Powerless by Tera Lynn Childs & Tracy Deebs – Review, Excerpt & Giveaway

Powerless by Tera Lynn Childs & Tracy Deebs – Review, Excerpt and Giveaway

 

PowerlessAmazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo / The Book Depository / BAM

 

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Description:
Kenna is tired of being “normal”. The only thing special about her is that she isn’t special at all. Which is frustrating in a world of absolutes. Villains, like the one who killed her father, are bad. Heroes, like her mother and best friend, are good. And Kenna, unlike everyone else around her, is completely ordinary— which she hates.

She’s secretly working on an experiment that will land her a place among the Heroes, but when a Villain saves her life during a break-in at her lab, Kenna discovers there’s a whole lot of gray area when it comes to good and evil and who she can trust.. After all…not all strength comes from superpowers

 

 

Review:

Powerless by Tera Lynn Childs & Tracy Deebs is the 1st book in their new YA Hero Agenda series. When I read the description of the book, it appealed to me and I decided to read it. WOW I am glad I did. I really enjoyed Powerless, as it was exciting and a fun read. It is a YA story, in a world of Superheroes and Villains, and a perfectly fun book for adults

We meet Kenna Swift, our heroine, as she is working late in her mother’s lab. Kenna feels inferior, as she is powerless, which is rare, as she comes from a strong family. Her mother is a renowned scientist and her deceased father was a powerful super hero. Kenna has been taught to hate and fear powerful villains. While working late night at the lab, she hears a noise and before she can do anything 3 of those feared Villains are in the lab. They tell her that they mean no harm, they are trying to find one of the villains brother, who they claim is being tortured by the super-heroes. Kenna does not believe them, and stands up to the three Villians. She turns out to be a tough, sassy, fearless heroine, even if she is powerless. The three men escape when Kenna manages to sound off the alarms.

Kenna begins to suspect something is not what she believes, and accidently finds the young man who is missing being tortured. What will follow is an exciting adventure, where Kenna will meet up again with the three young men, as well as her best friend, Rebel and an ex boyfriend, who is a tech geek. Together they try to beat the odds in fighting the unknown superheroes who may just be the villains after all. Kenna will begin to see that not all the good guys are truly good, and not all Villains are bad.

The last 1/3 of the book was a hold on to the edge of your seat exciting climax, with many surprises and twists. There was also a budding romance that was developing between Kenna and Draven, one of the Villains. This did not go too far, but I expect more from this couple in the future books. Powerless was a fun and exciting story, which I feel all ages would enjoy. This is the start of a wonderful collaboration between Tera Lynn Childs & Tracy Deebs.  I cannot wait for the next book in this series.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher

 

excerpt

 

“You never answered my question. What are you doing down here so late?”

Those bright blue eyes sear into me as he takes a step back. “I have to go.”

His sudden evasiveness makes me suspicious, so when he starts to move past me, I
sidestep into his path. “Excuse me,” I say, “but this is a secure level. Are you
even authorized to be down here?”

“My dad,” he says, scowling at me. “He’s a security guard.”

A security guard? The facility might be so big that I can’t keep track of everyone
who works in every lab, but I know all the guards by name. Especially the night
guards, since I’m usually the last one here.

Travis and Luther are on duty tonight. Travis and his wife just had their first
baby, a girl named Tia. Luther is old enough to be my great-grandfather and he never
married.

I take half a step back as my suspicions turn to concern. “Who’s your dad?” I demand.

This guy definitely has the look of a villain.

What if he really is one?

He glances nervously over his shoulder. “He’s-”

I shake my head and start to walk away before he can finish the lie.

He reaches for me, but I shrug him off. My heart is beating way too fast. This could
go way bad, way quick.

“Please, just listen.” He waits until I’m looking him in the eye before he
continues. “You know me,” he says, his voice taking on this weird, hypnotic tone.
“We’ve met before.”

His eyes start to burn brighter and brighter. Oh crap. He must be a villain, and one
with a psy power. The vilest kind. Fear and anger collide inside me as I wonder what
to do about him trying to mess with my head. How to play this? I can’t exactly tell
him I’m-

Suddenly, the floor beneath my feet shudders violently, knocking me off balance. I
lurch forward into Dark-and-Scowly’s arms. He catches me, grabs my upper arms, just
as a concussion wave of air and sound hits us.

That sounded-and felt-like a bomb went off in the lab. If we weren’t a hundred feet
underground and shielded by every protection science and superheroes can create, I’d
think the supervillain Quake had struck. But that’s impossible.

Then again, impossible doesn’t always apply in the superhero world. After all,
impossible didn’t keep Dark-and-Scowly from being where he doesn’t belong.

Suddenly, every alarm in the facility blares. I freak. The lab! All that
research-Mom’s and mine-is priceless. The superhero blood samples alone are more
valuable than anything else in the building.

Panic overrides judgment and I push away, but his grip only tightens. The jerk. A
little super strength would be really useful right now.

“You can’t go in there.”

