One of One by S. R. Cronin - Book Tour - Book Review - Giveaway - Enter Daily!

Hi lovelies!  It gives me great pleasure today to host S. R. Cronin and her new book, “One of One”!  For other stops on her 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 $20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift Card!!  Also, come back daily to interact with S. R. and to increase your chances of winning!

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

One of One

by S. R. Cronin

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GENRE: Science Fiction/Fantasy

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BLURB:

A young Nigerian telepath faces a crisis. After Somadina’s sister is forced into a frightening marriage, Somadina cannot find her sibling or even her thoughts. She seeks another telepath to help.

What she finds is Lola, a busy Texan scientist who has ignored the disturbing phenomenon in her mind for decades, and has no intention of embracing this nonsense now. Yet these two have more in common than they know, and a powerful link will be forged.

Once Somadina discovers her sister is a pawn in a dangerous political game, the stakes rise for everyone, including an ancient organization of telepaths compelled to intervene. Both women are stronger than they realize, and they have ignited the wrath of a fanatic willing to kill anyone to alter his nation’s future.

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EXCERPT THREE:

Then Lola's thoughts invariably wandered off to the bizarre situation with the woman Lola had agreed to help. It was disturbing how much she knew about this woman. She was younger and less educated. She lived somewhere far from Texas. Based on her not wanting Lola to leave Lagos, Lola assumed she was Nigerian.

She had a younger sister, and Lola was supposed to help locate her. She was worried for this sister, and puzzled as to why she could seldom sense anything from her when she was able to pick up information from so many others.

Why did the woman not know her own sister's whereabouts? Was the sister lost? Kidnapped? Had she run-away from home? All Lola could tell was that she was gone and could not be found.

The problem was Lola had not the faintest idea of how to find this sister. Except for the mystery woman and Jumoke, the engineer in Lagos, the most she could do was sense vague feelings from others. She lacked the skills this woman seemed to think she had, and she'd be quite happy if it stayed that way.

Yet, she’d made a promise to help. So Sometimes Lola tried to mutter comforting things back to the woman, because she didn't know what else she could do.

On rare occasion, she sat on the porch and thought about nothing at all. On one of those times, when her mind was blank, she heard an elderly gentleman's voice in her head.

Lola? Little Lola Conroy? Good heavens dear, is that you?

Lola searched her mind for knowledge of an older man who might have known her by her maiden name.

It's okay honey. You're fine. I didn't mean to startle you. It's okay. She could almost see an elderly man backing out of her mind with great care.

Good grief, she thought. Now what?

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MY BOOK REVIEW:

This book is thought-provoking, compelling, well-researched, with complex characters, elaborate plot points, and touches on multiple topics including real-life issues.

So, for me, this book had a lot of pros and cons, but overall, I enjoyed reading it and I liked the message the author conveys and the questions she inspires throughout the book.

Unfortunately, this book started out very slow-paced and was difficult to hold my attention.  However, it eventually picked up about half-way to two-thirds in and finally got captivating where I was actually hanging on to every word.  I was glad I stuck with it as the second half of the book made up for the slow start.

I really liked the in-depth amount of research the author did while constructing this book.  It was clear she was very familiar and well-versed on the culture, customs, and traditions of Nigeria.  I honestly did not know much about life over there or anything about the Igbo people.  However, the author provided so much detail and such vivid descriptions it made the scenes easy to picture.

I enjoyed the history lessons that were weaved in throughout the book and learning more about African history, their laws, their social and economic status, and their positions and standings in global politics.  It is clear, Mrs. Cronin is familiar with Nigeria and was able to add significant historical references into fun and interesting scenes while showing a strong knowledge of the area.

This book provides a significant amount of research data on telepathy that is interesting, however, at times, a bit overwhelming and distracting from the overall story.  Most of the information is intriguing and perhaps some of it is important to know, but I think this is what contributed to the first-half of the story getting bogged down.  I didn’t find myself lost in the story, just bored, and confused why I needed to know all this.  I know with sci-fi and fantasy books there is always world-building and having to explain the set and details, but in this case, some passages went a little overboard and became overly technical.

I really liked all the additions to the book besides the story.  This book included a map that showed where the main characters resided and the areas that they moved about in.  This book also included a list of resources the author used while researching and writing this book that include songs, cultural information, etc.  Also, at the end of this book is a list of all the characters names and their role in the book.  These additions provided readers a little something extra.  Plus, it allows the reader the chance to decide if they want to follow up with reading about more research on telepathy or Nigeria instead of having too much forced on them.

