In a flash, everything changes.
When NYU student Asher Caine’s uncle calls to
warn him something big is coming, he has no idea it will be so devastating. Not
even years of training can prepare him for what he's about to face. The only
plan he has is to get his sister and nephew across country to safety, whatever
it takes.
The darkness is full of potential. For good
or evil, only time will tell.
Elliot Davenport isn’t about to let his
Chemistry lab partner leave him behind, though he’s never done a spontaneous
thing in his life. Ash is mysterious, aloof, and so damned sexy, Elliot can’t
get the guy out of his head. But his crush takes a backseat as the gravity of
the situation becomes clear: the eastern two-thirds of the United States has
gone dark.
What happens when all the rules change in a
split second?
200 million people are without access to
sustainable food and water, let alone coffee and the Internet. Facing the worst
humanitarian crisis the western world has ever seen, the government calls the
military to step in. The entire military.
The soldiers of Team Shockwave are tasked with
evacuating civilians to the safety of refugee camps, and then patrolling the
new border between the East and West. Shockwave are on the front lines and the
fate of an entire nation rests on them.
Welcome to the long fall of night…
AVAILABLE NOW!
My Review
Where do I start with
this book? I don't even know...It consumes you. I found myself
daydreaming about it. Long after I closed it, it was there. Every song,
commercials, even food shopping made me think of it. That's some serious
writing power. AJ Rose has started a series with one hell of an
explosion of literary genius. She's not a bestselling author for
nothing. I will say Elliot was my favorite character. I was drawn to his
thinking, his doing, his existing. Ash was his beacon and together they
were safe. That's saying something too. This world AJ created is
terrifying and sadly it can absolutely happen. If the other books in
this series are as great as book 1 this will likely be one of, if not,
the best series out there.
Now, you may wonder if this is
hyperbole. But, it's not! I gravitate toward apocalypse movies and
shows. The Walking Dead, Day After Tomorrow, Armageddon. I love shows
built on pillars of unique creativity like Game of Thrones and Sons of
Anarchy. I LOVE when anything can happen, when my heart is in my throat,
my pulse pounds, and I'm about ready to jump out of my skin. AJ has
managed to do this epically with this book. I know what I'm talking
about here.
This book will stay with you. It will literally
change how you live your life. It will make you appreciate the luxuries.
You'll be hooked!
Interview
I have a wonderful and exciting interview for all of you
today! I have Ash and Elliot here to chit chat.
If you aren’t familiar with these names, they are the main characters in
AJ Rose’s new book The Long Fall of Night. Book one in what will be an epic apocalypse
series.
I’m going to talk with these two guys for a bit. Ask them
some fun and possibly dark questions and see what transpires.
Thank you both for being here today.
Ash: Thanks for having us.
Elliot: [smiles nervously and nods]
I’m going to start out with a question for you both to
answer. Clearly, the fantasy of an apocalyptic world and the reality are very
different. Growing up and having everyone talking about the end of the world.
What did you think it would be like? The Walking Dead, Armageddon?
Ash: [chuckling] I thought it would be in someone
else’s lifetime. My Uncle Marvin had all kinds of end-of-the-world scenarios in
his head while my sister and I were growing up, so for a while, it was fun to
talk about those with him. The older I got, the more I realized his ideas were
actually possible, and that sort of flipped me out. It wasn’t so fun anymore to
play what if.
Elliot: With my family, there was one
catastrophic scenario discussed all the time. You don’t grow up the son of an
oil tycoon without considering what happens when we’d run out of fossil fuels.
So I always thought it would be a shortage of oil that would happen first. I
was optimistic, however, that by the time it happened, we’d have created
alternative clean energy, both vastly superior to what we had, more cost
effective, with less of an impact on the environment.
Ash: You’re such a dreamer.
Elliot: [shrugging] You’ve got enough cynicism
for an army. One of us has to think positive.
Ash: [taking Elliot’s hand] Idealist.
