Book blurb:

“Smart girls so rarely have any reason to be afraid.”

Nobody thinks Lee Petrova is smart.  Fifteen years old and a beauty queen in nine different states, no one has ever spoken to her long enough to find out.  They have put a hundred crowns on her head and they have buried her in sashes, but they have never called her smart. 
Then comes a day when all those quiet cruelties are drowned out by something very loud.  Something brutal.  Something lethal. 
It’s a new version of the world and Lee finds herself stranded in it.  And when the time comes, she’ll do things nobody ever thought she was capable of to survive.
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Taint is a book about what happens when a smart girl decides not to be afraid anymore.

My book review:

This book sold me on the blurb and the amazing cover and it became one of my favourite reads! I actually found it on #Bookstagram so there is definitely value in marketing your book on that platform, authors (Hint, hint).

There was something about the voice of the main character, Lee – a teenage beauty queen – who is more than who she seems. There was something about her narrative voice that drew me in from the first page. Amidst the beauty, glamour, drama, and competitiveness, there is danger lurking and no one has any clue where it’s going to come from. I enjoyed the dark twists and turns of this story and how our protagonist handles them all. I adored Lee and wanted to keep turning the page to see what happens next. It is one of the most unique stories I have read and it did not disappoint. 5/5 stars!

You can purchase Taint here and follow the author on Instagram – her handle is @judecnicholas