This book is written from the main characters POV.  Normally that would be fine, however, this book switches from POV within just a few paragraphs.  At times, it gets a bit confusing with the back-and-forth.  Of course, each character has distinctive voices, and I would never mistaken the creepy sadist, Djimon for Lola, Somadina, or Nwanyi lol.  It’s more like Lola and her husband Alex are getting ready to go camping, and then a few lines down, stars to show we switched characters POV, and then it’s like about Somadina upset her dad won’t let her use his phone to call Nwanyi back, for a mere few lines.  Then, more stars.  And it’s right back to the camping trip with Lola and Alex for a few lines and then stars, and off to Djimon.  And that all happened within 2 ½ pages.  Imagine that for 243 pages.  It’s gets somewhat perplexing to keep focused and remember all the different storylines between the characters.  There were a few passages I had to re-read throughout the book to keep up and keep everything straight.

As someone who has personal experience with Domestic Violence, I appreciate books, like this one, that provide an honest insight into that world and even shine light on how walking away isn’t as easy as some people think.  Also, that this book showed how Domestic Violence doesn’t just affect the couple – it also affects the family, friends, neighbors, and other loved ones.

However, I have to admit it was a bit hard to read some of those passages, as they were quite dark, and I’ll be honest I did skim past a few of those lines here and there.  It is even harder to hear when those awful actions are accepted – actually legal in Nigeria.  It’s hard enough if don’t have your friend’s or family’s support, but when your own government is not on your side, I couldn’t even imagine.

I really like that this book takes real-life issues head on and allows the reader to easily connect with the characters and the situations they get into.

Of course, this book is science-fiction/fantasy, so that only goes so far.  But this book has enough real-life material that readers can at least understand, appeal to, and sympathize with the characters.

This book is book one in the 46. Ascending Book Series.  So, it can obviously be read as a standalone.  There is a total of six books in this book series and all them have already been released for sale.  All six books feature Lola and her family and their special abilities.  According to the author, all of these books in this series can be read as a standalone.

Please note that this book is strongly rated 18+ as it contains adult situations, adult language, sexual content, significant amount of abuse, etc.

Even though I didn’t completely love this book, I still enjoyed reading it and would recommend this book to all science-fiction and fantasy readers!

**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/R3KYUEIGKUJHIB

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AUTHOR BIO:

Sherrie Roth grew up in Western Kansas thinking there was no place in the universe more fascinating than outer space. After her mother vetoed astronaut as a career ambition, she went on to study journalism and physics in hopes of becoming a science writer.

She published her first science fiction short story long ago, and then waited a lot of tables while she looked for inspiration for the next story. When it finally came, it declared to her it had to be a whole book, nothing less. One night, while digesting this disturbing piece of news, she drank way too many shots of ouzo with her boyfriend. She woke up thirty-one years later demanding to know what was going on.

The boyfriend, who she had apparently long since married, asked her to calm down and explained how, in a fit of practicality, she had gone back to school and gotten a degree in geophysics and spent the last 28 years interpreting seismic data in the oil industry. The good news, according to Mr. Cronin, was that she had found it to be entertaining and ridiculously well-paying. The bad news was the two of them had still managed to spend almost all of the money.

Apparently she was now Mrs. Cronin, and further good news was that they had produced three wonderful children whom they loved, even though, to be honest, that was where a lot of the money had gone. Even better news was that Mr. Cronin turned out to be a warm-hearted, encouraging sort who was happy to see her awake and ready to write. "It's about time," were his exact words.

Sherrie Cronin discovered that over the ensuing decades Sally Ride had already managed to become the first woman in space and apparently had done a fine job of it. No one, however, had written the book that had been in Sherrie's head for decades. The only problem was, the book informed her it had now grown into a six book collection. Sherrie decided she better start writing it before it got any longer. She's been wide awake ever since, and writing away.

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CONNECT WITH S.R.:

Blog – 46 Ascending:

https://46ascending.org

Blog – Face Painting for World Peace:

http://tothepowerofzero.org

Blog – Fire Dancing for Fun and Profit:

http://ytothepowerof1.org

Blog – Treasure Hunting for a Good Time:

http://zsquaredblog.org

Blog – Leaving the Nest to Touch the Sky:

http://ctothepowerofthree.org

Blog – Touching the Sky to Save the World:

http://dtothepowerof4.org

Email:

lola.zeitman@gmail.com

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Number46Ascending

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/cinnabar01

Goodreads Author Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5805814.Sherrie_Cronin

Goodreads Book Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43658514-one-of-one

Amazon Author Page:

https://amzn.to/2SYuW36

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AMAZON BOOK BUY LINKS:

Amazon Kindle:

https://amzn.to/2VVJ67d

Amazon Paperback:

https://amzn.to/2XQbh9f

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GIVEAWAY INFO:

S. R. will be awarding a $20 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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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.