Named a Publishers Weekly Top 10 Fall Romance for 2016!“Dark and delicious.”—Kerrelyn Sparks, New York Times bestselling author IF HE LOSES, SHE DIESHer voice haunts his thoughts; her whispers fill his daysBut when he discovers the woman of his dreams is realHe’ll race the clock to save her before she’s lost to him forever Scarred by lightning, burdened with a power that gives him no peace, … she’s lost to him forever
Scarred by lightning, burdened with a power that gives him no peace, criminal investigator Xander Stone struggles to maintain his sanity against the voice that haunts him day and night—the voice of a woman begging him to save her.
Isleen Walker has long since given up hope of escape from the nightmare of captivity and torture that is draining her life, her mind, and her soul. Except…there is the man in her feverish dreams, a strangely beautiful man who beckons her to freedom. And when he comes, if he comes, it will take all their combined fury and faith to overcome a madman bent on fulfilling a deadly prophecy.
Fatal Dreams series:
Race the Darkness (Book 1)
Hunt the Dawn (Book 2)
more
This book! I was on the edge of my seat. And when I thought there couldn’t be anymore twists, there was! I fell in love with the characters. I fell in love with the scenery. I felt the emotions and the torture and the connections! It’s a thriller, it’s a tradgey, it’s a romance… it’s fantastic!
WOW! Race the Darkness was a thrilling ride. Abbie Roads created a taunt story that kept me on the edge of my seat trying to figure out what will happen next.
Her characters were complex and wonderfully imperfect. Xander is a self proclaimed and unapologetic jerk (substitute a stronger descriptor here). But I suppose being able to hear what’s going on in everyone’s head will do that to a guy. Add to that his outward appearance and his childhood, it’s no wonder he doesn’t have many healthy relationships to model his own behavior after. Isleen spends her most formative years in a torture trailer. Along with Gram, she spent years not understanding why, but surviving physical and emotional abuse, waiting for knight in shining amour. Along with Xander and Isleen, there is a host of supporting characters you can’t help but relate to, larger than life Row, mysterious Lathan, his family, Alex and Matt Through these additional characters, you are completely drawn into the story.
Roads creates a world you want to learn more about. She also does an amazing job of making it all very believable. Roads uses the technique of “if you can believe that, how about this?” She weaves in the mundane and the fantastic in away, you really do step away thinking, that could really happen. I want to believe in the world Abbie Roads created in Race the Darkness. I want to see Fearless and Bear live on.
I loved this story. The thing was very enjoyable. Abbie compelled me from the first page. I especially enjoyed Row’s wit. She made me giggle every time she put the boys in their place.
This was the first book to an amazing new series!!! There was a lot of emotions going on while reading this book!!! I absolutely recommend this book and look forward to the next one in the series!!! What a dark and wonderful romance!!!
What a totally an unexpected ending/revelation. I can’t wait to see more of what this author has in store.
This was such an awesome, twisted read!!
The connection between Xander and Isleen was intense, and I loved how it played in to the book. Each character had a different personality, and none of them really blended, but they all made this book so good!! I was kinda shocked at who the villains were, and was glad to see Isleen and Xander deal with the hand they had been dealt.
The suspense in this book was crazy intense, and I couldn’t read fast enough to see what would happen next.
This is definitely a must read!!
First off this story pretty much blew me away from the very first page. “Yeah, life was a saggy-assed, fun bag of laughs since he’d been zapped with more than 50,000 volts of lightning.”
Xander Stone got a few extra things with those volts of lighting – including some pretty wicked scars, supercharged hearing as well as the ability to hear others thoughts. But he was also damaged – lots of scars that didn’t show to the world. He had one voice in particular that he did his best to drown out turns out to be a real person crying for help.
Isleen Walker is living a nightmare – being held captive, tortured, starved for eight years along with her Gran. She had a dream that seemed real – He would protect her – He would save her – if only she continued to believe.
These two are on a collision course for each other and even though they are both broken beyond repair – they fit together perfectly. Each is the others reason to exist. Now, that they’ve found each other they must continue to fight all the evil that continues to rain down upon them.
Love Xander & Isleen – the way they are drawn to each other and Xander’s complete and utter unwillingness to give up on her. The irreverent humor and why that they connected both physically and mentally gave you hope that they would survive this whirlwind that is bearing down upon them.
One of those books that makes you both laugh and cry. Did have a HFN ending – so even though it was still dark – you could feel the dawn coming.
I Voluntarily and Honestly reviewed this Advance Reader Copy and was not compensated in any way.
Is it a fluke, a freak or something more?
Xander Stone: a telepathic “freak” that can’t shut off the painful voices in his head; rejected by his parents for his unusual ability.
Isleen Walker: a young woman tortured, starved and beaten, along with her grandmother, for an ability she doesn’t even realize she possesses.
