Audio Review: Strangeletts by Michelle Gagnon

Title: Strangelets

Author: Michelle Gagnon

Narrator: Rebecca Gible

Publisher: AudioGO

Format: Unabridged Audio

Length: 8 hrs: 46 mins

Publication: April 9, 2013

Source: Publisher

Genre: Science Fiction, YA, Suspense

Amazon|Barnes and Noble|Goodreads

Synopsis:
17-year-old Sophie lies on her deathbed in California, awaiting the inevitable loss of her battle with cancer…

17-year-old Declan stares down two armed thugs in a back alley in Galway, Ireland…

17-year-old Anat attempts to traverse a booby-trapped tunnel between Israel and Egypt…

 All three strangers should have died at the exact same moment, thousands of miles apart. Instead, they awaken together in an abandoned hospital—only to discover that they’re not alone. Three other teens from different places on the globe are trapped with them. Somebody or something seems to be pulling the strings. With their individual clocks ticking, they must band together if they’re to have any hope of surviving. 

Soon they discover that they've been trapped in a future that isn't of their making: a deadly, desolate world at once entirely familiar and utterly strange. Each teen harbors a secret, but only one holds the key that could get them home. As the truth comes to light Sophie, Declan, Anat, and the rest must decide what to do with a second chance at life—if they can survive to claim it.

My Thoughts: 

Strangelet is a hypothetical particle consisting of a bound state of roughly equal numbers of up, down, and strange quarks. Its size would be a minimum of a few femtometers across (with the mass of a light nucleus). Once the size becomes macroscopic (on the order of metres across), such an object is usually called a quark star or "strange star" rather than a strangelet. *Wikipedia*.

This is a very interesting story.  Sophie is prepared to die. Declan is working to buy a nice gift for his girlfriend. Anat is escaping to be with the one she loves. None of them end up where they planned and embark on a mission to be reunited with there loved ones. 

I was immediately drawn to all six characters. It's not often that that happens. I was a little leery of one of the characters due to her lack of information sharing. The world they have been drawn into is very strange. It looks familiar but when bears are running in terror for their lives you know something is wrong. 

This story is very fast paced. Behind every turn is an obstacle more suspenseful than the last. I enjoyed this story and was very glad that there was a proglogue. I would have been up set if it had just ended and I didn't know what became of each character. 

This an unabridged single voiced audio. The original work is very appropriate for audio adaptation. Rebecca Gible did an excellent job with the narration. She accents sound authentic and it was easy to identify each character.  Pacing was maintained throughout the production and the plot flows without interruption. I didn't have any concerns with the sound quality. 

Tour: First Chapter Reveal & Trailer for the Beloved Daughter by Alana Tery

The Beloved Daughter by Alana Terry 

Self Inspirational Fiction 

In a small North Korean village, a young girl struggles to survive. Catastrophic floods have ravaged her countryside. But it is her father’s faith, not the famine of North Hamyong Province, that most threatens Chung-Cha’s well-being. Is Chung-Cha’s father right to be such a vocal believer? Or is he a fool to bring danger on the head of his only daughter? Chung-Cha is only a girl of twelve and is too young to answer such questions. Yet she is not too young to face a life of imprisonment and forced labor. Her crime? Being the daughter of a political dissident. “The Beloved Daughter” follows Chung-Cha into one of the most notorious prison camps of the contemporary free world. Will Chung-Cha survive the horrors of Camp 22? And if she does survive, will her faith remain intact? “The Beloved Daughter” won second place in the 2012 Women of Faith Writing Contest.

Purchase Your Copy:

AUTHOR’S WEBSITE| AMAZON

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FIRST CHAPTER:

A BRUISED REED

“A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.” Isaiah 42:3

The wind howled, pummeling gusts of snow through the cracks in our cabin walls. If the stinging cold and the hunger pains weren’t enough to keep me awake, my parents’ hushed argument was. I hugged my blanket as I listened to their voices, forceful and angry as the winter gale.

