#speculativefiction – Avonna Loves Genres

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for BABY X by Kira Peikoff for this Release Day Blitz.

Below you will find a book description, my book review, an about the author section, and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!

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Book Description

When any biological matter can be used to create life, stolen celebrity DNA sells to the highest bidder–or the craziest stalker–in this propulsive thriller.

In the near-future United States, where advanced technology can create egg or sperm from any person’s cells, celebrities face the alarming potential of meeting biological children they never conceived. Famous singer Trace Thorne is tired of being targeted by the Vault, a black market site devoted to stealing DNA. Sick of paying ransom money for his own cell matter, he hires bio-security guard Ember Ryan to ensure his biological safety.

Ember will do anything she can to protect her clients. She knows all the Vault’s tricks–discarded tissues, used straws, lipstick tubes–and has prevented countless DNA thefts. Working for Thorne, her focus becomes split when she begins to fall for him, but she knows she hasn’t let anything slip–love or not, his DNA is safe. But then she and Thorne are confronted by a pregnant woman, Quinn, who claims that Thorne is the father of her baby, and all bets are off.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/173476065-baby-x?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=ORsT6ZciZT&rank=1

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My Book Review

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

BABY X by Kira Peikoff is an engrossing speculative fiction, medical, and psychological thriller mash-up that kept me turning the pages from start to finish. This story is set around 2040 and takes future human reproduction into a terrifying new realm.

The Vault is a black-market site that steals DNA from high profile individuals to use as blackmail. If you don’t want your DNA used to create a baby with the highest bidder somewhere in the world, you must pay to stop it.

Ember Ryan knows how the Vault works and has set up a business to protect an individual’s DNA. Her first major client is the famous country singer, Trace Thome. Ember will do anything to protect Trace’s cell matter while they travel together on his tour. They both begin to care for each other and soon become a couple and engaged after the tour ends.

While they are out for coffee, they are confronted by a young pregnant woman who claims to be carrying Trace’s child. But nothing is as it seems because Ember is hiding secrets that will change everyone’s futures.

This mash-up thriller has many interesting plot points that led to me think about bioethical and moral questions at every turn: stolen DNA, designer babies, babies that are ‘Selected’ or ‘Unforeseen’, IVF on steroids. It is fascinating and frightening at the same time. The story is told in three alternating distinct storylines by three women, and you do not learn how they all come together until the surprise twist at the end and that is all I can say without giving anything away.

I recommend this mash-up thriller that will leave you thinking about the issues in this story long after you finish and the possibility of them becoming our reality.

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About the Author

Kira Peikoff is the author of Baby X, Mother Knows Best, Living Proof, No Time to Die, and Die Again Tomorrow. She has a degree in journalism from New York University and master’s in bioethics from Columbia. Her reported articles have appeared in The New York Times, Newsweek, Popular Mechanics and other outlets.

She now works in biotech communications helping spread the word about transformative developments in the life sciences. Peikoff is a proud member of The Authors Guild, International Thriller Writers, and Mystery Writers of America. She lives in New Jersey with her husband and two sons.

Social Media Links

Website: https://www.kirapeikoff.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kirapeikoff/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KiraPeikoff

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/baby-x-by-kira-peikoff

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing by Feature Post and Book Review on the Blackthorn Book Tour for RIEBECKITE by O.R. Lea.

Below you will find book description, my book review and the author’s bio and social media links. Enjoy!

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Book Description

Dangerous spores gather on Earth after an asteroid strikes the moon. Humanity watches the skies…but the real danger is at their feet.

After an asteroid strike on the moon, a strange blue dust began to flow down through Earth’s atmosphere. It’s harmful to breathe, but at least the microscopic creatures within the dust are dormant. Or so we thought.

Tahira made a childhood promise to a friend that the crisis would bring their people together… before a violent riot tore their lives apart. Now, as an adult, Tahira works as a biologist for a corporation constructing experimental towers to force the spores—known as riebeckites—to germinate into harmless colonies.

Except they’re about to learn everything they think they know about the dust is wrong. The real threat isn’t the asteroid that struck the moon and by the time humanity figures it out, it might be too late.

Riebeckite combines suspense and conspiracy with heart-in-mouth action sequences and nightmarish encounters, all in an immersive near-future setting and, at its core, a heartwarming story of friendship against the odds.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60256603-riebeckite?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=K0SfKrHRcQ&rank=1

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

RIEBECKITE (Bruised Moon Sequence Book #1) by O.R. Lea is an engrossing mix of speculative fiction, sci-fi and horror that comes together in a story that is impossible to put down. It is also a story of friendship that spans not only years but cultural prejudice and politics.

We meet best friends Tahira who is Azerbaijani and Zareen who is Iranian when they are eight years old. They are separated as children when the Iranians are annexed and held behind an electrified cable wall.

Decades later, the two may be separated by a wall, but they are in touch and friends once again. Tahira studies the biology of the riebeckites that large turbines clean out of the air and deposit in the seas. They are from the moon dust and may not be as benign as the population has been led to believe. She discovers the monsters Zareen has been telling her about in the Annex, that the Azerbaijanis believe are urban legends, are real monsters. The riebeckites are a bigger threat than anyone believed. Will humanity survive?

I loved this novel! It was in a genre I usually do not gravitate toward, but I could not stop reading it. Not only is it in a different genre, but it is set in the Persian Gulf, which is unusual too. Tahira and Zareen are both strong female characters, but in differing ways. It is partially due to their circumstances, but their personalities are very different even as young girls. The riebeckites are such an interesting new biological species that are equal parts believable and disgusting. The author’s descriptive writing at times sent shivers up my spine as well as turned my stomach. The plot moves at an ever-increasing pace with plenty of action scenes especially in the second half of the story. There is a satisfying climax and conclusion to tie up many plot threads, but there is an opening for more.

I highly recommend this unique book and I am excited to read future books in this series.

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Author Bio

Raised and educated in North Wales, Oliver spent his early 20s working for a theatre-in-education music troupe for as long as it took to feel like his GCSE in Welsh language had provided its money’s worth. Since then, he’s lived in Portsmouth and currently works as a laboratory analyst. His biggest failure as a writer has been in his attempts to settle on a genre, having written about Middle Eastern vampires, African mercenaries and supernatural Welsh murderers. His first ‘properly’ published novel, “Riebeckite”, is a near-future speculative fiction story set in the Persian Gulf.

Social Media Links

Website: https:/www.orlea.co.uk

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/orleaauthor