(No Ordinary Star #3)

M.C. Frank

novainloss

5 ★ – EPIC CONCLUSION

PUBLISHED BY CREATESPACE INDEPENDENT PUBLISHING PLATFORM DECEMBER 5, 2017

GENRE(S): YOUNG ADULT, SCI-FI, FANTASY, DYSTOPIA, ROMANCE

PAGES: PAPERBACK 302

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Synopsis

A soldier is summoned to the North Pole, days before the year changes, told to fix the great Clock for a celebration. He has no idea what to do.
A girl, hunted for the crime of being born, almost dies out on the ice. She is rescued by the last polar bear left alive.
A library waits for them both, a library built over a span of a hundred years, forgotten in the basement of an ice shack.
The world hasn’t known hunger or sickness in hundreds of years. It has also forgotten love and beauty.
This is the One World.
The year is 2524.

Inspired by the short stories of Ray Bradbury, this futuristic young adult novel in three parts is set in a world where Christmas -among other things- is obsolete and a Clock is what keeps the fragile balance of peace.

Written in three parts, this is the breathtaking story of how two unlikely people change the world, and each other, one book at a time.

In No Vain Loss, the world is on the brink of the greatest war humanity has ever known. Lives will be lost. New truths will be revealed.

Review

It’s ten heartbeats to midnight. Ten heartbeats to the greatest war humanity has ever known…

Where do I even begin… M.C. Frank wonderfully concluded this series with so much epicness that I’m still reeling and my emotions are just all over the place. No Vain Loss just blew my mind away!

Before I started NVL, I just knew it would be a quick and beautifully painful read. Frank’s writing never ceases to amaze me – it’s utterly beautiful, positively emotional, and breathtaking through and through. With that being said, I decided to take my time and read NVL as slowly as I could. I wanted to enjoy this insanely lovely story for just a little longer and spend more time with Felix and Astra… And I can honestly say that it was not easy. The story is so much more thrilling than the first two installments — incredibly fast-paced with plenty of nerve-wracking action, unexpected twists every which way that kept me on edge, sweet moments that surely pulled my heartstrings, and an electrifying ending that was absolutely satisfying. This book… this series… it will become your addiction that you’re going to want to devour every single page and then do it all over again because it’s just that amazing!

It was definitely an absolute pleasure going on this journey with Felix and Astra. They were such wonderful characters who stole a huge piece of my heart with their bravery, their sacrifices, and their love. Even with their losses and pain, Felix and Astra fought for a new world. A better world where beauty, hope and love can exist. I really don’t want to say anything more because you just have to experience this mesmerizing series for yourself.

No Vain Loss is a lovely and heartwarming ending that left me feeling so full of hope and joy and understanding. It’s a story about friendship, forgiveness, acceptance, love and so much more. It’s such a beautiful series about what it means to be human and while I’m quite sad to see it end, I know that I will always have a special place in my heart for Felix and Astra and this breathtaking series. It’s thrilling, ugly at times, incredibly emotional, and so real in every way.

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If you’re looking for a book/series with gorgeous writing, exhilarating plot, inspiring themes, and lovable heroes, then I highly recommend this. I promise you… you will fall head over heels in love with this series.

As a member of the NOS Street Team, I received a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest and fair review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Author Interview

Describe this series in 3 words? Frozen, heartbreaking, Christmassy.

What was the hardest scene for you to write in the No Ordinary Star trilogy? The battle scene.

Who are you more like Felix or Astra? I’m like Astra in that I love books and stories, but my dark side is all Felix.

What was your favorite scene in No Vain Loss? The scene that happens right after the Clock is unveiled *wink (spoiler).

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer? When I was five or six and realized that was my dad’s job. I wanted to be like him. Two years later, when I started reading books, then I knew for sure (but I thought it would be the impossible dream).

Which author(s) have inspired your writing? Ray Bradbury’s short stories inspired the entire No Ordinary Star series. In general, all the great classics, like Austen, Bronte, Dickens and Shakespeare… and many more. These were my writing “teachers”.

Favorite snack while writing. I don’t think it counts as a snack, but I drink tons of water.

What was the first book that made you cry? The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis (from the Chronicles of Narnia).

If there was a zombie apocalypse and you can only choose one book to take with you, what would it be? Ahhh you’re killing me with this question. I don’t know… Could I take a kindle reader?

If you were a superhero, what would your name be and what power would you have? I don’t know about my name (I’ll need to think about it, that’s serious stuff right there) but I know my power: flying.

Game of Thrones or The Walking Dead? Neither.

