Tag Archives: New Adult

Book Review: All Is Silence: Desert Lands Book I (Deserted Lands 1) by Robert L. Slater

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All Is Silence: Desert Lands Book I (Deserted Lands 1) by Robert L. Slater

A New Adult Dystopian Novel published by Rocket Tears Press (01/05/14)

Summary:

“Back then she had been afraid of the future. Now she feared the present.” (Page. 254).

Almost everyone dies from a disease, but Lizzy, who is suicidal and is now more lonely than ever, has ironically, survived. After puttering around her neighborhood for days, she puts a message out for people to come find her and lo and behold they do. She even finds the number to her long lost father and gives him a ring. Is the world as empty as she thought or will the remaining survivors surprise her?

Keywords:

Apocalypse, Dog-Man, Death, Friends, Future, Survival, Father, Disease, Technology Still Works, Travel, Fighting, Guns, Weather, Empty Houses, Empty Neighborhood, Loneliness, Repopulation

My Review:

I love end of the world survival stories and this one was an easy read that showed another possibility to the dystopian literature. Like a combination of the Road by Cormac McCarthy and The Blackout by Stephanie Erickson, All is Silence follows a troubled girl who has been left behind by most of the world and clings to the few people left that she knows. When she finds that her estranged father is alive, she drops everything she has left to meet up with him, along with her old friends and a few new ones she finds during her journey.

This novel should have started at part two. Part one was all about Lizzie and her suicidal past. I think being a survivor during the apocalypse is enough to make any normal teen angsty and to give her a troubled past was not necessary. She was not very likable in part one. I was also confused as to how old she was. She didn’t graduate high school but her actions in her back story made me think she was an adult (sex and bad decisions), but her actions in the present day were not always smart and made me think she was a young teenager who is not worldly wise.

Some of the characters were one dimensional. Unlike Lizzie who has a long way to rise to meet the occasion, which she does now and then when she has to, her father and her friends are simple characters. Her father, especially, was disappointing as an adult. He acted like a child, with simple emotions.

Finally, stop using elevators! Every time (and there were quite a few) that characters got into elevators I would get so stressed out. At some point technology would start to break down entirely and elevators would stop working. Who in their right mind would get into one after 99% of the population has died and it’s been weeks since normal economy and production etc??

I thought the addition of the dog man to the traveling group was really cool and I really liked the aspect he brought to the end of the world.

This novel was published by Rocket Tears Press on January 5th, 2014 and is available on Amazon here.

TL;DR Star Rating: 3.50

Links for more information:

Robert L. Slater’s Website

Goodreads

Twitter

Book Review: Progeny (The Endure Series Book 3) by S.A. Huchton

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Progeny (The Endure Series Book 3) by S.A. Huchton

A Sci-Fi/New Adult/Romance Novel published by Amazon Digital Services, Inc. (12/07/13)

 

Summary:

“’We always have a choice, Dr. Ashley. It’s what we do with the options we’re given that’s important.’” (Kindle Location 423).
“’You can’t blame yourself for putting people into a dangerous situation you didn’t create.’” (Kindle Locations 3297-3298).

Book three picks up after a bit of time from the end of Nemesis. Lydia has been gone long enough for them to send Dr. Nick back after lack of funding for both off-Endure researchers and she is now by herself in what may became potential enemy territory. With what she has learned and how she thinks Daniel feels, Lydia feels more alone than she’s ever felt before. She continues working on the cure to the bacteria she was studying on the Endure, but is plagued by doubt about everything and everyone. Has she left Daniel for good, or will this genius power couple get back together, even after knowing what they know about each other?

 

Keywords:

Genetics, genius, underwater, tough, instability, romance, love, hormones, leader, kick-butt female, sex, fighting, training, good guys, testing, banter, skills, technology, hackers, subaquatic living, scientists, the hard way, Marine Biochemistry, Nobel Laureate, ship-shape, selective breeding

My Review:

The reveals are grandiose in this book and the lengths both Daniel and Lydia will go for love are insane. The tension has been building from book one and we get the exciting third book of all hell breaks loose! Some conflicts are resolved, but the grand plotline, the good versus evil theme is still ongoing and yet to be concluded in this third novel. THIS IS NOT A TRILOGY. Progeny is not the final book. Huchton leaves the book with her greatest cliffhanger of the Endure series.

