Roman by Kennedy Streath, Spotlight, REVIEW, and GIVEAWAY

BOOK INFO 

Title – Roman 

Series – Saints and Sinners 

Author – Kennedy Streath 

Genre – Dark Urban Fantasy 

Publication Date – 12/11/12 

Length (Pages/# Words) - 89935 

Publisher – PubRight 

Cover Artist – Poppet

BOOK BLURB/SYNOPSIS 

Benedict Nowak bailed on his marriage, taking his son with him but leaving behind his five year old

daughter. He had his reasons. He had no idea they’d come back to haunt him.

TJ had come to terms with the mother she despised, making those small concessions that made life

bearable. But her mother’s death changed everything.

Her brother, Anton, was the parent missing in TJ’s life, until he found a calling in violence, and left his

sister at the mercy of shrinks and a mother with ice in her veins.

Roman Rincon was the juvie rescued by Father Marcus and placed in the care of Benedict Nowak. With

his records sealed, no one knew what happened that fateful night when Roman was only fourteen. All

Father Marcus knew was the boy had confessed to a crime not even the cops would talk about.

In the small coal mining town of Montville, two teens whose lives have been shattered beyond repair

must find a way to cope … with school, with each other, with growing up marked as broken in a town

dying under the weight of secrets and lies.

Warned off having anything to do with Roman, TJ is all too willing to agree, except for one little thing.

The young man lives in the apartment above her father’s car repair business so avoiding him might be a

problem.

As for Roman, he will take his secret to the grave, no matter what the cost.

BUY

LINKS

AMAZON KINDLE / AMAZON PAPERBACK / BARNES & NOBLES NOOK / BARNES & NOBLES PAPERBACK / SMASHWORDS / ITUNES / GOODREADS

EXCERPT

Forced into making decisions no young girl should ever make, TJ must deal with her conflicted feelings

for a mother who cared only for her career and a father who turned his back on his responsibilities.

When TJ’s mother dies, the teen must go live with a father who is a stranger, in a town dying under the

weight of poverty and ethnic divisions.

TJ’s father, Benedict Nowak, has given Roman Rincon sanctuary. Fresh out of three years in juvie, the

only friend Roman has is Father Marcus. The priest convinced the court to remand the troubled teen to

Benedict’s supervision. Roman has to keep his head down and his nose clean.

This excerpt is the scene when TJ finally gets to meet the elusive teen.

*****

“Come on in, Roman. I want you to meet...” Ben waved in her direction, “…my daughter, TJ.”

The teen stared, eyes a flat obsidian, framed by impossibly long lashes, the thick brownish black brows

creased into a single, disapproving line. Deepset, those eyes were all she could focus on, commanding

her undivided attention.

Ben rattled on, “TJ stands for Theresa Jane…”

Throat dry, TJ mouthed a ‘hi’ but it died before her lips could form the word. To her surprise her father

wasn’t filling in the blanks like she might have expected, spilling all her particulars.

No … her mother just passed. I’m all she has. Well, Tony also. But Tony’s gone, back to his unit. She’ll be

going to the high school. We’ll see the prin—

Instead he’d turned back to his task, shoulders rigid with tension. TJ wondered why.

But then she looked closer at the man hiding behind a boy’s lean and lanky frame, at the sharp planes

of his high cheekbones, the cruel set to lips just on the edge of full, a hint of a dimple offset by the tilt of

his head that spoke to defiance and self-sufficiency.

The hoodie masked all but his face. Short sideburns shadowed by the fleece suggested raven dark hair. It

wouldn’t be a surprise if he wore it long, perhaps in a tail. He wasn’t as tall as her father or Tony, maybe

five eleven, but she’d thought him bigger the way he commanded a room, like he’d emptied it of air and

filled it with his presence, something physical … and something not. That something seemed to hover in

the air currents, leaving her feeling like cannon fodder in a bad horror movie.

She felt the catch in her lungs, the sensation of menace, but refused to look away. She knew all about

turf wars from her mother: the legal kind with briefs and a quick wit, the other with self-actualization on

each side of a tennis court, the advantage always Eleanore. Mostly she knew about negotiating. About

trade-offs. Being bought. Staying out of the way. Rigging the balance sheet so losses looked less like

failure and more like incremental skirmishes.

Eleanore cooked the legal ledgers to get what she wanted. TJ leaned toward a slightly different

interpretation but both had understood a zero sum game.

Roman had that very special knowledge also. But one thing about him was different: he needed no one,

he feared nothing. Of that she was one hundred percent sure.

When he turned away and left without a word, she and Ben breathed a sigh of relief.

My Review:

I honestly don't know why I agreed to review this one, YA paranormal is not my thing.  Typically it's full of cliches and stereotypes, and is seriously lacking in the creativity department.  Whatever made me decide to review Roman, I'm so glad I did.  This book is (in my opinion) is what YA paranormal should be.  It was darkly sublime with writing that was the best I've read in a long time.

“If time was a physical, material thing, it would be Jell-O, thick and sticky, or chowder—gooey corn chowder, prickly with bits of husk, the surface parting about her, then slip-sliding back to coat her back like a soft, warm blanket.

I am losing my mind.”

The characters are so well-drawn out, and don't start out the least bit likeable, but you relate to them anyway, because you know them, or you are them.  And you end up rooting for them.  I never really knew what was going on in the book until the last 80%, which was maddening, because I usually have plotlines down by 25%.  The writing style was unique, and in some places reminded me of Cormak McCarthy.

I've read the author started this story on his blog, posting a chapter at a time, and that alone made me want to start following him closely, (not that I have the time, mind you) because he shows a creativity that is unsurpassed by most in this genre that I've read.

I will be giving this book 5 stars, and I don't give many of those.  Well done, Mr. Streath.

  

AUTHOR BIO 

Kennedy Streath writes with gritty realism, exploring that intersect where the paranormal and the

suspension of disbelief take a back seat to the power of the spirit and the raw edges of conflicted

souls. He moves to the backbeat that’s a heartbeat, blending action, suspense and intensely sensual

romance.

Kennedy lives in the country with horses to ground that spectre of disquiet that haunts us all and holds

to a belief in the promise of the young and young at heart.

FOLLOW LINKS

AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE / WEBSITE / TWITTER / GOODREADS / ABOUT ME

GIVEAWAY 

1 Print copy of Roman (Saints and Sinners) (US only)

2 eBook copies of Roman (Saints and Sinners): PDF, mobi or epub

a Rafflecopter giveaway

  

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