BLOG TOUR - REVIEW & GIVEAWAY: Mutilate My Heart (Mutilated #1) by Emily Godwin

Title: Mutilate My Heart (Mutilate #1)

Author: Emily Godwin

Date of Publication: July 9, 2013

Genre: Contemporary YA romance with paranormal elements

Blurb:

Punk rock band Mutilated Arteries has been seventeen-year-old Becca's world (aka obsession) for the last year. When the band schedules a concert in her hometown, she and her best friend Carli are the first ones in line to buy tickets. The night is everything she expects it to be and more, especially after making friends with the new super-cute bassist, Sketch.

Becca's mom warns her not to fall for a rock star because rock stars are always on the road - or they die in a plane crash, like her mom's favorite band did twenty-something years ago. But after the band's tour bus breaks down and they're stuck hanging out in Roizen Hills for a week, it's hard for Becca not to fall for Sketch and his caricature drawings and toxic green eyes.

Becca knows Sketch is leaving as soon as the bus is fixed, and she can't be his fan-turned-girlfriend anyway because of the lead singer's "No Girlfriends" rule. Plus, there's something strange about the guys that Becca can't quite decipher... like how they won't reveal their real names, their always-changing odd appearances, and the guitarist's obsession with blood and zombies. Still, Becca wants nothing more than for Sketch to mutilate her heart...but it just might not be in a way she expects.

Excerpt:

The bathroom walls are covered in names, phone numbers, and song lyrics. I scan the walls looking for any Depressed Michael or Mutilated Arteries lyrics, but of course there’s not any.

“This bathroom is disgusting!” Carli calls out from behind the puke-colored stall.

I don’t say anything. I’m trying to think of the perfect lyric to add to the wall of words. I pull the black Sharpie from my bag and pop the lid off.

Come dance with me to the drumming of our once-beating hearts, and stay with me forever at this undead masquerade.

Carli walks out while I’m emphasizing the last two words. I half expect her to say something about vandalism, but instead she grabs the marker from my hand and writes in huge letters We’re Already Dead!

Turning my camera on, I back as far away from the wall as I can, so I can get all of it in one shot. Maybe some random girl will go into the Princess’s bathroom, see the words on the wall, and wonder just what song they’re from, and I’ll have broadened the Mutilated Arteries fan base by one. I give our handiwork one last look before leading the way out of the bathroom.

I turn to tell Carli that we could be unknowingly spreading the love of our favorite band, but it’s not Carli who’s behind me.

Author Bio:

Emily Godwin is a Young Adult author. She enjoys writing, painting, and sewing her own line of non-evil voodoo dolls. She's a Slytherin, trying to disguise herself as a Hufflepuff, and wishes she could read herself into books.

Author Links:

Twitter l Facebook l Blog l Goodreads

My Thoughts:

"Roizen Hills! I have one question for you all," he says. His eyes bore into me. This is it. I can feel it. "Can you join us...in our UNDEAD MASQUERADE!?" 

Mutilate My Heart had been on my radar for a little while now. A young adult story about a girl and her favourite band, a good dose of romance and some paranormal thrown in for good measure. Emily Godwin could have written this book especially for me. And after reading it, I'm almost convinced that she did. This super quick read was a winner, from start to finish.

What seventeen year old girl doesn't want to meet the band she's obsessed with and have a romance with their favourite member? Every girls dream right? How many actually get to live that dream? Becca and her best friend Carli couldn't be more excited about their favourite band Mutilated Arteries doing a gig in their home town. The show is everything they expected and then some. But when the bands tour bus breaks down and Mutilated Arteries are in town for longer than expected, romance blossoms.

I turn to find myself face-to-face with the most beautiful boy I've ever seen. His crazy, pale blonde hair falls down his neck and around his face. His toxic green eyes stare back at me like a hazard sign.

The romance in the book was so incredibly sweet. Both couples were so good together. I loved Becca and Sketch. How could a girl not fall for Sketch with that amazing smile of his, along with his super sweetness. But I really loved the ease between Carli and Corpse. Don't get me wrong, there is definitely amazing chemistry between Becca and Sketch, but I think Becca was always conscious of the fact that once the tour bus was fixed the band would be leaving and her time with Sketch would come to an end, where Carli was more of a jump in with both feet kind of girl. 

For the most part Mutilate My Heart reads like a YA contemporary. There are various references to zombies and blood and such throughout the book, but it wasn't until much later that the paranormal element really came into play. I loved Becca and Carli's initial reactions to things. It was just how you would expect two seventeen year old girls to act. Not everything gets explained during this book so I'm really looking forward to the next one and learning more about the guys story.

Emily Godwin had me grinning from ear to ear for such a huge portion of this book. She had me reminiscing about all the boy band crushes I've had over the years. All the times I've gone to see my favourite bands in concert and the times when I've been lucky enough to actually meet one of my idols. I still remember being completely awe struck meeting Gerard Way from My Chemical Romance. Fangirl much!! Mutilate My Heart was a book that just made me feel good. An author that can manage to do that definitely has something special.

He's in a band. He's absolutely perfect!

4.5/5 Fangirl for Sketch Stars

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