Blog Tour: Fields of Elysium

Series: Fields of Elysium Book #1

Publisher: inMotion Capitol

Published: December 12th, 2012

Format: ebook

Pages: 420

Source: I Am A Reader, Not A Writer

Summary:                             

How can love mend a heart full of hate?

Small town girl, Molly Bennett, moves to Los Angeles where she becomes an outsider while attending Beverly Hills High School. It seems life cannot be any more dreadful. Then one day after school, something magical happens. On a secluded hike in the Hollywood Hills, Molly chases her disobedient mutt and only friend into a hidden cavern. She stumbles upon a strange glimmering gateway that transports her to Arkana, a planet that is the cradle of an advanced human race. There, teenagers navigate amazing flying vehicles, compete in perilous games for glory, and possess supernatural powers. While Molly tries to wrap her mind around this unbelievable discovery, she meets the alluring and mysterious Victor Sorren. He is a Sentinel Apprentice, whose hatred toward people from Earth is beyond understanding. Yet every time Victor unpredictably saves Molly's life, his heart draws closer to hers, no matter how much he tries to fight against it. It further complicates things that their growing friendship is strictly forbidden. Earth people are prohibited in Arkana, yet Molly continues to cross through the portal to Arkana to see Victor. Torn between their double lives, they go down a dangerous path, from where there is no return and multiple endings. 

Fields of Elysium is a suspenseful, romantic tale full of forbidden secrets, unimaginable danger, deception, and the never-ending fight for true love.

Review:

This book threw me for a loop. I don't know why I expected something so different when I started reading it. It may have been the last time I read the summary was months ago when I did its Book Blast. Whatever it was this book was a whole lot of surprise. The last couple of books I've done for blog tours were always just good or okay and even the ones I really liked I still felt like I was missing something. This book took me out of my reading funk (that lasted for a month or two) and I couldn't be more grateful. It always kept me wanting more.

When I think of the title "Fields of Elysium" I don't jump to the conclusion that this book was going to be about a teenage girl discovering a wormhole to another parallel planet that is the "second chance" Earth... Just thinking of it that way gets me excited all over again! At first I was worried where the book was taking me. I was liking the way the author was describing the MC's, Molly (wormhole girl), character and what she was discovering but I felt it was going a little too fast. She was describing things in a fast motion but that was only the very beginning of the story. When Molly discovered the other world (but you don't really know it's another world because it looks exactly the same) the book completely changed for me. From then on I was hooked and loving every minute of it.

I'm just thinking back on this book right now and thinking how happy I am that I  was able to discover it. I mean it's like this aha moment where it's this breath of fresh air coming at me. I couldn't stop reading until I reached the end. All other responsibilities went away. I love when I can immerse myself so much in a story that nothing else matters. 

I could see where people would feel there were drawbacks to the story. Molly did get saved a couple of times by the man that is Victor Sorren who has the whole mysterious, serious way about him but not in an obnoxious way. I know it sounds bad but I didn't really see Molly as a damsel in distress. There were moments at the end where she and Victor were going through this whole love struggle thing that I was a little opposed to. Only because of the way they went about it. I missed seeing Victor as the Victor in the beginning. The mysterious, brooding guy. Believe it or not he made that work. I do think it's because I like the lead up to a romance/relationship more than the actually relationship sometimes. But that's just me. 

I completely fell in love with this story. The other world is this nature wonderland with all these high tech machines but everything balances out in that world. There was one thing other than the little moment of the two main characters relationship at the end that you might see as a problem. There was subtle things added into the story that had to do with religion but I didn't see it as that really. I saw it as just additions to make a world seem more like ours. I don't know how to explain it but I didn't feel at all uneasy about it. It was just part of the story and NOT a big deal.

This was one of the better books I've read in a while and I can't wait to read the next one. I don't know where the author would take it from here. There was no major cliffhanger but that doesn't mean I'm not on the edge of my seat waiting for more.

Overall:

Loved the story and uniqueness of it. The love interest was actually someone who didn't cause me to moan in aggravation every time he spoke. He was amazing and we will leave it at that. I love what the author did with the parallel world and the inventions that were there. There might have been one or two little issues but this book definitely won me over all the way.

To purchase Fields of Elysium you can go to:

Amazon/Barnes & Noble

 About the Author:

A.B.Whelan is a Hungarian born, American writer. She currently lives with her husband and two children in Southern California.

While growing up in a wealthy Eastern European family, she had a chance travel Europe. Later as an adult, she visited Africa and the Middle East and lived in Ecuador and in Crete.

For more info about A.B. Whelan go to:

Goodreads/Website/Facebook/Twitter

Giveaway!

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Thanks to the author & I Am A Reader, Not A Writer for the blog tour and giveaway!