Forsaking Home - Giveaway and Review

"Food is freedom. Control the food, control the people. While a lot of people don't see it that way, if you think about our current situation, it really applies. How many people do you think have gone to camps because they are hungry? Humans lived for tens of thousands of years before grocery stores, but take them out of the equation and folks panic." (pg 23).

With the collapse of the power grid, communications, and food and water supply for reasons that continue to remain unknown, thousands of people are struggling to survive. It has truly become the survival of the fittest. Morgan Carter has been planning for something like this his whole life. Now that it has happened, Morgan has banded together a handful of his neighbors and close friends and moved to the safety of the woods near his former neighborhood. Not trusting the government to handle anything, Morgan is relying on all his survival skills and the stockpile of supplies he has managed to store and acquire along the way.

In the fourth novel in The Survivalist Series from A. American, Forsaking Home, takes us into the struggles facing Morgan Carter and his family and friends. Morgan continues to try and find more food in the woods surrounding their small encampment but with hunting and supplies running low, they have to venture out further and further away from camp. Now it seems that they have uninvited company staking them in hopes of gaining their supplies of hogs and chickens as well as anything else they can find. They will have to discover who it is before someone goes missing or someone is killed and Morgan will stop at nothing to protect his family.

Meanwhile at government-run refugee camp, Jess has taken matters into her own hands when she learns that this isn't really a refugee camp at all, but a work camp for detainees that the DHS or Department of Homeland Security has been rounding up and placing them in various FEMA camps all over the country. Those in leadership roles have taken it upon themselves to run the camp any way they see fit and that has lead to Jess being raped. Knowing that no one will believe her, she takes it upon herself to murder the man responsible which has now lead to her arrest and isolation along with two other women responsible. What they don't realize is that they won't be getting out of there alive. But Jess' former friends aren't about to let that happen and things begin to take shape to take back our country from those who seek to control it any way they see fit.

I received Forsaking Home from A. American compliments of Penguin Publishers and TLC Book Tours for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation for a favorable review and the opinions expressed here are strictly my own. A chilling look into the future of what might happen should America fall victim of an EMP blast or nuclear threat in our own country. Where some will believe the government will help them, and yet others understand that their survival depends on what they can do until things get back to normal. This is the fourth novel in the Survivalist series and it for mature audiences only as is labeled on each of the novels. For this reason, I can give this novel a higher rating. It is one of the few that have warnings placed on the rear cover due to the subject matter contained within, strong language, violence and mature content places this rating at 4 out of 5 stars in my book. Truly a must read for fans of dystopian and apocalyptic fiction and is not a stand alone novel.

For more information about Forsaking Home, A. American or where you can pick up this novel today, please click on the links below:

Forsaking Home by A. American

You can also find A. American on Facebook to stay up to date with all his latest novels.

To read more reviews on Forsaking Home, please visit TLC's Book Tour page. 

Thanks to the generosity of the A. American and TLC Book Tours, they are giving away the entire series to one lucky follower of my blog, Reviews From The Heart. Here are your details to enter:

1. Be a follower of my blog, Reviews From The Heart

2. Be a resident of the US or Canada only. Please No P.O. Boxes!

3. "Like" A. American's Facebook page. 

4. Leave a comment below telling my why you'd LOVE to win this entire SERIES  along with your email address. You can use the words (at) and (dot) instead of the symbols.

I will notify the winner of the giveaway once it ends on July 17th via email, so don't forget to include it with your comment.

The Survivalist Series from A. American
# 1 - Going Home
# 2 - Surviving Home
# 3 - Escaping Home
# 4 - Forsaking Home

Escaping Home

Just when Morgan Carter believed things couldn't get any worse they do. Facing unbeatable odds as more and more families turn to the FEMA and Department of Homeland Security to provide care and food during the nations crisis that has left people without any electricity or food. Not knowing where their next meal will come from or even how to gain medical needs, families are buying into the security that the government will help them. But Morgan knows that this is the deception the government want people to fall for, a sense of false hope.

Morgan and his family along with several neighbors left in his neighborhood are doing what they can to make sure that they provide security when armed raiders attempt to loot and steal from their homes. They will stop at nothing to ensure that their families are well cared for. Morgan is now joined by Thad and Sarge as their paths once again converge in an effort to help them all survive against the odds. Even their local Sheriff Mark is beginning to wonder if they aren't just battling an uphill climb and eventually succumbs to working alongside the government.

