Posts Tagged ‘dystopian’

Between Two Evils by D. L. Orton ~ Review and Giveaway

Posted: April 17, 2020 in Action/Adventure, Dystopian, giveaways, Romance
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Crossing in Time
Between Two Evils Book 1
by D.L. Orton
Genre: Action-Adventure, Dystopian, Time Travel, Love Story
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My Review

In the beginning…. Isabel and Diego, ill-fated lovers, find each other again. The two lovers are separated once more when a strange artifact crashes in the city, destroying buildings and killing many. Reunited again, they have no idea their love is what will save the world.

I’m not much into time travel, but this book is so much more and I’m rethinking that now. There’s romance, science fiction, and suspense. I easily cast aside reality and lost myself in the story of Isabel and Diego. Their love for each other is powerful and I very much wanted a happy ending for them. But time isn’t set in stone, and their future and that of Mankind’s is uncertain.

Many people believe time travel will become possible. I’m not so sure about that. And not sure we should do so if it is does become possible. This story is about having no choice. A sweeping romance, filled with possibilities, heartache, suspense, and hope.

The chapters are short, keeping the reading pace fast. And I enjoyed the illustrations at the beginning of each one as they connect with the events. Even the seashell in the spelling of the title on the cover has a hidden meaning.

The beginning swiftly pulls you in. The plot deepens and the characters emerge. And as you draw near to the conclusion, you’re gripped in a vise of suspense that brings tears to your eyes, fearing and hoping for what comes last.

5 Stars

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The past isn’t over, it’s an opening. The future isn’t hidden, it’s a trap.
If she ever wants to see him again, she’ll have to take the risk…
Publishers Weekly Starred Review: “Funny, Romantic & Harrowing!”
When offered a one-way trip to the past, Iz sacrifices everything for a chance to change her dystopian future—and see her murdered lover one last time.
After a perilous journey through a black hole, she wakes up on a tropical beach, buck naked and mortally wounded—but twenty years younger! With only hours to live, she must convince an enraptured but skeptical twenty-something guy to fix their future relationship and thereby save the planet (no one is quite sure why.)
But it’s easier said than done, as success means losing him to a brainy, smart-mouthed bombshell (her younger self), and that’s a heartbreaker, save the world or not.
Across the infinite expanse of space and time, love endures…
(Unfortunately, it’s not going to be enough.)
FALL INTO THIS EDGY, action-packed, darkly comedic, dystopian love story, and be prepared to encounter a finicky time machine, a mysterious seashell, and a very clever dog (some sex, some swearing, some violence, but no vampires and absolutely no ditzes.)
Content Warning!
This book contains material that may be disturbing to some, and in movie form, would be rated NC-17 for strong language, nudity, sexual situations, and violence (including attempted sexual assault, abduction, intense danger, miscarriage, confinement, a pandemic, religious fanaticism (Christian), government malevolence, and death).
Reader discretion is advised.
**Get it FREE!! **
Book Trailer
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Lost Time
Between Two Evils Book 2
From the award-winning author D. L. ORTON comes book two in the Between Two Evils Series…
If someone took everything you live for, how far would you go to get it back?
When a faulty time machine deposits Diego at the top of a towering evergreen, he knows he’s in the wrong place—but has no idea he’s also in the wrong time. Naked and shivering in the primeval forest, he attempts to climb down—but slips, whacks his head on a branch, and tumbles into oblivion.
He awakens inside a darkened room, crippled and disheartened, and must come to grips with the realization that he is marooned in a bleak alternate future. In this universe, what remains of the human race is trapped inside a handful of aging biodomes. With his mission failed, his world destroyed, and the one woman he loves dead, he can find no reason to go on living.
Except Lani, the emotionally scarred doctor who must put Diego’s broken body back together, refuses to let him die, and as Diego heals, their relationship becomes… complicated. He struggles to let go of the past but is unable to get Isabel out of his head—or his heart. Just when it seems he may be able to find some measure of happiness in a world teetering on the edge of extinction…
Another note arrives from his past: Isabel is alive—but not for long. Find the time machine, and go home before it’s too late…
~ Hoffer Book Award Grand Prize shortlist
~ Colorado Book Award finalist
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Dead Time
Between Two Evils Book 3
If someone took everything you live for, how far would you go to get it back?
From award-winning author D. L. ORTON comes book three in the Between Two Evils series…
Shannon fights to stay alive inside a rogue biodome and discovers something totally unexpected… Peter. Lani is forced into the role of the reluctant heroine but rediscovers her street-kid mojo and sets out to find everything she’s lost. Diego receives another dirty sock (and a note) from the poorly aimed fireball express: “The window between universes is closing.” If Diego has any hope of getting back to Iz, he must get to the Magic Kingdom and power up the time machine before it’s too late.
What could possibly go wrong?
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DL ORTON, THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR of the BETWEEN TWO EVILS series, lives in the foothills of the Rockies where she and her husband are raising three boys, a golden retriever, two Siberian cats, and an extremely long-lived Triops. ?￰ﾟﾏﾽ‍♂️
In her spare time, she’s building a time machine so that someone can go back and do the laundry.
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Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!

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Scorpion by Jeff Sweat ~ Cover Reveal and Giveaway

Posted: February 10, 2020 in Cover Reveal, Dystopian, giveaways, YA
Tags: , , ,
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Today Jeff Sweat and Rockstar Book Tours
are revealing the cover and an exclusive content for SCORPION, the sequel to
his YA Dystopian, MAYFLY which releases June 23, 2020! Check out the awesome
cover and enter to win an ARC!
On to the reveal! 
 
 
Title: SCORPION
(Mayfly #2)
Author: Jeff Sweat
Pub. Date: June 23, 2020
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends
Formats: Hardcover, eBook
Pages: 432
Find it:  Amazon, Kindle, B&N, iBooks,
Kobo, TBD, Goodreads
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In Scorpion, the sequel to Jeff Sweat’s
YA futuristic thriller Mayfly, Jemma, Lady, and Pico all left the Holy
Wood to seek answers to the End, and when they find the Old Guys—the only
adults to have survived the original wipeout of everyone over the age of
seventeen—they think they’ve found help at last.
But there’s a lot the Old Guys aren’t telling
them. In fact, some of them don’t seem interested in solving the End at all and
just want Jemma and her friends to leave. Meanwhile, war is brewing among the
tribes of the rest of the Children. Jemma’s old home has fallen into disorder,
and is far from prepared for battle. It won’t be long before the fighting
reaches Jemma and the Old Guys, if they even live to see it.
Haven’t started the series yet? Grab book 1, MAYFLY now!
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Exclusive Content!

