Wednesday, June 28, 2017

SHATTERED MINDS by Laura Lam Official Blog Tour







Synopsis 

She can uncover the truth, if she defeats her demons

Ex-neuroscientist Carina struggles with a drug problem, her conscience, and urges to kill. She satisfies her cravings in dreams, fuelled by the addictive drug ‘Zeal’. Now she’s heading for self-destruction – until she has a vision of a dead girl.

Sudice Inc. damaged Carina when she worked on their sinister brain-mapping project, causing her violent compulsions. And this girl was a similar experiment. When Carina realizes the vision was planted by her old colleague Mark, desperate for help to expose the company, she knows he’s probably dead. Her only hope is to unmask her nemesis – or she’s next.

To unlock the secrets Mark hid in her mind, she’ll need a group of specialist hackers. Dax is one of them, a doctor who can help Carina fight her addictions. If she holds on to her humanity, they might even have a future together. But first she must destroy her adversary – before it changes us and our society, forever.


Praise for FALSE HEARTS

“Riveting.” ―F. Paul Wilson, New York Times bestselling author

“A multilayered, suspenseful thriller, False Hearts explores themes of identity and power in a breakneck plot that keeps the pages turning.” ―Ilana C. Myer, author of Last Song Before Night

“An ingenious premise, and Laura Lam executes it flawlessly. Gritty and wise, your own pulse will be racing as you get caught up in this exciting tale.” ―Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award-winning author of Red Planet Blues

“A taut futuristic thriller, set in a San Francisco where everybody is beautiful... and nobody is exceptional. Two unusual sisters are caught in a war for control of a society that quietly suffocates its outsiders, rebels, and the damaged. Taema and Tila are all three, and their strange past and unique bond make False Hearts a difficult book to put down.” ―A. M. Dellamonica, author of Child of a Hidden Sea

“A smart debut from someone who's clearly got what it takes.” ―Peter F. Hamilton, author of the Commonwealth Saga


EXCERPT


From Shattered Minds / Laura Lam (Tor Books, 2017)

All done,The doctor says, her eyes bright and unblinkingThe girls arm burns slightly. The world goes soft and fuzzy around the edges. The doctor settles the girl back in the Chair, lays it down flat. She fits restraints around the girls arms and legs.
Wh-what?the girl askswords slurred.
Dont worry. Its just a partial sedative mixed with Verve.
Another sharp smile.With  a little paralytic thrown in for good measure.”
V-Verve?the girl asks, a  thrum of fear going through her. Verve is a drug the San Francisco mob, the Ratelcreated; it was all over the newsfeeds for weeks last year. It was meant to be like Zealbut so much worse. Not a dream you woke up from, your frustrations spent cathartically. Instead you woke up hungry for violence Pacifica promised theyd destroyed it . What will it do to her? Her limbs are heavy. She tries to move a finger. Nothing.
Time fractures and grows strange. The girl feels a faint tick-ling along her skull, a strange release of pressure.
Look at the images again,the doctor instructs.
The girls eyes move to the wallscreen, as ishe cant help it. There is the bee, its segmented eyes staring at her, its pollen dusting the blood-red petals of the rose. Its stinger is as sharp as the thorns on the stem. Something new appearsa drop of blood drips from one thorn, slowly. Above the rose, two eyes open. One is blue, one is green. Heterochromic, just like hers. Theres something strange about the images. As if theyre more than they appear. As if she could fall into them.
How do the images make yofeel?The images segmenand flash before her. A bee. A rose . A thorn. A drop of blood. Mismatched eyes. Over and overuntil they blur together.
I dont feel anything,the girl says.  And its true. All her emotions are just...gone. As if theyve never existed.
I see.The doctor is excited, but trying to hide it. The top of the girls head tickles again. She looks away from the images, back to hebrain scan.
It looks different. There are darker specks scattered through-out her brain, moving around like busy ants .It takes her a moment to figure out what they are.
Nanobots,the doctor answers for her.Theyll help the code settle in quickly.
How...?the girl asks. Then she realizes why her skull itches. All her pain sensors are turned off, and the doctor has opened up her skull. A piece rests on the tray next to the Chair. The girl can just see it out of the corner of her eye.
The doctoholds up the blood-slicked bone.
Its a barbaric approach these days, to actually open up a subject like this, but theres no risk of infection. And theres something about seeing the brain right there before you as the nanites do their work. Its more...visceral.The doctor sets the bone aside. Dont worry, Ill put it back where it belongs when were done.
The girl should feel fear, but there is nothing. Nothing. Until there is.
Then nanobots converge in her brain, digging deeper, down in to the very core of her. The girls emotions switch on. She feels everything—the pain in her skull, in her brain, the full horror of whats happening to her.
She opens her mouth and screams. Alarms blare and beep in the room. She can smell blood, thick and coppery, and the taste hits the back of hethroat.
You will change the world, mgirl,the doctor says, leaning over her.

