c3 by Sherrie Cronin

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Title: c3

Author: Sherrie Cronin
Series: 46. Ascending (Book #4) 

Genre: Science Fiction

Length: 340 pages

Published: 2014

Publisher: Cinnabar Press

Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) Teddie likes her country music and her old pick-up truck and she’s not sure how she let her best friend talk her into spending a semester abroad in Darjeeling India. Once she arrives, her innocence quickly collides with an underworld in which young women are bartered and sold. As she fights to understand a depravity that she never dreamed existed, Teddie finds that her own mind develops a unique ability for locating her friends and that an ancient group is willing to train her to save others by using her innate skills for out of body experiences. 

It will require trust in ideas she barely believes, and more courage than has ever been expected of her. When it becomes clear that the alternative may be her friends’ deaths and the unchecked growth of an evil crime lord’s empire, Teddie accepts the challenge and shows those guilty of unspeakable crimes just how powerful a young woman can be.

My Review:

I give this book a 5 out of 5. 

This was a great addition to the 46.Ascending series. Each book deals with a different social issue that's prevalent in our society. This one deals with the sex trade, including other ways that women and children are exploited. The author ties these issues into a different ability; in x0 the ability was telepathy, in y1 the main character was able to alter his appearance, in z2 the ability was to slow down time, and in c3 Teddie is able to travel outside of her body to find her friends and try to save them. 

I love how the author ties the stories together, both in the very beginning and at the end, taking certain events and showing them again from the main character's point of view. Seeing those events from the point of view of someone new lends an interesting twist on the story. It's nice how everything is tied together while still allowing the reader to read the books in absolutely any order they choose. I love getting tiny hints of some of the other family members' stories, without getting the full detail because that means I can't wait for the next installment. I'm anxiously awaiting d4, which the author has stated will follow Ariel, Teddie's older sister. 

You can purchase c3 through Amazon in hard copy or Kindle format. 

Have you read c3? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

z2 by Sherrie Cronin

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Title: z2

Author: Sherrie Cronin
Series: 46. Ascending (Book #3) 

Genre: Science Fiction

Length: 350 pages

Published: 2013

Publisher: Cinnabar Press

Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) Alex once walked away from a rare ability to warp time, thinking it was only a young man’s trick to play basketball better. Now, as a father and teacher, he needs to relearn the skill quickly before the past begins to destroy his own future. To protect his daughter and his most promising student, he must stop the school at which he teaches from turning the clock backwards to an era of white supremacy. He wants desperately to use his unique gifts to help an old high school friend solve an ancient Maya mystery that offers a rare chance to bridge the past and the future. Both are possible, but only if Alex can learn to control his temporal talents before he runs out of time.

My Review:

I give this book a 5 out of 5. 

In 1993 a precious Mayan artifact is stolen the night that Stan Drexler uncovered it. In present day, the box is mysteriously returned to him. Enlisting the help of Alex Zeitman, among others (namely his previous students who were there at the time of the discovery), they work to uncover the mystery of this oddly shaped box and try to find the missing two pieces of the puzzle. Alex, meanwhile, also has problems of his own as he watches his school become part of a racist regime. 

Using facts about immigration law and history, the author brings together a story about how one woman in the late 1600s sent her two sons away from her to protect a secret that could change the world and how that secret comes to light in the present day. I really enjoyed how she wove bits and pieces from the past into the story to really bring everything together. Each chapter ends with a little more of the ancient story, following Nimah and her two sons. 

I really loved this book and showed how things work realistically in a world where racism and hatred run rampant. Definitely recommend this!

You can purchase z2 through Amazon in hard copy or Kindle format. 

Have you read z2? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

y1 by Sherrie Cronin

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Title: y1

Author: Sherrie Cronin
Series: 46. Ascending (Book #2)

Genre: Science Fiction

Length: 339 pages

Published: 2012

Publisher: Cinnabar Press

Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) Zane swore as a child to protect all the odd people of the world, studying chameleons and muscle groups to teach himself to alter his own appearance. No longer a young boy too smart and too different to fit in, Zane starts his first job at a pharmaceutical company where he uncovers layers of corporate secrets that hide surprisingly vile plans. Once he is sent on a sales trip to the South Pacific, it becomes clear that there are those who would kill to protect the mysteries that the company has worked so hard to keep hidden. 

