Blog Tour: The Immortality Virus by Christine Amsden

 



Buy the book: Amazon US ; Barnes & Noble

 
Story: In the mid-21st century, the human race stopped aging. Those who know why aren't talking, and the few who are brave enough to ask questions tend to disappear. To an elite few, The Change means long life and health, but to the ever-increasing masses, it means starvation, desperation, and violence.

Four centuries after The Change, Grace Harper, a blacklisted P.I., sets off on a mission to find the man responsible for it all and solicit his help to undo The Change -- if he's still alive. To complicate matters, Grace's employer is suspected of murdering his father, and when the police learn of their connection, they give her a choice -- help them find the evidence they need to convict Matthew Stanton, or die. But if they discover Grace's true mission, they won't hesitate to kill her in order to preserve their shot at immortality.

Winner of the Epic Award for Science Fiction, the Global eBook Award for Science Fiction, and a finalist in The Next Gernation Indie Book Awareds.

Will Raphael tame the willful woman or love the untamed fire that burns within her?

 Thoughts and impressions: What would it be like if we, as humans, no longer aged?

Our intelligence as animals is really a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it gives us a completely different view of the world around us, but at the same time it makes us very aware of our mortality. It leads us to fear our death, which is part of why we have such a fascination with the concept of immortality. There have long been stories of those who are able to cheat death, and if not then there are stories of death is not the end and so we get to live eternally in this fabulous place. We are afraid of our deaths. Just how far would some people go to assure their immortality if such a possibility were presented them? After all, we already have cryonics in place and some people actually get themselves frozen rather than live their life to its natural end.

Now imagine our world as a place where no one dies. We already have problems with overpopulation and lack of food. In the world presented in The Immortality Virus, these problems are taken to their next logical step. There’s not enough housing for everyone and what is available is beyond most people’s means. There’s not enough food to feed everyone, so only the fabulously wealthy are able to afford proper food while the hordes are given these shady protein bars that are suspected to contain human flesh. Yummy!

The society that is painted here is scary for one very simple reason: it is the sort of society that I can easily see arising should the key to immortality ever be found. There is a very small group of the elite few who dictate everything to the masses, who in turn are left to live in squalor. Life is not good and you can easily see that there is a reason why we are not immortal creatures – we are meant to die.

This fabulously crafted setting is the perfect backdrop to action full of the corruption of those who cling jealously to the power they have managed to horde. It was scarily realistic and that’s one of the reasons why it went down so well for me.

On top of this, we have a feisty, spunky heroine who quickly turned into a character that I enjoyed rooting for. She’s not perfect; she’s well-rounded and likeable most of the time. She was fun to read about.

From time to time the story became a bit on the slow side and I’d find my interest waning slightly, but it picked up again and the slower part was worth the faster, more action-packed moments.

 

Final verdict: A tought-provoking piece of sci-fi / dystopian with a great female lead and a plot brimming with twists and turns. 4 stars

 

Sneak peek:

 

“Check him for an ID chip,” McMillan said.

Grace checked both wrists, but didn’t find the tiny metal button that acted both as tag and as a neutral interface for portables. She also did not see any sign that such a chip had been ripped out of his skin by the same people who had stolen his clothing. This man had probably been born on the streets. “Nothing.”

“Good,” McMillan said. He subvocalized an instruction to his portable. It must have opened up a com link because a moment later he said, “Send a cleanup crew to my location beacon…no ID…10-4.”

McMillan turned to Grace. “All right, let’s go.”

“W-wait! Shouldn’t we find out what happened here? Someone murdered this man.”

McMillan actually laughed, a sound that infuriated Grace. He caught a glimpse of her face and the laughter died immediately. “Just like me. I bet I said all the same things my first day. It ain’t fair, is it?”

“So you’re just going to accept it? Accept a man being murdered in the middle of a crowd of witnesses? You’re going to accept not knowing his identity and not letting his family know he’s dead?”

“The cleanup crew will take fingerprints,” McMillan said. “The census gets almost everyone’s fingerprints. If they come up with a contact, they’ll let them know.”

“And if not?” Grace asked.

“Then he’ll join the ranks of the nameless, faceless dead. C’mon, let’s go.”

Grace didn’t move.

“Look, before the day’s out we’ll handle a dozen more like this. We don’t have time to ask questions or take statements. We don’t have time to properly examine the body or the area for clues – most of which have been taken away by other unfortunates.”

It took her a moment to find her voice. When she did, her words dripped out like acid. “Would we have had time if he’d had an ID bracelet?”

“We would not have. We’d have called in the homicide team and they’d decide. Get in the car.”

This time, Grace complied, but she sat in stony silence as McMillan lifted off and began circling the area anew.