“Who are you?” I demand, struggling to get out of his grasp. If he really is a
villain, I don’t want him near me or this lab. Not with what villains are capable
of. “What have you done?”

He doesn’t answer. More pissed than ever, I fake left and pull right. He follows my
fake-out, and as his hair swings with the momentum, I see the mark I’d been looking
for earlier. Not under his right ear like the superheroes. Under his left.

Shit.

“You’re a villain.”

 

 

About the author

TeraLynnChildsTracy WolffOne fateful summer, Tera Lynn Childs and Tracy Deebs embarked on a nine hour (each way!) road trip to Santa Fe that ended with a flaming samurai, an enduring friendship, and the kernel of an idea that would eventually become Powerless. On their own, they have written YA tales about mermaids (Forgive My Fins, Tempest Rising), mythology (Doomed, Oh. My Gods., Sweet Venom), smooching (International Kissing Club), and fae princes (When Magic Sleeps). Between them, they have three boys (all Tracy), three dogs (mostly TLC), and almost fifty published books. Find TLC and the #TeamHillain headquarters at teralynnchilds.com. Check out Tracy and the #TeamVero lair at tracydeebs.com. Hang out with all the heroes, villains, ordinaries, and none-of-the-aboves at heroagenda.com. 

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Undertow by S.M. Stelmack – a Review

Undertow by S.M. Stelmack – a Review

undertowLinks to order Undertow: Amazon

Book Description:
Lindsay Sterling’s niece has gone missing in the New York underground and the cops do nothing except pass along a name. Jack Cole. Twenty years ago they were good buddies but horrors have changed them both. Lindsay lost her entire family except for her niece in a car accident, and Jack was held captive in New York’s underbelly for nearly two years by demented sub-humans. It was a soul-sucking experience that’s left him a shell of a man. He refuses to descend into that hell again, especially for a girl who’s probably dead anyway. But when Lindsay is nearly killed there after going it alone, Jack feels compelled to save her skin. Jack navigates Lindsay through a strange territory, populated with the eccentric, the insane and the desperate. Each encounter takes them closer to Lindsay’s niece but also closer into the clutches of the mad creatures that will enslave them.

Review:
Undertow by S.M. Stelmack was an excellent adventure. I give it a 4/5 rating  This book is full of danger, intrigue and friendships.  Imagine a city under a city, levels of this city divided, until we get to the lowest of the low. Each level has their hierarchy, rules and laws. At the top we have running water and electricity. Each level goes deeper and deeper, until we hit total darkness. And the monsters.

Lindsay once had a friend called Jack, they were inseparable. Jack was the ultimate adventurer, he would travel underground searching for treasures and stories to tell his avid follower.  An incident in their past puts a strain on their friendship. Then Jack and his father have to move away, this is the end of the dynamic duo. But they keep in touch, postcards, letters and birthday phone calls. Then a blow rocks Lindsay’s world, and she cuts Jack out if her life forever…..

We jump ahead eighteen years. Lindsay’s worse nightmare comes true, she loses her remaining family member underground. The police can’t help, due to lack of funds and manpower. She is given a name and number to contact, to her shock, it’s Jack’s name looking back at her. 

Tracking him down, she arrives at a rundown building, where she meets a mountain called Reggie. Getting past Reggie to see Jack is a challenge in it’s self.

Their meeting doesn’t go as planned.  He is cold, distant and totally disinterested in her plight. Undeterred, Lindsay plans to go underground and look for her niece. Packing a rucksack full of things she will need, Lindsay ventures to Grand Central Station, in search of a guide, to take her underground. She meets a bunch of youths who promise to take her to the people she needs to see. Only trouble in the shape of a knife is what she gets. Reggie rescues her, and takes her back to Jack.   Jack relents and tells her that he will take her underground, and to be ready the next morning. 

Along the journey, we meet characters, who know of Jack the legend. (it seems Jack has his own underground story to tell, which we get to see in flash backs)

Jack has loved Lindsay since childhood, but Jack is broken. The moles (who are at the bottom of the underground social network, but are feared by everyone) broke him, tried to remould him into someone else. Jack’s flashbacks are very important to the story, we get to see them try to break him, and all the horrors he was forced to endure. 

The moles want their property back (Jack being theirs), and will do anything to keep him from returning to the surface.  Jack and Lindsay reconnect and their love for one another begins to grow, from the child worship to adult love. The story is fast paced and nail biting, right up to the ending.              

What I liked about this book was the adventure, I could see this as a movie, the monsters scary enough for any horror fan. It flowed really well. And it felt like real time, as there was the sleep, eating, fighting and escape. Do they rescue her niece ? Do they find happiness, or will reality set in ? Well I’m afraid you will have to read this amazing book yourself. 

My only niggle, the end felt a little rushed, I thought there would be a meeting, or a showdown. I see there is another book due out 2013, I will be putting it on my kindle list. I can’t recommend it enough. It really was a ride a minute. 

Reviewed by Julie B.

Copy provided by Author

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