Tristis Manor Blog Tour: Review

Tristis Manor (Never Chronicles #1.5)

Margaret lives in a constant state of fear. Fear of her mother, whose constant state of anger and unwillingness to speak of Margaret's past have long since pushed Margaret away. Fear of disappointing her father should he ever discover the events of that day. Most of all, Margaret lives in fear of her abuser's return. Margaret turns to self-harm to cope with her pain and fear. Only when her self-inflicted injuries bring her near death does she realize she has the power and the support from an unlikely place to stand up to her fears and believe in herself again. Tristis Manor is a novella from The Never Chronicles, an epic fantasy series.

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Author Bio:

 J. R. Wagner was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, during a blizzard. The snow made travel by car impossible, so his father called an ambulance when his mother went into labor. The ambulance became stuck at the bottom of their home’s driveway, prompting the dispatch of a fire truck, which towed the ambulance to the hospital where he was
born.

Maybe it was this experience that destined J.R. to love adventure.
A competitive cyclist, triathlete, mountain biker, and adventure racer, he once received a medal for saving a woman’s life during the kayaking section of an adventure race.

J.R. drafted his first story, a sequel to Return of the Jedi, when he was ten years old. A self-proclaimed Star Wars geek, he had lofty aspirations of working with George Lucas on filming the project. In 1990, he began filming his version of The Lord of the Rings in his parents’ basement, but the plug was pulled after he nearly burned down the house. Since then, J.R. has written two full-length screenplays and a thriller novel. After graduating with a kinesiology degree from Arizona State University, J.R. returned to Pennsylvania, where he took up writing once again. He began writing Exiled while vacationing in Maine.

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Review:

First line:

Once again, Margaret found herself in the back corner of the larder.

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Source:

Digital copy for tour

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Rating:

4 stars out of 5

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Be forewarned. This book is not for the faint of heart. It is the story of Margaret, a nine year-old girl who is abused and neglected by her mother. To cope with her mother's wrath and indifference to her well-being, Margaret harms herself by scraping her hands back and forth on the wooden florr and cuts her fingers making them bleed. Tristis Manor is an extremely sad, and oftentimes horrifying, novel about Margaret's journey.

This is a rather quick read, but despite the short length, Wagnor manages to develop Margaret rather nicely throughout the whole book. When we first meet her, she is scared and lonely and trying to cope with the pain her mother is putting her through. As the story goes on, we see Margaret's journey from a scared little girl to a strong young woman, capable of not only taking care of herself, but also her one year-old sister.

I loved this book and can't wait to read Wagner's full length novel!

Check out the rest of the tour: