Wednesday 19 October 2016

Blog Tour, Review & Excerpt ~ Away from the Dark (The Light #2) by Aleatha Romig


AWAY FROM THE DARK (THE LIGHT #2)
By Aleatha Romig
Release Date: October 18, 2016


Book Description:

Women are disappearing. What is happening when they step into The Light?

Nine months ago, Sara Adams awoke with no memory. The man holding her hand told her she's a member of The Light, a tight-knit religious group led by the terrifying and charismatic Father Gabriel. As a woman in the community of The Light, her duty is to be unquestionably obedient and to submit to the will of her husband. 

But as Sara's memory starts to return and she remembers her past, she sees that everything she's been told is a lie. The Light is an insidious and dangerous organization, and its corrupting influence reaches well beyond the confines of the remote campus where Sara is being held. 

With everything at stake, Sara struggles to sort out her true memories from her indoctrination. The desire to escape consumes her, but who can she trust? And what other followers of The Light were forced into this life, brainwashed to believe they belonged? The more she remembers, the mort it becomes clear that Jacob, the man who calls himself her husband, is keeping shattering secrets of his own.

But Sara cannot flee alone, leaving innocents behind. She must fight to extinguish The Light.


Buy Links:



Our Review:

Reviewed by Donna ~ 4 stars
***ARC received for an honest review***
“The Light can’t be stopped.”


Aleatha Romig certainly knows how to write suspense and once again she has penned a stunning, captivating, enthralling ending to this duet. With plot twists aplenty and a cleverly crafted story where the I’s are dotted and the t’s are crossed…but only when she wants to, Aleatha Romig is certainly clever. When pennies drop and puzzle pieces are connected I found myself commending the author for how masterfully she had suckered me throughout this series and that is testament to her writing ability, I was so engrossed in this utterly engaging story that I didn’t see the wood for the trees, I missed the little clues, I missed the big clues because I was led on a merry dance, once again, I had been Aleatha’d.


“…no one is trustworthy, no one. Everyone is programmed, not just the acquired…”


Sara has been in “The Light” commune for nearly a year when her memory starts to come back, having stopped taking her birth control that contains the memory suppressants. It is these flashbacks that cause her the most fear as she tries to decipher what is dream and what is reality. With a constant deluge of memories this only makes Sara want to ask more questions but she has to be savvy and her journalistic background definitely comes into play. Not knowing who to trust and to confide in Sara is on her own which leads her to make some stupid and life threatening decisions. Sometimes the truth is better left unsaid.


“I wasn’t investigating a life-and-death story – I was living it!”


Jacob certainly stepped up to the plate in this book, even though his marriage to Sara was arranged by The Light I always had a gut feeling that his feelings towards her were far from manufactured and I have to say that I felt his connection to Sara from the start. With love firmly in his heart and head Jacob too has a lot of life altering decisions to make, some with far reaching and life threatening consequences. Jacob has to make the toughest decisions of all, will he be determined by the heart or head?


“And then I did the hardest thing I’d ever done in my life. I walked away.”


Unfortunately, I have to keep this review vague because everything is a spoiler. From first to last word you are thrust into the battle of good versus evil, where the truth is discovered and characters throughout the duet show their true colours. Misplaced loyalties and chameleon personalities will have your head spinning and your heart thumping. Although Sara and Jacob’s story is complete, I still have a few questions, there were a few things left open ended and I am hoping that this infers that there is more to come centring around other characters and the ramifications of events in this one. I will be keeping my fingers crossed because the Light and the Dark have never looked so good.


“I want to look the motherfucker in the eye and tell him that I was the one who brought him down.”


Excerpt:

Sara

Shrill screams echoed throughout our dimly lit bedroom, accelerating my heartbeat and pulling me from the terrible nightmare. I waited for more, until the realization struck. The screams were my own.

“Jacob?” I called, my voice shaking with dread as I reached for my husband. Instead of reassurance, my fingers met cold empty sheets. He was gone—still away at another campus.

What just happened? Was it a dream?

I clung to the covers as I puffed my cheeks and slowly exhaled. While each breath helped to still the chaos, the exercise wasn’t enough.

Who am I? Who is he?

