Book Review: The Last Mission of the Living by Rhiannon Frater

The Last Mission of the Living by Rhiannon Frater
(The Last Bastion #2)
Publication date: August 28th 2014
Genres: Adult, Horror, Post-Apocalyptic, Zombies
See on: Goodreads
Book 1: Amazon ll B&N ll Kobo ll iTunes
Author's site w/all purchase links: http://rhiannonfrater.com/my-books/

Humanity teeters on the brink of extinction…
Vanguard Lindsay Rooney has faced the undead hordes of Inferi Scourge and lived to tell the tale, but she has also suffered horrible losses. Like millions of other civilians, she had hoped that The Bastion would recover after a team of modified soldiers eradicated the undead hordes of Inferi Scourge that infested their valley. Yet the city still crumbles around them, along with any chance of survival.
Lindsey’s growing friendship with Torran MacDonald, an officer with the Science Warfare division, is her only solace as the decline of the city continues. When food riots fill the streets, martial law is enacted, and the upper echelons of government battle for control of the city, Lindsey is conscripted by her superiors to embark on a dangerous mission into the dead world beyond The Bastion. To add even more complications, Torran and the SWD join the squad.
Soon, Lindsey realizes that her mission is more than what it seems, and there are secrets that could both destroy The Bastion and take her life.

 BOOK 1:


The Last Bastion of the Living

As long as the undead hordes of the Inferi Scourge howl outside the dying city, the last remaining humans struggle to survive inside The Bastion. Vanguard Maria Martinez has lived her entire life within the towering walls. Her only refuge from the overcrowded streets, rolling blackouts, and food shortages is in the arms of Officer Dwayne Reichardt. Then Maria is summoned to meet with a mysterious representative from the Science Warfare Division and is offered the opportunity to finally destroy the Inferi Scourge and reclaim the land and resources in the valley beyond the wall. If she succeeds, the city may be saved.

But if she fails, humanity faces extinction…

Personally, I liked the first book than this one.
But that doesn't mean that this book is not kick-butt.
Because, this book is definitely one kick-butt read.

First off, if the very idea of zombies terrify you to the point you sleep with a stake by your side, then you definitely need not feed your fear more.
I am sincerely warning you now because the way Miss Frater describes them is very graphic, heck, it's like you're watching the zombie-moment scenes of The Walking Dead (albeit a more futuristic version of it).



Are you afraid yet?

It's not the scariest book out there. Yet, if you're paranoid of anything post-apocalyptic, I suggest you move on. But seriously, this is one good read.
It has elements similar to Resident Evil (because there's more to zombies than just being flesh-eaters) and movies depicting a world devastated by catastrophe. True to its nature, there are a lot of deaths involved as well.

But fear not. There is still hope for what's left of the human race!

Or is there?

Set in a dystopic world filled of carnivorous undead along with Miss Frater's haunting writing, you'd truly consider if there's a possibility of a zom-Scourge invasion.

And if there's any hope left in the world.



 Rhiannon Frater was born and raised a Texan. Though she has lived in various towns all over the state, she finally settled in Austin, Texas where she met her husband and worked as a governmental consultant.
During her travels for her job, she was inspired to write the story of two women fleeing into the Texas Hill Country in an attempt to survive the zombie apocalypse. Originally published as a serial online under the title AS THE WORLD DIES, she later self-published the series in three novels to satisfy the many fans of the story. The first novel in the series, THE FIRST DAYS, won the 2008 Dead Letter Award for Best Book (Fiction). The second book, FIGHTING TO SURVIVE won the 2009 Dead Letter Award in the same category.

The AS THE WORLD DIES books were purchased by Tor in 2010.The first book, THE FIRST DAYS, was released in July 2011 and received a starred review from Publishers Weekly. The second, FIGHTING TO SURVIVE, was released on November 8, 2011. The third book, SIEGE, will be released in April 2012.

