Welcome to my stop on the Manipulation Blog Tour hosted by YA Bound! Click HERE to check out the rest of the tour schedule!

Manipulation (Shadows #2)

by Jolene Perry

Addison Prince has almost always gotten what she wants.

Dean Courser only wants to find his brother, but it's the one thing he’s failed at... Even with his unusual ability.

Dean and Addison share the gift of Manipulation—a brief touch that forces others to do what they wish. But when they meet and realize their connection, they find more questions than answers. Suddenly Dean is seeing shadows move on their own, and Addison is learning her father’s mysterious group may know more about her abilities than he’s ever let on.

As Dean and Addison second-guess every decision about who they are and why they're wanted, time is running out. With shadows following their every move, they're losing hope they’ll ever get to safety—if such a thing exists.

Release Date: January 2013

Paperback/e-book

(MY THOUGHTS)

I've seen Jolene Perry's novels around and really been dying to read one. So when Nereyda at YA Bound Tours sent an invite for the Manipulation blog tour, I filled out the sign-up sheet in five seconds flat! And since I haven’t read the first book in Perry’s Shadows series, I also was offered to read Insight. So, I'm doing two reviews for the Manipulation's blog tour and I do recommend that you read Insight first. You can check out my review of Insight HERE.

Manipulation is told from both Addison’s and Dean's point of view. And yep, this is definitely a plus with me when an author lets me see into both main characters’ heads. Manipulation is an awesome sequel. Jolene Perry has introduced an amazing world of Insighters, Manipulators, and Seekers along with evil villains, the Middleman, and some creepy Shadow people. The Seekers, I'm thinking, are bad guys, too (just going to have to find more about them in the third book). Perry has given me another couple to fall in love with…Dean and Addison (Addie), and their talent/gift of manipulation. I also love how their manipulation talent affected each other.

Addison is strong, beautiful, and turning eighteen. She’s also been sneaking around to see her dad's best friend’s son, the twenty-two year old jerk, Chase. Then Addie meets Dean, who’s also turning eighteen and is in foster care. They both wind up in court--Addie for printing fake boarding passes; Dean for breaking into foster care files trying to find his younger brother--and their punishment is to do a Life Skills class together. Addie and Dean have more in common than their law-breaking ways, as they both realize they have the power to manipulate people's thoughts, and when they turn eighteen, they're on the Middleman and Shadow people's most wanted list.

Addison and Dean begin their relationship with fun banter. I always enjoy the girl and guy who truly are falling for each other in this kind of love/hate romance. And it's also hilarious fun with their little quirks: Addie is a germ-a-phob, and Dean's pet peeve is when people make too much noise shuffling their feet. But Dean falls hard for Addie, and I fell hard for Dean—the way he tenderly loves Addie and takes the time to show her and help her build trust again, especially after the way jerk Chase used her.

Manipulation is an awesome sequel. Perry offers a sneak peek at the end of Manipulation to the third book Seeker with Kara and Ocean (yep! great name for a guy), and with the cliffhanger with Landon…I'm begging for this last book in the Shadow series!!! I recommend Manipulation as a must read sequel.

Buy Manipulation at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble

My Favorite Manipulation Quotes:

Gah, he can be so freaking frustrating. Annoying. Irritating. The nervous energy builds.

“Why am I hanging out with you?”

“Cause I’m damn near irresistible.” He winks.

I check the clock. Chase spent a few minutes here. And then ditched me when I said we weren’t going to have sex. This has to be one of those red-flag moments, but as I look over my shoulder at his smiling face, I’m not sure how to give him up.

“Right.” I take a sip of my hot chocolate, kind of wishing I’d have blown my wad to get something that had some amount of masculinity.

About the Author

Jolene kissed a boy on her high school graduation night. One she’d wanted to kiss for a long time. They got married two years later, have built two homes together, survived military deployments, law school, student loan debt, and two children.

Jolene plays the guitar, takes pictures, and loves to hike. She doesn’t like rivers, but loves the ocean. She loves to fly, but gets motion sick. Her ultimate vacation would be to sail through the deserted islands in The Bahamas. Two years ago, she got that wish when her parents retired on a sailboat.

She taught high school French when she was only a few years older than her students, and then taught middle school math with her degree in political science and French.

She spends grocery money on designer fabric, shoes, and books.

Jolene cannot express how many times she wished she could write a whole novel. And now she has. Several times. Life is good.