Review by Shellie: Alone ~ by Marissa Farrar

 

A romantic and emotional journey of an abused woman and her path towards healing -  all within a vampire urban fantasy.

Synopsis:   Set in a present day Los Angeles, a young woman named Serenity is in a difficult and very abusive marriage. Her self esteem is poor and she questions whether she deserves her nightly beatings and emotional abuse from her creepy and jobless husband.

When she stumbles upon a very compelling and gorgeous stranger named Sebastian, all her feelings rearrange.  As she begins to question her relationship with her husband, his abuse, and herself  - the inevitable relationship develops.  When Serenity  realizes Sebastian is something other than human there is the inevitable conflict, some evil meddling, and ensuing drama.

Thoughts:    This is a romantic, mildly horrific, urban fantasy – with some important real life aspects and concerns. Some are based upon domestic violence and the inevitable emotional journey into the experiences of an abused woman. Additionally there is the internal conflict which one can only imagine a monster must feel when needing to kill to exist. With much angst within the pages one sees into the emotional travails; caring and empathizing with some characters while loathing others. Marissa Farrar does a fine job of showing the reader her character’s complexities in a easy and readable and page-turning manner.

My only very small quibble around the book is that although the book was set in the US with the main character being American, the language is distinctly from the UK and British in nature, creating a mild internal conflict for me. I would say that some American readers may have  a slight lag in the reading flow with  a few small bits of the language. Thinking it would not be a detriment for most, especially if you like the Brits, I give this romantic and redemptive vampire novel a 4 stars. It was grand!

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Alone is available for purchase at B&N, and Smashwords. Both are under 5 US dollars. I also believe that Vamplit/EbookUndead is planning to publish its books in paperback? For basic information about Alone and Marissa - please see Layers of Thought's preview for Alone, and to download a sample of Alone - link to EbookUndead.com.

To connect with Marissa Farrar link to her blog, where she has a lot going on, as well as on twitter, and facebook!

Alone will be included in several reading challenges: The Speculative Fiction Challenge, New Author Challenge, Woman Unbound, The Basics Challenge, and Frightening Fiction Review Blog Hop.

Happy Friday everyone!

Read an Ebook Week: March 7 – 13, 2010

Free Ebooks and amazingly low prices will be offered at select sites for the week:

• There will be contests – writing dead lines end March 5th.
• Free ebooks.
• Discussions on the future of ebooks, readers, as well as the benefits of ebooks.
• Here is a link for vendors participating in Read an Ebook Week – most will be offering deeply discounted books, many for free, as well as having additional contests. Including contests to win an ereader.

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Please note that these books below, published by Ebook Undead, will be sold at 50% off their already low prices during this week. Each links to a preview or review here on Layers of Thought.

• RELEASE by Nicole Hadaway - review
• Alone by Marissa Farrar – preview
• Descending Skies by Margaret Schlegel - preview
• Swan Song by Jevron Mc Crory – preview
• Dance on Fire by James Garcia Jr. – preview

*The code for all Ebook Undead books is RAE50. This code will take 50% off the price of all the above books and others by this publisher. The code is time sensitive so it must be used within the time frame of the week.*

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Here is one nonfiction/memoir and one inspirational poetry book, which may be of interest to readers. They  will also be on sale during this week. Both are by Lori Newman - links to her author’s page on Goodreads. Both covers also link to book information at Goodreads.

*The code for purchase for 50% off is RAE50. March 3 to 13, are the dates which the code will be useable. Additionally if anyone is interested in getting the books in print they are 25% off till  March 13th as well.*

For purchase:

• Links for Here All Along for Ebook, and print
• Links for Looking to be Seen for Ebook and print.

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Help support small and independent publishers, fill your reader, and join the fun. All genres are represented at many other sites so if your not a horror, memoir, or poetry fan no worries – go check out what is on offer and make a list!