The world blinks out.



My Review

Shattered Minds is an exquisite story that is dark, cruel, and full of drama.  With new characters in the same futuristic world as False hearts, they must stop the progress of technology to save humanity from itself.

Carina has a brilliant mind. An ex-neuroscientist, she leaves her job when she no longer agrees with their experiments.  Now, she is addicted to Zeal, plugged in to satisfy her dark desires.  She is wasting away. She can hardly stand to be unplugged, until an old co-worker asks her for help in a way that she never thought possible.

Carina doesn't want to.

However she needs answers....to questions she will soon discover she didn't know she possessed.

This Sci-fi novel, the whole Pacifica series, is just wow....a crazy world...seems perfect on the surface, but deep down in the gut, its dark, cruel and heartless.  I can visualize, with ease, the hover crafts flying around and the flawless appearance of society.

Carina is one of those characters you just don't understand, how someone who moved up the latter could fall so hard....until the flashbacks.  You learn more about her as the story progresses, and then you completely get her.  I loved all the characters in this story. Very strong personalities with diversity. One word...brilliant.

This story moves fast....full of anticipation and action that there is never a tedious moment....an eccentric world that is a thrill to lose yourself in.




ABOUT THE AUTHOR


Laura Lam was born in the late eighties and raised near San Francisco, California, by two former Haight-Ashbury hippies. Both of them encouraged her to finger-paint to her heart’s desire, colour outside the lines, and consider the library a second home. This led to an overabundance of daydreams.

After studying literature and creative writing at university, she relocated to Scotland to be with her husband, a boy she met online when they were teenagers and he insulted her taste in books and she insulted his right back. She almost blocked him but is glad she didn’t. She is now a dual citizen, but at times she misses the sunshine.

While working a variety of jobs from filing and photocopying endlessly at a law firm to library assistant to corporate librarian, she began writing in earnest. Her first book, Pantomime, the first book in the Micah Grey series, was released in 2013, which was a Scottish Book Trust Teen Book of the Month, won the Bisexual Book Award, was listed a Top Ten Title for the American Library Association List, and was nominated for several other awards. Robin Hobb says “Pantomime by Laura Lam took me into a detailed and exotic world, peopled by characters that I’d love to be friends with . . . and some I’d never want to cross paths with.” The sequel, Shadowplay, followed in 2014, as well as several the Vestigial Tales, self-published short stories and novellas set in the same world. The third book in the series, Masquerade, will follow in 2017.

Her newest book is False Hearts, a near-future thriller released in June 2016 by Tor/Macmillan and in three other languages. Peter F. Hamilton calls False Hearts “a strong debut from someone who’s clearly got what it takes.” Another thriller, Shattered Minds, will be released in 2017.

She is still hiding from sunshine in Scotland and writing more stories.


Photo Credit: Elizabeth May



--Giveaway is open to International. | Must be 13+ to Enter

3 Winners will receive both FALSE HEARTS and SHATTERED MINDS by Laura Lam



Launch Party Schedule:

June 19th Monday Reading for the Stars and Moon GUEST POST 
June 19th Monday Little Library Muse EXCERPT
June 20th Tuesday JeanBookNerd VLOG & INTERVIEW
June 21st Wednesday Bookish Lifestyle GUEST POST 
June 21st Wednesday CBY Book Club EXCERPT
June 22nd Thursday Sara is Reading and Listening to What REVIEW & RANDOM THINGS -
June 23rd Friday A Fold in the Spine REVIEW
June 26th Monday A Dream Within a Dream REVIEW & TENS LIST -
June 27th Tuesday Crossroad Reviews REVIEW
June 28th Wednesday Insane About Books REVIEW 
June 28th Wednesday TTC Books and More EXCERPT 
June 29th Thursday Wonder Struck REVIEW & TENS LIST 
June 29th Thursday Sassy Book Lovers EXCERPT
June 30th Friday Sabrina's Paranormal Palace REVIEW & FAVORITE THINGS