Title: In A Mirror Author: Emily Bourne Series: In It Together #1 Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary Romance
Can a social outcast prove to her cheerleader sister she’s not the enemy and save her family?
Anxiety riddled Brittany is setting her sights on popularity. She doesn’t give a crap about her sister’s desire to bond, because landing a boyfriend will fill the void in her heart. When a chance encounter with her gorgeous crush sends her sweating, the jittery voice inside her head threatens to derail whatever he found attractive about her. When soaring up the social ladder, insecurities force her blabbermouth into action. Will Brittany reveal her greatest fear to the people she needs to impress the most? That she is a total freakin loser!
Emotional mess Charli can’t deal with her parents’ divorce. If it wasn’t for the support of her loving boyfriend, she would drown in loneliness. When a party launches her sister into popularity, Charli is desperate to pull her down to earth. But her sister still deems the past pain she caused as unforgivable and shoves her away. With the return of their wayward father, Charli is hell-bent on saving her family, starting with reuniting her parents. Can she mend her tortured relationship with her sister and regain her trust before the emotional damage is irreversible?
Emily Bourne is an author from central west NSW, meaning she’s an Aussie Country girl at heart. Emily writes books about self-discovery and finding love. Believing, you can’t have a romantic relationship that works until you truly love yourself. She specialises in teen and young adult novels about social issues, layered with romantic suspense. Emily’s books can have you laughing-out-loud, reaching for the tissues, cramping with anxiety, and your heart swelling double-size. She spends her days diligently writing, procrastinating on Instagram (@iemilybourne), and distractedly playing with her cat Norman.
Eighteen-year-old Brooklyn never knew her father. Rex Blackburn died in the 9/11 attacks four months before she was born.
And even though she never met him, she always dreamed about what he must have been like before he died. In her mind, he was a hero.
Little did she know.
After an attack at a 9/11 memorial gala, Brooklyn learns her father had been a member of an elite, anti-terrorism, military task force, made up of a very select group of people who had superhuman abilities. On the day the towers fell, he died using his power to save people.
The Army believes she inherited his gift, and Brooklyn is invited to train at West Point in order to hone her skills. Knowing deep down she is different than anyone else her age and wanting to learn more about a father she never knew, she readily agrees to become a cadet at the prestigious military academy.
She and five other 9/11 babies strengthen their superhuman abilities and spend weeks preparing themselves for their future in the army, fighting terrorists at home and abroad. And in the process of training, they identify with their deceased parents in a way they never knew they could.
Brooklyn knows she’ll go to war someday, but when terrorists find out about the group’s gifts, they don’t bother to wait.
The first blast came from behind the flag at the front of the room, shattering the silence we’d upheld during the patriotic song. It could have killed us, but it only succeeded in throwing me sideways, making me land sharply on the edge of the buffet table.
Land that I love!
Stand beside her, and guide her…
A hand reached toward me. I clung to it desperately as it tried to pull me out of the chaos, away from the explosions and the deafening spray of gunshots.
Through the night with the light from above.
Three short breaths – two blinks – and we were hit again, this time from the back.
Sticky warmth ran down the back of my neck and between my bare shoulder blades. The tight dress I wore to the memorial gala trapped me as I tried to escape.
From the mountains,
To the prairies…
I gripped the hand that had grabbed mine. The owner of it was ripped backwards, succumbing to the crowd, his fiery red hair sticking out among the mass. With all my strength, I threw him in front of me, and together, we sprinted toward the exit.
To the oceans,
White with foam!
Camouflaged men lining the back of the room aimed past me as we ran. They opened fire on a target I didn’t know.
God bless America!
My home, sweet home!
‘Didn’t know?’
That was a lie. I knew who he was.
He was the monster who killed my dad on the attacks of 9/11, the one who sentenced my mom to a lifetime of grief and pain.
God bless America!
The entire country knows him, and they know him well.
Amanda Deich is an author out of Littleton, CO. In her non-writer life, she is a teacher and coach to hundreds of kids, and she is a mama to two. If you meet her, she’ll talk Jesus and identity like no one’s business.
Raised by parents who work deep within the U.S. intelligence agency, Zoe Dixon has picked up a few skills along the way.
When her family moves to a new town, Zoe thinks it’s business as usual. But that all changes when a student turns up dead at her new school. Now, after years of keeping a low profile, Zoe has to decide whether she’ll step out of the shadows and use her skills for good.
As she digs deeper, she’ll uncover shocking truths that will change the course of her life forever.
Awakening is book one in the Zoe Dixon Saga. Fans of Marvel’s Black Widow, J.J. Abrams Alias, and Hit-Girl from Kick-Ass, will love this young adult action-packed suspense thriller.
Zoe quickly washed her face and laced up her shoes before heading down the stairs. She turned right, passing the den, and made her way towards the door underneath the stairs. It was made of solid metal. She reached out, placing her palm against the wood grain to the right side of the door. She could feel the coolness of the hidden scanner that was nestled underneath a thin layer of wood. It scanned her prints, and then a small panel slid open, revealing a keypad. Zoe’s fingers moved quickly as she typed in the eighteen-digit code from memory. The code was random, and her father changed it every three days. She heard the lock click and watched as the door slid open. She stepped in and hurried down the stairs as the door closed behind her.
At the bottom of the stairs was a short hallway that led towards the main room, where the walls and floors were covered in dark gray mats. She found Mia sitting cross-legged in the middle of the room, waiting.
“No Mom and Dad yet?” Zoe asked as she sat next to her sister.
“Still upstairs. Are you ready for this?”
“Yeah,” Zoe sighed. “I gotta admit, I was hoping we would get a break tonight.”
“Wishful thinking,” Mia said as she rocked back and forth.
“I guess you’re right. What do you think tonight’s game is going to be?”
“I don’t know but get ready to lose.”
“Yeah, right,” Zoe sneered back at her. “I think it’s going to be all about Cleveland.”
“We haven’t done that one in a while,” Mia said with a nostalgic look.
“You gonna be okay?” Zoe said with fake concern, her tone full of mocking.
Mia flung out her hand, swatting Zoe’s arm. “Ha ha. I’m more than okay.”
“We’ll see,” Zoe said.
Carl and Sofia Dixon entered the room, each carrying a set of thick metal chains. Zoe glanced at Mia as if to say, I told you so, as the girls stood.
“Zoe to the right,” their mom called out in a no-nonsense voice. Both girls moved towards the one section of wall not covered by mats. It was solid gray brick. Towards the middle of the wall embedded in the brick were several thick steel rings. Zoe sat on the floor directly underneath one of the rings, pressing her back against the icy wall.
“Hands up,” her mom said. Zoe lifted her hands and waited while her mother chained her to the wall.
Poppy grew up in Cleveland Ohio, where books played an enormous role in her upbringing. She started writing when she realized she had a few stories of her own to tell. When she’s not typing away at her keyboard, you’ll find her playing video games, or listening to K-Pop!
