As You Wish Reviews: Tour Stop / Bad Apple: A Mature YA Novel by Barbara Morgenroth

Title: Bad Apple
Author: Barbara Morgenroth
Genre: Mature Adult
Presented by: Around the Universe

Book Synopsis

"You tell and next time you won't even be able to crawl away."

Neal Marchal lived with this threat for the next eight years. When she finds her neighbor murdered, she knows who did it. The why is the secret the family has been keeping forever. The reminder to never reveal the secret is her limp.

She rebuilt her life and now Neal has everything to live for--music, performing and a growing affection for the young man who pulled her to safety.

Then Joe comes home. Neal knows Joe's going to finish what he started 8 years ago because she told. But this time Neal vows the outcome will be different.

Review

Bad Apple by Barbara was not at all what I expected even after reading the description and summary. It started out a little slower with a lot of details, but then one has to have the back story to any characters past right? The mystery to the story kept me turning the pages. I wanted to know what would happen next and didn't have to fight to stay awake to finish the book. For what it's worth I'd say it took me a few hours or more to read the whole story.

Neal Marchal has had a rough past, growing up with secrets untold, keeping to herself most all the time. Life to her couldn't be any better than it is at any given moment. She has nothing but minimal expectations and never thinks that life could change for her. That is till the day she finds her neighbor and has to go to the police station to be questioned. The questioning is almost over when she sings a tune rather than answer in her normal talking voice, catching the officer off guard. This one tiny detail, lead to much more for Neal Marchal when Truly walks into her life.

I loved the way the characters were written, Truly made me laugh so many times with his witty comments and Neal with her come backs made it that much more real to me. Ever set of lyrics I read I had to look up and watch or listen to the video. One of my favorites though had to be the lullaby...

"The bed is too small for my tiredness

Give me a hillside with trees.

Tuck a cloud up under my chin.

Lord, blow out moon out, please.

Sing me to sleep in a cradle of dreams

So that I may slumber in peace.

Tuck a cloud down under my feet.

Lord, blow the moon out, please."

~ Barbara Morgenroth

I think the connection with this story to me was more about Neal and her way of thinking, her musical talent, and the change in her throughout the story. When one never thinks things in life will change for them, they tend to give up. I have found I really like stories that have a lesson to share within the author's writing. I would definitely recommend this book to others as it touched me. I also added Burning Daylight (Bad Apple, #2) and Rise (Bad Apple, #3) to my to be read list as soon as I finished reading Bad Apple: A Mature YA Novel.

Author Bio
Barbara was born in New York City and but now lives somewhere else. Starting her career by writing tweens and YA books, she wound up in television writing soap operas for some years. Barbara then wrote a couple cookbooks and a nonfiction book on knitting. She returned to fiction and wrote romantic comedies.

When digital publishing became a possibility, Barbara leaped at the opportunity and has never looked back. In addition to the 15 traditionally published books she wrote, in digital format Barbara has something to appeal to almost every reader from Mature YAs like the Bad Apple series and the Flash series, to contemporary romances like Love in the Air published by Amazon/Montlake, and Unspeakably Desirable, Nothing Serious and Almost Breathing.