneur, wife and mother-of-one but spend a good deal of time with books, DVDs and listening to my mp3 player; all for the sake of inspiration, of course.

My debut series, The Oxford Trilogy, has been a blast to write because I can indulge in my favorite types of music: Country and English rock.

My main goal as a writer is to make readers dream bigger and cause their hearts to beat a little faster.
Since my writing is all about sharing dreams and stories, I love connecting with fellow readers and authors.

Marion Croslydon | Twitter | Facebook

Time for the Giveaway! The author is offering (1) print copy and (8) e-book copies of Oxford Whispers. SIMPLY CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE RAFFLECOPTER.

You can see the other blogs participating in this tour by clicking here. Thanks to AToMR Tours for arranging this blog tour!