Young Adult Paranormal
Date Published: 5/28/12
Liz Hannigan has been on the run since she was twelve years old.
Her mother is dead. Her father has lost his job. And thanks to an
experimental procedure, Liz is now able to ‘download’ the contents of
every brain around her with a simple touch. Forced to hide from both the
federal government and a darkling group of morally deficient scientists
known as the Coalition determined to exploit her abilities, she moves
with her father to the bucolic coal town of Pound, West Virginia.
But the hunt for Liz and her abilities hasn’t ended, and her hopes
for peace are shattered when she inadvertently downloads the enigmatic
Carey Drake, whose unusual good looks and charm conceal a secret as
shocking as her own. Stunned by the knowledge that she has found someone
else who has extraordinary abilities, Liz finds herself drawn to Carey,
discovering a deep attraction, and dares to hope for the first time she
might find love.
But when an agent of the Coalition begins stalking her, Liz must
find a way to work with the government agency she most mistrusts as she
strives to build a longed-for normal life and take down the agent who
has tracked her down. Caught up in a struggle to save herself and those
she loves, the girl who sees all is blind to true danger until it is too
late.
Virtual Book Tour February 25 - March 15
February 25 - Reading Addiction Blog Tours - Meet and Greet
February 26 - Cozie Corner - Review
February 27 - The Writing Junkie - Review/Guest Post
February 28 - Taking it One Page at a Time - Review/Guest Post
March 1 - Must Read Faster - Review/Guest Post
March 2 - In This World of Books - Review
March 2 - Tana Rae Reads - Review/Guest Post
March 3 - Books and Needlepoint - Review
March 4 - Getting Your Read On - Review
March 5 - Read, Review, Smile - Review
March 6 - Owlnestly Book Reviews- Review
March 7 - Inside BJ's Head - Review
March 7 - Michelle's Paranormal Vault of Books -Review/Guest Post
Mattie Dunman
Author Bio:
Mattie
Dunman is a lifelong resident of "Wild & Wonderful" West Virginia,
and has dreamed of being a writer since she first held a pen in hand.
Mattie
has pursued several useless degrees to support this dream, and
presently enjoys teaching (or tormenting, as the case may be) college
students the dying art of public speaking. She spends most of her free
time writing, but also indulges in reading and traveling.
She
is the proud owner of an adorably insane American Eskimo named Finn,
and a tyrant cat named Bella, who take up more of her attention than
they probably should.
Mattie is currently working on the second book in the First Touch series, and is ecstatic about her new release, At First Touch.
Buy Links
Excerpt:
I was out on the main road and about
twenty minutes into my run when I heard the sound
of a motor gunning and the beep of a
horn. I slowed my pace and turned around to see Preston’s
truck chugging along about two hundred
yards behind me. His head was out of the window and
he was screaming at me; I couldn’t
understand what he was saying, but I felt pretty confident that
it wasn’t complimentary.
I came to a stop, wondering if I should
do something. I wasn’t really concerned; it wasn’t
as though he would run me over or
anything, but the blind hatred on his face made me a little
nervous. Finally, I decided to ignore
him and let him get his fill of throwing abuse my way and
then drive on past. Picking up the pace
again, I resolutely faced forward, pretending that the
continued screeching behind me was a
trick of the wind.
Suddenly the engine gave an almighty
roar and I heard the unwelcome sound of
squealing tires. With only a second to
register that I had vastly underestimated Preston’s anger
and mental instability, I swirled
around in time to see the grille of the truck just a few feet from
my face. I made to jump out of the way,
but all my knowledge and stolen tricks didn’t make me
fly, or move faster, or be any less
breakable than any other human being. I knew in that moment
how useless my ability really was. In
the face of the giant metal monster brimming with torque,
my mind was of no matter, it just
screamed out with the desire to live, to keep going.
There was a blow like a train hitting
me, but strangely there was no pain, and I was
moving faster than I could have
imagined away from the truck and into the field next to the road.
I was sure that the truck had hit me
and I was just flying through the air to my death, by some
fortunate stroke lucky enough to be
spared the pain of impact. In another instant the movement
had stopped and I realized I was being
held in a pair of strong arms against a rock-hard chest.
Carey looked down at me, his eyes
frantic. “Are you alright? He didn’t hit you, did he?”
