Maddy explores her Angel heritage—and struggles to get her wings—as the Angels and the humans head for a showdown.
Life turned upside down for Maddy Montgomery when she found out she was half-Angel and was catapulted into the scene of flashbulbs, paparazzi, and fervent adulation that comes with being in the celebrity Angel world.
And now Maddy must face the most difficult choice of her life. She’s been offered the chance to become a Guardian. This means dangerous and high-stakes training, with no guarantee that she can succeed. But more than that, it would mean leaving her mortal life behind—forever— and allying with the Angels at a time when their relationship with humans is heading for war...
The only thing worse than forgetting her past... is remembering it.
When Freedom Airlines flight 121 went down over the Pacific Ocean, no one ever expected to find survivors. Which is why the sixteen-year-old girl discovered floating among the wreckage—alive—is making headlines across the globe.
Even more strange is that her body is miraculously unharmed and she has no memories of boarding the plane. She has no memories of her life before the crash. She has no memories period. No one knows how she survived. No one knows why she wasn’t on the passenger manifest. And no one can explain why her DNA and fingerprints can’t be found in a single database in the world.
Crippled by a world she doesn’t know, plagued by abilities she doesn’t understand, and haunted by a looming threat she can’t remember, Seraphina struggles to piece together her forgotten past and discover who she really is. But with every clue only comes more questions. And she’s running out of time to answer them.
Her only hope is a strangely alluring boy who claims to know her from before the crash. Who claims they were in love. But can she really trust him? And will he be able to protect her from the people who have been making her forget?
Expected publication: March 3rd 2013 by Farrar, Straus, & Giroux (BYR)
Today I have the pleasure of posting a few Q&A from Katie McGarry, author of the fantastic beyond words 'Pushing The Limits'. Everybody needs to read this book!
1. I absolutely loved this book, have you always had this kind of a storyline in mind for your first book?
First off, thank you for the kind words about Pushing the Limits and to answer your question, I always knew that I wanted to write a love story. I adore writing those moments that make my heart flutter.
2. I loved all the characters in this book, were any of them based on anybody you know?
No, but I will say that I put a piece of myself, no matter how small, into each of my characters. Echo has my sarcasm, Beth encompasses my fears, Isaiah and Lila share my loyalty, and Noah has my passion to love.
3. You touch on a lot of topics in this book mental illness, abuse, memory-loss, death and love. I ended up in tears a few times, how emotionally involved did you get while writing it?
When I write, I “become” my characters. Their highs are my highs. Their hurts become my hurts. I cried several times while writing Pushing the Limits, but I also laughed quite a bit too.
A Big Thanks To Katie For Her Time.
Pushing The Limits Synopsis.
SO WRONG FOR EACH OTHER...AND YET SO RIGHT. No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with “freaky” scars on her arms. Even Echo can’t remember the whole truth of that horrible night. All she knows is that she wants everything to go back to normal.
But when Noah Hutchins--the smoking hot, girl-using loner in the black leather jacket--explodes into her life with his tough attitude and surprising understanding, Echo’s world shifts in ways she could never have imagined. They should have nothing in common. And with the secrets they both keep, being together is pretty much impossible.
Yet the crazy attraction between them refuses to go away. Echo has to ask herself just how far they can push the limits and what she’ll risk for the one guy who might teach her how to love again.
Sixteen-year-old Maddie Dunn is special, but she needs to figure out how to use her new abilities before somebody else gets hurt. Ganzfield is a secret training facility full of people like her, but it's not exactly a nurturing place. Every social interaction carries the threat of mind-control. A stray thought can burn a building to the ground. And people's nightmares don't always stay in their own heads. But it's still better than New Jersey--especially once she meets the man of her dreams...
My Thoughts...
You know when you pick up a book and you don't know exactly what to expect, but you start reading it and realise you've stumbled across something fantastic and wonder why you'd never read it before?.Well this is definitely one of those books.
This is a re-release of this book and I can't believe I've never picked it up before, maybe this story will have people wanting to go to Ganzfield instead of Hogwarts!
