Once again, I am thrilled to be part of this awesome book tour, hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Click their name or the photo above and check out their upcoming tours!

I was also lucky enough to review this book for Teenreads.com, so be on the lookout for that!!!

First, let me start by saying this review will be a bit of a rave! I live for smart dystopian and Mayfly delivers spectacularly! The creativity and attention to detail given to this story is phenomenal.

We know the story takes place in Ell Aye, a future LA where things have gone horrifically wrong. The Parents all died, suddenly and without warning, leaving a world full of Children. To make things worse, whatever Plague killed the parents, hits the Children when they turn seventeen.

The story begins in The Holy Wood, just one of the tribes these future surviving children have created. They hunt. They scavenge. They survive.

Jemma is a scavenger. But her time as scavenger is coming to an end as she nears her fifteenth birthday. Her role to ensure her tribes survival needs to now be a Mama. But Jemma doesn’t want to be a Mama. She would rather make a life, however short, with Apple.

Forced to leave, Jemma and Apple find themselves in the company of a mysterious boy, exiled from The Malibu. He promises that he knows what is killing them and leads them farther away from The Holy Wood than they’ve ever been before. Each step forward brings more questions to the group than answers. As they face more enemies than they ever realized existed, they have to face the very real possibility that The End is closer than any of them realized.

This is the kind of dystopian that seriously makes me swoon! Imagine a world where out of the blue, children are left on their own. What would they do? How would they pick up the pieces to survive? And how quickly would their understanding of the world fall apart? Sweat imagines all this and more.

With each reference to landmarks or modern life reinterpreted through these Children’s eyes, you can’t help but be impressed with how immersive this world building is. His attention to detail and consistency throughout the entire book is stunning. It isn’t just the interpretation of landmarks or technology. It’s the language and how it would develop. On every level, the detail in this book is so good IT GIVES ME LIFE!!!

Beyond all that, this is a book with all the intensity and pacing of a thriller written into it. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. Each twist took me by surprise. This group is desperately searching for answers in a world that doesn’t want to give them any. Not to mention, Apple is nearing his seventeenth birthday, so they are literally running out of time.

I loved the journey these characters go on, both physically and emotionally. They all have to learn how to grow, how to trust, how to work together in a way they’ve never been taught. Jemma is strong and tough, but she also doubts herself. Since we also get Apple’s perspective, it was sweet reading how he viewed her versus how she viewed herself. In this world, that tenderness is exactly the heart necessary to face such brutality and hopelessness.

Readers familiar with Los Angeles will get a kick out of reading descriptions of landmarks they probably take for granted. Even if you aren’t a resident of Ell Aye, it’s easy to piece together what Sweat describes. But, even the interpretation of everyday items like magazines, billboards, and their understanding of old technology will make readers smile for it’s cleverness.

Mayfly was released earlier this month, and if you love dystopian, you will not want to miss this! Book description and links are below.

Be sure to check out the rest of the tour and scroll down for an amazing giveaway!!!

Once again, thank you Rockstar Book Tours for the review copy and for including me on this tour.

 

Title: MAYFLY

Author: Jeff Sweat

Pub. Date: May 8, 2018

Publisher: Feiwel and Friends

Formats: Hardcover, eBook

Pages: 320

Jemma has spent her life scavenging tools and supplies for her tribe in the their small enclave outside what used to be a big city. Now she’s a teen, and old enough to become a Mama. Making babies is how her people survive—in Jemma’s world, life ends at age seventeen.

Survival has eclipsed love ever since the Parents died of a mysterious plague. But Jemma’s connection to a boy named Apple is stronger than her duty as a Mama. Forced to leave, Jemma and Apple are joined in exile by a mysterious boy who claims to know what is causing them to die. The world is crumbling around them, and their time is running out. Is this truly the End?

Purchase Links:

Amazon, B&N, iBooks, TBD, Goodreads

 

Jeff Sweat has made a living from words his entire career, starting out as an award-winning tech journalist for InformationWeek magazine and moving into marketing.

He led the content marketing team for Yahoo and pioneered its use of social media. He directed PR for two of the top advertising agencies in the country, Deutsch LA and 72andSunny. He now runs his own Los Angeles–based PR and marketing agency, Mister Sweat.

He grew up in Idaho as the middle of eight children—seven boys and one girl—and attended Columbia University in New York. Jeff lives in a big blue house in Los Angeles with his wife Sunny and their three kids, two cats, and a racing greyhound.

He loves to travel and writes everywhere he goes, even when there’s not a desk. He likes karaoke, motorcycles and carpentry. He was once shot in the head with a nail gun, which was not a big of a deal as it sounds. But it still hurt like crazy.

Find Jeff on:

Website | Twitter | Instagram | Amazon Author Page | Goodreads

Did someone say GIVEAWAY???

1 winner will receive MAYFLY prize pack which includes buttons, custom art and maps, and a t-shirt, US Only.

CLICK BELOW TO ENTER!!!

WAIT!!! Before you go!!! Check out the rest of the tour, and give some blogs a visit!

Tour Schedule:

Week One:

5/1/2018- What A Nerd Girl Says– Review

5/2/2018- RhythmicBooktrovert– Review

5/3/2018- The Cover Contessa– Interview

5/4/2018- To Be Read– Review

Week Two:

5/7/2018- Twirling Book Princess– Excerpt

5/8/2018- Bri’s Book Nook– Review

5/9/2018- K.L. Knovitzke – Author– Excerpt

5/10/2018- A Dream Within A Dream– Review

5/11/2018- Confessions of a YA Reader– Excerpt

Week Three:

5/14/2018- Daily Waffle – Excerpt

5/15/2018- F A N N A– Review

5/16/2018-Book-Keeping– Review

5/17/2018-Two Points of Interest– Review

5/18/2018- The Underground– Interview

Week Four:

5/21/2018- Buried Under Books– Review

5/22/2018- YA Books Central– Interview

5/23/2018- Sincerely Karen Jo– Review

5/24/2018- Wishful Endings– Interview

5/25/2018- Jena Brown Writes– Review

Week Five:

5/28/2018- Eli to the nth– Review

5/29/2018- Sweet Southern Home– Guest Post

5/30/2018- Simply Daniel Radcliffe– Review

5/31/2018- Books A-Brewin’– Excerpt