Roses & Thorns

Roses & Thorns

Sunday, August 30, 2015

School of Deaths by Christopher Mannino



Blurb:

Thirteen-year-old Suzie Sarnio always believed the Grim Reaper was a fairy tale image of a skeleton with a scythe. Now, forced to enter the College of Deaths, she finds herself training to bring souls from the Living World to the Hereafter. The task is demanding enough, but as the only female in the all-male College, she quickly becomes a target. Attacked by both classmates and strangers, Suzie is alone in a world where even her teachers want her to fail.

Caught in the middle of a plot to overthrow the World of Deaths, Suzie must uncover the reason she’s been brought there: the first female Death in a million years.

Review by Rochelle:

The summer between eighth grade and high school is supposed to be fun, but Suzie Sarnio spends hers bouncing between nutritionists and shrinks while her family tries to get to the bottom of her “anorexia.” They don’t believe her protests that she’s eating more this summer than she ever has before as she wastes away before their eyes. Her older brother even stops teasing her about it. The answer comes when an old man arrives at the door wearing a black robe and carrying a scythe. He whisks her away to the College of Deaths. She has to remain there for one year. If she passes her final exam, she can return to her family. If not, she must remain and become a Death—a grim reaper. If she tries to return home, she will cease. Not only will she die; no one will remember she ever existed.

Suzie is certain she can pass whatever test they give her until she realizes she’s the only female in the school, and no one wants her there. Only one other female student has ever attended the Death School. It was a million years ago, and Lovethar was so evil she started a war between the Deaths and the Dragons, who have been mortal enemies ever since. Suzie is not only alone—she’s hated and feared.

Thus begins a young adult fantasy that will appeal to youth of all ages. School of Deaths is a page-burning mystery that kept me up at night and distracted me from “real” work. When I was on deadline, I didn’t dare even look at my Kindle while I was reading School of Deaths, and while I can’t wait for the next book in the series, Mr. Mannino tied up everything quite nicely and did not leave Suzie dangling from any cliffs. Bravo! By all means—buy the book and see for yourself. But do so when you have time to be mesmerized.

Length:  272 Pages
Price:  $5.95

You’ll notice we always include the publisher’s buy link. That’s because authors usually receive about 40-50% of the book price from the publisher. Editors and cover artists usually receive about 5-10%. When you buy a book from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or another third-party vendor, they take a hefty cut and the author, editors and cover artists receive their royalties from what is left. So, if a book costs $5.99 at E-BookPublisher.com and you buy from there, the author will receive about $2.40. If you buy the book at Amazon, the author will receive about $0.83.

Downloading the file from your computer to your e-reader is as easy as transferring any file from a USB flash drive to your computer. You can download your books onto your computer using “Save As” to a “Books” folder you create and sort them into sub-folders by genre, author, or however you wish before transferring them to your e-reader. That way, if there’s a glitch with your e-reader, the books are on your computer. Once you’ve saved the book to your computer plug the larger USB end of your chord into a USB port on your computer and simply move the file from the folder you created to your E-Reader/Documents/Books directory. Your author will be happy you did when he/she sees his/her royalty statement.

Thanks for visiting. Julie, Donna, & Rochelle

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