She is also the author of THE LIVING DEAD BOY AND THE ZOMBIE HUNTERS, PRETTY WHEN SHE DIES: A Vampire Novel and two novels in the Vampire Bride Series (THE TALE OF THE VAMPIRE BRIDE and THE VENGEANCE OF THE VAMPIRE BRIDE). All her works have been optioned for either TV or film.

Rhiannon continues to live in Austin, Texas with her husband and is now a full-time writer.
She is represented by Hannah Gordon of the Foundry Literary + Media agency.


Contact her at rhiannonfrater at gmail.com



 Author links:


Book Review: Everneath by Brodi Ashton!

  Everneath (Everneath #1) by Brodi Ashton 
Published January 24th 2012 
Balzer + Bray
Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath. Now she’s returned—to her old life, her family, her boyfriend—before she’s banished back to the underworld . . . this time forever. She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can’t find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.


Nikki longs to spend these precious months forgetting the Everneath and trying to reconnect with her boyfriend, Jack, the person most devastated by her disappearance—and the one person she loves more than anything. But there’s just one problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who enticed her to the Everneath in the first place, has followed Nikki home. Cole wants to take over the throne in the underworld and is convinced Nikki is the key to making it happen. And he’ll do whatever it takes to bring her back, this time as his queen.

As Nikki’s time on the Surface draws to a close and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she is forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole’s queen.

Everneath is a captivating story of love, loss, and immortality from debut author Brodi Ashton. 

It was awesome. I've had this for a while now under my to-read list but finally I had the time to see why so many have read this.

It didn't disappoint. 

Firstly, I thought Cole is like a romantic Hades type. I thought this was going to be like Abba Gline's Existence. It wasn't. Don't get me wrong I loved that series and I certainly enjoyed reading this too. 

Nikki, lost and heart broken, didn't know which way to go but in the arms of Cole. She then regretted her decisions that night. Now, she has to step up the game on how to repay her debt without going back to the tunnels. 

It was confusing at first. With the words used. Like Tunnels, Shades and etc. Especially her relationship with Cole. But after a while it uncovers the story behind the veil. 

Thank goodness the second book is out. Let's see what will happen to Nikki, will she ever have a happily ever after? At least an ever after? Last but not the least, will she ever get her anchor back?

Everneath was breathtakingly awesome that it will keep you up until 5:30am in the morning. No kidding.






I write Young Adult novels. I eat cinnamon bears. I love me some Diet Coke. My debut book EVERNEATH (the first in a trilogy) comes out Winter 2012 with Balzer and Bray (Harper Collins). I'm represented by Michael Bourret at Dystel and Goderich Literary Management.

Blog Tour: Breeder by K.B. Hoyle


Release Date: December 11 , 2014
Genre: Fiction: Dystopian
ISBN e-book:   978-1-61213-292-1
Available from: Amazon, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, and TWCS PH

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Everything about Seventeen’s life is perfect, from her genetics, to her home in Sanctuary, to her status as a Breeder in the Unified World Order. But all that changes when she meets a rogue Enforcer named Pax, who infiltrates Sanctuary and targets her for extraction from the Controlled Repopulation Program. Pax seems to know a little too much about her, and he plants dangerous doubts in her mind that accuse Sanctuary of hiding a dark secret, and that cause Seventeen to question everything she’s ever known.
When Seventeen’s life is threatened, she has little choice but to run away from Sanctuary with Pax. But for Breeders, contact with men is forbidden by law, and even the simple act of taking Pax’s hand is treason.
Mired in confusion, Seventeen travels with Pax to the outside world and takes the name Pria, the identity of her childhood. But she is far from certain she’s made the right decision when they discover an entire community of people who should no longer exist.
Seventeen, now Pria, is thrust into a position as a key player in a dangerous bid to bring down the Unified World Order. Meanwhile, Pax’s attachment to her and her growing attraction to him contribute to the ever-growing mysteries in her life.
Pria’s journey from a sheltered, naïve Breeder to a rebel agent requires not only external transformation but self-discovery. As her world crumbles, Pria must decide who she is and what she really believes.
But the truth comes at a cost, and uncovering it will require a greater treason than she could ever have imagined.
Do you know how, when you're expecting something good, you prepare yourself for it? You anticipate the emotions that may sweep through you, the reactions you might show and yet, when you do get to experience it, it goes way beyond your expectations. 

