Frozen in Time: Alimanti series

Frozen in Time

Alimanti series

I have a new release coming soon that I am both nervous and excited about. 

This will be my tenth solo published book and what is even more special is that this book is a the first book in a brand new series, so of course I am nervous about people are going to react to it.

As

you are aware, I am mainly known for my Erin the Fire Goddess series and that particular series came about because my eldest daughter had asked me to write a story because she was being bullied then one night I went to bed and dreamt up chapter 7, then it went from there. 

I have lots of writing projects but I always get pulled back to my EtFG series because the characters are so familiar and they call to me so frequently, but then my youngest daughter came to me and said 'Will you write a story for me too?' Of course I couldn't say no. All she asked was that I included lots of snow and huskies. The rest I could do with how I wished.

The problem was is that my EtFG series is named after my eldest daughter and in the book she has a sister named after my youngest, so I had the dilemma of what to name the book and/or what to name the main character. I wanted my youngest to know that this book is named after her and with her having an unusual name I asked around what they thought of me naming my main character after my daughter which is the exact same name as another character in another book. Because the problem I had is that I did not want people thinking that this book was a spin off series from EtFG, because it isn't, and I was assured that as long as people knew this then it wouldn't be a problem.

Originally when I started writing this book it was full of sadness of a young orphan girl. I had no intent of adding anything paranormal to the book at all, but that didn't go to plan. My eldest called out noooooo because she really wanted to read a non paranormal book, but sometimes.... okay a lot of the time... the characters dictate to you. 

As I was writing my daughters read along with me. After reading the first chapter my youngest daughter started crying. I mean she was a snot filled, blubbering mess. I ended up crying as I had to explain to her that none of it is true.

So eventually it started to pull itself all together and in the run up to completing this I wrote just over 40k words in one week. Seriously that is a record for me and if I can write like that every week then I could publish 1 or 2 books a month. Can you imagine that?

So the cover.... I originally wanted blues and purples. Something simple, but something that stood out. As I continued writing I thought that maybe I should use a model for the front cover, and as my youngest is too young I chose my eldest. The only problem is that every time I looked at the pictures I took of her all I saw was EtFG, and I wanted this to be complete separate. If I am thinking of it then of course so are my readers.

Then I went back to thinking that I want something simple with no model on the front. I couldn't figure out what, but by the time I had finished writing the book I realised that I had the title of the book and the title of the series the wrong way round. As soon as I altered these I knew exactly how I wanted the front cover to be, and with some help my vision became true. I love the finished result and I hope you do too. 

Here it is:

So you are probably wondering what this book is about and I tried to summarise it in a blurb the best way I could but blurbs are not my forte. So I hope that you like the sound of it.

Blurb:

At the age of 14, Kasey-Ray Thompson lost her mother to cervical cancer. Her father, the one person she needed to be there for her, was spiralling into the depths of depression. Just when she thought her life couldn’t get any worse, he died a year later.

Kasey-Ray's whole world has come crashing down around her leaving her an orphan. The only relative she knows is her gran who is in a care home with Alzheimer’s. Her hopes of staying in Scotland with her best friend Lauren and her family are quickly dashed when a woman from social services announces that she is going to stay with a grandfather she had never met. Even worse, he lives in a small town called Alimanti, thousands of miles away in another country.

Her grandfather’s cabin is in the middle of nowhere. They have no electricity, no internet, or any other modern technologies. As if that wasn't bad enough, her new school is almost two hours away.

Kasey-Ray has lots of questions and her grandfather is refusing to answer them. He has clocks everywhere that go off at the same time every day, 4:30am, and Kasey-Ray can’t figure out why. 

She sees a man in the woods who tells her that he shouldn’t have brought her here because they will take what is hers. What does he mean? 

Kasey-Ray needs answers before time runs out.