Charged with murder and hunted by an unsavory boot camp manager, he finds himself sailing to remote islands with a shadowy group known as y1. Fantasy, reality and a bit of speculative science come together as Zane uses all his unique abilities to resist turning from a murder suspect into a murder victim. He still wants to find a way to keep his childhood promise, if he can only live long enough to do so.

My Review:

I give this book a 5 out of 5. 

Once again, Sherrie Cronin shows off her amazing research skills! Like the first novel in the series, x0, she weaves real facts and controversial, sensitive topics in with the fictional Zeitman family. This time we follow Lola's son, Zane, as he learns at a young age that he can adjust his appearance to better blend in, much like a chameleon. 

When he gets older, he ends up working for a pharmaceutical company called Penthes. While interning in the lab, he keeps his head down as he realizes what a toxic environment the lab is. Eventually he spends time interning in marketing and finds himself adjusting his appearance to better fit in up there. There he catches the eye of the CEO himself, who is looking for a proper replacement. Forced to keep a huge secret, Zane begins to do research in the way the company is running, among other darker things, for the CEO. His job as spy gets more and more dangerous as he begins looking into not only the disappearance of the CEO's son, but also the death of his boss while in Samoa. 

Other key players are Afi, Joy and Toby, who Zane befriends while verifying the route a huge conference his company is hosting will take in the Pacific from Samoa to a school for troubled youth and finally to Fiji. Toby has a mysterious past and prefers to be a loner, but ends up helping first Afi and then Joy. Afi has run away from a school for troubled youth where horrific abuse is occurring, and Joy is running from her overbearing and controlling father. 

Throughout the story, Ms. Cronin weaves her research, using real facts and real stories of corruption to strengthen the novel. Unlike x0, where I had a hard time getting into the actual story because the factual information was so in-your-face, once I started y1 I could not stop. The factual information was present, but it was not overwhelming and blended extremely well into the story. I've already started Book 3 (z2), and can't wait to finish that one out as well!

You can purchase y1 through Amazon in hard copy or Kindle format. 

Have you read y1? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

X0 by Sherrie Cronin

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Title: X0

Author: Sherrie Cronin
Series: 46. Ascending (Book #1)

Genre: Science Fiction

Length: 328 pages

Published: 2012

Publisher: Cinnabar Press

Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) What if you are capable of far more than you realize? Lola, a Texan geophysicist who doesn't believe in nonsense, finds that a near fatal accident reintroduces a disturbing phenomenon into her mind. Lola pretends it isn't there until the changes taking place inside of her just won’t be ignored. 

Across an ocean, Somadina is a young Nigerian who thinks that her telepathic abilities are perfectly normal. When her sister becomes a captive, the young Igbo woman draws upon her powers to find an ally like herself, a woman with a strong sense of justice and a desire to protect the helpless. As Somadina discovers that her sister has become a strategic pawn in a larger and more dangerous game, she vows to do anything to get the attention of this kindred, uncooperative lady.

x0 is an ancient organization with good reasons to stay hidden, but it knows that these two women have more important things in common than they realize, and that such will forge a powerful link. This forces x0 to reluctantly emerge from the shadows. Somebody needs to intervene. Both women are far stronger than they know, and to make matters worse, a fringe fanatic may be on the verge of altering a nation’s future.

My Review:

I give this book a 4 out of 5. 

I did receive a copy of this book through a Goodreads giveaway. 

One of the really intriguing things about this book is that it's marketed as an "interactive novel". This means that if you purchase the e-book version of the novel, you are able to press on links through the story for more information. Sadly, I have the paperback copy so I was unable to do this. However, they do give a list at the back of the book of all of the websites you can go to for more information. The sections that are interactive are underlined in the hard copy. 

A lot of research was done for the writing of this novel, which is not necessarily a bad thing. A lot of the facts garnered from that research was put into the book and kept causing me to put the book down after a couple of chapters and left me with the feeling of not wanting to pick it back up. However, at around the midway point, the book got significantly more fiction-like and I started to really enjoy reading it. I do intend on reading the rest of the series (second book is y1 and third book is z2; the remainder have not been published yet, but there are supposed to be 6 books in total) in the hopes that I don't keep getting that feeling of needing to put it down after only a couple of chapters.

All that being said, I really did enjoy the premise behind the story and I really did enjoy the book. While the factual information seemed long and did not flow very well, it was very helpful in understanding the cultures and the technical terminology in relation to Lola's job as a geophysicist. 

You can purchase X0 through Amazon in either hard copy or Kindle format. 

Have you read X0? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.