NEW RELEASE and GIVEAWAY
Torn
(Fire Born Book 2)
(Fire Born Book 2)
by Laney McMann
This book blitz and giveaway is brought to you by Itching for Books. Please be sure to visit the other participating blogs as well.
Description
Find Max.
That’s all Layla cares about. Not healing from the Fomore attack. Not finding answers to how she survived a fall that nearly killed her. Nothing will stop her. She will find him. She’ll even pair up with an overbearing Fallen Angel who’s hell bent on making everything harder than it needs to be if she has to.
Protect Layla.
For Max, nothing else matters. Not the bruises covering his body. Not the pain radiating from his broken bones. Not even his hands tied behind his back. He will find a way to save Layla, and the Fomore will pay if they’ve hurt her.
Every. Single. One of them.
In the second installment of the Fire Born trilogy, a new breed of villain looms - one Layla and Max will never suspect, and this killer has nothing to lose. Better yet, with Max and Layla’s deaths, victory is in the grip of the enemy.
Will Max and Layla find each other in time, or is it already too late for them both?
Video for Book 1
Excerpt
Layla
Sunlight seared my face, and my fingers dug into hot sand before a cool shade fell over me.
“Teine?” A soft voice called my name. Someone pulled on my arm.
My head lolled to the side, but my neck caught on a crick and refused to move further than a couple of inches.
“Teine? Can you hear me?” Soft wisps tickled my face, even as my head pounded above my left ear.
My eyelids opened and closed, scratching against the corneas like sandpaper - my mouth dry, like paste. Though blurry, a figure loomed over me.
“We have to go. Hold on to me.” A gentle squeeze of my hand made my fingers flex.
“Max …” My voice cracked, word slurred; my tongue seemed too large for my mouth. I raised my arm, but it thumped to the ground at my side with the weight of a lead pipe.
“Shh. Do not let go.”
My heavy arms swung up on their own. I attempted to clasp my hands, to entwine my fingers, but they slipped back down to my sides with a dead thud. Vision refusing to cooperate, my eyes slipped in and out of focus. “What … happened?”
“You will be all right.”
“Max?”
“Shh. Save your strength.”
Oh, god.
Max.
I fell … We fell. It was so hot. Too hot, and …
#**#**#
“Layla!” Max’s voice tangles in my head along with a rush of wind whistling in my ears and the roar of fire surrounding my body.
“I’m coming!” The pulse of pure energy surging through my veins is a fear I’ve never known - a heat I can’t control.
Where once white sand once stretched for miles, a war scene bristles. Dunes flattened to nothing. Bits of charred lumber and ash blanket the beach. Sea oats have been ripped free by their roots and lie smoldering, bright red embers shining up like sinister eyes.
The explosion has unleashed an acrid off-charge, tainting my surroundings in tendrils of fire and smoke streams. Sparks sizzle through the atmosphere, leaving traces of color in the air ahead of me, brought on by wicked lightning strikes illuminating the sky.
Streaks of green and white flash in all directions - fingers of electricity lacerating the clouds - like a fireworks display gone wrong.
Growls of building thunder vibrate my body before falling silent, and a cackling laugh echoes around me, taking my attention to the dune’s edge.
Crows line the shore, still as statues - miniature militant soldiers. Ebony feathers lay, as if methodically placed, around a broken body carpeted in withered gardenia petals. Blank, flat crystal grey eyes stare fixed and unmoving.
Cold shock ricochets through my core. “One will kill the other. Say goodbye to your beloved.” The voice, so foreign yet chillingly familiar, snarls inside my head.
A guttural vibration quakes the sky.
The atmosphere shifts, and the heavens erupt.
“Max!”
#**#**#
“Shh, Layla, I’m right here.” Max’s face swims into view, stained in soot and blood, his dark eyes gazing down. “Are you okay?” Breathing hard, he crouches over me as I lay in the sand, the outline of his silhouette darkening by the sun at his back. “We need to get out of here.” He scoots forward. “Can you stand?” His fingertips brush my hand, and his firm hold makes me gasp. His gaze roams over my body - my face. Black irises taking over from the usual light grey … “Why are you looking at me like that?” His voice echoes around me as if he’s screaming, but I can barely hear him.
“You were dead,” I say in a whisper, staring up at him. “I saw you - before. Lying in the sand.”
“What?” He sweeps away the loose hairs sticking to my cheek. “I’m right here.” Concern deepens the contours of his face, and his brow crunches into a scowl as he puts a palm over my forehead. “Did you hit your head?” Cradling his arms underneath my body, he lifts me off the sand, up against him.
“Promise you’re not dead?” My voice slurs.
He chuckles, eyes darkening further. “Promise.”
Praise for the Book
4.5 Stars: "Torn grabs you by the throat and holds on … the book is a real thrill that carries you through an entire spectrum of emotion and leaves you right on the eve of something monstrous. Yes, yes, pun fully intended. Because the talons really come out in this one." ~ Alexander Nader
5 Stars: "I gave the first book in the series, Tied, 5 stars – I truly enjoyed it that much. I sort of wish I had liked it a little less because Goodreads doesn’t go up to 11, and that will need to be the scale by the time we’re through with this tale." ~ C. Brown
About the Author
By the time she reached her teens, she'd accumulated notebooks full of poems, which led to short stories and finally novels. Young adult dark fantasy, paranormal romance, and mythology are among her favorite genres.
A former classical dancer and chef, she grew up in sultry Florida where she still resides with her family.
Giveaway
Enter the blitz-wide giveaway for a chance to win one of two signed paperback copies of Torn by Laney McMann (US only).
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