Blog Tour: True North By L. E. Sterling

True North

(True Born Trilogy #2) 

by 

L.E. Sterling 

Expected publication: April 4th 2017 

by Entangled: Teen

GoodReads

Summary
Abandoned by her family in Plague-ridden Dominion City, eighteen-year-old Lucy Fox has no choice but to rely upon the kindness of the True Borns, a renegade group of genetically enhanced humans, to save her twin sister, Margot. But Nolan Storm, their mysterious leader, has his own agenda. When Storm backtracks on his promise to rescue Margot, Lucy takes her fate into her own hands and sets off for Russia with her True Born bodyguard and maybe-something-more, the lethal yet beautiful Jared Price. In Russia, there's been whispered rumors of Plague Cure. 

While Lucy fights her magnetic attraction to Jared, anxious that his loyalty to Storm will hurt her chances of finding her sister, they quickly discover that not all is as it appears…and discovering the secrets contained in the Fox sisters' blood before they wind up dead is just the beginning.?? 

As they say in Dominion, sometimes it’s not you…it’s your DNA.

Hidden Secrets don't Stay Hidden Forever

Get ready for another wonderful read! I could not wait to jump back into the world of Dominion City! Lucy and Margot...Two pieces of a puzzle, I could not wait to find out what secrets they hold. Sadly, yet expectantly not all is revealed in the second installment but much is! Everything is bleak with the world and looking bleaker still. There is just enough backstory to refresh the readers mind of what happened in the last book but not too much where it becomes redundant. This story still contains all the delicious elements of the first and maybe adding a dash of mystery. I am very good about figuring things out quickly and I am still at a loss. This is very exciting for me because I am sitting at the edge of my metaphorical seat and will remain there until the next installment. I don’t see how everything will tie together I just hope beyond the stars above that we get a HEA.

The Story, Storm is back Lucy is still here though her heart has fled along with her sister. There is a plan, Lucy will help Storm and Storm will help Lucy. Quid pro quo right? Wrong! So wrong, it is not funny…Not one bit. The story picks up right after the ending of the first. Margot went willingly to Russia but Lucy knows better she knows the sacrifice her sister made was to keep Lucy safe. Though Lucy is the rule follower and fixer of the Fox sisters something has changed. Fundamentally what used to drive Lucy is no longer there. She knows something nefarious is going on and she will stop at nothing to find out exactly who she and her sister are. Things are moving albeit slowly but just when it seems like attentions will turn to finding Margot a new distraction arises amongst the remaining population and Lucy is let down again. This prompts her to make a rash decision that she cannot turn away from. Thankfully she has made a strange alliance and she is not alone.

The Characters, this may be a bit of a spoiler but we don’t see the vile parents in this installment. I will also say the reader learns much about them and it is beyond mortifying. I want them to explain themselves and pay for their evil actions. Egads this installment picks up the steam factor between Lucy and her love. One thing I don’t understand is why they are dancing around their true emotions for each other. Both are hooked to each other! Just get married already and have superhuman super cute panther shifting babies already! Yeesh! Lol! The tension and attraction is very well written I feel what Lucy feels so I want her happiness. Key characters have secret agendas and there is a lot of mystery surrounding everyone from the most malevolent to the most benevolent.

The End, the reader sees firsthand the plans that have been laid out for years that are now coming to fruition. I’m happy to report there is a lot of action and explosions and shocking revelations. I’m going to say that again in the event you missed it the first time. There are SHOCKING REVELATIONS!!! The Dominion City rubber meets the Russian road in an eerily plausible way that is sure to delight readers everywhere. Lock and key let anyone try to control one of these girls and get ready for a fight. Lucy may not know exactly what happened to them and why but she will fight with every ounce of her being to protect her other half. I don’t know how everything will come to a close but what I do know is I’ve become very attached to these characters and I can’t wait to see what is next! I also can’t wait to find out more about Lucy’s new mysterious friend.

My Rating

4.5 The world is coming to an end and I can’t wait to see what happens next…I need answers like water for a parched throat. I also need Lucy to accept her feelings for Jared who dare I say gets even more amazing and steals my heart!!! Last but in no way least I need to know all of the answers 4.5 filled stars!

True North - Excerpt

“Let me finish. I have a job to do. I’m obliged to do the best job I can. Not just because I work for Storm but because that’s who I am. That job is to protect you, Lu.”

I turn my head, unable to bear even another second. I’ve had my fill of Jared’s merc routine. Gentle fingers coax me back again until I’m just inches from Jared’s glittering eyes. They look feral in the moonlight.

“But Lu.” He breathes my name like it’s a full sentence. “It’s a good thing that’s my job, because… Don’t you know I can’t even help myself?” He’s so close it’s as though the boundaries of our flesh have disappeared. And within one breath and the next, his lips are on mine. Soft, warm, molding me to his mouth. Then, hungrier, he pulls me closer, seeking more.

