Review: Ruined by Marian Cheatham

Ruined - Stratford High Series, Book One

by Marian Cheatham

Marian will be awarding an eBook copy of Ruined to a randomly drawn commenter at each stop during the tour. A Grand Prize of a signed paperback copy of Ruined plus a new DVD of Much Ado About Nothing starring Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson will be awarded to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour (US ONLY)

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BLURB:

When your life has been ruined by lies, do you seek justice … or revenge?

 

Blythe Messina spends her senior year focused on her studies and college, and not on

her ex, Stratford High's lacrosse star, DB Whitmore. At least, that's what Blythe keeps telling herself. But her younger cousin, Bonni, knows otherwise. Same goes for DB, who swears to be over Blythe and their breakup, but his teammates aren’t fooled.

When scandalous photos of Bonni and the team captain are texted around Stratford, Bonni's virtuous reputation is ruined. She professes her innocence, but no one believes her. No one, except Blythe and DB, who come together to uncover the truth. But, will they stay together?  

Ruined is a modern twist on a classic Shakespearean romance. 

"Deceit, loyalty, honor, and romance--Ruined has it all! A teen version of Much Ado

About Nothing that Shakespeare aficionados are sure to savor!”

Kym Brunner, Author of Wanted: Dead or in Love & One Smart Cookie

All books in the Stratford High series will be modern retellings of a Shakespeare classic. Ruined is inspired by Much Ado About Nothing.

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EXCERPT:

BLYTHE MESSINA

6

I’d been bitchy and on edge ever since that blasted luau last Saturday. Seeing DB, talking to him, being near him again, had taken my life off course. For days now, I’d been ordering my brain to

STOP THINKING ABOUT HIM. We were ancient history, two people doomed from the start, like Antony and Cleopatra or Marie Antoinette and King Louis. So why couldn’t I regain control

of my world? I snatched up my backpack and my Coach crossbody bag, and did a quick once-over in my bedroom mirror. The hair was tied back in a no-fuss ponytail. The jeans were clean,

well, relatively. This faded ASPCA tee was past its expiration date, but good enough for school. I turned off my bedroom light and went in search of Bonni. 

She wasn’t in her room or downstairs in the kitchen. So I grabbed a frosted Pop-Up and headed into the garage, where I was blinded by piercing sunlight. Someone had left the outer door open, and my new hybrid was nowhere to be found. I shaded my eyes and peered outside.

Halfway down our long driveway, I spied Bonni and Uncle Leo with their backs to me, their heads together under the opened hood of my car. They were talking, but in this quiet

morning air, their voices carried. Even from this distance, I could hear fragments of their conversation. And if I heard them, so could our neighbors. I was hurrying toward the hybrid,

anxious to warn my cousin and uncle to keep it down, when I heard something that stopped me in mid-stride.

“… believe what Cory told me … DB and Blythe …”

Had Bonni just mentioned DB and me in the same sentence?

I ducked behind the six-foot-tall hedges lining the drive.

“What else did Cory say?” Uncle Leo asked.

My Review

I love this novel. It 's very good, sliding and engaging, thanks to short chapters and each is told in the first person by a different character: by the title of the chapter we find out who tells another piece of history 

It 's the first book in the series Stratford High, all novels are "modern versions" of Shakespeare's plays: this is Much Ado About Nothing 

DB, Cory and Paolo are three players on the lacrosse team of Stratford: Paul is a very good boy and is the captain. The team also belong Jon, brother of Paolo, and Sly and Slash. Blythe and Bonnie are the niece and daughter of the president of the team, Leo Messina. DB and Blythe have been together a year ago, they are still attracted to each other even if they will not admit it. Their friends try to get them back together but fail. The cousin of Blythe, Bonnie falls in love and begins to attend Cory. Their love story is disliked by Jon who along with two friends Sly and Slash decided to interfere in their love affair. He's also very jealous of the popularity of Paolo so he decides to ruin the reputation of a good boy by circulating photos of an alleged affair between Paolo and Bonnie. Cory wounded immediately leaves the girl. DB  and Blythe decide to find out how things really went. This proximity will bring them together again? Discover the truth? 

I really liked everything about this novel: the environment, the characters, the plot. It 's a quick read but exciting and romantic. 

                                                                         

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Marian is a full-time writer of contemporary and historical young adult fiction. A native Chicagoan and a graduate of Northern Illinois University, Marian taught special education and worked in the business world before pursuing her dream of becoming a writer. She would rather be at her desk than almost anywhere else, but of course, that isn’t always possible. So when she’s not writing, she enjoys reading, gardening, walking the dog, travelling with her husband, and researching new projects. Not necessarily in that order. 

She adores anything Shakespeare. An avid reader of Shakespeare biographies, she has travelled the world to see his plays, visiting Stratford, Canada as well as Stratford-Upon-the-Avon, Great Britain, and the new Globe Theater in London. Her latest YA novel, Ruined, Book One in her new Stratford High series – modern retellings of Shakespeare’s plays - is inspired by the Bard’s classic romance, Much Ado About Nothing. Book Two, inspired by the Merchant of Venice, is due out fall 2014.

Her debut YA, Eastland, came out in February 2014. Based on the real-life story of the 1915 Eastland boat disaster in Chicago, Marian lectures about the Eastland to schools, libraries, and book clubs, as well as co-hosting haunted Chicago tours of Eastland disaster sites. She writes a post on the subject on the Tribune’s Chicago Now blog site. Visit her at:

                             

www.chicagonow.com/everyday-eastland/

                             

www.facebook.com/mariancheatham.author    

                             

https://www.goodreads.com/book/photo/22542534-ruined

                              

@CheathamMarian

                             

www.amazon.com/Ruined-Stratford-High-Marian-Cheatham/dp/1500335444                                 


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