- Product Details:
- Title: Stitch(Stitch Trilogy Book 1)
- Author: Samantha Durante
- Paperback: 322 pages
- Publisher: Samantha Durante (July 31, 2012)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0985804602
- ISBN-13: 978-0985804602
- FTC: FYI: I was given a review e-copy in exchange for an honest review.
Book Description:
Her heart races, her muscles coil, and every impulse in Alessa’s body screams at her to run… but yet she’s powerless to move.
Still struggling to find her footing after the sudden death of her parents, the last thing college freshman Alessa has the strength to deal with is the inexplicable visceral pull drawing her to a handsome ghostly presence. In between grappling with exams and sorority soirees – and disturbing recurring dreams of being captive in a futuristic prison hell – Alessa is determined to unravel the mystery of the apparition who leaves her breathless. But the terrifying secret she uncovers will find her groping desperately through her nightmares for answers.
Because what Alessa hasn’t figured out yet is that she’s not really a student, the object of her obsession is no ghost, and her sneaking suspicions that something sinister is lurking behind the walls of her university’s idyllic campus are only just scratching the surface…
The opening installment in a twist-laden trilogy, Stitch spans the genres of paranormal romance and dystopian sci-fi to explore the challenges of a society in transition, where morality, vision, and pragmatism collide leaving the average citizen to suffer the results.
My Review:
I really loved this book! I really liked the aspect of how things shifted so much not even half way into the book! What you had assumed was happening, was really all a facade! This was such a clever premise! I also really liked the spunky main character, Alessa and her devoted sister Janie. This book is a fun read with a lot of action. It also is a great combination of paranormal and dystopian. This book/series is touted as being “twist-laden” and that’s exactly right! I can’t wait to see what is revealed in the next book. I think the most surprising thing about Stitch, is when you realize that this is the first book written by Samantha Durante! Congratulations to her for such a successful first book!
Excerpt From Stitch
Alessa held her hand up. “Just save it, Janie. My mind is made up, and nothing you say is going to change it. I’m going to warn Isaac, and I don’t care about the consequences. I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t try.”
Janie looked like she was about to argue, but she let it go. “Okay, fine. I have to go to the library now, but we can talk later. Just… don’t do anything rash,” she pleaded.
Alessa just gave Janie a stony glare. She could see the hurt on Janie’s face and felt a pang of remorse, but she just couldn’t seem to let the anger go.
Janie turned and left, closing the door cautiously behind her, and Alessa dropped into her desk chair. She was shaking with rage from head to toe.
Download the free sample chapters here!
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Looking for more Stitch Trilogy? Spinoff stories, character interviews, and more available here!
Amazon Prime members: Stitch is currently available to borrow for FREE from the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library!
****Here is an interesting post from Samantha Durante about why she chose to write a Dystopian novel. Enjoy!
Why I Chose Dystopian: by Samantha Durante, author of Stitch
I’m so excited to be here and to share a little about why I chose to write Stitch – my very first book – in the dystopian genre.
There are literally HUNDREDS of book genres to choose from, but when I started coming up
with ideas for Stitch, there were only two that I knew right away Stitch might fall into: paranormal romance and dystopian sci-fi. (And in fact, I wasn’t able to choose just one, so it’s actually a little bit of both!)
Dystopian stories have been incredibly popular lately, particularly in the young adult market (see: Hunger Games, Divergent, Pandemonium, etc.). And though I didn’t realize it until I discovered all these new dystopian series recently, I’ve always been drawn to dystopian settings – The Giver, Brave New World, and Fahrenheit 451 were some of my favorite books as a kid. So this begs the question of what exactly it is about dystopian books that’s got me and all these other readers so excited.
And after giving it some thought, I think it comes down to a few factors: uncertainty, morality, and hope.
1. Uncertainty. We’ve all seen the news reports the past couple years – between the economy, the environment, and the unending global violence, it’s pretty obvious: our world is on a downward spiral. At least, it certainly feels like that sometimes. And when you look into the future and it’s all of a sudden unclear where things are going, it gets you thinking: what if things actually got worse? Like, much worse? What would it be like? Am I prepared? Could I survive?
2. Morality. So the media has got us down on ourselves and wondering if our civilization can
even make it, and as soon as you open that can of worms, all kind of difficult questions present themselves. What would I do to survive? With limited resources, how do you decide who gets to survive? Who makes that decision? What happens if I don’t like the answers to these questions? How could I do things differently? But am I any more qualified to come up with answers than the next guy? We all know what’s right and wrong in the normal day-to-day but what happens when the world gets turned on its head? Do the rules change?
3. Hope. And I think this is really the crux of the whole dystopian genre – when the world ends, and everything is terrible, and you’re forced to do things you don’t even want to think about just to keep on living, what do you have left? Hope. Only hope.
I think this is a fundamental feature of human beings – that inner optimism, the ability to remind ourselves that there’s something out there worth living for even when our world crumbles beyond our wildest nightmares. So we start thinking about how we can solve the problem – how would I structure our society to make something better? What could I change that would create a better outcome? After all, every dystopia is just a failed utopia – someone’s unsuccessful attempt at making the world a better place. So dystopian books force us to ask ourselves what we would have done differently, and thereby tap into that inner well of hopefulness, that unbreakable conviction that somewhere there is a right answer, even if we haven’t figured it out yet.
For me, dystopian books are all about the “What If,” and that’s a game I love to play. So with the Stitch trilogy, we’ll get to play “What If” through (the protagonist) Alessa’s eyes – to see how she answers these questions, how far she’s willing to go, and what factors will push her to bend her own rules. And as we watch Alessa struggle to find her place in a transitioning society, we get to ask ourselves: what would I do?
Author Bio:
Samantha Durante lives in Westchester County, New York with her husband, Sudeep, and her cat, Gio. Formerly an engineer at Microsoft, Samantha left the world of software in 2010 to pursue her entrepreneurial dreams and a lifelong love of writing. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Jerome Fisher Program in Management & Technology, Samantha is currently working full time for her company Medley Media Associates as a freelance business writer and communications consultant. Stitch is her first novel. Learn more about Samantha at
www.samanthadurante.com.
Complicating matters in defining a Christian is the existence of Modern-day Pharisees—the “critics” among the Christian community. These critics are nothing new. Jesus Christ during his public ministry was often confronted by the Pharisees who challenged his authority and spiritual legitimacy.