Elliot: Pessimist.
Ash: I’m a survivalist.
Elliot: [sobers, speaking quietly] Good thing
you are.
Elliot, the very first time you met Ash, what were your
thoughts? I ask because when we little people come into play you’ve both known
each other. Tell us about the first time you met?
Elliot: Ash and I had an applied physics class together
last year, but I don’t know if he remembers that.
Ash: [shakes head] I remember the class, but not who was in it.
Elliot: [bemused] I was just a freshman, so if I
registered as anything, it was as that lanky nerd in the middle center desk. I
think we actually spoke for the first time in environmental science the next
semester. I may have said excuse me after bumping into him [fake coughs]
deliberately accidentally. We got paired as partners in chemistry my second
semester sophomore year, so that’s when he had to talk to me, but I’d known who
he was for a long time.
Ash: I knew who Elliot was before being lab partners, too. He is—was—the only
sophomore in junior level classes for a combination bachelor’s/master’s degree
in a highly technical field. Everybody knew of him, at least. Well, [waving
hand in a ‘sort of’ gesture] as much as he’d let them know. I think me and one
other girl knew he was one of those
Davenports. But I’d never seen him use that to his advantage, so I figured he
wanted to be as inconspicuous as I did. We didn’t really have one of those
lightning struck introductions followed by a relationship. And I know that
wasn’t my question, but he’s too hard on himself about my first impressions,
which I admit to hiding from him if only because they were hard for me to
admit, even to myself.
Ash, clearly you were busy trying to survive and keep your
group safe. But, did your mind ever drift to what others were struggling with?
Did you think about the people stuck in elevators and such?
Ash: Of course. On the drive out of New York, I
wondered how the people in the subways were faring, and I remember thinking
thank god it wasn’t full on summer yet or those people would have cooked for
hours before being rescued. But every time I thought of people trapped in an
elevator or blocked in bad traffic, I couldn’t help feeling just a tad grateful
for the head start that afforded us. Maybe that’s callous, but it was the
single most important advantage we had. If we’d delayed getting out of the city
even a few hours, from what Brian told us—
Elliot: Brian is the Vice President of IT and
Security for Davenport Oil Company, and he promised my father he’d find me when
the blackout started because my parents were out of the country.
Ash: [nodding] Brian told us the looting started shortly after midnight on the
first day. Those few hours’ jumpstart gave us time to get out of the hot zone,
so to speak. As much as I felt bad for people in worse situations than ours, I
couldn’t think too hard about it because I had five other people to consider.
Elliot, I have to ask before we go any further. How’s Ghost?
Elliot: He’s good. The Army is helping me train him
further as a seizure dog since I’d have no idea how to do that on my own, and I
can’t exactly google it anymore. I believe if we hadn’t found him, though,
things would be pretty bleak for me. The seizures… aren’t exactly slowing down.
Have either of you bonded much with Shockwave, and any one
more than another?
Ash: Shockwave has been awesome, and considering our
proximity to them now, it’d be odd if we didn’t get to know them better. Chris
and Donnie are hilarious even if they’re a little bit bitchy to each other, but
that’s kind of how they function best. Ness is a badass and to be truthful, she
kind of scares me. She could crack my skull like a walnut in one fist, I bet.
The rest of them are good people, and Riley has taken quite the shine to Matt.
Elliot: We’ve learned a lot from Shockwave, even
if they’re still on border duty half the time. I’d say we’ve come to appreciate
them all for their help in the blackout. Even if we ended up sidetracked from
the original plan.
Elliot, what sort of things do you find yourself doing that
you never even thought to do before this entire mess happened?
Elliot: Hunting, for one thing. I’d never shot a rifle
or an arrow before, and it’s kind of growing on me. Don’t think I’ll mess with
handguns again, though. [shudders] But I didn’t have as much trouble with
camping and living off the land as people seemed to expect me to. It was an
adventure, up until halfway through Nebraska. I doubt my family would have ever
allowed me such experiences if the country had kept on as it had for the last hundred
years. I can read the stars better now, too. No light pollution to blot them
out.