The greater plotline that’s fully revealed in this third book of the series is quite a doozy, meandering in and out of the gray area of genetic manipulation and selective breeding. But Huchton makes it personal. She brings a hypothetical (I hope) scientific concept to life right in front of your eyes with one of her characters and you are in the midst of the emotional ride as this gray area plays out. Who will win in the end? Will there be any winners? This third book is the most apocalyptic of the series, as it delves into possibilities that Huchton might explore in book four concerning a major decrease in population! She pulls out all the stops for this book, but looking back you know she had some of these greater designs in mind from the beginning. There were hints. There were clues. Hopefully in book four we get the conclusion we’ve been looking for.

This novel was published by Amazon Digital Services, Inc. on December 25th, 2013 and is available on Amazon here.

 

TL;DR Star Rating: 4.50

 

Links for more information:

Starla Huchton’s Website

Goodreads

Book Review: Nemesis (The Endure Series, book 2) by S.A. Huchton

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Nemesis (The Endure Series, book 2) by S.A. Huchton

A Sci-Fi/New Adult/Romance Novel published by Amazon Digital Services, Inc. (08/25/13)

 

Summary:

“The last thing she needed or wanted was more complications in her life. And Nicholas Miller was one big ball of drama waiting to happen.” (Kindle Locations 1214-1216).

Nemesis picks up right where Maven left off, in the middle of a great conflict between the Maven Initiative (the bad guys) and those on the Endure wishing to combat the great evil that wants to unleash a deadly disease on humanity. Only, the Maven Initiative hasn’t set off the deadly bacteria, that even though they hold a kill switch, they have to develop a cure for the disease. They enlist Lydia for her Marine Biochemistry abilities and she works as a double agent, trying to both cure the disease and take down the Initiative. It isn’t until she stumbles on a large hole to the puzzle, that Lydia finds out she has been targeted by the Initiative longer than she expected.

 

Keywords:

Genetics, genius, underwater, tough, instability, romance, love, hormones, leader, kick-butt female, sex, fighting, training, good guys, testing, banter, skills, technology, hackers, subaquatic living, scientists, the hard way, Marine Biochemistry, Nobel Laureate, ship-shape

 

My Review:

Many new complications arise in this second book in the Endure series. We see a new love interest (old flame) and competition arrives for both Lydia and Daniel. The face of evil that is known as Dr. Burkovitz and the Maven Initiative reveals some surprising developments. The places they are willing to go in their evil plan knows no bounds and Lydia is caught up in the middle of it all.

Huchton really throws on the tension in this book. There are so many new complications and plot twists, but they all fit seamlessly together. Hints from book one and the beginning of book two come alive as their own sub-plots and intricacies.

The characters get more development and depth and we are introduced to the newest complications: Dr. Gorgeous (Nick Miller) and the Mistress of Sarcasm (Anna Corvis). These two characters inflict quite a bit of damage to Lydia and Daniel’s relationship, especially as the two don’t seem to be able to communicate all their feelings to each other. The Maven Initiative’s surprise throws another wrench into Lydia and Daniel’s relationship. Really, almost everything in this book tears at their relationship, threatening to come between the greatest love ever seen on the Endure.

It is in this book in particular that any normal human being will feel lazy and stupid in comparison to the genius workaholics presented in the characters of Daniel and Lydia as well as almost every character on the Endure and beyond.

Huchton also shows us that even a genius can be normal when it comes to human emotions and trying to communicate and endure under great hardships and terrible surprises.

The end of this book is heart wrenching and gut rending and you must immediately continue on with book three of this series (Progeny).

This novel was published by Amazon Digital Services, Inc. on August 25th, 2013 and is available on Amazon here.