“We can’t risk drawing attention to ourselves,” Mother warned. “These inspectors report to Pyongyang.”

I slipped one eye open, just a crack. I knew my parents were anxious about the arrival of the inspections unit from Pyongyang, our nation’s capital. Kim Jong-Il, the Dear Leader himself, sent these inspectors to Hasambong to weed out any subversive citizens. No one in Hasambong felt safe, even us children.

My parents stood in the middle of our cabin facing each other. Father didn’t move at all. His face reminded me of the statue of our nation’s founder in front of our school. Kim Il-Sung’s bronze image never yielded in rain or snow or hail or storm but gazed resolutely at his starving citizens with cold and stony eyes.

“I will not renounce the truths of Scripture just to make my life here on this earth a little more comfortable,” Father spat. He was still whispering, 

but the forcefulness of his words filled our cabin like the roar of the angry Tumen River in flood season. “‘If you falter in times of trouble,’” Father quoted, “‘how small is your strength’!”

Mother swore. “Don’t talk to me about strength! Don’t you think I wish things were different? But they’re not. You think I’m a coward. But I’m the one who watches out for our daughter’s safety while you bring open suspicion upon our household right in front of the inspectors. No, Husband.” Mother pointed a finger in his face.

“It is you who are the coward.”

Instinctively, I longed to rush to Father’s aid. In the candlelight, I saw Father’s frame droop. His shoulders sagged. He looked older and frailer than I ever saw him before. I waited for Father to respond, willing him to defend himself, but he was silent.

“You dare speak to me about courage,” Mother continued, probably unaware that she was close to shouting now. “You don’t realize how much courage it takes to get up every morning and go to work, knowing that my daughter could be interrogated any day by her teachers at that school. Knowing that I’m powerless to worship God like the Good Book says if I want my only child to see her thirteenth birthday. Knowing that my husband thinks I’m an apostate because I would rather see Chung-Cha survive to adulthood. And meanwhile you – for the sake of a mere philosophy – are willing to condemn our entire family to prison camp. Of course you realize what those guards would do to Chung-Cha there, don’t you?” I prayed for sleep to shield me from my mother’s words, and I clenched my thin blanket tight against me.

“And do you know what will happen to Chung-Cha if she dies without ever learning the good news?” Father asked quietly.

“She knows the good news,” Mother insisted. “Why isn’t that enough? Why do you continue to endanger our only child? Especially now with the inspectors here, looking to make an example of traitors?”

“The Lord will care for us,” Father promised. I pretended not to hear the strain in his voice.

“You are certain of God’s provision,” Mother countered.

“Yet if Chung-Cha doesn’t die of cold and hunger this winter, she’ll just as likely die in a prison camp this spring. All because of your recklessness. You have the word of God in your heart.

Why can’t you keep it there instead of speaking so openly and condemning us all?”

Father was speechless. I willed away the sob that was rising in my throat at the sight of my dear father so humiliated. Could Mother be right? I never met anyone like my father, who memorized whole books of the Bible although Scripture was outlawed in North Korea, who whispered the gospel to his co-workers but never was caught. Father’s faith was so strong that I was certain the Hasambong mountains themselves would one day cave in at the sound of his prayers breathed in the darkness. Could this man – whose love for his Creator was so vast that the entire North Hamyong Province hardly seemed large enough to contain it – really be wrong to love God so deeply? Was Father foolish to obey God so fearlessly?

Father always promised that God would care for us just like he cared for the sparrows. Years ago, I was quick and eager to believe Father’s words of faith. But as each month of the famine grew worse, as each night I shivered from the cold and clenched my empty stomach while listening in on my parents’ disagreements, I wondered if my mother could be right. Seeds of doubt found fertile soil in my empty belly.

In our Hasambong village, even the sparrows were falling to the ground from starvation, not to rise again.

Now with the inspectors here, the danger was even more real. The prison camps were more than rumors. Two families in our small village of Hasambong had been relocated since the start of the famine. One couple was caught with a stolen potato.

