BLOG TOUR: Secret for a Song by S.K. Falls (Review & Giveaway!)

SECRET FOR A SONG

By: S.K. Falls 

Review by: Kaede

Release Date: June 3rd, 2013 

Format: e-ARC

Source: Xpresso Book Tours

Saylor Grayson makes herself sick. Literally. She ate her first needle when she was seven. Now, at nineteen, she’s been kicked out of college for poisoning herself with laxatives. The shrinks call it Munchausen Syndrome. All Saylor knows is that when she’s ill, her normally distant mother pays attention and the doctors and nurses make her feel special. Then she meets Drew Dean, the leader of a local support group for those with terminal diseases. When he mistakes her for a new member, Saylor knows she should correct him. But she can’t bring herself to, not after she’s welcomed into a new circle of friends. Friends who, like Drew, all have illnesses ready to claim their independence or their lives. For the first time, Saylor finds out what it feels like to be in love, to have friends who genuinely care about her. But secrets have a way of revealing themselves. What will happen when Saylor’s is out?

Saylor Grayson craves the thrill of the experience of damaging her body. Her constant search for new ways to invoke pain within herself is the only way to attract her normally distant mother's attention. And in some ways, I understood where Saylor was coming from. However, there was that part of me that was adamant in thinking that there was no possible connection to be formed with a girl who sought out to injure herself. And for a good while, that belief stayed with me. Saylor's story was far from unreadable, but there was no relating to it. 

I had expected to like Fall's Secret for a Song, but I had not anticipated Saylor's character growth. Saylor's transition, with the assistance of Drew and the new friends she meets along the way, goes from somebody who harms herself to feel better (which is possibly one of the most contradicting reasoning I've ever seen) to a girl who knows happiness and has found love, and is on the way to being able to stand on her own. 

I grew quite fond of Drew, as well as the characters of all the members of Drew's support group. There was something distinctively unique about them as a whole, something each and every one of them had but Saylor lacked. The acceptance of death, or less severely, their circumstances. It isn't easy to acknowledge that you won't live forever, and it's difficult not to think of all that you'll never be able to see. Saylor herself mentions that she doesn't want to die, doesn't want to take that final step of no return. But Drew knows that he only has a matter of time before Friederich's Ataxia claims him, and Zee isn't far behind. Because she accepts that she won't live past six months, she spends the remainder of what time she has left living and pushing herself to the extreme. If there's no choice but to go down, you may as well go with a bang and the satisfaction of having been able to do what you wanted. 

S.K. Falls has a honest, but almost lyrical writing style. She doesn't deny the readers the truth about the characters' situations, and she hands it to you just as it is. But truly understanding somebody, fictional or not, includes knowing the truth about them, truths that aren't sugarcoated or downplayed. Because Falls writes with such honesty, we're able to see how real her characters are. Secret for a Song isn't a happily-ever-after riding off into the ridiculously glowing sunset, it's compelling with a very real ending. We part with Saylor and Drew on real life terms. Because that's just how some stories end - midway, with no clear resolution. What we saw in Secret for a Song was a part of Saylor's life and it ends off with her beginning a new chapter of it. There's no promise of anything in the future, and we have no idea where the characters we've followed will go or what'll they'll do. But that's reality at it's finest - a uncertainty that is best accompanied by hope. We can't say exactly what'll happen even a day from now, but we can think and hope for the best. 

4 coffee cups!

**An advance copy of this book was provided  for review. However, all opinions remain honest and my own.**

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Adriana Ryan is the pen name of writer S.K. Falls.

A huge fan of spooky stuff and shoes, I enjoy alternately hitting up the outlet malls and historic graveyards in Charleston, SC where I live and imbibe coffee. My husband and two small children seem not to mind when I hastily scribble novel lines on stray limbs in the absence of notepads.

Since no writer’s biography is complete without mention of her menagerie of animals, you should know I have one dog that doubles as a footstool, a second that functions as a vacuum cleaner, and a cat that ensures I never forget that my hands are, first and foremost, for pouring cat food.

Author Links:

Website: http://www.skfalls.com/

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7023689.S_K_Falls

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorskfalls

Twitter: https://twitter.com/skfallss

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Okay so darlings, I have an awesome giveaway for you guys today! If you've read and love Secret for a Song, or if you really want to, I'll be giving away three e-reader/tablet covers of a Secret for a Song today! The contest is open to U.S. and Canada only, I'm afraid. But good luck to everyone who enters! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Contact Kaede: 

Email: kimberlyho75@yahoo.com
Goodreads: Kaede

Twitter: Kami178xx