Prologue: The Ice Cream Man Massacre
Little Man tries to wait for the screaming to stop before he
enters the battlefield, but he can’t help himself.
The ice cream carts are tossed carelessly around the outside
of the bank that used to be Ice Cream Men’s Hydin Hole, as if giant hands had
been digging for toys. The Ice Cream Men are lying on the ground, just bodies
now. It’s a horrible, bloody mess, carried out by monsters. Little Man hasn’t
been so proud of himself since the first time he made a Giant.
One of those Giants stands next to him, breathing hard and
splattered in blood. Patrick. He used to be one of Little Man’s enemies in the
Cluster, but now he’s as loyal as he is mean. He’s also frozen in time by the
Making that will keep him from dying young, and that stimulates extra growth.
Seeing him plowing through the Ice Cream Men as if they weren’t there? That’s a
good day.
Stanford, his captain and Head of the Jocks, makes his way
through the wreckage, not looking down at the bodies at his feet. “A hundred
down on their side, Little Man,” Stanford says.
“And us?” he says. Not that he cares. He wishes he had been
able to bring the Last Lifers with him to jump in front of the Ice Cream Men’s
bullets, but the Cluster said it would be too much for this battle. They’re
still stung by the loss to the Kingdom only weeks ago. Little Man wasn’t
leading that one, but the Chosen has been coming to rescue him. The blame got
so intense that Little Man had to kill one of the captains of that attack to
shut them up.
“Six.” Little Man smiles.
The Cluster, the council that thinks it still runs the
Chosen, warned him not to do this. The Ice Cream Men were too important. They
provided too much food to the Chosen. What they really meant is they brought
all the delicacies and the pills the Cluster loves.
“How many guns?” Little Man says.
“Fifty.”
“There should be more.” Still, the Cluster will be happy. It
will give Little Man all he needs to launch the real war against the
Angelenos—and the Kingdom.
“We have some survivors inside the bank,” Stanford says.
“Start questioning them,” Little Man says. He doesn’t want
to kill them all, not yet. He wanted more weapons to make sure his war goes his
way. Everyone knows the Ice Cream Men held all their extra weapons and riches
in safe spots throughout Ell Aye, places they called Hydin Holes. It would only
take a few living victims to flush those out.
Blood coats the glass wall of the bank next to him. He steps
out gingerly among the bodies. He pushes down his revulsion. He doesn’t mind
this. He knows he’s looking at the beginnings of the Battle of Ell Aye.
The boys and girls lying on the ground are mostly dead. When
they’re not, he motions to Patrick, who casually stabs them with his lance.
He steps over a body—and sees the body stir. He looks down,
calling for Patrick. The boy beneath him rolls over, and Pico starts. He’s
never seen this boy before—but he has. This is the Ice Cream Man he saw in a
vision in the Haze, the one who traded with Jemma and Pico and Lady.
And he really wants to know where Jemma and Pico and Lady
are.
“Let’s keep this one breathing for now,” he says to Patrick.
Little Man squats next to the boy and drips water down his
throat. Gently. “It’s okay,” he says. “It’s all gonna be okay.”
“Doubt it,” the Ice Cream Man says. He’s right. Looks like
he’s been shot in the gut and the leg.
“How you feeling?” Little Man says. “Bet you’re a little
sore, huh?”
“You some kind of nurse?”
“Yeah. I’m a nurse,” Little Man says. Warm.
The Ice Cream Man blinks. He tries to focus on Little Man,
but his attention falls to Little Man’s arm, to the tattooed bars on the inside
of his wrist. He’s thinking what they all think: Three kills, on a kid who is
this small and this young?
The boy’s voice comes out as a croak. “You Little Man,” he
says.
Tommy is surprised, really surprised. “Normally people don’t
figure that out,” he says. “I’m easy to look past.” He’s usually just little
Tommy, small and nine and blond. Smart but harmless.
“I don’t look . . .” The Ice Cream Man stops, and forgets
what he was going to say. Maybe it’s the blood seeping out of his thigh.
Someone has tied it off in a tourniquet. “You come for our guns,” the Ice Cream
Man says.
Little Man nods. “Little Man meets the Ice Cream Man,” he
says. “You’re smart. I like you.”
“You a tiny little weird little dick,” the boy says.
“Well, now I like you less,” Little Man says.
How much time does he have before the Ice Cream Man bleeds
out? Five minutes? He has to get him talking.
“We got friends in common,” Little Man says. “The kids from
the Holy Wood.”
The Ice Cream Man seems to remember them. “Jemma . . . ?”
“I want to know where they went,” Little Man says.
“You gon kill em?”
Little Man shrugs. “I mean . . . maybe? But they know
something I wanna know. So I would probably want to talk to them first. Like .
. . this.” And he pushes his thumb into the Ice Cream Man’s stomach.
The kid can’t even scream, it hurts that much. The kid just
gasps until Little Man stops pushing. Little Man says, “They know things about
the End, I think, things that I should have known first. And Jemma can see
things.” He hates that she can see things. It was supposed to just be Little
Man.
“I ain’t gonna tell—”
Little Man moves his thumb back to his stomach. “I can make
your End as painful as you like.”
“She’s gon find the Old Guys,” the Ice Cream Man says,
seeming to want to pull the words back in. Everyone betrays their friends,
Little Man thinks.
“The Old Guys?” Little Man tries to be gentle again, but it
doesn’t come as naturally this time. He wants to know too much.
“She gon find all the answers there,” the Ice Cream Man
says. “They was there fore the End. They knows the way back. Don’t you knows
the stories?”
“I didn’t,” Tommy says, and an angry flush creeps up over
the pink skin. “Where do they live?”
“Fine. Don hurt me none. Stories say they lives in the Dead
Lands,” the Ice Cream Man says. “That’s a good place for you.”
“Let’s talk more about that,” Little Man says. “Let me get
you more water.” Trying to keep him alive just a few minutes longer.
When he turns back, something looks different. The boy has
shifted. Trying to get away that close to dead? Tommy’s impressed despite
himself.
Little Man crouches down. “Here’s your water,” he says.
“You believe in Man Jesus?” the Ice Cream Man says.
Little Man scowls. “I only believe in me,” he says. Then he
notices the egg.
All of the Ice Cream Men carry them, Long Gone bombs to
protect their carts from thieves, just like him. Tommy thought his soldiers had
collected all of them, but there’s an egg in the Ice Cream Man’s trembling
hand, fingers twitching under a pulled-out pin, just barely holding down the
lever that will release and kill them all.
The Ice Cream Man gathers himself up and throws the egg as
far as he can. Not much of a throw. Not much. But it drops at the feet of the
clump of Chosen ten feet away.
“Shit,” Little Man says. He sees the blur of a huge body in
front of him, feels a hand punch him in the chest, feels himself flying
backward through the air.
Three, two— He doesn’t hear the blast, just sees the white
swallowing them all. He has the most ridiculous thought: Hello, Man Jesus.
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About Jeff Sweat:

 

Jeff Sweat has made a living from words his
entire career, starting out as an award-winning tech journalist for
InformationWeek magazine and moving into marketing.
He led the content marketing team for Yahoo and
pioneered its use of social media. He directed PR for two of the top
advertising agencies in the country, Deutsch LA and 72andSunny. He now runs his
own Los Angeles–based PR and marketing agency, Mister Sweat.
He grew up in Idaho as the middle of eight
children—seven boys and one girl—and attended Columbia University in New York.
Jeff lives in a big blue house in Los Angeles with his wife Sunny and their
three kids, two cats, and a racing greyhound.
He loves to travel and writes everywhere he
goes, even when there’s not a desk. He likes karaoke, motorcycles and
carpentry. He was once shot in the head with a nail gun, which was not a big of
a deal as it sounds. But it still hurt like crazy.Website | Twitter | Instagram | Amazon Author Page | Goodreads

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For a list of my reviews go HERE.

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Wild Horse by Kyle Richardson ~ Excerpt and Giveaway

Posted: August 6, 2019 in Dystopian, giveaways, YA
Tags: , , , ,
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WILD HORSE (a novelette) by Kyle Richardson

EBOOK RELEASE DATE: 7/30/19

GENRE: Dystopian, Superhero, YA, Novelette

45998645. sy475

Synopsis

Grady has found a crack in the wall—a crack to the outside world. But all he knows about life outside the compound comes from books, magazines, and a photograph of a creature that no longer exists. Things change when he meets a girl with raspberry-yellow hair, and a secret that could lead them to a world beyond the walls. A world where their abilities could change everything … or lead them both to ruin.

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Enjoy this peek inside

Grady finds it in the spring, when the leaves are sprouting from the trees in tiny pink-green buds. There are no trees in the courtyard, there’s only dirt and rocks and other kids that look like Grady—their heads shaven, their clothes loose and gray, the skin under their eyes a creamy blue and red. But Grady has found a crack in the wall, a crack that wasn’t there before—a crack that isn’t supposed to be. Whenever the guards aren’t looking, he leans his face against the wall and peers through the crack at the world outside. He does this with his left eye first. Always his left eye first. The gap is so tiny it’s like squinting through a nostril. But in that nostril there’s the sky, purple as a bruise, and beneath it there are scrawny trees with tiny pink-green buds. Today the trees bend and sway, like they know Grady’s watching. Like they’re dancing just for him. And his cracked lips spread until he’s smiling, big and dumb.

This is when he hears the voice. “What’re you looking at?” The voice comes from behind him, small and smooth and wild, like the picture of the horse taped to the ceiling above his cot. It knocks something loose in him, something that tumbles free, something that falls but doesn’t seem to ever land. Whatever it is, it just keeps on falling, lost somewhere inside him. Grady frowns and squirms, but the stupid feeling doesn’t quit. “Go away,” he tells the voice. He doesn’t bother to turn. “I’m looking at spring,” he adds, “but you wouldn’t know what that is.”

The voice that’s like a wild horse, it tells him, “I do too know what spring is. And I know that you’re mean and I don’t like you.” Then the voice is gone, and a guard walks by, and Grady looks away from the wall as if the crack isn’t there at all. And stomping away from him straight across the courtyard, like she’s trying to knock the world off orbit with the weight of her footsteps alone, is a skinny girl with loose gray clothes and raspberry-yellow hair.

Grady raises his eyebrows. Whatever that thing is inside him, it tumbles even faster.

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Kyle lives in the suburban wilds of Canada with his adorable wife, their rambunctious son, and their adventurous daughter. He writes about shapeshifters, superheroes, and the occasional clockwork beast, moonlights as an editor at Meerkat Press, and has a terrible habit of saying the wrong thing at the most inopportune moments. His short fiction has appeared in places such as Love Hurts: A Speculative Fiction Anthology and Daily Science Fiction.

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For a list of my reviews go HERE.

