Would You BUY or PASS? The Exclusives by Rebecca Thornton #Mystery #FridayFiveChallenge

Welcome to the ‘Friday Five Challenge.’

Would you BUY or PASS if you had only a thumbnail image and five minutes to decide?

Welcome to the #FridayFiveChallenge.  The original idea comes from Rosie Amber, and you can join up at https://rosieamber.wordpress.com

The rules are laid out at the end of this post if you fancy having a go.

Here is my contribution for this week:

Who says email marketing doesn’t work!  I received Amazon’s regular email and clicked over to their ‘Kindle Monthly Deals’ page.  I glanced down the sea of covers until I found this:

The Exclusives by Rebecca Thornton

Blurb:

A heartbreaking story of friendship and betrayal – can we ever forgive the ones we love the most?

“Prep meets The Secret History meets Mean Girls – a stunning debut novel” Esther Walker, author of The Bad Mother

1996. Freya Seymour and Josephine Grey are invincible – beautiful and brilliant, the two best friends are on the cusp of Oxbridge, and the success they always dreamed they’d share.

2014. Freya gets in touch, looking for a conversation Josephine has run away from for eighteen long and tortured years. Beginning with one ill-fated night, The Exclusives charts the agonising spiral of friendship gone wrong, the heartache and betrayal of letting down those closest to you and the poisonous possibilities of what we wouldn’t do when everything we prize is placed under threat. And in the end, as she realises she cannot run for ever, Josephine must answer one question: is it Freya she cannot face, or is it her own darkest secret?

“Compellingly dark, brilliantly gripping: Rebecca Thornton takes a scalpel to the heart of female friendship.” – Elizabeth Day, author of Scissors, Paper, Stone

My Analysis:

Cover – I really like this cover.  The typography is clean and clear, and the image choice makes me think of a school/college institutional story, which I do enjoy.  The figures in the distance and the strapline confirm that the novel is a story of friendship, but with the muted colours I’m not expecting a soppy book!  This is more of a mystery tale.

The book blurb – Intriguing.  There is enough information to tempt the reader.  Why are two best friends avoiding one another?  What happened to change their fortunes?

The Stats – The Kindle price is £1.69.  There are 30 reviews on Amazon.co.uk, the majority are five stars, with a single one star review from a legitimate reviewer who didn’t bond with the story. There are 4 reviews on Amazon.com.  The reviews are full of praise for this debut novel.

BUY or PASS? – I like the sound of this.  I do enjoy stories set in schools/colleges and I’m starting to read more mystery novels, so it’s a BUY from me.

The Exclusives – buy your copy.

Amazon UK

Amazon US

Take a look at who else has taken part in the Friday Five Challenge:

 Barb’s unscientific results are in – UK vs US covers.

Rosie searches for Spring.

Cathy looks at the Costa Book Award Winner.

Liz finds a genealogical mystery.

What is the Friday Five Challenge?

In today’s online shopping age, readers often base their buying decisions on small postage stamp size book covers (thumbnails), a quick glance at the book description and the review. How much time do they spend making that buying decision?

AUTHORS – You often only have seconds to get a reader to buy your book, is your book cover and book bio up to it?

The Challenge is this… IN ONLY FIVE MINUTES…

1) Go to any online book supplier,

2) Randomly choose a category,

3) Speed through the book covers, choose one which has instantly appealed to your eye,

4) Read the book Bio/ Description of this book,

5) If there are reviews, check out a couple,

6) Make an instant decision, would you BUY or PASS?

(then write a little analysis about your decision)