Title: Double Negative Author: Susan Marshall Genre: Young Adult Contemporary Romance
Injured competitive swimmer Reece never wanted to be Vice Prez of West Hill High. It was her brother Jamie’s idea, just something to do until she could get back into the pool.
She knew that Jamie—who led his campaign with a striptease “election speech”—would be a complete “President Dumbass.” But Reece didn’t foresee that she’d fall hard for Jamie’s Student Council rival, Zain.
Zain is hot and intense, plus an amputee and a basketball star. Between Zain’s disability and Reece’s surgery, they have their challenges, but that deepens their connection—until he drops a bombshell about his accident. Suddenly, everything important to Reece starts to implode.
Struggling with issues of family loyalty, secrets, and scars, Reece must decide if real relationships are worth the heartache.
“It’s a good thing you called,” Zain said, his eyes narrowing. “Your brother needs to be kept in check.”
“What’s with you two, anyway?” I asked, returning his look.
“He’s lived this charmed life. I’ve busted my butt to get good grades, on a winning basketball team, Athletic Council Prez. He takes off his clothes, says ‘Free ice cream,’ wins Prez, throws out the rulebook. He’s not accountable, not for anything he does. And he’ll get into a good school. I know your dad’s some hotshot lawyer with big connections. He’ll pave his way. How is that fair?”
“Nothing’s fair. You work hard, then your shoulder gives out, but you come back even better.” And as soon as the words were out of my mouth, I wished I could take them back.
“Really? Not everyone comes back better. Not when someone runs over you with their car and smashes your leg so bad, they have to take half of it off. And you fight just to walk. And then more and more to get back on the court. In the end, I can only go so far. I’m hoping that I might be good enough for college, but adjusting to the prosthesis has taken a toll on my game. Once high school is over, so might basketball.”
“Shit, I’m sorry. When did this happen?”
“Two and a half years ago.” I sighed. “I don’t want sympathy,” he added, looking straight ahead.
“You’re the team captain, right?”
“Captain doesn’t mean you’re the best player. I’m pretty good, I used to be scholarship good, but I’m not so sure anymore.”
I pulled up in front of Zain’s house, a small, tidy-looking red brick bungalow with white trim and a carport. The only difference between his house and the ones on either side was the color of the door. Helped by a large, hanging white porch light, I could tell it was a deep navy blue.
I still hadn’t thanked him for bailing me out. I was grateful that he’d come, stopped the brawl, got everyone out, and helped with the mess. The situation had been tense. Someone could have gotten majorly hurt, not just bloody-nose hurt. We would have been in deep shit.
“I appreciate that you guys came.”
“I’m glad we got there when we did. It could have gone south. Fast.”
“It almost did. You’re not going to rat us out to DiFran, right?”
“I still have to think, but let me say I like having something on Jamie. I’d lose that edge if I blabbed.” I nodded.
Zain opened the passenger door and did his hop-strut thing out of Jenny. He shut the door, leaning into the window. “Come as your favorite sexual fantasy? That’s some theme for a freshman mixer.”
“Superheroes,” I said loudly, blinking. “Remember the shirt? I was Elastigirl? The capes? Superhero, not sexual fantasy.”
A lover of libraries, Susan obtained a Masters Degree in Library Science but found that she was too disorganized for that field. Instead, Susan worked at The Globe and Mail newspaper and then Seneca College. Four kids later, she decided to stay-at-home, spending her quiet moments indulging her love of writing.
The old adage is to “write what you know.” In Double Negative, Susan channels her experience as a parent of a teen amputee and her misguided belief that she was once an athlete. The inspiration for NemeSIS was the complicated sister dynamic in Susan’s estrogen fuelled household in Hamilton, Ontario. An avid reader, she loves e-books and falls asleep nightly to the soft glow, oblivious to what happened on the last page.
Susan lives in Toronto with her husband, three sons, a daughter, rescue dog Bean and Indy the cat.
Title: Rogue Unbroken Author: Angie Day Genre: Young Adult Urban Fantasy
Kate had survived. She had lived through pain and torment and now she was on the other side, where all the happiness was supposed to be. But with Alec’s vengeful punishment for escaping him, she can’t touch anyone without hurting them.
Alec still wants to create a Level Five and he’s dangerously close. That power under his control would mean unraveling the world as it stands. The world Kate has not yet started to enjoy. She won’t be able to rest until her body, her mind is fixed, and Alec won’t get his beloved power without her help.
The two warring sides of Rogues and Shadows will have to meet. Kate will have to confront Alec and his cruel ambition once again. But every moment with the Shadows is detrimental to those she loves, especially Kylan. So she must find a way to outsmart the person who taught her everything she knows, the most feared Shadow in the world.
Kate is strong. She survived once. But even the strongest people can break with the right pressure, and Alec is ready to tear her life apart.
“No, it’s not.” I shook my head. “She doesn’t know what she wants. She’s too inexperienced with this life to understand what she’s asking for. I know better—”
“Don’t finish that sentence,” Thayer interrupted, glaring at me.
“Why not? Because you know I’m right? Someone else needs to make this choice for her, someone with a clearer head,” I explained, walking toward him.
Thayer flinched as I got closer. He stood up away from the wall so he towered over me.
“And that person is you?” Thayer gritted his teeth.
“Yes,” I huffed. “I’m apparently the only person in this room who knows what’s best for her.”
He shook his head and walked around me. “This is unbelievable.”
I turned and waited for him to explain himself. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and stared at the ground while he thought.
“What?” I asked.
Thayer looked up at me with a calm face as he tapped his fingers against his muscular arm. A smile flashed across his mouth before he leaned in closer to me.
