Stepping Stones (The Stone Series, #1)
by Kacey Vanderkarr
Release Date: 08/25/15
Urban Fey Press

Summary from Goodreads:

Onnaleigh Moore is part of a plan—and it isn’t hers. When her brother dies in a car accident, Onna is desperate to preserve the tatters of her family. Any hope of finding normalcy vanishes when her mother runs off and her dad turns to booze to numb his pain. Onna’s grief is crippling, but the boy who showed up just when she needed him is helping her cope.

Everett’s presence is comforting, though he knows things—Onna’s name just before they met, where she lives, and sometimes he comments on thoughts she doesn’t say aloud. She pegs him for a stalker, or maybe psychic, but the truth is deadlier than she imagines. As their feelings for one another deepen, Everett confesses a horrifying secret: Onna’s brother is only the beginning of the plan, and some fates are worse than death.

Add to Goodreads

My Review:

I really liked this book.  It was well written and kept me turning the pages to see what was going to happen next.  That said, this was a very hard book for me to read.  I cried through the whole first part of the book.  Onna’s brother dies in a car accident and the author describes her feelings, the wake , and the funeral so well that it brought back memories of my own brothers death, which also occurred when I was a teenager.I will warn you that this is a very sad book and the death of Onna’s brother is just the beginning.  Onna’s life seems to be ruled by Murphy’s law: anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.  After reading the book, I understand why all this tragedy was necessary, but it is still very sad.

What I liked about the book:

The book was well written and the characters were fairly well developed.  I liked all of the main characters.  My favorites being Onna and her best girlfriend, Hunter.  Through thick or thin, Hunter is always there for her.  Everett is a great character too.  He obviously adores Onna, but he is full of secrets and may not be trustworthy.  The book ends at a good spot, but this is definitely the first book in a series, because we are left with a lot of unanswered questions.  I like a book that keeps me guessing and  this book did that in spades.

What I didn’t like about the book:

The fact that it made me cry through a good portion of the book.  I will be honest here.  This is not the kind of book that I normally read.  If I find out a book is sad, I usually stay away from it.  I don’t enjoy crying and I’m not one of those women that looks beautiful when they cry.  I’m a mess and it’s ugly.  Of course the real reason is because I have had more than enough tragedy in my own life.  But I’m not sorry that I read this book and I did enjoy it in spite of the crying.

The other thing I didn’t like was how wishy-washy Onna was when it came to Everett.  She would beg him to tell her what he was hiding, but then when he did, she would run away and vow never to see him again.  Then after a few days, she would go back to him.  He even warned her that he wasn’t a good person, but she just kept going back.  Either your with someone and accept them good and bad or you’re not with them.

This book is a good start to Kacey Vanderkarr’s new series.  I think that Kacey is a good author and I love her Reflection Pond series.  I am already hooked on this new series and I will be reading the next book to find out the answers to my unanswered questions.  I give this book 4 stars.

About the Author
Kacey Vanderkarr is a young adult author. She dabbles in fantasy, romance, and sci-fi, complete with faeries, alternate realities, and the occasional plasma gun. She’s known to be annoyingly optimistic and listen to music at the highest decibel. When she’s not writing, she coaches winterguard and works as a sonographer. Kacey lives in Michigan, with her husband, son, and crazy cats. Along with her novels, Reflection Pond and Antithesis, Kacey’s short fiction can be found in Sucker Literary Vol 3, and the upcoming Spark Vol 7, Ember: A Journal of Luminous Things, and Out of the Green: Tales from Fairyland.

Author Links:
Website│Goodreads│Twitter│Facebook

Cover Reveal Organized by:
YA Bound Book Tours

a Rafflecopter giveaway

//widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js