a GREAT read: BLOG TOUR: ARC Review--Salt & Stone by Victoria Scott

Feb 17, 2015

BLOG TOUR: ARC Review--Salt & Stone by Victoria Scott

What would you do to save someone you love?

In Fire & Flood, Tella Holloway faced a dangerous trek through the jungle and across the desert, all to remain a Contender in the Brimstone Bleed for a chance at obtaining the Cure for her brother. She can't quit--she has to win the race, save Cody, and then fight to make sure the race stops before it can claim any more lives. In the next legs of the race, across the ocean and over mountains, Tella will face frostbite, sharks, avalanche, and twisted new rules in the race.

But what if the danger is deeper than that? How do you know who to trust when everyone's keeping secrets? What do you do when the person you'd relied on most suddenly isn't there for support? How do you weigh one life against another?

The race is coming to an end, and Tella is running out of time, resources, and strength. At the start of the race there were one hundred twenty-two Contenders. As Tella and her remaining friends start the final part of the race, just forty-one are left--and only one can win.

I received this ARC for participation in the tour in exchange for an honest review, I was in no way compensated for this review.

Victoria Scott brings us a thrilling conclusion in her duology with Salt & Stone and oh my was this an incredibly exciting, breathtaking, and heart-pounding read! YES, all three adjectives are necessary, because that's exactly what happened! I was excited, short of breath and my heart was constantly pounding!

We pick up pretty much where we leave off, Tella and her friends have completed two out of the four challenges in order to save their loved one's life. There have been great losses and yet, there is still more danger and loss to come. Their next challenge is to cross a treacherous sea and you all know my fear of the ocean since I grew up watching Jaws...and yes, there are sharks in this...Tiger Shark (a what?...LOL!)!

This was seriously my most fearsome of the challenges, firstly, I probably would've died in the jungle the first go around, but I serious doubt I could survive the ocean trip because of my fear of what swims in the water! Tella remains strong though! She's one tough chick and I admire her for that! Yes, she gets scared, doubts herself. She found herself relying heavily on Guy in the first two challenges, but she wants to stand on her own two feet this go around, though it seems like Guy has gotten used to protecting her and wanting her to follow him willingly. This is when Tella, and myself included, start to hate on Guy a little bit. He's too coddling of Tella, like she can't do anything for herself, but she's determined to prove him wrong.

We have new characters and Pandoras in the story as well. Ones that were likely around but we never met. Such as Willow, a young girl, Cotton, a mysterious dude who's quiet and stares oddly at Tella at the best of time, Mr. Larson, an older man who's kind of lazy, but he has a fierceness to him that endears to us as the story moves along...and of course we have the familiar faces of Tell, Guy, Jaxon, Olivia, Braun, and even another familiar face...

Tella continues to amaze me with her bravery and strength. She's a fighter and will do everything possible to save her brother. Her connection with nearly all the Pandoras is another intriguing factoid. She's the most sympathetic with the creatures and they all in turn seem to love her. It's like a twisted version of a Disney princess and her affinity with animal friends!

The final task has Tella and her friends crossing a very scary mountain covered in snow and the there's still the burning need filling her and Guy to take down the people running the test. And this is where my heart was pounding chapter by chapter! And oh. My. God. That ending was...something! I can't even describe all the emotions I went through in this book. There were tears, lots of tears! There were smiles, lots of smiles. And then there was the anger and rage that filled me when Tella was filled with the same fire.

I must admit I wasn't 100% satisfied with the ending. I was hoping for more closure than what was given. There's a sense of it for sure, but I still feel like I don't know what will happen. And this is it. This is the end! I was hoping for a 100% satisfying ending and I feel only 97% satisfied. I feel like I can imagine what happens, but I don't like to imagine with series endings, I want to know! You know?!

But still, Salt & Stone was as epically as amazing as its predecessor, if not more! Every minute was harrowing and had your heart racing and all the time you wonder, could you actually go through all this to save the life of someone you loved? I'd liked to think I would, but then I know my own strength, physically, and I don't think I would get very far! So despite wanting a few more answers to the ending of this one, it was still one exciting adventure that I was glad to have taken part of!

Overall Rating 4.5/5 stars--and the little knock off comes from that ending bit I mentioned

Salt & Stone releases February 24, 2015

Victoria Scott is a teen fiction writer represented by Sara Crowe of the Harvey-Klinger Literary Agency. She’s the author of the FIRE & FLOOD series published by Scholastic, and the DANTE WALKER trilogy published by Entangled Teen. Her books have been bought and translated in eleven foreign markets including the UK, Turkey, China, Poland, Israel, Germany, Australia, Brazil, Taiwan, New Zealand, and the Netherlands.

Victoria lives in Dallas with her husband and hearts cotton candy something fierce.

Website/Blog/Twitter/Facebook/Goodreads