“It helps if you don’t think of them as human,” McMillan said after a while. “More than one officer has called this job pest control.”"

 

The author:

 

 

Christine Amsden has been writing science fiction and fantasy for as long as she can remember. She loves to write and it is her dream that others will be inspired by this love and by her stories. Speculative fiction is fun, magical, and imaginative but great speculative fiction is about real people defining themselves through extraordinary situations. Christine writes primarily about people and it is in this way that she strives to make science fiction and fantasy meaningful for everyone.

 

At the age of 16, Christine was diagnosed with Stargardt’s Disease, a condition that effects the retina and causes a loss of central vision. She is now legally blind, but has not let this slow her down or get in the way of her dreams.

 

When she's not writing, Christine teaches workshops on writing, usually at Savvy Authors. She also offers professional editing services. She maintains a book review blog on her website with occasional writing tips thrown in for the fun of it.

 

Christine lives in the Kansas City area with her husband and two children. 

 

http://christineamsden.com/wordpress/

https://twitter.com/ChristineAmsden

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Christine-Amsden-Author-Page/127673027288664

Blog Tour & Giveaway - Kentucky Green by Terry Irene Blain

Buy the book: Amazon US

Story: April Williamson’s heart calls her across the frontier, but only one man—a handsome army scout with a tormented past—can get her safely to freedom.

Daniel McKenzie was an army scout—quiet, capable, handsome…and utterly unwilling to be the trail guide April Williamson needed to reach Kentucky. The Indian attack at Blue Licks was but one bitter taste of the American frontier, a massacre that had taken her father just as cholera had taken her mother. But April would not give up on her dream. At journey’s end was independence, and nothing would stand in her way.

The young widow was beautiful and determined, but the months of travel involved in her plan would be too hard. Without the general’s order Dan would have told any woman no, but April especially. His secret would destroy her—or she might destroy him. April’s kiss was like the country itself. Restless and sweet, it promised a love that denied every boundary and looked only to freedom and the future.

Thoughts and impressions: Much like Colorado Silver, Colorado Gold, I was drawn to Kentucky Green for two reasons:

1. It’s a historical romance and these seem to be my weak spot (even if I find most of them to be mediocre at best).

2. It’s one of those rare(r) historical romances set in the early USA rather than *insert European country here*.

The author weaves an interesting piece of historical fiction with many a nod to real people and events. Not being from the USA – and having left school in the UK before we touched on anything relating to non-European history (except Ancient Egypt) (and French history lessons were only interested in their own colonies) – I am only vaguely aware of these parts of American history. In fact, most of my knowledge about this period comes from documentaries / films (and who knows how historically accurate those are!) that I’ve seen over the years.

With Kentucky Green, the author gives a glimpse of what life could have been like for the colonials when neither the Americans nor the British were at their moral best. The British because they were fairly double-crossing the Indians and the Americans because they were pretty much invaders stealing the land from the native inhabitants.

I particularly appreciated that the author didn’t shy away from some of the more historically accurate points, choosing political correctness over historical truth. She wasn’t afraid to include a racist side to this story. All too often these days you see authors who are pretty much walking on eggshells in order to avoid such controversial topics. But that’s not how it was back in those days. Racism was a part of the norm and this story embraces that, working with it rather than skirting around it. I think that the book is that much the better for it; it wouldn’t have felt as authentic without it.

This is the classic tale of boy meets girl, boy pisses off girl (and vice versa), boy is required to spend significant amount of time in girl’s company, boy ends up developing feelings for girl that he tries to ignore (and vice versa), boy can no longer ignore said feelings, some form of drama befalls boy and girl – can they come out on top? It’s a tried and true formula, and obviously it works.

My one… not qualm but thing I want to comment on I guess… is that April is a young widow. It soon emerges that she was merely given the position of wife in order to protect her after the deaths of both of her parents. She is never touched by her husband. This keeps the character “unspoiled” for the “love of her life” that is to come in the form of the hero of the story but I personally would have preferred a different approach here. I’ve never understood the appeal of having a window character with no sexual experience. As a widow she should be able to match the hero for his knowledge rather than still being cast in the role of swooning heroine. Maybe that’s just me?

Style: I noticed some minor mistakes but these are easily overlooked. Overall, a good style that perfectly fits the historical romance genre!

Final verdict: Another fun read from Terry Irene Blaine. It held my interest from start to finish. I didn't quite enjoy it as much as Colorado Silver, Colorado Gold but I'm still giving it 4 stars.

Extra notes: Some bad language and sex are present.

In the author's words:

Topic: Where Ideas Come From

I have a writer friend who says people keep asking her were writers get their ideas. Her reply is that we get so many ideas that we can't write them all. Getting the idea is the easy part of writing.