While doing a reconnaissance mission, Morgan, Sarge and Thad discover that Jess, the young girl that they helped return home, is now trapped inside the local FEMA camp where no one gets out alive. Only the dead are allowed to leave camp. The men will have to work to provide better security in their neighborhood when FEMA plots a way to disband the group. Soon Morgan will have to look at just what it will take to survive if he doesn't want to join Jess in the camp. Will he be willing to give up all his planning and abandon the only home him and his family have come to rely on to get through this latest crisis hitting the country? What will he be willing to do to fight for his own personal freedom?

I received Escaping Home by A. American compliments of Penguin Publishers and TLC Book Tours for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation for a favorable review and the opinions expressed here are strictly my own. Once again I applaud the author for providing a "mature audience" disclaimer on the rear cover of this book. It is truly not for the light of heart. This book contains graphic violence and language that might not be suitable to some readers. This is the third book in the Survivalist series and it is the most violent of the three I've read. This is truly a push come to shove moment when those who are resistant to the governments aid fight to retain their personal freedoms and find themselves the criminals in the eyes of the government. Action packed from start to finish, this series paints the possible picture of one man's survival against all odds when power is removed from the country. I rate this one a 4 out of 5 stars in my opinion. A must read for survivalists and doomsday prepper fans!

For more information about Escaping Home, A. American or where you can pick up a copy of this novel today, please click on the links below:

Escaping Home by A. American

You can also find A. American on Facebook to stay up to date on all his latest novels.

To read more reviews on Escaping Home from the TLC Book Tour, please click here.

Surviving Home

 What would you do if you had to survive merely on what you currently have in your home right now? There is no electricity, no running water, no food,  no end in sight and no more help from the government at this time. How well do you really know your neighbors? How would you manage until things stabilized again and food began to be delivered. How far would you go to protect what is yours? How far would you go to protect your family?

That is just the premise behind the second book in the Survivalist series, Surviving Home by author A. American. We read about what happened in the first book Going Home where Morgan Carter found himself on a lonely stretch of highway, 250 miles from home. With no electricity and only the survival supplies he always keep with him in the car, he knows he will have to do whatever it takes to get home to his wife and three daughters. Now that Morgan has arrived home, things in the neighborhood are going from bad to worse.

His neighbors believe that Morgan is hoarding more food than they need and if necessary will go to any lengths to make sure they get some, even if it means killing them. It seems that all the preparation that Morgan has been doing was just the key to survival for him and his family. He knows his supplies won't last for long and with threats made to both him and his family, he realizes that things have changed dramatically for the community. Now it's protect your own first, take care of your family and do what you can to survive.

It seems like luck falls in Morgan's lap when the forest land that his property faces provides him with deer just when he needs it the most, while the community can't seem to find any. Not only that but Marshall Law has been established by the Department of Homeland Security defining that a census is being conducted to determine what skill sets each person possesses to be allocated and relocated where it will best suit the needs to get the country back on track. Even more unsettling is that each family is only allowed to have three days worth of supplies in the home and everything else must be turned over to the community leaders for equal distribution. Morgan's not about to comply with anything the government or community wants and when he neighbors decide to take matters into their own hands, things get nasty.

I received Surviving Home by A. American compliments of TLC Book Tours and Penguin Publishers for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation for a favorable review and the opinions expressed are strictly my own. The one thing I commend this author for doing is providing a disclosure warning for mature audience on the rear cover of the book. It is one of the first I have seen to do this provided the material inside contains profanity and graphic violence as one would except in a post apocalyptic novel.

I LOVED the first novel in this series and as a Christian Book Reviewer, I see this being the type of scenario that would befall the world at the rapture of the church and the beginning of the Tribulation period. Once again the characters that Morgan teamed up with in the first novel, Thad and Sarge are back as their stories toggle back and forth between what is happening on Morgan's end. I can't wait to see how it ends in the third book in the series and often wonder just how I would survive if faced with similar circumstances. A definite MUST READ for Doomsday Preppers and Survivalists. I rate this one a 4 out of 5 stars and while you can read this novel as a stand alone thanks to the authors prologue at the beginning, to fully understand the characters of Thad and Sarge, you will need to read the first novel to see how they all came to meet and how they plays out in this series.

For more information about Surviving Home, A. American or where to pick up a copy of this book today, please click on the links below:

Surviving Home by A. American

You can find A. American on Facebook to stay up to date with all the latest novels in this series.

