Three Chicks and Their Books: Blog Tour: Scare Crow by Julie Hockley

Nineteen-year-old Emily Sheppard is losing her sanity.

Ever since her mob king boyfriend, Cameron Hillard, abandoned her for her own good, Emmy has been attempting to move on with her charmed college student life as if nothing happened. Now rejected from the underworld and left grieving over Cameron’s alleged death.

Emmy realizes she belongs nowhere. Worse yet, she is now keeping a dangerous secret.

After just a short time with Emily, Cameron has lost control over his world. As he miserably attempts to return to what is left of his life and unravel the mess he has made of the underworld, Emily’s hate turns to desperation. She needs to kill the kingpins responsible for Cameron’s death before they come looking for her. As Cameron secretly observes Emily, he has no idea of the danger he has placed her in—or that it may already be too late for him to save her.

Scare Crow is a tale of revenge, terror, and love as Emmy and Cameron embark on separate journeys to face enemies, correct past mistakes, and find their way to their destinies.

4 Suspenseful Stars

Review by Jen Hagen

Warning: Do not read this review if you have not read Crow’s Row. Spoilers ahead.

Revenge is a strange thing. It tests you. It changes you. It makes you do things that you would have never thought yourself capable of doing. Revenge feels a lot like survival. The need to hurt, the need to kill consumes you.

Emmy’s focus after returning from her brief encounter with the underworld is to seek revenge on anybody having anything to do with the deaths of Cameron and his brother, Rocco. Emmy has always been a very independent person and takes no assistance from her wealthy parents. She doesn’t want to live with the rules her parents stipulate with the money so Emmy attended a college not of their choice and has been on full scholarship and able to pay her rent with a small job. Currently Emmy is struggling, not only with the devastating loss of Cameron, but also because she has no money for rent or food. Emmy has a lot of money that belongs to her from her brother following his death years ago, but the access to it is like putting together a puzzle with a missing piece.

Emmy is surprised when a former acquaintance shows up at her door. She immediately thinks he will be willing to help her find her way into the belly of the underworld. Unfortunately her guest doesn’t feel the same way she does about permeating the deals of the underworld. He has deep feelings for Emmy, but these feelings are not reciprocated by Emmy. Emmy’s heart will only ever belong to Cameron, even though he is now a ghost in her memory. He tries to convince her that she needs to let the memory of Cameron go and to move forward with her life.

“The hurt, the pain, the hate. You have to let it go. If you don’t you’ll become just like them, and you will die.”

Now we move on to what we all want to know…What is Cameron doing and how is he holding up after his staged death? Cameron struggles with his decision to push Emmy away from him. Cameron is functioning similar to that of Emmy; his focus is on seeking revenge. He wants to bring down everybody that would have access to hurting Emmy with the intent that he could then go to her and have a life with her at his side. As he gets deeper and deeper into the underworld and the drug-dealing coalition, he realizes that he will never be able to offer a safe life for Emmy and perhaps she is truly better off without him. It seems like everything is falling apart for Cameron- - he forced the only person he has ever loved out of his life and the deep-rooted friendship he has with Spider and Carly seems to be faltering. As much as Cameron denies it, the night he made the choice to force Emmy away will forever change him.

I couldn’t continue life if she weren’t next to me. I had been sending myself to an early grave because I couldn’t be Cameron without her. I knew this. So what the hell was I supposed to do now?

Yes, Cameron, what are you going to do now? Will you wise up and seek out Emily or will Emily unknowingly come to you? Will Emmy be able to forgive you for the days, weeks and months of mourning your loss?

“To say I made the wrong choice, the wrong decision, is like saying the sun sets in the west. I’ll never forgive myself.”

I found this book difficult to rate because as much as I was awaiting the arrival of it, I felt that I am left with several questions hanging over my head upon completion. I have no idea whether the author will write more in this series or if we as the reader are left to take what we’re left with and make up our ending. Cameron and Emmy’s future is grey, but several other futures are left hanging. While the writing was superb and kept me completely entranced I give it 4.5 stars, but as far as the story line goes I am going to be brutally honest and say I give it 3.5 stars. Cameron and Emmy’s reunion was highly anticipated and I felt cheated on the amount of time they actually spent together. The story of Cameron and Emmy will forever be one of my favorites, but this book just seemed to drag on and there are too many open holes in the story.

AMAZON

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Crows Row/Scare Crow Trailer!

A former germaphobe and clean-freak turned mother of two, Julie collects enough tears and snot in a month to recreate Slimer Monster from Ghostbusters. Other than playing devoted wife and mama, Julie is the funniest person in the room (according to the 3 year-old and 2 year-old in said room) and can build the most awesome Lego rocket ship you’ve ever set your eyes on (according to her). Oh, and she has a full time career and has also written a bestselling novel. Superhero, or just downright insane?