Hi peeps, we have Evelyn Shepherd visiting today with the cover to her upcoming release I Am Hope, the third and last book in The Meteora Trilogy. We also have an exclusive excerpt to have a peek at and there’s also a fantastic giveaway where you can win the first two books in The Meteora Trilogy so enjoy the post and click that Rafflecopter link <3 ~Pixie~
I Am Hope
(The Meteora Trilogy 03)
by
Evelyn Shepherd
The undead were only the beginning.
Topher, Jesse, and Sawyer thought their greatest threat were the Infected and Mutated that roam the world. As they struggle to reach the camp in Kill Devil Hills in North Carolina, they soon discover that the monstrous mutations of the undead are the least of their problems. Something else, something far more intelligent and lethal, is hunting them.
Topher knows that the only way humanity will survive is to find a cure for the strange infection that’s ravaged the world. He’s on the brink of discovering it; but the further his research goes, the more he realizes that curing the world of the infection may mean losing Sawyer.
The three will fight to stay together, and Topher will have to make the ultimate choice: cure the world or save his lover?
Blurb: Theo and Carlos are called out of vacation when a madman called the Bogeyman begins to butcher small children. It’s a race against more than the clock as a third victim is abducted. The FBI has stepped in to put an end to the terror that has seized Columbus, but with very few clues to go on, Theo and Carlos are left scrambling for answers. Rhett Bishop just might be the help they’ve been looking for, but it comes with a price – one Theo isn’t sure is worth paying.
The deeper they delve into the bloody massacre rocking Columbus, the more things spin out of control. Theo struggles with his own crippling fears and tries to build the courage to ask Carlos one of the most important questions of his life. But things can never go easy for the two detectives, and as they sort through their case, Carlos begins a battle of his own. A contender has stepped up to take Carlos’s place as Alpha of the local werecoyote pack. If Carlos isn’t careful, he may lose more than his position as pack leader.
Review:This story is part of a series and is best read in order. Theo and Carlos have just returned from their vacation when they are called in to investigate a madman who is butchering young children, the press and children of Columbus have already labelled him the Bogeyman and it is up to Theo and Carlos to stop him before a third victim is butchered. When the FBI steps in Theo is suspicious, as the agent seems to be keeping secrets, but with very few clues to go on and with no answers in sight Theo and Carlos have no choice but to trust the agent. When Rhett Bishop gets in touch saying he has information, Theo discovers that the foe they face is extremely dangerous and deadly. As Carlos and Theo investigate, Carlos also has to face problems in his pack as a contender comes forward to challenge him for the Alpha position, and Theo has to fight his own fears if he is to ask Carlos the most important question of his life.
This is a great story continuing the turbulent relationship of Carlos and Theo, chasing a deranged killer and putting an end to the dissent in Carlos’ pack. There are quite a few things happening in this story that get briefly pulled together, it adds excitement and danger to a story that is already filled with it but it also adds confusion for Theo and Carlos. Theo is trying to build up the courage to ask Carlos an important question but his own doubts and fears are holding him back, but another brush with death convinces him to take the bull by the horns. Carlos is fighting to keep hold of his Alpha position but Theo’s actions are not helping his case at all, trying to get Theo to back off is especially hard.
Theo and Carlos are wonderful in this book, they have explosive chemistry and strike sparks off each other and when they have sex *wipes brow* they are smoking hot. The storyline was great and I really liked how Theo was trying to get into the head of the killer, trying to see how he would have done things but always coming up stumped on why the killer was doing it. Carlos’ power struggle and Theo’s reaction to it was great, we can see Theo wanting to step back and let Carlos handle it but the fear of losing Carlos has him acting in ways that cause more problems. How Carlos reacted to the undermining of his authority was superbly done but I am glad that forgiveness came quickly after.
All in all I really enjoyed this book but there was one big niggle for me, when they were all about to head off for the big confrontation against a killer with powers that had never been seen before, Theo was wondering if there was anything that could give them an advantage and I could only shake my eReader and scream ‘the bloody drug’. I won’t go into it any more than that, but something that took Theo out should have worked on the killer as well.
I have to recommend this book if you want a preternatural crime story, you love smoking hot sex, you want to see a lot of danger, some cool wicked powers, love and forgiveness, catching a killer in a wicked battle and a great ending.
Blurb: Sawyer never it saw it coming. He never expected Jesse to finally respond to him. He never expected the meteors to take out LeVeque tower. He never expected an old woman to try to eat his face off.
Sawyer thought that when he went into work that night it just be another boring evening at the bookstore. But the impromptu quickie in the bathroom is just the beginning. Sawyer, with his gorgeously infuriating boss Jesse, his best friend Chloe and her little brother Jaden are in for more than a boring night.
The undead are rising up and they will have to find their way through the aftermath. With the aid of Jesse’s wryly sexy ex-lover/best friend Topher, they will attempt to head south to find a safe haven in a world turned to bedlam. But with the government keeping secrets and the infected turning, it’ll prove that the nightmare is far from over.
As Sawyer struggles to come to terms with his new world, he’ll also face the conflicting truth that he is in love with not one, but two, men.
It leads him to ask life’s great question: can you find love in a zombie apocalypse?
Note: This book contains explicit sexual situations, graphic language, and material that somereaders may find objectionable: male/male sexual practices, ménage (m/m/m), violence.
Review: As a big zombie fan who had a positive experience with one other book from this author, I had to see what I Am Here was all about. An attractive cover and particularly three men on it, worked like a charm and as soon as I got it, I jumped into the zombie apocalypse.
Sawyer works in a bookstore and has the hots for his boss Jesse. Their attraction comes to its peak on the night when there is a meteor shower everyone else just has to see, but instead of solving their boss/employee relationship they end up defending themselves from biting old ladies and the still walking dead. The action, both plot related as well as the sexual, starts right away, and before you know it, you have two guys who are crazy about each other killing zombies. Personally, I really like fast paced stories with well-developed fight scenes and well thought through plot, both of which I found here.
As they run, they rescue Sawyer’s best friend, Chloe and her little brother and eventually meet up with Topher, Jesse’s ex and still a very good friend.
The ménage itself develops rather late and even then I thought it lacked the chemistry which was obvious between Sawyer and Jesse as well as Sawyer and Topher. It’s really hard to incorporate romance into something as gore filled as a zombie story and there were plenty of times where I either noticed the inconsistencies or rolled my eyes at inappropriate situations where the main characters decided to have sex. I suppose it’s a curse when you watch as many zombie related movies/shows as I do, to pick apart each action and pay attention to details.
Anyway, my main issue here was the amount of sex, which frankly pulled me out of this fast paced story. I feel there’s just no room for it when each minute is danger filled and you’ve just spent your day killing people you used to know and actually still have their blood in your hair and clothes.
Sawyer as a character was someone I liked the least. He had his good moments and I do like bratty characters, but his outbursts seemed more acted out than a part of his personality. Topher was my definite favorite and I can’t get over how little there was of him in the story as well as the relationship. Maybe its partially just my impression because I liked him so much, but the story had involved him to a bigger extent.
As apocalypses go, this was a good one. From losing your loved ones, to military involvement it probably falls under ‘classic’ category, but the author has a flair for action and it shows. So if you lack zombies in your life, pick this up and read about what’s it like to find yourself surrounded by people who want to eat you and all the imaginative ways how to escape that fate.
