Showing posts with label Julianna Scott. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Julianna Scott. Show all posts

Wednesday, 27 February 2013

Excerpt: The Holders (Holders #1) by Julianna Scott

I am pleased to be able to share with you today a steamy excerpt from Julianna Scott's Young Adult novel,The Holders which is the first book in the Holders series.


Contact Juliana: Twitter – Website – Goodreads – Strange Chemistry - Amazon - Facebook

The Holders (Holders, #1)Series: Holders
Pages: 320
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: Strange Chemistry
Amazon Pre-order: The Holders
Release Date: 5th March 2013

Synopsis

17-year-old Becca spent her whole life protecting her brother from, well, everything. The abandonment of their father, the so called 'experts' who insist that voices in his head are unnatural and must be dealt with, and the constant threat of being taken away to some hospital and studied like an animal. When two representatives appear claiming to have the answers to Ryland's perceived problem, Becca doesn't buy it for one second. That is until they seem to know things about Ryland and about Becca and Ryland's family, that forces Becca to concede that there may be more to these people than meets the eye. Though still highly skeptical, Becca agrees to do what's best for Ryland.

What they find at St. Brigid's is a world beyond their imagination. Little by little they piece together the information of their family's heritage, their estranged Father, and the legend of the Holder race that decrees Ryland is the one they've been waiting for. However, they are all--especially Becca--in for a surprise that will change what they thought they knew about themselves and their kind.

She meets Alex, a Holder who is fiercely loyal to their race, and for some reason, Becca and Ryland. There's an attraction between Becca and Alex that can't be denied, but her true nature seems destined to keep them apart. However, certain destinies may not be as clear cut as everyone has always believed them to be.

Becca is lost, but found at the same time. Can she bring herself to leave Ryland now that he's settled and can clearly see his future? Will she be able to put the the feelings she has for Alex aside and head back to the US? And can Becca and Ryland ever forgive their father for what he's done?

Excerpt:

“Oh yeah," I said, "it was rough. People constantly coming in to check on me, and then there was this guy who would not go away…”

I peeked over at him with a grin, to find him shooting me a wry glance. “Sounds awful.”

“Oh, it was!” I bit back a giggle. “I swear he was with me twenty-four seven, poor guy must have no life at all.”

“Must have been hell. You had to spend all that time staring at him, was he at least good looking?”

“Ah,” I shrugged, no longer able to contain my smile, “he’s all right.”

“Just all right?” he growled through his grin, grabbing me around the waist and dragging me with a shriek up onto his lap.

The next moment his mouth took hold of mine as both of his hands wound into my hair. My eyes fluttered as his lips worked their way down, nipping at my chin before blazing a tingling trail to my collarbone, then climbed back up the side of my neck, ending at his favorite spot just under my ear. The noises coming out of my mouth as my head lolled back were entirely involuntary and not exactly graceful, but given Alex’s reactions to them, they were exactly what he wanted to hear. I slid my hands down his back then slowly up his sides, relishing the moan that rumbled in his chest. Just as my fingers reached the buttons on his shirt, he let out a long breath and rested his forehead on my shoulder.

“We should stop,” he said with a hoarseness that made me shiver.

“No, I don’t think we should.”

He looked up at me with a grin. “We are in public, after all.”

“Then let’s go somewhere private,” I whispered, bending forward and kissing his neck as he’d done mine. As my lips teased the hollow of his throat, his chest begin to heave under me and suddenly his hands were grabbing at my back, fisting my shirt, pulling me closer.


Julianna Scott
About the Author:

Julianna was born In Pittsburgh, Pensylvainia, and spent the majority of her educational career convinced she would be a musican. However, after recieving her music degree from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, she realized that she'd been born in the wrong era for her dreams of singing jazz to adoring fans clad in zoot-suits and flapper dresses to come true, and began to wonder if her true calling might be elsewhere.

While Julianna had always excelled in writing throughout school, she'd never considered it a career possibility until about three years ago, when she'd gotten her first story idea and decided to go for it. She grabbed her laptop, started typing away, and has never looked back.

She lives in the Chicago area with her husband and two daughters. The author lives in Chicago, IL.