So where did the idea of writing Kentucky Green come from? From Alistair Cooke's A Personal History of the United States. When I taught US History (and Western Civilization) in the community college, I would show parts of Cooke's America television series (the instructor for my education class - known as ‘how to teach' said that the generations that grew up watching Sesame Street could learn via video - and it gave my voice a break). In the episode Gone West, Cooke talks of Daniel Boone, and gives one of Boone's quotes: A man needs three essentials – a good horse, a good rifle, and a good wife.

If a good horse, a good rifle and a good wife doesn't spark a story, then you're probably not a writer. In addition to the Boone quote, one of my favorite historical novels (The Kentuckian by Janice Holt Giles) is set in the Kentucky frontier in the generation before my story. I'm really drawn to frontier stories, as in Boone's Kentucky and in my Kentucky Green; it took a man and a woman working together to make a home. Neither could do it alone.

So for writing Kentucky Green, I gave my hero, Dan, a good horse. His goal is to breed horses in Kentucky, (which I think that will turn out pretty good for his family's future). I gave him a good Kentucky long rifle, made by one of the best know gunsmith's in Pennsylvania, John Philip Beck, which he shows off to April, the heroine. Luckily, at one time my husband had a black powder rifle, so I had a little firsthand experience when I wrote that scene.

But the key to Daniel Boone's quote is the good wife. This is where the heroine, April comes in. Although it takes her some time, she proves to Dan that she's a capable woman. She's the partner he needs. Thus for Dan, completing the quote of a good horse, a good rifle and a good wife.

The author:

Terry Irene Blain was lucky enough to grow up in a large Mid-western family with a rich oral tradition. As a child she heard stories of ancestors’ adventures with Indians, wildlife, weather and frontier life in general, so she naturally gravitated to the study of history and completed a BA and MA then taught the subject at the college level. Married to a sailor, now retired, she’s had the chance to live in various parts of the U.S. and has traveled to Hong Kong, Australia, England and Scotland.

“My degrees and my teaching experience make me a natural to write historical romance. Writing historical romance gives me the opportunity to pass on stories of who we are and where we come from while exploring the relationship between men and women. What could be more exciting than that?”

The giveaway:

Open internationally

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Hacienda Moon by KaSonndra Leigh

Buy the book: Amazon US

Information:

Title: Hacienda Moon

Author: KaSonndra Leigh

Publisher: TriGate Group

Target Audience: Adult

Genre: Paranormal

Length: 280 pages

Story: Love, obsession, and betrayal, the most powerful human emotions, are spun together in this gothic novel. Tandie Harrison is a police medium who has just suffered a divorce after losing both her psychic visions and her daughter in a car accident. When she leaves New York City to start a new life near her hometown, she moves into the alluring plantation house, Chelby Rose, and falls for its charismatic caretaker, Eric Fontalvo. Their burgeoning affair ignites a centuries old curse, ensnaring them in a web of danger, deceit, and intrigue. Soon Tandie learns that in placid Bolivia, the worlds of the living and the dead are dangerously connected.

Hacienda Moon is a seductive tale of one woman’s journey to confront the demons of her past and find the courage to face her future. It is a mesmerizing novel that explores the deepest depths of human nature, and the characters will hold and haunt you long after you have read the final chapter.

Thoughts and impressions: As soon as I read the synopsis for this one, I was intrigued. I wanted to know more and so when the promo tour also offered six review copies, I immediately signed up for one of the six. I didn’t actually receive my copy until after the promo post (here) and I had a couple of other blog tour books to read before I could crack this one open, but I had itchy-finger-syndrome when it came to this one.

I cracked it open for the first time after having just finished another book of a very different genre. In hindsight, that wasn’t the best idea ever. I should have given myself some time to unwind from the first book before I cracked open this one. I also only allowed myself the time to read the prologue and things might have been different had I been able to immediately continue on to the first couple of chapters. The consequence of not doing so was that the prologue left me thrown and not entirely enraptured. This is my own fault, of course, and I suspect that my experience of starting the book would have been very different had I approached it differently.

It doesn’t help that I’ve been very busy recently, which meant that for the first few chapters I was only managing to snatch a chapter or two at a time rather than sitting down and reading a large chunk all at once (which is my preference). As a result of this style of reading, the story felt very slow-burning to me. This is not at all a bad thing. The author took her time to present each part of the story just as she wanted it to be presented, taking the reader down a dark path of confusing twists and turns and more than a few dead ends rather than rushing in to things head on.

There were certain things that were certainly confusing. At times I could tell that the person Tandie, the main character, was interacting with was not of our time. In fact, it seemed odd that she herself didn’t stop to question why on earth these people would be wearing period dress rather than jeans and a t-shirt. At other times I couldn’t figure out whether she was interacting with someone living or with one of the dead. These sorts of scenes really leant to the spooky feel that was gradually being built up in the story.

