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Thursday, August 9, 2018

Freaking Fast by David Pereda - Book Tour - Review - Giveaway - Enter Daily!


Hi lovelies!  It gives me great pleasure today to host David Pereda and his new book, “Freaking Fast”!  For other stops on his Goddess Fish Promotions Book Tour, please click on the banner above or any of the images in this post.

Be sure to make it to the end of this post to enter to win a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift Card!!  Also, come back daily to interact with David and to increase your chances of winning!

Thanks for stopping by!  Wishing you lots of luck in this fabulous giveaway!


Freaking Fast
by David Pereda

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GENRE: Futuristic YA Action/Adventure

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BLURB:

The city is Asheville, North Carolina, and the year is 2066. As renowned mathematician Alexandra Martin travels in her self-driving car to assassinate the love of her life, she reminisces about how they met and fell in love fifty years earlier in middle school when she was a thirteen year old poor math whiz and he a wealthy teenager. Alex recounts her struggles to be admitted to the best private school in the county, her happy teenage years running track, and her close relationship with three handsome and charming boys: Xavier, the intellectual; Andrew, the golden boy; and Vitali, the suave foreigner. One by one, she visits the three boys of her youth, now successful professionals in their sixties, one of whom is her intended victim.

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EXCERPT TWO:


13-14 Girls 200m Race, Raleigh, North Carolina
2016 State Championships

I turn for home and here I am, behind the KK twins again, like a piece of bologna in a sandwich. Katosha is two meters ahead to my right, and Kashandra is half a step behind her to my left. I don’t notice any of the other runners; I figure they are all eating our dust.

My heart sinks. I prepared so hard for this moment, eating the right foods, controlling my weight, forcing myself to train every day, giving up all sweets, even my favorite raspberry-filled chocolates, and for what? I’m going to lose.

My stride slows, caused by my despair, and the KK twins gain a little more on me. My dad’s voice booms inside my head. ‘Keep those legs pumping, Alexandra! Don’t decelerate. You’re still in the race!’ My dad only calls me Alexandra when he’s angry with me. His
words give me a new surge of energy, and I pick up maybe a foot on the twins. We are about ninety meters from the end. People in the stands are waving and screaming. The sun is a ball of fire overhead, and the temperature is close to one hundred degrees in Raleigh, but I don’t care. The three of us are breathing hard. Katosha sounds like a tractor, full of energy and power.

My father’s voice screams inside my head again. ‘Stride length and turnover rate, Alex. Your stride is good. Your turnover rate is not. Move those legs faster!’

I make a superhuman effort and try to move my legs faster. Kashandra and Katosha do the same. I can hear the click-click-click of our spikes beating on the steaming orange track like machine gun fire.

Down we go: click-click-click. The finish line looms ahead. I can’t lose this race. I will not lose this race. My immediate future depends on me crossing the finish line ahead of everyone else, and that means Katosha and Kashandra, my arch-enemies. They are also
competing for the same prize I am.

Seventy meters, sixty-five meters, sixty meters, the click-clickclick is even.

My thighs are numb. I can’t move my legs any faster. I’ve reached my limit. I have a stitch on my side, and my ribcage hurts…

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REVIEW:


Dolce also "helped” write this review lol (as she laid on my review notes while I tried to type this review up having to rely on memory instead lol)

This book was unlike anything I’ve read before!

This book is about Alex, a 63-year-old, renowned mathematician, who decides that today she is going to visit the love of her life and kill him.  This book takes place in the future, 2066, in Asheville, North Carolina.  Over the course of the book, Alex reminisces about her teen years and reflects back on how she got to where she is today.  Alex visits three former lovers from her past, one of them being her intended victim, and plans to pull off their premediated murder.

This book was just so different from the usual books I read – and I do mean that in a good way.  It was complex, unique, and thought provoking.

This book screams with teen anger and angst while Alex works out her rage throughout the book.  Alex was an awkward math geek during her teen years and struggled with depression, rejection, and discouragement until she joined the track team, which became a big part of her life.

I was very intrigued by all the technology advances that were skillfully thought out.  Such as, the DNA Detection System, that allows your gun to sniff up DNA and then program that gun to target that specific person; unlike in today’s technology of aiming and shooting.  This was very fascinating and terrifying at the same time.  I thought about how wonderful this technology would be in the hands of the police and military and how it could really help make a positive difference on making the world a safer place.  However, then I thought about how this technology would fare in the hands of criminals and how people wouldn’t have a fighting chance against it.

There were several technological progressions listed in this book and obviously by 2066 it’s clear things would be dramatically different.  I really liked that the author made many of those advancements actually realistic and logical.  For example, some of those improvements in the book include robots, DNA collection from air, DNA Detection System (DNA targeted guns), interstellar travel, flying cars; plus, many advancements in plastic surgery and medical technology.  We are already moving at warp speed with technological and medical advancements that many of those things we are currently doing, working on, or are within reach of – especially within fifty years.

This book uses math in a unique and beautiful way showing the symmetry and relations that math plays in our everyday lives.

