Who among us will cast aside a comfortable existence and risk death to follow a dream?

A world kept peaceful for a thousand years by the magic of the ruling vicars. But a threat lurks from a violent past. Wizards from the darkness have hidden their sorcery in a place called the keep and left a trail of clues that have never been solved.

Nathaniel has grown up longing for more but unwilling to challenge the vicars. Until his friend Thomas is taken for a teaching, the mysterious coming-of-age ritual. Thomas returns but with his dreams ripped away. When Orah is taken next, Nathaniel tries to rescue her and ends up in the prisons of Temple City. There he meets the first keeper of the ancient clues. But when he seeks the keep, what he finds is not magic at all.

If he reveals the truth, the words of the book of light might come to pass:

“If there comes among you a prophet saying ‘Let us return to the darkness,’ you shall stone him, because he has sought to thrust you away from the light.”

 

I received There Comes a Prophet by David Litwack for the blog tour over at Xpresso Book Tours. I found the cover to be fascinating, and I was in the mood for a dystopia/sci fi/fantasy type of book. I was a little interested in how the author was going to meld those three categories into one book, but he managed to do exactly that.

David Litwack’s writing is so beautiful and full of detail. I could really visualize everything that I was reading, which is something that takes a lot of skill. Sometimes I thought that there was a bit too much detail, though. There were some scenes that had two to three pages of detail for one specific thing, which I thought was a bit too much.

One thing that I loved about this book were the characters. Nathaniel, Thomas and Orah start out as young adults in the beginning of the book, and there is a lot of maturity that develops in each of them throughout the book. They each had their own individual personalities and voices, which I adored.

On a negative note, there was a bit too much religion in the book for my taste. This is obviously something that is not going to bother everyone, but that’s really just not something that I’m interested in at all. Litwack did a very good job of making it so that the reader wasn’t being preached to, and I really appreciated that. The religion also tied in well with the book. Again, it’s just a personal complaint.

Overall, I really enjoyed There Comes a Prophet by David Litwack. The plot was captivating and well-written, and I’m interested in reading more from him in the future. I would definitely recommend that fans of dystopia and sci fi YA books give this book a shot, as it will keep you on your toes and leave you craving more.

 

Pages: 282

Publisher: Double Dragon Publishing

Publication Date: July 12th, 2012

Rating: :

 

Teaser Quote: “Like a foolish parent, to save us from wickedness, they’ve given us a world of limits and not a world of possibilities.”

Buy the book: Amazon Barnes & Noble The Book Depository

Book Trailer Goodreads

 

The urge to write first struck when working on a newsletter at a youth encampment in the woods of northern Maine. It may have been the night when lightning flashed at sunset followed by northern lights rippling after dark. Or maybe it was the newsletter’s editor, a girl with eyes the color of the ocean. But he was inspired to write about the blurry line between reality and the fantastic.

Using two fingers and lots of white-out, he religiously typed five pages a day throughout college and well into his twenties. Then life intervened. He paused to raise two sons and pursue a career, in the process becoming a well-known entrepreneur in the software industry, founding several successful companies. When he found time again to daydream, the urge to write returned. There Comes a Prophet is his first novel in this new stage of life.

David and his wife split their time between Cape Cod, Florida and anywhere else that catches their fancy. He no longer limits himself to five pages a day and is thankful every keystroke for the invention of the word processor.

Stalk David: Website Goodreads Facebook Twitter

 

Author Interview:

Cats or Dogs? Dogs. I’m allergic to cats.

Hunger Games or Mortal Instruments? Hunger Games.

Chocolate or Vanilla? Vanilla.

 

Can you tell readers about your latest book, There Comes a Prophet?

There Comes a Prophet is about a society devoid of technology, the result of an overreaction to a distant past where progress had overtaken humanity and led to social collapse. The solution—an enforced return to a simpler time. But Prophet is also a coming of age story, a tale of three friends and their loyalty to each other as they struggle to confront a world gone awry. Each searches for the courage to fight the limits imposed by their leaders, along the way discovering their unique talents and purpose in life.

What were the challenges with writing There Comes a Prophet?

As the story progresses, readers begin to realize this is not an idyllic past but a dystopian future. The main characters discover things that are familiar to today’s audience, but alien to them. I had to be careful to view every detail through the eyes of people who have grown up in a more primitive time. I tried to keep in mind the quote from Arthur C. Clarke: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

Did you ever experience writer’s block? How did you work through that?

