GREAT NEWS! Barbara has added a paperback to the giveaway so now there are two chances to win. Everyone already entered will be eligible for this too.
Chosen
The Amish Bloodsucker Trilogy #1
by Barbara Ellen Brink
I love the cover art for this book. I just knew it was going to be a fun read, and it was! I mean, Amish blood sucking vampires, now you know that’s going to be fun!
Jael is The Chosen One. She is descended from a long line of slayers. It’s her duty to save the Loon Lake Amish Community, which has been infiltrated by Bishop and his pack of vampires. He wants her dead before her 16th birthday, when she’ll come into her full slayer abilities.
Her parents, Miriam and Jesse, were forced to leave Minnesota when Miriam discovered she was pregnant. They knew she was carrying the next Chosen One and have been running ever since. Always moving, staying isolated, never in one place too long.
Jael never understood why they lived so far away from everyone, why she was never allowed to have friends over.
Jesse, Jael’s father, has trained her in martial arts and slaying with stakes for as long as she can remember. It’s only recently that she even knew she was Amish and The Chosen.
With the help of her uncle Seth, Jael goes on her first hunt.
“Well don’t just sit there….. We have vamps to stake.”
A slow smile turned up his lips and he climbed out too.
Her dad had fashioned her a leather tool belt with enough loops to hold six stakes, two on each side and two in the back. She slipped it on around her waist and filled every loop with a pointy, curved stake. Inside the top of each of her boots she slipped a four-inch blade. She picked up the crossbow. It this isn’t enough firepower……
Could you picture her doing this in a long dress, apron and prayer cap. That would be a hindrance for sure! Luckily her parents don’t make her wear traditional Amish garb.
A quirky thing about The Chosen. They are all born with six toes on one foot. Jael’s parents had hers removed as an infant to disguise who she was. When the vamps are near, her phantom toe gives her a painful warning. This comes in useful.
Brianna is Jael’s best friend and couldn’t be more different.
If lives were fairy tales, Brianna would reign supreme as a Walt Disney princess, while Jael would live in the darker Grimm Brother’s version where survival meant slaying dragons on a daily basis.
There are rumors going around at school that Jael lives in a commune and is a sister wife. Brianna has seen her bruises and believes she is being abused. A time will come when Jael will have to tell her the truth. But not yet.
Shadow is the “bad boy” personified. The one all mothers warn their daughters about, with a piercing gaze, lanky good looks and a mouth full of sarcasm. He has an unusual effect on Jael. Not a romantic one, instead his proximity makes her nauseous. It appears there is more to Shadow than meets the eye.
Then there’s Bruno, a huge wolf hound and loyal companion of Jael’s. They seem to have a special connection. She can get him to do some really fun tricks. He’s also a great deterrent considering he’s the size of a small horse.
Jael’s 16th birthday is coming soon and the vampires are searching high and low for her. Thet need her dead before she comes into her full slayer abilities, while Jael has no clue what the powers will be. She is going to need all the help she can get if she’s going to be ready to go after Bishop and his bloodsuckers.
I really like Jael. Barbara was able to make her a typical teen, with everyday worries and baggage, and also with a secret life as a vampire slayer, and made it believeable and really fun.
The bloodsuckers are nasty, Jael is double tough, her family is fiercely devoted and her friends are loyal.
There are some tender moments in this story and a whole lot of humor. You’d expect that with the title Amish Bloodsuckers! It’s all in good fun, but there is some serious slaying too! Jael didn’t go through all of that training for nothing. I felt some Buffy and Little Red Riding Hood in this story.
Chosen is well written, fast-paced and easy to follow. I like how Barbara was able to keep it simple with so much going on. It could have been complicated, but she feeds you the story in bites that are easy to chew. I’m hungry for more.
A whole lot of fun!
I’ve just finished reading Shunned – Book Two and will be telling you about it soon. And more news! Book Three is coming very soon.
Excerpt from CHOSEN:
“Jael?” Brianna was watching her with a puzzled expression on her face. “Are you all right? You seem sort of out-of-it.” She closed her locker, her history book in the crook of her arm.
“Yeah, just tired. Up late last night,” Jael said, dropping her book bag in the bottom of her locker and sliding out the book she needed for first class – Trigonometry. Ick. She’d rather smell a rotting corpse on a warm night than solve math problems.
“Okay…well… I’ll see you later, right?” She backed up a couple of steps, holding her gaze as though Jael would disappear again as soon as she let her out of her sight.
“Sure.”
Brianna smiled, then turned and hurried down the hall toward Mr. Stanton’s history class. Jael watched her go, feeling as though she was losing the only real friend she’d ever had, and there was nothing she could do about it. She saw Marti stop Brianna outside the history classroom to say something and then they both laughed and went into class together.
Jael slammed her locker shut and twisted the combination lock. She couldn’t go on this way much longer. Kicking vampire butts at night and pretending to be an average girl during the day was just taking too much out of her. She wasn’t cut out to live a double life. She wanted to be normal. If only she could be like Brianna, have parents that were nerdy scientists, a baby brother who was already taking college classes cause he tested out of third grade and was considered a genius. Okay, maybe Brianna’s family wasn’t that “normal” but still.
