Blog Tour & Giveaway: Tricksters Series by A.L. Davroe

Book Blurb:

Redux (Tricksters, #2) by A.L. Davroe

Published by Entangled Teen

Published on March 21st, 2017

Genre: YA Sci-Fi / YA Science Fiction

The domed city of Evanescence is in ruins. With nowhere to go, prodigy hacker Ellani “Ella” Drexel and a small band of survivors flee to the Undertunnel below their city. To escape the wasteland she unknowingly created.

But sanctuary is hard to find. With malfunctioning androids and angry rebels at their backs, the group hopes to press on for the neighboring city of Cadence. But Ella’s chosen path is challenging…life-threatening, even. Worse, the boy she loves is acting distant, and not at all like the person she first met in Nexis.

But then Ella learns a secret…and it changes everything.

Ella knows she needs to turn back and make a stand to reclaim her home. She’s determined to bring a new—and better—life to all who’ve suffered.

Or die trying.

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Read an excerpt from the book--

I sag to the floor, a shaking mess.

Slowly, Quentin gathers the rope up once more, coiling it around his arm. Then he’s still for a long minute. I can tell he’s staring at me, waiting. “Elle?”

I shake my head. “I-I can’t.”

He crouches down in front of me, meets my haunted eyes. I feel him take up my hands, hold them against his chest. “You’re shaking.”

Of course I am. I don’t want to die.

“You can do this,” he whispers.

Mute now, I shake my head again.

“Hey.” Shifting both my hands to one of his, he reaches out with the other, stills my head with a palm to my cheek. “Look at me.”

I do, only because I don’t have a choice. He has me trapped.

His expression is calm. Serene, like the boy who shot my uncle in the head. I wish I could turn off like that, become cool and calculated and unfeeling. “I will not let you fall. You need to trust me. You need to trust yourself. Stand up.”

Swallowing hard, I get to shaking legs. I don’t know how I’m going to go down on such unstable things. One is injured as it is.

“Shoes,” he prompts.

I slip out of my heels, let the cold stone touch my synthetic skin. It feels strange being on flat feet. I’ve grown up on heels. Without them he seems like a giant as he bends and comes around to my back, putting them into my pack as I stand like an idiot. Seeing that I’m being useless and silly, he bends at my hip and I feel him tugging my skirts. I wince as I hear the tearing noise of him splitting my beautiful dress from hem to seam.

Four times, like Violet did with hers.

And then he’s winding the strips around my thighs, his fingers passing in and out like butterfly wings. My legs go from shaking to jelly and I have to hold the wall to keep myself upright.

When he’s done, he stands in front of me, stares at me, and frowns. After a thought, he unbuttons his jacket and slides it off his shoulders.

I blink at him, confused.

“Put it on.”

I do as I’m told. It’s big on me, stiff in the shoulder from all the dried blood. It smells like him and the weight of it makes me feel like I’m being held. My fingers fumble on the buttons and he steps into my space to help, his knuckles grazing my hitching chest. The warm certainty of his presence disappears for an instant as he bends to retrieve the rope and then he’s back, tying it under my arms.

When he finishes with the knot, he just sort of goes still, his body close to mine and me wavering against the solid weight of him. His fingers slide from the knot, inch up, flutter along my clavicle, against my neck. One hand slips back behind my neck and into my hair, tugging just slightly, as the other tips up my jaw.

His breath is warm and minty as he breathes something that seems like relief, and if it’s possible, something about him—his expression, his body—eases me. He stares down, his eyes clear and true, and that melts me into his body and his touch.

And then he’s kissing me again. And I’m kissing him. It’s just like it was in the aerovator during our escape. That heat, that familiarity. That instant awakening and settling inside of me—like a flock of birds and a lazy pool of molten heat exploding through my veins and muscles at the same time. That feeling like it’s perfect and sound. It’s everything I ever wanted of a kiss from Quentin Cyr before…before…Gus.

I shove at him, step away from him, gasping. “What are you doing?” I demand. “You can’t keep kissing me, you’re-you’re in love with someone. I heard you tell Carsai.” Unapologetic, he grins at me. “Hmm, that’s something to think about, isn’t it?”

“You’re a cad.”

He shrugs. “You’re not scared anymore, though, are you?”

Heaving in confusion, glaring in heat, I growl as I have to admit that no, I’m not scared anymore.

“I’m not sorry,” he says, voice quiet. “I like kissing you.”

