Virtual Book Tour & Giveaway - Wisteria & Myopia by Bisi Leyton

Welcome to my stop on Bisi Leyton's Virtual Book Tour for Wisteria & Myopia (Wisteria, Books 1 and 2).  Please make sure to leave a comment or question below for Bisi to let her know you stopped by.  Bisi will be awarding a $15 Amazon GC to a random commenter during the tour.   You can follow her tour stops here, the more often you comment, the better your odds of winning. 

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Wisteria 

by Bisi Leyton

Wisteria Series, Book 1 

Publisher:  Bisi Leyton

Release Date: August 14, 2012

Genre: YA Paranormal/Fantasy

Buy Links:

Amazon Kindle            B&N Nook                 Smashwords     

Book Description:

Sixteen year old Wisteria Kuti has two options—track the infected around the Isle of Smythe or leave the only known safe haven and face a world infested with flesh eating biters. But even with well-armed trackers, things go wrong and Wisteria ends up alone facing certain death, until she is rescued by the mysterious Bach. Uninfected, Bach is able to survive among the hordes of living dead.

Eighteen year old Bach, from a race known as The Family, has no interest in human affairs. He was sent here to complete his Great Walk and return home as a man—as a Sen Son. The Family regard humans as Dirt People, but Bach is drawn to this Terran girl, whom he has never seen before, but somehow knows.

Hunted by flesh eaters, cannibals, and the mysterious blood thirsty group called Red Phoenix, Wisteria and Bach make their way back to the Isle of Smythe, a community built on secrets and lies.

Excerpt: 

His head started to hurt as he forced himself to think. Whatever the darts contained made it hard for him to concentrate. As he lay back down, he thought back to the cohort, Felip and Enric. They had to be safe. Enric would ensure Felip survived. Bach was supposed to have secured them before leaving. If anything happened to them, it would be his fault—all his fault.

Banging his aching head against the pillow as he thought back, he fought to recall what made him abandon them when he could’ve easily saved them.

“How are you feeling?” Wisteria entered.

Her, the scavenging opportunist. He’d been distracted by her. He remembered now. Because he’d had to save her, a Terran, he couldn’t save the people who were important.

“Try and eat something?” she asked.

“No, I do not need anything expect for rest.”

“Bach, at least eat a little. You’re not going to feel any better starving to death.” Lighting a candle, she placed it next to him on the floor by the mattress.

“This place smells like a toilet,” he complained. “No, it smells worse. How did you come to bring me to such a place?”

“Bach, you picked this place. And we were lucky these people let us in during a swarm. The biters would’ve eventually picked up our scent.”

“Your scent, Wisteria, not mine. The infected are only attracted to the pungent stench of Terrans.”

“You’re not making any sense.”

“Let me break this down for you.” It was typical for Terrans to be so easily confused. “You should have just left me on the street instead of bringing me to this hole.” This wasn’t where the Sen-son was supposed to be. If the Family saw Bach here, he’d be thoroughly humiliated.

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My Review 

Teenage angst, first love and a zombie creating epidemic all play an important part in Bisi Leyton's genre bending Wisteria, the first book in the Wisteria series.  With a likable heroine, a non-human hero and a disease to outwit, Ms. Leyton's tale grabbed my attention from the first page.  A combination of science fiction, paranormal and fantasy romance, Ms. Leyton's voice as a writer makes this a good entry into the YA field.

When we first meet Wisteria Kuti, she's a fourteen year old girl whose family was lucky enough to make it to commune on the Isle of Smythe after the outbreak of the zombie or "biter" creating "Nero" disease.  Determined to prove her worth, Wisteria wants to become a tracker and learn how to protect others from the "biters".  While a part of the commune, Wisteria doesn't really fit in with her own age group - especially the teenage children of the "leaders".  At the bottom of the social rung, she's willing to do what it takes to keep the commune safe - even tolerating the teasing and insults heaped on her at the communes mandatory school.

A member of the "Family", Bach has chosen to come to Earth for his "coming of age" period.  A member of an alien race immune to human disease, Bach has unresolved issues and a deep hatred of the human race and is watching the human created "Nero" disease destroy all human life.  An unexpected encounter changes all of his plans.

The scenes between Wisteria and Bach are interesting and very well done, they accidentally meet when a mission goes terribly wrong and Wisteria needs to be rescued from a group of biters.   Early on Bach realizes that Wisteria is unlike the other humans he's been watching fall to the disease and die and this intrigues him.  He also feels as if he "knows" her but doesn't know why she seems familiar.  Ms. Leyton did a good job developing both Wisteria and Bach's characters; unlike the traditional svelte, hot, kick-butt heroine, Wisteria has identity issues with being short, curvy and smart.  Bach, on the other hand, comes from a privileged background, is bored and has emotional issues no one has ever addressed.  They are the perfect star-crossed lovers in a world that's falling apart. 

The secondary characters in this story are well written but not all likable.  I didn't care for Wisteria's classmates at all, in particular the "popular girls", who in my opinion didn't deserve her help or protection.  Bach's fellow "family" members on the other hand were quite interesting.  We also get introduced to another group known as the "Red Phoenix", who are the enemies of the "family".

Will Wisteria be able to help Bach keep safe from his enemies?  And will Wisteria and Bach's relationship survive the truth about how their past is intertwined?  Read Wisteria to find out, it's unique and I look forward to discovering more about the world Ms. Leyton has created.