Right now I have a thing about ghosts in my paranormal / urban fantasy stories. They’re not as used and abused as vampires and werewolves (yet) which gives the author a little more leeway to make their ghosts relatable characters who are still unique in their own way. I liked all of the characters but one of the ghosts in particular (not naming names so people can deduce which of the characters are ghosts on their own should they choose to read the book). She was a chilling but fabulous character, very complex.

Though I had some reservations to begin with, the story soon smashed them all apart and turned out to be a gripping thrill ride. Well, I say thrill ride but I want to stress that it is slow burning. Things come together very slowly, but once all of the pieces are in place, it is definitely worth it! I really enjoyed the book.

Style: I noticed a tendency to repeat the same word sometimes rather than using synonyms. There were times when it felt like it verged a little too far on the tell instead of show side, but overall a style that I enjoyed.

Final verdict: A highly enjoyable ghost story that takes the time to draw the reader into the world created. 4 stars



Blog Tour: Sykosa by Justin Ordoñez

Buy the book: Amazon US ; Amazon UK ; Barnes & Noble

Information:

Title: Skyosa

Author: Justin Ordoñez

Publisher: TDS Publishing

Series: Skysoa #1

Target Audience: Older YA+

Genre: Realistic fiction

Length: 320 pages

Story: Sykosa (that's "sy"-as-in-"my" ko-sa) is a junior in high school. She belongs to an exclusive clique of girls called the "Queens." The leader is her best friend Niko. Their friendship has been strained lately because Tom—Sykosa's first boyfriend boyfriend—has gotten all serious about making her his pretty Prom princess. That is if he ever gets around to asking her. Before Prom, there's a party at Niko's cottage where parental supervision will be nil. He wants to have sex. She doesn't. He sometimes acts like that doesn't matter.

It matters.

Sykosa has a secret she has never told anyone about. Although, some people—Tom included—know anyway. It happened last year and it was big and she'll cry if she talks about it so she's done talking about it, okay? Never mind, it's nobody's business. Except it keeps happening, and it never stops. She doesn't want to deal with it. He does. She sometimes acts like that doesn't matter.

It matters.

Thoughts and impressions: The style of this story is very out of the norm. It’s one that’s very raw and to the point while still somehow managing to only skirt around certain subjects. I admit that it took me a while to actually get into the style. I read the book in parts, at first because the style failed to really lure me in and then because I had other reading obligations that were more urgent. The synopsis was one that caught my attention immediately, but I was quite a way into the book before it had really sucked me in. On top of this the jumpy narration occasionally made it quite hard to follow events and I would find myself having to go back and reread passages in order to really understand what was going on. This was frustrating.

Eventually I came to realise that this was written more like the style of Skyosa’s thought flow. I’m not so keen on that style (“je buvais des grenouilles” – I drank frogs – the sentence that put me off this style), but I do see the appeal for it, especially for a story such as this where everything is very dependent on Skykosa’s innermost thoughts and secrets, and her preference to skirt around a certain event in her past rather than tackling the event head on. This event in her past is very important to the evolution of her character. She often alludes to it but never quite manages to tackle it head on.

I think that it is important to note that while the story may be considered aimed at the YA market, it’s more aimed at mature YA or adult readers. There are a number of subjects tackled that I wouldn’t consider entirely appropriate for younger readers. There is a huge focus on sex in particular. And when I say that it focuses on sex, I mean it seems like all of the characters focus on sex almost all of the time. I don’t remember being that sex-mad as a teen but then I did grow up in a very different environment.

In fact, I’m not sure that this environment could have been any farther from the one I experienced myself. I liked that they were Asian characters, in a very religious environment and yet many of the parental figures take a backseat to the action, seeming to take little interest in their teenage children’s antics. It made for an original setting. I’m not sure if I’ve ever read something quite like this.

There is a darkness that overshadows the whole of this story. It’s not a feel good book. It’s a grim look at a potential reality that a teen could face. There’s a cast of broken individuals who are all struggling to come to terms with events they’ve faced and how their lives have been impacted. It’s not a book that I would normally pick up but it’s one that made me stop and think. And it’s got me intrigued – I’m very interested in seeing where things will go next!

Style: See review.

Final verdict: A dark tale that took me places I hadn't expected to go. I really enjoyed the story but found the style a little off putting (the style is, however, part of what makes this story so different and is central to what makes Skyosa Skyosa). 4 stars

Extra notes: Bad language is present. There is a focus on sex.

