I received this book at no cost from the publisher
Hellhole by Gina Damico ISBN: 978-0544307100
Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on January 6th 2015
Genres: Boys & Men, Fantasy & Magic, Horror & Ghost Stories, Humorous Stories, Paranormal, Young Adult
Pages: 352
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Goodreads
There was a time when geeky, squeaky-clean Max Kilgore would never lie or steal or even think about murder.Then he accidentally unearths a devil, and Max’s choices are no longer his own. The big red guy has a penchant for couch surfing and junk food—and you should never underestimate evil on a sugar high. With the help of Lore, a former goth girl who knows a thing or two about the dark side, Max is racing against the clock to get rid of the houseguest from hell before time, and all the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos this side of the fiery abyss, run out.Gina Damico, author of the Croak series, once again delivers all the horror, hilarity, and high-stakes drama that any kid in high school or hell could ever handle.
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MY THOUGHTS
I fell in love with Gina’s books (Hey! she answered my silly questions, see how intimate we are?) when I somehow got a copy of Croak. It was probably an accident but I forced everyone I knew to read it. And then somehow I got the rest of that series and became profoundly depressed until I saw that she had a new book called HELLHOLE. OH MY GOSH – how could I resist? So I started threatening people until I got a copy. Thank you to the fine people who run RockStar Book Tours and listened to me whine about this until I got a copy. I may end up in hell for this, but whatever. I GOT THE BOOK!
Max Kilgore lives with his single mom who has a heart condition that is probably fatal unless she gets a transplant or a miracle happens. He works at the local gas station convenience store to help out with expenses and has never even told a white lie. Until he saw the glitterific cat on the counter at work. Thinking it would cheer his mother up, he steals the cat and in turns summons a devil, not THE devil but one of many devils, who chief vice is junk food which he must consume vast quantities to survive. In order to get rid of said devil named, Burgundy, (Burg for short) he makes a deal to get him a house in exchange for healing his mother. Oh and he dug a pit into hell while searching for dinosaur bones as an amateur paleontologist.
So in a search to rid himself of the devil and make sure his perfect next-door neighbor Audie (perfect in all ways with a Police Chief dad and the High School principal mother) doesn’t find out the devil is dwelling in his basement, he find Lore, a girl he can finally talk to. She is a new transfer and might possibly have summoned a devil herself. Lore cuts directly through Max’s nerd speak and helps him find a way to get rid of Burg even though it might include murder, more stealing, lots of lying and crazy antics.
OK, I can’t get into any more details because that would spoil the whole thing. Just know that this is one funny and off-kilter read that will have you laughing one minute and seriously wondering if Max will get rid of Burg, save his mom and find love. Oh, and stop his nerdy ways, but then you wouldn’t have the essences of Max anymore. I truly liked all of the characters especially Lore and Audie who saw that Max is a great person even though he can be truly socially inept. This is probably best for teens since there is one incident involving alcohol and lots of swearing at appropriate times.
Gina Damico is the author of Croak, Scorch, and Rogue, the grim-reapers-gone-wild books of the Croak trilogy. She has also dabbled as a tour guide, transcriptionist, theater house manager, scenic artist, movie extra, office troll, retail monkey, yarn hawker and breadmonger. A native of Syracuse, New York, she now lives outside Boston with her husband, two cats, and one dog, and while she has never visited hell in person, she has spent countless waking hours at the Albany Regional Bus Terminal, which is pretty darn close. Visit her website at www.ginadami.co.
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PLEASE WELCOME GINA TO BOOKHOUNDS YA
- What is on your nightstand?
– A book – currently Poking a Dead Frog: Conversations with Today’s Top Comedy Writers. It is FASCINATING.
– A GAMES magazine and pencil. Official crossword nerd here, nice to meet you.
– My glasses
– A comically tiny travel alarm clock that I bought years and years ago and have since brought with me whenever I travel, since I still can’t for the life of me figure out how to turn off the alarm on my cell phone
– An even more comically tiny notebook, for writing down ideas when they strike at three in the morning.
– A crocheted coaster, because listen: the very best way to catch condensation from drinks is not with glass or bamboo or sandstone or what have you, but cotton. Make all of your coasters from cotton and you are set for life, my friend.
- What author would you totally fan girl?
It’s currently a three-way deathmatch between Laini Taylor, Gabrielle Zevin, and Elizabeth Wein. If ever I meet any of them, I will first prance around them with flaily hands, then slap them across the face for writing such impossibly good books. (Talent makes me violent.)
- What makes you cringe?
Anything sticky. Particularly price tags and discarded Band-Aids OH GOD I’M GETTING VOMITY JUST TYPING IT.
- Are you worried that your google history will get you into trouble?
Considering my Google history consists of things like “all the different ways that people can die”, “how long it takes for a choking victim to suffocate”, and “how to best dispose of a body”, I’m going to go with yes.
- Do you obsessively plot out each point or just go with the flow?
A mix of both. I try to at least bang out the major points of where I’m going with a story, certain events and plot reveals that need to happen, but other than that I just kind of let my characters take me where they want to go. Often, if I’ve gotten to know my characters well enough, I can pretty much just sit back and let them write themselves. Yes, I’m aware of how crazy this sounds. No, I am not on medication. Yet.
Gina’s Giveaway
Hey there book fans! I’m running a Follow Frenzy giveaway over the course of this blog tour, and the prize is pretty neato: a signed copy of HELLHOLE wherein each chapter will have a little bit of trivia and/or a doodle handwritten by yours truly. (Gina) (Damico) To enter, all you have to do is follow me on one or more of my various social media outlets (Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, Youtube), then fill out this adorable little form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1MbfSsZCiALw_I_C7WpI0d71hPNe0b94Ot89sxFesUzM/viewform . That’s it! The more things you follow, the more chances you will earn to win. Good luck!
Catch the rest of the tour:
Week One
Jan. 5 – Xpresso Reads – Guest Post
Jan. 5 – Fiction Fare – Spotlight
Jan. 6 – Paranormal Book Club – Guest Post
Jan. 6 – Two Chicks on Books – Spotlight
Jan. 7 – A Dream Within A Dream – Review
Jan. 7 – Book Jems – Guest Post
Jan. 8 – BookHounds YA – Interview
Jan. 8 – YA Midnight Reads – Dual Review
Jan. 9 – Novel Novice – Guest Post
Jan. 9 – Consuming Worlds – Interview
Week Two
Jan. 12 – Once Upon a Twilight – Review
Jan. 12 – Book Sniffers Anonymous – Interview
Jan. 13 – No BS Book Reviews – Interview
Jan. 13 – The Best Books Ever – Review
Jan. 14 – Teen Readers’ Diary – Guest Post
Jan. 14 – The Book Bratz – Review
Jan. 15 – Sweet Southern Home – Review
Jan. 15 – Eli to the nth – Review
Jan. 16 – Bad Bird Reads – Guest Post
Jan. 16 – Crossroad Reviews – Review
The Giveaway
We are giving away a Hardcover copy of HELLHOLE to TWO WINNERS
Giveaway is open to anywhere The Book Depository ships.
Giveaway ends on January 21st at 11:59 p.m. Pacific.
This sounds like it would be fun to read.
I’m always excited to read new books, especially YA paranormal ones!
I loved the croak series and really want to read this. Gina humor is spot on
I am reading this now and loving it. Great interview!
This is my favorite type of book to read. I am definitely gonna check it out.
Well, Mary’s enthusiam is catching and how can I resist a devil nicknamed Burg.
Sounds like a main character with a lot of spunk! I would love to get into this book! I love a spunky character~