Blog Tour and GIVEAWAY: An Absence of Light by Meradeth Houston @MeradethHouston

An Absence of Light is a YA Sci-fi/Horror novel that was recently released. You can win a FREE EBOOK COPY by pasting a comment below! I’ll use a random number generator in next Sunday to select the winner.

Congrats to our winner, BN100!
Leah’s always seen the shadow creatures. She thought she was immune to their evil—until now.

She’s walked into a massacre, stolen a BMW, and is running from the law for a crime she didn’t commit. Nineteen-year-old Leah’s life just went from mildly abnormal to totally crazy at lightning speed. But no one will believe that the shadow creatures are framing her for the murder, because she’s the only one that can see them. At least that’s what she thought.

When Leah stumbled across a group who share her ability, she discovers they have something she doesn’t: a way to fight back. When the group offers to teach her how to kill the shadow creatures, Leah jumps at the chance. But something is brewing with the creatures. They’re tracking down the hunters like there’s no tomorrow. Leah suspects that maybe there won’t be, and it’s up to her to make sure tomorrow comes. Because she’ll do anything to stop the shadows, including risking her life—and the life of the one she loves—to keep the world from being lost to darkness forever.

The book begins with a punchy beginning–Leah walking into her family’s massacre. I couldn’t help but mentally place myself in that position. Would I freak the same way if I walked into my old house and saw my family, well, like that? (would it be weird to say I’ve totally had dreams in this scenario?) She knows who killed them: the Shadows.

As she runs away, she meets up with Adam and Manuel, who can also see the Shadows. At first I was afraid Adam’s current girlfriend was going to lead to one of those love triangles, but it totally didn’t. Enter plot twist number 1! This is what this book really has going for it, all the plot twists. The Shadows also seemed paranormal in nature, then bam! Plot twist number 2.

I also enjoyed Manuel and his Nana’s Hispanic heritage, especially with this We Need Diverse Books trend going on. I liked seeing his home, and therefore Leah’s new safe place, infused with Hispanic influence–even details like food brought this to life.

I think I would’ve liked to see more PTSD resulting from the huge trauma of seeing her family massacred, though we did see glimpses of her trying to cope, which I appreciated. I also think I would’ve liked to know more about Emily and her relationship to the Shadows, just to make sure she didn’t fall into the crazy/wise person trope. But I did appreciate her relationship to Adam. Every love interest needs a sibling to show who they really are, in my opinion.

Want a copy? You can find it at B&N and on Amazon. OR post a comment below to win a free ebook copy!

Meradeth’s never been a big fan of talking about herself, but if you really want to know, here are some random tidbits about her:

>She’s a Northern California girl. And now is braving the cold winters in Montana.
>When she’s not writing, she’s sequencing dead people’s DNA. For fun!
>She’s also an anthropology professor and loves getting people interested in studying humans.
>If she could have a super-power, it would totally be flying. Which is a little strange, because she’s terrified of heights.

Check out Meradeth’s website here.
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