(Book Highlight) Full Moon, by Jordan Deen

Title: Full Moon
Author: Jordan Deen

Series: The Crescent #3

Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal

You know her story. You know her painful initiation into the werewolf world and you’ve seen her struggle to find the truth.

Now, Lacey Quinn is ready for the war to be over. Are you?

Lacey has been used, lied to and cheated out of the only thing she ever wanted: independence. Struggling with her newfound knowledge of being pack leader, Alex coming back into her life and the kidnapping of Lily’s mate—Matt—Lacey is faced with one of the biggest decisions of her life: fight or flight. While she knows running from the war will risk many lives, but staying means she would never have the life she wants and quite possibly never know a world without werewolves, witches and war.

Sometimes doing the right thing isn’t always the first or most obvious choice. Lacey Quinn is about to challenge what everyone thinks is the right thing to do. Unfortunately for her, most will not agree with her decision or the painful outcome.

Sometimes, love means death.

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Just please stop…, I said one last time as the ribbons encircled my wrists and my ankles and started pulling in opposite directions. There would be no end to the suffering until there was an end to me. The only way to stop the pain was to let myself go. To let it overtake me and to be one with the pain. I released the tension in each of my muscles and loosened my balled up fists. If I was going to die now, it would be on my own terms. As soon as the realization had registered in my mind, the onyx prisoner twisted onto itself and around me to squeeze my stomach and my ribs. It was determined to kill me and to make me suffer while it was doing it. I couldn’t fight back. I wouldn’t fight back. It was futile. I remained limp and it seemed to only further anger my captor.

            The next thing I knew, I was upside down and the ground was racing quickly towards my face. The shackles around my wrist were released and I was again screaming for my freedom. My arms flailed and hopes for developing an ability to fly rushed through my mind. If only I could fly… then my head hit the ground.

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Jordan Deen is an Award-Winning Young Adult and New Adult Author from East St. Louis, Illinois. Her debut novel, THE CRESCENT was a 2010 Reader's Favorite Award Winner. Her second novel, HALF MOON released in 2011. BREAKING LAUREN is her third novel and was a finalist in the Texas Literary Awards. The sequel, LOSING LAUREN was released on 12/5/2013.

She can usually be found curled up in her favorite chair with a book or her laptop. She is the proud mother of one crazy little boy and an even crazier teacup Yorkie.

Jordan is Indie published, as well as traditionally published with Black Rose Writing.
'Life is about the journey...'

Website | Twitter | Facebook

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(Blog Tour: Excerpt) Instinct, by Mattie Dunman

Amazon
Barnes & Noble (unavailable at this time)
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To tell the truth...it doesn’t really matter if you lie.

It’s impossible to lie to Derry MacKenna. For as long as she can remember, Derry has been plagued by the extraordinary ability to hear, see, and feel the truth. But when Derry and her erratic, self-centered mother move to historic Harpers Ferry, she discovers she is not the only one with hidden talents.

As the newest reporter on the school newspaper, Derry learns of a high school student’s unexpected suicide and recognizes that the truth behind her death may still be hidden. When tragedy strikes, Derry is drawn into a deadly battle of wits with the only person whom her abilities don’t affect.

Driven by guilt and an obsession with bringing the killer to justice, Derry finds herself in danger from a vindictive murderer, a sadistic deviant who preys on the weak, and trapped in the middle of a treacherous triangle of attraction between two brothers whose abilities rival her own. Derry must trust her instincts to guide her to the truth and bring her enemies to justice even as she fights for her own survival.

INSTINCT focuses on a gifted, intelligent, and loyal heroine who must contend not only with the inherent dangers of high school bullying and backstabbing, but with loss, grief, and guilt. Against issues of sexual abuse, teenage suicide, and destructive relationships, the heroine learns to cherish the strength of real friendship, understand accountability, and experiences the healing touch of first love.



Oooh!  Intriguing!  And I like the fact that it's set in Harper's Ferry.  It's always nice to read about a location that you've seen before; it's much easier to imagine the surroundings.  Read below for an excerpt of Instinct.


    The sign over the doors reads “John Brown High School.” I don’t see anything else because there isn’t any truth to conceal. The building is exactly what is advertised, and my nerves calm their ragged dance slightly at this reassurance. Taking a deep breath, I put my hand out and get ready to open the door. 

    It swings open, nearly swatting me in the face, and I stagger back, almost tumbling down the stairs I just climbed. An angry looking boy in a black wool pea-coat and dark jeans stalks past me, not even glancing my way or noticing the way I’m cradling my arm where the door struck it. I consider saying something, but the hard set of his shoulders prevents me from forming words. I swallow my irritation and rub my forearm until the stinging passes. The boy runs down the stairs and halts before he crosses into the street. He glances around as though searching for something and then slowly pivots and locks his gaze on me.

    My chest constricts and I can’t breathe. An invisible hand is gripping my throat and deliberately tightening until my head is no longer connected to the rest of my body. The inside of my mind burns like molten lava being poured in my brain and my legs and hands start to shake uncontrollably until I almost cannot remain standing.

    Just as suddenly it stops and the vise on my neck is released. My mind clears with no residue of pain, as though the past few seconds never happened. I see the boy widen his eyes in surprise before he jerks abruptly and turns his back to me, crossing the pick-up lane and turning the corner, out of my sight. I am left breathless and stiff with terror.

    I don’t know how, I don’t know why, but I can’t help feeling that somehow that boy just nearly killed me with a look.

Broken Bulbs, by Eddie Wright

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Frank Fisher is nothing. He wants to be something. When a mysterious young woman named Bonnie offers assistance by injecting seeds of inspiration directly into his brain, Frank finds himself involved in a twisting mystery full of addiction, desperation and self-discovery. Broken Bulbs, a novella by Eddie Wright, tells the story of the lengths one young man will go in the pursuit of "somethingness."

 

I have absolutely no idea how to rate this book. I liked it, but it was...different.

What I liked:

1. The writing. It was descriptive without being flowery and it matched the tone and the pacing of the story. 
2. The editing. Most Indie books are full of errors. It was a nice change to read something that was well-written. I only caught one instance of a missing word.
3. The intrigue. I was thoroughly confused about what was going on, but I was sucked in to the story and kept reading. And I want to know more!
4. The price. I got the Kindle version for free on Amazon. A great way to learn about a new author!

What I didn't like:

1. I'm still not sure what the point of the story is and I have a lot of unanswered questions.

Given that I liked more than I didn't like, I am giving this novella four stars. I think that this author has a lot of potential and I will definitely read more of his work should he publish anything else.