If you won the lotto, how would you spend your winnings? Would you believe, I’ve thought really extensively about this. I’d build a school. Yep, I’m dreaming big.

Favorite movie of all time? You’ve Got Mail.

Are you working on any other projects right now that you could talk about? Any new books coming out? Yes, I am writing a Robin Hood romance, and I’m so excited to finish it and get it into the hands of lovely readers like you!

Other Books in the Series

ADD NO ORDINARY STAR ON GOODREADS

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Read my Review for No Ordinary Star

ADD NO PLAIN REBEL ON GOODREADS

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Read my Review for No Plain Rebel

About the Author

(Taken from M.C. Frank’s Website)

mcfrank I am M.C. Frank: writer, reader, designer, editor, physicist and teacher. (To mention a few.)

I have been living in a world of stories ever since I can remember (that’s before I knew how to write). I started writing them down when I could no longer stand the characters in my head screaming at me to give them life and while those first scribblings weren’t exactly good (nor were they books, although I insisted on calling them that), they were enough for me to discover my passion in life.

I started writing seriously a few years back, pursuing my dream of a writing career. I started small, in a magazine, but ever since I’ve been dreaming of doing what I absolutely love for a living, and finally I am getting there! I feel so blessed and happy.

I got my university degree in physics a few years ago. People look at me weirdly when I tell them I’m a physicist, so I say, I know what you’re thinking, and yes, I’m like Sheldon, only a bit crazier! I am now free to pursue my love of reading and writing, as well as my free-lance job of editor-in-chief. I live with my husband in a home filled with candles, laptops and notebooks, where I rearranges my overflowing bookshelves every time I feel stressed.

Which is often, since (as you might have noticed) I don’t pick the easiest subjects for my novels. I put my characters in icy-cold dystopian worlds where kissing is forbidden (among other things), or place them in green forests ruled by evil Sheriffs. If they’re in Jane Austen’s London, they have to be running away from a traumatic childhood, or if they are in our current, contemporary world, they’re scared they’ll die before they have finished high school. That sort of thing.

Don’t worry, though, I know we all are in need of a little hope and joy in our lives, so there’s a good dose of those as well in everything I write.

Follow and Connect with M.C. Frank

Website/ Instagram / Twitter / Facebook

Thanks for reading my review and have a wonderful week! Don’t forget to leave your comments down below. I’d love to hear what you think.

Sincerely Karen Jo

Book Blitz – Abroad #2 by Liz Jacobs

December 3, 2017December 1, 2017 karenjo462 Comments

Abroad Book Two
Liz Jacobs
Publication date: January 2nd 2018
Genres: New Adult, Romance

The heartwarming and romantic conclusion to the duology celebrated by Teen Vogue as “a nuanced and sexy take on growing up and learning to accept who you are.”

Nick Melnikov has finally done it — he’s come out.

To himself. To his sister. And to Dex, who listens, hears him, and understands. To Dex, who kisses him and shows him all that they could be, if Nick could only find the courage. It’s one thing to let yourself be open thousands of miles away from your family, but exchange student Nick is uncomfortably aware that his time with Dex is running out. Who will he be when he goes home again?

Dex Cartwell is as happy with Nick as he’s ever been, but he can’t ignore the shadow of Nick’s inevitable departure from London, back to his life in Michigan. Is it worth it for Dex to expose his heart to another doomed relationship with a predetermined expiration date? What does Dex really want for the beginning of the next chapter in his life, post-graduation?

Dex wants to turn to his best friend in the struggle to find a way forward, but Izzy Jones has her own problems. She’s got one friend in love with her, and when she turns to another for help things get twice as complicated. Izzy never wanted complicated, but life just keeps getting in the way — and sweeping her off her feet.

Then Nick’s mom and sister come for a visit, and he is forced to decide between living his truth and protecting himself from fear and change. It’s going to take a lot of courage and a few leaps in the dark if Nick, Dex, and Izzy are to find a way to live and love on their own terms.

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EXCERPT:

A shift next to Nick, then a sigh. He froze. Had he woken Dex up after all?

He waited as Dex moved behind him, and then the futon shifted. Dex was up. Nick turned over, only to see him escape quietly out of the study.

Nick took advantage of it and shifted into a position he could maybe fall asleep in, provided he could shut his fucking brain up. God, sleeping next to another person was stressful as hell. He and Lena did it rarely enough that he had never managed to get used to it. Dex didn’t seem to have this problem. Again, Nick’s lack of experience made him squirm.

Dex came back shortly, kneeing his way up the futon, his body graceful in the dark. Nick swallowed. “Hi.”

