Welcome to my little stop on this blog tour! So… I received an eARC of LINK a while ago and I read it IMMEDIATELY… and loved it. Of course, as my day to post a review approached, I realized that I might need to reread it to make sure I knew what I was talking about. Poor, poor me.
I LOVED IT AGAIN!
First of all, let me say that just this morning, I decided that I dislike the word review. Yup. This. Morning. So just go with me here…
First… LINK
For seventeen-year-old Kira, there’s no better way to celebrate a birthday than being surrounded by friends and huddled beside a campfire deep in the woods. And with a birthday in the peak of summer, that includes late night swims under the stars. Or at least, it used to. Kira’s relaxing contemplation of the universe is interrupted when a piece of it falls, colliding with her and starting a chain of events that could unexpectedly lead to the one thing in her life that’s missing—her father.
Tossed into a pieced-together world of carnivals and gypsies, an old-fashioned farmhouse, and the alluring presence of a boy from another planet, Kira discovers she’s been transported to the center of a black hole, and there’s more to the story than science can explain. She’s now linked by starlight to the world inside the darkness. And her star is dying. If she doesn’t return home before the star’s light disappears and her link breaks, she’ll be trapped forever.
But she’s not the only one ensnared, and with time running out, she’ll have to find a way to save a part of her past and a part of her future, or risk losing everything she loves. Dreamy, fluid, and beautiful, Link pairs the mystery of science fiction with the minor-key melody of a dark fantasy, creating a tale that is as human as it is out of this world.
Available now from Amazon, and other retailers.
Summer Wier is an MBA toting accountant, undercover writer, and all around jack-of-all-trades. Link is her debut novel and the first in The Shadow of Light series. She has three short stories appearing in Fairly Twisted Tales For A Horribly Ever After and co-authors the Splinter web serial. When she’s not digging through spreadsheets or playing mom, you can find her reading/writing, cooking, or dreaming of the mountains in Montana.
Check out more of YA author Summer Wier on her blog, twitter, facebook, and goodreads.
Instead of a “review”… I offer my thoughts on this wonderful book written by the fabulous Summer Wier. A fantasy with a touch of science, but not science fiction.
“For as long as I could remember, I’d shared an affinity with the stars.” ~ Kira
The stars. Don’t we all gaze up at them, wondering… dreaming? All those tiny shimmering lights in the night sky speak to the possibilities. As much as they might make us feel small, they offer power.
Kira’s story begins with a star and the light, a light that leads her to another world, a light that takes her from everything she has, a light that can give her everything she’s missing.
The premise of the story, the science is fascinating. Black holes holding other worlds, linking all the universe together. Hello! Traveling to other worlds? YES PLEASE! I mean… you know me, right?
“I never could have dreamed something so amazing.” ~Kira
Traveling through starlight, Kira lives in two worlds and the mystery unfolds. What happened to her father? What can the strange world existing in the black hole mean? And an odd prophecy…
“End of starlight, link undone. Choice of lives, or trapped in one.”
I completely enjoyed the journey of Kira learning to travel between the worlds, her confusion at how to choose one over the other, at how to deal with what she might lose. Evan… Zane…
Yes, there is a bit of romance, and we all know Kathy doesn’t do kissing, but it’s cute and didn’t overpower the story.
And what a story. People with their own agendas. A mom who is trying to be understanding. A girl who is dealing with a fear of being abandoned. Friends trying to be more than friends. Secrets. A strange gypsy woman. There’s so much more to the story and in the end it all links together. Kira sneaks around and does a bit of breaking and entering as she tries to solve the mystery. She doesn’t give up, she doesn’t accept the limitations and she fights. And as the story took twists and turns, I was pulled in deeper and deeper.
So many clues. So many characters whose lives touch.
I will admit that I had to reread the sciency-wiency parts a few times, trying to cram what it all means into my head.
Black holes suck everything in, but sometimes light escapes and creates a bridge between worlds, mirror worlds so alike, even their names are reflections. In the end, whatever went over my head didn’t matter, only Kira’s journey.
The visuals Summer created were gorgeous. Who cares about science when I could see it in my mind! The barrier. The core. Her star. *goes to live in the book*
But there are forces at work. For there is always darkness. I live for this kind of stuff!
Kira is chosen to fight for the light. At the end of this book… I WANTED TO BE KIRA! I want the power she has been given. I want to “protect the light.” For “Darkness threatens light once more.”
*goes outside* *waits for my star*
There… my thoughts, hopefully they made sense… hopefully some things leaked from my brain that will help others decide to read this book.
I can’t wait for the sequel. The battle has just begun.
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Kathleen Palm 