Digital Reads Reviews

Hey guys,

My week long author promo starts with Laura Birzulis and her book Fractured Soul. Check out the book, the excerpt certainly intrigued me…

Excerpt
Okay maybe I was a little afraid; if I got caught it would be painful in more ways than one. I was alone for the first time, I was afraid of failure. Shrugging off my dismal thoughts I continued walking, my footfalls the only sound rang out like an encouraging drum. My breath puffed out of me in cloudy gasps as the paths gradually became uneven. The darkness was everywhere, distorting the detail from everything. I reached the edge of the trees, for a moment I just stared up at the mass of shadows melting into each other. I peered between the trunks. This forest was dense. It was easy to get lost. Just as the traitorous thought entered my mind of turning back I remembered everything, all of the names, all of the bruises, all of the blood, all of the broken bones. The fear that this time was when she would go to far and I wouldn’t wake up. The fear that this time she would kill me.
Using those painful memories as fuel I forced myself to take that definitive step across the boarder into the forest of gnarled tree trunks, their spindle like fingers intertwining, clawing mercilessly at the sky. Dry twigs snapped and dead leaves crunched with each step, ringing out like a gunshot. The noise sounded to harsh for my ears forcing me to speed up my pace. Every now and again a protruding root would grab me slowing my step, or a bramble would snag at my clothing. A sticky, ice cold sensation crawled leisurely over my skin, beneath my clothes. My steps faltered. I threw a frantic glance around, everywhere looked the same, the same trees, shadows seeming to undulate and writhe across one another. It had to lead somewhere. As I went to take another step my muscles locked, cramping painfully as a wind blisteringly cold lifted my hair, burning my cheeks, clenching my eyes shut as tears streamed. I smacked the tears away finding them frozen to my skin. My heart slammed against my ribs as an icy hand curled around my heart, turning my blood to a sluggish mush. Jagged breaths punched out of me. Something was wrong, this wasn’t a panic attack. Awareness prickled my skin as a scream crossed between tearing metal and a pained horse split the night like a knife. Biting my lip until all I could taste was copper I willed my legs to move but nothing happened. Fear burned up my neck and across my scalp. No, no, no. This was not happening. That didn’t sound like any animal I had ever heard. I was stuck, held by some unseen force. The pained squeal sounded again. Closer this time. Shrubbery rustled violently as branches splintered. Oh god it was behind me and it was moving toward me. Run, my brain screamed, fucking run.
I would not run away from one hell to be killed before I fully left.That familiar sadness took root, deep in my soul but this was so much more than sadness, it was a dread that froze my bones from the inside out. I couldn’t do this, I wouldn’t make it. I would be caught. One day, one day she would kill me and no one would know. No one would miss me.
By some miracle I managed to force my right foot forward and my other until I was moving, dread rippled through me eventually beginning to ebb away as I pounded through the forest, pained and unearthly cries carried on the air behind me. I didn’t dare look back because if I did I know I would see it and it would get me. My heart loudly pounding in my ears, almost drowning out the thunder of my frantic footfalls and the heavy thud of whatever was chasing me. But as I listened over the sound of my rapid heartbeat I made out more than one set of footsteps. There were more. Swallowing sour bile that had collected in my mouth I realised that I was being hunted.
My feet pounded against the packed earth, kicking up soil and dried sticks. Small stones and underbrush flew up, pelting my ankles and legs like tiny needles. Slowing slightly so I didn’t pass out from lack of air, my lungs screamed for a break. With a growing bloom of dread deep in my stomach I turned to look behind me, the footsteps had slowed. I froze. No. No, no, no. This wasn’t possible. It wasn’t real, it wasn’t, it couldn’t be. It wasn’t an animal or a human… It was a monster.
A hot breath, the strong stench of rotten meat, cut through the icy air and enveloped me. A scream built up in my throat, I opened my mouth but it got stuck around a thick plug of fear. I attempted to turn and run but something struck me hard in the side of the head. Heat licked like flames across my skull, igniting my scalp as a blistering trail of pain spread and began to travel down my spine. A cry escaped me. A weak broken cry.

About the Author

Author Laura Birzulis is from Nottinghamshire, UK. Her dyslexia caused her to struggle in school, so writing became her escape. She started writing stories from a young age, but around fifteen, she started working on a real story, a complete full length novel. The Watchers was published when she was eighteen. Fractured Soul is her second novel.
The second book of the Watchers trilogy will be published later this year by publisher, Austin Macauley.

Author page

https://m.facebook.com/L.M.Birzulis/

Book blurb

A girl who has known monsters parading around in human faces all of her life meets a stranger with a twisted secret.

Robin needs a reason to cling on to what little life she has left, a reason to forget the scars and the abuse. A reason not to end it all.

A mysterious man with a stain on his soul swaggers into her life, with the personality of seemingly two different people. One minute he’s charming and gentlemanly, the next he’s cold and calculating.

When monsters are swarming around her small little town Robin finds her life in peril, with only Jack and his dangerous secret with his twisted soul to trust. A monumental quest to stop fate from coming to fruition stirs emotions in Robin that she cannot trust. And Jack with a conflicting soul can never fully fall prey to love.

Will fate eviscerate the human race as they know it? Will the past forever haunt their future?

Book Links

Amazon USA

Amazon UK

Goodreads

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39705319-fractured-soul

Digital Reads Alcove

https://www.facebook.com/groups/2073940232888696/