Saving Raine

I've reviewed this book once before on my blog, but I did it again for a group blog that I write for, so I thought I might as well let you see it again. It's been a while since I did the review.

BLURB:

Matt, Raine went to California because her parents thought it was safe. It’s not. You’ve got to get her out as soon as possible. She could die, Matt.

When 19-year-old Matt Carney gets a cryptic message from his father telling him to go to California and save his girlfriend, Raine, he doesn’t hesitate—he grabs his AK-47, revs up his blue pickup, and gets ready to make the 2,300-mile roadtrip.

But cross-country travel in 2021 isn’t easy—or, sometimes, even possible. The U.S. has become a near-military state: 17,000 checkpoints severely restrict interstate movement, Predator drones target innocent civilians without cause, and explosions rock cities daily. Matt and his stepbrother, Benjy, face deadly attacks from a corrupt government, ruthless local law enforcement, and bloodthirsty terrorist groups as they embark on their trek. They’re about to find out that their trip is much more than a private journey, and their success could change the face of the country—forever.

Can Matt and Benjy outrun the drone missiles raining down on their heads? Can they avoid assassination by government officials hell-bent on taking over what little is left of the country? Can they outsmart the deadly schemes set in motion against them?

Break the rules.

Save the girl.

He only gets one chance before she’s gone forever.

My Review

Saving Raine is set in the year 2021. American democracy is almost dead, replaced with near-military rule. Technology has expanded and is used by both the military and civilians. Resistance groups dot the country, but with the futuristic technology, they have a hard time evading the  authorities.

Things I Liked:

1. The characters are well-drawn. They aren’t flat, and I don’t think they were terribly stereotypical.
2. There’s a lot of action and suspense which is also well done and keeps you reading.
3. The plot works well, and has some nice twists and turns to surprise you.

Things I Didn’t Like:

1. Personally, I didn’t care for so much futuristic technology, but it was woven into the plot, and this is a personal thing on my part. Some people won’t mind.
2. Again, a personal thing, I thought some of the scenes were too violent for a new adult book, but I know some people will disagree with me here as well.

Saturday Sample and Weekend Writing Warriors: Never Trust a Pretty Wolf

Welcome to Saturday Sample and Weekend Writing Warriors. Today we'll continue to share excerpts from Never Trust a Pretty Wolf. On Sunday when you finish here, do go to http://www.wewriwa.blogspot.com for more excerpts from a bunch of great authors.

Blurb:

Liesel Wolf has a secret, a dangerous secret she’ll go to any lengths to conceal. When she’s paired in a charity game with sexy marshal Andy Bryce, a man with secrets of his own, her carefully constructed world comes crashing down, and Liesel’s on a collision course with her past.

Buy link:  https://amzn.to/2KY04Rj

Excerpt: 

Chapter One

Last Week

“Fine by me.”

By seven fifty, they’d finished their breakfast of bacon, eggs, and pancakes and had their latitude and longitude chart unrolled. Andy couldn’t wait to hear from Melton. Trying to make conversation with Liesel Wolf reminded him of talking to a cool, marble statue. Every time he spoke she stared blankly at him, but she didn’t deign to make a reply unless she couldn’t get out of it.

Promptly at eight, Melton emailed the first set of coordinates. Andy quickly scanned his chart. “Those coordinates are in South Carolina.”

“South Carolina? That’s at least twelve hours from here.”

This week: We're in Andy's POV

Astraeus & Retaliation

Titles: Astraeus & Retaliation

Series: The Oceanstone Initiative

Author: Haley Cavanagh

Genre: YA/Sci-Fi Romance

Release Date: 10.12.18 & 12.27.19
Publisher: Covey Publishing, LLC

One pre-apocalyptic Earth. One desperate space mission to find a solution. One unexpected alien. 

When Dr. Sakota Thorell signed onto the mission to scout out a new, habitable planet, she knew discovering extraterrestrial life was always a possibility. But she never expected to find an alien adrift in space, nor for that alien to be so intriguing. Sakota feels an instant and undeniable attraction to Astraeus, but he represents a million possibilities, and just as many threats. 