“Hey, Jael,” a male voice whispered close to her ear.
She twisted around and was a tenth of a second from crushing the guy’s windpipe with the heel of her hand when she realized it was just Lyle standing there. She dropped her arms and blew out a confused breath.
“You scared me,” she lied, a flimsy excuse for cover.
“Sorry.” He backed up a step, as though sensing his near demise. “Just wanted to see if you were coming to the exhibition game against the Redville Scorpions tonight. Some of us are going out afterwards for burgers. Thought you might like to come along. Hang out. Have some fun.” He narrowed his eyes. “You live way out in the desert somewhere, don’t you? Like in a commune or something?”
“What?”
“It’s cool. I don’t mind.” He smiled, and stepped closer, leaning in against the lockers with one hand. A wave of minty fresh breath wafted over her. He was always sucking on those Altoids. Curiously strong indeed.
“Good to know,” she said, basking in the warmth of his gaze. The blonde basketball star could believe she lived in a cave in Afghanistan if he wanted to, as long as he looked at her like that.
“So…?” He leaned closer, pinning her against the lockers with the heat of his eyes and another wave of peppermint.
She smiled back. “I was thinking about coming to the game.”
“Cool. I’ll see you tonight then,” he said, and pushed off from the locker. He winked and walked away to join a group of guys waiting at the end of the hall.
Her arms and legs felt paralyzed as though she’d been shot with a tranquilizer dart. At least how she imagined it would feel to be shot with a tranquilizer dart. She forced herself to move, to look away from the group of guys and walk in the opposite direction. She couldn’t let Lyle know that he set her heart racing just by speaking to her and that her skin tingled with electricity at his proximity. He would think she was some crazy, stalker girl – someone to avoid, not date.
The bell rang as she slowly moved toward the trigonometry room. Her legs refused to hurry, regardless of being tardy. She paused outside the door, listening to the sound of voices and laughter and scraping chairs as kids settled down for class. Mr. Winchester’s gruffy baritone rang out calling for attention.
Jael suddenly realized the predicament she’d shoved herself into. Since when had she ever thought about going to a game, much less believe her parents would allow her to be out of their sight that long? She blew out a frustrated breath. Since a hot guy asked her out on a date–that’s when. She had to get into town for the game tonight. It was her only chance to be normal. If it were up to her parents and Uncle Seth, the only socializing she’d ever do would be with undead creatures in the dark of night.
This was a once in a lifetime. She never thought Lyle would give her the time of day much less invite her out for burgers. Okay, maybe it wasn’t a real date; just a group thing. But it was a start.
Barabara has given me one e-book of Chosen to giveaway!
Bonus! Barbara is also giving away a paperback copy! For those who have already enterewd, you’re eligible to win this also!
It’s east to enter. Just leave your email address and answer this question: “What would you use to kill an Amish vampire?”
Giveaway ends November 20th.
Book Description
Chosen (Book One)
The Amish Bloodsuckers Trilogy
With tongue firmly in cheek and genuine Amish-made stakes at hand, The Amish Bloodsucker Trilogy sets off like a bat in the belfry. Jael the vampire slayer is ready to kick some serious bloodsucker butt. Seriously.
Move over Buffy – there’s a new slayer in town! Raised in the desert of Nevada, and destined for the Minnesota Loon Lake Amish Community, Jael Shetler is the Chosen One.
Trained by her uncle and father in twenty-one different forms of hand-to-hand combat – she also throws a knife with the speed of a bullet, and is accurate to within two centimeters of a cold, dead heart with her crossbow – she is a bloodsucker’s worst nightmare.
Her parents, forced to leave their plain and simple upbringing to escape the clutches of the new Bishop – an ancient and powerful vampire with plans to use the Amish Community as his own personal Jamba Juice – raise and train their daughter to continue the fight begun thousands of years earlier by another Jael, and to fulfill the prophecy in the Book of the Shunned.
Soon Jael is turning sweet sixteen and then … all hell will break loose.
Barbara Ellen Brink is a multi-published author of mystery and suspense. She lives with her husband and their two mutts in the great state of Minnesota where mosquitoes are the only bloodsuckers she’s actually ever seen. This is Barbara’s first foray into the world of Amish and Vampires – both of which scare her – but it isn’t the last. The 2nd book in The Amish Bloodsuckers Trilogy – SHUNNED – is now available. The 3rd book – RECKONING – will be available for Thanksgiving!
CHOSEN is available now in kindle and paperback until Dec 31st and then will be available in all ebook formats as well.
Purchase CHOSEN here:
Createspace paperback https://www.createspace.com/4032836
Amazon kindle/paperback http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009JYT3B0
Purchase SHUNNED here:
Createspace paperback https://www.createspace.com/4041332
Amazon kindle/paperback http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009VQIXF8
Barnes & Noble http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/shunned-barbara-ellen-brink/1113600422?ean=2940015877427
Author Website/blog: http://www.barbaraellenbrink.com
Amish Bloodsuckers website: http://www.amishvampireslayer.moonfruit.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/BarbaraEllenBrink
Twitter: BarbaraEBrink
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