I’m sure no writer sits down and has words flow freely while writing an entire novel. I sometimes wander down plot paths that get me in trouble, so I have to back up and start again. I force characters to do things that are against their nature and they rebel. At a certain level, the novelist’s challenge is to be absolutely clear what he’s trying to say. The problem is that when we stare at a blank screen initially, it just isn’t that clear.

I try to have the mindset that there will be lots of drafts, that with each, I’ll better understand the characters and the story. When I get stuck, I go back to basics: what do the main characters want? What’s stopping them from getting it? How will they overcome the current obstacle and move on to the next, greater obstacle until they either achieve their goal or realize it’s not what they really wanted.

If I’m having trouble seeing the story clearly, I’ll take a break, read, or go for a long walk. Occasionally, I need to set the project aside and work on something else for a while, until I can gain a fresh perspective. The worst thing a writer can do is sit there and bang his head against the screen.

Do you have any writing habits?

I write in two hour sessions, the most I can do at one sitting. I generally try to get one under my belt first thing in the morning while I’m fresh. Then, after getting some exercise and having lunch, I’ll do a second session in the afternoon. On bad days, that requires a nap. On good days, when the story is clicking and I’m making good progress, I’ll do a third session at night.

How long did it take you to write There Comes a Prophet?

It took a year on the first try. Then I put it aside and wrote a couple of drafts of a different novel. After that, I went back to it with a much sharper pencil, figuratively speaking, and spent another six months of additional editing.

You have two other books that you’re working on: The Daughter of the Sea and the Sky and Along the Watchtower. Can you give us a little info about those?

Along the Watchtower is a mainstream fantasy about an Iraq war veteran from a troubled family background, who has been severely injured in an IED attack. Prior to the attack, he coped with tragedy and hardship by playing World of Warcraft every chance he had. Now, suffering from traumatic brain injury and PTSD, he lapses in and out of a dream world like in the fantasy game. But unlike the video game, his quest is not for gold or a higher level, but to find a reason to live.

The Daughter of the Sea and the Sky is about a world divided between the Blessed Lands, a place of the spirit, and the Republic, whose people worship at the altar of reason. A mysterious nine-year-old girl from the Blessed Lands sails into the lives of a troubled couple in the Republic and changes everyone she meets. She reveals nothing about herself, other than to say she’s the daughter of the sea and the sky. But she harbors a secret wound she herself cannot heal.

For more of an advance look, you can check them out at www.davidlitwack.com.

What inspires you to write?

Those people in my head who have stories they want to be told.

What is the best book that you’ve read recently?

I’ll give you two: Alan Brennert’s Molok’ai—a fictional biography of a woman who grew up and lived in the infamous leper colony. It’s sounds depressing but it’s one of the most uplifting books I’ve read in a while. And Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus, for its originality and wonderful, lyrical style.

What is currently in your To-Be-Read pile?

I recently finished Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro and Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass. So I’ve added to my to-read list The Remains of the Day and the last two books of the His Dark Materials trilogy.

 

Giveaway:

One winner will win a paperback copy of There Comes a Prophet by David Litwack

Giveaway open to U.S. and Canadian residents only.

Giveaway will run from March 28th, 2013 to April 8th, 2013

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

There are some things you can’t leave behind…

A broken-down camper hidden deep in a national forest is the only home fifteen year-old Carey can remember. The trees keep guard over her threadbare existence, with the one bright spot being Carey’s younger sister, Jenessa, who depends on Carey for her very survival. All they have is each other, as their mentally ill mother comes and goes with greater frequency. Until that one fateful day their mother disappears for good, and two strangers arrive. Suddenly, the girls are taken from the woods and thrust into a bright and perplexing new world of high school, clothes and boys.

Now, Carey must face the truth of why her mother abducted her ten years ago, while haunted by a past that won’t let her go… a dark past that hides many a secret, including the reason Jenessa hasn’t spoken a word in over a year. Carey knows she must keep her sister close, and her secrets even closer, or risk watching her new life come crashing down.

 

Carey and her little sister Jenessa have lived in the woods for as long as they can remember. For Jenessa, it’s been her whole life. They’ve survived off beans and other canned foods, had no running water or electricity, shared a cot in a trailer, and were constantly abused by their meth-addict mother when she was actually around. But their mom has now been missing for two months, and food supplies are running low. Carey doesn’t know how much longer she and her sister can survive without their mom.