There are others hunting Astraeus, and his rescue may cost Earth its last hope.

One doctor, one alien lover, one botanist, and one engineer on a desperate mission to save earth from human destruction. 

Sakota saved Astraeus and her friends from certain death, but in doing so, she gained the attention of the Oreck, who will stop at nothing to destroy everything in their path. 

With their ship severely damaged, Sakota and her crew land on a nearby planet and seek sanctuary while they make repairs to return home. But nothing on this perfect planet is as it appears, and Sakota soon learns they've traded one danger for another. 

Hunted and targeted, will Sakota be able to carry out her mission, or will everyone she cares about be destroyed?

Sakota took a deep breath. “Okay. Let’s do it. We’re not going to survive if we don’t.” Hisoka and Tatiana turned around to man their consoles. She ate the last of her ration piece and slipped her hand into Astraeus’s. The escape pod reached the mouth of the black hole, then without warning, surged forward.
When Sakota was a child, long before Alistair rescued her from the orphanage in the squalid wasteland of London, the other children liked to play a game called Lights Out. In the main room where she bunked with fifteen other girls, a shaft of light streamed in from the hallway, in the same spot every night, like clockwork. The adult on night duty would check in once an hour and perform a headcount as they slept.
A few nights a week, a handful of the girls awakened and killed the hallway lights so they could scare and torture whomever they didn’t like among them. It was a powerful systematic lesson, however cruel. Sakota grew up knowing her place at the bottom rung of life. She’d never fit into the cookie-cutter type molding the upper-class girls had been bred for. She’d proved early on that she’d fight back with a vengeance when provoked, but she wasn’t certain which was worse; being preyed upon or listening to other girls’ pleas for help as she lay in the pitch-black room. The memory had stayed with her well into adulthood, as well as the countless times she could and should have stepped in to help instead of being crippled by primal fear and self-preservation. Children could be cruel. But the fear she’d experienced then was nothing, nothing, compared to being sucked into a black hole.
The escape pod whirled inside the conduit and pitched them around in a circle. They spun, at the mercy of inexhaustible energy along the black hole’s trajectory. Though she’d experienced raw fear when the Oreck had taken over the Sleipnir science vessel and killed everyone, this was different. Before, she at least had an idea what she was up against. Three razor-sharp talons emerging from claws didn’t lie. Being sucked into the black hole was like being an ant in a cyclone.
Astraeus squeezed her palm reassuringly. She turned and looked at him. They were both strapped in, tight.
Astraeus squeezed her hand. “Don’t be afraid.”
The speed of the escape pod amplified. Ribbons of light streamed past the windows like gossamer silk as the ship darted into unknown darkness. Sakota gritted her teeth. Oh, screw not acting afraid. She was terrified.

Haley Cavanagh is a military veteran, wife, and mother. She is an alumna of Columbia College, a musical theater nut, and she loves to dive into any book that crosses her path. Haley resides with her family in the United States and enjoys spending time with her husband and children when she’s not writing. She loves to hear from her readers, and encourages you to contact her via her website and social media.

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Catfish

Title: Catfish

Duet: An Illusive Duet Book 1

Author: Hazel Grace

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Release Date: March 24, 2020

I met her through another man’s eyes. 

Beauty in every sense of the word complete with hypnotizing eyes, plush lips that could do the most wicked things, and a body most men only experience in their wildest fantasies.

Fake—that’s the first thing I thought... Until she sent me a selfie flipping me off, those same beautiful eyes tempting me to lose control.

But she could never be mine. 

Never. 

My position doesn’t pose for it and my past won’t allow it. 

I have to stay away from her, but of course—like most things in life—that’s easier said than done.

Especially when she swerves right into my lane and purposely crosses the line.

She wants to challenge me, and while I know it’s best to veer away, I don’t back down.

This woman doesn’t know what she’s getting herself into. 

And apparently, I don’t either.

Hazel Grace is an avid music lover and hardcore Oakland Raiders fan from the mitten state of Michigan. Her writing goals are "what the f*ck" storylines while enjoying her readers private messaging her to cuss her out.

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