The author:

Justin Ordoñez was born in Spain, raised in the mid-west, and currently lives in Seattle. He's nearly thirty years old, almost graduated from the University of Washington, and prefers to wait until TV shows come out on DVD so he can watch them in one-shot while playing iPad games. For fifteen years, he has written as a freelance writer, occasionally doing pieces as interesting as an editorial, but frequently helping to craft professional documents or assisting in the writing of recommendation letters for people who have great praise for friends or colleagues and struggle to phrase it. Sykosa is his debut novel.


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Infinity by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Buy the book: Amazon US ; Amazon UK ; Barnes & Noble ; Book Depository

Information:

Title: Infinity

Author: Sherrilyn Kenyon

Series: Chronicles of Nick #1

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Target Audience: YA

Genre: Urban fantasy

Length: 306 pages

Story: I control my destiny and my life.

Nothing controls me.

Ever.

Nick Gautier thinks he knows everything. Streetwise, tough and savvy, his quick sarcasm is renowned. But his whole world is suddenly turned upside down on the night his best friends try to kill him.

Saved by a mysterious warrior, Nick is sucked into the realm of the Dark-Hunters – immortal vampire-slayers who risk everything to save humanity – and he quickly learns that the human world is only a veil for a much larger and more dangerous one that’s filled with all kinds of evil. Nick knows he’s in real danger and he soon has a lot more to deal with than high school – all without getting grounded, suspended… or killed.

Thoughts and impressions: I know that this series is a spinoff of the author’s long-standing paranormal romance series for adult readers. I’ve never read any of the Dark Hunter books, though I’m aware of their existence (who isn’t?). It’s entirely possible – if not likely – that reading this book will be a completely different experience for someone who’s read all of the other books prior to this one. For me, I felt like I was missing a lot of information. There was a lot of name-dropping and I suspect that long-time readers will recognise the names and appreciate the nods to old characters that they’d come to love and adore. However, this wasn’t the case for me, nor I suspect for many of the YA readers who will be new to Sherrilyn Kenyon.

These names meant nothing to me and just served to confuse me as, it has to be said, there were an awful lot of peripheral characters who were all named but tended to play very small roles. Indeed, I often found myself trying to keep up with the who’s who. Occasionally I’d find myself in a situation where I thought there were two characters having a conversation when a third would intervene but I had no idea who they were or when they’d come into the story. I’m a big believer in the rule that if you (the author) can tell the same story without introducing character X, then character X should not be introduced as they obviously don’t play an essential enough role to merit being there.

The synopsis is also misleading and relies on knowledge of the Dark Hunter series. There’s that little bit popped in there about how the Dark-Hunters are “immortal vampire-slayers who risk everything to save humanity” – but there’s nothing in the book about them being vampire-slayers, or even that they’re trying to save humanity. In fact, they’re not really expanded on much at all in this particular book.

So what is the book about? It’s about a young teen, Nick Gautier (who pronounces his name, Gautier, with an “sh” in it for some reason, but I just spent the whole book pronouncing it the French way – Go-tee-ay instead of Go-shay). He comes from a difficult background – his father is in prison for murder and his mother struggles to earn enough money to keep them going – but is a pupil at a prestigious school. Because of just how different he is to everyone else there, he is often bullied not only by his fellow pupils but also by the head teacher. His mum doesn’t pay any attention to his complaints and Nick is very frustrated by the existence he leads. Frustrated enough to lash out and agree to participate in something illegal at his friends’ prompting. This results in Nick getting shot and a mysterious stranger stepping in to save him from certain death.

The mysterious stranger accepts Nick into his employ in exchange for paying his hospital bills (which his mother cannot afford). This throws Nick into a new world of supernatural creatures that he’d never even dreamt could actually exist.

This first book deals with one supernatural creature in particular: zombies!

Argh… brainssss…

But these zombies are a little apart from the norm. Those who become zombies are still living. They’re no longer in control of their motor functions and seem to be actually hunting their targets rather than just going for the closest piece of human meat. Unfortunately for Nick, he’s one of those targeted. For someone who didn’t believe in the supernatural mere days earlier, he gets quite the wake-up call.

There are some fabulous characters in here, such as Bubba and Mark the zombie hunters. They’re the bit of humour to bringer a bit of lighter laughter to a story that’s supposed to be fairly on the dark side. I liked them both and their rules for fighting zombies (shoot first; cover yourself in duck urine; etc.)

For the most part, the novel was fairly tightly woven but there was one thing that was never really resolved: the game that induces living zombie-ism was only given to one person. It is hypothesised that someone else distributed the game to all the others who “changed”. But this is never expanded on. We never discover who distributed it beyond the original victim.

Style: There was some serious abuse of the “…” in this style. They’re all over the place!

Beyond this, there were some places where I found it hard to follow the sentence structure, but I don’t know whether that was just my head being slow or the actual style.

Final verdict: Even though I felt like I’d missed out on a lot by not having read the Dark Hunters series, I did enjoy this book. I intend to read the second book at some point later this year. 4 stars

Extra notes: Bad language is present. Sex is not.