To read more reviews on Surviving Home from the TLC Book Tour, please click here. 

• Series: The Survivalist Series
• Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: Plume (July 24, 2013)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0142181285
• ISBN-13: 978-0142181287
• Product Dimensions: 1.1 x 5.2 x 7.8 inches

Going Home

For all of you doomsday preppers and survivalists that are currently stockpiling all your gear in the event of a nuclear attack or government shutdown, the latest series from A. American is definitely one you will want to check out. The back cover does an exceptional job at warning the reader that this book is definitely for mature audience and I definitely applaud that. This novel reminded me of the television show Jericho, which showcased what happened when the United States fell victim from a nuclear attack on various major cities. The town of Jericho is a small piece of the puzzle and Going Home, the first novel in the Survivalist series, takes this scenario a step further. Think of it like Jericho on steroids!!! For you adrenaline junkies, you will definitely want to hang on tight.

The novel opens when Morgan Carter's car seems to breakdown 250 miles from home on a deserted stretch of road in Tallahassee, Florida. Believing it to be just car trouble, he immediately picks up his cell phone only to see the screen is black and even the charger is no longer functional. This means one of two things has occurred, either an EMP blast or CME, a Coronal Mass Ejection or Solar Flare has now rendered all electronics useless. Thankfully since he always packs for emergencies, he has all he needs to begin a long walk home to his wife and three daughters. But the long journey home will be far from easy as things begin to slowly unwind after people realize that they have to take care of themselves or risk becoming a victim.

Morgan Carter is resourceful and finds that all his training up this point has definitely prepared him for survival he will need to make it home. Along the way he hooks up with Jessica, a twenty-two-year old girl who fell victim to the event at a rest area. Fearing the worst for her particular situation, she begs Morgan to let her come along and she will take care of her own needs. She is able to convince him of just that knowing that two can survive in this situation better than going it alone. It seems that having her along as well provides an asset to their survival he didn't seem coming and for once is thankful for the suggestion to let her come along. They add Thad, a large black man with some military training, to their alliance and soon find out that things are only going to get worse the longer they all journey back to their respective homes and families.

I received Going Home from A. American compliments of Penguin Publishers and TLC Book Tours for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation for a favorable review and the opinions expressed here are strictly my own. This is such a great novel and one I thoroughly enjoyed. Knowing that I would be encountering strong subject matter, once you understand the characters involved, it makes sense that profanity and violence in this situation would be expected. This is simply a survival story of Morgan Carter who will do ANYTHING he has to in order to make it home to his wife and daughters. Let me tell you that the journey will be anything but an easy one and walking 250 miles home will offer up dangers no one expected they would ever have to face. I easily give this one a 4 out of 5 stars in my personal opinion and can't wait for Surviving Home which we get a sneak peek at in the end of this novel.

For more information on Going Home, A. American or where you can pick up a copy of this novel, please click on the links below:

Going Home by A. American

You can find find Angery American on Facebook to stay up to date all on the latest information from his series and more.

To read more reviews on Going Home from the TLC Book Tour, please click here. 

• Series: The Survivalist Series
• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Plume; Reprint edition (July 24, 2013)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0142181277
• ISBN-13: 978-0142181270
• Product Dimensions: 1 x 5.2 x 7.8 inches

The Love Wars

Think of the movies, The War of the Roses and add in a health dose of The Devil Wears Prada and you have the recipe for the novel, The Love Wars by author L. Alison Heller. We all remember the novels or stories that showcase a hardworking newbie attorney working their way up the difficult corporate law field with the best of intentions at heart. This is exactly the case for Molly Grant who lives in New York City working for one of the most prestigious law firms Bacon Payne. Their client base is some of the wealthiest people in the world and when Molly finds that working on the bottom rung a little too long, she opts to work for the Matrimonial Division.

Here under the leadership of high powered attorney Lillian Starling who handled all the firms high-profile divorce cases. It was here you either were on top of her list of favorites, called her 'girls' or you were on top of her hit list meaning you won't last a day once you make it there. Molly just hopes to last long enough to secure what's known as a Payne-ment, which is a bonus equivalent to a years salary so she can pay off the law school loan her parents have had to take out to send her to school. Just under two years to go and she'll have it in the bag and life will get much easier to bear. For now, however it means jumping when Lillian asks her to jump and to not ask how high but to already know how high and to exceed those expectations, working anything less than 16 hour days is unheard of and if you make one simple mistake you can count your career at Bacon Payne a good-bye.