This book has several mathematical equations featured throughout the book, especially since the main character, Alex, is a renowned mathematician.  For instance, Alex, even has her own sprinting formula:

“I move my arms as fast as I can and my legs follow. It’s still amazing to me how sprinting works: the faster you move your arms, the faster your legs move. It’s like a linear equation in two variables, x and y, where x – the arm motion--is the independent variable, and y – the leg motion--is the dependent variable. When x moves, y has to move. (Pereda 64).”

I found it quite interesting seeing all the math connections that interweaved throughout the story and how they related to real life.  I loved math as a kid, but then somewhere around the teen years it become my worst enemy.  Now as an adult, my job as a financial/compliance auditor is, well, completely math based lol.  As an adult I see math pretty much everywhere and it surprises me how much we end up using it every day.  Although, I remember so many times thinking in school, “when are we ever going to use this in real life?!” and I think back to, “I don’t need to know how fast those trains where going to get to x,” lol.  Yet, there really is so much that I do use and am thankful for my all my math teachers putting up with me lol.  And, “YES, Mr. Brown, I do too have a calculator with me everywhere I go LOL!!!”

The author’s writing is strong and vividly detailed.  There were a few times I found myself caught up in the story.  One particular passage really stuck with me:

“I glance down at the woods streaking below me. They mirror exactly what I’m feeling – serenity and peacefulness on the outside, and a raging chaos inside. In that dense foliage, the struggle for survival goes on. (Pereda 158).”

It just gave me chills reading that passage.  It beautifully described a feeling that I think many of us have felt but may not have been able to put into words – or at least any words like that.  A motion of trying to look and remain calm while screaming inside.  It just captured the sensation perfectly.

I really liked that the author kept throwing out thought provoking questions and making you think of the big picture.

Unfortunately, there are a bit of confusing passages during all the time travel jolts.  It gets complicated going between the current time setting of the book, 2066, and when Alex is reflecting back to her teenage years, fifty years previously, in 2016.  This caused me to have to reread some sections which got a bit frustrating at times.

This book has so much to offer its readers and it’s not just for young adults.  This book is full is action, adventure, intrigue, mystery, suspense, excitement, adrenaline, fantasy, futurism, technological advances, love, romance, friendship, second chances, forgiveness, new beginnings, and so much more.

There are some exciting twists and turns and unexpected moments that will keep you guessing!

All in all, I enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it to anyone interested in reading an exciting, intriguing, interesting, futuristic, young adult, action, adventure book!

**Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book and have voluntarily provided an honest, and unbiased review in accordance with FTC regulations.**


Did you find this review helpful?
If so, please, please, please mark it as helpful on Amazon here:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/review/R19UOCQESHJSMA

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AUTHOR BIO:


David Pereda is the award-winning author of nine novels, including Havana Blues and However Long the Night, as well as the Havana Series of thrillers featuring the dashing Doctor Raymond Peters and the beautiful but deadly Cuban assassin Marcela. He has traveled to more than thirty countries and speaks four languages. Before devoting his time solely to writing and teaching, David had a successful international consulting career with global giant Booz Allen Hamilton, where he worked with the governments of Mexico, Venezuela, Peru and Qatar, among others.

A member of MENSA, David earned his MBA from Pepperdine University in California. He earned bachelor degrees in English literature and mathematics at the University of South Florida in Tampa.

He lives in artistic Asheville, North Carolina, with his youngest daughter Sophia, where he teaches mathematics and English at the Asheville-Buncombe Community College. He loves sports and is an accomplished competitor in track and show-jumping equestrian events.

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CONNECT WITH DAVID:

Website:

Email:
davidpereda@aol.com

Facebook:

Twitter:

Goodreads Author Page:

Goodreads Book Page:

Amazon Author Page:

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BOOK BUY LINKS:

Amazon Kindle:

Amazon Paperback:

Barnes and Noble:

Kobo:

The Book Depository:

BAM! Books-A-Million:

Smashwords:

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GIVEAWAY INFO:

David will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.


**This post contains affiliate links and if clicked and a purchase made I may receive a small commission to help support this blog.  This does not cost you anything, it just helps pay for all those awesome giveaways on here.**

This contest is sponsored by a third party. Fabulous and Brunette is a registered host of Goddess Fish Promotions.  Prizes are given away by the sponsors and not Fabulous and Brunette. The featured author and Goddess Fish Promotions are solely responsible for the giveaway prize.

10 comments:

  1. David ~ Welcome back! It is great to have you here again! Congrats on your new book and good luck on the book tour! I really enjoyed reading and reviewing your book, thanks for providing the copy! :)

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  2. Thank you for having me back on your blog today, Ally, and reviewing my latest novel, Freaking Fast. Your review was detailed and very perceptive on different levels--thank you. I will be checking in and out during the next week or so to answer questions you or your readers may have about the book, writing in general, sprinting technique, flying cars, my life as a writer—or anything else you might have in mind.

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  3. I enjoyed getting to know your book and thanks for the chance to win :)

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    1. If you like to push the envelope, you'd like this book. Thank you for following the tour, DanieX. Good luck in the giveaway.

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    1. Thank you for the nice comment, Rita. Wasn't that a well-written review by Ally? Good luck in the giveaway.

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  6. Thank you for following the tour, Victoria. Good luck in the giveaway.

    ReplyDelete