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Tour Grand Finale and Giveaway ~ The Thirteenth Guardian

Posted: June 22, 2019 in apocalypse, Dystopian, giveaways, thriller
Tags: , , ,
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On Tour with Prism Book Tours

Book Tour Grand Finale for

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The Thirteenth Guardian

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By K.M. Lewis

***For a limited time, grab this on sale for $0.99
(will go up to full price three weeks after release)!***

We hope you enjoyed the tour! If you missed any of the stops
you’ll find snippets, as well as the link to each full post, below:

Launch – Author Interview

What do you hope readers take with them after they’ve read it?

The book is a fictional work. So my primary hope is that readers just enjoy reading it and connect with the story and the characters that start to develop in Book 1. Book 2 and 3 really get into the characters more, so readers can understand why they are who they are and how that literally changes the world. I wrote the book really fast, it just poured out non-stop. Sometimes, I would stand up and stare back at the page that I just wrote and wonder where all this stuff was coming from. Its a bit of a daring book, so I think people will either hate it or really like it. For those who really like it, I hope it strikes a cord inside them, like it did for me when I finished writing the book.

An Indie Adventure – Excerpt

Remi had always dreamed that he would do meaningful work in his life. His parents repeatedly told him that he had a great destiny ahead of him and that one day he would do amazing things. Remi believed that perhaps one day he would become a senator or congressman and would change the lives of millions of people. The fact that at twenty-one, he was now in a room with the President of the United States, and his chief of staff, working on a plan to keep the United States government functional, left him with mixed feelings. It was awe inspiring on the one hand, but on the other, the circumstances around which it was happening were terrifying.

Splashes of Joy – Excerpt

Eli stared at the floor then looked back up to his new friends, who sat in a semi-circle, facing him. “I have a lot I need to tell you.”

Eli described his trip to get to Innsbruck and how close he was to never finding Florianne. He told them about the Vespa ride up the mountainside and his companion, Urich. He told them about finally finding Florianne’s estate and spending the last two days, getting the full history of Florianne, her family, the Guardians, and their secret organization.

The Magic Of Wor(l)ds – Excerpt

Eli watched as the group of three men very meticulously opened the crate and pulled out a smaller box made of a strange, reddish brown wood. The box looked to be hundreds of years old. They opened it and unrolled a parchment that had peculiar writing on it. Eli craned his neck in an effort to read what was on it, but it was in a dialect he was not familiar with.

Mel’s Shelves – Review

“This book is intense! There are lots of characters to meet and I was hoping I would be able to keep them all straight. It starts fast as the world is undergoing drastic changes and it never let up. There is a small group of people that are important and one woman has the task of bringing them all together. It takes a while to find out why and what they are expected to do. . . . I look forward to reading more of this series and would recommend it to anyone that enjoys a dystopian, apocalyptic thriller!”

Bookworm Lisa – Excerpt

Something about standing in the shadow of the Archangel Michael this evening caused Eli to stop and stare at the statue. He noticed, for the first time, that Archangel Michael appeared to have just unsheathed his sword—as if the time for that final battle, prophesied in the Bible, had finally arrived. Eli observed that Michael had a calmness etched on his face that evoked both sadness and resolve.

I’m All About Books – Excerpt

“Remi, where have you been?” The voice on the other end of the line was frantic. “We’ve been trying to reach you for the last half an hour.” It was one of his colleagues that was working on the Emergency Bill with him.

“Sorry, Brooke. I planned to take a shower and lay down to rest for thirty minutes before I came right back in. I must have been completely exhausted. I’m getting up. I’ll be in the office in an hour or so.”

“No. You’ll be here sooner. . . “

Meagan Davenport – Spotlight

Wishful Endings – Excerpt

A couple of seconds later, the computer screen blinked and cleanly displayed a data extract. Neatly arranged on the monitor was a list of eight names, along with contact information which was generally not publicly available—home address, mobile phone number, mobile phone password, email address, and last known GPS location—with longitude, latitude, and elevation.

“Please print that out and bring it to me in the study. I have to get in touch with these people right away.” Florianne turned around and hurried off with deliberate purpose to the adjoining room.

Life as Leels – Review

“I have to admit right off the bat that this was an anxiety inducing, scary read for me personally. Apocalyptic, end of the world, death type things have a way of throwing me into an anxiety attack and make me incredibly fearful and that is exactly what this book did.”

Hearts & Scribbles – Excerpt

Her husband couldn’t help but notice the expression of pain and despair in her eyes. A year ago, she had told him about a construction project that she had commissioned in the Rocky Mountains. They were building a bunker that they could use in the event of an emergency. He felt blessed that they had the means to ensure their family’s safety but gave it little thought beyond that conversation. Kathy had been very careful not to give her husband the impression that there was a looming concern.

By The Book – Excerpt

Mariko walked down the dimly lit passageway that opened up into a well-appointed bunker. The lights automatically came on when she and her three daughters walked in. The space was designed like an apartment with couches, beds, a kitchen—everything that one would need over a period of several months. In the middle of the kitchen was a black phone.

Locks, Hooks and Books – Review

“I believe many readers would enjoy this book, especially those like to read apocalyptic tales. I recommend it. I would love to see what the author comes up with in their next release.”

Reading On The Edge – Excerpt

“What is going on, Soki?” Mariko cried hysterically as soon as her husband picked up. “We are locked in some bunker in the middle of nowhere. I think we are in China.”

“Mariko, please listen to me…” General Soki tried to project as much calm as he could muster. “I have spent the last year building the bunker you are in. The world is about to change, my love, and I fear that Japan might not make it.

Don’t forget to enter the giveaway at the end of this post, if you haven’t already…

The Thirteenth Guardian
(The Thirteenth Guardian #1)
By K.M. Lewis
Apocalyptic, Dystopian, Thriller
Paperback & ebook, 307 Pages
June 11th 2019

DA VINCI’S SECRET PALES. Michelangelo concealed an explosive truth in his famous Creation of Adam fresco in the Sistine Chapel. Eve did not cause the fall of man. She carried a far more devastating secret for millennia—one that will change the world forever.

As the modern-day world suffers the cataclysmic effects of the “Plagues of Egypt,” Avery Fitzgerald, a statuesque Astrophysics major at Stanford, discovers that she is mysteriously bound to five strangers by an extremely rare condition that foremost medical experts cannot explain. Thrust into extraordinary circumstances, they race against time to stay alive as they are pursued by an age-old adversary and the world around them collapses into annihilation. Under sacred oath, The Guardians—a far more archaic and enigmatic secret society than the Freemasons, Templars, and the Priory—protect Avery as she embarks on a daring quest that only legends of old have been on before. Avery must come to terms with the shocking realization that the blood of an ancient queen flows through her veins and that the fate of the world now rests on her shoulders.

The Thirteenth Guardian is Book One of a daring new Trilogy that will shake you to your core.

Goodreads│Amazon│Barnes & Noble

About the Author

K.M. Lewis has lived in multiple countries around the world and speaks several languages. Lewis holds a graduate degree from one of the Universities featured in his book. When he is not writing, Lewis doubles as a management consultant, with clients in just about every continent. He does much of his writing while on long flights and at farflung airports around the globe. He currently resides on the East Coast of the United States with his family.

Website│Goodreads│Facebook│Twitter│Instagram

Tour Giveaway

Two winners will receive an ebook of THE THIRTEENTH GUARDIAN
Ends June 26, 2019

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For a list of my reviews go HERE.

For a list of free eBooks updated daily go HERE

To see all of my giveaways go HERE

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Darkness Falls by A.E. Faulkner ~ Excerpt and Giveaway

Posted: April 3, 2019 in Dystopian, giveaways, YA
Tags: , ,
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Darkness Falls
Nature’s Fury #1
by AE Faulkner
Genre: YA Dystopian
 
As nature tires of human destruction, two sisters must face a changing
environment that stands between them and survival.
When Quinn and Riley set out on a family vacation with their parents, the
trip ends before it begins. Mother Nature interferes with their
plans, setting off a sequence of events that thrusts the teens into a
hostile landscape.
Stranded, with limited supplies, struggling to figure out who they can trust
along the way, they must determine how to survive nature’s evolving fury.
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darkness falls excerpt
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“Chris, come out now!” I huff through clenched teeth. Worry wraps its sharp claws around every last thought in my head. Slowly nodding in defeat, he concedes.
Shifting his weight to the edge of the trunk, he starts crawling out backwards. When one shaky foot reaches the ledge, he visibly relaxes. Pushing off of the car, he throws his other foot behind him, searching for a grip.
Just as he stands tall, leaning into the alcove of earth, a sharp cry cuts through the air, startling us both. “Chris!” Jasmine’s panicked voice rings in my ears as a scream escapes my own lips. “Noooooooo,” I shout as Chris loses his foothold. His little hands scramble over the bumper before he disappears into the plunging darkness below.
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AE Faulkner is a young adult dystopian author. Her debut novel, Darkness
Falls, is the first book in the Nature’s Fury series, which explores
the Earth’s response to humans poisoning her streams, abusing her
animals and destroying her beauty.
She has a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Millersville University
and a master’s degree in advertising, public relations &
journalism from Temple University.
Although she escaped in books as a child, college textbooks sucked the fun out
of reading. Years later, The Hunger Games trilogy became the spark
that rekindled her love of books. After devouring that series, she
quickly became captivated by dystopian novels.
After several years of reading them, she decided to take a stab at writing
one that combined her love for nature with her fear of human
destruction
 
