Thursday 14 November 2013

BLOG TOUR & REVIEW - ENTANGLEMENT BY DAN RIX

PROMOTIONAL SPOTLIGHT

ISBN: 978-0989206402
ASIN: B00A90PKCY
Publisher: Self/Indie
Pages/File Size: 324pages/2290KB
Formats Available: Paperback, E-Book

BLURB from Goodreads

"...the scientific explanation is quantum entanglement, whereby the boy and girl—even when separated by great distances—react instantaneously to changes in each other's states..." —Dr. Casler Selavio, on the entanglement of halves.

In a world like ours, humans are born in pairs. When a newborn boy takes his first breath in the coastal town of Tularosa, the exact time is noted, recorded in the Registry, and later compared to the birth times of other newborns around the globe. There will be one identical match—his half. They will meet on their eighteenth birthday and they will spend their lives together. Except this time, there is no match.

Hotheaded heartthrob Aaron Harper is scheduled to meet his half in twenty-nine days, and he doesn’t buy a word of that entanglement crap. So what if he and his half were born the same day and share a spooky psychic connection? Big deal. After breaking one too many teenage girls’ hearts, he’ll stick to brawling with the douchebag rugby players any day.

Until the day a new girl arrives at school and threatens everything he takes for granted.

Cold and unapproachable, Amber Lilian hates the growing list of similarities between her and the one boy she can’t read, Aaron: born the same day, both stubborn, both terrified of meeting their halves. . . . All the more reason not to trust him. That she would rather die than surrender herself as her half’s property is none of his damn business. But once lost in Aaron’s dangerous, jet black eyes, she’s already surrendered more than she cares to admit.
Tangled in each other’s self-destructive lives, Aaron and Amber learn the secret behind their linked births and why they feel like halves—but unless they can prove it before they turn eighteen, Aaron faces a lifetime alone in a world where everyone else has a soul mate . . . and he’ll have to watch Amber give herself to a boy who intends to possess not only her body but also a chunk of her soul.




PURCHASE LINKS

                                 Amazon.co.uk                                Amazon.com


ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dan Rix majored in Architecture at UC Berkeley and considers himself lucky to have graduated during one of the worst housing market crashes of the century. "It made writing an easy choice," he says.

His favorite novels include Michael Grant's Gone, Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why, and Dan Brown's,The Da Vinci Code. High stakes, high concept page-turners. That's what he likes to read, and that's what he likes to write.

Dan lives in Santa Barbara, California with his girlfriend. His debut thriller, Entanglement , is available now on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.


EXCERPT

Emma Mist came in late and slogged to her seat, and Aaron noticed something off about her. Her face was pale, and her hair, usually full and glossy, looked wilted. He caught her eye as she slumped into her seat, and Aaron knew this was his chance to apologize. Before she could look away, he mouthed, “Can we please talk?

She stared at him, her brown eyes clouded by weariness, then gave a stiff nod. Aaron felt a weight off his chest already.

But while his eyes were still on her, her back arched suddenly. She gasped, and her bony shoulders tensed before she fell forward, shivering. Students’ heads swiveled toward her, and Mr. Sanders, who had started his lecture, trailed off.

Emma!” Their teacher ran to her desk and knelt beside her. “Emma, talk to me—what’s wrong?”

She clutched her stomach, and a tear slid down her cheek from her wide, terrified eyes.

“Is it a stomach ache?” said Mr. Sanders.

When Emma spoke, her voice was a whimper. Almost too low to hear across a classroom, but Aaron heard.

“I…I can’t feel him,” she said, and another tear splattered on her desk. “I can’t feel my half.”

“Let’s get you to the nurse,” said Mr. Sanders, helping her to her feet. “It’s going to be fine.”

Emma touched the back of her own head, winced, and collapsed against his chest. She was breathing too fast, hyperventilating.

Mr. Sanders looped his arm behind her knees, scooped her up, and carried her to the door. Only Buff ran forward to help. The rest of the class sat white-faced and frozen.

Mr. Sanders addressed them before he left. “Explain how the discovery of halves pushed the world toward greater international cooperation in the late thirties, I want at least a page from each of you when I get back—and NO talking!”

Then the door slammed.

All eyes turned on Aaron. Nervous, shifty-eyed stares, wary of his reaction to what had just happened to his ex-girlfriend. They knew the symptoms.

Her half was dead.


REVIEW

ISBN: 978-0989206402
ASIN: B00A90PKCY
Publisher: Self/Indie
Pages/File Size: 324pages/2290KB
Formats Available: Paperback, E-Book

BLURB from Goodreads

"...the scientific explanation is quantum entanglement, whereby the boy and girl—even when separated by great distances—react instantaneously to changes in each other's states..." —Dr. Casler Selavio, on the entanglement of halves.

In a world like ours, humans are born in pairs. When a newborn boy takes his first breath in the coastal town of Tularosa, the exact time is noted, recorded in the Registry, and later compared to the birth times of other newborns around the globe. There will be one identical match—his half. They will meet on their eighteenth birthday and they will spend their lives together. Except this time, there is no match.

Hotheaded heartthrob Aaron Harper is scheduled to meet his half in twenty-nine days, and he doesn’t buy a word of that entanglement crap. So what if he and his half were born the same day and share a spooky psychic connection? Big deal. After breaking one too many teenage girls’ hearts, he’ll stick to brawling with the douchebag rugby players any day.