One afternoon a man and a woman appear in the woods, claiming that Carey’s mother sent them a letter claiming that she could no longer take care of the girls. It comes out that Carey’s mother kidnapped her when she was four-years-old, and now the man (her father) has found her and is going to take both the girls back to live with him and his family. There, Carey finds new clothes, and unhappy step-sister, a new life, a new school, and old and new friends who will forever stick by her side.

 

For all my life, at least throughout my teenage years up till now, I have loved kidnapping cases, murder cases, missing persons..everything along those lines. There are times that my DVR will be filled with those types of shows. Trust me, it drives my mother nuts. So when I read the back of If You Find Me, I knew that it was a book specifically for me. I had not doubt that I was going to love this book.

I fell in love with If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch after the first paragraph. Normally it takes me a few chapters to fall in love with a book, but not with this one. The first paragraph was all it took. That paragraph prepared me for an amazing read to come, and I knew that I was not going to be disappointed. This time I was right.

The main character, Carey, was so strong, heartbreaking, dedicated and loyal that she actually became a real person in my eyes. I was drawn to her character immediately, and it was amazing to have the chance to watch her growth throughout the book. I also fell in love with the younger sister, Jenessa, as I think all of the characters in the book did as well. At times, it was hard to read about a six-year old girl who went through everything that she did, but she was such a little trooper. In all honesty, this book would not have been nearly as good without her.

If You Find Me is so genuine, so….raw…it just feels so real. The writing was consistently amazing throughout the whole book. It never had downer moments or boring chunks. It was just perfection all the way through. I will say that this book left me emotionally exhausted when I finished it. I don’t think that I have ever read a book where I have cried so much. I was just a giant mess from the beginning to the end.

I loved watching the relationships in this story. There was Carey and her little sister Jenessa, who she raised from birth. Then there was the timid relationship between Carey and her father. It was heart wrenching to read about them together. Carey’s mom had told her such awful things about her dad, and she was afraid of him. I loved watching that fear slowly dissolve. Some of the best relationships in this book were between Carey and her step-sister, Delaney, and those of her and her newfound friends. Carey’s being forced into situations that she never thought she would have the chance to experience, and it warmed my heart to read about them.

A bit of warning, this book strongly discusses the topics of drugs and rape. If you can’t handle those topics, then do not read this book. Personally, I thought that those topics made the book stronger. Both Carey and Jenessa had to go through so much during their young lives, and the honesty and realistic quality of the book were well received on my end.

My few complaints with the book are very simple ones. First, the book needed to be longer. It’s only 256 pages, but it needed to be a lot longer, in my opinion. There was so much that wasn’t captured in this book that I was hoping to see. Secondly, I was hoping for some scenes that never happened. I wanted to see the girls in therapy, I wanted to see more of their time in school, and I wanted the mother to come back in the picture for a brief period later in the book. These things didn’t happen, so I feel that Carey’s story is very unfinished. I believe that If You Find Me is a standalone, but I would love to see more books from Emily Murdoch in the future, even if they just cover Jenessa or Delaney’s story. Finally, I really didn’t like how much of her childhood Carey actually remembered. I barely remember anything from when I was four. And, yes, it make sense that Carey remembered a thing here or there. But it was really weird to have someone mention something and her be like “Oh, yes! I remember that!” and then remember a bunch of scenes about it.

Guys….this book was so amazing. I cried, my heart broke, and then I cried some more. I was an emotional basket case from the very beginning. I want to recommend this book to each and every one of you. This is what great writing is. All of you need to go out and read Carey’s story.

This book actually released today, so go out and get your copy. If you’re looking for something similar to If You Find Me, I would suggest Nora Roberts Quinn Brothers of Chesapeake Bay series. It’s an adult series, but it is amazing, and I have read it way too many times to count.

Pages: 256

Publication Date: March 26th, 2013

Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin

Rating: :

 

Teaser Quote: “Beans ain’t free, but they’re on the cheap, and here in the Obed Wild and Scenic River National Park, dubbed ‘The Hundred Acre Wood,’ I must know close to one hundred ways to fix beans. From the dried, soaked-in-water variety to beans in the can-baked beans, garbanzo beans, kidney beans….

