A Reading Adrenaline Rush

I love books that have a fitting title. Adrenaline Rush, by Cindy M. Hogan, is one of those books whose title screams exactly what the book is about: exciting-heart-pounding-thrill-seeking-RUSH. This book will put you on the edge of your seat and you won’t sit back until the very last sentence is read. Seriously, it’s that good! It had me staying up late, forgetting about the time, and just reading. Cindy Hogan is a master at creating suspense and that longing for a happy ending. I think her best talent, especially with this book, is the voice of Christy (aka Misha). There are few authors that can pull off a voice so real you forget what you’re reading is fiction. You become swallowed up into the world of spies and freaky criminals (I say freaky because what Christy goes through in this book is CRAZY—the Circus of Feats…um never EVER sign me up for that). I thoroughly enjoyed the underlining theme in the book that hinted at faith and one’s trial of faith. I can’t say too much on the subject because it will spoil most of the book but I believe it was the most powerful element in the book. There comes a time in every hero’s journey that the hero (or in our case heroine) break—too much causes them to lose their faith in themselves and their belief in God and so they stop. Christy is no different. But it’s her unique struggle with her faith will make you sit up and take notice. Yes, this book is a super rush of adrenaline as you read, but you also come away with a better sense of about yourself because you’ve connected with Christy and she’s made you take a long look in the mirror evaluating what makes you so strong. Few books can accomplish both. Yes, I have already started the next book!

Synopsis: A madman with a mission is kidnapping groups of thrill-seeking high school seniors across the country, and it's up to Christy to stop him. To do so, she must take on a fearless alter ego and infiltrate a group of adrenaline junkies bent on pushing life to the limit. Death-defying stunts are only the beginning: two groups fit the profile, and Christy must discover the real target before it's too late. If she chooses the wrong group, more people will disappear. But choosing right puts her as the prime target—with no guarantee that she'll get out alive. Full of action and adventure, mystery, and suspense that is guaranteed to thrill teens and adults alike.

Link: http://www.amazon.com/Adrenaline-Rush-Cindy-M-Hogan/dp/0985131853/

Other books by Cindy M. Hogan:

Summer Suspense Finale

I don’t think I have ever read a book as fast I read CREATED, the final book in the Watched series. It was both enthralling and thought provoking. I am so glad to hear that author Cindy M. Hogan has even more books featuring this amazing heroine. It reminds me so much of the hit TV series Alias, which gave Jennifer Gardner her fame in Hollywood, and fans of that show will want to read these books!

I don’t want to say too much about the book because I don’t want to spoil anything for you. Some of the same themes addressed in the first two books resonate in this one, once again driving the point that we are the ones in control of our own lives and that we have the choice to become what and who we are. This book is filled with nail biting suspense that will have you staying up all night and abandoning everything to finish. Seriously, do we know any film producers that could make this into a movie? We need more books like this, featuring strong female leads that are morally clean and inspire goodness. Well done, Cindy M. Hogan!

Synopsis: A new school. A choice. A destiny discovered. With The Witness Protection Program failing to keep Christy safe, she is sent to Belgium to hide in a new school. While there, test scores reveal her true abilities. Discover her fate in this action-packed final installment of the heart-pounding Watched trilogy.

Link: http://www.amazon.com/Created-Watched-Book-Cindy-Hogan/dp/0985131829/

Other books by Cindy M. Hogan: 

The Summer Suspense Continues...

Summer reading is great. There’s nothing better than diving into a book and losing yourself in the pages. However some books come with terrible consequences. Consequences that leave you extremely tired and grumpy the next morning. Like a hangover but not for drinking, it’s a hangover for staying up too late reading because you couldn’t, for the life of you, put the book down.  So WARNING: this book will give you a book-hangover. You’ve been warned. Now about the book…

So Cindy M Hogan, the amazing author of PROTECTED, book two in the WATCHED TRILOGY, does pretty bang-up job rehashing the first book without being too overly drawn out. You could probably even start on this book and pick up what’s happened, but why do that, right? Go ahead and read the first book then come back and read the rest of my post.

Don’t worry. I’ll wait…

Read it? Wasn’t it awesome?! 