“N-no,” I stuttered. Having
downloaded Carey I was aware of his incredible speed, but
there’s something very different
about knowing something theoretically and experiencing it
firsthand.
He put me down gently in the grass and
I just sat there, too dumbfounded to speak. Even
as he anxiously surveyed me for damage,
we heard the rending scream of out of control tires and
the heavy metal sound of Preston’s
truck crashing into something.
“I’ll be right back,” Carey said
and then I blinked and he was gone.
GUEST POST:
What
if we were all telepathic...
When
I sat down to write At
First Touch, I
wasn’t thinking about developing a character who could read minds.
I was creating someone who had seen the worst of people and was still
fighting. As the story developed, it became clear that Liz’s
ability to ‘download’ the minds of those around her wasn’t the
main problem; it was how people in power perceived her and sought to
use her for their own purposes.
But
it got me thinking. There are so many books, movies, etc. about
people who can read minds or other variations on the theme. What is
it about knowing the thoughts of everyone around us that is so
fascinating?
When
I was a lowly undergraduate, I majored in Psychology. I’m one of
those people who can be standing in line at a grocery store and have
the person behind me tap my shoulder and tell me their life story,
and the thought of pursuing that odd knack as a career was tempting
for a while. It certainly gave me lots of inspiration as a writer;
but I think the real draw was that elusive idea that learning about
the brain would make it easier to read people, understand the way
they think, why they behave the way they do. In short, I wanted to be
a mind-reader.
Everyone
is a bit of a mind-reader. It’s how we know to stop asking the boss
for a raise when he gets a certain tone in his voice, why we
recognize when our significant other is about to end things, or how
we know the time is right to ask our parents for that raise in
allowance. We base our reactions on a lifetime of memories and
precedence, and most of the time we’re right.
So
why do we dream about more?
I
recently read an article about developments in ‘synthetic
telepathy,’ which is intended to create a connection between our
thoughts and technology. So eventually, this area of research hopes
to produce the ability to send a text or email with a thought, to
give commands on a video game telepathically, along with other, more
practical implementations. Can you imagine if covert military
operatives were able to communicate brain to brain instead of relying
on whispers or signals? Or individuals suffering from strokes, ALS,
or other debilitating conditions that prevent speech being able to
hold conversations in their heads? The implications are staggering.
Of
course, I wasn’t thinking about any of this when I created Liz; I
just wanted to see what it would be like if she were burdened by
knowing everything about anyone she came in contact with, and how
that would change her as a person. And I’ve come to the conclusion
that even if mind-reading technology comes along in the near future,
I want to stick with the old-fashioned kind and just try to gauge the
mood of whoever I’m talking to by using facial expressions and tone
of voice.
After
what I’ve put poor Liz through, I don’t know how much of a ‘gift’
mind-reading really is.
My Thoughts:
Simply put this is a story about a wanting a normal life. Liz wants nothing more than to be an average girl, but her abilities and circumstances make that very difficult for her. Yes, I know this sounds like every other PR novel out there, but believe me. This one is very good. The characters are developed perfectly, and the plot is crafted in such a fun way that I couldn't put this book down!
Author Bio:
Mattie
Dunman is a lifelong resident of "Wild & Wonderful" West Virginia,
and has dreamed of being a writer since she first held a pen in hand.
Mattie
has pursued several useless degrees to support this dream, and
presently enjoys teaching (or tormenting, as the case may be) college
students the dying art of public speaking. She spends most of her free
time writing, but also indulges in reading and traveling.
She
is the proud owner of an adorably insane American Eskimo named Finn,
and a tyrant cat named Bella, who take up more of her attention than
they probably should.
Mattie is currently working on the second book in the First Touch series, and is ecstatic about her new release, At First Touch.
Buy Links
Excerpt:
I was out on the main road and about
twenty minutes into my run when I heard the sound
of a motor gunning and the beep of a
horn. I slowed my pace and turned around to see Preston’s
truck chugging along about two hundred
yards behind me. His head was out of the window and
he was screaming at me; I couldn’t
understand what he was saying, but I felt pretty confident that
it wasn’t complimentary.
I came to a stop, wondering if I should
do something. I wasn’t really concerned; it wasn’t
as though he would run me over or
anything, but the blind hatred on his face made me a little
nervous. Finally, I decided to ignore
him and let him get his fill of throwing abuse my way and
then drive on past. Picking up the pace
again, I resolutely faced forward, pretending that the
continued screeching behind me was a
trick of the wind.