“You’re awake!” Dex plopped down next to him and immediately cuddled up, their knees meeting. “Did I wake you? Sorry.”

“No, I wasn’t asleep yet.” Nick wished he hadn’t said it the moment it left his mouth.

“You all right?” He almost jumped when Dex’s hand found his side, wrapped around his back.

“Yeah,” he lied. “Maybe just not tired.”

The shadow of Dex’s face loomed closer, then Dex’s breath fanned over his face. A kiss—a peck really—to his lips. “Sorry.”

It was so much darker here than in London. “Not your fault.”

Their voices were quiet, almost whispers. Dex sounded uncertain when he said, “I hope you like Easter. It’s one of Mum’s favorites.”

“I’m excited,” Nick said. He sort of was. The only Easter thing he had ever done was dye eggs in school as a kid, back in Russia. “I’m sure it’ll be great.”

Dex sighed. “This is weird, isn’t it?”

“Which part?” Nick tensed.

“Just, you know. You, meeting my folks. I mean, the last boyfriend of mine they met was the one I had in school for, like, a month.”

“Well, the last set of parents I met were my parents’ friends, so … ”

“Is that … parents of someone you dated?” Dex sounded careful. Nick sighed. He hadn’t meant to open up this door, but Dex had been so generous with his past. It was probably time for Nick to mirror him.

“Yeah, my girlfriend. My ex-girlfriend, I mean. We dated in high school and college.”

“That long, huh?”

More than one question in his voice, Nick knew. He was so glad they were in the total dark. He squirmed. “Yeah. I mean, I did … you know, I did like her. We were best friends. I … I really messed that up when we broke up.”

“When was that?”

“Just this past summer,” Nick breathed.

“Was it … why? Who broke up with whom?”

Nick chewed the question over. He still didn’t know what had given him the courage to do the right thing, as it were. He hadn’t ever really felt comfortable with Lena, not in a physical relationship, anyway. He loved her so much, and he’d hated having her as a girlfriend. Just as he would have hated having any girl for a partner.

“I did. Before I left for London. I mean, I think … I think I used that as the overall reason, but really, it was because … ” He sighed.

“Because you’re gay?” Again, Dex sounded careful, tender, even.

Nick’s breath whooshed out of him. “Yeah. I didn’t tell her that, though.”

“She didn’t take the breakup well?”

Nick screwed up his eyes. Thoughts of Lena always brought on intense flushes of shame, peculiar only to her. He had used her, whether as a cover for others or for himself, he had used her, and discarded her. She deserved so much better than him. “No,” he whispered. “She … she kind of hates me now.”

“Would you … I mean. Would you consider telling her?”

Nick swallowed. “Telling her what?”

“That you’re, you know. Gay.”

The very thought made him wince. How could he? What if she felt more hurt? What if she would hate him even more, if that was even possible? What if—what if she told her parents, who would—no. God. No, he couldn’t—he couldn’t even imagine that. He couldn’t imagine anyone besides Zoya knowing, he couldn’t even form an image, it was all static in his mind. Could he ever look them in the eye, knowing that they knew he was into boys, into—no. He recoiled from the very idea, felt sweat break out on his back, soaking into his t-shirt.

“N-no, I—I don’t know. I can’t … I don’t think I could.”

“Why? What could happen?” Dex’s whisper sounded halting. Nick twisted away and Dex’s hand slipped off his side. They were only touching at the knees.

“I just … I guess I’d never thought about it,” he said. Maybe if he pretended to keep the demons in the past …

“That makes sense,” Dex said. “‘S all right.” Again he leaned in and kissed him. Then he turned over. “We should probably sleep, long day tomorrow.”

Nick felt cold everywhere Dex had been touching him. He made himself roll over and get into a good position for sleep. If he ever did sleep. “Good night,” he whispered, but it had been so quiet, he wasn’t sure Dex had heard.

Author Bio:

Liz Jacobs came over with her family from Russia at the age of 11, as a Jewish refugee. All in all, her life has gotten steadily better since that moment. They settled in an ultra-liberal haven in the middle of New York State, which sort of helped her with the whole “grappling with her sexuality” business.

She has spent a lot of her time flitting from passion project to passion project, but writing remains her constant. She has flown planes, drawn, made jewelry, had an improbable internet encounter before it was cool, and successfully wooed the love of her life in a military-style campaign. She has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize for her essay on her family’s experience with immigration.

She currently lives with her wife in Massachusetts, splitting her time between her day job, writing, and watching a veritable boatload of British murder mysteries.

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