It don’t sound important. It’s just beans, after all, the cause of square farts, as my sister used to say with a giggle on the end. But when you’re livin in the woods like Jenessa and me, with no runnin’ water or electricity, with Mama gone to town for long stretches of time, leavin’ you in charge of feedin’ a younger sister - nine years younger - with a stomach rumblin’ like a California earthquake , inventin’ new and interestin’ ways to fix beans becomes very important indeed.

That’s what I’m thinkin’ as I fell the scratchy cookin’ pot full of water from the chipped porcelain jug and turn on the dancin’ blue flame of the Bunsen burner: how I can make the beans taste new tonight, along with wishin’ we had butter for the last of the bread, which we don’t, because butter don’t keep well without refrigeration.”

 

 

If there is one thing eighteen-year-old Aurora Sky wants, it’s to get off the iceberg she calls home. Being kissed before she graduates wouldn’t hurt either.

Then a near-fatal car wreck changes everything. Government agents step in and save Aurora’s life in exchange for her services as a vampire hunter. In Alaska. Basically she’s a glorified chew toy. All thanks to her rare blood type, which sends a vampire into temporary paralysis right before she has to finish the job… by hand.

Now Aurora’s only friends are groupies of the undead and the only boy she can think about may very well be a vampire. And if he’s a vampire, will she be forced to kill him?

For ages 16+

 

Buy the book: Amazon Barnes & Noble

Book Trailer Goodreads

 

Aurora Sky started out really strong. It’s about a girl who gets into a fatal car crash, and is revived on a military base. They renewed a lot of her important organs, but there was a catch. They also implanted a virus in her body. Now Aurora must get mandatory shots in order to stay alive. They put this virus in Aurora’s body so that her blood will be fatal to any vampire who bites her and sucks her blood. But Aurora doesn’t want this life. It’s something that she can’t get out of, and her life slowly starts to spin out of control.

I was a big fan of the very beginning of Aurora Sky. I thought that it was well-written, the characters were interesting and relatable, and the idea of the book was eye-catching and fascinating. I find the concept of vampire hunters really interesting. This is something that the YA community really hasn’t gotten a chance to read about. We’ve read about vampires before, sure, but vampire hunters? That’s a new idea…and one that I like!

The character of Aurora got on my nerves a little bit as the story progressed. Obviously she had some major changes happen to her, and she spiraled out of control. All of a sudden she was drinking, having sex, being a disrespectful little brat, and…well, she was just really upset. I don’t like reading about characters who are so out of control and depressed. This is just a personal thing though. I know that there are a lot of people out there who enjoy these types of characters.

I was also a bit bothered by the amount of sex and romantic scenes included in the book. I would categorize Aurora Sky as a new adult book, so it was perfectly acceptable for that genre. However, I had to skim a lot of those scenes. I’m not opposed to romantic scenes, but it bugs me with high school students. I know they do stuff…I was a high school student once…but it’s a little uncomfortable for me to read about.

The story itself was a little predictable, but I actually ended up really liking the storyline. Nikki Jefford’s is a very strong writer, and I found myself really drawn to the words that she created. I was also a BIG fan of Fane, the leading male character. He was SO gorgeous! I would recommend the book simply for him! You have to read about him!

Overall, I thought that it was a great first book in the Vampire Hunter’s series. I didn’t fall head over heels in love with it, but it kept me interested. Again, this is a New Adult book, so there are some scenes maybe not so appropriate for the younger crowd. Other than that, I would recommend that fans of paranormal reads give this one a chance!

 

Pages: 242

Publisher: Createspace

Publication Date: December 9th, 2012

Rating: :

Nikki Jefford is a third generation Alaskan who loves fictional bad boys and heroines who kick butt. She is the author of the Spellbound Trilogy and upcoming Aurora Sky: Vampire Hunter series. Nikki married Sebastien, the love of her life, while working as a teaching assistant in France. They now reside in the not-so-tropical San Juan Islands, 70 miles northeast of Forks, Washington. (YAY for another WA girl!)

 

Stalk Nikki: Website Goodreads Facebook Twitter

 

 

 

 

Giveaway:

We are hosting two awesome giveaways. The first is for an Aurora Sky Door hanger (can also be used as a bookmark.) The second is the grand tour prize. The giveaway will be open internationally and will run from March 25, 2013 to April 5, 2015. The winner will receive their prize the week of April 15th.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
a Rafflecopter giveaway