 

TL;DR Star Rating: 4.75

 

Links for more information:

Starla Huchton’s Website

Goodreads

Book Review: Maven (The Endure Series Book 1) by S.A. Huchton

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Maven (The Endure Series Book 1) by S.A. Huchton

A Sci-Fi/New Adult/Romance Novel published by Amazon Digital Services, Inc. (06/02/13)

 

Summary:

 

“How was she supposed to juggle saving the world and a social life?” (Page 112).

Lydia has been waiting six years to board the Deep Water Research Command Endure and to meet the famed Daniel Brewer, a fellow young genius like herself. Lydia is a Doctor of Marine Biochemistry and a Nobel Laureate in her twenties and she has longed to find someone similar to herself, another prodigy of sorts, but Daniel doesn’t even hit the radar of her expectations when they first meet. He was too busy with his newest female conquest to do his job of meeting her and this poor first impression does not immediately endear him to the Lydia the workaholic. This isn’t the only complication Lydia encounters aboard the Endure, there are greater things afoot that she concentrates on while Daniel attempts his greatest challenge yet: Lydia.

 

Keywords:

Genetics, genius, underwater, tough, instability, romance, love, hormones, leader, kick-butt female, sex, fighting, training, good guys, testing, banter, skills, technology, hackers, subaquatic living, scientists, the hard way, Marine Biochemistry, Nobel Laureate, ship-shape

 

My Review:

With her Endure Series, Huchton has written a great science fiction romance series for adults. Unlike her Evolution Series, which was more geared toward a younger adult audience, the Endure Series follows an older protagonist (albeit a twenty-something emergent adult) who just happens to be a child prodigy and genius with elevated maturity.

The Endure Series is also hyper focused on the science fiction aspect of marine biochemistry and the strict environment on board the Endure (Research Command in military style). There were quite a few unknown terms to the layman involving the environment of the Endure and the science fiction aspect of the story, but this specificity did not take away from the story Huchton writes.

The romance Huchton builds is powerful and intertwines between and amongst the science fiction aspects of the book as well as the overarching plotline and menace to the world of the protagonists. The way this romance is built and sustained is breathtaking and phenomenal. If you are a fan of romance, this book will give you that and so much more besides. Side note: There was a lot of nefarious adult activity going on in this book with medium depth level of description during these adult scenes, but it was told in a very masterful manner with a level of love involved that you can only swoon and hope for in real life.

I thought the POV switching between Lydia and Daniel was seamless and definitely added to the character and complexity of the novel. For someone who always wants to know what the other guy is thinking, this technique Huchton employs fills this need perfectly.

As this is the first in a series, the book ends on a high-tension cliff hanger on many of the plot points and I would highly suggest reading this book and immediately reading the second book (Nemesis) in the series.

This novel was published by Amazon Digital Services, Inc. on June 2nd, 2013 and is available on Amazon here.

 

TL;DR Star Rating: 4.50

 

Links for more information:

Starla Huchton’s Website

Goodreads

Book Review: Evolution: HEX (The Evolution Series Book 3) by S.A. Huchton

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Evolution: HEX (The Evolution Series Book 3) by S.A. Huchton

A Sci-Fi/Fantasy/New Adult Novel published by Amazon Digital Services, Inc. (07/05/14)

 

Summary:

“The line between enemy and ally wasn’t a line at all; it was a fuzzy, ever-shifting radius of complexity and situational dependency. (Page 34).

In this final installment in the Evolution Series, Candace must once again be strong in her convictions and in her abilities and relationships to get through tough times and save the day. She was kidnapped at the end of Book Two and now is imprisoned in enemy territory. Not everything she has been told about Hex and Dr. Ferdinand are true, but is everything she knows and has been told about the ANGEL project and the SAGES true as well? It will take Candace all her strength to fight this one last battle and to figure out who the enemy really is.

