I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the THE TIES THAT BIND by Susan L. Markloff Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Check out my post and make sure to enter the giveaway!
Title: THE TIES THAT BIND
(The Human-Born Era #2)
Author: Susan L. Markloff
Pub. Date: February 7, 2023
Publisher: Niveus Press
Formats: Paperback, eBook
Pages: 629
Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, B&N, BAM, Powell’s, Bookshop, Blackwells
Read for FREE with a Kindle Unlimited membership!
Three months ago, seven pillars of light lit up the continents. Seven teenagers rose to fight. The world survived.
Now Jen Monroe is tasked with finding the six other Human-Borns. Still reeling from her traumatic encounter with the monstrous Cregorous, she faces cultural barriers, personality clashes, and a worldwide trek to find those destined to help her. But threats sleep in the shadows, and the humans were not blind to what they witnessed seven teenagers accomplish.
Meanwhile, the very enemy the Human-Borns are fated to encounter lies in wait.
He is patient. He is cunning. He is ruthless.
Soon, these seven teenagers find themselves in a battle they never expected. But in their drive to save those they care about, what might be lost in the process?
Reviews:
“A riveting YA ride, The Ties That Bind by Susan L. Markloff is the globe-spanning second chapter of her Human-Born Era series. With fast-moving action scenes and a colorful array of heroic young characters on bumpy journeys of self-discovery, this is an endlessly creative and inspiring read.” Self-Publishing Review, ★★★★½
“With intriguing world-building and many complex characters, The Ties That Bind is a compelling YA fantasy, with friendships at its heart.” ManyBooks
“The story is almost instantly engrossing and Jen is, without question, a character who feels authentic and like someone living and breathing. Markloff’s strength in world-building, character development, and storytelling all shine, and the scenes come to life in a combination of creative prose and the absolutely gorgeous artwork that begins each chapter. Ultimately, The Ties That Bind is a must-read for lovers of unique fantasy fiction with a young adult slant.” – Readers’ Favorite, ★★★★★
Grab book 1,
THE RISE OF THE RAIDIN
now!
Excerpt:
Prologue
Agent Webb had been privy to some highly tense situations—lots of national security, need-to-know projects, standing in situation rooms and awaiting nail-biting moments to pass with prayers for good news. He had worked far too many of them with the three-star general at his side.
Those sorts of relationships should have developed a good rap port. They hadn’t.
General O’Neill had a right to be angry—he was angry. Webb had never spent so much time to find a whole lot of nothing. He adjusted his necktie one more time and cleared his throat, trying his best to not feel the pressure that ebbed off O’Neill and his marching stride. The general’s jaw was rigid as he growled, “It’s been months.” “You think I don’t know that?” Webb snapped.
O’Neill returned the comment with a sideways glare. Reining in his frustration, Webb tried again. “We’ve put every thing into this. All our best operatives. Spared no expense. We’ve been trying.”
“Not hard enough,” the general spat.
They walked into a small room that was crowded with desks, monitors, and people. A large screen was on the wall opposite them as they entered.
Rigidly jabbing his hat into Webb’s chest, the general then marched toward the monitor-filled wall and said, “There are three damned people in these videos; you can’t expect me to believe that not a single one of them pops up in one of our systems.”
Glaring a little at O’Neill’s actions, Webb stepped up to the general and answered, “I told you, we’ve run them through every system. Even the ones that require higher security clearance than mine.” O’Neill threw him a glance, to which he rolled his eyes and added, “Someone else ran them. I’m not stupid.”
“History begs to differ,” O’Neill replied.
Webb clenched his jaw.
“There’s something you’re missing.”
Webb crossed his arms over his chest. “Then maybe we just needed someone with an older set of eyes to look things over.” O’Neill’s expression barely changed, just a slight shift in his gaze. If Webb hadn’t been CIA, he might have been scared. “If you were one of my soldiers, I’d have you shot.”
“If I were ever one of your soldiers, I’d save you the trouble and shoot myself,” he grumbled, his eye roll caught by O’Neill’s sharp gaze. The general muttered something and shook his head. Webb stepped up to a nearby monitor, the woman who stood there quickly vacating the space. Punching a few commands into the computer, images of three men, a wolf-like creature, and two large animals flew up into neat squares on the large screen. Little mapping lines flew across their faces.
Webb pointed to the screen. “Three of them aren’t even human. We can’t find them.”
“None of them are human, you idiot,” O’Neill barked. “What did that agent say? The one from the FBI that was sent to investigate?” “Summers? He couldn’t find anything. Went to where people said they were and found an empty warehouse. We cross-referenced everything, and it all turned up empty.”
His shoulders limp and gaze dull, O’Neill snidely said, “A warehouse? Are you kidding me, Webb?”
“Don’t give me that look. I know how cliché it sounds—yes, I know you hate them. And no, I wouldn’t go through such an elaborate waste of time just to mock you.” He lowered his voice and added, “Though it’s tempting.”