 
Follow the tour HERE for exclusive content and a giveaway!
Mini Quinn Backpack!
Mini Riley Backpack!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

~~~~~

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For a list of my reviews go HERE.

For a list of free eBooks updated daily go HERE

To see all of my giveaways go HERE

I am an Amazon Affiliate. Product images are linked.

Imani Unraveled ~ Release Day Blitz and Giveaway

Posted: February 5, 2019 in Dystopian, giveaways, Release day, Science Fiction, YA
Tags: , , , ,
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I am so excited that IMANI UNRAVELED by Leigh Statham is available now and that I get to share the news!

If you haven’t yet heard about this wonderful book by Author Leigh Statham, be sure to check out all the details below.

This blitz also includes a giveaway for a 2 finished copies of IMANI UNRAVELED, courtesy of Owl Hollow Press and Rockstar Book Tours. So if you’d like a chance to win, enter in the Rafflecopter at the bottom of this post.

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Title: IMANI UNRAVELED (Daughter 4254, Book 2)
Author: Leigh Statham
Pub. Date: February 5, 2019
Publisher: Owl Hollow Press
Formats: Paperback, eBook
Pages: 260
Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, B&N, TBD

When her head is artificially filled with more information than she knows what to do with, Daughter4254 finds she can’t trust her own thoughts, much less the words of anyone else.

Rumors come creeping in the night, and she finds herself faced with a choice she thought she’d left far behind when she’d walked out the doors of the compound.

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Title: DAUGHTER 4254 (Daughter 4254, Book 1)
Author: Leigh Statham
Pub. Date: December 5, 2017
Publisher: Owl Hollow Press
Pages: 286
Formats: Paperback, eBook
Find it: Goodreads, Amazon,  B&N, iBooks, TBD

Daughter4254 used to think life in a community where art, music and names are outlawed would suffocate her creative spirit. Now that she’s rotting in a prison cell, she’s not sure her dying mother made the right choice when she entrusted her with the secrets of rebellion. Prison has given her plenty of time to relive every mistake and lose all hope.

Then she meets Thomas, a fellow inmate, who tells her stories of the mythical mountain colonies where people have names and the arts thrive. Together they plot an escape, knowing if they fail, they will die. Or worse, their consciousness will be taken by the MindWipe, leaving their bodies free for the government to use. When nothing goes as planned, Daughter4254 must choose between using her mother’s secret to better the world she hates, or following Thomas to the quiet life of freedom she has always craved.

~~~~~

Excerpt:

CHAPTER 1
The wind scratches my cheeks with icy fingers. I round the corner of the building and look up, checking the rooftop for an autoeye. It still feels strange to be in a place where I’m not watched every second of every day. I keep thinking there has to be a guard somewhere or that a random person passing a window might notice me wandering alone in the side yard and call for an investigation. I don’t think I’ll ever lose those habits of apprehension from my life before prison and Secondary School.

I turn away from the quiet building and search the tree line ahead of me. Did I really see Thomas? I take a few more steps and stop at the dead, gray fruit tree outside my bedroom window. The glass is slightly mirrored, but not enough that I can’t see inside. If he was here, he saw me.

I peer again across the clearing to the trees and rocks ahead. Where did he go?

My first instinct is to run, hoping to be faster than anyone who might be watching, but my failed history of running away keeps my steps slow and regular. Besides, the blanket of snow on the ground, untouched by anything larger than a rodent or bird, makes my footprints stand out like a big red arrow.

My head thumps with sudden pain as an image of a huge red arrow fills my vision, overtaking my tracks in the snow. Neon is the word my mind supplies. Before I can shake my head to clear it, the sign disappears and the pain eases off as well.

I take a deep breath. Hamen, who still feels like Professor789 to me, did a great job messing with my head. This is the third time since awaking in the Institute that I’ve had a strange flash of a memory that isn’t mine. Each is accompanied by a word unfamiliar to me: arpeggio and sunflower and now neon.

Snow shifts on a nearby tree branch and cascades with soft plops onto the ground below. I tell myself to keep up the lie I started with the main door attendant.

I need some fresh air. I’m going for a walk to clear my head.

I felt certain they wouldn’t let me just walk out of the Institute, but they did. The woman had been friendly and all smiles—another thing I wasn’t used to. She gave me a thermal parka and some boots and warned me not to go too far from the Institute, that there were sometimes beasts lurking in the trees. A pang of guilt tugged at my gut as I thanked her.

I was not simply going for a walk. I was running for my life, and possibly for Thomas’s life. For our life together.

I wrap my arms around myself in the puffy coat and rub my shoulders while I walk slowly across the clearing. My bare hands soon grow too cold for that, and I stuff them deep in the parka’s pockets. The trees stand tall and brown against the white snow like an overgrown fence or a row of frozen soldiers. As I draw close to their rough brown bark and suck in the cold, clean air, I search for any sign of Thomas. Still nothing. I scan the ground at the edge of the trees where I thought I saw him from my room. Nothing, not even a footprint. My heart sinks.

If Thomas is dead, do I have any reason not to take Hamen’s offer to stay and help him fight the Leaders subversively? At least I could help other people like me who are stuck in the system. But I still don’t trust Hamen. He slipped too easily between the Leaders and the resistance and has lied to me about almost everything.

I take a few more steps into the dark shadows of the forest. The sunlight lingers behind me in the clearing. It is now or never. Walk forward or turn back. Run or stay.

I shove my hands into my pockets and step deeper into the woods, my feet scarring the fresh snow. I need to keep looking for something better than what I am leaving behind.

My first steps are slow. There is no sign that I’m being watched from the forest or the bright white building behind me. I make a silent promise to myself as my eyes well up with tears.

I will not cry. I will not panic. I will walk away, go into the woods, disappear. There are people in the mountains, and I will find them. I will make a life for myself. I will do this, or I will die trying.

I quicken my pace. My throat tightens further. Breathing through these thoughts and emotions is hard, and the crisp winter air makes it painful. My heart pounds twice as fast as my feet crunching through the snow. The trees fall in behind me, blocking the building from sight. Hope dangles on the edge of my thoughts, close to falling into a chasm of cynicism. There may not be any sign of Thomas, I may be lost to delusions, but I am walking. Choosing my own path and my own future, even for a moment.

Then I see it. Next to a large rock in the center of a beam of light cutting through the shadows of the forest—a fresh footprint.

I can’t help myself—I sprint forward. I don’t dare call out his name. It could be a trail from a guard or a Leader or forestry worker. Still, I look desperately from tree to tree and back to the trail of footsteps in front of me.

The steps come from deep in the woods and double back on themselves. I push through naked bushes and crisp evergreens dusted white with snow. My thick coat catches on the branches, making synthetic scratching sounds that set my nerves even more on edge. I want to take it off but my freezing face tells me that wouldn’t be wise. The temperature is well below freezing.

The tracks keep going and I keep following while unwanted thoughts dance through my mind. What if I saw someone but only thought it was Thomas? What if I didn’t see anything, and these footprints are an illusion and I’m going mad? After Hamen described the procedure I underwent to store centuries’ worth of data in my mind, I have no doubt that I could be delusional now, the part of brain that knows reality from daydreams permanently damaged.

An index of mental illnesses flash before my eyes, like the pages of a text book flipping in front of me while I read at top speed.

Bipolar II disorder

Body dysmorphic disorder

Borderline intellectual functioning

Borderline personality disorder

Brief psychotic disorder

Bulimia nervosa

I groan and shake my head, closing my eyes against a headache that pierces where the previous pain hit with the image of the red neon arrow. The pain dissipates again, as quickly as before, and I stand straight, not remembering hunching over. I must think about Thomas.

Thomas.

I take a step forward and a heavy weight hits my shoulders and back with such force I fall forward, hands only coming up in time to prevent my face from taking the brunt of the fall. I try to scream, but my face is shoved into the snow. The cold burns my cheeks as my nose is bent and scraped against a rock. Movement on my back precedes snarling hot breath in my ear.