 

Keywords:

Genetic Manipulation, Superheroes, Comic Books, Books, Tough, instability, romance, love, hormones, leader, kick-butt female, sex, fighting, training, good guys, testing, banter

My Review:

I love it when a third book in a trilogy comes with enough resolution to leave the reader satisfied with the overall story, but also contains its own plot within the grander plot. Huchton delivers on both fronts. There was a grand climax and a thorough resolution with a surprise ending that, when looking back, was all but inevitable due to events in this third book.

Huchton’s plot throughout this series was a bit lumpy in pace in that the first book was like a standalone novel and the second novel continued many subplots, but the overarching series plot was introduced indirectly in the second book and fully revealed in this final book. The big picture was at last revealed in the final book and leaves both Candace and the reader wondering what is the truth and who is the enemy?

Questions of morals and enemy lines blurring make for the most interesting plot complications in the Evolution Series, and especially in this third book.

The relationship between Jackson and Candace takes a deep hit and the emotional suspense is so hard to take. Huchton really knows how to write a heart throbbing romance with deeply emotional characters who really feel for each other and their love is palpable and rich.

This novel was published by Amazon Digital Services, Inc. on July 5th, 2014 and is available on Amazon here.

 

TL;DR Star Rating: 4.75

 

Links for more information:

Starla Huchton’s Website

Goodreads

Book Review: Evolution: SAGE (The Evolution Series Book 2) by S.A. Huchton

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Evolution: SAGE (The Evolution Series Book 2) by S.A. Huchton

A Sci-Fi/Fantasy/New Adult Novel published by Amazon Digital Services, Inc. (05/04/14)

 

Summary:

“If you don’t give people a chance to be better, they never will be.” (Page 375).

Evolution Sage picks up right where Evolution Angel leaves off, with a depressed and devastated Candace for what happened and what she did to Adrian. For weeks she gives up on everything, purposeless and wracked with guilt. It isn’t until Jackson makes a comment to her about moving on or giving up and she is given a new purpose by the facility that she is finally ready to move ahead with her life. A new threat lies on the horizon and this enemy has been around for a long time, just now making their move. It is up to the ANGELS to get ready for this new, stronger enemy and they will turn to a higher level of experimentation to improve their already super hero super powers, but what will the consequences be this time?

 

Keywords:

Genetic Manipulation, Superheroes, Comic Books, Books, Tough, instability, romance, love, hormones, leader, kick-butt female, sex, fighting, training, good guys, testing, banter, Hard Decisions

My Review:

The more I read, the more I fall in love with the characters. I absolutely adore and look up to Candace. She’s not afraid to say that she’s wrong or being too anything: too hard, too harsh, or too emotional. She has the ability to self-analyze and adapt. She harnesses her ability and hones her skills, discovers new things about herself and her abilities. When SAGE begins, a new level of herself is opened up and she explores even more new possibilities for her weapon even as she’s haunted by the power she used on Adrian in Evolution Angel.

Jackson. Swoon. He was the bad boy attitude problem, snarky comment, easily angered boy from Evolution Angel. Now that Adrian is no longer in the picture he gets to have his day. All along I’m sure Starla had great plans for Jackson, she was just biding her time and building him up as a person. Jackson is the real romantic fantasy. He is flawed and angry. He has a past that is terrible and hangs over his personality. He cares for Candace, but tries to hide his feelings for her. He is rude at times, but is extremely polite when he needs to be a gentleman. He is also insanely good looking and every time Candace gets too close to him,  she can feel him and knows that she wants him.

The relationship between Jackson and Candace gets its day in book two of the Evolution Series and it’s a wonder to behold. Starla built up this relationship from the first time they saw each other, when they hated one another. “I’ve hated you for a long time. I hated you for making me want someone. I hated you for being with Adrian. I hated you for what you dissolved into after he was gone. I couldn’t stand it, Candace. No one thought I was worth helping, and I believed it. And then you helped me, for no other reason except that you could. You caught me in almost every lie I’ve ever told you. You challenge everything I say. You took everything I thought was true and turned it upside down.” (Pages 249-250).

