Friday, September 25, 2015

Virtual Tour & #Giveaway for Three Days in April by Edward Ashton


Welcome to my stop on the Virtual Tour, presented by Pump Up Your Book, for Three Days in April by Edward Ashton.  Please leave a comment or question for Edward to let him know you stopped by.  You can enter his Tour Wide Giveaway, for a $25 GC, by filling out the Rafflecopter form below.  You can follow all of the stops on his tour listed below, the more stops you visit, the better your odds of winning.  




Title: Three Days in April 
Author: Edward Ashton 
Publisher: Harper Voyager Impulse 
Genre: Mystery/Suspense 
Format: Kindle 

 Anders Jensen is having a bad month. His roommate is a data thief, his girlfriend picks fights in bars, and his best friend is a cyborg…and a lousy tipper. When everything is spiraling out of control, though, maybe those are exactly the kind of friends you need.

In a world divided between the genetically engineered elite and the unmodified masses, Anders is an anomaly: engineered, but still broke and living next to a crack house. All he wants is to land a tenure-track faculty position, and maybe meet someone who's not technically a criminal—but when a nightmare plague rips through Hagerstown, Anders finds himself dodging kinetic energy weapons and government assassins as Baltimore slips into chaos. His friends aren't as helpless as they seem, though, and his girlfriend's street-magician brother-in-law might be a pretentious hipster—or might hold the secret to saving them all.

Frenetic and audacious, Three Days in April is a speculative thriller that raises an important question: once humanity goes down the rabbit hole, can it ever find its way back?

ORDER INFORMATION
Three Days in April is available for order at      
HarperCollins
amazon
BN
 
kobo
google play
 


Edward Ashton lives with his adorably mopey dog, his inordinately patient wife, and three beautiful but terrifying daughters in Rochester, New York, where he studies new cancer therapies by day, and writes about the awful things his research may lead to by night. His short fiction has appeared in dozens of venues, ranging from Louisiana Literature to Daily Science Fiction. Three Days in April is his first novel.



A fan of futuristic books, fantasy and science fiction, I was thrilled to be given the chance to read Three Days in April by Edward Ashton.  A somewhat strange mixture of science fiction, suspense mystery and weird tale, Three Days in April addresses man’s constant desire to improve on what nature has given us and gives us the author’s opinion of one possible outcome.  If you like mixed genre books that ask questions about man’s future when playing with our own DNA, you’ll want to pick up this book.

Mr. Ashton does a good job introducing Anders Jensen, a six foot seven man who happens to be a first generation genetically modified man.  Bio-engineered with traits from other species (non-human), Anders has height, speed, wants to become a full professor and get a serious girlfriend.  What begins on a Friday night as a trip to a local bar turns into much, much more when the world as he knows it gets flushed down the drain.  While it took me a little while to get used to Mr. Ashton’s style of writing, each of the early chapters in the book introduces a character who will be connected to Anders and the upcoming world changes, I was able to connect with Anders and liked his character. 

The secondary characters, from Terry, a girl he picks up at a bar, to Gary, his strange housemate, are also well developed and were quite amusing.  Written in third person narrative, the story progresses fairly quickly and the author’s “voice” is witty, somewhat caustic and occasionally sarcastic too.  All in all, it’s very entertaining.  Especially when the “plague” hits and those with a lot of genetic modifications literally start dropping dead around them.  Something that reinforces the question about whether or not man should ever mess with his own DNA (and which strangely made me think about the film Gattaca, which did the same thing). 

Will Anders, Terry and all of their close friends make it through the “plague” that attacks the modified human beings?  Will they figure out where the attack has come from and how to stop it?  Will Anders and Terry ever get beyond their somewhat disastrous first date?  You’ll have to read Three Days in April to find out, I enjoyed it and hope we get to see these characters again.


My Rating:  4 out of 5 Crowns




Edward is giving away a $25 Gift Card to the e-retailer of your choice!


Terms & Conditions:
  • By entering the giveaway, you are confirming you are at least 18 years old.
  • One winner will be chosen via Rafflecopter to receive one $25 Gift Certificate to the e-retailer of your choice
  • This giveaway begins September 15 and ends on October 9.
  • Winners will be contacted via email on October 10.
  • Winner has 48 hours to reply.
Good luck everyone! 




September 15
Book featured at 3 Partners in Shopping
Book reviewed at Polished Bookworm
September 16
Interviewed at I'm Shelf-ish
September 17
Book reviewed at Cubicle Blindness
September 18
Interviewed at Review From Here
September 21
Book featured at Archeolibrarian
September 22
Guest blogging at Voodoo Princess
September 23
September 24
Book featured at Chosen By You Book Club
September 25
Book featured at Fabulous and Fun
Interviewed at Deal Sharing Aunt
September 28
Book reviewed Queen of All She Reads
September 29
Book reviewed and Guest blogging at Working for the Mandroid
September 30
Book featured at Literal Exposure
October 1
Book featured at Abibliophobia Anonymous
October 2
Guest blogging at Around the World in Books
October 5
Interviewed at The Writer's Life
October 6
Book featured at Celticlady's Reviews
October 7
Guest blogging at Write and Take Flight
October 8
Book featured at Lori's Reading Corner
October 9
Book featured at Booklover Sue

*FTC Disclosure:  I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for a fair and honest review.  This in no way influenced my opinion of the reading material provided.  

1 comment:

  1. Late to the party (as usual) but this looks like a very interesting read.

    ReplyDelete