Blog Tour: Sydney West by R. Mckinsey

Blurb:

Sydney West is a tall, pale stranger who collapses in the middle of a busy coffee shop, later waking in the hospital as an amnesiac. He immediately exhibits impressive observation and memory skills, along with a number of eccentricities. His new acquaintances don't know what to think of him as his paranoia mounts and inconsistencies build around him.

In RE-learning about himself, he finds he has great difficulty in making friends, learns that he detests coffee and loves tea, and that suddenly he can play one song on the piano like a master. One song, and no others. Couldn't this all be within the realm of "normal" with his amnesia? Certainly, he tries to convince himself. But ghosts of memory rise into his subconscious, and he has the intense feeling of someone physically being by his side when there is no one there. Fleeting memories take residence in the back of his recollection that he can't quite get a grasp of, and when he starts to connect information, the sound in his head causes such extreme pain that he can't think straight. Yes, there may be darker forces that have caused his memory loss, and may be planning further harm.

He is determined to piece together his history and find out who is manipulating his present, while trying to determine friend from foe, a task that seems impossible to accomplish, especially since it seems that some clues may be pointing to him as the manipulator.

ABOUT REBECCA MCKINSEY

www.BlackbirdBooks.net  is the website for Rebecca McKinsey, a 21-year-old novelist who learned to drive a library cart before she learned to drive a car, and still prefers the library cart, if it would only get her to appointments on time. She was born in a town, raised in the country, and now lives in the city, but spends most of her time in places that don't exist. She is a lover of words, a devoted drinker of tea, but, most notably, a storyteller.

Rebecca has been a storyteller from her earliest memories, when she would make up stories to go with pictures in books before she could read the words. But reading... oh, words! They opened for her new worlds and paths to new characters and experiences. At the age of 11, she knew she wanted to be a writer someday so she could share her own stories. "Someday" finally came. She self-published The Storytellers: Anterria in December 2010, The Storytellers: Atlantis in January 2012, and Sydney West in February 2012, with Lorem Ipsum, the second book in the Sydney West series, tentatively scheduled to be self-published in December 2012. She wants her stories to draw young people into a lifetime of reading, encouraging them to read and discover the pleasure in getting lost in a story, and inspiring them to write their own stories.

When she's not writing, plotting, or outlining her next story, Rebecca enjoys reading, crocheting, knitting, spinning, movies, and dreaming of having a cat and living in a bicycle-friendly neighborhood, where she doesn't have to rely on that library cart or car to get around.

My Thoughts:

What an oddly enjoyable book. I don't like the phrase slow burn, but in this case it was just that. Once the story started to pick up (which by the way, the slow burn in this case is a NECESSITY) it was just a non stop fun, challenging, mentally stimulating, wacky-fun adventure. Sydney West came across as a manic Sherlock-esque (Sherlock as portrayed on the show Elementary) figure that was just intriguing to read. I wanted so badly at first to write him off as a mad genius of some sort.

 my first reaction to sydney west

And then, I took him as a trickster, stringing Jacob along and playing games. Once you really start to get to know Sydney you really start to sympathize, even though in most instances he can be a blunt jerk.  His story gets weirder and weirder and what you realize is there is WAY more going on than you first realize. There are mysteries here guys! The kind of mysteries that are always fun to piece together as you read.


This story is so hard to describe fully. It really is so busy..but not in an annoying way. The writer makes you feel as if NO page is filler. Not scene is unimportant. No character is just a place holder. Everything connects. Everything has a point and a purpose. So many delicious layers! THIS my friends, is a nicely written story!

I am very impressed obviously. I loved it. Nuff said y'all.