Monday, March 26, 2012

The Last Dawn Tour: Excerpt and Review

The Last Dawn by 
Disclaimer: I received this book from the author in exchange for a review.

Summary: The Last Dawn begins in late 2055 during the last few days of Earth. As Earth's demise is imminent, Madison Weatherly and her former flame, James, reunite. Only a few hours remain for life on the dying planet when the entire population is dispersed throughout the universe. As Madison tries to adjust to a new life on a new planet and far away from her love, the desire to be with him never wavers. When an unexpected opportunity comes to leave her planet to find him, Madison takes off on a risky adventure through the galaxies.

Excerpt: Chapter Six
Madison and James continue to sit in silence. The cooling late fall breeze begins to pick up, extinguishing a few of the candles. Neither of them makes an effort to re-light them. The pungent fragrance of nearing rain captures her attention. She peers out towards the horizon to see enormous billowing storm clouds building upwards into the sky. A far off lightning bolt streaks across the sky, illuminating its surroundings. A crack of thunder is the first to break their silence. The electricity of the storm surges around them fueling Madison’s hostile feelings.
“Why did you leave me?” Madison suddenly bursts out. “You never told me why.”
Another agonizingly silent moment passes by, “it’s complicated.”
Because James is prolonging admitting the truth, frustration mounts inside of her until it begins to boil over. “How complicated can it be? Did you just fall out of love with me?”
“I never fell out of love with you,” he softly says and reaches for her hand.
She abruptly yanks her hand out of his reach and brings it close to her chest. “Then was there some reason why we couldn’t just work things out?” She questions, “did I do something wrong?”
With a sullen look upon his face, he cracks his neck, bending it in either direction. Guilt and nerves course throughout his body and his voice breaks. “If I would have told you the real reason back then, you wouldn’t have forgiven me anyways. Hell, why would you now anyways.”
A roar of thunder vibrates the air as the approaching storm gets closer. Light, misting rain begins falling, dampening their skin. The frequency of lightning strikes increases; the electricity in the air thickens causing the hair on her forearms to stand on end.
“What happened?” She adamantly asks. A dreadful feeling of somehow already knowing the truth makes her sick to her stomach.

Review: An enjoyable mix of light science fiction, a dash of dystopia, and romance.

Romeo and Juliet only had to deal with warring families, but James and Madison had to deal with light year distances so James and Madison win. This book was short, but managed to pack a lot in. The initial premise for everyone leaving plenty earth felt a little unbelievable (wouldn't have people noticed what was happening to the earth sooner?), but it did set the stage for the rest of the book. Madison's relationship with her boyfriend (not James) was comfortable and familiar, but lacked passion, at least when compared to her previous relationship with James. You can tell how deeply Madison cared about James by their very emotional reunion even after so many years.

How people were divided up to go to different planets really upset me on a personal level. I couldn't imagine being split up from my husband. I would try to do what Madison did. The planet Madison landed on already had humans on it or at least I think they were humans. Also, there were tons of rules and the planet had a dystopian feel. I did find myself wanting to know more about the other aliens in the universe and why humans (if they were humans) were on the planet beforehand. I liked that Madison was able to make a life of sorts for herself on the planet, including gaining a friend named Mark, but never gave up hope. She seizes an opportunity when it arises regardless of the danger. The ending was a little sad and quite surprising, but happy overall. I wish the book had been longer. 

Rating: 





Recommendation:
 I would recommend this to fans of romance and light science fiction.

Buy This Book Here:

Dates on the Blog Tour:

March 20th - Review & Excerpt at GreenBayouNovels.wordpress.com
March 22nd - Q & A at WrenEmerson.com/blog
March 26th - Review & Excerpt at ABitofDash.blogspot.com
March 28th - Excerpt and Q & A at TwiMom101BookBlog.blogspot.com
March 30th - Review at KatePolicani.com

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