I didn't want to put this book down, I was so involved in the story I just needed to know what was going to happen next, and not for a minute was I bored.
My reflection in the one-way glass of the police interrogation room stared back at me, pale and hollow-eyed.
I loved that line as the very first sentence of the book, I was instantly intrigued as to why Maddie was in an interrogation room in the first place and how she was going to get out of whatever it was she had done to end up there.
After being attacked Maddie finds in her terrified state that she has a powerful ability, she's a telepath and she can use her ability to incapacitate people, she's what Ganzfield calls a "Minder".
Oh, God. What happened - what did I do?
WHAT AM I?
Maddie is taken to Ganzfield, a school for kids with special abilities, we have the Charms (the ability to get people to do anything you want them to), Sparks (the power of pyrokinises), RV (the ability to find anyone, anywhere), Minders (telepaths) and then there's the power of telekinises (the ability to move something with your mind), there is only one student in the whole of Ganzfield with this ability and that's Trevor.
And for those of you not fans of the insta-love, well I'm sorry to say that it occurs here between Maddie and Trevor, although they do make quite a cute couple.
I felt a primal thrill at his strength, and then smirked at myself. Geez! Why didn't I just put my hair in a ponytail so he'd have a convenient handle to drag me back to his cave.
Maddie helps restore the balance to Ganzfield after standing up to the Charms and realising that they can't control her, and so she looks out for all the other groups.
She also brings Trevor out of his shell, he was so afraid that with his ability he would hurt somebody and so would sleep in a deserted church on the property that had no electric, heat or bathroom amenities, and it's there that Maddie escapes to one night after sending everyone her nightmare that she starts to develop a friendship and relationship with Trevor.
But as with all stories there is a enemy lurking around the corner, and they are trying to capture G-positives (what the students with abilities have in their DNA) and experiment on them, but what happens when one is captured?
I'm dying to know what happens in the next book, Kaynak has built a world that has me fascinated and wanting to know more.
"A page–turning, emotional romance, rich in historical details and plot twists." —RT Book Reviews on Sins of the Highlander, 4 Stars
His Duty is to Fulfill Her Every Desire...
Brandr the Far–Traveled has seen the world and a good many of the beautiful women in it. His bed skills are the stuff of steamy legend, his sword sings death, and he can call up fire from thin air. No one in a hundred years ever thought he could be enslaved through trickery and forced to wear the iron collar of a thrall—least of all him.
Until All She Desires is Him...
Katla the Black isn't just called so for her dark, silky hair. His new mistress has a temper as fierce as a warrior's and a heart as icy as the frozen North. But inch by delicious inch, Brandr means to make her melt...
My Thoughts.
I love to read historical romance's, especially when we have a feisty heroine and a sexy, manly hero.
"So That's The Great And Mighty Brandr", A grumbling voice said from somewhere above him.
And that's how we first meet Brandr the Far-Traveled, unconscious,tied up, naked and fitted with an iron thrall's collar around his neck.
He is delivered to Katla The Black as a slave to do her bidding, at first hesitant it isn't until she discovers who he is and that his father Ulf was responsible for the death of her first husband she agrees, her brothers who were responsible for the drugging and kidnapping of Brandr tell her she has to find a husband, they will present her with three men whom she will choose to wed.
But what happens when Katla and Brandr develop feelings for each other?
I love the fact that the hero is a Viking and even more that he ended up being a Fire Mage as well, I love the added bonus of a bit of paranormal into the story.
The ancient customs of the Vikings were very interesting and added a lot of realism to the story, I especially loved the wedding ceremony, the traditions of it, it was so sweet.
Of course this book is not without some action, and we have the hero and heroine fighting to save Katla's home from people wanting to take it over and all the other homesteads around it.
There's ship battles, sword fights and action aplenty which gives an exciting aspect and will keep you entertained all the way throughout.
The collaboration between Mason and Marlowe worked extremely well and I hope to read further work from these two in the future.
I give this 4/5.