The other family, whose infant I played with before she starved to death, was accused of cannibalism.

Was Mother right? With the People’s Safety Agency here to inspect us, wouldn’t God understand if Father was less vocal about his faith, given the circumstances and grave dangers to our family?

My father sighed, and I held my breath to hear what he would say in his defense.

“I am not a fool. I know what risks come from following Jesus Christ.” Father’s voice wasn’t angry anymore, but gentle, like the snow that occasionally covered the Hasambong mountainside in a blanket of unblemished white.

“Chung-Cha is a gift from God … as are you.” Father reached out his calloused, work-worn hand to wipe a tear off Mother’s gaunt cheek. She turned away with a disdainful snort.

Father continued, “Nevertheless, if I began to love these gifts more than the One who entrusted them to me, then I would not be able to look my Savior in the face when I stand before him and give an account of my life.

“It is God who gives me breath.” The confidence of Father’s quiet confession filled our cabin with uncharacteristic warmth. “And as long as my old worn-out heart keeps beating, as long as these tired lungs continue to draw air, I will not remain silent. I cannot. I will proclaim the Good News until my Savior returns to rule the earth or until he calls me home.”

My heart swelled at Father’s words of triumph and faith. I watched Mother’s face to see if she felt the same wave of power, the same surge of hope, that transcended the suffering and fear – even the constant hunger – of our provincial lives in rural North Korea.

Mother brushed past Father and unpinned her hair. She walked to the bed, yanked down the tattered blanket, and hissed, “Your stubborn faith will be the death of us all.”

Alana Terry is a homeschooling mother of three. “The Beloved Daughter” is her debut Christian novel and won second place in the Women of Faith writing contest. Alana is also the author of "A Boy Named Silas," the story of her son's complicated medical history and "What, No Sushi?" a children's chapter book about the Japanese-American internment. Visit her Website or connect her on Twitter.

Bad Girls: Sirens, Jezebels, Murderesses, Thieves, & Other Female Villains

Author: Jane Yolen and Heidi E. Y. Stemple

Illustrator: Rebecca Guay
Title:Bad Girls: Sirens, Jezebels, Murderesses, Thieves, & Other Female Villains

Publication: February 1, 2013

Publisher: Charlesbridge Publishing

Genre: Illustrated, Historical, Biography

Pages: 172

Audience: 10 and up

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Source: Public Library

Synopsis (from the Amazon.com): 
Meet twenty-six of history's most notorious women. Each bad girl has a rotten reputation, but there are two sides to every tale. Decide whether Tituba was really a conspiring witch or just a humble housemaid. Analyze the evidence stacked for and against Lizzie Borden. And what made the brazen Cleopatra so dishonorable . . . or honorable? Each chapter ends with comic panels featuring caricatures of the authors discussing the women, with Heidi arguing as the prosecution and Jane arguing for context.

My thoughts:
 I picked this book up from the library thinking it was something different. I thought the book would have a comic strip about the lady in question and explain how she was considered a bad girl. Instead, this book introduces a woman from history, gives a quick synopsis of her life and why she is considered a bad girl. The comic strip at the end is an illustration of the authors conducting "research" and arguing if the woman was truly bad or not. My undergraduate degree was in history, specifically focusing on women, so I knew most of the women in the book, but there were a few I had never heard of. So I did learn a couple of new things from this book. It was not a bad read. If you know someone who is interested in women's history then this may be a cute, quick read for them. I would suggest it to a middle school aged kid (particularly girls) to maybe help pique an interest in history.

Cover Reveal & Giveaway: Michael by Annabell Cadiz

Michael (Sons of Old Trilogy, #2)
Author: Annabell Cadiz
Genre: New Adult, Supernatural, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal
Estimated Publication Date: August 2013

Synopsis: Zahara Faraday looks like a normal eighteen-year-old and lives in a quiet neighborhood with her overprotective parents. She works at a bookstore and hangs out with her best friend Becca King on a daily basis. But underneath the normal lies a secret life filled with dangerous supernaturals. Zahara belongs to a world made of Light Witches, rogue Imagoes (supernatural creatures with super strength, speed), fallen angels, and Nephilim (hybrid children born half-human, half-angel). Where her father Solomon Faraday is human, her mother Mia and her Aunt Catalina are Light Witches. They help protect the human world by hunting down rogue supernaturals who commit heinous acts against humans.