I’m crushed deeper into the snow by the weight of a clawing mass. A flash of gratitude for the thick parka fills me as I hear it rip in several places, synthetic skin saving my own. I flail and fight to get out from under whatever has me pinned, but it’s so heavy, I’m losing the battle. Finally, I swing back hard with an elbow and make my first solid contact. Whatever it is wobbles, off balance. I grab the chance to flip onto my back and start punching.

What I thought was a forest creature is a person, a man. But something is wrong with his eyes. They’re too dark, too intense. Even in the dim forest light I can tell they are more animal than human. I shove and kick as hard as I can, trying to get him off of me. He slaps my cheek and pulls my hair. I punch and kick, screaming for help. The man grabs both of my arms, forcing them against the ground above my head, and shoves his face next to mine. I push my jaw against his, screaming in his ear, trying to keep his mouth away from my neck.

He snarls and roots at my shoulder. His breath is foul, like rotten flesh and sour milk. My arms are wedged up against his shoulders leaving only my head to defend myself from his mouth. I shove the top of my head against his cheek, trying to force it away. It is no use. Disgusting grunts and pants leave moist vapor on my skin until he rears back and crashes his forehead into mine. The blow knocks me senseless but in that same moment his weight is knocked off me.

When the stars and black dots leave my vision, I can see my attacker on the ground. Another man has him in a choke hold from behind, squeezing the air out of him until, all too quickly, he falls limp. I scoot backward until I bump against a large rock, then struggle to get to my feet so I can run, but I’m too slow.

The second man drops the first man and is on top of me, his hand over my mouth. My eyes sting with tears and I can’t breathe from the shock. His face, covered in a mask like the one my father wore to work in the forest on the coldest winter days, hovers near mine as he secures me with strong arms, wedging me in a sitting position against the boulder and the snowy ground. Then one knee is on my legs while he straightens up to peer back down the trail over the rock that conceals us. His thick green coat is the confirmation I need to know he isn’t a guard from Hamen’s. They would be wearing a white coat like me. I don’t know whether to be relieved or terrified.

Adrenaline still pumping through me, I strain to free my arms. It isn’t too late to run. I can survive and find the mountain people.

But instead of attacking, he bends down and looks into my eyes before letting his hand slip off my mouth and his grip on my shoulder loosens.

Soft hazel eyes meet my panicked gaze, and I freeze. Even with the rest of his face covered, I know those eyes.

“Thomas!” The name comes out in a burst of white fog from my mouth.

He eases off of me and I pull up his mask to reveal his scruffy face, the same one I saw watching me through bars all those days and nights in prison. I want to hold him close like my mother used to hold me—he’s so close anyway. But I hesitate. Thomas isn’t like my mother. What would it feel like to hold him? It feels strange to consider it.

“Hush, lassie,” he says. “They’re bound to be right behind us.”

At the sound of his voice, I can’t hold back anymore. I throw my arms around him. All the moments of being without him and wishing I’d jumped with him melt between us as he returns my embrace and his breath warms my neck.

“What are you doing here?” I check my voice and whisper, “How did you find me? How are you alive? I can’t…” I’m not sure what else to say, where to start.

“I’m a tough nut, you know?” He smiles and rubs my raw cheek with his wool glove. Mixed with my tears, the sweet gesture stings my skin, but I don’t care.

“I can’t believe you’re alive.” I pull him to me again and bury my face in his shoulder, my head pounding from the fight with the wild man.

His strong arms wrap around me, and I hear his voice echo in his chest. “Honestly, sweets, I can’t believe you’re not a walking veggie head. I want to hear all about your adventures as soon as we’re out of these bloody woods. Come on.”

Feeling his legs shift, I sit back and he helps me to my feet while scanning the trail behind us again.

“We’re leaving a proper mess for them to follow so we’ve got to scurry.” He takes my hand and starts back over his footprints leading farther into the woods. “How did you get out here, anyway? I didn’t expect you to waltz into my arms like a cranking birthday gift.”

“I told them I was going for a walk. I know the leader—he was trying to recruit me. He said I could do whatever I wanted, but I overheard him saying that if I didn’t comply they’d roast me. Complete Mind Wipe.” I am rambling now. Must focus. “How did you find me? And who was that man? What was wrong with him?”

As if on cue, there’s motion behind us. Down the trail, the beast man moans and sits up. Thomas pushes me behind him, ready to knock the man out again if he approaches, but a twang cuts through the air, and the man falls back to the snow, convulsing. Shock rifle fire.

“Come on, no time to chatter.” Thomas pulls my arm, and we run through the brush and trees, ignoring the footprints Thomas made on his way to get me.

I can’t help looking back. One man in a white suit is kneeling to examine my attacker. Two others have spotted us and are charging forward, long black shock rifles wagging back and forth in front of their chests.

I know what those guns feel like. I know what happens when they catch you. Shudders trip down my spine and I push myself to keep up with Thomas, determined not to lose him this time as we slalom tree trunks and trip through the snow.

Another twang rings through the air, and a branch a few feet to my left shatters.

“They are catching up,” I say between breaths, feeling fear rise in my throat.

“No matter, we’re here.” He looks back at me and slows slightly. “You gonna trust me this time?”

“What?”

We emerge from the trees, and Thomas catches my arm so I don’t fall down a steep, snowy embankment to a river two hundred yards below. The drop isn’t as far as at the prison, but the water below is agitated and swift, frothing and white. I can see where Thomas has carefully picked his way up the hill farther upstream where large rocks jut out of the snowy hillside. Directly before us lies a slippery, snow-covered slide of unknown hazards. Behind, the soldiers’ shouts sound on the other side of the tree line.

I look at Thomas and without hesitation, I jump.

~~~~~

About Author Leigh Statham:


Leigh Statham was raised in the wilds of rural Idaho but found her heart in New York City. She worked at many interesting jobs before settling in as a mother and writer.

She now resides in North Carolina with her husband, four children, eight chickens, a fluffy dog, and two suspected serial killer cats.

Leigh is currently working on an MFA, has written countless short stories, and is the author of lots of mediocre poetry. She is also the winner of the 2016 Southeast Review Narrative Nonfiction Prize for her short story “The Ditch Bank and the Fenceline.”

Website |Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Wattpad | Goodreads

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GIVEAWAY

a Rafflecopter giveaway

~~~~~

Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

For a list of my reviews go HERE.

For a list of free eBooks updated daily go HERE

To see all of my giveaways go HERE

I am an Amazon Affiliate. Product images are linked.

The Post ~ A Dystopian Thriller ~ Tour and Giveaway

Posted: January 15, 2019 in Dystopian, giveaways, thriller
Tags: , ,
25
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The Post
by Kevin A. Munoz
Genre: Dystopian Thriller
 
Ten years after the world’s oil went sour and a pandemic killed most of
the population, Sam Edison is the chief of police of The Little Five,
a walled-in community near Atlanta, Georgia. Those who survived share
the world with what are known as hollow-heads: creatures who are no
longer fully human.
A man and a pregnant teenager arrive at the gate and are welcomed into
the town. They begin to settle in when suddenly both are murdered by
an unknown assailant. In the course of investigation, Chief Edison
discovers that the girl was fleeing a life of sexual slavery, and
that some members of the Atlanta community were complicit in the
human trafficking network that had ensnared her.
In retaliation for Edison’s discoveries, agents of the network abduct
the stepdaughter of the town’s mayor. Chief Edison and three
companions track the kidnappers to Athens, Georgia, where they
discover that the entire city is engaged in human trafficking. By the
time Edison has recovered the kidnapped girl, the other three
rescuers have been killed, leaving Edison alone to bring the mayor’s
stepdaughter home while evading both human and non-human monsters.
Against such great odds, will Sam ever make it to Little Five alive?
 .
Post teaser
,
 
Kevin Muñoz grew up just outside of Philadelphia. After wandering across
the country for a few years, he received a PhD from Emory University
in 2008. A little later, he decided to leave the academic life behind
to pursue his first passion: writing. He has lived in seven U.S.
states over the years, observing and adopting each new place as
settings and inspiration for his fiction. He spent fifteen years in
Georgia, where the seeds of THE POST were planted. He now lives near
Seattle with his two beagle traveling companions.
 