Giveaway:

** Continental US and Canada only

Brand new American girl doll modeled and accessorized after The Holders main character, Becca

A signed final copy of The holders

A collectable bookmark set

A handmade bracelet

Custom lip gloss

Themed button
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tuesday, 5 February 2013

ARC Review: The Holders (Holders #1) by Julianna Scott



The Holders (Holders, #1)Author: Julianna Scott
Series: Holders
Pages: 320
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: Strange Chemistry
Amazon Pre-order: The Holders
Release Date: 5th March 2013

Synopsis

17-year-old Becca spent her whole life protecting her brother from, well, everything. The abandonment of their father, the so called 'experts' who insist that voices in his head are unnatural and must be dealt with, and the constant threat of being taken away to some hospital and studied like an animal. When two representatives appear claiming to have the answers to Ryland's perceived problem, Becca doesn't buy it for one second. That is until they seem to know things about Ryland and about Becca and Ryland's family, that forces Becca to concede that there may be more to these people than meets the eye. Though still highly skeptical, Becca agrees to do what's best for Ryland.

What they find at St. Brigid's is a world beyond their imagination. Little by little they piece together the information of their family's heritage, their estranged Father, and the legend of the Holder race that decrees Ryland is the one they've been waiting for. However, they are all--especially Becca--in for a surprise that will change what they thought they knew about themselves and their kind.

She meets Alex, a Holder who is fiercely loyal to their race, and for some reason, Becca and Ryland. There's an attraction between Becca and Alex that can't be denied, but her true nature seems destined to keep them apart. However, certain destinies may not be as clear cut as everyone has always believed them to be.

Becca is lost, but found at the same time. Can she bring herself to leave Ryland now that he's settled and can clearly see his future? Will she be able to put the the feelings she has for Alex aside and head back to the US? And can Becca and Ryland ever forgive their father for what he's done?

Review: 4 out of 5 stars

The Holders was kindly provided to me by Strange Chemistry/Angry Robot in exchange for my honest review.

17 year old Becca Ingle cares deeply for her 10 year old brother Ryland, who hears voices; she has always protected him from anyone who has wanted to test or institutionalise him, until two men arrive on their doorstep with an explanation for what is happening to Ryland and provide an opportunity for him to attend an academy based in Ireland where he will learn to control what they say is a special ability, for he is what is known as a Holder and is actually hearing people's thoughts.

Becca sees the opportunity provided but only agrees Ry can go if she can accompany him despite knowing she will be in the close vicinity of her estranged father who abandoned them as children and now runs the school.

Each Holder has a special ability - telepathy, telekinesis, alchemy etc. and teaching Becca about the school and each power is Alex Bray who has the ability to project images on reality, he is also the main love interest.

I enjoyed each of the main characters, Becca was full of snark and tended to react before thinking but she was also caring and protective. Alex was a sweetheart but probably too perfect, this guy was ideal - so calm and loveable and complimented Becca well, his past was really quite sad.

I initially thought the romance was too insta-love but there was a reason for it which was revealed as the story progressed and made the connection between Alex & Becca all the more believable but in the initial stages I thought it was too much too soon.

We get some great secondary characters, some of the Holders such as Mr. Anderson and Mr. Reid provide some welcomed comic relief, Min was a sweet motherly figure and Chloe is a wonderful new best friend to Becca. We learn a bit about the bad guys but don’t really get to see the main villain act out so I’m curious to learn more about him/them in the next installment – Ms. Scott has set the story up nicely and given us enough background information for the next book.

My main complaint with The Holders is the predictability, I was able to guess what was going to happen early on in the book, it was just a matter of reading along to see it all play out - it may also have been because a lot is revealed about the book in the synopsis which doesn’t leave a lot to the imagination.

The pacing flowed well and Ms. Scott's writing was crisp and enjoyable. With a threat looming, I am intrigued to see what is to come of Becca now certain things have been revealed and with a powerful Holder out to control the human race things are looking to get quite interesting.

Overall, a promising start to this new series.

Thank-you to Strange Chemistry/Angry Robot for providing me with copy of The Holders to read and review.