Hi peeps, we have Victoria Zagar popping in with her upcoming release The Camp, we have a great excerpt of this young adult story and there’s a brilliant giveaway. So peeps enjoy the post and click that Rafflecopter link <3 ~Pixie~
The Camp
by
Victoria Zagar
Jesse Harvan comes home from school one day to find his parents have discovered the gay pornographic magazine hidden under his bed. Disgusted, they decide to send Jesse to Camp Grady, a summer camp which prides itself on converting people’s sexuality.
Once at the camp, Jesse meets the other inmates: Charlie, a disabled African-American gay teenager, Natalie, a transgender girl, her sister Lita, Japanese lesbian Sakura, and last of all, Minister Grady’s son Jacob, who works for the camp under duress. These teens must learn to bridge their differences and get along if they’re to beat their common enemy and keep their identities–and sanity–intact.
Blurb: When Michael Williams helps stranded motorist Ashley Fallow, little does he know Ash will make him question everything he’s been taught about what a man should want. Michael’s a married man, though – not the greatest partner for a man like Ash who just wants to settle down.
The chemistry between them is undeniable and leads to a one-night-stand, which soon blossoms into a full blown love-affair. Michael struggles to keep his family afloat while seeing Ash on the side. Ash brings some baggage of his own to the relationship; secrets that could draw them closer or drive Michael away.
Torn between his family and the man he loves, Michael must choose between them or risk losing everything. But it’s not so easy to just leave his stormy marriage when his seven-year-old daughter Taryn smiles up at him. His wife Michelle may be selfish at times, but she genuinely loves Michael despite their problems. Ash is ready to leave for California if Michael can’t commit. Michael knows somebody will get hurt, but it’s too late to walk away. He knows he must face up to his feelings and the consequences if he’s to achieve any real happiness, but that’s easier said than done in small-town America.
Review: Michael is trapped in a miserable marriage, his daughter Taryn is the only reason he stays, but one rainy day he meets the man of his dreams, Ash. Now, Michael has choices to make that will rock the foundation of his family. Ash just longs for someone to love. When he meets Michael he had no intention of getting involved with a married man, but the connection between them is just too much and Ash falls in love with Michael. Michael has choices to make as he gets pulled apart by his responsibilities, the only thing he fears is losing his daughter and his wife won’t play nice. Ash has choices of his own to make … can Ash really break up a marriage for his own happiness?
This is a very hard story to read if you hate cheating, especially cheating when there is a child involved. The characters, Michael and Ash, are very hard to like for the first half of the book because of the sneaking around and lies being told, but the second half of the book, after the secrets come out, they actually make a great couple. The storyline is pretty basic; a married man who is bisexual and doesn’t love his wife anymore, only staying in the relationship for the sake of his daughter. he meets a man who he falls in love with and he struggles with what he should do. stay with the wife for the daughter’s sake or go to his love and risk losing his daughter?
Both Ash and Michael are good solid characters, getting to know them is hard because of the cheating, it clouds your judgment, but both of them are fundamentally good men. I must admit that I found some of the plot to be too much, nobody dances with death that much. The sex between them is hot, but their relationship gets built on love and hard trials, it is far from easy for Michael and Ash, but Michael’s parents surprise him with their support.
I will recommend this to those who love difficult beginnings, can accept a cheating spouse, difficult trials, deep love and a really good ending.
Publisher: Victoria Zagar (Self Published) (6th June 2012)
Heat Level: Low
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥3 ½Hearts
Reviewer: Pixie
Blurb: The year is 2243. Mankind has reached for the stars, creating colonies on Titan and the cold, distant Nereid. Where man goes, war follows, and now two factions warring on Earth have taken their cultural and religious war into space in hopes of dominating Earth’s global government, the Assembly. On one side stands the Moral League, a loose grouping of religious nations and moral conservatives whose aim is to destroy the Freedom Alliance, a group of progressive nations who they claim are leading the human race towards destruction.
Rejected by his family for his homosexuality, Samuel Walden finds himself joining the Alliance’s Space Force. Posted to the fleet’s flagship, the Northampton, Sam meets the ship’s crew officer, Major Tom Averay, and the two embark on a relationship that will change their lives. Love, war, humanity, friendship, sacrifice and death weave through this action-packed romantic novel. Will Sam and Tom work out their feelings in the midst of darkness and uncertainty? Will the Alliance survive against crushing odds to preserve the human rights it stands for?
Review: Many years into the future war starts on Earth and ends in space. Two factions are fighting for control; the Moral League, a group of religious fanatics who want a moral world and the Freedom Alliance, who just want progression and to love whom they wish. Sam joins the Alliance Space Force when his family throws him out for being gay. When he meets Tom, an officer on the Northampton, the Alliance’s flagship, and they embark on a relationship that will change their lives.
This is a well put together science fiction story that is filled with danger and love. Sam embarks on a life change when his family throws him out for being gay. He joins up with the Alliance to fight for the right to love whomever he wishes. When he arrives on the Northampton and sees his commanding officer, Major Tom, for the first time, the man takes his breath away. Tom fights his attraction for the new recruit, Sam, but before long they both realize that what they feel cannot be pushed to the side and together they fight for freedom and love.
I really enjoyed this story of a global war that was taken into space. a religious fanatical group deciding that the world should worship God to extremes and denying many of the things that had progressed throughout the years, like gay rights and on the other side we have a group that doesn’t want to return to the dark ages and who continue to fight even when the losses are great and the future looks bleak. When I first met Sam, I really wasn’t sure of him as a character. He seemed too easily star struck, but as I got further into the book he seemed to mature rather quickly and became a man of strong character. Tom is a character who has already lived through love and loss, through war and devastation so he has a character that is rock solid.
Although this has a strong storyline of fighting for basic human rights, throughout the entire story there is also the story of friendship and love. Each plot compliments the other weaving a strong story of standing up for what you believe, but with also the small tale that no matter what, there are some things that never change and you will see that in Gracie’s situation. There is lots of action of space fights, death, captures, escapes, reunions and love, and it lulls you into a sense of devastation before rescue comes from a very unlikely source… this is a story that eases you in and then won’t let go.
I recommend this to those who love science fiction, fighting for freedom, fighting for love, space fights, escapes, danger and a very happy ending.
