Monday, November 21, 2016

Review: The Sainted: Book 2 of The Departed Series by Kristy Cooper @kristycooperYA

The Sainted: Book 2 of The Departed Series
by Kristy Cooper
Expected publication: November 21st 2016
Publisher: Olivier
Genre: Science Fiction, Dystopian, Young Adult


Blurb:


What would you do if you were trapped underground with a bunch of religious fanatics who are all waiting for the world to end?

16 year-olds Gwen and Isaiah thought they had finally uncovered the truth about the world-wide conspiracy to manufacture the rapture when they discovered where all the missing people were hiding. But then they became trapped there themselves! They must use their wits to navigate this strange new place and figure out who their real allies are if they are ever going to find a way out. Meanwhile, their friend Mindy is on the outside looking for them as she begins questioning why the infamous Reverend Haymouth has suddenly shown an interest in her and whether her devotion to the True Believer Temple may have been misplaced all along.


Buy Link:



An Excerpt from The Sainted:

"Mindy, what do you know about this Isaiah guy?" Mrs. Byron said. "I'd never even heard of him until today."

"I…" I hesitated to verbalize my thoughts. Logically, Isaiah was the only person capable of orchestrating Gwen's disappearance that way, but my gut told me he couldn't have. I didn't know him very well, but I couldn't imagine him purposely doing something that weird. Maybe he'd try to convince Gwen the rapture hadn't happened, but he wouldn't make her go missing. "I don't know him that well, but I know Gwen has had a crush on him this past school year and they just began hanging out more recently. I mean, I don't know who else she showed the emails from Lana's email address to, but he was the only person who believed them."

"Did Lana hang out with him too?" Officer Mulligan asked. "No, not that I ever heard of. Like I said, Gwen and Isaiah really began hanging out more recently. Like pretty much right after the rapture happened. Before that, they would just talk sometimes in Gwen's government class."

"Isaiah's parents were just as surprised as you about him not coming back home. They, however, noticed their son was missing yesterday, and if we'd had the information from Mindy earlier, it might have been possible for us to connect the dots and figure out what they were up to earlier on." Officer Mulligan looked at his watch. "As it is, they have been gone for almost forty-eight hours. That's a really long time, and they could be just about anywhere now."


"I know. I wish more than anything we had figured this out earlier," Mr. Byron said. "We would give anything to have her safely back home right now."


My Review of The Sainted:

When people started disappearing all over the world and people were calling it the rapture Gwen and Isaiah didn’t quite believe it as they were too many good people left behind for it to be the rapture. When Gwen receives an email from her friend Lana who is among the departed she really starts to investigate the disappearance of so many people.

Gwen and Isaiah finally find her friend Lana and discover that Lana with thousands more have been taken to underground compounds where they are waiting on the real rapture. Gwen may have found her friend but now she is trapped in the compound with everyone else. They can’t let her go because then she would tell everyone that the rapture was a hoax and they can’t have that.

But Gwen and Isaiah have no intentions of staying in the compound for the rest of their lives and start right away trying to find a way to escape. But with so many people keeping their eye on them and keeping them separate from each other may be harder than they think. They hope that they can enlist the help of their new friends in helping them to escape. That is if they can find anyone inside who wants to leave that is.

Can they make the people in the compound see the truth about the rapture being a fake? Can they find anyone who will help them? Is there anyone in the compound who wants out as well? Will they ever be able to escape their life of imprisonment? Will they ever see the outside world again? Will they ever see their parents again? Are they doomed to living a life underground without sunshine or trees?

If you like a good dystopian novel then The Sainted is the book for you and I would highly recommend it but I would suggest that you read book one The Departed first so that you will know and understand what is happening. I have truly and dearly loved reading both books The Departed and The Sainted and can’t wait for the next book in the series.


The Departed: Book 1 of The Departed Series


My Review of The Departed


An Interview with Kristy Cooper

1) What inspires you to write?

I've always had many random story ideas that I felt I needed to do something with. I had this idea, that someday, I would finally get around to sitting down and writing the stories that were growing in my head, but I just kept postponing that day. I think this is such a common problem for a lot of people who would like to write. I finally had a little time on my hands, so I began working on The Departed and as I began writing it, I realized it had so many more details and layers that it should be a series. I have a few other YA science fiction series ideas, that I hope I get a chance to work on after this one is done.

2) What is the hardest thing about being a writer?

I think the hardest thing about being a writer is wishing you could write faster. I keep reading about writers who regularly write 10,000 words a day and I am so jealous! Although I am slowly getting a little faster, I usually end up averaging about 500-2000 words a day.

Related to that issue, is the also wishing I could read faster problem. The more I write, the less time I have to read and vice versa!

3) What do you do when you get writers block?

Most of my experience with writers block has been about particular details in my stories. I haven't really experienced it yet in terms of larger story arc issues. I tend to deal with these blocks by just typing some gibberish and highlighting it in red, so there is no way I will not forget to go back and edit it later. If I am feeling stuck on a small part, I think it's better to just keep writing and go back to whatever the problem is at a later time, otherwise it will completely interrupt your flow.

Sometimes I just can't come up with character names when I am introducing them. While I was working on The Sainted (Book 2 of The Departed Series), I had an Officer Butt and a Mrs. Whatever (really mature I know). They got "real" names later when I went back to edit.

4) What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

Make yourself write everyday by setting a mini-habit. I made my goal to only write 50 words a day which I know isn't very much. But it's also a very attainable goal even if you have an otherwise busy and full day. When your WIP is in front of you, you will almost always write much more than just 50 words.


5) Do you have a street team or an email readers can subscribe to receive updates on upcoming releases, etc?


I do! You can sign-up to get an early review copy of my next book The Sainted at: kristycooper.com/blogger.


Author Bio:


Kristy Cooper found herself often contemplating unusual what-if scenarios and knew it was time to start writing them down. She worked as a librarian for years and is now busy raising small children and writing YA novels. 

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