 
Follow the tour HERE
for exclusive excerpts, guest posts and a giveaway!
 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
 

~~~~~

Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

For a list of my reviews go HERE.

For a list of free eBooks updated daily go HERE

To see all of my giveaways go HERE

I am an Amazon Affiliate. Product images are linked.

From my series wishlist ~ Which should I read first?

Posted: January 10, 2019 in Dark Fantasy, Dystopian, Mytery/Thriller, Science Fiction, Series
Tags: , , , , ,
32

Yesterday I posted about some series’ I had started and some I was planning to start.

Today I’m sharing some that I already have on my list. I have the first book in each series and its a mixed bag of genres. All of these have been on my wish list and I’m really anticipating some great reading.

This is going to be fun!

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Moon Called

Mercy Thompson #1

by Patricia Briggs

Moon Called (Mercy Thompson, Book 1) by [Briggs, Patricia]

THE FIRST MERCY THOMPSON NOVEL!

Moon Called is the novel that introduced Patricia Briggs’s Mercy Thompson to the world and launched a #1 bestselling phenomenon… 

Mercy Thompson is a shapeshifter, and while she was raised by werewolves, she can never be one of them, especially after the pack ran her off for having a forbidden love affair. So she’s turned her talent for fixing cars into a business and now runs a one-woman mechanic shop in the Tri-Cities area of Washington State.

But Mercy’s two worlds are colliding. A half-starved teenage boy arrives at her shop looking for work, only to reveal that he’s a newly changed werewolf—on the run and desperately trying to control his animal instincts. Mercy asks her neighbor Adam Hauptman, the Alpha of the local werewolf pack, for assistance.

But Mercy’s act of kindness has unexpected consequences that leave her no choice but to seek help from those she once considered family—the werewolves who abandoned her…

Amazon

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Extinction Horizon

The Extinction Cycle #1

by Nicholas Sansbury Smith

Extinction Horizon (The Extinction Cycle Book 1) by [Smith, Nicholas Sansbury]

The worst of nature and the worst of science will bring the human race to the brink of extinction…
 
Master Sergeant Reed Beckham has led his Delta Force Team, codenamed Ghost, through every kind of hell imaginable and never lost a man. When a top secret Medical Corps research facility goes dark, Team Ghost is called in to face their deadliest enemy yet–a variant strain of Ebola that turns men into monsters.
After barely escaping with his life, Beckham returns to Fort Bragg in the midst of a new type of war. As cities fall, Team Ghost is ordered to keep CDC virologist Dr. Kate Lovato alive long enough to find a cure. What she uncovers will change everything.
Total extinction is just on the horizon, but will the cure be worse than the virus?
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Called

Southern Watch #1

by Robert J. Crane

Called (Southern Watch Book 1) by [Crane, Robert J.]

A demon hunter without a home. A cop without a cause. A seemingly unstoppable evil rising in a small town…

WARNING: Contains violence, coarse language and sexual situations.

Archibald “Arch” Stan was a local cop in Midian, Tennessee that was good at his job, good at being a husband, and exceptionally good at hiding his disappointment at not being able to figure out what was missing in his life that made it all seem so empty.

Lafayette Hendricks looked like a drifter, a broken-down hitchhiker blown through Midian on the prevailing winds. When Arch catches him in a fight on the town square, though, things start to get weird, fast, because the guy he’s fighting doesn’t die when he gets shot. And Hendricks is carrying a sword.

Pretty soon, Arch’s whole life is turned upside down by Hendricks’s revelation that there’s a secret world operating under the one he’s been living in his whole life – one filled with demons, chaos, and unspeakable evils, one of which is already in town, stirring trouble. And if the two men don’t band together to keep watch on the darkness falling on Midian, then this small town might just get swallowed up by the forces of evil – with the rest of the world to follow shortly behind.

If you like Jim Butcher, Kevin Hearne, Stephen King, Michael Anderle, Shayne Silvers, Shannon Mayer, or J.R. Rain, you will LOVE the first installment of the Southern Watch series.

Amazon

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All Systems Red

The Murderbot Diaries #1

by Martha Wells

All Systems Red (Kindle Single): The Murderbot Diaries by [Wells, Martha]

A murderous android discovers itself in All Systems Red, a tense science fiction adventure by Martha Wells that interrogates the roots of consciousness through Artificial Intelligence.

“As a heartless killing machine, I was a complete failure.”

In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. Exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids, for their own safety.

But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern.

On a distant planet, a team of scientists are conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied ‘droid — a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module, and refers to itself (though never out loud) as “Murderbot.” Scornful of humans, all it really wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is.

But when a neighboring mission goes dark, it’s up to the scientists and their Murderbot to get to the truth.

Amazon

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Tombyards & Butterflies

A Montague & Strong Detective Agency #1

by Orlando A. Sanchez

Tombyards & Butterflies: A Montague and Strong Detective Novel (Montague & Strong Case Files Book 1) by [Sanchez, Orlando A.]

A Missing Ferryman. An Undead Dilemma. An Immortal Detective.

An emissary from the Dark Council has just materialized in the office of the Montague & Strong Detective Agency, and makes Simon Strong an offer he can’t refuse. Charon is missing. The legendary ferryman responsible for transporting sorcerer souls across the river Styx hasn’t been seen in days. And with each passing hour, those unable to cross the river are left to walk among the living, tilting the world further out of balance.

Meet Simon Strong, an immortal, who is also the best private detective in New York City. Together with his surly partner-Tristan Montague, a mage of indeterminate age, they must find the Ferryman and get him back to work before another Supernatural War ravages the earth, destroys humanity, and Simon’s local coffee shop.

Time is running out. His landlord wants the rent and Karma with a capital K is paying him a visit, and she can be a real…

Join the Montague & Strong Detective Agency and help them locate Charon, so he can restore balance to the universe, put the dead sorcerers to rest, and maybe solve the age old conundrum-coffee or tea?

Amazon

~~~

Killing Trail

Timber Creek K-9 Mystery #1

by Margaret Mizushima

Killing Trail: A Timber Creek K-9 Mystery by [Mizushima, Margaret]

When a young girl is found dead in the mountains outside Timber Creek, life-long resident Officer Mattie Cobb and her partner, K-9 police dog Robo, are assigned to the case that has rocked the small Colorado town.

With the help of Cole Walker, local veterinarian and a single father, Mattie and Robo must track down the truth before it claims another victim. But the more Mattie investigates, the more she realizes how many secrets her hometown holds. And the key may be Cole’s daughter, who knows more than she’s saying.

The murder was just the beginning, and if Mattie isn’t careful, she and Robo could be next. Suspenseful and smart, Killing Trail is a gripping read that will have readers clamoring for more Mattie and Robo for years to come. Fans of Nevada Barr and C.J. Box will love this explosive debut.

Amazon

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Have you read any of these?