The second one is even better! PROTECTED is filled to the brim with tension and page flipping suspense. You don’t know when or if the bad guys are going to show up and take out this poor girl. What I really liked about this book was the theme behind it, which I believe is accepting who you are and holding on to that. Without spoiling the book too much (this happens in the first few chapters), Christy gets put into witness protection and has to become another person, a person, who normally wouldn’t have great values or moral strengths. Christy is confronted with the opportunity to forget all the beliefs she has grown up with and truly change…for the better or worse? What the author does is show us that we must be true to ourselves at our center. Even if we are playing a part we have to remain true to our core beliefs. This book is very self-rewarding to read. 

Yes! I have already started on book three, CREATED, which I spent my entire day off reading. I am a slow reader but I am ¾ of the way through it already! The next book gets even better. I won’t spoil my thoughts on it yet—I haven’t finished. I will tell you I am all geared up with Cindy M Hogan’s new series featuring the same main character in the WATCHED TRILOGY. If you haven’t added this amazing series to your read list, now is the time! I’m serious when I say this series needs to be made into a movie!!

Summary: Christy has the guy. The terrorists have been taken care of, and she has a shot at becoming popular. Life is GREAT! Until they find her. Now she must run and leave behind everything she knows, including herself. When Christy returns home, she discovers that not much has changed. Not only is she still an outcast, but the bullies are even more persistent than before. When the guy that sends her pulse racing shows up, everything changes. Unfortunately, her feeling of triumph is short lived when the terrorists from DC come calling. Now, Christy and her boyfriend need to find a way to escape and hide.

Link: http://www.amazon.com/Protected-Watched-Book-Cindy-Hogan/dp/0985131802/

Summer Reading Suspense

I love to mix things up a bit in my reading so after reading a MG fantasy I picked up a YA suspense. This particular book my wife had been begging me to read forever. I’m not even sure why I hadn’t read it to begin with since I know and adore the author, Cindy M Hogan. Cindy is the spunkiest, most energetic, positive person I know. In fact, if the super optimistic Olaf from Disney’s Frozen had a sister it would be Cindy. She just makes you feel a live and feel great. You would not think a sweet, outgoing, loving person would be able to write clench-your-teeth-suspense but SHE DOES!! And she does it very well.

Okay…embarrassing moment for me: I started reading this book on my kindle after my wife decided to turn in early. So I’m lying in bed and the tension in this books is high (hello, this man gets his head chopped in the first chapter and these kids might be next—no that’s not a spoiler, that’s the premise). It’s dark around me and all I have is the light from the kindle. I hear a creek and I’m like, what was that?! I continue reading; once again I am sucked into the tension. Then my wife scoots her leg over and it touches my foot!! I jumped too high I about threw the kindle across the bedroom. My wife thought this was the funniest thing ever and spent the next ten minutes laughing at me. So yes! This book will grab hold of you and not let you go. While it’s not that terrifying of a book (it is definitely NOT a horror story), it has this voice that just makes your heart race and you find yourself reading page after page.

Another thing that ready resonated well with this book is the voice of the main character, Christy. She sounds so real! I love that this is written in first person and we get to listen to all that internal dialogue. She feels, sounds, and thinks like a normal 15 year-old girl (at least what I believe would be so, since I have never been a 15 year-old girl). I particularly like that Christy has an internal struggle with choosing to do the right and wrong thing. I like that we see her will sometimes falter when placed against desiring temptations. I really think teens would benefit from reading this book!! They would see they’re not alone when it comes to peer pressure and the need to feel wanted and befriended. When I spoke to my wife about the book (after she had stopped teasing me of course) she told me the same thing: that she really connected with Christy and she felt like she was her in high school. So bravo, Cindy!

Watched, by Cindy M Hogan, is the first book in the Watched Trilogy. Lucky for me my wife is a huge fan of Cindy’s and we own all the books. I can’t wait to start reading book two, Protected. So if you are looking for a great-keep-you-up-at-night book. This is one for you.

Synopsis:

Change.
She longs for it.
A murder.
She will never be the same.

It takes more than a school trip to Washington, D.C. to change Christy's life. It takes murder.
A witness to the brutal slaying of a senator's aide, Christy finds herself watched not only by the killers and the FBI, but also by two hot guys. She discovers that if she can't help the FBI, who want to protect her, it will cost her and her new friends their lives.  

Link: http://www.amazon.com/Watched-Murder-was-Just-Beginning/dp/0615493386/