Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Tasty Review Tour & Giveaway for Illuminati by Elizabeth Alsobrooks


Please join Elizabeth Alsobrooks on her Tasty Review Tour for Illuminati, The Book of Life.  Please leave a comment or question for Elizabeth to let her know you stopped by.  You can enter her tour wide giveaway by filling out the Rafflecopter form below.  You can also follow Elizabeth’s tour here, the more stops you visit, the better your odds of winning.
Illuminati
By Elizabeth Alsobrooks
Book of Life,Book 1

Publisher: Tell-Tale Publishing 
Release Date: March 12, 2013

Genre: Paranormal/Urban Fantasy/Mythological
Length: 355

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Book Description: 

Ljluka Vargas, immortal prince and the cool-headed enforcer for the Vargas Dynasty,  must go up against his most intriguing enemy, the mysterious Nalini. She intends  to beat him to the secret archaeological site of The Book of Life which contains the genetic secrets of their ancient ancestors.

In order to escape the cruel domination of her family and gain freedom for her mother, Nalini assumes the role of assassin. In her rival, the sleek and deadly Luc, she finds a different kind of danger. She’s supposed to eliminate him, but that would foil destiny’s plan for them to be together.

It’s a race from power-hungry D.C. cabinet rooms through the secret realms of the Vatican, from cloud forests and desert sands to the caverns of the Underworld as mankind hangs in the balance. For whoever possesses the Book of Life has the potential to rule the world, offering or denying immortality to the human race.

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Author Info
Now that her children have flown from the nest, Elizabeth lives with her two new babies (AKA Maltese) and husband, Bobby,  at the foot of the beautiful Catalina Mountain Range in Oro Valley, AZ.

She loves to hike the mountain trails, ride  her bike on the miles of walk/bike paths, sit on her patio sipping coffee and reading or brainstorming plots and  enjoying the grandeur of her breathtaking mountain views.

Elizabeth calls herself a pantser on steroids. The first book of her Illuminati series flowed like a psychic muse channeled it from her  fingertips to the keyboard.  She wrote 120,000 words in 45 days. "After the first couple of chapters, the characters took over.  They knew what they wanted and what they were willing to do to get it."

Her love of mythology and ancient literature and history were the backbone for her series, and the Sigma Force series by James Rollins inspired the fast-paced adventures (He recently  told her at a literacy fundraiser that he found that flattering, as no one had  ever told him he was inspiring before!).  The result was an action packed URBAN FANTASY novel series, with its basis in truth, superstitions, mythology and conspiracy theories.

A friend compared Elizabeth's series to what it would be like if Ford and Jolie stepped through the Stargate using the Da Vinci code as a compass, tried to kill each other, and ended up colliding with a love as seemingly hopeless as Romeo and Juliet. Elizabeth claims she pictured a blond "The Rock" as the hero when she was writing, but that Jolie, with lavender eyes, would fit her heroine just fine. It was difficult for her to claim a genre (pigeon hole) for this work. There is a love relationship, but it's all about the family relationships, dysfunctional and otherwise, and the timeless struggle for power. There are very strong female leads in this story, and the men are macho enough to hold their own.

Author Links


My Review

A fast paced blending of paranormal, urban fantasy and Egyptian mythology, Illuminati, the first book in The Book of Life series by Elizabeth Alsobrooks, is a page turning read.  Likable and well developed central characters, lots of action and a well developed romance, kept me turning the pages to discover what would happen next.  While I was sure others were wrong, this book did remind me in ways of the action that would take place if Indiana Jones met Lara Croft and then they both ran into Dan Brown investigating one of his conspiracies.

Both more than human and on opposite sides of an ancient fued, Ljluka Vargas and a woman known only as “Nalini” find themselves after the same ancient artifact, The Book of Life. While Nalini wants the artifact to win freedom for herself and her mother from an abusive life, Ljluka wants the artifact to help his family in their quest to win the right to decide who will control immortality.  Neither one was prepared for “destiny” to have different plans for both them and their families.

Ms. Alsobrooks does a very good job developing both Nalini and Ljluka’s characters; we are introduced to Nalini and the hostile environment she lives in from the very start of the book.  We learn about her experiences, and what she’s endured, as the story moves forward.  Contrasting Nalini’s experience, to reflect the very human situation of bad versus good parenting, Ms. Alsobrooks gives us insight into Ljluka’s loving family and learn about his happy background.  While raised in opposite lifestyles, it’s easy to see what brings Nalini and Ljluka together.

Ms. Alsobrooks also does a good job with the secondary characters in this book and they contribute a lot.  From parents, to siblings, to others, all bearing mythical names and owning their behaviors, Ms. Alsobrooks manages a large cast of characters fairly well.  Though there are a few times, I had to go back and re-read certain passages, which could simply have been getting used to Ms. Alsobrooks style of narrative.

Will Nalini and Ljluka combining their efforts result in finding The Book of Life first?  How will their union impact Nalini’s mother’s freedom?  You’ll have to read Illuminati to find out, I enjoyed it and I think you will too.

My Rating: 4 out of 5 Crowns







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3 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for the kind words and for hosting me on your fantastic site!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sounds like a great read!!
    Thanks for the chance to win!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Okay, have to ask-how is Ljluka pronounced? O.O
    Thanks for the giveaway!

    ReplyDelete