Review ‘Evil Speaks’ by S. Woffington

Benny,
fifteen, is solitary by circumstance more than choice: he counts each move to a
new town as “a life.” He’s on Life Number Seven. His last! He plans
to run away from his paranoid mother, who’s been on the run since the
disappearance of his father when he was three. Benny has no memory of it,
except for weird dreams of a firestorm and a hideous red-eyed dragon. After a
fight with his mother, Benny packs his bags. Boom! The house explodes, catapulting Benny into
a world he never imagined existed. The trail leads him to a gated Neoclassical
building in the woods and to six teens he vaguely remembers: Kami is deaf, Amir
is blind, Zuma is overweight, Layla is gorgeous but lazy, Chaz is in a
wheelchair and Raj is as angry as the purple dagger-shaped birthmark running
down the side of her face. These unlikely heroes share a common thread: Benny
lost his father and they lost their mothers on the same day. The only clue to
the mystery is Benny’s grandfather, Domenico H. Adez, a mysterious and
dangerous man.

When I
first read the book description of ‘Evil Speaks’, I was really fascinated. I
haven’t been reading a lot of fantasy novels lately, but fantasy and a book
about characters with challenges like deafness, blindness and being in a
wheelchair. I was just intrigued and really wanted to read this book.

And intriguing
‘Evil Speaks’ really is. In ‘Evil Speaks’ we meet fifteen year old Benny. Benny
is living with his mother, who has been running ever since Benny’s father disappeared
years ago. When Benny tries to leave his mother, he finds himself in another
world unlike anything he could have ever imagined. Soon Benny meets six other
teens, who share a strange story that seems to connect them all.

I haven’t
been into the Fantasy reads as much lately. But I must say I really liked the
way ‘Evil Speaks’ was written and how the author build this new world. The
thing I absolutely loved the most were the different characters with their
challenges. One was deaf, the other was blind, one was overweight, one was in a
wheelchair, one was extremely lazy and one was really angry. I loved that! I
haven’t read a book, especially a fantasy one, with characters who have
challenges. I was definitely in awe with the author after reading about these
characters.

What I
also really enjoyed was the mythological aspect of ‘Evil Speaks’. It was really
fun to read about, and the story definitely kept me on the edge of my seat.
There was enough happening to make me want to keep on reading and I loved that.

‘Evil Speaks’
is definitely a great first book in a new series.

Born in
Ventura, California but raised in Bakersfield, her chosen “hometown,” S.
Woffington is the daughter of an oil Landman and a housewife. Woffington lived
abroad in her twenties: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; London, England; Rome, Italy.
These early opportunities gave her a thirst for adventure, a desire to
understand cultures other than her own, and a quest to paint page after page
with words that capture it all. Woffington was a member of Sol Stein’s Chapter
One writing and critique group, which inspired her ambition to write. She
attended the University of California at Irvine, where she completed the
distinguished Humanities Honors Program. Woffington’s honors thesis won
distinction as “The Most Outstanding.” Woffington then attended Chapman
University and obtained two masters degrees: MFA in Creative Writing and MA in
English. While at Chapman, she had a poem and a short story published in
Caliope, Chapman’s literary journal. Her debut novel Unveiling received
Honorable Mention from Writer’s Digest SP e-book awards. The screenplay she
co-authored with her sister, Lisa Oster, was a Semi-Finalist in the CWA
(Creative World Awards). Ms. Woffington lives in southern California. She works
as a middle school teacher and a free-lance developmental editor. Her current
project is the Warriors and Watcher’s Saga series, an epic mythological fantasy
for teens. Book #1, Evil Speaks, was released in February of 2017.

Woffington’s hobbies include reading, traveling, and hoola hooping (the latter
of which she says is great exercise and a lot of fun). She also enjoys visits
with her daughters, usually time spent in unique restaurants or in and around
the kitchen, where they collectively test new recipes and prepare feasts,
before curling up with blankets to watch (and critique) movies.

For more
information please visit her website. Or visit her on Twitter or  Facebook.

I received this book from Smith Publicity in exchange for my honest review.