Molly starts to question working for some of this highly demanding clients who seem to think she is there strictly to appease them at all costs instead of handing their law cases. When she finds herself dealing with the wife of one of their clients, Fern Walker. When Lillian asks her to oversee some of the issues regarding the child custody arrangement between the Walkers, Molly finds herself facing a dilemma that probably tries most legitimate attorneys. Is it possible to still work for Bacon Payne and work a legal case against one of their clients? Everything Molly has ever worked for is on the line, but after an episode in Molly's past, she finds that she might have to bend the rules a lot to make up for a possible second chance to do something noble and worthwhile instead of merely winning another divorce case.

I received The Love Wars by L. Alison Heller compliments of Penguins Publishers and Book Sparks Book Tours for my honest review and received no monetary compensation for a favorable review. This is a great look at what the world of high-profile family law looks like from the outside. It seems that even though the cases are similar, in the world of the rich and wealthy, no demand is too small for some. It shows you what can ultimately happen when good people stand up for those that need it the most. I'd rate this one a 4 out of 5 stars due to my personal rating system. The book does contain some profanity and thus the reason for a lower rating. If you ever wanted to know what working for a law firm that deals with the high profile cases looks like, you might just want to pick this one up. Truly some of the things that the attorneys have to work with are a bit on the outrageous side and really makes you wonder just how true this novel might be to the real world. I know personally I could not work for Bacon Payne. I think sometimes people fail to remember the innocent people that will become collateral damage in the process of some divorce cases.

For more information about The Love Wars, L. Alison Heller or where to pick up a copy of this novel today, please click on the links below:

The Love Wars by L. Alison Heller

You can also find L. Alison Heller on Facebook to stay up to date with all her latest novels.

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: NAL Trade (May 7, 2013)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451416236
• ISBN-13: 978-0451416230
• Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 0.9 x 8.2 inches 

Available on paperback or ebook formats at your favorite book retailer. 

The Repeat Year

What would you do if you woke up tomorrow morning and found out it was exactly a year prior right down to the day? Everything you did one year ago was the beginning point for where you found yourself today. What would you do if you had the opportunity to relive that year again?

That is just the premise for the latest novel, The Repeat Year by author Andrea Lochen. Not only does Olive Watson wake up on New Year's Day in 2011 with a new beginning but it really is a new opportunity. She finds herself suddenly right back where she was a year ago. Back with her now ex-boyfriend Phil. The very same Phil that broke up with her ten months ago. She's not exactly sure what happened, but all she knows is that she is suddenly provided with an opportunity to fix some mistakes in her life that happened a year ago. Is it possible to move forward with the knowledge of having already lived those mistakes and not yet feel a sense of remorse for having that knowledge to help you with making different choices. It's not exactly like you can leave those feelings behind just because you have a chance to make things right in the lives of the people you dealt with that previous year. Is there even a point to having this happen?

I received The Repeat Year by Andrea Lochen compliments of Penguin Publishers and Book Sparks Tours for my honest review and received no monetary compensation for a favorable one. This is like an expanded version of Groundhog Day only it takes some unexpected twists and turns when you have 365 days to do over again. Unlike Groundhog Day where the concept was the same day over and over again, Olive has a year to find the one thing that has brought her back to doing the year over again with no clue as to what that is. Is it the opportunity to stay living with her roommate Kerrigan instead of moving out, is it a chance to fall in love with her ex-boyfriend Phil and possibly get married, or rekindle some family relationships that she burned in the first go around, or is it something she never considered about how her interactions with someone needed a second chance? Maybe repeat years aren't just redoes for quick fixes, but they're last chances.

Based on my personal review criteria I have to rate this one a 4 out of 5 stars. Not for the storyline but based on the profanity contained in the beginning of the book that readers might find offensive. However, the story is amazing. I found myself wondering what I would do if faced with the same challenges that Olive did. What if what I thought needed changing wasn't the reason I had the opportunity to redo that year again and I had to repeat it again until I did? This is definitely a unique concept and I found I could relate to a lot of decisions that Olive makes. It makes you see the people you often take for granted in your life and when given the chance to revisit them again, you realize what a gift a repeat year could be. This book makes for a perfect addition to your summer reading list and I'd love to see this one brought to the big screen some day.

For more information about the Repeat Year, Andrea Lochen, or where to pick up a copy of this novel today, please click on the links below:

The Repeat Year by Andrea Lochen

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