Until the day a new girl arrives at school and threatens everything he takes for granted.

Cold and unapproachable, Amber Lilian hates the growing list of similarities between her and the one boy she can’t read, Aaron: born the same day, both stubborn, both terrified of meeting their halves. . . . All the more reason not to trust him. That she would rather die than surrender herself as her half’s property is none of his damn business. But once lost in Aaron’s dangerous, jet black eyes, she’s already surrendered more than she cares to admit.
Tangled in each other’s self-destructive lives, Aaron and Amber learn the secret behind their linked births and why they feel like halves—but unless they can prove it before they turn eighteen, Aaron faces a lifetime alone in a world where everyone else has a soul mate . . . and he’ll have to watch Amber give herself to a boy who intends to possess not only her body but also a chunk of her soul.


INITIAL THOUGHTS
Approaching the book I thought it was a dystopian novel as that  is what it is labelled as on Amazon.co.uk, however on Goodreads it is labelled as a YA Thriller. Hence I wasn't sure what to expect but was hoping for a dystopian angle as that is one of my favourite genres.
In fact here are my notes I wrote upon reading the first 55% or so of the book. Looking forward to a dystopian themed book . . . this book feels more "paranormal than dystopian" There's the mysterious Juvengamy Brotherhood. How will Aaron react when he meets his half as he has scar tissue on his clairvoyance channel."

MY REVIEW
I received an e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest review and posting that review as part of the Oops I Read It Again Blog Tours. 
The cover in my opinion features the image of Amber when she has been given her half of the tattoo that matches her male "half". There are also words, symbols and numbers to the right that could be from a computer read out or scientific notes. I believe this is the second cover for this book and I do honestly find this cover more appealing than the first attempt. So would the cover make me pick it up in a book store? Honestly, it may not be the first book I would pick up from the shelf but I would certainly pick it up to learn more about it by reading the Blurb.
So the basics of the book are not so basic they are in truth quite complex so I'll domy best to simplify things. Everyone has their own significant "half" (kind of like their soul mate)It is all pre-destined by the date and time they are born. Halves are born on the same day and almost the same time too. A Registry is kept that lists every child born. On the day of your eighteenth birthday you go to an appointment at the "Chamber Of Halves" and look into a machine, in the machine you see the eyes of your intended half and are then put together. When Halves are first put together they need to be together as if separated they feel an anxiety. This means that should one half die, the other experiences what is called half death and also finally dies too. 
All this Halves theory/business/way of living has only been in place for the last eighty years or so and is like most things open to abuse. People still want to "fix" the halves together earlier than their eighteenth birthdays, in fact in some cases these matches have been made so early that the matches have always been together since birth. This practice is called Juvengamy. Juvengamy is illegal but still happens as there is a Juvengamy Brotherhood. at one point in the story Aaron (one of the main characters) id invited to a meeting and is shocked to see only male members within the meetings whilst some women are sat out in the cars outside the meeting with totally blank expressions. Dr Casler Silavio is deeply involved with the scientific specifics of the whole process. In fact he has come up with certain operations that make a half, almost always the female, a more docile pleasant, obedient half. Dr Casler has also been playing about with the true half matches. He has taken a new match for his son Clive. Clive's first match was put together with Clive very young, and one day in a temper fit Clive knocked his 4yr old match down a well killing her. Dr Casler operated on Clive and the head of the Brotherhood chose another match for Clive. Clive and his new match are destined to be the heir and heiress of the Brotherhood. So the new match Amber has her own "real" match = ?. . and her "made match" = Clive. what happens when Amber meets her "real match"? Can he step in and save her? Can he stop her becoming the empty shell half of Clive?
I think I've explained as much as I possibly can before giving away spoilers. I did become attached to some of the characters, such as Amber - the intended "empty vessel" heiress, Aaron - a boy who apparently doesn't have a match - find out more about that by reading the book. There's also Aaron's rugby playing friend Buff Normandy, but will Buff be there when it really counts, when Aaron really needs him. There's rugby rivalry as Clive and his friend Dominic play for Corona Blanca. Corona Blanca and Buff& Aarons team Pueblo are arch rivals too to add even more animosity between the guys in the book.
At times the book pace did seem a little slow for my taste and though the book has the dystopian element of the Halves Theory, I would place it in a more Sci-Fi Thriller category.
So did I enjoy the book? Overall yes, just at times the pace slowed a little too much for my taste. Also I really wanted to shake Aaron and Amber at times too! Would I recommend the book? Yes but more to Sci-Fi Thriller Fans than Dystopian Fans. Would I read a BK#2? Well the book could have come to a natural end but then again right near the very end Aaron see's something familiar out of the corner of his eye . . . a guy in a grey hoodie . . .Could it be Clive? So I'd definitely check out the blurb of a Bk#2 to see what direction the plot would be going in. Would I read other books by Dan Rix? I reckon I'd take a serious look at boos by this Author, so yes. 


To Follow the rest of the tour click o the banner or use this link http://oopsireadabookagain.blogspot.com/2013/10/blog-tour-invite-entanglement-by-dan-rix.html)

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