Blog Tour: Circe by Jessica Penot

Buy the book: Amazon US ; Amazon UK ; Barnes & Noble

Information:

Title: Circe

Author: Jessica Penot

Publisher: Lachesis Publishing

Target Audience: Adult

Genre: (Psychological) thriller

Length: 209 pages

Story:  When Dr. David Black takes an internship at a very old psychiatric hospital back home in Alabama, he vows two things—that he will be a better husband to his beautiful and loving wife Pria, and that he will stop cheating on her.

Then his enigmatic supervisor Dr. Cassie Allen, a self-proclaimed witch with ties to the underworld, begins to draw him into her darkness. David finds it hard to resist her wicked sensuality, but even harder to resist her evil pull.

As strange and violent deaths pile up left and right, David realizes that Cassie’s psychotic behavior is connected to the mysterious hospital itself. There a demonic force threatens to destroy everything that David holds dear—his wife, his family, even his very sanity.

Thoughts and impressions: First off, in my copy Doctor David Black is called Eric Black. As I received the book as a gift from Amazon, I’m not sure what happened there. It’s not that much of a big deal, but worth pointing out.

This book is one that lies firmly outside of my reading comfort zone. It’s very rare that I’ll read anything even resembling a psychological thriller, though I do enjoy watching movies of the same genre. The whole concept of the haunted asylum drew me to it. Haunted buildings, especially ones where horrors were committed by humans against other humans in the past, is a fascination that I think many people share. I know that I personally am fascinated by such things. So after some initial internal debate over whether I wanted to attach myself to an obligation to read something to far from my comfort zone, I finally caved in and couldn’t resist the temptation.

I got off to a bit of a rocky start with the story. The style at that point is very much tell rather than show (it does become more show later on after the foundations are laid) and the character, Eric, is one who repulsed me. But then, I’m fairly sure that he’s supposed to repulse the reader. At several points throughout the story he is described as being a ‘monster’, and he certainly is! Not in the whole “I go around killing people muahahah” sense, but in the sense that he does not seem to be capable of actually feeling. His thoughts and actions, despicable though many of them are, hold no real meaning for me, and thus entail no real consequences.

As he starts to come undone when things are spiralling out of his control, he takes refuge in the wife to whom he is incapable of being faithful. He keeps telling himself that he’s changed, that he just wants her now… but the reader’s been spoon-fed enough of this same sort of line that they know to be wary of his declarations. It’s just fear pushing him, not real emotional ties. Eventually his status as a monster is completely solidified in a way that I hadn’t been expecting, but one that gives the story, and this C.R.C. (Circe) mental hospital quite the twist!

The asylum was very well portrayed. It was only when Eric started his internship here and we were introduced to the variety of characters who reside there that I was finally able to stop keeping the story at arm’s length. I adored meeting the mentally handicapped individuals and how their various handicaps were manifested. I’m not going to go into any of these, though, as that would spoil the discovery for anyone who does choose to read this story.

The asylum itself wasn’t really so much creepy in the way that I’ve seen other creepy buildings portrayed in literature, but the entity that belongs to the grounds was certainly creepy enough to make up for it. I enjoyed the little titbits into the history of the asylum and would have liked to have had more random facts woven into the story, but I guess that’s what non-fiction books are for.

At the end of the day, even though I really didn’t like the character, I was able to get past this thanks to the compelling tale that is presented. It’s very rare that I can overlook such bad character traits so the author deserves points for that!

Style: As the story is written in the first person, it did occasionally feel like Eric was telling the reader about his story rather than narrating events as they occurred.

Final verdict: Not something that I would usually pick up but something that I’m glad I took the time to read! 4 stars

Extra notes: Both sex and bad language are present.

Blog Tour & Giveaway: Freefall by Susan Rae

review / interview / giveaway

*giveaway is at the bottom*

So apparently my go-to genre when I’m feeling weighed down by a long week is romance! When I read the synopsis of this one I was immediately intrigued as I have come into a family surrounded by aeroplanes. I even live under one of the landing routes for Schiphol Amsterdam and work between two others – there is no such thing as escape from the planes! What’s more, I’ve actually been on a flight in one of those little planes. Here’s a photo of me & the bf in front of our plane:

Information:

Title: Freefall

Author: Susan Rae

Publisher: Musa Publishing

Target Audience: Adult

Genre: Contemporary romance / chick lit / mystery

Length: Unknown (not too long)

Story: Freak accident, or attempted murder? Kate needs answers to her brother’s plane crash, but can she trust undercover DEA agent “Spike” Larsen to deliver them?