And that is it. I really hope you like the sound of this. Please feel free to share your thoughts :)

Defcon Darcy Release Tour

 

Fisher Stanton, Valley High School’s Nantucket wannabe, has a cheating girlfriend. When he hires Darcy Walker to chase her to a local club, in true Darcy fashion she stumbles upon a dead body. Thing is, this body has secrets...and Darcy’s mysterious friend, Jaws, and the reporter, Tito Westbrook, have a vested interest. Both enlist Darcy to find the person responsible who has eluded them for years, but Darcy doesn’t solve crimes for free anymore—especially where Jaws is concerned. Knowing Darcy’s Achilles heel, Jaws blackmails Darcy into working for him.

In a true test of wills, Darcy and Jaws battle head-to-head—Jaws needs Darcy to help him end a bitter grudge war; Darcy needs Jaws to divulge the mystery surrounding her mother’s death. Haunted by a past that shaped her present, Darcy will stop at nothing to get answers. Even if it means breaking the law and being disloyal to her new boyfriend, Dylan Taylor, in the process.

DEFCON DARCY gives Darcy’s demons a name and ties up loose ends that made Darcy into the verb that she is. What she thinks she knows as truth, isn’t. What she wishes wasn’t true…is.

The problem is, when your life goes DEFCON 1, not everyone lives to tell about it.

Buy Links:

Amazon US: http://tinyurl.com/oophc88

Amazon UK:http://tinyurl.com/om9jre3

iTunes: http://tinyurl.com/mkuw6zm

KOBO: http://tinyurl.com/nrmx4es

Barnes & Noble: http://tinyurl.com/nux4blt

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22873806-defcon-darcy?from_search=true

When you’re a verb, you don’t always plan your excursions; they just sort of happened. This was the first trip, I admit, that I had to plan. The time ticked at eight o’clock. Murphy and Marjorie had just pulled into the driveway from a trip to the library. To safeguard against getting busted, I clocked in with Murphy five minutes ago and told him I was with Dylan. I clocked in with Dylan and told him I was with Murphy. Wearing commando-black, my lucky hat, and Chuck’s, I quietly lifted my second story window and shimmied my way down the bare maple tree. Jogging to the entrance of BTCC, the air cut through me like a sharp knife on butter.

In the spirit of duplicity, the sky was two-faced tonight like the moon. The east was cloudy, the west a midnight blue with a blanket of stars. I jumped up and down as the chill settled into my muscles, and at fifteen minutes past eight, Vinnie’s pink VW Bug sputtered to a stop in front of the big buffalo sign I hid behind.

This was what I liked about the misfits—when you told them to masquerade as someone else or break into private property on the sly, there were no questions, only a “What time?”

My Review:

I can not honestly remember how I came across reading this series but I remember after reading the first book I needed to get it on paperback.
The whole series is so different from what I normally read but I have to say that this book is in a league of its own.
Darcy Walker is a character that I love. She acts without thinking and can get bored so easily. 
On the outside Darcy can come across as having a hard shell but on the inside is a scared and insecure girl. In this book we get to see this vulnerability really show.
There are so many questions answered in this book.
I cried - a lot - with this book. I cried because of what was going on, what Darcy was saying, when Dylan cried. Now let me tell you about Dylan. At the beginning of this entire series I was not his biggest fan. In fact he annoyed the heck out of me because I thought of him as a control freak but after reading this series..... wow. I wanted to give him a hug and tell him everything will be okay.I wanted to hug Darcy and tell her not to worry and that she is a brave girl.
Ivy I wanted to shake. Seriously the girl annoys me but this book made me pity her.
Jagger made me think ooooo scary.
Ben.... well Ben.... what a fantastic character.
This series is truly one of the best series I have read in my lifetime. The author seems to have poured her heart and soul into this book and after every book I always wonder how she could top the last. This book was no exception.
Honestly I am sitting here now, after reading it, and wondering what to do next. 
Darcy's world is truly a place you want to be part of. You can easily get lost in her world. 
Thank you A.J Lape for this fantastic series. I series that I don't want to end and a series I would love to see as a movie.

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