Ash, if there was one movie you could watch right now, what
would you choose?
Ash: Oh man, that’s a good question. So many to pick
from, I don’t know that I can.
Elliot: Careful, he cheats at stuff like this.
He’ll say a movie series or TV show to get out of picking just one.
Ash: [wrinkles nose at Elliot] That’s not a bad idea, but she said one movie.
[considers for a long moment] I don’t really go for war movies or horror, and
comedy right now, while probably more welcome than anything else, feels kind of
disrespectful. I’d have to go for an adventure, but not an apocalypse. [grins
at Elliot] That’s a little too close to home. I’d say either The Goonies or
Inception, depending on my mood.
For both of you, if you could go back in time to any year,
which would you choose and would you stay there?
Elliot: I wouldn’t go back. Yeah, the past has its
creature comforts, but this year has been not only my most enlightening in
terms of challenges faced, it’s been my most promising. I’m terrified, but I’m
on my own two feet.
Ash: [staring at his hands in his lap] The year 2000. I was only 6, but it was
before 9/11, before my dad left for Afghanistan, and before I understood mortality.
That was probably the last idyllic year of my childhood. And both my parents
were alive.
Elliot: [takes Ash’s hand but says nothing]
At this moment, what do you both fear the most and what are
you most grateful for?
Elliot: [clears throat] I’m most afraid of getting
separated. Our whole group has had each other’s backs through some rough
things. I trust them like I trust no one else. As for being grateful, I’m glad
Ash was there for me to tag along with, even if I thought he was crazy at
first. I have no doubt he’s saved my life.
Ash: Um, I think my biggest fear already came true, that the careful life I
planned isn’t going to happen and there’s nothing I can do about it. At this
point, all I can do is go with the flow and try and keep us alive. That’s
easier now, and I hope it will be for a while, but who knows what’s going to
happen? As for gratitude, I’m pretty grateful to even be here right now.
Ash, how is Riley holding up with all this New World stuff?
Ash: He seems okay, though he has nightmares
sometimes. Hell, we all do, though, so that’s not weird.
Elliot, this situation has changed you. Elliot’s Evolution!
What do you think is the biggest personal change you’ve discovered?
Elliot: [speaking at the same time as Ash] My spine.
Ash: His balls.
Elliot: [smacks Ash’s thigh] I’m a pretty quiet
guy, but that doesn’t mean I have to be a pushover. If I can survive these last
few months, I can survive anything. I think.
Ash: [smiling serenely] He can.
This is a very important question…. Coffee, in the
apocalypse, how is it?
Ash: I never got hooked on coffee, so I don’t really
drink it now either. I leave it for the others to fight over. Not a frenzy I
want in on.
Elliot: It’s not gourmet, that’s for sure, but
it’s available. I miss ice cream.
What does the future hold for the 2 of you?
[both look at each other]
Ash: Who knows?
Elliot: Yeah, we have no idea. Things are too
unstable right now to make definitive plans. I don’t want to go where Ash
isn’t. That’s about the extent of my plans.
Ash: Keeping Elliot and my people safe. That’s all I can worry about. Getting
Elliot somewhere better for his seizures. The camp isn’t as equipped for his
condition as I’d have hoped.
I really want to thank you both so very much. Please give
Ghost squishy hugs for me. I wish the best for both of you. After all, the fate
of the world rests on your shoulders.
Ash: [deadpan] Gee, thanks.
Elliot: Thank you for having us.
Giveaway
AJ Rose is gifting one person a ebook copy of The Long Fall of Night. Simply enter through the rafflecopter below. Contest will run until July 19th. Winner will be contacted via email so be sure to check your spam!
I want to thank AJ, Ash, and Elliot for their time today!
Remember: Review what you read, it matters!
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