I’m dizzy with the taste of him on my lips, in my mouth. When my strength gives out, I slump onto his chest and he holds me tighter. I can barely react to the blazing warmth of his body full down the length of me, the scratchy feeling of his shirt decal under my fingers. There’s a fire in me, too, and with his sudden nip to my lip, it ignites. I’m feverish for him. Jared’s chest is molten rock under my hands. I’m struck with a desire to run kisses up his neck, to just behind his earlobe, just to hear the quick suck of his breath. I grab his hair and pull him tighter still. My lips sting from trying to get closer, closer, and rubbing too hard up against his teeth. Jared tries to hold them back but I can feel his incisors sharpen, his growl deepen, his eyes flip to a luminescent green in the darkness of the garden as he drinks me in.

And just as suddenly as it started, he takes me by the shoulders and pulls me away. I sway on the patio bench like a rag doll, cold and dazed. The garden hums with some secret life, bugs and frogs, but it’s just Jared and me here.

Touching a finger to my swollen lips, I watch him. He pants as though he’s kicked the living tar out of someone, a glassy expression to his feline eyes. He doesn’t take his hands off me, but he isn’t going to bring me close again, either. And that’s what makes me explode.

“What kind of game are you playing with me, anyhow?” I scream at him, thankful that the garden is empty for my tirade.

Follow the Tour HERE

About the Author

L.E. Sterling had an early obsession with sci-fi, fantasy and romance to which she remained faithful even through an M.A. in Creative Writing and a PhD in English Literature – where she completed a thesis on magical representation. She is the author of two previous novels, the cult hit Y/A novel The Originals (under pen name L.E. Vollick), dubbed “the Catcher in the Rye of a new generation” by one reviewer, and the urban fantasy Pluto’s Gate.

Originally hailing from Parry Sound, Ontario, L.E. spent most of her summers roaming across Canada in a van with her father, a hippie musician, her brothers and an occasional stray mutt – inspiring her writing career. She currently lives in Toronto, Ontario.

✿ Website ✿ Twitter ✿ GoodReads ✿

Book Excerpt: True North (True Born Trilogy #2) by L.E. Sterling

True North

(True Born Trilogy #2) 

by 

L.E. Sterling 

Expected publication: April 4th 2017 

by Entangled: Teen

GoodReads

Summary
Abandoned by her family in Plague-ridden Dominion City, eighteen-year-old Lucy Fox has no choice but to rely upon the kindness of the True Borns, a renegade group of genetically enhanced humans, to save her twin sister, Margot. But Nolan Storm, their mysterious leader, has his own agenda. When Storm backtracks on his promise to rescue Margot, Lucy takes her fate into her own hands and sets off for Russia with her True Born bodyguard and maybe-something-more, the lethal yet beautiful Jared Price. In Russia, there's been whispered rumors of Plague Cure.

While Lucy fights her magnetic attraction to Jared, anxious that his loyalty to Storm will hurt her chances of finding her sister, they quickly discover that not all is as it appears…and discovering the secrets contained in the Fox sisters' blood before they wind up dead is just the beginning.??

As they say in Dominion, sometimes it’s not you…it’s your DNA.

True North - Excerpt

“Let me finish. I have a job to do. I’m obliged to do the best job I can. Not just because I work for Storm but because that’s who I am. That job is to protect you, Lu.”

I turn my head, unable to bear even another second. I’ve had my fill of Jared’s merc routine. Gentle fingers coax me back again until I’m just inches from Jared’s glittering eyes. They look feral in the moonlight.

“But Lu.” He breathes my name like it’s a full sentence. “It’s a good thing that’s my job, because… Don’t you know I can’t even help myself?” He’s so close it’s as though the boundaries of our flesh have disappeared. And within one breath and the next, his lips are on mine. Soft, warm, molding me to his mouth. Then, hungrier, he pulls me closer, seeking more.

I’m dizzy with the taste of him on my lips, in my mouth. When my strength gives out, I slump onto his chest and he holds me tighter. I can barely react to the blazing warmth of his body full down the length of me, the scratchy feeling of his shirt decal under my fingers. There’s a fire in me, too, and with his sudden nip to my lip, it ignites. I’m feverish for him. Jared’s chest is molten rock under my hands. I’m struck with a desire to run kisses up his neck, to just behind his earlobe, just to hear the quick suck of his breath. I grab his hair and pull him tighter still. My lips sting from trying to get closer, closer, and rubbing too hard up against his teeth. Jared tries to hold them back but I can feel his incisors sharpen, his growl deepen, his eyes flip to a luminescent green in the darkness of the garden as he drinks me in.

And just as suddenly as it started, he takes me by the shoulders and pulls me away. I sway on the patio bench like a rag doll, cold and dazed. The garden hums with some secret life, bugs and frogs, but it’s just Jared and me here.

Touching a finger to my swollen lips, I watch him. He pants as though he’s kicked the living tar out of someone, a glassy expression to his feline eyes. He doesn’t take his hands off me, but he isn’t going to bring me close again, either. And that’s what makes me explode.

“What kind of game are you playing with me, anyhow?” I scream at him, thankful that the garden is empty for my tirade.

