BLURB:
In 2152 the
avian race is on Earth looking for something stolen from them decades ago –
their genetics. At the center of the
search lies the Rural Republic; a small backwards farming country with high
hopes of military domination and a penchant for illegal bioengineering.
19 year old
Junco Coot is the daughter of the Rural Republic’s ranking commander. She’s the
most foul-mouthed, wildly unpredictable and ruthless sniper the Rural Republic
has ever trained. But when her father’s
death sparks a trip into forbidden places, she triggers events that will change
everything she knows to be true.
As an elite
avian military officer, Tier’s mission is to destroy the bioengineering
projects, kill Commander Coot’s daughter, and return home immediately. There’s
just one problem. Junco isn’t who she claims to be.
With no one to
trust, not even herself, Junco must confront the secrets of her past and accept
her place in the future, or risk losing herself completely.
I don't even know where to start with this review..
Clutch (My Name Is Junco Dot Com) was a heart pounding, fast paced addition to awesome science fiction. This story grabs you at the beginning, and doesn't let go until the last page.
Clutch revolves around Junco, our nineteen year old heroine living in the year 2152. She is a member of the Rural Republic, and is one of the the best snipers they have ever trained. Her snarky foul mouth, and ruthless reputation follows her wherever she goes.
Tragedy strikes young Junco with the unexpected death of her father, and she finds herself on the run. That's when Tier enters her life, and nothing will ever be the same again.
Tier is a Avian, a race that are like human except they have wings, and taloned feet. They also have the gift of healing. Junco views Tier as the enemy in the beginning, and tries to eliminate him. Then through circumstances that her, and Tier find themselves in together, Junco relaxes a little with him, and finds herself struggling to trust, and rely on him.
Junco soon learns that nothing is what it seems, and she doesn't know who she can trust. Her world is turning inside out, and she will have to rely on her strength even more.
This book was amazing, and I'm definitely looking forward to reading book two and three. Junco's character was complex, and written with so much depth, its hard to describe. I felt like I was on a roller coaster ride the whole time I was reading there were so many unexpected twist, and non stop action. I adore books that sweep you away, and you feel like you are right beside the character going through everything with them. That's how I felt reading this book. I also really liked Tier's character, the author did a good job developing him, and I cant wait to see what develops in the second book.
I'm definitely a fan after reading Clutch, and if you like fast paced science fiction, and non stop action you will be a fan too.
*****5STARS
EXCERPT:
"I think we should stick together, Junco. In fact I was thinking I can help get ya back to safety. Ya know, help ya get the Goat back up on the road. Even though yer healed, yer still pretty–" He hesitates.
"I’m pretty?" I ask.
He laughs a little and shakes his head, which pisses me off for some reason. "No, I was going to say pretty weak, ya know. From yesterday’s crash. But then I wondered if ya would take that as an insult as well."
I roll my eyes and try to push past him to get the winch hooked up to a tree, but he leans his hands on either side of the Goat, essentially boxing me in. I shoot him a nasty look and he drops his hands to let me through.
"Thanks for all your help," I call back to him, "but I’m going to take it from here. And I won’t report you, so don’t worry about that. Just get hell out of the RR before anyone else sees you." I turn to see how he’s taking the news but he’s not there. When I turn back he’s in front of me again.
He shakes his head at me.
I shake mine back and raise my eyebrows.
"You’ll refuse my help?"
"Look,"
I huff, "you have those people tracking you and neither of us is supposed
to be out here in the first place, so let’s just cut our losses and move on.
Separately."
He looks down to
the tech that is still in his hand. "They can’t see anything here. Some
sort of shield."
"Right.
That’s called a defense system. The deeper you go into the Stag, the thicker
the shields. So why don’t you just fly over to the Mountain Republic where they
probably can track you?"
He lifts the
device to illustrate his point. "In case ya haven’t figured it out yet,
these people aren’t my ride home."
"So why are
they tracking you?"
His eyes twinkle
and I know what’s coming and push past him at a full run. He’s on me before I
can take more than half a dozen strides and pulls on my shirt until I slip in
the mud and go down hard on my back.
"Stop!"
