Cherry Nova

The Chronicles of Nova Morgan #1

by Kelly-Marie Pollock

In the dark and gritty streets of Victorian London, Cherry Nova unveils a haunting tale of forgotten identity and the sinister depths of one's own nature. Nova, a young woman, awakens in a dilapidated hotel room, her memories stolen by an unseen force. With a relentless thirst for blood coursing through her veins, she embarks on a treacherous quest to uncover her true self.

As Nova delves deeper into her own darkness, she discovers that love can be a treacherous game, and not all who claim to care have her best interests at heart. Amidst a backdrop of magic, mythology, and hidden truths, she learns the hard way that the reflection in the mirror may hold secrets more terrifying than she ever imagined.

In this twisted world of secrets and lies, Nova finds herself entangled in a web of monsters and the chilling reality that she is one of them. But no matter how far she runs, the sins of her past always find a way to catch up with her, reminding her that there is no escape from the haunting consequences of her own actions.

Prepare to be consumed by the shadows as Cherry Nova takes you on a thrilling journey where the line between good and evil blurs, and the true nature of humanity is laid bare.

Paperback

Published June 1, 2020

Reviews

[Anne Carty · Rating 5 out of 5]

100% 5 star read!

Cherry nova is a well thought out and plotted story. Right from the first page I was hooked and couldn’t believe how quick I was intrigued and had a bunch of questions I wanted answered like is Nova a vampire? If she is, who turned here into one? Why doesn’t she remember anything and so forth? 

We meet Noah quite early on into the story and his encounter with Nova leaves me with more questions which is a good thing because throughout the story they do get answered! The beginning of this story is full of suspense and action-packed but as we get into the first few chapters it begins to slow down a little bit. We begin learning with Nova about who she is and what is actually going on in this story and begin connecting with the characters on a more personal level. 

This is a must read for all you lovers of gothic dark vampire fantasy stories! ❤️

Read my full review here http://www.foreverthewanderer.ie/cher...

[Gina Rae Mitchell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I settled on a 4.5 rating for Cherry Nova. Overall, it’s a fabulous book full of vampires, lycanthropes, witches, and evil humans. Then we have the poor regular folks trying to survive the world & war between the creatures. This story is unique and entertaining.

Content Warnings: Profanity, Sex, Violence, Human Slavery, Drug Use

The Good: The character development and growth is superb. The author uses several tropes to good advantage; amnesia, revenge, lost love, good vs. evil. The world-building is excellent. The settings are well-described. If not for the horse-drawn carriages and lack of cell-phones, this Victorian Gothic could take in the current age. The storyline is wrapped up nicely at the end, giving us closure with enough leftover to lead us into book two.

The not so good: Very little was wrong with this book. There were a couple of misused/misspelled words, although that could be UK vs. US differences. There is a fair amount of blood and gore, which I expect in this genre. A couple of times, there was a slight lull to the pacing.

The verdict: I would recommend Cherry Nova to all fans of great paranormal/supernatural stories. There is something for everyone in this book. It’s got a great hook, unique plot, excellent characters, and a fantastic set-up for future books in the series. Solid 4.5 of 5!

[Judy Ferrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

One man wants a city. One vampire wants to stop him. Cherry Nova takes on Soul in Victorian London. It's a fight that will lead to the freeing of the city of Cherry wins. This is an interesting book. The history is correct which means the author really took the time for research. The book is an easy read an one I would read again.

[Ezzydesu · Rating 4 out of 5]

''No, I'm definitely a puppet no more. Now I'm the master and I pull the strings.''

I have received this book for free from Fraser's Fun House and Kelly-Marie Pollock in exchange for an honest review.

I really loved this book! It has vampires and all sorts of other supernatural beings and I am absolute trash for those kinds of things. I absolutely loved watching The Vampire Diaries and it's spin-off The Originals, so this was right up my alley and quenched my thirst for a good vampire story!
You know what's cool too? The fact that I have a very special first print paperback of this book. It has the orginal cover, an editing error and it has the original formatting. Kelly changed the cover and formatting a shortly after the release, so I have a real collector's item. I am showing off my copy on Instagram.

The plot is really interesting. Cherry Nova is about a girl waking up in a hotel room, freshly turnt into a vampire, no memory whatsoever and a corpse on the floor. If that isn't an interesting start, I don't know what is. I am also a big fan of the amnesia trope, especially if you are following the amnesiac and are just as clueless as them as the mystery is half the fun. Nova's whole journey from where she is at the start of the book until the very last page is so raw and full of emotions and self growth. It was amazing to read.
Besides just the plot lines, Cherry Nova contains some old fashioned vampiric bloodsucking and fighting and that's just the best. Seeing a vampire fight their inner monster is something I am weak for and absolutely love about vampire stories. The book also includes other supernatural creatures and how they deal with the world. I really consider vampires, witches and werewolves a holy trinity in the world of fantasy stories.

