I am so pleased to introduce this book to lovers of reading! Check out my review further down and don't forget to enter the giveaway for a chance at a fabulous prize!
Sanctuary
by Pauline Creeden
“Left Behind for the Hunger Games Generation”
In a heart-racing thriller described as Falling Skies meets The Walking Dead, Jennie struggles to find a safe place for what’s left of her family. But it seems as though there is no place sacred, no place secure. First the aliens attacked the sun, making it dimmer, weaker, and half what it used to be.
Then they attacked the water supply, killing one-third of Earth’s population with a bitter contaminate. And when they unleash a new terror on humankind, the victims will wish for death, but will not find it…When the world shatters to pieces around her, will Jennie find the strength she needs to keep going?
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“Pauline Creeden managed to mix more genres into one book than I could possibly imagine. The overall concept, aliens attacking the earth, is straight out of Science Fiction, but then you throw in a few zombies and post-apocalyptic fiction with how the dead/sick humans are acting. Overall, the entire story was charged with the adrenaline and thrills of a suspense/thriller novel, but the mood was terrifyingly eerie like a Horror story. There was almost too much sensory information for my primitive human brain to handle. Still, all of these genres combined made for one unique and fascinating story. This kind of book is of the same flavor as The Hunger Games with its originality, which I really appreciated.” - Katelyn Hensel for Readers' Favorite
“Sanctuary is a fast-paced Christian fantasy thriller that is original and quite entertaining. The story revolves around Jennie and her family, Pastor Billy and his wife, and two brothers who are polar opposites of each other. Each chapter is presented in the point of view of Jennie, Brad or Hugh (the brothers), which gives Pauline Creeden's Sanctuary, a multidimensional feel. The three different story-lines merge into a full-fledged fantasy/horror novel that never sags or lets up on the action. While there are Christian themes present in Sanctuary, and Jennie's faith is an important part of who she is, I, a non-Christian, did not feel I was being preached to or proselytized. I recommend Pauline Creeden's Sanctuary -- it's well-written and a lot of fun to read.” – Jack Magnus for Readers Favorite
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EXCERPT:
When Jennie reached the back door, she saw them. Four large dog-like
creatures with pinched faces like bulldogs and lion-like manes. They snarled,
and one of them leapt at the window on the top half of the door when it saw
her. Jennie jumped back and fell hard on the cold tile floor. The bottle of
painkiller bounced across the kitchen tiles. The creature slammed against the
window a second time, cracking it. She blinked hard. Her heart sunk, and the
hairs on her arms stood on end. A horrendous gargling howl rent the air,
causing a shiver down her spine. She held her breath and waited for the
creature to slam into the door again.
“What on earth?” she whispered to herself.
When the third attempt never came, she scrambled toward the door.
Blinking hard, she used the door knob to help herself stand. Out the cracked
window, her mother was still out of sight, but the last of the dogs headed
across the field behind her backyard.
“MOM?” Jennie called out.
The rumbling faded, and the vibrations in her chest receded with the
dogs. She pulled open the door and rushed onto their back deck. “Mom, where are
you?”
When she reached the banister, she looked over the side. Her mom lay
sprawled with one hand on the lattice. Blood gushed from Mom’s leg and her
opposite arm. Jennie’s ears rang and flooded with every beat of her heart.
Jennie didn’t know how she got to the second floor of her house, but she
found herself shaking her sleeping father. How had he slept through the
rumbling? “Outside, it’s Mom…”
Her father leapt from the bed. Mickey, her little brother, lay asleep
and undisturbed. Dad ran down the stairs and outside in his flannel pajama
bottoms and white t-shirt. He scooped Mom up to his chest and carried her
inside. Blood stained his shirt in crimson.
“Jennie, call 911!” Her father
had said it at least three times before it finally registered in her brain.
She pulled the cell phone from her pocket, but it refused to connect.
With a groan, she grabbed the cordless from the wall receiver, glad her heart
stopped pounding in her head so she could hear.
“All operators are busy at this time,” a mechanical voice deadpanned,
“Please stay on the line, and the next available operator will take your call.”