And how about some help! Which do you think I should read first?

~~~~~

Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

For a list of my reviews go HERE.

For a list of free eBooks updated daily go HERE

To see all of my giveaways go HERE

I am an Amazon Affiliate. Product images are linked.

Stuck by Samantha Durante ~ Grand Finale Blitz and Giveaway

Posted: December 24, 2018 in Dystopian, giveaways, Science Fiction, YA
Tags: , , ,
6


On Tour with Prism Book Tours

Book Tour Grand Finale for
Stuck
By Samantha Durante

We hope you enjoyed the tour! If you missed any of the stops

you can see snippets, as well as the link to each full post, below:

Launch – Note from the Author

I am *so* thrilled to be kicking off the Stuck (Stitch Trilogy, Book 3) tour! We’ve got lots of awesome stops planned with exclusive Stitch Trilogy content you won’t find anywhere else, plus a big giveaway to celebrate the arrival of the long-awaited conclusion of the series!…

Andi’s Young Adult Books – Guest Post

A Tale of Three Book Covers

Even a writer has to admit that (as the saying goes!) a picture is worth a thousand words. It comes as no surprise, then, that *almost* as much thought must go into cover design as into the book itself.

When designing the covers for the Stitch Trilogy books, I had several goals in mind:

Captivate: Of course, a cover needs to get readers interested, and one of the best ways to do that is to make it pretty!

Signal: The cover’s job is also, naturally, to give readers some clues as to what is in the story by referencing the genres and major plot points.

Unify: And, finally, knowing that this was going to be a multi-book series, I needed to come up with a consistent theme that would tie each cover together.

So how did I accomplish all this? By driving my cover designer crazy, of course! 🙂 …

Candrel’s Crafts, Cooks, and Characters – Interview

2.) Tell us about the rest of the series.

Over the course of the trilogy, you join our protagonists as they uncover the sordid truth and dark history of their society, Paragon, a place set in a world much like our own but with some important (and chilling) differences. In fact, some members of this society are so blinded to the truth that they don’t even realize they are, in fact, living in Paragon… which is something you get to experience firsthand in Book 1. (Trying not to give away too many spoilers here!) In Book 2, we learn more about how this world came about, and in Book 3, the main characters struggle against nearly insurmountable odds to try to bring those responsible to justice. And of course, there’s some romance along the way!

Paulette’s Papers – Guest Post

Playlist: Music to Go with Stuck (Stitch Trilogy, Book 3)

It’s no secret that I love words (I am, after all, a writer). But sometimes, nothing captures a feeling *quite* like a song. So without further ado, here is a selection of hand-picked songs to go with several of the most pivotal chapters of Stuck (Stitch Trilogy, Book 3):…

Wishful Endings – Excerpt

Not a Bear

“But how can we continue to keep this from everyone?” Janie interjected. “It’s not right. They deserve to know!” she hissed.

Alessa shrugged in defeat.

Yes, she thought, just like Isaac deserves to know that his brother might still be alive – but she couldn’t bring herself to say anything about that, either, knowing the guilt would eat him alive. She at least had to be sure first. She had to know it was really Joe.

Lisa Loves Literature – Review

” I really liked the first two books in this series, and I waited 5 years between book 2 and this one. There was one point I know that I even reached out to the author to find out if this one was coming soon, because I needed to know what would happen next. . . . There was just so much going on in this book! . . . if you haven’t started the series yet, you are the lucky one to get to start with all three of them out now. You can sit down and read them all, back to back, and get all the feelings that will come with a good series.”

Why Not? Because I Said So! – Review

“I’ve waited a long time to read this last book in the Stitch Trilogy. I loved this series from the first book. It was so unique and had so many twists and turns that kept you reading. Guess what? Things haven’t changed in this third book: It’s still has so many unique things in the story line and the the twists just keep on coming. . . . If you like the Dystopian and Sci-Fi genres, you need to put the Stitch Trilogy on your To-Read list immediately.”

FUONLYKNEW – Review

“There’s plenty of action, intrigue and betrayal. But there’s also bravery, romance and hope. . . . A perfect finale to a series that fueled my imagination and captured my heart.”

Bri’s Book Nook – Review of STITCH

“This premise for a science fiction novel is so unique, and that truly drew me in. . . . I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a new upper YA or NA science fiction trilogy with a strong female main character.”

Colorimetry – Excerpt

Happy Pills

“Seriously, Alex?”

Deion chuckled and shook his head at the sight of his best friend – shirtless, sweat gleaming off his abs – precisely positioned so that anyone passing by the construction site would get an eyeful of his chiseled physique.

“First of all, it’s only 50 degrees out –”

“58,” Alex argued, heaving another stone on top of the wall he was building for this set of Paragon’s latest drama. “That’s almost in the sixties.” He paused to swipe a dusty, rippling forearm across his brow, brushing the fringe of straight black hair from his striking, angular eyes, which were narrowed against the sun.

Hopelessly Devoted Bibliophile – Review

“It’s been a privilege to follow along with Samantha Durante since this trilogy first started! I felt a little woeful as I started to read Stuck, only because I knew that this was the end of my time with these characters. After completely falling in love with the last book, I knew that this finale was going to be a rough read for me either way. It’s the end of an era, really. It’s been fun! . . . If you haven’t started this trilogy yet, you’re in for such a treat. I envy you. I really do.

Lovely Reads – Spotlight

Chapter Break – Interview

Is there anything you would like people to take away from your book?

There are SO MANY things I’d like people to take away from the Stitch Trilogy! First, that things aren’t black and white. Just like real life, no one in my books is infallible, and anyone can make a mistake that can really hurt other people – and this can happen on a small or very large scale, even with the noblest of intentions. Second, that anyone can make a difference. It would be easy for anyone living in that world (or any world!) to feel insignificant and powerless, but the characters work really hard and work together to make things better, and they manage to do so even against odds that seem insurmountable. Third, that inclusivity and diversity of thought are good things, especially when it comes to leadership – otherwise you’re almost certain to further exploit already marginalized groups, and foster a lot of ill-will. And finally, that love conquers all. At the end of the day, even (perhaps, especially) when the world has gone to hell, all we have is each other. Be selfless. Be brave. Be kind.

Words Are the Breath Of Life – Review

“Stuck is a phenomenal completion to a wonderfully complex, challenging, and heartfelt adventure. My heart jumped for joy when I found myself finally reading the last chapters of this brilliantly original and deeply captivating journey full of heart, hope, and love. . . . I have been looking forward to this elusive ending, and I found myself completely and totally satisfied in every way a story can offer. . . . Samantha Durante has once again left me in awe of the depth of her brilliant creativity and boundless heart.”

Books & Such – Guest Post

Quiz: Where Do You Rank in Paragon Society?

Over the course of the Stitch Trilogy, we’ve gotten to know several different groups within the society of Paragon, from plucky rebels and manipulated citizens to mastermind Engineers and bloodthirsty Stuck. Where do you fall amongst these ranks? Take this quick quiz to find out!…

fundinmental – Interview & Review

1. What made you decide to be a writer?

I don’t know if it was a *decision* so much as a compulsion! I’ve always loved to write, ever since I was a kid. I got away from it for a few years in college and afterwards, but even as a software engineer, I managed to“sneak” writing into my job. So when it came time for a major life change (moving back across the country to be near my family), I knew it was a good time to see if I could shift gears and get back to doing what I’d always loved.

“If you love having your emotions ramped up to a fever pitch, if you love white knuckled reading, if you love apocalyptic/dystopian novels and are looking for an original storyline, you may want to grab the Stitch trilogy.”

Christy’s Cozy Corners – Guest Post

Style in Dystopia: 3 Ways to Style a Jumpsuit

Dystopian societies aren’t often known for their embrace of individuality and free-thinking… which unfortunately means their fashion trends tend to lean towards the sterile and conformist, at best.

But don’t let that post-apocalyptic thinking get you down! As the characters of the Stitch Trilogy show, there are lots of ways you can buck the trend and give that old standard-issue jumpsuit a fresh spin…

Don’t forget to enter the giveaway below, if you haven’t already…

Stuck
(Stitch Trilogy #3)
By Samantha Durante
YA Dystopian, SciFi
Paperback & ebook, 306 Pages
December 15, 2018

3, 2, 1… BOOM.

Things are finally looking up for the Resistance. Sure, Alessa is still processing the revelation that the best friend she’d presumed dead is miraculously alive, though far from well… And her boyfriend is being manipulated under threat of blackmail. But her quest for justice against those behind the systematic extermination of the world population is so close to victory she can taste it.

And then in a matter of seconds, everything Alessa believes in is shaken to the core. Months of preparation are obliterated. The people she cares for most are lost.

But Alessa is still standing. And Paragon must pay.

The odds are grim, but unexpected allies surface in the most unlikely of places: A new pair of citizens still under the colony’s rule who notice something amiss in the latest drama. An old adversary who realizes the error of her ways. And a veritable army of inhuman power and terrible strength, with an insatiable thirst for vengeance. The trustworthiness of each of these factions is yet to be proven, but without many other options, Alessa may have to take what she can get. Especially since the Engineers, never to be outdone, also have a few more tricks up their sleeves…

The long-awaited final installment in the riveting Stitch Trilogy, Stuck will have readers gripping their seats as Alessa and a handful of intrepid survivors usher their harrowing journey to a close, risking everything as they endeavor – once and for all – to set things right.

Goodreads│Amazon│Barnes & Noble│Smashwords│Kobo

Other Books in the Series

About the Author

Samantha lives in Westchester County, New York with four of the five loves of her life – her husband, son, younger daughter, and cat – and carries her fifth love, her stillborn daughter, in her heart. An avid reader herself, Samantha’s dream is to bring the same delight to readers that other authors have brought to her life. In addition to penning novels and writing candidly about grief, she is also a sometimes freelance writer/consultant – though more often than not these days she’s on full-time mom duty! A former software engineer, Samantha said goodbye to the corporate world in 2010 to pursue her entrepreneurial dreams and lifelong love of writing. Learn more at www.samanthadurante.com.

Website│Goodreads│Facebook│Twitter│Instagram

Tour Giveaway

– 1 First Place Winner will receive: Signed Print Copies of All 3 Books in the Trilogy, a Limited-Edition Stitch Scarf, Bookmarks, and a $15 Amazon Gift Card
– 3 Second Place Winners will receive: eBook Copies of All 3 Books in the Trilogy for You *and* a Friend, plus a $5 Amazon Gift Card
– Open internationally
– Ends December 27th

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Grab Our Button!

~~~~~

Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

For a list of my reviews go HERE.

For a list of free eBooks updated daily go HERE

To see all of my giveaways go HERE

I am an Amazon Affiliate. Product images are linked.

christmas tree photo: TreeLightsCat TreeLightsCat.gif

It swept me up and away … Stuck ~ Review and Giveaway

Posted: December 14, 2018 in Dystopian, giveaways, reviews, Science Fiction, YA
Tags: , , , ,
19


On Tour with Prism Book Tours

Stuck
(Stitch Trilogy #3)
By Samantha Durante
YA Dystopian, SciFi
Paperback & ebook, 306 Pages
December 15, 2018

3, 2, 1… BOOM.