The whole thing blew your mind. 

K.B. Hoyle does that. After having the privilege of reviewing her Gateway Chronicles series, I have already prepared myself to be taken away by this book. I was beyond excited and giddy to be once more reading something of hers. And yet, after finishing Breeder, the feelings and reactions I have were something I may have not immediately anticipated. 

Breeder makes me hunger for more. 

Set in a dystopic world ruined by humans, the few who survived wanted to find a way to restore the world to its former perfection. To achieve that perfection, some rose from the rest and decided to remake the world. Under their control, that is. They controlled the population, the herd, taking into heart the phrase "survival of the fittest." Hence, the perfect humans to procreate were gathered in order to make the perfect race, devoid of any anomalies that makes a human being "different". 

Welcome to the Controlled Population Program where the women were treated as procreating machines deigned to produce the perfect human beings. 

And Breeder's story revolves on a certain girl who belonged to the program. 

I like how Ms. Hoyle developed the story. She doesn't immediately give the solutions in one book. She gives it by bits and pieces that would become whole as the series ends. And yet, you never get tired of reading her story. It's like a journey where you may stumble and fall but you keep pushing because of the destination you have in mind; because you know the reward you'll get in the end will probably be the best. 

kb_hoyle
K.B. Hoyle is a bestselling author, a public speaker, a creative writing instructor, and a classical history teacher who uses her knowledge of the ancient and medieval worlds to pen speculative and fantasy tales for people of all ages. She has been married since the age of twenty to the love of her life, with whom she has four wonderful children. Find out more about her at www.kbhoyle.com.

Author links:

Praise for Breeder
"Breeder was anything but a let down. The characters were extremely well written, making me able to empathize with Pria and Pax and the situation they find themselves in. I kept turning the pages because I just had to find out what happened to these people and, to my shock, finished the book in a day! "  - Angela  Goodreads Review

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Cover Reveal: Greta and the Glass Kingdom by Chloe Jacobs!

Greta and the Goblin King (Mylena Chronicles #1)
Release Date: 12/11/12
Entangled Teen
While trying to save her brother from a witch’s fire four years ago, Greta was thrown in herself, falling through a portal to Mylena, a dangerous world where humans are the enemy and every ogre, ghoul, and goblin has a dark side that comes out with the eclipse.


To survive, Greta has hidden her humanity and taken the job of bounty hunter—and she’s good at what she does. So good, she’s caught the attention of Mylena’s young goblin king, the darkly enticing Isaac, who invades her dreams and undermines her will to escape.



But Greta’s not the only one looking to get out of Mylena. An ancient evil knows she’s the key to opening the portal, and with the next eclipse mere days away, every bloodthirsty creature in the realm is after her—including Isaac. If Greta fails, she and the lost boys of Mylena will die. If she succeeds, no world will be safe from what follows her back...


Greta and the Glass Kingdom (Mylena Chronicles #2)
Release Date: February 2015
Entangled Teen

The sequel to the Hansel & Gretel retelling Greta and the Goblin King ups the stakes of danger and romance. As conflict surges across Mylena, the tough Greta struggles to save those she loves.


Against all odds, Greta and the Goblin King miraculously survived the battle against the evil Agramon. Greta should be happy to be alive and ready to claim her place in Mylena by Isaac's side. Yet nothing is the way she thought it would be. The battle against Agramon left a dark magick inside Greta that will eventually kill her. Isaac hasn't been the same since he almost went Lost. And there are whispers of a rebellion brewing throughout Mylena...



