Thirteen by Shannon Peel ~ Book Tour & Review

Book Description:

An action packed blockbuster. Red Dawn meets 1984. The perfect book for kids 10-14, even those who don't like to read.

Jack wants to hang out with his friends but his mom's rules keep him grounded until they wake up to machine gun fire and everything has changed. Foreign soldiers have invaded his hometown cutting off power, shutting down communications, and restricting travel. To make matters worse, he doesn't know if his dad is alive, wounded, captured, or dead. He wants to find him, however, his mother doesn't care, the soldiers are in his way, and the cop who busted him is no help at all.

Feedback from a 92 year old great grandmother: My comment on it, is that Shannon did a wonderful job of writing Thirteen. It was well written, and the description of events was well thought out. It was exciting, scary at times, and sad as well. It's a book worth reading. -- OK so it was my 92 year old grandmother...

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About the Author:

Shannon Peel grew up in Enderby, BC where her family's root run deep. Growing up where television was either non existent or very limited she relied on books & imagination to escape into the world beyond.

She went to UBC to study and earn a general studies BA with a concentration in Political Science and Economics. Macro analysis of world events, social justice and human motivations became a passion of hers. This passion is a driving force in all her stories, which have political, economic, and social justice undercurrents.

After a career in the financial field she decided to stay home and raise her two children until school age. In 2007 she return to the workforce as a sales / marketing / advertising professional. She currently resides in BC's Lower Mainland with her two teenage children.

THIRTEEN is her debut full size paperback novel. She also is the author of an adult fantasy series, JOURNIES IN ELADONIA, consisting of ebook novellas. http://shannonpeel.bravesites.com/

Review:

First off, I love that this story is set in Canada. It is set in Vancouver near the American border. I am Canadian and love stories set here. This is the first book I have read from Shannon Peel and was very pleased with the authors writing. It flowed really well together and the author developed the backdrop without over doing it. I will admit that Jack (the main character) got on my nerves sometimes but I just kept reminding myself that is what a thirteen year old boy is like. They are coming into their manhood and moving away from needing mom. Jack lives with his mom full time and only sees his dad, who moved into the city, every second weekend.

This book is one of my "broaden my genres" books and I was pretty impressed. I enjoyed it a lot. North Korea invades Canada and starts taking people to camps, the stadium and the arena depending on who they are. They ration food to the community and threaten to kill anyone who is caught with more food than they are allowed. Everyone has been given the rules and know the consequence for breaking them. With everything going on in the world today this story very well could be real. It is a YA novel and I would suggest it for 12 years and older because of the little violence in it. The are a few scenes when people are killed and Jack witnesses it.

The author had me hanging on to my kindle pretty tight at one spot when Jack, his mom, and cop Nick risk their lives to search for Jack's dad Jason. They need to cross boarders that the North Korean military have set up. Yikes! If you do not like cliffhangers you may want to wait to read this book as the reader is left wanting to know more. I actually said out loud "REALLY, ARGH!" while my husband sat beside me laughing as he knew it must have been a cliffhanger I had hit.

I give this book a 4 out of 5 stars and I recommend it to anyone who love YA action, war type books.