Wednesday, June 11, 2014

The Purgatorium Blog Tour and Giveaway with Eva Pohler

The Purgatorium (The Purgatorium Series Book 1)
By Eva Pohler
Publisher: Green Press
Published: Dec 13, 2013
ASIN: B00HCH2D86

Amazon Synopsis:

Seventeen year-old Daphne Janus is floored when her parents agree to let her accompany her best friend to a getaway resort on an island off the coast of California. She doesn't know her parents have sent her to the Purgatorium as a last-ditch effort to save their child.

Her best friend and life-long neighbor takes her to a mostly uninhabited island with a wildlife preserve on one side and Chumash Indian ruins on the “haunted” side. The resort might be beautiful, the beach pristine, and the views from the headland amazing, but 


strange things begin to happen that soon have Daphne running for her life. At first she finds the therapeutic games thrilling: the ghosts that visit her room, the dropping elevator, and the kayak incident are actually kind of fun once she recovers from them. But when her horse bucks her off during a trail ride and she becomes lost on the haunted side of the island, it’s not fun anymore, and she wonders if her parents have sent her there to help her or to punish her.


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My Thoughts:

Daphne Janus and her friend Cam arrive at an island resort where she has agreed to receive therapy via Dr. Hortense Gray's therapeutic games.

Dr. Gray's games are unconventional and not at all what Daphne expected. At first we are unaware of what the issue is that Daphne requires the therapy for, just that she is terribly unhappy. It slowly comes to light that she blames herself for a family tragedy.

The therapy that Dr. Gray employed involved included making the patient face their particular fears by placing them in fearful situations so that they truly believe they are in danger for their lives. The use of ghosts and the Native rituals of the Chumash Indians were also employed.

The Purgatorium was an intriguing look at a strange method of curing someone from depression and suicidal thoughts. Whether or not it would truly work is unknown and rather an extreme form of treatment.

The descriptions of the island are easy to visualize. The resort sounded like a paradise. The only issue I had with it was that I do not believe that any horseback riding tour company would use animals that were as ill- disciplined as the ones that Daphne and her group were using on her ride that morning. Generally those animals are so docile that you can't get them to do anything BUT follow the rear of the horse in front of them so it would be unlikely to be thrown from one.

It was fun to see how the author was able to take each of the situations that Daphne was put in and how she was able to make it seem as though to Daphne it was real, but show later how it could have been faked.

I liked Daphne's character and felt for her as she trusted her friend Cam at first and then wasn't sure whether to trust him or not. I was totally surprised each time (as she was) someone she trusted betrayed her. Each of those people were believable.

I have to admit that I truly hope that this book is ONLY fantasy. I would not ever want to find myself on an island like this for therapy. I think it might scare me into paranoia. This was a good book for armchair suspense and thrills. I gave it a healthy 3 stars out of 5.


Thank you to the author for providing a copy of the book in exchange for a fair and honest review. A positive opinion was not required. All thoughts are my own.

About the Author:

I write fiction for teens and adults and teach writing and literature at the University of Texas at San Antonio, where I live with my husband, three kids, two dogs, and two rats (Katniss and Prim, of course). I'm also an avid reader and book reviewer. I've always said I never want to give up reading for writing or vice versa. I want to do both.

My favorite authors are Tracy Chevalier, Ann Patchett, Suzanne Collins, Veronica Roth, Rick Riordan, and Stephanie Meyer. I have too many to name, but those are a handful of them. When I'm not spending time with the family, working, reading, or writing, I can be found watching The Big Bang Theory, Modern Family, The Middle, and NCIS.

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The Giveaway:

As you enter the rafllecopter giveaway below, please consider donating one dollar or more to Active Minds, a nonprofit organization devoted to mental health awareness and suicide prevention in young adults. A one-dollar donation gets you five entries into the rafflecopter, and you can enter daily! Winners will be announced on June 23rd.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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