My Review of Dead Close to Reality by Jennifer Bull

My reading is getting ahead of my blogging these days! That is kind of a good thing for me--but not so much for people who read this blog to look for recommendations. I will try to get caught up as quickly as possible because I've read some great books recently, and I want to share them with you.
A few weeks ago, I finished Dead Close to Reality by Jennifer Bull. This is another book I found through the Kindle Scout program. If you haven't checked it out yet, I suggest you do. If the books you nominate are selected for publication, you get them for free, but a lot of the authors will offer their books for free or at 99 cents as a thank you for nominating them, so I've gotten a lot of great reading material from checking out this program. And here's the thing about these particular indie authors: they're good writers! I mean, if you're going to go through all of the trouble to put your book in Kindle Scout and promote it, etc., you'd better have a pretty good piece of writing. I have not been disappointed in any of the books I've found through Kindle Scout despite the fact that most of them were not selected for publication through Kindle Press. Dead Close to Reality is another book I highly recommend. You can check out the Kindle Scout program here.
Cora is a student at the secretive Sandman Academy, and she has a lucrative internship beta playing a virtual reality game. However, when her classmates start turning up dead, Cora quickly realizes the deaths are linked to the company she works for.  Unable to trust anyone, including her uncle who happens to be a detective in the police department, she does her best to secure evidence showing the company is behind the deaths, until she finds the game is no longer her virtual reality--it's her actual reality. She must find a way to escape the clutches of the company--and the game--before she dies for real. (Then it's really GAME OVER!--Sorry, couldn't resist!)

Reality gaming just got real!

First of all, I thought this book was extremely creative. I am not a gamer, but I do own a VR headset. The way that Bull describes the game makes me want to jump right in and play alongside Cora.  I really hope this is our future because it would be awesome (minus the real death part!)
There were a lot of surprises in this story--one extremely happy one I won't give away. There were plot twists I didn't really see coming. I could tell a huge amount of planning went into crafting a story that would be entertaining and keep the pages turning.
The only thing that was a bit off-putting was that Cora ended up getting herself into a lot more trouble than she should have all because she refused to listen to anyone else. There were several times she could have been safe at home if she just would have listened to her friends and colleagues. While this was a little annoying, she's a college student, and it's understandable that she may have felt invincible as a lot of teens do.
This isn't my usual genre, but I still really enjoyed it. If you like gaming, mysteries, romance, or really anything creative and unusual, then you should check this one out.  I snagged it at a deal price of 99 cents and you can, too, if you hurry! Find it here. Let me know what you think!