Determined to save Mylena from a bitter civil war, they travel to the mysterious Glass Kingdom to form an uneasy alliance with the deadly Faerie race. But when an unexpected disaster tears Greta and Isaac apart, she must make the journey on her own. Along the way, she discovers a conspiracy stretching back to events she never thought she would have to revisit, betrayal from allies whose loyalty she never questioned, and an enemy vying to control all of Mylena.



Follow Greta into unexpected romance, explosive secrets, and shocking betrayals that will leave her and all of Mylena forever changed in the stunning second installment of The Mylena Chronicles.
Chloe Jacobs is a native of nowhere and everywhere, having jumped around to practically every Province of Canada before finally settling in Ontario where she has now been living for a respectable number of years. Her husband and son are the two best people in the entire world, but they also make her wish she'd at least gotten a female cat. No such luck. And although the day job keeps her busy, she carves out as much time as possible to write. Bringing new characters to life and finding out what makes them tick and how badly she can make them suffer is one of her greatest pleasures, almost better than chocolate and fuzzy pink bunny slippers.
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Cover Reveal Organized by:

Book Launch: Chasing The Tide by A. Meredith Walters!


***The powerful continuation of the story that began in Reclaiming the Sand- a tale of love and forgiveness and learning to over come a past that has come to define you.***

Bully and Victim

Friend and Lover

Past and Future

Ellie McCallum and Flynn Hendrick’s story was as painful as it was devastating.  But they were able to find within each other an unlikely yet beautiful love. Despite the obstacles that tried to keep them apart.

And together they rose out of the ashes of their tragic history.

Now years after their life changing reunion Ellie is back in Wellston, having just graduated from college and ready to start her future with the man who taught her how to love. However, returning to a town that held so much bitterness and anger was the last place she wanted to start over.

But for Flynn, who is now an art professor at the community college and firmly rooted in the place that gave them their beginning, she’d do just about anything.

Yet it’s difficult building a life when you’ve only just learned how to live.
 And love, no matter how strong, doesn’t always conquer all.

Ellie and Flynn must learn how far they are willing to go to stay together. Or whether the ghosts of the past will consume them both.

Because finding a happily ever after is harder than it seems. Particularly when you’re fighting against the one thing that could destroy you.

Yourself.


From the New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author of Find You in the Dark and Bad Rep comes a story of forgiveness, redemption and finding love in the most unlikely of places.

*THIS IS A STANDALONE WITH NO CLIFFHANGER!*

Bully and victim.
Tormenter and tormented.
Villain and hero.

Ellie McCallum was a bully. No connection to anyone or anything. A sad and lonely existence for a young woman who had come to expect nothing more for herself. Her only happiness coming from making others miserable.

Particularly Freaky Flynn.

Flynn Hendrick lived a life completely disconnected even as he struggled to become something more than that boy with Asperger's. He was taunted and teased, bearing the brunt of systematic and calculated cruelty, ultimately culminating in a catastrophic turn of events that brought Ellie and Flynn’s worlds crashing down.

But then Flynn and Ellie grew up.

And moved on.

Until years later when their paths unexpectedly cross again and the bully and the freak are face to face once more.

When labels come to define you, finding yourself feels impossible. Particularly for two people disconnected from the world who inexplicably find a connection in each other.
And out of the wreckage of their tragic beginnings, an unlikely love story unfolds.
But a painful past doesn’t always want to let go. And old wounds are never truly healed…and sometimes the further you try to run from yourself the closer you come to who you really are.
The New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Contemporary and Paranormal romance including The Find You in the Dark and Bad Rep series as well as the upcoming stand alone romance, Reclaiming the Sand, and a dark new adult series for Gallery Books.

A. Meredith spent ten years as a counselor for at risk teens and children. First working at a Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault program and then later a program for children with severe emotional and mental health issues. Her former clients and their stories continue to influence every aspect of her writing.

When not writing (or being tortured with all manner of beauty products at the hand of her very imaginative and extremely girly daughter), she is eating chocolate, watching reality television that could rot your brain and reading a smutty novel or two.

A. Meredith is represented by Michelle Johnson with the Inklings Literary Agency.