Giveaway: The Radleys

The Radleys

Author: Matt Haig

Hardcover: 384 pages (also available as Paperback and Kindle)

Publisher: Simon and Schuster’s Free Press (December 28, 2010)

Synposis:

Anyone on Orchard Lane can tell you that their neighbors the Radleys are your average English family…they have an expensive(but tasteful)home, dad’s a doctor who daydreams about the young trophy wife next door, mom’s a stay at home who worries constantly and fills her empty hours with painting, the teenagers are appropriately angst-ridden and lovesick.

Except the Radleys are the furthest from average you can get. They’re vampires. Almost. Actually the Radleys are non-practicing vampires called abstainers, something they neglected to tell their children. But when their teenage daughter Clara jumps into vampirism at a teenage drinking party the Radleys quickly find their carefully constructed “normal life” collapsing. And the only one who can help them hide their secret is Uncle Will, an enthusiastically practicing vampire. But is he there to help or just to cause more trouble?

Review:

OK, here’s the truth. I’ve had it with vampires. If I had known The Radleys was about vampires I wouldn’t have agreed to review it. But the tagline “Just your typical suburban family hiding a very dark secret…” misled me. Then the book arrived, complete with a white picket fence dripping blood on the cover. Oh, no! But now I was committed and I had to read it. Dreading ever sentence I cracked open the book…

Boy, was I surprised. Haig has written such rich characters that it’s easy to forget that they yearn to drink blood. Sure, they might be vampires but the book is really about love, lust, and secrets. You could easily wave your magic wand, replace the blood drinking with a thousand other family secrets, and this book would still work. A few of the plot twists were predictable but by adding new characters to the mix like vampire Uncle Will and Clara’s friend Eve(who has secrets of her own) Haig manages to keep you guessing if the Radleys will continue to live their average English life.

If you aren’t a vampire fan I recommend giving The Radleys a try. You’ll be amazed at how quickly you’re drawn into the story. If you are a vampire fan I can’t say how this compares to other books in the genre since this is my first ever book involving vampires! All I can say is that Haig’s characters are so real you’ll find yourself comparing them to folks you know(hopefully minus the blood drinking part!).

GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY!

Simon and Schuster’s Free Press generously gave me a copy of The Radleys to review. I’d like to pass that cop(in great condition) on to a reader. Normally, I just do a straight “Leave a comment receive an entry” contest. But since I want to reach beyond my audience to those who enjoy paranormal I’m also offering a few ways to get entries:

1. Leave a comment.
2. Blog about The Radleys and include a link I can follow.
3. Tweet about The Radleys and include a link I can follow.
4. Follow my blog.
5. Follow my twitter @wordsbywebb.

Please include an email with each entry or I’ll go crazy!

Since I’m paying for shipping US addresses only. No P.O. Boxes.

You can enter until midnight, Jan. 19. Winner will be announced on Jan. 20.

GOOD LUCK!