All the King's Men Blog Tour: Review of The Kings of Charleston by Kat H. Clayton!

Welcome to my stop on the All The King's Men blog tour! To see a full schedule for this tour, either click on the banner above OR (because links tend to, you know, NOT work for me), click HERE. :)

The Kings of Charleston by Kat H. Clayton

Release Date: July 10, 2012

Format: Paperback, 348 pages

Series: The Kings of Charleston #1

Source: Author for review

Buy It: Amazon | B&N | Createspace | IndieBound

Description from Goodreads:

Casper Whitley is forced to move to Charleston, South Carolina where she’ll be the new kid her senior year of high school. Casper’s upset about the move until she meets the Roman family’s gorgeous son, Cal, but there’s a problem. A mystery surrounds him which can be summed up in one word…Kythera. Never heard of it? Neither has Casper until she finds the word tattooed on cars, paintings and all her new friends.

After Casper’s life is threatened, someone is forced to tell the truth about her parents, the Romans and Kythera’s motives for her being in Charleston. Once the truth is revealed, she must decide whether to protect her family and Kythera’s secrets or walk away from everything she has ever known.

The Kings of Charleston has a really intresting premise. That was what drew me in in the first place. It seemed mysterious and cool and I thought I'd have fun reading it. Add to that the fact that there was--OHMYGOSH--some romance in here? I OBVIOUSLY needed to read this book.

Now that I've read it, I know I was right to look forward to the mystery. It was interesting, riveting, and kept me on my toes. The romance, however, wasn't really much to write home about. It wasn't BAD. It was not. But it didn't really take my breath away, either. It was just kind of THERE. I'm not going to lie, though--there were a couple romantic moments I swooned for. Just not as many as I expected.

Character Rundown:
Casper: Her name is kind of awesome. Just saying. But anyway, Casper was...all right, I suppose. Her character didn't blow me away or anything, but there were things about her that I liked. She was pretty confident, for one. And she could actually be strong, in some situations, and I liked that. So Casper does not go on my MC hate list, but I don't really loooove her, either.

Cal: So, he's my boy (for now), obviously. But he didn't seem all that original. He was super mysterious, but other than that, he was pretty...normal. What we usually see from guys in YA. I must admit, he was a TOTAL sweetheart, though. I swoon, y'all.

Plot. There are SECRETS. The kind that you will guess and guess, but never get quite right. I personally did not guess anything EXACTLY right until the author wanted us to. The mystery portion of this book really held its own. Big time. It was so enjoyable.

Romance. I just was not feeling it a majority of the time. There were moments where I was TOTALLY into it and swooning my drool off (um, HORSES, anyone?), but more often than I would have liked, the romance just did not seem very special to me. It was not bad, it was just commonplace. The kind we see all the time in YA. Expected. You know?

The ending. Well, I'm definitely going to be reading the next book! I was happy with the ending, and what Casper decided to do. And then what Cal decided to do. If they were real people, we'd be high-fiving right now. BOOM.

Overall, The Kings of Charleston was a great mystery that held me captive from the time the mystery began to the very last page. However, the romance didn't live up to my expectations. So, if you're reading this for the romance, prepare yourself. If you're reading this for the mystery, I salute you. You'll have so much fun!! Kat Clayton has written a rather wonderful mystery novel here. You'll want book 2, guys. You really will. :)

♥Jessica(:

Blog Tour: Kings of Charleston by Kat H. Clayton (Excerpt & Giveaway)

Welcome to my stop on the Kings of Charleston blog tour! To follow the tour (because, come on, it's flipping awesome), click HERE and see the tour schedule and everything! But for today, I have an excerpt and a tour-wide giveaway to share with y'all. Okay? OKAY.

 

~Excerpt~

 

Cal swore under his breath and pulled to the side.

 

I was a mess. I had never been pulled over, not even as a passenger.

 

Cal pushed a button and the window slid down slowly with a whoosh. I turned to look at the

approaching officer. He had a flashlight in his hand that he swept across the side of the car. Once

he reached the front of the car, he paused at the front wheel and stood motionless for several seconds. I leaned over the console to see what the holdup was. The officer’s face had drained of

all its color.

 

“Can I help you, Officer?” Cal said.

 

I hit Cal on the shoulder and mouthed, What are you doing? He shrugged his shoulders.

 

“Oh, well, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize who you were,” the officer said with an uneasy laugh. Why would he be sorry for pulling over a seventeen-year-old in a Mercedes?

 

“No problem, you new to the force?” Cal said in a conversational tone. My mouth dropped

open.

 

“Yes, I am. I didn’t get a good look at your vehicle till now. Hope you have a good night,” he said. The officer walked back to his vehicle and drove off. Cal turned on his blinker and merged back into the flow of traffic.

 

“What just happened?” I asked. I was shocked and confused by how the officer had treated Cal. You would have thought he was a movie star or a diplomat with immunity to the law.

 

“Ah, nothing, I just know the police pretty well,” he responded, smiling to himself. There was obviously more to the story and it had to do with whatever the officer had seen on the front wheel of his car. What could he have seen? I was dying to find out.

 

“You have a lot of run-ins with the law?”

 

He leaned his head over to me with a playful expression on his face. I felt tiny butterflies

develop in the pit of my stomach. “Me? Nah, they have run-ins with me from time to time. I have

to straighten them out, you know?”

 

He turned the blinker on and we entered a residential neighborhood. A few minutes later, we pulled up to a restaurant at the end of a secluded street. Cal pulled the car into a parallel parking space across the street and got out of the car. I began to open my door, but he waved his finger at me. He opened the door for me and gestured for me to take his hand. After a moment’s hesitation, I stepped out of the car, my hand in his strong grip.

 

~~~

 

Giveaway:

There's a tour-wide giveaway where one signed copy of the book and a Kindle Paperwhite are being given away! The giveaway's open to US/Can/UK! Just fill out the Rafflecopter to enter :)

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

**I am not responsoble for this giveaway, but AS ALWAYS wouldn't it be insanely cool is I was? I mean, come on. Seriously.**

 

~~~

 

Kings of Charleston by Kat H. Clayton

Release Date: July 10, 2012

Series: The Kings of Charleston #1

Genre: YA Romantic Suspense

Buy It: Amazon | B&N | Createspace | IndieBound

 

Description from Goodreads:

Casper Whitley is forced to move to Charleston, South Carolina where she’ll be the new kid her senior year of high school. Casper’s upset about the move until she meets the Roman family’s gorgeous son, Cal, but there’s a problem. A mystery surrounds him which can be summed up in one word…Kythera. Never heard of it? Neither has Casper until she finds the word tattooed on cars, paintings and all her new friends.

After Casper’s life is threatened, someone is forced to tell the truth about her parents, the Romans and Kythera’s motives for her being in Charleston. Once the truth is revealed, she must decide whether to protect her family and Kythera’s secrets or walk away from everything she has ever known.

 

~~~

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kat has been a writer her entire life, but never pursued a writing career until the characters from a short story she wrote in high school refused to go away. Finally, she sat down and wrote their story which would became The Kings of Charleston series.



Kat has been an avid reader her entire life. She enjoys all genres, but particularly Mystery and Young Adult. Mary Higgins Clark is one of her favorite authors who inspired her love of mysteries. 



When she isn't writing, Kat loves to travel, try out new recipes and hang out with her husband. She is originally from Kentucky, but currently resides in South Georgia with her husband, a cat named Frank and a dog named Lil.

 

Author Links:

Website: http://kathclayton.com/

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6431238.Kat_H_Clayton

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kathclaytonwriter

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KatHClayton

 

♥Jessica(: