Toot's Book Reviews: Spotlight, Review, Excerpt & Giveaway: Awakening by Dana Claire

Book Blurb & Info

The government called her a weapon. Her mother called her a gift. She called it a forced fate. Beatrice Walker is no stranger to surprises and after the year she’s had, finding out she is responsible for billions of lives is a drop in the bucket. Until she learns there may be more to the prophetic plan to prevent the extinction of two planets—both Earth and Ferro, and that she isn’t the only Blood-Light they will need to fight the imminent threat of an asteroid hurtling toward the planets.

He grew up a loyal heir. He trained to be a soldier. He found purpose with the Rebellion. Cash Kingston didn’t think falling for a Blood-Light—part human, part Ferroean—was possible. But when he met Beatrice Walker, all of that changed. What didn’t waver was his quest to save his beloved planet Ferro and his new home, Earth. Not only from the oncoming asteroid but from leaders of both planets with more sinister agendas.
Together, Beatrice and Cash, plus their team, must uncover who they can trust, how they can stop their enemies, and what superpower matters most, or they will lose everything they are fighting for.

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Excerpt

A swarm of agents, all dressed in their black suits with white button-downs, skinny grey ties, and black shiny shoes, flooded the hallways behind Cash. Panic and fear crawled their way into my stomach. The fluorescent lights above us flickered like strobe lights while red Solo Cup-looking lights positioned every other white light blinked rapidly.

“Grab my hand,” Cash yelled.

“What? Why?” I said, looking around like he lost his mind. Now was definitely not the time to hold hands.

“Just do it,” he said. His voice elevated. He held out his palm and I threaded my fingers through his. He held our interlocked hands up high. I could feel the source between us ignite. A burst of crackling white light glowed from our fingertips. My source snapped and pulled like a cord of power, spreading from my chest to my extremities.

The agents were frozen at the end of the hallway mid-run, weapons immobilized in the air. The alarm noise was muffled, still there but not blaring.

The crew ran out of the room and toward us and the open vent.

“Go, get up there. Melt the fan belts and crawl through. We will hold them off,” Cash ordered. Sammie, Mark, Paul, Tasha, and even Sera didn’t think, didn’t argue. They obeyed and ran to the vent, climbing in one after the other.

Cash’s eyes locked onto mine. “Remember the first day we met at Robert’s house and then when we were at Kathleen Butler’s house and we froze the people around us?” I nodded. I remembered, but I had no idea it was Cash and me who did that. I thought it was a power he had. I do remember Grouper saying something like, “a power you must be happy to have back.” But I

had no idea it had anything to do with me. Reading my mind, Cash said aloud, “No, it’s a power I only have with my opposing source, and it’s how we will slow the asteroids and have time to blast them.”

“Oh wow!” Realization hit me. “We’d have a way out.” Cash shook his head, but it was Ashton that answered.

“You can’t be moving fast, small movements only. The second you start to fail or run, it’s too much kinetic energy and can affect time. You haven’t necessarily frozen them. You’ve slowed them down to an inconceivably decelerated pace. And it’s taking even more energy for your connection to allow our team to not be affected. That’s what Seraphina has to teach you. Right now, your connection isn’t strong enough to hold them off for long or allow for others to not be impacted. In fact, Cash, how long do we have?”

“Less than a minute.” Cash’s eyes went over my head connecting to Ashton. “When I release her hand, you run and get her the hell out of here. I’ll hold them off.” He tossed the gun to Ashton. “Use it on them if you have to.”

A frisson of fear shot through me. “No. No, we won’t let you,” I screamed-begged. My stomach dipped and rolled with the thought of losing Cash. Thankfully, there were no contents in my stomach to expel.

“You will! Because you have to, Beatrice. You have to,” Cash commanded.

I violently shook my head. Ashton chimed in. “We are running out of time.”

“Beatrice, I need you to promise me you will go with Ashton. I need you to trust me. I can handle myself.”

I searched Cash’s eyes for understanding, for him to change his mind, but there was nothing. He was steadfast in his decision. “They will take you dead or alive. They don’t care about saving your shell. But they do mine. Let me sacrifice myself and you leave. They won’t hurt me if I’m their weapon.”

He shook his head slightly. His thick lashes lowered. “I am not giving them the key to killing my people. I’d be playing into their hands. I will be fine. I promise you. You need to go. Now. You need to trust us.”

He was referring to Ashton and him. It was the first time I saw him put faith into his brother. Not that this was the moment I wanted him to believe in Ashton. I wanted Cash to run with us. I wanted him to be safe.

“You have to go.” He looked at Ashton. “Go to the cave. Save our planets. And take care of her.” Ashton nodded. “Don’t mess this up, brother.”

“I won’t.”

Cash was already pulling his hand away from mine. My eyes fluttered as I felt the connection fade. The tingling sensations on my skin began to dull while the alarm’s blare increased in volume. Tears wetted my cheeks. I tried to hold on, but the burst of power left me. Cash turned to me, genuine adoration and trust reflected in his eyes. Despite the warm tears that ran down my cheeks, I could make out the movement of his lips as he mouthed the following words while echoing them in my mind and making them permanently ingrained in my memory: “I choose you. It’s always been you. I love you!” And with that he broke our embrace and ran toward the agents.

“No!” My chest rose and fell rapidly. I watched Cash take two agents down with a roundhouse kick before they could get their weapons to fire, but the slew of agents in their wake had enough time. Shot after shot struck Cash’s chest, sending him stumbling backward. I knew the bullets wouldn’t kill him, but they would impair his fighting abilities, giving the DOAA agents time to slash him with thermo daggers.

Ashton grabbed my hand and yanked me in the opposite direction. “We’ve got to go.” I tried to resist. I dug my heels down using all my weight to counter his pull. “He’ll be ok. Stop fighting me. You’re wasting time. We cannot get captured.” He yanked on me again. My cries sounded. Cash turned his head slightly, hearing my screams, and an agent sliced his chest with a Ferroean knife. Cash faltered, taking a knee. More rounds of ammunition were fired into him. His torso jerked with each blow. His eyes pleaded with me to leave. I spoke words into his head for him to hear: I love you. I turned toward Ashton and allowed his hand to swallow up mine and lead me out the vent exit.

Toot's Review by Betty Bee

If you love strong female characters and thrilling sci-fi, 'The Awakening' by Dana Claire is the book for you.

Beatrice Walker is a young woman on the verge of fulfilling a universe-sized destiny. In only a short time, Bea goes from thinking that she's a normal high school student to a half-alien, weapon with the life essence of another alien inside of her who is destined to save both Earth and the planet Ferro.

This would be a lot to contend with for anyone, but Bea also has to deal with the knowledge that all of this information was kept from her for a long time and that the people in her life, that she thought she could trust, may not be so trustworthy after all.

On top of all of this, in the first book in the series, Beatrice meets Cash, heir to the King of Ferro and trained soldier, who she soon learns was the boyfriend of the alien whose source is inside of her. As Beatrice and Cash begin to develop feelings for each other, they are thrust into an intergalactic war between Earth and Ferro and must decide where their loyalties lie.

In 'The Awakening,' the two teenagers travel to California in order to awaken Sera, Cash's ex-girlfriend from the death-like coma that she has been held in by Ferroean resistance fighters. After spending the first book in the first bloom of their relationship, Bea and Cash must face the harsh reality of challenges against it in the form of Sera and Cash's brother, Ashton.

A story that is exciting, romantic, and heart-wrenching follows in the dazzling second book in Dana Claire's Blood-Lite series. With enough twists and turns to keep you guessing all the way through, 'The Awakening' is bound to entertain YA lovers everywhere!

Author Info

When author Dana Claire had several poems published as an elementary school student, she was hooked and writing became her passion. A shared dream of hers and her mother’s, she promised her dying mother that she would become a published author and that dream has been realized with The Connection.

Dana believes that a good story is made through strong character development; when readers become attached to the characters’ emotional state and are invested in their objectives. She believes that the beauty of reading is that one can live a hundred lives within the stories of books. Her own stories come to her in her dreams, and she wakes up with book ideas.

Dana’s family is very supportive of her writing and the creativity and sentiment driving it. Enjoying bicoastal living between Los Angeles and New York, Dana says she “lives the best romance in the world being married to the most amazing man she could ever ask for.” The Connection was her debut YA novel, the first volume in a planned trilogy. The Awakening is the second volume. She is also the author of The Reclaimed Kingdom, a YA fantasy romance novel.

Website: https://danaclairebooks.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/danaclaire143
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DanaClaireBooks/

~Giveaway~