|
The
Story Behind The Story: Parallel Attraction
Try
your hand at puzzles made with the cover.
Excerpt:
Excerpt:
Unedited
For
the second time in one day Anna-Marie opened her eyes and stared
into Alex's concerned ones.
A thought entered her mind, and as soon as it took root
she had to know. It
was imperative she ask and have her answer.
Sitting up, she took a deep breath and asked, "Alex,
are you married?"
Shock
caused his eyes to widen. Obviously
it wasn't anything he had expected her to ask, which stung
slightly. Was she
not his type? Did he
not find her even remotely attractive?
"Um,
no, I'm not. I
almost was once, but it didn't work out."
Before
she had a chance to second guess herself and start wondering if
he could be attracted to her, she leaned forward and cupped his
cheeks in her hands. "Good,"
she whispered and pressed her lips against his.
Anna-Marie rubbed her tongue along the seam of his lips,
which at first remained closed.
As she nipped at his bottom lip with her teeth he parted
them, and thrust his tongue into her mouth.
With
a sigh she deepened the kiss.
The world was out of control, she had been pulled from
everything she had ever known or cared about, and she was
helpless at that moment to do anything other than deepen the
kiss.
_____________________________________________________________
Reviews:
Scandalous
Minx for Literary Nymphs
Julia
C for Manic Readers Reviews
Chrissie
for Coffeetime Romance Reviews
Nymph
Rating: 4.5 Nymphs
Reviewed
by Scandalous Minx for Literary Nymphs
Anna-Marie Dallas is in a hostage situation enveloped by a
strange sense of calm. She’s coming to terms with the fact
that someone is going to die, and if she’s done the math
correctly her number could be up. The reality of living for
twenty-eight years with nothing tangible to show for it leaves
Anna-Marie with a bitter taste in her mouth. One minute she is
watching a gunman detonate a bomb and the next she is
awakening to the most beautiful green eyes she has ever seen.
Alex Brent is the owner of the eyes and bearer of unbelievable
news: Anna-Marie is in a parallel realm. Her first thought is
to humor the handsome stranger. As he further explains the
reasons for her arrival, Anna-Marie is certain he is
certifiably loonier than a loon. But when tangible proof of
his claim is delivered, Anna-Marie takes the news like a champ
……. and faints.
Alex and Anna-Marie prove that love can be found when you
least expect it in Parallel Attraction. The
couple has nothing to lose and a lifetime of happiness to
gain. Michelle Houston has created characters resembling the
boy/girl next door with a bit of erotic heat. I would love to
see more stories developed about this parallel realm.
Wonderful story Michelle!
Parallel
Attraction by Michelle Houston
Rated
  
(3 and 1/2 stars)
At 28 years old, Anna-Marie
Dallas was sure she had a long life ahead of her-until she
ended up as a hostage during an armed bank robbery. Things go
from bad to much worse when she sees the gunman press the
detonator on the bomb he's holding. Imagine her surprise when,
instead of death, she's confronted with a gorgeous green-eyed
blonde doctor, tending her in a hospital room. Unfortunately,
she decides he must be one of the inmates instead of a doctor,
when he tells her she was pulled out of the bank explosion
into an alternate reality, because she has psychic genes!
In Alex Brent's reality, a third world war decimated the
population, and they're trying to rebuild. They are
accomplishing that, in part, because they can access
Anna-Marie's world, identify likely candidates, and bring them
over during disasters--like
the bank robbery. Now Anna-Marie must adjust to a new world, a
new life--and a
new chance for love.
Going into this story, I expected more of a -- science
fiction -- feel,
due to the alternate reality premise. But this is really a
fairly straight forward romance, albeit with an unusual
setting. Anna-Marie's transportation to another realm really
functions as the means to unite her with Alex, as opposed to
playing a major role in the story itself. Still, the concept
is interesting and the characters are likeable, and I'm always
a sucker for an HEA.
Parallel Attraction has a science fiction / alternate reality
background, but it serves mostly as that--background.
The action is simple, the story progresses with sureness
through the initial threat, and the adjustment to a new
reality, to reach a satisfying conclusion. While it doesn't
deliver any great surprises, it does provide the reader with
an entertaining and enjoyable tale inhabited by warm, likeable
people.
PARALLEL
ATTRACTION
MICHELLE HOUSTON
ISBN# 9781594268625
March 2008
Phaze Books
www.phazebooks.com
E-Book
$ 3.00
40 Pages
Sci-Fi/Futuristic
Rating: 4 Cups
Reviewed
by Chrissie for Coffee Time Romance Reviews
Being in a hostage
situation has forced Anna-Marie to take a look at her life.
She has spent so much time focused on her studies that she has
forgotten to live. When she looks back on her life all she
sees is emptiness. If she survives she vows to start living
her life to the fullest.
Anna-Marie wakes up
in a strange place. The last thing that she remembers is one
of the gunmen holding a bomb. Now she is in what appears to be
a hospital looking into a beautiful pair of green eyes that
seem familiar somehow.
The man sitting at
her bedside tells her to relax because she is still
recovering. Anna-Marie hates being out of control so she
demands an explanation for what has happened. The story that
Alex tells her is so incredible that she is sure he must be
crazy but can she deny the truth when she sees it with her own
eyes.
Parallel Attraction
is a captivating science-fiction romance. Science fiction is
one of my favorite genres. I was drawn into this story from
the very first page. This story is interesting and hot but it
also made me think. I enjoyed this novel a lot and I hope
there is a sequel.
_____________________________________________________________
The
Story Behind The Story
Parallel
Attraction
The
idea for the book was started by my watching a show on String
Theory. I am fascinated by it, and knew it deserved at least
one story, if not more. But how was I going to make it so that
they needed to pull people across them. I didn't want her to
just "wind up there". I wanted it to be deliberate,
since I already had an idea for a second story. The idea came
to me for that based on a set of stories I had just finished writing
not to long before - the stories in Celtic Love Knots volume 8
(from Whiskey Creek Press Torrid). I dealt with Sidhe folklore
in them, and with my LOVE of psychic/paranormal stories (and
my own Scotch-Irish ancestry), it wasn't a leap to have a gene
unique to Scotch-Irish descendants that when activated
resulted in psychic abilities.
Then running through scenarios and knowing some about human
nature, it wasn't a leap to deduce if psychic abilities
existed, there would be those who viewed them as a threat.
Thus - war would eventually result. In this case, it needed to
be big, so a world war took place. Their population is
decimated as a result.
That's where the elements of both the psychic gene (the Sidhe
genes) and the alternate realities come together. I didn't go
in to detail about how it plays in - but basically a mutation
in the gene structure gave them something unique to search
for. It was also the same gene that was mutated in them by the
medicines they created to eradicate disease wound up awakening
psychic talents.
Genetics has always fascinated me. How one slight
addition/deletion in a sequence of billions of nucleotide
bases can change so much about a person, including resulting
in a terminal in-utero situation. How one slight change in
which base fits which spot can result in a mutation, and thus
an evolution if it is continued on, adding more changes with
each generation.
But like I said, I didn't want to go too much in to that,
because I understand that not all readers have a love of
science and/or an understanding of it. So I kept it light, and
focused on the romance.
Knowing that the characters were found to be likable and warm,
the story found to reach a satisfying conclusion, I'm sure
that I made the right choice.
|
