by Brady Stefani
Genre: YA Psychological Thriller/Scifi
Release Date: June 7th 2016
SparkPress
Summary from Goodreads:
Fifteen year old Courtney wants to be normal like her friends. But there’s something frighteningly different about her—and it’s not just the mysterious tattoo her conspiracy-obsessed grandfather marked her with before he disappeared. She's being visited in her bedroom at night by aliens claiming to have shared an alliance with her grandfather. And imaginary or not, they're starting to to take over her mind. “Mental illness is a slippery slope,” her mother warns her.
The last thing Courtney wants to do is end up crazy and dead like her grandfather did. But what about the tattoo? And the aliens trying to recruit her? With her new alien-savvy friend Agatha and her apocalyptic visions, Courtney begins connecting the dots between the past, present and future—of her bloodline, and the ancient history that surrounds it. Is she going insane, like her family claims her grandfather did, or is she actually a "chosen one" with ancestral connections to another world? Either way, Courtney has a mission: untangle her past, discover the truth, and stop the apocalypse before it's too late for everyone.
Tour Dates: October 17-21
Excerpt
“Come over here and look out the window with me,” Dr. Delmar said.
Shit. I stood up and walked over next to him. There was no plate of glass, or even a screen, in the window. Just old metal bars across an opening to the outside.
He gazed up at the sky. “It’s astonishing, isn’t it?” I felt his hand on the back of my neck. “Two universes right outside our window: ours and the aliens’. Two worlds conjoined in time and space, yet each completely undetectable by the other. It’s mind-boggling to think about, isn’t it?”
“More like creepy.” I glanced down at the floor. “To me, anyway.”
His breathing got heavier, and I could smell stale coffee on his breath.
“You’re a bloodliner, Courtney. I’m just a humble servant of science. Tell me, how is it that for thousands of years the bloodliners have allowed their alien brethren full access to our universe, yet the human race still knows nothing of their world?” The veins were protruding from his forehead now.
I shrugged, and I felt the weight of his hand encircling my neck. “I just found out aliens were real the other day, from you, I swear.” It was hard to think with his thumb resting against my throat.
“I’ll tell you why we know nothing of the aliens’ universe, or their species, or their philosophies, or their biological makeup, or their technology or plans.” He pulled me by the neck, forcing me to shuffle my feet over so we were standing shoulder to shoulder. His thumb tightened against my throat as he spoke. “It’s because the Magi stand around with their hands in their holy pockets and let the aliens travel freely between the two universes, and yet they ask for nothing from them in return!”
“You’re hurting me, Dr. Delmar.”
He let go of my neck and pushed his glasses back on, then wiped his hands on his sweater, over and over, like he was embarrassed. “You still don’t get it. No one does.” He pulled off his glasses again, tried to clean them on his scratchy sweater. “There’s an entire alien universe out there, filled with incredible species and unimaginable civilizations. Yet the Magi treat it like some sacred mystery instead of the invaluable source of scientific knowledge and technological advances that it is!” “I get your frustration. I do,” I said.
“Do you?” Dr. Delmar banged a fist against the window bars, and I flinched. Little pieces of cement fell from around the window to the floor.
“Do you hear me out there?” he yelled through the metal bars, his voice going up in pitch. “We’re coming for you!”
Oh man! He’s officially crazy! I slid along the wall away from the window.
Catching sight of my movement, Dr. Delmar pivoted toward me, his eyes flashing wildly. “You’re trying to escape?”
My Thoughts
When Courtney was younger she experiences something very
bizarre at her grandfather's house. Now a few years later aliens visit her, in
her sleep. She can also communicate with them. When Courtney tells her mom, she
ends up institutionalizing Courtney in a mental hospital. There she meets a
patient's sister, who is her childhood imaginary friend, Agatha. (weird!!)
Agatha's brother who is in the mental hospital, also sees aliens.
So when Courtney gets out the hospital, her and Agatha go on
a search to figure out more about her grandfather and his ties to the aliens.
Courtney finds out a lot of secrets, her grandfather has kept.
This book was definitely strange and interesting at the same
time. Poor Courtney, her mom thinks she's nuts and she really isn't, she really
does see aliens. How cool would it be to see a alien? If you like Sci-Fi and
mystery, this book would be a good book to pick up!
I received a copy from the author in exchange for a honest
review.
Rating
About the Author
Brady G. Stefani has a bachelor's degree in creative writing, and a graduate degree in law. During law school, he spent time as an involuntary commitment caseworker for the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health, where he interacted with patients suffering from severe thought disorders, including numerous patients presenting with subjectively real memories of being visited and abducted by alien beings (commonly referred to as alien abduction phenomenon). It was through his study of these patients, along with his own struggles with anxiety and cognition, that Stefani became aware of just how deceiving, mysterious, and powerfully resilient, the human mind can be.
In an effort to provide awareness of mental suffering, and spread hope to all those touched by it, Stefani is focused on writing YA novels that explore the experience of being different and the other-worldly places our boundary-less imaginations can take us. Alienation is his first novel. But with two works currently in progress, the journey has just begun.
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