Remnants: Season of Wonder (The Remnants #1) by Lisa T. Bergren. April 8, 2014. Blink. Goodreads.
Andriana is a Remnant, one of the gifted teens born on the seventh day during the seventy-seventh Harvest after the Great War, and destined to act as humanity’s last shield against the horrors that now plague those who remain.
After years of training in stealth and warfare, Andriana and her Knight protector, Ronan, are finally ready to answer the Call and begin the life they were designed for. But as they embark with the other Remnants on the first of their assignments, they quickly discover that the world beyond their protected Valley home is more dangerous than they imagined.
The Sons of Sheol will stop at nothing to prevent Dri and Ronan from rescuing anyone sympathetic to the Remnants’ cause. And as the Remnants attempt to battle the demonic forces, other enemies close in. Dangers intensify, but so do Dri’s feelings for Ronan–the one emotion she is not meant to feel. In the midst of their mission, Andriana must find a way to master her feelings, or risk compromising everything.
I am stop #5 for this awesome new book from Lisa T. Bergren! If you’ve followed my blog for awhile then you know I’m a fan of Lisa’s. Her RIVER OF TIME series is still one of my all time favorites. But today I’m excited to introduce you to her newest YA book, Remnants: Season of Wonder, which comes out on the 8th of this month. It’s dystopian with what I feel as a little fantasy vibe. I loved it! My 5 of 5 STARS review will be up tomorrow.
For my part of the tour I happily signed on to share a ROMANTIC scene. Shocker I know. 😉 Enjoy! Look at the end of the post for the giveaway.
A scene from REMNANTS: SEASON OF WONDER, by Lisa T. Bergren:
We entered our room, and I knew if we’d had a door, Ronan would have wanted to slam it. He looked at me in fury, his hands waving as though he wanted to shake me.
“What was that?” he whispered fiercely.
“That was a conversation. Fact finding,” I whispered back.
“Fact finding? I’d call it flirtation.”
“Oh, it was not.”
“Wasn’t it? I’ve never seen you so interested in stars in my entire life.”
“Ronan,” I said, crossing my arms and staring up at him, wanting to throttle him as much as he wanted to throttle me. “We’re leaving in the morning. I only thought I’d find out a bit about this place. About Keallach.”
“And in turn tell that brother all about you? You know nothing about him!”
I pursed my lips and took two deep breaths before responding, searching his eyes. He was jealous. And fearful. Trying to protect me on several levels. “He knows my name. Where I’m from. Don’t you think the clothes we arrived in screamed that we’re from the Valley? That word spreads, even among these silent brothers? I’ve not seen another settlement yet that wears clothes quite like ours. And really, there’s nothing to get so worked up over! I’ll never see him again.”
His river-green eyes searched mine, going back and forth, until he lifted his head, angrier than ever. “Quit reading me.” He shook his hands as he turned away, as if shaking out a silent scream of rage. He walked out onto our balcony, leaned his arms on the wall, and hung his head.
I sighed and then padded out after him. “That’s not fair, Ronan. Telling me to not read you. Don’t you try and read me all the time? Even if you don’t have the gift? It’s just part of our nature. That desire to connect.” After a moment, I wrapped a hand around his arm, feeling the lovely strength and steady pulse under my fingertips and more. He was a swirl of emotion.
“Andriana, you can’t,” he said, almost as a moan. “It’s not fair. I’m trying everything I can …”
I swallowed hard, the hint of his struggle against his attraction to me right there at last.
I knew of what he spoke. The incessant need to be close, and yet to stay adequately apart. To not give in to our attraction. To not disobey the elders … elders who’d set down this rule for a reason. I knew he’d give his life for me. But if we were entwined further … if I held his heart and he mine, we might make decisions not for the good of the Ailith as a whole, but for each other.
But oh, how the admission thrilled me. It wasn’t my imagination. It wasn’t one-sided.
He felt it too.
I made myself drop my hand, not wanting to torture him. But as my hand left his arm, he straightened and caught it in his. He ran his palm against mine, separating my fingers, weaving in his own. We stood there for several long moments, frozen by our wordless admission, staring out, holding hands, simply feeling the glory of skin against skin.
Not just a friendly hold, but a hold that spoke of so much more.
He turned toward me, and his forehead fell against mine, giving in. His warm breath flowed across my cheeks, my lips, feeling like a kiss in itself. “You are beautiful, Dri,” he whispered, speaking words that no one in the Valley ever did. At least in public. “He was right, that brother.” He lifted a hand to my cheek and I looked up at him, wanting him to grab hold of my face and kiss me. Barely moving, afraid I’d mess it up again. That we’d miss another moment.
He touched me, but his hand was feather-light on my cheek, as if didn’t quite dare more contact. “Like Helen. Like Clytemnestra,” he whispered, “but far finer. Andriana.”
I swallowed hard, waiting. I took his other hand in mine, wanting to will the invitation and courage and recklessness I felt within me into him. That he might give in, act at last.
“We should go to sleep,” he said softly, and I knew the grief within him, the cost of it, to utter those words of honor, loyalty, integrity, so different than my own traitorous heart was speaking. I didn’t care what our trainer had drilled into us. What our elders decreed. This, this could not be wrong …
Excerpt from Remnants: Season of Wonder © 2014 Lisa T. Bergren; used by permission.
Remnants: Season of Wonder is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, or at your local bookstore. Email Lisa that you ordered or purchased Remnants: Season of Wonder IN APRIL and she’ll mail you a signed bookplate! (Lisa@bergrencreativegroup.com)
LAUNCH TOUR CLUE #5: IN CALIFORNIA.
Collect all 26 clues, gathered from each of the Launch Tour stops this month, and you could win a Kindle Fire HDX ($229 USD). Open internationally. At the end of the month, just go to LisaBergren.com and enter the completed clue stream in the Rafflecopter (available after April 30, 2014).
Comment below, noting your favorite dystopian (so far), or one you intend to read, and you could win a copy of REMNANTS, hot off the press!
GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED! RANDOM.ORG HAS SPOKEN AND LOREN IS THE WINNER! CONGRATS.
Kathryn Cooper 