Jackson and Candace are so emotionally charged when they’re together, so destructive, so powerful, and I could go on and on. The best romances are the ones that happen within a story that already has a powerful plot.

Starla has built a powerful, mesmerizing plot full of characters that are emotionally appealing and fascinating to watch. Candace is tough and rational, but also very prone to feeling sad or weak when everything is against her. She is so real, even as she can control a person through her connection to the water in their veins. I love how she stands by her convictions and sticks to her morals when making decisions and weighing the pros and cons before making a tough decision.
My only critique for this book was that the ending is abrupt and right in the middle of action. Thank goodness book three is already available.

This novel was published by Amazon Digital Services, Inc. on May 4th, 2014 and is available on Amazon here.

 

TL;DR Star Rating: 4.75

 

Links for more information:

Starla Huchton’s Website

Goodreads

Book Review: Evolution: Angel (The Evolution) (Volume 1) by S.A. Huchton

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Evolution: Angel (The Evolution) (Volume 1) by S.A. Huchton

A Sci-Fi/Fantasy/New Adult Novel published by Amazon Digital Services, Inc. (02/25/14)

 

Summary:

“Knowing what came with great power and experiencing that weight was so vastly different you couldn’t even see the other side of the chasm between them. (Page 241).”

From the very first moment that Candace Bristol and her cousin Gabe saw the ANGELs in action, they knew they wanted to join the project and become two of the world’s superheroes. Fast forward four years when Gabe is already in training and Candace has just sent in her application. Not everyone gets accepted and not everyone can make it because it takes special genetics and a special comportment to be able to make it as an ANGEL.

When Candace is accepted, she is elated and she knows that there will be more going on than she has researched about the ANGELs. When she gets to the training grounds she is overwhelmed by some of the aspects of the project, but she steps up as a leader.

 

Keywords:

Genetic Manipulation, Superheroes, Comic Books, Books, Tough, instability, romance, love, hormones, leader, kick-butt female, sex, fighting, training, good guys, testing, banter

My Review:

Every girl wants a comic book hero to look up to and wish to have their powers. What we get are an assortment of men with superpowers and women who look pretty in skintight clothes with lame powers. What Huchton does in her superhero series is give us a real kick-butt female with real superpowers. Huchton has diverse characters that look and act different and have unique personalities.

Candace is a strong Alpha personality. She’s very curious, very go getter, very nothing gets in her way. She’s an open, up front person who does what she wants to do, says what she thinks, and doesn’t let anyone get her down. She is already a super hero inside. She sees the good in people and makes sure they don’t get away with their nonsense when they’re up to no good.

Adrian is the unassuming librarian with the sexy baritone voice. There was something in his past that gives him a chip on his shoulder and he has trouble thinking he is worth the love and effort of others.

Gabe is Candace’s older cousin and comic relief in the story. They continuously banter and at first Gabe tries to look out for her, but she is too independent and stubborn to let that fly. She would rather fall on her own, then be helped along.

Jackson is the troubled bad boy with an attitude problem. Does he secretly have a thing for Candace? Not going to tell you! “I think he could possibly be motivated to work with others on a team. While he’s abrasive and not a little trying on my patience, I don’t think he’s unsympathetic to others and he knows not to cross certain boundaries. If he’s here at all, it’s because it was his choice, isn’t it?”) (Page 86).

There’s also Ella, Candace’s friend and fellow trainee, True from the first wave of ANGELS, and Hector, etc. There was such a range of characters to get to know and love.

I thought the raging hormones bit was overplayed, but it did add a sense of hilarity, brusqueness, and urgency to the ANGEL’s actions.

The ending was so emotional and so devastating and left me itching for book two. Starla Huchton is a genius and a beautiful story-crafter and this series is a great one to read.

This novel was published by Amazon Digital Services, Inc. on Feburary 25th, 2014 and is available on Amazon here.

 

TL;DR Star Rating: 5.00

 

Links for more information:

Starla Huchton’s Website

Goodreads