What they never expected was the possibility of having to hunt down the one rogue coven they had befriended and come to trust in their battle against Lucifer. Rekesh Saint-Louis is the leader of the most powerful Imago coven in Florida and now he’s the most wanted. Supernatural bodies are starting to pile up with an ancient ritual long forbade being used to murder them and the symbol, one large cross with four smaller crosses around it, which represents Rekesh’s coven, being left behind. Rekesh and the Elders of his coven set out to find who is behind the murders and clearing his name before a war between the covens begins. To make matters more difficult, Rekesh also has to deal with the return of someone he would rather preferred stayed away.

Meanwhile, Zahara and Becca are spending more time brushing up on their training, knowing an attack from Lucifer can come at any moment. Between patrolling neighborhoods and hanging at the boarding school created by Charles Stephens—a fallen angel who created the school to protect the children of rogue supernaturals—they are introduced to an old friend of Charles, Michael. Zahara begins to develop a closer bond with Jason as they train and chase down clues to clear Rekesh’s name. Jason also starts to develop a close bond with Michael, protecting a very powerful secret.

But Rekesh’s coven being set up isn’t the only danger. A new powerful and lethal drug has emerged from the shadows of the supernatural world called Inferi. A side effect of the drug: it leaves the supernatural hungering for blood—both human and supernatural. 

Lucifer is on the move and he will stop at nothing to get his hands on Zahara and complete the first act of his plan.

A battle is about to begin. 

One that may cost the Faraday family everything they hold most dear.

About the Author:
Annabell Cadiz was born in the sweltering heat of South Florida. She was raised surrounded by Puerto Rican chefs and band of siblings that weren’t all related to her. A self-proclaimed nerd and book-a-holic (her room does hold much evidence to prove her claims are justifiable), she created TeamNerd Reviews to showcase her EXTREME love for novels where, along with her best friend, Bridget Strahin, she hosts book reviews, interviews, giveaways, Indie Shoutouts and much more. She also blog tour services for authors. She also had the pleasure of being published in three separate issue of Suspense Magazine. She also adores Cinnamon Teddy Grahams, has an addiction to Minute Maid Orange juice, and is a proud Jesus Freak. She is working on getting LUCIFER, the first book in SONS OF OLD TRILOGY ready to be published.
Website | Goodreads | TeamNerd Reviews | Twitter |Pinterest

Sons of Old Trilogy Giveaway

**Opened to U.S. and International Fans**

**Must be 13 or older to participate**

**Winner will be selected on MAY 31, 2013 and have 24 HOURS to respond before another winner is selected**

Ten Lucky Winners Will Receive

E-Copy of Lucifer (Sons of Old Trilogy, #1)  and ARC of Michael (Sons of Old Trilogy, #2) (once its ready)

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One Lucky Winner Will Receive

E-Copy of Lucifer (Sons of Old Trilogy, #1) by Annabell Cadiz
A cupcake keychain
Body wash from Bath and Body Works in the scent of Pin Chiffon
Girls Rock Wristband
Mini Notebook

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Review: Wish by Beth Bracken & Kay Fraser

Title: Wish (Faerieground #1)

Author: Beth Bracken & Kay Fraser

Illustrator: Odessa Sawyer

Publication: May 2013

Publisher: Stone Arch Book

Source: Author/Publisher

Genre: Fantasy, Middle Grade

Audience: 9+

Website|Amazon

Synopsis: Two friends, torn apart. Soli and Lucy argue, and then Lucy disappears, taken by the faeries who live in the forest near their homes. Can Soli save her friend, even if it means facing the biggest dangers she's ever experienced?