Things are finally looking up for the Resistance. Sure, Alessa is still processing the revelation that the best friend she’d presumed dead is miraculously alive, though far from well… And her boyfriend is being manipulated under threat of blackmail. But her quest for justice against those behind the systematic extermination of the world population is so close to victory she can taste it.

And then in a matter of seconds, everything Alessa believes in is shaken to the core. Months of preparation are obliterated. The people she cares for most are lost.

But Alessa is still standing. And Paragon must pay.

The odds are grim, but unexpected allies surface in the most unlikely of places: A new pair of citizens still under the colony’s rule who notice something amiss in the latest drama. An old adversary who realizes the error of her ways. And a veritable army of inhuman power and terrible strength, with an insatiable thirst for vengeance. The trustworthiness of each of these factions is yet to be proven, but without many other options, Alessa may have to take what she can get. Especially since the Engineers, never to be outdone, also have a few more tricks up their sleeves…

The long-awaited final installment in the riveting Stitch Trilogy, Stuck will have readers gripping their seats as Alessa and a handful of intrepid survivors usher their harrowing journey to a close, risking everything as they endeavor – once and for all – to set things right.

Goodreads│Amazon│Barnes & Noble│Smashwords│Kobo

~~~~~

My Review

I think the first sentence in the synopsis, 3, 2, 1 … Boom, describes this final book in the trilogy perfectly. There’s plenty of action, intrigue and betrayal. But there’s also bravery, romance and hope.

The pressure is on and Alessa pins her hopes on some new allies, an old friend, and a couple of strangers to bolster and make the final throes of the resistance successful. Humanity depends on it.

I have been waiting quite some time for Stuck. Even though I remember how much I loved the first books, I couldn’t recall some details so I pulled them off the shelf, gave them a second read, and fell in love with the series all over again. It’s the end of a spellbinding series and bittersweet. I didn’t want it to end but I couldn’t wait to see how it would. I wasn’t disappointed at any time and couldn’t stop reading once I started. I had to keep reminding myself to breathe, just breathe, as the suspense swept me up.

The action and suspense were palpable.  So many character’s stepped up to the plate. I felt the hope in my own veins. And I thrilled at the many surprises and answers that were revealed.

A perfect finale to a series that fueled my imagination and captured my heart.

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Other Books in the Series

~~~~~

I love this series and wanted to show you why. I hope you don’t mind if I share my reviews of the previous books too!

My Review of Stitch

Stitch is Samantha Durante’s debut novel. I loved this story and can’t wait to see how she is going to top it.

You get a blend of many genres. First I was thinking paranormal, then dystopian, and finally, science fiction.

Another night. Another nightmare.

When Alessa started college, she thought it would help her to adjust, to move on after the death of her parents.

Now she’s having horrible nightmares and seeing the ghostly image of a man.

She picked the sorority because of the house. Something about it spoke to her, drew her to it.

Now her every thought is consumed with finding out who the ghost is that haunts the house and her mind.

In an attempt at normalcy, she goes to a dance with Nikhil. He’s the first guy she’s had any interest in.

“Alessa parted her lips and looked up at Nikhil, preparing to surrender to her body’s impulses.

But instead of the dark brown eyes she expected, she saw only blue. Unfathomable, sparkling blue…

Once again, a single word rose in the back of her throat – Isaac – and she knew the night was over.”

Isaac’s continued appearances and the fact that only she can see him becomes a quest to discover who he was and why he’s so sad.

What she finds is shocking. Was moving into the house her choice, what secrets are her friend Janie hiding, and does Alessa have a connection to Isaac, the ghost of her dreams and the house?

You’ll have an exciting time finding out just who or what Isaac is and what all of this has to do with Alessa.

This mixing of genres is brilliant and captivating.

While the beginning may be calm, slowly building this new world, the author fluidly takes you back and forth through time, filling in the answers to the mystery of Alessa and Isaac.

About halfway through, I started to see where this was going but with many twists and turns and what the’s, I was continually surprised.

One thing that I found very unique was how the author dealt with the communication between Alessa and Isaac. It was not what I was expecting and really had me going.  You’ll see.

The anticipation was nail-biting and the ending was out of this world. There was no cliff hanger and I finally had all of the answers.

symbol,star,disjunct,shape,image,recycling,design,signsymbol,star,disjunct,shape,image,recycling,design,signsymbol,star,disjunct,shape,image,recycling,design,signsymbol,star,disjunct,shape,image,recycling,design,signsymbol,star,disjunct,shape,image,recycling,design,sign

~~~~~

My Review of Shudder

Alessa and Isaac set off to find a secure base for all of those wanting out of Paragon.

They worry that the virus may still be out there, but soon discover they are being stalked by creatures, swift moving things that remain in the shadows of the forest, shrieking their rage.

As they escape an attack, something happens to Alessa. She is frozen in place as her mind is overpowered with fear, frustration and fury. She doesn’t know how it’s happening, but she’s experiencing these creatures feelings and it terrifies her.

They have to hurry. People are waiting for them to return with a location for their safe haven and Alessa has to get her sister, Janie, out of the clutches of the Ruling Class.

I finished reading Shudder in one sitting, never taking a break.

I could feel it in the authors writing, I was nearing the end of the book. No, not yet!

I needed to know why Joe featured so strongly in Alessa’s mind, what happened to her sister, and where the virus came from.

Samantha started to wrap up the ending while subtly layering in leads to the finale, Stuck. the last book in this trilogy. I liked that. Sure, I didn’t get all of the answers I wanted, but I did get a lot of insight into what the ‘stitch’ was and why and how it was used.

I also learned about the Ruling Class and their reasoning behind the stitch, even though I suspect some, if not most, of them were lying.

It’s no surprise that humanity didn’t learn its lesson. You’d think after all that has been written and studied, all of the wealth of info there is, they would know better. But no, the Ruling Class do the same things as before, believing they know what’s good for all. They buy into their own lies and block out the moral compass screaming stop, and do whatever is necessary to benefit the greater good. And we wonder why we don’t trust our government. Too many chiefs.

I felt twinges of The Matrix and Aeon Flux while reading this. Shudder reads like a dystopian, post-apocalyptic science fiction story. The author did an amazing job of blending these genre into an exciting, addictive series.

It makes me wonder. If Stitch and Shudder are so great, what is Stuck going to be like? I’m sure it’ll be thrilling.

symbol,star,disjunct,shape,image,recycling,design,signsymbol,star,disjunct,shape,image,recycling,design,signsymbol,star,disjunct,shape,image,recycling,design,signsymbol,star,disjunct,shape,image,recycling,design,signsymbol,star,disjunct,shape,image,recycling,design,sign

~~~~~

About the Author

Samantha lives in Westchester County, New York with four of the five loves of her life – her husband, son, younger daughter, and cat – and carries her fifth love, her stillborn daughter, in her heart. An avid reader herself, Samantha’s dream is to bring the same delight to readers that other authors have brought to her life. In addition to penning novels and writing candidly about grief, she is also a sometimes freelance writer/consultant – though more often than not these days she’s on full-time mom duty! A former software engineer, Samantha said goodbye to the corporate world in 2010 to pursue her entrepreneurial dreams and lifelong love of writing. Learn more at www.samanthadurante.com.

Website│Goodreads│Facebook│Twitter│Instagram

Tour Schedule

December 10th:
Launch
Andi’s Young Adult Books
Mythical Books
December 11th:
Candrel’s Crafts, Cooks, and Characters
Paulette’s Papers
December 12th:
JeanzBookReadNReview
Lisa Loves Literature
December 13th:
Coffee, Books and Cakes
Why Not? Because I Said So!
December 14th:
FUONLYKNEW
Bri’s Book Nook
December 17th:
Colorimetry
Hopelessly Devoted Bibliophile
December 18th:
Lovely Reads
Chapter Break
Words Are the Breath Of Life
December 19th:
Books & Such
Bri’s Book Nook
December 20th:
fundinmental
Coffee, Books and Cakes
December 21st:
Christy’s Cozy Corners
Oh Hey! Books.
December 22nd:
Grand Finale

Tour Giveaway

– 1 First Place Winner will receive: Signed Print Copies of All 3 Books in the Trilogy, a Limited-Edition Stitch Scarf, Bookmarks, and a $15 Amazon Gift Card
– 3 Second Place Winners will receive: eBook Copies of All 3 Books in the Trilogy for You *and* a Friend, plus a $5 Amazon Gift Card
– Open internationally
– Ends December 27th

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Grab Our Button!

~~~~~

Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

For a list of my reviews go HERE.

For a list of free eBooks updated daily go HERE

To see all of my giveaways go HERE

I am an Amazon Affiliate. Product images are linked.

christmas tree photo: TreeLightsCat TreeLightsCat.gif

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