“They have me on hold, Dad. Should I hang up and try again?” She held
the phone in both hands away from her face.
“No, just stay on the line.” Her father lifted the shredded jeans from
Mom’s leg. “It looks like a shark bite. What on earth happened?”
Jennie took in the damage through tear-filled eyes. A huge chunk was
taken from her mother’s calf, exposing the fibrous tendons that covered the
bone in her leg. A bloodstain grew on the beige couch. Was she going to die?
Panic rose up.
“What happened, Jennie?”
“I...I...They looked like lions, or dogs, or something. The rumbling
shook the whole house…I tried to go outside to get Mom, but—” A sob blocked her
throat.
Her father grabbed a throw pillow and held it against the leg. Mom’s
exposed forearm laid across her chest in much the same condition as her calf.
“Grab me the duct tape.”
Jennie suddenly remembered the phone, put it back to her ear, and headed
to the hall closet. She reached for the shelf above the jackets and grabbed the
junk basket next to the toolbox.
“Please stay on the line. An operator will be with you shortly.”
She shoved the phone in the crook of her neck and fished through the
box. Half the contents dropped around
her feet. Who cares? When her fingers
wrapped around the silver duct tape, a short-lived relief sent prickles down
her arms. But the urgency gripped her chest in less than a heart beat, and she
threw the junk basket on the ground with the rest of the items.
“Hurry, Jennie!” her father called from the living room. “And turn on
the TV. Maybe they’ll have something about what’s going on.”
She handed her father the tape and turned toward the TV. The mechanical
voice on the phone came through again, followed by more easy listening.
When she clicked on the TV, the shouting and wailing began before the
picture warmed up on the screen. A sideways picture of New York City broke through, with the shaky
voice of the newscaster voicing over.
“What we are watching now – I can’t believe it – is live footage of Times Square,” the newscaster’s voice paused for a deep
breath. “We’ve lost our man on the scene and his camera man to what appears to
be some kind of new alien creature. Just a short half-hour ago, the doors to
the ship that hovered above Central Park
opened and these dog-like creatures flooded out.”
Jennie couldn’t pull
her eyes from the screen. She straightened and dropped the phone on the
hardwood. The battery popped out and skidded across the floor.
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My Review:
I really enjoyed the story of Jennie and her struggle to survive the destruction of mankind. She was strong yet scared but never gave up hope that she and what was left of her family would survive. Hugh and Brad where the two other main characters in this tale. Brothers who could not stand each other. Hugh is a teacher who lost his girlfriend to his brother, his brother who only wanted her because she was Hugh's and because she was rich. Brad is a very opportunistic player and doesn't seem to care who he hurts. Hugh is a nice guy, who will help strangers for no other reason then to be helpful. Two very different men, who both develop feelings for Jennie. This story was very enthralling and I found myself never wanting it to end. It felt very realistic to me in that there would be all type of survivors, some honest and good while others are not so good. This book has suspense, thrills, mystery and romance...what I always look for in this genre. I am hoping that there will be another book continuing the story of Jennie, Hugh, Brad and the survival of the human race.
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Book Trailer:
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Author Pauline Creeden
In simple language, Pauline Creeden creates worlds that are both familiar and strange, often pulling the veil between dimensions. She becomes the main character in each of her stories, and because she has ADD, she will get bored if she pretends to be one person for too long. Pauline is a horse trainer from Virginia, but writing is her therapy. Armored Hearts, her joint effort with author Melissa Turner Lee, has been a #1 Bestseller in Christian Fantasy and been awarded the Crowned Heart for Excellence by InDtale Magazine. Her debut novel, Sanctuary has already been nominated for two awards in YA Science Fiction. One of Pauline's short stories has won the CCW Short Story contest. Other short stories have been published in Fear & Trembling Magazine, Obsidian River and Avenir Eclectia. An urban fantasy short will appear in The Book of Sylvari: An Anthology of Elves from Port Yonder Press, and a vampire short will appear in Monsters! from Diminished Media Group.
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