Dead Boy Blog Tour {review & giveaway}

I'm thrilled to have the Dead Boy Blog Tour stopping by today with my review and giveaway...

Dead Boy

by Laurel Gale

September 29, 2015

Crown BFYR

Just because you’re dead doesn’t mean you don’t deserve a life.

Crow Darlingson died in the 4th grade. But he’s still alive. And growing, actually. He can’t eat or taste anything, his body parts sometimes fall off (mom always sews them back on, though), and he’s only allowed to leave his house once per year, on Halloween.

Crow’s parents are separating, and despite their reassurances, he’s pretty sure it’s his fault. After all, having an undead son can’t be much easier than being one. Sneaking out at night only makes things worse, but he can’t resist the chance at a real friendship with Melody Plympton, the new girl next door, who loves mystery more than she minds the stink of his flesh or the maggots that sometimes crawl out of his nose.

Together they investigate the mysterious Meera - a monster living in the nearby park. Logic and fear tell Crow to stay away, but fuzzy memories lure him on. When Crow and Melody venture into its underground lair, Crow’s not just risking the half-life he clings to. He’s also risking the only friend he’s had in years.

The importance of friendship is crystallized as Crow and Melody face tests of loyalty, courage, and honor in this macabre middle grade novel by a debut author.

amazon / b&n / indiebound / goodreads

PRAISE FOR DEAD BOY

“A stinky, creepy tale for anyone who’s ever felt like an outsider.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Gale takes readers on a dark and surprisingly funny journey. . . . A great recommendation

to middle grade fans of dark humor.”—School Library Journal

Crow Darlingson is your average 12 year old boy...if being a stinky, maggot filled, limbs falling off, dead, yet still growing boy is your definition of average. Crow’s death and miraculous resurrection are a mystery he’d like to solve. His separating parents won’t tell him just what happened and his overprotective mother keeps him locked in the house, only allowing him out on Halloween. But when magic obsessed Melody, who doesn’t care that Crow is dead, moves in next door, he finally makes a real friend. Soon, Crow and Melody find themselves hunting for a mysterious monster called a Meera and and a way to bring Crow back from the undead.

Laurel Gale’s Dead Boy is a creeptastic middle-grade debut oozing with humor, heart, atmospheric settings, and engaging characters. Gale’s spin on the undead is fresh, darkly whimsical, and frightfully fun. Dead Boy has a good mix of age appropriate genuine chills and exciting thrills, with plenty of spine-tinlgy grossness (falling limbs, maggots, gag-inducing smell) that one expects when it comes to the undead.

Crow and Melody’s search for the Meera and magic take them on a wild adventure through the monster’s underground lair, where they must endure many dangerous tests of courage, loyalty, wits, and more. Full of eerie twists and turns, icky critters, deadly obstacles, and freak-out worthy surprises, Gale brings the Meera’s lair to life with vivid, spooktacular details. Young readers will have a scary good time traversing this macabre maze with Crow and Melody!

And both Crow and Melody, with their endearing, likable personalities and sweet friendship, bring a lot of heart and emotion to the story.

my final thoughts: Readers who crave chills with their adventure, like their fun full of frights, and want both humor and heart in their stories, will devour Dead Boy!

MY RATING

4/5 cupcakes

Like Crow, Gale resides in the Nevada desert. She lives with her husband and a band of furry monsters that might actually be ferrets, her favorite animal (even though they don't make an appearance in this story).

Win a new hardcover copy of Dead Boy!

Thanks to Random House, I have one new copy for one winner.

DETAILS

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-ends 12/11

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