I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy from MC Book Tours. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Not Guilty
by C. Lee McKenzie
Published by Evernight Teen on Oct. 25, 2019
Genres: Young Adult
Pages: 293
Format: ebook
Source: MC Book Tours
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Get Your Copy at: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Smashwords
A blood-smeared knife. One young man’s word against another. A lifetime dream crushed.
The evidence points to Devon Carlyle. He was there when it happened. Everyone knows he had it in for Renzo Costa. And Costa says Devon was the one. In the judge’s rap of a gavel, Devon’s found guilty of assault. The star of the Oceanside High’s basketball team loses his shot at the one thing he’s worked so hard for—the championship game where college scouts could see how good he is.
Now he makes his great shots in Juvenile Hall with kids far different from those that have always been in his life.
Angry? Hell, yes.He’s bent on finding who did the crime. He’s bent on making them pay because he’s Not Guilty.
But can he prove it?
Not Guilty by C. Lee McKenzie was a tale of how one’s life could go wrong in a matter of seconds.
Will the truth ever come out for Devon Carlyle?
Devon Carlyle
Devon Carlyle is our main character and the character we follow along with throughout the book. It’s written in the third person but we are always with him. We see how things have different for him throughout his life from the point his world changed on March 1st to the ending of the story. Devon is a good student and loves basketball. He had a goal in life that was a bit thrown for a loop but Devon made it work even though he has to find justice for himself. Devon is a good person that was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I like Devon a lot as it shows that he made what life has thrown at him the best he could. I also like that he didn’t give up trying to find justice for himself. Devon is a great character and I feel we could be friends in the real world.
The Mystery
The mystery in this story is all about who actually stabbed and left Renzo Costas for dead. It obviously wasn’t the main character but who? That could have been anyone in Mr. Costas’s life. Finding that out was a lot of hard work. Going through the book and trying to figure this out with Devon was a lot of fun. Solving a mystery is always fun with the main character of any kind of mystery novel.
Five Stars
Not Guilty by C. Lee McKenzie is an entertaining tale of what can happen when you least expect it. It makes some people really think about what might happen if they did something different but can’t exactly change the past. Devon learns that the hard way on finding out that he’s being blamed for something that he never did.
Not Guilty is an exceptional book and I am giving this book five stars. I am also recommending it to anyone that likes to read young adult and romantic suspense.
Other Books by C. Lee McKenzie
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Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of Not Guilty by C. Lee McKenzie. Don’t forget to enter the giveaway.
Until the next time,
Happy Reading!
About C. Lee McKenzie
Lee McKenzie has a background in Linguistics and Inter-Cultural Communication, but these days her greatest passion is writing for young readers. She has published five young adult novels: Sliding on the Edge, The Princess of Las Pulgas, Double Negative, and Sudden Secrets. Not Guilty is her most recent one.
Sometimes she likes to jump into the world of the fantastic and when she does, she writes for the middle-grade reader. Some Very Messy Medieval Magick is the third book in the time-travel adventures of Pete and Weasel, with Alligators Overhead and The Great Time Lock Disaster being the first two. Sign of the Green Dragon, a stand-alone, takes the reader into ancient Chinese dragon myths and a quest for treasure.
When she’s not writing she’s hiking or traveling or practicing yoga or asking a lot of questions about things she still doesn’t understand.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 2019 Goodreads Reading Challenge
- 2019 New Release Challenge
Thank you so much for hosting me here today, and for liking Not Guilty to give it 5 stars. That means a lot.
I’m alway intrigued by how life can switch in an instant: bad to good, good to bad. It only takes one choice, one change in where you decide to go or not go that can alter your future. I enjoyed writing about that in this book.
You are welcome. I really enjoyed the story and the characters.
Great post. Thanks so much for being a part of Lee’s tour.
Not guilty sounds like a good read. I hope to read it soon.
Looks like an interesting read!
Great review . I cant wait to read it!