Jacob’s questions from months ago came back. They were my security. They’d worked before.

I am Sara Adams and my husband is Jacob Adams.

Pushing the images from my dream, or nightmare, away, I imagined Jacob’s comforting embrace. Slowly I threw back the down comforter and willed the cool air to soothe my perspiration-drenched skin. From the way my heart galloped in my chest, I might have been running a marathon, not sleeping.

In my sleep I’d been battling to escape a vehicle, and then an explosion of heat.
It had been a dream, I reassured myself—a nightmare. The accident I’d had, nearly nine months before, had been different. I couldn’t remember it, but I’d been told that I’d been injured and gone unconscious. In the nightmare I had been out and away from the wreckage.

I shook my head.

It seemed so real.

In my dream I hadn’t been able to see past the darkness, yet I’d known I wasn’t injured.
My arms surrounded my midsection as the memories replayed like pictures in my mind. Someone was hurting me—purposely harming me, and there was a voice—a deep voice.

Jacob’s voice?

No. He wouldn’t hurt me.

My entire body shuddered as goose bumps peppered my skin. Sitting upright, I reached for the bedside lamp. With trembling fingers I turned the knob and my eyes adjusted as the soft light combined with the sun’s perpetual summer glow.

I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate on Jacob’s questions.

Who am I? Who is he?

This time I said the words aloud, praying that if I spoke the truth, the images would disappear. “I am Sara Adams. He is my husband, Jacob Adams.” I pulled myself from the bed and walked to the bathroom. Turning on the light and the faucet, I cupped the cool water and splashed my face. As I reached for the cup and began to fill it, a metaphoric dam that had been constructed to hold back my past burst.

My mind was flooded—no longer with simple images, but with scene after scene.

For the first time since I could recall, I knew the woman in the mirror.

I knew me.

First book in Duet:


Book Description:

INTO THE LIGHT (THE LIGHT #1)

An investigator's search for a friend draws her into a world darker than she could have imagined.

Sara Adams awakes blind, unable to remember the most basic details of her life, but her darkness seems a blessing when she discovers the terrors of The Light. 

Stella Montgomery investigates the news on the mean streets of Detroit, where she’s noticed a disturbing trend: young women are vanishing. When her best friend disappears, Stella investigates—despite warnings from her police detective boyfriend—following a twisted trail that leads her through the city’s most dangerous and forsaken precincts. There she uncovers something more sinister than she could have imagined: a shadowy organization known as The Light, led by the enigmatic Father Gabriel.

As Sara struggles to understand her place in the strange world she’s awakened to—an oppressive cult demanding unquestioning obedience—and her feelings for Jacob, the husband she can’t recall and whose harsh and tender attentions confuse and beguile her, Stella risks all to discover the truth. But enlightenment always comes with a price...


About the Author:


Aleatha Romig is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author who lives in Indiana. She grew up in Mishawaka, graduated from Indiana University, and is currently living south of Indianapolis. Aleatha has raised three children with her high school sweetheart and husband of nearly thirty years. Before she became a full-time author, she worked days as a dental hygienist and spent her nights writing. Now, when she's not imagining mind-blowing twists and turns, she likes to spend her time a with her family and friends. Her other pastimes include reading and creating heroes/anti-heroes who haunt your dreams!

Aleatha released her first novel, CONSEQUENCES, in August of 2011. CONSEQUENCES became a bestselling series with five novels and two companions released from 2011 through 2015. The compelling and epic story of Anthony and Claire Rawlings has graced more than half a million e-readers. Aleatha released the first of her series TALES FROM THE DARK SIDE, INSIDIOUS, in the fall of 2014. These stand alone thrillers continue Aleatha's twisted style with an increase in heat. 

In the fall of 2015, Aleatha moved head first into the world of dark romantic suspense with the release of BETRAYAL, the first of her five novel INFIDELITY series that has taken the reading world by storm. She also began her traditional publishing career with Thomas and Mercer. Her books INTO THE LIGHT and AWAY FROM THE DARK were published through this mystery/thriller publisher in 2016.

Aleatha is a "Published Author's Network" member of the Romance Writers of America and represented by Danielle Egan-Miller of Browne & Miller Literary Associates.

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