Xander has “heard” the thoughts of those around him for years, unable to turn “off” the voices which bring him severe and ongoing pain, and are only drowned in excessive alcohol. The sweet young woman’s voice has called to him for years, begging for succor, but Xander does his best to ignore it, forcing himself to turn away from her pleas for mercy.
Isleen and her grandmother Gale were kidnapped some eight years ago, undergoing starvation, beatings and torture, all in the name of destroying the “demons” that possessed them. Isleen doesn’t understand why or how, but she knows Xander is the key to their freedom. Against almost insurmountable odds, Xander rescues Isleen and her grandmother from their captor, and the road to unimaginable discoveries begin.
Together, they uncover what it takes to become whole, complete…. and to face their tormentors in a showdown in a final race to freedom… or death.
Abbie Roads’ debut novel reads as anything but. This is an amazing story, grabbing your attention and not letting go. I was intrigued, surprised, saddened and amazed at the twists and turns of this novel. It is complex, with excellent primary and secondary character development, superb plot development and a writing style that flows: imagine you are on a raft, floating down a placid lazy river that becomes a raging rapids, to switch once again to a slow moving river. It carries you through the entire story with a sense of continuity and completeness that is often missing in first novels. *There are some graphic scenes, so is not for the faint of heart.*
As far as paranormal romance/suspense goes, Race the Darkness takes the cake. It presents the concept of the ability to hear other people’s thoughts in an intriguing way. Clearly, this subject has been broached in millions of books throughout the years but I have never seen it looked at as such a painful affliction. Couple that with someone else having the ability to see the future through their dreams and things become even more complicated. The fact that this somehow is essentially a love story makes for some emotional reading. It’s difficult not to feel sorry for the main characters.
For more than 25 years, Xander Stone has lived on the same property as his Dream Researcher father but they have not spoken. This was a result of his father Alex’s loss of the only woman he truly loved, Xander’s stepmother Gale. Alex was not a good father to Xander who really needed a father since his mother died when he was young and then his stepmother left when he was only seven years old. To add insult to injury, Xander was struck by lightning ten years ago and cursed with the ability to hear other people’s thoughts. You would think that such an ability would be a blessing but the physical and emotional pain that it causes Xander is difficult for him to bare. He is always angry and craves silence that he can’t obtain. In addition, there is a voice of a woman who is being tortured that clouds his mind ever so often. Her voice is so overwhelming that Xander generally has to get drunk in order to get away from it.
Without taking away from the suspense, I will tell you that one day Xander is unable to ignore the voice. The part of him that he calls “The Ba***rd In His Brain” takes over and guides him to the place where Xander finds a young woman named Isleen Walker and her grandmother who have been held captive and tortured for years. Isleen is the voice that’s been in his head for a decade. The connection between Isleen and Xander will shock you almost as much as the fact that Xander could have possibly saved her from torture years ago. They soon learn that their destinies were likely linked together from the beginning. That link will be tested when the cult that had been holding Isleen captive tries to get her back.
I really enjoyed Race the Darkness but I felt that there were a few things that happened that weren’t totally explained. It wouldn’t be a big deal if I felt that the next book, Hunt the Dawn, would answer some of my questions but from what I have seen regarding the description of the book, I don’t think that it will. Consequently, I will have to take away a few points for that. However, I do intend on reading the next book.
The story was really good. A bit dark, which is exactly what I was in the mood for. I loved the connection between Xander and Isleen. I just couldn’t stop reading. Very enthralling and original. I look forward to reading the next book.
Dark paranormal romance that’s wrapped around a centuries old legend and religious fanatics. I love finding new authors and this debut book from Abbie Roads has hooked me on her Fatal Dreams series.
As I sit here and think about all the men in this book they were all pretty much asses – both the good ones and the bad ones. The brooding hero, Xander Stone, certainly has his reasons for being one. A father who abandoned him emotionally after his wife left, then getting struck by lightning leaving disfiguring scars all over his body which in turn gave him the gift (or nightmare) of having amplified hearing and also to being able to hear what any person is thinking. Even though he uses his gift to help the Department of Criminal Investigation, he see it as a curse and survives by drinking the noise in his head away. For years he’s heard a woman’s voice in his head begging him to save her. He didn’t think it was real and chose to ignore it until one day by a force not of his own he ends up at a dilapidated trailer and finds a woman whose been reduced to skin and bones from her 8 year captivity.
Isleen Walker had given up on ever being rescued. She had made piece that death would be a relief from the hell she had been living the last 8 years. It’s at this point the man her of dreams – literally – comes crashing in a saves her. Seems Xander isnt the only one with a gift.
From the moment they see each other something magical happens and Xander vows to never leave her side. But what neither of them knows is their families history is tangled up in a mess of madness which still has Isleen life in danger.
There is a lot a cray cray and woo woo in this book but it was the type that kept you glued to the pages to see what was going to happen next and if Xander and Isleen, who had been through so much hell in their lives, were ever going to get the peace they deserved.