I scream, but instead of stopping he pins my arms down and sits on top of me as
I wriggle and kick to try and get him off. His legs twine around mine,
essentially cutting off any thoughts of getting him off me that way. Then his
eyes are glowing again and his lips are touching my cheek, whispering for me to
settle and be calm.
To my surprise,
I do settle. I can’t help it. I realize too late that the soft words brushing
past the sensitive skin on my cheek are controlling me. I can feel the sound
waves trickling into my ear canal, making their way to the nerve pathways that
control my muscles, and I bring my shoulders up to try and push his face away.
His lips remain next to my ear and I am just about to fully give in when the
tech device, forgotten and left on the ground during our struggle, sounds off
an alarm. He loses his concentration and the words stop for half a moment, but
that’s all I need.
I take my
opportunity and flip myself over so that I’m on my belly. This takes him by
surprise and for a split-second he is off balance. I flip back around and use
my right arm to knock him in the windpipe as my body turns. He goes reeling off
of me and I’m up and running down into the little creek.
A boot goes
flying just past my head, but I don’t stop and wonder at this weird turn of
events. I run as hard as I can, over the opposite bank, out of the small grove
of cottonwoods, and into the tall flowing prairie grass. I’m short, so the
leftover husks slap me in the face as I run, blurring my vision.
The wings
descend and he’s swooping down upon me. I look up to see talons where his boots
were just a few minutes ago and they latch onto my shoulders, puncturing my
skin and making me scream. His grip tightens and clutches onto my shoulders
making me fall. I roll as I land and pop back up, booking it again without
missing a beat.
One second I’m
hauling ass towards the open prairie, the next he’s on the ground in front of
me and we’re on a collision path. I plan my move and let him get to within a
few strides of me and then I flip into the air and land on the other side of
him. He misses a step and I take advantage of it, turn and deliver a hook kick
to his jaw. His head snaps to the side and he stumbles over sideways a little.
I run hard for a
few seconds and don’t look back. Off in the distance I hear the roar of a
hovercopter and a few seconds later I feel the effects of the prairie grass
wind tunnel it creates from the blades, but still I push my way through the now
wildly swaying wheat until I come upon the alien again.
His lip is
bleeding and his jaw is slightly red from my kick. I stop in my tracks, bent
over and panting hard.
He’s not even out
of breath.
"I’m not
the enemy, Junco," he screams above the roar, "and if you know what’s
good for ya, you’ll run like hell because if those guys from the Mountain
Republic get you, you’ll end up in the same messed-up place as your
father."
He flies off,
disappearing in the tall grass before I can even string together a sentence.
But his words stay with me. Dead like my father is not
something I want to be so I follow his advice. I run until the MR soldiers in
the hovercopter blast me with a plasma bolt and I fall to the ground
unconscious.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
J. A. Huss never took a creative
writing class in her life. Some would say it shows. Others might cut her some
slack. She did however, get educated and graduated from Colorado State University
with a B.S. in Equine Science. She had grand dreams of getting a Ph.D. but
while she loves science, she hated academia and settled for a M.S. in Forensic
Toxicology from the University of Florida.
She went on to write science
curriculum for homeschoolers and now runs a successful home business that
creates and offers online science unit studies. When she’s not writing science
curriculum or fiction, she works as a farm inspector, traveling the Eastern
Plains of Colorado in variety of environmentally friendly vehicles that never
have four-wheel drive, so when she gets stuck in the mud in said vehicles, she
has to beg for assistance from anyone who will help her. She is not bitter
about that at all.
She’s always packing heat and she
is owned by two donkeys, five dogs, more chickens and ducks than she can count,
and of course, the real filthy animals, her kids. The I Am Just Junco series
was born after falling in love with the ugliest part of Colorado and the Rural
Republic is based on the area of the state she currently resides in, minus the
mutants, of course.
Weblinks
Website:
http://www.iamjustjunco.com/
Blog: http://jahuss.com/
YouTube
Trailer - CLUTCH: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iz0PWDGoTJY
YouTube
Trailer - FLEDGE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_LYS0N1OAY
I totally missed this post on Wednesday, sorry about that Tawania! Thank you so much for hosting me on your blog and I really appreciate your review. :)
ReplyDeleteJulie