He felt as if he was falling—freefalling through 15,000 feet—without a parachute. It was exciting, thrilling—and deadly. He’d brought Kate up here to protect her, to keep her out of trouble. He’d told himself he owed that much to Keith. Now all he wanted to do was take her down into the cabin and ravage her ‘til dawn…

Kate Reynolds’s quest to unravel the mystery of her brother’s plane crash throws her into the turbulent wake of suave pilot/mechanic Everett Larsen. His gray gaze ignites in her a passion as powerful as a jet stream, but it also sparks a memory…

Drawn to Milwaukee by Keith’s cryptic message, Larsen is unprepared for the torrent of emotion he feels when he sees Kate—after his wife’s death, he is afraid to love again. But when Kate gets too close to the truth, he is even more afraid to lose her.

Thoughts and impressions: The book opens with “the pilot” taking off and soon realising that there’s something not right with his plane. He’s faced with the choice of attempting to right the problem by continuing with his flight – and thus potentially endangering citizens – or returning to the runway in what can only be a crash landing. Following the pilots’ code of ethics, he chooses to put only himself at risk rather than innocent people who just happen to live close by the airport.

We then meet his sister, Kate, who is having to come to terms with the fact that her brother has almost died in an accident involving a flying machine for the second time in his life. The doctors inform her that despite the extent of his injuries he still has brain activity, which is a good sign, but there’s no telling when, or if, he’ll wake up. Kate basically puts her life on hold in order to tend to her brother, but she also wants to help keep his business, an airport, running while he’s unable to keep on top of it himself. As she starts to uncover the events in his life leading up to his accident, though, she also finds herself wondering whether she really knew her brother as well as she thought she did.

At the same time, we’re introduced to Everett Larsen, an army buddy of our beloved coma patient, Keith. Keith had contacted him prior to the accident about something fishy taking place. What’s more, it would appear that Keith’s accident might not have been an accident at all. Everett, now an undercover investigator, is determined to get to the bottom of what happened to his friend, which puts him in Kate’s path. She doesn’t recognise him, though, and he’s happy to present a false persona in order to keep her from learning the truth.

There’s a lot of truth being kept from others in this story, which is usually the way of things in mystery, but Kate and Everett do tend to take it to an extreme. They’re both damaged individuals with previous relationships that ended in emotional turmoil. As such, they’re still working past their demons, but in each other they find a way of coming to terms with what happened – the past is the past and both realise that they need to turn a new page and look to the future instead.

I enjoyed the budding relationship between these two characters as well as the glimpse into life around a small airport. With Schiphol being one of the busiest airports in Europe, my experience is obviously very different, though I have visited some smaller ones in passing (like the “field” in the photo above), which seem much more relaxed and very quaint! In fact, the little views into the life running an airport like this were the highlight of the story.

My only real gripe with the story was that the truth behind what happened to Keith was fairly transparent. As soon as any new information was imparted to the characters, even if it was misleading, it was possible for the reader to put the pieces together much faster than the story was keeping up with. It was just too easy to unravel the mystery and I could see most of the twists and turns coming from the moment they were introduced.

Despite this, I enjoyed the read!

Style: Sometimes the dialogue sounded really corny. It just didn’t sound natural at all.

Final verdict: An enjoyable light and fluffy romance! 4 stars

Extra notes: Both bad language and sex are present.

*Disclosure of Material Connection: I am a member of Reading Addiction Blog Tours and a copy of this book was provided to me by the author. Although payment may have been received by Reading Addiction Blog Tours, no payment was received by me in exchange for this review. There was no obligation to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are entirely my own and may not necessarily agree with those of the author, publisher, publicist, or readers of this review. This disclosure is in accordance with the Federal Trade Commision’s 16 CFR, Part 255, Guides Concerning Use of Endorcements and Testimonials in Advertising*

The interview:

Hi there! Welcome to Rea’s Reading and Reviews. Thank you for taking the time to share some info about you and your book with me and my readers. Tell us a bit about yourself!

I have always been writing something since I was in 5^th grade.  I wrote a melodrama for the Girl Scout Drama badge in sixth grade, complete with hero, heroine and dastardly villain.  It was lots of fun as I got to play the villain, also.  I’ve done some journalism, short stories, poetry, and even an historical novel—Savage Destiny—during the time of the bodice rippers.  That novel was never published which is probably a good thing!  I may rework it someday though…  Now I guess I have come full circle—romantic suspense is very much like a melodrama. 

1. Describe your book in ten words or fewer.  

Spicy romance and intrigue centered around a mysterious plane crash. 

2. With such a large number of books out there, what do you feel sets your apart from all others? 

The setting, and the intriguing characters.  The story takes place in the Wisconsin’s Kettle Moraine Forest and picturesque Door County; but while the setting is idyllic, the drama is not.  As for the characters, Everett and Keith are former Afghanistan special ops pilots who have vowed to look out for each other; Kate is a tough, modern day heroine, head of her own software company, and has no family left in this world but Keith.  The story is about loyalty and family, and how far one will go to protect a loved one.