My Rating:  3.5 out of 5 Stars

FTC Disclosure:  I received a complimentary copy of this book as a part of a book tour in exchange for a fair and honest review.

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Myopia

by Bisi Leyton

Wisteria Series, Book 2

Publisher: Bisi Leyton

Release Date: November 9, 2012

Genre: YA Paranormal/Fantasy

Buy Links:

Amazon Kindle                Smashwords 

Book Description:

Sixteen-year-old Wisteria has embraced her deep bond with eighteen-year-old Bach, a member of a supernatural race called the Family, despite the risk of his family finding out. Should Bach’s people discover his bond with a human, Wisteria will be guaranteed a painful and bloody death—but somehow, being together is more important.

Their bond is tested when empirics, an elite group of Family investigators, are sent to the Isle of Smythe under the orders of Bach’s father to find artifacts stolen by the humans. They’re to find the artifacts at any cost. Among the empirics is Bach’s old friend, the stunning Alba, who has learned about Bach and Wisteria’s secret relationship, and surprisingly accepts this. With no one else in the Family to turn to, she becomes Bach’s ally and confidant, but possibly more.

As the empirics start to take over the town, Wisteria is torn between trusting Bach and the safety of the humans on Smythe. She soon realizes that she and Bach are on opposite sides of the war between the Family and Humans, and there is no middle ground. One of them must choose a side.

Excerpt: 

Three years and three months after Nero

“You’ve got to be joking!” Sixteen-year-old Wisteria Kuti glared at about forty teenagers and a handful of preteens dancing wildly in the once deserted pub.

From the smell and heat, the partiers had been burning up the dance floor for hours. The music of the Law Abiding Citizens thumped through the restaurant, and she spotted an mp3 player hooked to large speakers propped on the bar.

Wisteria couldn’t believe they were having a party on Norton. Her stepfather, Major Elliot Coles, the head of security, would literally murder someone if he discovered that forty of the kids from the heavily fortified Isle of Smythe had snuck out onto the mainland.

“You’ve got to admit they’re having fun.” Garfield Simon, her best friend, was standing next to her while adjusting the strap of his crossbow. His long curly hair bounced as he nodded to the music. “Everyone’s okay and seems happy.”

After four years of living in fear of biters and being locked behind the walls of the Isle of Smythe, she could see why the kids wanted a night of freedom and reckless abandon. Even she wanted one, but it wasn’t safe.

With eighty percent of the world’s population crazy, flesh eating biters, being outside wasn’t just a bad idea, it was deadly. The only thing biters wanted was to feed and the only things they ate were uninfected people. And people who didn’t get eaten most likely ended up becoming infected and turning into biters themselves. As a best case scenario, even one biter walking into this pub could result in everyone becoming infected.

“They’ve been having this party how long?” she asked Amanda Weiss, the tall, slender blonde girl who had come with them.

“This is the sixth party.” Amanda’s blue eyes glittered as she tried to laugh it off. “It’s not that big a deal. We’ve always been safe.”

“Six,” Wisteria choked out. “And you knew about this and didn’t say anything?”

“We couldn’t tell you because of your mum and your step dad,” Amanda explained. “If they found out, they’d stop the party.”

“David’s here and he’s my brother,” Wisteria pointed out, but she knew that was different. David was Amanda’s boyfriend.

“Yeah, but you’re a tracker. David’s not, so you have to tell Coles.” Amanda frowned, knitting her blonde eyebrows together. “Everyone just wanted a few nights out. We’ve been working all summer on farms for the harvest. We just need a break. I mean, I know it’s dumb, but we really thought this town was safe. David said there hasn’t been an infected reported in Norton in forever.”

“David isn’t a tracker or he’d have half a clue,” Garfield remarked.

Garfield also hadn’t been invited to the party, but Wisteria suspected that had more to with him being a rat catcher. Even though most kids on the island ate rats, they were too proud to publically admit that. One way to deny it was steering clear of Garfield.

Wisteria scowled at the boy. It was no secret he hated the notion of Amanda and David being together because he was so in love with Amanda. Garfield had had a crush on her, the prettiest girl on the island, since he first saw her. Sadly for him, Amanda only wanted to be friends.

“Well, I’m glad you told me, Amanda. I know Hailey’s going to make you pay for doing it.” Wisteria was still surprised Amanda had come to her with this.

“So, what do you want to do?” Amanda asked.

“Ahh,” a boy shrieked as he ran past them.

Wisteria jumped.

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I will be posting my Review of Myopia later this week. 

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:


Bisi Leyton was born in East London in 1978. She grew up in London, Nigeria and the States, listening to the stories life and love from aunts, cousins and big sisters.She lives in London, but has worked around Europe including France, Germany, Ireland, Belgium and the Czech Republic. She has a fondness for reading graphic novels.

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Wisteriabooks

Current Blog: http://bisileyton.blogspot.com/

Old Blog: http://bisileyton.wordpress.com/

@bisileyton

http://www.goodreads.com/Bisileyton

BookTrailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_TWuWK_bbY&feature=context-cha

and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvC9iJckrs4&feature=context-cha

Free Paranoia short story for anyone who signs up on my mailing list (from Smashwords)

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Don't forget to leave a comment or question below for Bisi to let her know you stopped by.  Bisi will be awarding a $15 Amazon GC to a random commenter during the tour.   You can follow her tour stops here, the more often you comment, the better your odds of winning.