About the Author

L.E. Sterling had an early obsession with sci-fi, fantasy and romance to which she remained faithful even through an M.A. in Creative Writing and a PhD in English Literature – where she completed a thesis on magical representation. She is the author of two previous novels, the cult hit Y/A novel The Originals (under pen name L.E. Vollick), dubbed “the Catcher in the Rye of a new generation” by one reviewer, and the urban fantasy Pluto’s Gate.

Originally hailing from Parry Sound, Ontario, L.E. spent most of her summers roaming across Canada in a van with her father, a hippie musician, her brothers and an occasional stray mutt – inspiring her writing career. She currently lives in Toronto, Ontario.

✿ Website ✿ Twitter ✿ GoodReads ✿

Book Review: True Born By L. E. Sterling

True Born 

(True Born Trilogy #1) 

by 

L.E. Sterling

Pub May 3rd 2016 

by Entangled: Teen 

Summary
Welcome to Dominion City.

After the great Plague descended, the world population was decimated…and their genetics damaged beyond repair.

The Lasters wait hopelessly for their genes to self-destruct. The Splicers pay for expensive treatments that might prolong their life. The plague-resistant True Borns are as mysterious as they are feared…

And then there’s Lucy Fox and her identical twin sister, Margot. After endless tests, no one wants to reveal what they are.

When Margot disappears, a desperate Lucy has no choice but to put her faith in the True Borns, led by the charismatic Nolan Storm and the beautiful but deadly Jared Price. As Lucy and the True Borns set out to rescue her sister, they stumble upon a vast conspiracy stretching from Dominion’s street preachers to shady Russian tycoons. But why target the Fox sisters?

As they say in Dominion, it’s in the blood.

The Answers Are In The Blood

After reading the blurb I knew I was in for a treat. There were so many elements to this book I can’t just place it in one genre. There are dystopian, post apocalyptic, paranormal, and fantasy elements to this tale. A disease has nearly wiped the planet the 2% is at the top while the rest figure it out or die. When I say figure it out I mean starve or die from the plague. So yea, situation looks dire. There are divisions and plain ol’ hysteria Dominion is where the story plays out everyone’s existence is bleak. Even the wealthy upper circle people are on borrowed or should I say bought time. This book is constantly going, going somewhere, dropping morsels and revealing questions. Man oh man after that delicious appetizer I’m ready for a meal! I want and need answers. I will definitely keep my eyes peeled for the next installment. Coming out soon! Yay!

The Story, as I mentioned before its not looking good for the people of Dominion or the world. People are dying everywhere there are bodies on the floor. There are protocols that everyone follows. True Born follows Lucy and Margot they are conjoined(by the toe) twin sisters there is something very special about them but no one knows exactly what. A long time ago pollution decimated and practically ruined the planet due to these harsh conditions people started sprouting fins or flat out dying. Lucy and Margot are part of the Upper Circle translation Grade A ARSEHoles with stupid amounts of money and power. They are about to turn 18 and thus put through several blood tests to see if they are either Splicers, Lasters, or True Born. Something is wrong and Lucy feels some impending catastrophe. There are riots and attacks and all the while Lucy is trying to save her sister, figure out what they are, and fighting the feelings that are blossoming between her and Jared.

The Characters, I was thoroughly delighted by this cast of characters. Lucy and Margot are surrounded by so many wonderful characters I could not get enough. There were times in the story I felt like storms clan was similar to the x men. Though Margot and Lucy are twins they are very different. Both of them are categorized as good girls who do what they must to uphold the family image. Margot is a charming diplomat that can woe the crowd while Lucy is calculating and protective. Storm is a True Born with way more power than he lets on, he has been hired to protect Lucy and Margot just when you think you’ve figured him out bombs start dropping and so will your jaw. The bad guys are pretty obvious but their moves and motives are not. I loved each character even the bad ones…I just want to know more I need the whos whats and wheres.

The End, remember those bombs I told you about? Yep…That happens but seriously Storm reveals some of his cards and Lucy and Margot? Well there is not much that can be done but they sure try. The ending was a little sad but the promise for more is there. I was happy to see certain people get their just desserts. I have my theories as to what secrets lie within Lucy and Margot but I will keep them to my self. I was pretty disappointed in Lucy’s parents though I do love them or should I say love to hate them I really need the why. There are several open ended story lines that I’m very excited about!

4.5 Holy SMOKES! This was a great read! I seriously can’t wait for the next. I have the fever and the only cure is more Lucy, Margot, Jared and Storm!

Purchase Through
Amazon | B&N

About the Author

L.E. Sterling had an early obsession with sci-fi, fantasy and romance to which she remained faithful even through an M.A. in Creative Writing and a PhD in English Literature – where she completed a thesis on magical representation. She is the author of two previous novels, the cult hit Y/A novel The Originals (under pen name L.E. Vollick), dubbed “the Catcher in the Rye of a new generation” by one reviewer, and the urban fantasy Pluto’s Gate.

Originally hailing from Parry Sound, Ontario, L.E. spent most of her summers roaming across Canada in a van with her father, a hippie musician, her brothers and an occasional stray mutt – inspiring her writing career. She currently lives in Toronto, Ontario.

✿ Website ✿ Twitter ✿ GoodReads ✿