My Thoughts: Soli and Lucy have been best friends for as long as they can remember. One action changes everything and sends them to a forgotten land. This leaves Soli and Lucy in reversed roles. 

My 7 y/o loves what she has read of this book. I really like this story as well. It's a really quick read that is perfect for Middle Grade readers. My favorite part of the book is when Soli decides to do something brave. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series and I'm sure my daughter will be too.     

Author Bio:

Beth Bracken is a children's book editor. She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with her husband, Steve, and their son, Sam. When she's not reading, writing, or editing books, Beth spends most of her time knitting endlessly while watching reruns of old TV shows and drinking lots of tea. 

Kay Fraser is from Buenos Aires. She left home at eighteen and moved to North Dakota—basically the exact opposite of Argentina. These days, she designs books, writes, makes tea for her husband, and drives her daughters to their dance lessons.

About the Illustrator:
Odessa Sawyer is an illustrator from Santa Fe, New Mexico. She works mainly in digital mixed media, utilizing digital painting, photography, and traditional pen and ink. Odessa's work has graced book covers from many top publishing houses, and she has also done work for various film and television projects, posters, and album covers. Highly influenced by fantasy, fairy tales, fashion, and classic horror, Odessa's work celebrates a whimsical, dreamy, and vibrant quality.

Tour:The Storm Bottle by Nick Green

The Storm Bottle Swimming with dolphins is said to be the number one thing to do before you die. For 12-year-old Michael, it very nearly is. A secret boat trip has gone tragically wrong, and now he lies unconscious in hospital. But when Michael finally wakes up, he seems different. His step sister Bibi is soon convinced that he is not who he appears to be. Meanwhile, in the ocean beyond Bermuda’s reefs, a group of bottlenose dolphins are astonished to discover a stranger in their midst – a boy lost and desperate to return home. Bermuda is a place of mysteries. Some believe its seas are enchanted, and the sun-drenched islands conceal a darker past, haunted with tales of lost ships. Now Bibi and Michael are finding themselves in the most extraordinary tale of all.

 

Praise 'I loved it... An absolute winner.' - LA Weatherly, author of the Angel Burn trilogy 'A writer who knows how to grip the imagination, make you sit on the edge of your chair, and make you laugh out loud.' - Michelle Lovric, author of The Undrowned Child, The Mourning Emporium and The Book of Human Skin 'If you only ever buy one Kindle book in your life (although that sounds a bit unlikely, now that I stop and think) this has to be it.' - The Bookwitch blog.

Excerpt

I went to Michael’s room. He was propped up in bed. With his broken ribs he had to rest a lot. Music was playing, a choir all holy and echoey, with a boy’s solo voice soaring over it. Laura had been putting this CD on for him, hoping it would help. The soloist was Michael Brook.

            I turned the volume down. Michael’s eyes looked at me. I took a deep breath.

            ‘You’re not Michael, are you?’

            The bedclothes crinkled around him.

            ‘Are you… Were you…’ I made myself say it. ‘Are you a dolphin?’

            A huge sigh.

‘Yes. I’m a dolphin.’

‘But how –?’

‘A rainvoice,’ he added. ‘We call ourselves rainvoices.’

‘Why?’

            It wasn’t top of my list of questions, but hey.

Author Nick Green Nick Green is a UK children's and YA author, best known for his trilogy The Cat Kin, published in the UK by Strident Publishing and in Germany by Ravensburger, and also as a BBC audiobook. He has appeared on BBC radio talking about his books, and has been shortlisted for two UK children's book awards. He regularly does school visits and other children's literary events. The Storm Bottle is his first straight-to-Kindle novel.