3. Tell us a bit about your influences and just how / why these authors and / or their work inspire(s) you.

 I have loved a good mystery since I was very young.  I remember reading all the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books; then I moved on to Louisa May Alcott, J.R.R. Tolkien, Mary Higgins Clark, Robert Ludlum, Tom Clancy, Stephen King, Nora Roberts—just to name a few.  I think all have influenced me, as well as the classics—I was a literature major in college.  I love an expertly written, well-told story. 

4. How did the seeds of this story come to you?  

I have to credit my husband for that.  He was part-owner in an aircraft repair shop.  I spent many a day watching him work on airplanes at the small airfield, and watching the planes take off and land.  The main plotline gelled, though, after reading a news article.

5. Which five books would you want with you if you were stranded on a desert island? 

Hopefully, I am stranded with my Kindle that I have just loaded with: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, for fantasy; a hot new thriller, whichever is out at the time; a couple of romantic suspense stories, for heat and adventure; and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare.  Between the five of those, I should have lots of characters to keep me company! 

6. Who was your first book crush? (Or if you’ve never had a book crush then who is your favourite character to read about?) 

Other than Nancy Drew, it has to be Jo in Little Women. I read Little Women in sixth grade, and had the opportunity to play Jo in our eighth grade production.  Jo was a tough young woman who gave me the idea that I could be a writer, too.  

7. Let’s imagine that your book’s getting turned into a movie / TV series. Woo! Which actors can you envision playing the lead roles?  

Okay, this question gave me pause.  I’ve honestly thought about it for twenty-four hours and decided I would just have to do a casting call.  I guess I’ve created rather individual characters and I would need to find just the right person to play them—strength with compassion; stubbornness with humility; softness and beauty with a steel core.  I had originally thought of Tom Cruise for Everett, (of course, who wouldn’t), but I think he’s getting a little too old for my hero now, and given the latest news of the breakup of TomKat, probably not such a good choice!  I tell you what, for those of you who read the book, if you come up with any suggestions, please let me know!

8. What do you like to do in your free time (when you’re not reading or writing)? 

I enjoy swimming, travelling around the country in my RV, and golfing.  I really enjoy getting away from the computer and out into the fresh air.  There’s nothing like smacking a golf ball around the course to get your frustrations out when you’re working out a plot point.

9. If you could visit your destination of choice, which plane would you be on in the morning?  

Italy.  I have a painting of a quaint little seaside town hanging above the fireplace in my family room.  Wouldn’t it be great if I could just wiggle my nose like Samantha in bewitched, or get into the transporter like Kirk in Star Trek and whalah!  I’m there!  The truth is, I’m not crazy about flying for eight hours.  But maybe someday…

10. What’s your least favourite chore to do around the house? 

Vacuuming.

11. Does bacon make everything taste better? 

I try to eat healthy, so I don’t use bacon very often (because I have to leave room for cake!)  However, broccoli salad just doesn’t taste right without the real thing, and an “LT” doesn’t cut it either!

12. Anything else you’d like to share with us all? Extra points if you make us giggle!

As for influence for characters, my husband’s co-workers swear he was my main influence for Drake, the intense, hot Irish/Italian hero in my previous novel, heartbeats.  My husband’s response?  He just smiles.  Mine?  I swear it isn’t so, (at least not entirely ); but I mustn’t protest too much, because I think he actually enjoys the comparison!

Thank you for taking the time to share this with us. I wish you the best of luck with your future career as a published writer and look forward to seeing the book you churn out next!

The author:

I write, basically, because I just can’t help myself. I can't resist the challenge of taking the intriguing characters and storylines that pop into my head and fleshing them out into compelling manuscripts. Romantic suspense is a natural to me, because it allows me to combine my love of a good mystery with a passionate love story. It also lets me express my appreciation for the outdoors in the settings which I recreate on the page.


My first novel, heartbeats, is a story of romance and danger set against the background of busy Chicago and the quiet, rural cornfields of northern Illinois. heartbeats has garnered numerous awards, including RWA Golden Heart Finalist for Best Romantic Suspense Novel and Best First Book by First Coast Romance Writers.


In freefall, my second novel, danger and suspense are juxtaposed against the tranquil valley of Sylvan Lake (fictitious) in the Kettle Moraine Forest and the sun-dappled waters of Door County, Wisconsin.


When I’m not sketching characters or working out plot problems, you might find me on the golf course working on my handicap. I also enjoy traveling around the country seeking out new settings for my novels with my husband and my empty nest puppies, Ginger and Nikute.


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