The characters are very likable and humanly flawed. They all have their own personalities and really add to the story. Each character's relationship with Nova (the MC) is one of their own and they developed as the story progresses. At some points in the book, primarily the first half, had some cross genre influence of romance. I am normally not someone who likes the genre in general or romance in books if it gets in the way of plot advancement or pacing, but Kelly wrote it so well that I absolutely loved reading about it. And even though the plot didn't pace as quickly as later in the book, the romance was part of some character development that got really important later on.
The only pet peeves I had about the characters was that the main group of characters was just three guys with one girl for the majority of the book and two characters had a very similar name (Nova and Noah) which confused me at times.

Would I read more work by this author? Definitely yes! I got to know Kelly in a blog tour hosted by Fraser's Fun House last year, so for one I would read her work to support her and secondly, I absolutely love her writing and storytelling style! It's so personal, like she left a literary signature on every page. I can't really describe it correctly, but it is really fun to read. The story never feels dragged or monotonous and your attention is always held. It isn't the worlds best writing, but it's very good nonetheless, especially for a debut!

Something that annoyed my autistic brain a little is that the book had some editing flaws. They were small and any other would just read over them, but I just couldn't unsee them. Think about a misplaced comma or missing/incorrect interpunction, nothing major and it's a thing that happens to indie authors. But let's not forget I read the unchanged first edition, so it might be that it has been fixed completely! And it didn't affect the story itself at all and is still perfectly readable.

I would very much recommend this book! It is one amazing adult fantasy with dark aspects and supernatural creatures. It isn't a too thick book, so it is also a nice and rather quick read to enjoy on a free afternoon. Cherry Nova is perfect for fans of The Vampire Diaries, The Originals, Twilight, but without the sparkles, and vampires in general. It also comes perfectly in time as vampires are making a comeback to fantasy books!

Content Warning: Contains adult themes, including sex, drug use, profanity and violence.


Cherry Nova is now available for purchase!
AmazonUK | AmazonUS | Book Depository

Read more reviews on my blog:
https://ezziesbookshelf.wordpress.com

[Emma Canning (Emma's Chapter) · Rating 3 out of 5]

You speak of Gods and you speak of Man, but what of Monsters - what of them?

Cherry Nova wakes up in a grim hotel room with no recollection of who she is and how she got there. She embarks on a journey to discover her past, a life shrouded in darkness and despair in a city of blood lust, secrets, lies, death, magic, lovers and enemies.
*Warning: Contains adult themes including Sex, Drug Use, Profanity and Violence.

I'm so on the fence it hurts. There are parts that I enjoyed. That gave the book a lot of promise, depth and emotion. However, there were chunks that were kinda cringe-y, bit over the top and not quite up to standard.

Let's start with the characters. I think I have a love/hate relationship with Nova and I'm sure of that's a good thing or not. She's starts great. Strong character, been through hell and going with her as she got some of her memories back and learned about her past really does give you a deep, emotional connection to her, but my god she makes some of the most frustrating and stupid decisions I have ever seen a character make and that says something. It was infuriating to read! As annoying as it was I guess it kinda means I was invested somewhat. I also felt like she had a split-personality multiple times and I don't know if it was intentional or not. She seemed to go from 0 to 100 and back to 0 extremely quick, I thought I was going to get whiplash. I don't even know how to explain it, but it got slightly annoying the more it happened. If you're going to be a murderous vampire be a murderous vampire killing all the people that hurt you, don't apologise for it or go all sad and subdued. And listen to the people that know better than you hon, I cannot stress this enough. One way to make me fall out with a character is to have them make too many bad decisions thinking they can handle it. She's a good character and has layers, I just think she needed to be put in check earlier.

In regards to the other characters, I like the majority. Max, I'm not too crazy about. He was quite beige if you know what I mean. Just in comparison to the others he wasn't as good. I liked Bucky, I'm sad his part dwindled as the book went on I would have liked to see him have more to do. Sort of similar to Noah really, I would've liked to see more of him and Nova. Maybe the reason I wasn't fond of Max is because I prefer Bucky and Noah and he kind of become the male in the story around midway through and overshadowed the other two. Love Ruth definitely my favourite character sassy, unapologetic, bad witch.