Gritting my teeth, I march over to the ropes and pass them around myself as I saw Violet and Bastian do before. I shore up my grip on both ends of the rope and I don’t look down. To look down would be to see where I’m going and right now, I don’t want to.

“Hey,” Quentin calls to me from where he’s standing, lifting the security rope around him as he backs his weight against it. I feel it tug a little against my chest, like he’s drawing me back to him.

I pause, look at him even though I don’t want to make eye contact.

“Go easy,” he says, voice like honey. “Just breathe.”

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Book Blurb:

Nexis (Tricksters, #1) by A.L. Davroe

Release Date: Dec. 1, 2015

Genre: YA Sci-Fi / YA Science Fiction

Published by: Entangled Teen

In the domed city of Evanescence, appearance is everything. A Natural Born amongst genetically-altered Aristocrats, all Ella ever wanted was to be like everyone else. Augmented, sparkling, and perfect. Then…the crash. Devastated by her father’s death and struggling with her new physical limitations, Ella is terrified to learn she is not just alone, but little more than a prisoner.

Her only escape is to lose herself in Nexis, the hugely popular virtual reality game her father created. In Nexis she meets Guster, a senior player who guides Ella through the strange and compelling new world she now inhabits. He offers Ella guidance, friendship…and something more. Something that allows her to forget about the “real” world, and makes her feel whole again.

But Nexis isn’t quite the game everyone thinks it is.

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My Review:

4 Out Of 5 Stars

Ellani is living in the Aristocrat world full of modifications and altered beauty as a Natural, completely without any enhancements, making her feel ugly. After a party where her father is given an award for creating a virtual reality game that will change how everyone lives, Ella expresses her anger towards his rules against modifications, the last words she will say to her father. Waking up from an accident that took her father's life and her legs, the world that she knew is gone. All she has left is the escape of the virtual reality game her father created.

Now this was a very interesting book, full of twists and turns and complications. Every time I thought I would read just one more chapter, the ending of the chapter sucked me in and made me keep reading. This was not an easy read, since it was a complicated world that the author built as well as a very dark, depressing reality (at least I thought so) for Elle. If you are looking for a dystopian story with a world inside a world, real and virtual action, conspiracies, feels and a romance, pick this story up.

I was a little put off by the virtual reality encounters when Elle first went into the game, finding it a bother when I wanted to learn about what Elle was going to do in the real world, but then I got sucked in just like the citizens of Evanescence seem to. I wanted more of the game and this creative world the author built and was bothered to be back in the awful depressing situation of Elle's real life. Mad props to the author for that, I was just as addicted as the characters, and the 6 hour limit made perfect sense (if only the 18 hour wait could be overlooked...)

Davroe was able to create 2 distinctive worlds within her book, both so detailed and different, the harsh reality of real life Evanescence, and the seemingly more "real" world of the game. It felt like the game was a more actual world and people were more real, which shows the deviation that society took in this story. The book had some passing similarities to the Hunger Games in respect to the distopian destruction of the world and District One. The Aristocrats in Evanescence were obsessed with alterations to make themselves stand out and look "beautiful", a lot like District 1, so that they were so fake and over the top, not looking like people anymore but exotic parrots. The Dolls were a creepy yet interesting idea, non-altered people purchased by the Aristocrats to alter as they saw fit.

Ok so I have tons of questions about what happens next, about the world, Gus and especially Quentin- the sneak peaks of the next book only lit more of a curiosity fire than even I can handle so I would love to read more. This series was not what I expected, in a good way, and I look forward to more.

I received this title in return for my honest review.

Author Bio:

A.L. (Amanda) Davroe writes both YA and adult speculative fiction. She prefers revisionist tales in paranormal, romance, Steampunk, and fantasy. She is the author of Salvation Station (adult psych horror), The City Steam Collection (adult psych horror), For Your Heart (YA Paranormal Romance) and her YA Sci-Fi novel, Nexis, is coming out with Entangled Publishing December 1, 2015!

By day, Amanda lives in Connecticut with her two feline hench-creatures and makes cheese. She’s a terrible blusher, has a weak spot for cuddly animals, loves Laffy Taffy and Cadbury MiniEggs, and she’s a huge advocate of alternative healing methods. Amanda also wears purple shoes and corsets…Though not always in the same ensemble. She’s a Capricorn, a Hufflepuff, a bit gothic, and a few nuggets short of a Happy Meal.

You can find her on her website, Twitter, Facebook and Goodreads

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