Suddenly the engine gave an almighty
roar and I heard the unwelcome sound of
squealing tires. With only a second to
register that I had vastly underestimated Preston’s anger
and mental instability, I swirled
around in time to see the grille of the truck just a few feet from
my face. I made to jump out of the way,
but all my knowledge and stolen tricks didn’t make me
fly, or move faster, or be any less
breakable than any other human being. I knew in that moment
how useless my ability really was. In
the face of the giant metal monster brimming with torque,
my mind was of no matter, it just
screamed out with the desire to live, to keep going.
There was a blow like a train hitting
me, but strangely there was no pain, and I was
moving faster than I could have
imagined away from the truck and into the field next to the road.
I was sure that the truck had hit me
and I was just flying through the air to my death, by some
fortunate stroke lucky enough to be
spared the pain of impact. In another instant the movement
had stopped and I realized I was being
held in a pair of strong arms against a rock-hard chest.
Carey looked down at me, his eyes
frantic. “Are you alright? He didn’t hit you, did he?”
“N-no,” I stuttered. Having
downloaded Carey I was aware of his incredible speed, but
there’s something very different
about knowing something theoretically and experiencing it
firsthand.
He put me down gently in the grass and
I just sat there, too dumbfounded to speak. Even
as he anxiously surveyed me for damage,
we heard the rending scream of out of control tires and
the heavy metal sound of Preston’s
truck crashing into something.
“I’ll be right back,” Carey said
and then I blinked and he was gone.
GUEST POST:
GUEST POST:
What
if we were all telepathic...
When
I sat down to write At
First Touch, I
wasn’t thinking about developing a character who could read minds.
I was creating someone who had seen the worst of people and was still
fighting. As the story developed, it became clear that Liz’s
ability to ‘download’ the minds of those around her wasn’t the
main problem; it was how people in power perceived her and sought to
use her for their own purposes.
But
it got me thinking. There are so many books, movies, etc. about
people who can read minds or other variations on the theme. What is
it about knowing the thoughts of everyone around us that is so
fascinating?
When
I was a lowly undergraduate, I majored in Psychology. I’m one of
those people who can be standing in line at a grocery store and have
the person behind me tap my shoulder and tell me their life story,
and the thought of pursuing that odd knack as a career was tempting
for a while. It certainly gave me lots of inspiration as a writer;
but I think the real draw was that elusive idea that learning about
the brain would make it easier to read people, understand the way
they think, why they behave the way they do. In short, I wanted to be
a mind-reader.
Everyone
is a bit of a mind-reader. It’s how we know to stop asking the boss
for a raise when he gets a certain tone in his voice, why we
recognize when our significant other is about to end things, or how
we know the time is right to ask our parents for that raise in
allowance. We base our reactions on a lifetime of memories and
precedence, and most of the time we’re right.
So
why do we dream about more?
I
recently read an article about developments in ‘synthetic
telepathy,’ which is intended to create a connection between our
thoughts and technology. So eventually, this area of research hopes
to produce the ability to send a text or email with a thought, to
give commands on a video game telepathically, along with other, more
practical implementations. Can you imagine if covert military
operatives were able to communicate brain to brain instead of relying
on whispers or signals? Or individuals suffering from strokes, ALS,
or other debilitating conditions that prevent speech being able to
hold conversations in their heads? The implications are staggering.
Of
course, I wasn’t thinking about any of this when I created Liz; I
just wanted to see what it would be like if she were burdened by
knowing everything about anyone she came in contact with, and how
that would change her as a person. And I’ve come to the conclusion
that even if mind-reading technology comes along in the near future,
I want to stick with the old-fashioned kind and just try to gauge the
mood of whoever I’m talking to by using facial expressions and tone
of voice.
After
what I’ve put poor Liz through, I don’t know how much of a ‘gift’
mind-reading really is.
My Thoughts:
Simply put this is a story about a wanting a normal life. Liz wants nothing more than to be an average girl, but her abilities and circumstances make that very difficult for her. Yes, I know this sounds like every other PR novel out there, but believe me. This one is very good. The characters are developed perfectly, and the plot is crafted in such a fun way that I couldn't put this book down!
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