The plot and story as a whole have a lot of promise. It's very dark and twisted so if you like thing with a lot of grit this is probably a book for you. I do think the plot however, took a backseat to the characters. It lacked the balance between character and plot and I feel we spent more time just with the characters over developing the plot. The development was there, but it could have come sooner and been fleshed out to draw suspense. We were also very dialogue heavy. I felt like I was reading pages in some parts that were just dialogue and nothing else. If that's something you like then great, but for me I need more structure and bones over conversation and it was the dialogue heavy scenes that built the cringe. There are some things characters don't need to say and should be done by way of narrative. Maybe I'm nitpicking now but I think Chapter 25 would have been a great chapter to end on. It felt like an ending and then the next few chapters would have been a great way to start book 2, but that's just me.

Overall, Cherry Nova was an immensely dark and twisted book with some good characters and a potentially good story to flesh out into something more. I don't think it's really for me, but there were some punchy emotional moments to go with the serious and harsh Victorian London setting. So if that's something you like along with lots of dialogue and characterisation then you very may well like this book, it's just not for me.

I received a digital copy of this book for free from Fraser's Fun House in exchange for an honest review

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[Fraser's Fun House · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nova wakes to find herself in a strange bedroom alongside a corpse and no idea how she got there or even who she is. Confused and scared she searches her surroundings for clues before running to escape the law with only her newly awakened passion for blood forcing her to slow down. Thrust into the dark underworld of Victorian London she finds herself bouncing between places not knowing who to trust whilst starting to piece together the life she once knew and coming to terms with her new otherworldly existence.

It doesn’t take long for glimpses of her past begin to appear from behind her clouded mind and Nova knows things have to change, not just for her but for the future of the whole city, but will she be able to find like minded creatures to back her cause or will she fight alone?

I have to say that I have read very few vampire fiction novels as I kind of missed the boat on the Twlight era and the influx of similar books thereafter so went into reading Cherry Nova somewhat hesitantly. However, despite my initial uncertainty after a couple of pages I found myself completely hooked by Pollock’s easy writing style as she drew me into the dark, brooding and rather sinister atmospheric backdrop she has created. Her highly descriptive prose instantly allowed me to transport my mind to the dark, dingy streets that Nova finds herself negotiating throughout her journey which for me is absolutely vital when setting the scene for a novel.

Nova is by far my favourite of the host of characters we meet in this tale and Pollock’s character development is perfectly written, taking her from a scared, lonely ‘street rat’, through her confusion and subsequent anger until she finds the strength to rally herself and show glimmers of the kick-ass female protagonist that I know she will become in the subsequent books in this new trilogy.

What makes this book special though is that the Author has utilised her own personal mental health experiences to shape Nova’s behaviour, thoughts & feelings, and as someone who has faced my own struggles it’s clear to see how much of herself she has poured into the pages of this book.

Cherry Nova is an exceedingly strong debut novel which I thoroughly enjoyed. It’s full of action, twists and turns which all combine to make it a real page turner and I certainly can’t wait to see what happens to Nova next, especially as Pollock has left things poised so perfectly with a teasing cliffhanger! Parts of the book are quite dark, but for me the there is an overriding message of hope that runs beneath the surface which kept me rooting for Nova throughout. Cherry Nova is more than just your run of the mill Vampire tale, it’s roots run much deeper and I’m sure its story would resonate with readers on so many different levels. Highly recommended by me and I hope Kelly hurries up with book two as I’m desperate to read it!

[Rebecca Hill · Rating 2 out of 5]

No Review

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cherry Nova begins with Nova, a young woman who wakes up in a hotel room with no idea how she got there. She finds a note thanking her for her service and a dead man on the floor next to her. She jumps out of the window and flees the scene. She has no memories and no idea where she is. The first half of the book follows Nova, who realises she is a newly created vampire in Victorian London. She meets Bucky O'Dare, a mortal who becomes a close friend and offers her shelter, Max, a Detective, and Noah, her ex-lover.

In the first half of the book, Nova discovers her past and how she became a vampire. Her memories of her human life start to come back to her. In the second half, she decides to get revenge on people from her past and finds unlikely allies. This is when the plot really moves along and the story comes into its own.

This was a quick and easy book to read. The plot moves along quickly and there are a few twists and turns, especially towards the end, that kept me on my toes! The love triangle is a little predictable, but it's a fun read.

My favourite character is Ruth - she is very powerful, quite sassy and a little terrifying when Nova first meets her. I feel like often she is the one who says what I am thinking!

Nova is an interesting character. She is very impatient - she always rushes into situations and this means she makes some really dumb decisions. She needs to learn to listen to others and take a breather now and then! However, she grows and develops as a character as the book progresses, I really liked seeing her confidence increase. I liked that she tells off the men in the book when they are controlling or try and 'tell her off' (I was cheering for her when she explains that they can't 'lose her' as she was never theirs to begin with!).