Twitter * Website

 

Tour Giveaway

$25 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash

Ends 5/26/13

 

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Excerpt, Interview & Giveaway: The Haunting Season by Michelle Muto

Title: The Haunting Season
Author: Michelle Muto
Publication: December 21st 2012
Publisher: Dreamscapes, Ink
Genre: NA Paranormal/Ghosts

Amazon|Barnes & Noble|Goodreads

Synopsis:

Be careful what you let in…

Siler House has stood silent beneath Savannah’s moss-draped oaks for decades. Notoriously haunted, it has remained empty until college-bound Jess Perry and three of her peers gather to take part in a month-long study on the paranormal. Jess, who talks to ghosts, quickly bonds with her fellow test subjects. One is a girl possessed. Another just wants to forget. The third is a guy who really knows how to turn up the August heat, not to mention Jess’s heart rate…when he’s not resurrecting the dead.

The study soon turns into something far more sinister when they discover that Siler House and the dark forces within are determined to keep them forever. In order to escape, Jess and the others will have to open themselves up to the true horror of Siler House and channel the very evil that has welcomed them all.

Interview:

How did you come up with the idea for your book?

During a trip to Savannah, I visited the Sorrel-Weed house, which is reported to be Savannah’s most haunted house.

What is different about this book compared to others you’ve written?

For starters, The Haunting Season is New Adult. Secondly, the main characters are not supernatural beings.

Most unique or unusual research you’ve ever done for The Haunting Season?

Besides visiting the Sorrel-Weed house? Asking a former mortician about embalming methods in the early to mid 1900’s and how embalming and burial procedures have changed and why. It’s both fascinating and a bit gruesome.

What is the hardest part about writing?

Keeping my butt in the chair for as many hours as I need to per day. Resisting the urge to jump on the internet when I’m having difficulty with a scene.

If you could meet any author who is no longer living, who would it be?

Tough call. Edgar Allan Poe, probably. But I’d also like to meet Rod Serling and Alfred Hitchcock.

Can you tell us a little about your next project?

It’s a adult dark fantasy novel with action, castles, and gargoyles.  It’ll be out early this summer.

If you could do one thing over again in regards to writing, what would it be?

Write faster.

Vanilla or chocolate?

Chocolate.

Food you like the most? The least?

I tend to like Italian food the most. I can’t stand brussel sprouts or peas.

Favorite television show?

Supernatural

What weapon would you choose in the zombie apocalypse?

Harry Potter’s wand or maybe Dean Winchester. He’d be a formidable weapon against zombies, right? <grin>

What scares you?

Humanity. The way people treat others, animals, or the environment.

Excerpt: 

Something stirred under the bed again and she took a few safe steps away from the bedskirt.

“Jess!” a child’s voice whispered. Her heart in her throat, Jess bent down and carefully lifted the bedskirt, nearly tumbling backward at the sight. Gracie looked out from under the bed, then slid the Ouija board forward.

She wasn’t afraid of the girls, but that didn’t make her any less nervous. Jess still rationalized that good ghosts could be trapped in the same location as evil ones. If Grams appeared inside Siler House right now, Jess would still be jumpy. No, what scared her was that the girls had shown up under the bed.

“Geez, Gracie! You scared the crap out of me!”

Gracie’s bottom lip took on a pout. “We didn’t mean to scare you. But she scares us. We’re sorry Allison won’t help you. She doesn’t want to help us, either.”

Jess took in a steadying breath. “It’s okay. I’m fine now. Hey, we were just talking—”

“We said we’d help,” Gracie interrupted, still staring unblinkingly at Jess. She pushed the board forward another inch. “Don’t be mad we took it.”

Jess’s hands shook slightly as she took the Ouija board and planchette Gracie offered her. She’d explain about taking the board to Dr. Brandt later. Maybe he wouldn’t notice if it was gone for a few hours. “Thanks,” Jess managed to say.

Gracie smiled, then scooted backward, disappearing behind the bedskirt. From underneath the mattress came the sound of Gracie and Emma’s echoing laughter.

Author Bio:

Michelle Muto lives in northeast Georgia with her husband and two dogs. She loves changes of season, dogs, and all things geeky. Currently, she’s hard at work on her next book.

Website|Goodreads|Facebook|Twitter

Giveaway: This giveaway is for an ebook copy of The Haunting Season and open Internationally. Please use the rafflecopter form below to enter for a chance to win.

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