Blog Tour: Gravity by Melissa West (Review + Guest Post)

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Title: Gravity (The Taking #1)

Author: Melissa West

Release Date: October 30th 2012

Publisher: Entangled Teen

Genre: New Adult, Dystopian, Sci-Fi

Pages: Unknown

Source:For review (thank you so much, Entangled Teen!!!)

In the future, only one rule will matter:

Don’t. Ever. Peek.

Seventeen-year-old Ari Alexander just broke that rule and saw the last person she expected hovering above her bed — arrogant Jackson Locke, the most popular boy in her school. She expects instant execution or some kind of freak alien punishment, but instead, Jackson issues a challenge: help him, or everyone on Earth will die.

Ari knows she should report him, but everything about Jackson makes her question what she’s been taught about his kind. And against her instincts, she’s falling for him. But Ari isn’t just any girl, and Jackson wants more than her attention. She’s a military legacy who’s been trained by her father and exposed to war strategies and societal information no one can know — especially an alien spy, like Jackson. Giving Jackson the information he needs will betray her father and her country, but keeping silent will start a war.

NOTE: I read the early arc version - not the finished arc.

I was never really into aliens (until I read Obsidian!) and then I became quite obsessed with them. When I came across Gravity during it's cover reveal, I thought it was the perfect book. I mean helloooooo, have you seen the cover? The summary? The killer line 'DON'T. EVER. PEEK.'?? How can I NOT want this book? Obviously I was dying to get my hands on this. I had a hell lot of expectations for this book and lemme tell you, it exceeded my super high expectations and more! 

Don't. Ever. Peek.  This book was addicting. Like, seriously can't stop reading and can't go to sleep addicting. I started this on Saturday night, read 42% and then finished it in the morning. That's how good this book was, in my opinion. From the very first chapter, I was captivated. This book starts out with a bang. I like how we were thrown in and didn't waste time explaining lots of information and boring us with it all. Though I did have a bit of a problem with the explanation of the Ancients later on and the world-building but fortunately that didn't take it away from the enjoyment of the book. (Found out after I read the book that the author and her editor is changing a few bits about the book - so I think these issues will be resolved. Keep in mind that I read the very early ARC version, not the finished ARC.)

I did NOT expect to like Ari as much as I did. In fact, I adore her so frigging much! You ALL know how very picky I am of female characters, and more than half of them annoy me to death, but NOT Ari. She's smart and brave and one of those girls you kinda want to be and want to be friends with. She's very layered and interesting.  And you can't help but feel sorry for her obligations and duties that she has to fulfill since she's the Commander's daughter. And I really like that her upbringing is different from the rest of YA that I read. She's rich, kinda spoiled but she doesn't abuse her family's power. I just lurve this girl.

Jackson. He's now one of my newest book boyfriends (notice how the numbers keep going up?;) ). I didn't really expect all that character development on him. He's very complex. Oh, but one thing I have to say is that the summary tells you that Jackson is 'arrogant' and you kinda think that he'll be a delicious bad boy. Well, I think he's not really a bad boy. He's more of a good guy than a jerk (I love both) but that's not necessary a bad thing. He's funny, sexy, sometimes sweet, which I think people will find refreshing after all the big alpha males out there.

This will definitely be in my top five of 2012! I loved loved loved this book and I already pre-ordered it as soon as I finished! Woot! :)  

How I came up with the idea for GRAVITY and my two MCs, Ari and Jackson.

Guest Post by GRAVITY author Melissa West!

I’m asked quite often how I came up with the idea for GRAVITY and each time I tell the story I wonder if I sound insane. J I’m not…really. I just have two tiny quirks. The first is that practically anything freaks me out. The second is that I have a very, very active imagination. These two things were no doubt in play the day I developed the idea for GRAVITY.

See, the idea came to me one afternoon when I was watching a storm out my back door. The wind caused the trees to move in this easy rhythm. It was beyond creepy. I noticed movement in one of the trees and immediately that super-charged imagination of mine started to churn. I began to ponder trees and the possibility of something coming out of them. That night the idea continued to swarm around my mind, so much so that I could hardly sleep.

By morning I had the idea, I knew I wanted an alien species to come to earth via trees and I knew I wanted them to have to come into human homes to “host.” I knew there would be a conflict between a girl human and the boy alien assigned to her.

But all of that wasn’t enough. The story needed depth, so I decided my heroine needed to be important in future America. She needed to be well trained and to know things others in society could not know, which made it all the more interesting for her to discover that her alien wasn’t just some random boy—he was the most popular boy in school…and an alien spy. At this point I knew I had the framework for a solid plot. Now all I needed was to up the romantic tension between the two and I had my story. :)

by author - Melissa West (GRAVITY)