There were grammar and punctuation errors throughout the Kindle edition that did spoil my enjoyment a little - for example, a lot of apostrophes and full stops are missing.

It wasn't totally clear when this book is set. I assume it's Victorian era, but the language feels very modern - I'm not sure someone a hundred years ago would say 'bore off', for example. In conversation, the characters have the habit of using character names constantly, which doesn't feel very realistic - I don't know anyone who uses the name of the person they are talking to constantly in conversation!

Overall this is a solid debut novel and a fun vampire novel. Sections of the second half in particular are really well-written, and there is definitely a lot of promise there. This is the first in a trilogy and I will be reading the second in the series, Death Bringer, next.

[Nikki · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can’t recommend this book enough, it’s very different to what I would normally choose to read but I’m so pleased I gave it a chance! This book had me hooked from start to finish I honestly couldn’t put it down. It’s fast passed but has much detail and depth. I have fallen I love with the characters and can’t wait for the next book to follow more of their story.

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutley love this book! Can't wait for the next one. The author can really set a scene and take you through the pages.

[Kerry https://likeherdingcatsblog.wordpress.com Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s always an honour to take part in a blog tour for any author but we have a bit of a special one today as Kelly-Marie is also one of us – a brilliant, supportive and active blogger in our community so this tour is even more special.

I must admit that had this not been a tour for the lovely Kelly-Marie I would probably have passed this up as I love vampiric things on TV but have never felt compelled to read any. That said – boy am I glad I said yes to this!

As this is a first in a series, the novel spent time developing characters and their emotions. Nova wakes up in a strange place with no memory of who, what and where she is. Confused and feeling a hunger for blood, Nova is frightened but determined to discover who she really is. Along the way she meets a series of characters but who is to be trusted and what is the truth about her past? Can Nova find out what happened to her and come to terms with her new life?

The character of Nova has been written with real depth of emotion and it is obvious that Kelly-Marie has put a lot of time and her own emotions into developing her rather than writing a cliched character. Throughout the book, Nova goes thorough a variety of challenges, changes and emotions and they are all written with an element of personal emotion. I adored her journey of self discovery which was very cleverly woven into the plot.

Setting the novel in Victorian London added a real darkness and grit to the setting. I think the novel wouldn’t have worked anywhere near as well in a modern setting. The back streets, dim lighting and various buildings really added an intense atmosphere to the plot.

Overall I’m really impressed with the plot and character development of this novel and I cannot wait to read more about Nova. Highly recommended!

[Calypso Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

his was another one of those books that turned out to be better than I anticipated it to be. I’m unsure whether I’m fed up of vampire fiction or not, I feel like they have been overdone now and barely any of them distract from the cliche. I was in my early teens when the Vampire buzz started and I was obsessed. Pollack has managed to stray away from the cliche and create a vampire fiction novel that I not only enjoyed but craved more of. Nova is a very interesting character and from the beginning, I could tell I definitely liked her. She’s a strong-willed character and a definitely a leader, after her memory returns, so does her determination. I actually began to love Ruth towards the end, I loved her relationship with Nova and I can’t wait to see how it develops in the next novel. Although they are different, I feel like there is a mutual understanding between the two of them and they both want the same outcome regardless of what’s happened previously between them.

Read the full review here - https://whatsinmywonderland.com/2019/...

[Alex Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

If Stuart Macbride and Simon Kernick joined together to write a fantasy novel....you would get Cherry Nova.

Kelly writes with her foot firmly pressed down on the pedal whilst still giving you characters that are all unique and loveable.

Despite the fast pace of this book it still gives you a bit of time to breath after each tragedy.

The world that Kelly has created here is commendable. I don't remember enjoying a book of this nature as much as I have since Stan Nicholls Orcs series.

I look forward to the second addition.

[Ember · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cherry Nova had me hooked from the start and I struggled to put it down. Nova awakens without any memories, she has no idea who or where she is or why there's a dead guy on the floor. As Nova slowly pieces her memories back together and works out who she is, she realises she can no longer run from the past.

A vampire novel with a difference, I'll be eagerly awaiting the second book of The Chronicle of Nova Morgan!

[Lisa Deller · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've not yet finished reading Cherry Nova yet, but have found it really engaging from the very first page. You're drawn into a dark world full of mystery and danger on a journey where Nova is trying to discover who she is and how she came to be where she is. If you love anything 'vampire' you will love this book.

[Tracey Blunden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great concept and interesting start to a legendary tale.,

About night walkers, Witches, Warlocks and your everyday junkies.
Can't wait to read the next book to continue the advantage.

[Teresa Isaacs · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn't put this book down until I had read it from cover to cover. I was captivated! Fabulous read!