O’Neill’s attention drifted back to the screens.
It was times like these when Webb seriously considered pulling the general’s file and crossing the red tape into the classified documents within O’Neill’s record. Why should this one general always get put on the weird cases? He’d have to talk to Maybourne and ask to stop being put on the same cases as O’Neill. It was getting tiring.
O’Neill squared his shoulders as he squinted at the screen. That slight tilt of the head, the forward lean…Webb knew that look. Glancing between O’Neill and the screen a few times, he asked, “What?”
“Did it ever occur to you to look into the girl?” O’Neill asked, not moving his gaze from the screen. When Webb said nothing, the general turned to him. “I’ll have your hide.”
“What girl?” Webb asked.
O’Neill marched over to the computer and began trying to make it do what he wanted. After smashing the keys and frantically moving the mouse around, he screamed while pointing at the screen, “Enlarge the damn photo!”
One of the other agents appeared at his side and quickly sent the image he was talking about to the large screen on the wall. Behind the group of aliens was a teenage girl, covered in blood, staring blankly at the camera.
Webb paled. Well…crap.
He cleared his throat and messed with his tie again. “She—uh…” “Will someone with a brain find out who the hell she is?” O’Neill hollered.
Keyboards clacked, and information began to fly across the large screen.
Agents began shouting information around the room as they found it.
“Jennifer Bernice Monroe!”
“Birthdate: June fourteenth!”
“Bedminster, Pennsylvania!”
It quickly became a cluster of noise.
“Something useful!” Webb cried above the chaos.
O’Neill glared at him.
“She’s not in the US!” a woman called.
All the other voices died down as the general and the CIA agent quickly turned toward the source of the voice.
A few computers up from them, the tech sent the information to the large screen.
“Where is she?” O’Neill demanded.
“Working on it, sir,” the woman said.
The teenager’s passport photo flew up onto the screen, along with security footage of her and the aliens at a small airport, boarding a plane.
The woman at the computer straightened. “England.” “Heathrow? Gatwick? When does the plane land? We’ll intercept them,” Webb sputtered out quickly.
“Shut up,” O’Neill commanded in an even tone.
A ping sounded, and everyone looked at the large screen. “Dammit.”
“They’ll be back,” Webb said. “We’ll get them once they land in—” “Read, for cryin’ out loud!” O’Neill hollered as he pointed at the screen.
Webb’s attention fell on the large screen.
“She was invited by royal invitation—on a royal jet! We can’t intercept them until they’re well past landing.”
Webb swallowed as the general turned to the woman at the computer.
“Whose protection are they under?”
They watched as the woman’s fingers flew across the keyboard. A moment later, she said, “By order of the Duke of Derbyshire, the passengers aboard the royal airline are under the protection of the United Kingdom’s court.” She called up a scan of the paperwork.
“They’ve even got the king’s damn signature,” O’Neill grumbled. Webb ran a hand through his hair and asked, “What do you suggest?”
“Now you ask for my opinion?” the general spat before letting out a laden sigh. “Dammit, Webb. I swear, if you can’t get these guys in a room somewhere once they’re back in our jurisdiction, I’ll have your whole career wiped from every traceable system.”
About Susan L. Markloff:
2022 Readers’ Favorite Award Winner.
Susan Markloff spent a majority of her childhood pretending to live in other worlds. Coupled with her admiration for fantastical stories, she crafted one of her own. Studying writing at Houghton College, she learned how to hone her skills as an author, writing first drafts of five books during her college career. The Rise of the Raidin is her debut novel and the first in the Human-Born Era series. Susan resides in her hometown of Sellersville, PA with her faithful dog, Pinkerton.
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Giveaway Details:
2 winners will receive signed finished copies of THE HUMAN-BORN ERA series, US Only.
Ends July 18th, midnight EST.
Tour Schedule:
Week One:
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7/3/2023 |
Excerpt/IG Post |
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7/3/2023 |
Excerpt/IG Post |
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7/4/2023 |
Excerpt |
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7/4/2023 |
Excerpt/IG Post |
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7/5/2023 |
Excerpt/IG Post |
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7/5/2023 |
Excerpt/IG Post |
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7/6/2023 |
Excerpt |
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7/6/2023 |
IG Post/LFL Drop Pic |
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7/7/2023 |
Review/IG Post |
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7/7/2023 |
IG Review/TikTok Post |
Week Two:
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7/10/2023 |
Review/IG Post |
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7/10/2023 |
Review |
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7/11/2023 |
IG Review/TikTok Post |
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7/11/2023 |
IG Review |
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7/12/2023 |
Review |
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7/12/2023 |
IG Review |
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7/13/2023 |
Excerpt |
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7/13/2023 |
Review/IG Post |
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7/14/2023 |
Review |
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7/14/2023 |
IG Review |