“I never thought I would say this, not after everything you’ve been through, but you sound like Alec.” Thayer narrowed his eyes at me.
“I do not.” I shoved him away from me.
“Sure about that?” Thayer caught himself on the back wall before turning to me again.
The words echoed in my mind.
I know what’s best for her.
She doesn’t know what she wants.
Those same words had come from Alec before I left the mansion the first time. The reasons he believed he needed to change my mind.
“The difference is, I’m not doing this for me! I’m thinking about her and what she needs. I’m thinking about you.” I shoved a finger at him. “You should be on my side. She’ll hate you once she realizes everything you took from her.”
“That’s exactly the reason Alec had for me changing your emotions!” Thayer shouted, raising his arms. “And you know what? For decades, that crap made sense. I believed him. But I’m not gonna let you trick me into meddling in someone else’s life, not when I just got away from that with him.”
“This isn’t the same.” I clenched my jaw. “You changed her emotions to begin with. She wasn’t like this when she came here. You did this to her.”
“Because she asked me to,” Thayer said. “That’s what I was telling her when I didn’t want you to hear. I asked her permission to do what I did. She said yes. That was a choice you were never given, and I’m sorry for that. But I won’t do the same thing to her.”
“Why not?” I stopped for a second. Thayer held his breath. “Why does she all of a sudden mean so much to you? You don’t even know this girl.”
“You’re right. I don’t know her. But neither do you anymore. She’s never been a Legend before and you have to accept the fact that she may want this life. She may like being a Shadow,” Thayer said.
I leaned away from him, taking in his expression. I wanted to see that he would falter, that he might obey me anyway. He stood firm and that only fueled the anger inside me.
“Thayer, just listen to me,” I pled.
“No, Mara. In this mansion, I’m the King and what I say, goes. I’m not changing Lisa until she asks me to.” Thayer stared at me with the most intense gaze that his brown eyes were capable of.
I thought about what he said, what I had said. He was right. Everything I wanted was exactly what Alec had wanted with me. I shuddered when I realized how alike the two of us really were. I stared at the empty room and felt like I was the only person in the world.
My hands balled into fists. I knew Kylan needed me, but I couldn’t leave, not with Lisa hanging on the edge of becoming Thayer’s newest Shadow. I hoped that Kylan could hang on for a little while longer.
Angie Day found her love of writing while in college where she studied psychology and eventually went on to a master’s degree. She noticed the need for romantic and fantastic adult stories that were still wholesome and clean. So, she took matters into her own hands.
The Legends & Shadows Saga is her debut series. When she’s not devouring the next book, she is spending time outdoors with her husband.
Title: Terra Nova Author: M.T.G. Series: Terra Nova #1 Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Evangeline is living the life of a normal teenager—going to school and hanging out with friends—until mysterious, severe symptoms begin appearing. After passing out in the middle of a party, life as she knows it spirals beyond her grasp. She is then diagnosed with a rare, genetic blood disorder that causes her body’s white blood cells to kill the red ones. In the delirium of her deteriorating health, a door to a parallel world opens before her; however, once she steps through it, the portal closes, and she is unable to return to Earth.
The place Evangeline now finds herself in is called Terra Nova, a world wherein vampires rule supreme, with no traces of humanity left to speak of. Curious but afraid, she quickly learns that Terra Nova is not the shadow-side of Earth, but rather the tragic result of government experimentation. In order to survive, she must keep her mind open and accept the changes her body is undergoing; soon enough, those who she initially thinks are murderers become her trainers, whose help she must enlist if she ever hopes to return home—and soon enough, a romantic bond begins to bloom.
Meanwhile, Evangeline’s brother and friends back on Earth try to figure out what happened to her, and how the government is involved, and how to bring her home. Unbeknownst to any of them is the mysterious outcast Bambi, whose secrecy disguises her power in making a devastating choice: save one world at the risk of destroying the other.
“Hello Evangeline,” Julia said with a nod when Evangeline was standing in front of them, “Eros says you are adjusting well. I am happy.”
“I’m Okay. Thank you for the room. It’s nice,” Evangeline forced the words out and they came out stiff and choppy. She wondered if she would ever be able to look at Julia without feeling a stinging sense of betrayal. Even if Julia had lied to herself like Eros said, how did that change the fact that she drove a person mad so that she could eat them?
Then Evangeline looked at Eros, curious that he had given her any credit when speaking to his mother and noticed that he was looking over her gown. Damn. This was probably not a go-outside gown, but a supper gown or a horseback riding gown or a God-only-knows-what gown and she would get to hear about being a simple peasant and not knowing the difference. He said nothing about it though and lifting his eyes off the dress to her face, stated before turning and leading them towards the entrance, “Ready? That was an effective smile. Let us see if you can hold it.”
When they stepped outside Evangeline immediately knew why Eros doubted her ability to hold a happy expression. She had not realized that what appeared to be most of the population of Latina would be all standing, awaiting their appearance. There were not hundreds, but thousands of grey skinned, human-like forms standing freakishly still, in every corner of the square in front of the castle and down each street coming out of it. Those that could not fit were inside the buildings on the balconies, in the windows and even on the roofs.
Their stillness, their intense, burning eyes, and their almost lifeless appearance in such huge numbers under nothing but the light of the stars made Evangeline gasp for air. She froze mid step, unable to move or breathe. Eros turned and smirked slightly before continuing forwards and she forced her body to move towards him, positioning herself between him and Julia.
MTG has worked in numerous positions, mainly in managerial and executive roles. Terra Nova, her first publication, is Book 1 of a series. The series’ concept emerged when she, like the protagonist, was diagnosed with the blood disorder paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH), and her then-boyfriend (now husband) joked she was becoming a vampire. She currently works and resides in Canada.
