[Blog Tour: The Apollo Academy by Kimbery P. Chase, Review and Giveaway]

 

  I was extremely excited to get a chance to be on the blog tour for The Apollo Academy!  I'm a huge Sci-Fi nerd and this one sounded awesome.  So what did I think?  Well, keep reading to find out!  If you would like to see the rest of the tour, go here!  Also, check this deal out!  The Apollo Academy is on sale for $0.99 because of National Aviation Day

"The Apollo Academy"
Author: Kimberly P. Chase
Series: The Apollo Academy #1
Pages: 340
Genre: NA, Sci-Fi
Date Published: August 6th, 2013
Publisher: Self Published
Format Read: eARC provided by author for honest review

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Summary:

As the heiress to Titon Technologies, eighteen-year-old Aurora Titon can have whatever she wants—clothes, expensive gadgets, anything money can buy. All she really wants is to escape her pampered, paparazzi-prone life for the stars. Becoming the first female pilot to train as an astronaut for the Apollo Academy is exactly the chance for which she has been waiting. Everything would be perfect if it weren't for her unreciprocated crush on a fellow student, the sexy astronaut bent on making her life hell, and the fact that someone keeps trying to kill her.

The first in a four book new adult science fiction series, The Apollo Academy, is an action packed story of love, discovery, and survival.

-Goodreads 

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My Thoughts:

Well, I never would have guessed that I would ever end up reading a New Adult, Sci-Fi, love story, but here I am, writing this review.  Okay, so The Apollo Academy wasn't only a love story, it actually has a lot of other things going on, but the love was definitely there.  And let me just say that the guys were pretty, well, they were pretty...

This book had a lot of awesome put into it.  Did I think it was perfect?  To be honest, I didn't, but that didn't keep me from really liking what was put in front of my face.  I think that the "is someone trying to kill me" plot was the most exciting part for me.  Though it may have wrapped up a little to easily for me, but that's because it's really hard to surprise me.  But that being said, it kept me on the edge of my seat.  Plus, the setting was already incredibly dangerous and foreign, so the fact that someone was trying to kill Aurora just added to that feeling.  

Chase created a really interesting future world for us to live in.  Not only did she explore the future but she also hinted at space ventures from the past.  Even the title of the book and the academy it hints at are based on the failed Apollo 1 launch, which killed all three pilots on board.  I have to hand it to her for adding space launch history into her futuristic story.  She bended the rules of space travel, genetics and the world as we know them and part of you just had to go with the things that made Chase's futuristic world work.  Lets just say that Sheldon Cooper might have had some issues, but when doesn't he?  (If you know who that is and what I'm referring to, we should be friends)  But once you just went with it and enjoyed the world presented, it's awesome!  The training missions were good, exciting fun!

This book is also told from 3 POVs.  It's one of those things that could be too much, but I think that it worked here.  We get to see things through, who I think our main character is, Aurora's eyes.  But we also get to see glimpses into the lives of our two guys, student Zane and astronaut Skye.  I actually enjoyed reading from the view point of the guys more, and Skye's voice probably took the cake for me.  

Let's talk about the characters.  Aurora was cool.  She was tiny and kinda badass and worked really hard for what she wanted.  Those are all things that I respect, but for some reason she wasn't my favorite.  I can see her being a favorite of a lot of other people though.  I respect her, I just didn't love her.  Zane was your mysterious guy.  I liked him.  He was really interesting and I wanted to know more about him.  He's one of the biggest reasons that I'll be picking up the next book.  And Skye, well Skye has me really intrigued.  He's got issues, but in all honesty all three of our leads do.

The love triangle was little weird for me.  It seemed like a bunch of friends with crushes on each other and a girl who didn't know what to do with herself when she was given any amount of attention.  But the rest of the book was awesome enough that it didn't really affect my reading experience.

I did really love the friendship between Aurora and her best friend Kaylana.  I was glad that Chase decided to add a really legit female friendship into the mix.  Kaylana and Aurora had their issues, but I felt like their friendship was one of the pieces of double stick tape that kept this book together!

So, even though this book wasn't perfect, I had a good time digging into the world that Chase created.  It's a nice New Adult novel that would be fine even for a younger audience.  Which I think is also a plus for this novel!

Rating:

   3 Unicorns = I liked it a lot but it had it's issues!

Buy the book on Amazon, B&N and iTunes!

About The Author:

  

Kimberly P. Chase holds a Bachelor's Degree in Aeronautical Science from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, which basically means she's kind of a geek and loves flying airplanes. Naturally, her books tend to include aviation, hot flight instructors, aviator glasses, and—let's not forget—kissing! When Kimberly's not writing or reading, she's hanging out with her husband, four-year-old son, and two dogs. 

Find Her Here:

... Blog ... Twitter ... Facebook ... 

Giveaway:

Kimberly is giving away a eBook of The Apollo Academy and 2 Launch Specialist t-shirts!  So, if you wanna try to get your hands on that good stuff, enter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway