Review Tour + #Giveaway: Shape of Secrets by S.R. Cronin @cinnabar01 @GoddessFish

Shape of Secrets

by S. R. Cronin

GENRE: Science Fiction, Fantasy

BLURB:

Seven year old Zane vowed to become a superhero. As a child too smart to fit in, he studied chameleons and muscle groups to learn to alter his appearance.

Now Zane is starting his first job at Penthes Pharmaceuticals, where he finds layers of corporate secrets and learns that knowledge is dangerous. Good thing he excels at blending in.

Once upper management discovers him, life gets more complicated. A sales trip to the South Pacific leaves Zane dealing with an unsolved murder, an unsavory boot camp manager, and new friends with abilities as surprising as his own and with problems far worse.

Zane wants to help them all. First, however, he has a few work-related issues to handle. Someone at Penthes will kill to protect mysteries the company has worked so hard to keep hidden. He has to figure out who, and then use his unique talents to stay alive.

Excerpt:

He started his engine when he noticed three stout Samoan men wearing the traditional lava-lavas marching towards his boat. The oldest of the three waved at him and shouted. "Stop your engines. We need to check your boat for a missing boy we saw head onto this dock."

"Oh, sure, I saw him." Toby pointed to a shirt lying on the pier as he yelled back "He jumped in. He didn’t bother me."

"We'd like to make sure he's not on your boat," the Samoan said as the three men approached the craft. Toby shrugged. "Look for yourself."

There wasn't much looking to do on his vessel. Seating for up to six was above deck, and below was a cabin with a head and shower, a compact galley area and sleeping for up to five, depending on what was raised or lowered. The men boarded without further courtesy, which irked Toby. He was sensitive to people walking into his home. One man began opening each of his storage areas above deck, while another descended below and opened the door to the head. The small toilet seat had no one on it.

"I've been right here. I promise you, no one is onboard." Toby wasn't anxious to have strangers pawing through his possessions, legal though they were. "Please gentleman, I'd like to be on my way."

The man who'd opened the door to the head ignored him, opening the larger storage areas below deck, starting with those beneath the sleeping and sitting areas. One was filled with kitchen supplies, another held clothes and toiletries, yet another lifejackets. He shrugged to his cohorts.

"Guess he jumped in the water then. Radio back if you see him. He could be dangerous."

Toby's dark brown eyes widened. "Really? What's he done?"

"We don't know. He's one of the young men at that special school for troubled teens. These kids are lavished with good care and opportunities, but sometimes they don't realize what they've been given, and try to escape so they can return to their troubled ways. We help the school by returning these misguided ones.

"Well then, I hope you find him."

As he headed out into the harbor, Toby thought maybe the men had a point. He hadn't realized there were schools for misguided youth. Go figure.

He’d gotten past both reefs and was tacking under a nice slow breeze, heading northwest on a course for Fiji, when he decided to go below and grab some water. A movement caught his eye. The lid to one of the smaller storage areas was opening. No person could fit into it; it had to be an animal. Toby looked around for something to use as a weapon.

He grabbed a knife as the stowaway tumbled to the floor in a mess of ropes. A small young man in the briefest of underwear stood, shook himself, then turned to face Toby with apology in his eyes.

"I’m sorry. And sorry about no clothes. Please don’t hurt me."

Toby took a deep breath and decided to hear the other side of the story.

My Review:

When Zane was seven-years-old he hated it when adults would ask him what he wanted to be when he grew up. All he wanted was to be seven-years-old but no one liked it when he gave them that for an answer so he would tell them he wanted to be a teacher or a fireman but he didn’t like lying so he began coming up with different kinds of things to tell them.

Right before his seventh birthday his dad’s friend asked him “the question”. Zane told him to wanted to be a chameleon. When Zane’s dad told his mom what he said she knew that it meant that he wanted a chameleon not that he wanted to be one. So Zane got his chameleon for his seventh birthday.

Zane loved his chameleon because it could change its color and shape so that it could camouflage hide itself. Zane has these special power or abilities where he can alter his own appearance this is one of the reasons he loved his pet chameleon so much.

Toby is a sailor who lives on his boat Miss Demeanor. After the police search his boat Toby finds a young man Afi hiding on his boat. Afi was hiding on his boat because he had ran away from this institution for teens who had gotten in trouble and was sent there by their parents. The teens were being mistreated at the institution. Toby decides to investigate the institution to help all the other kids.

A young woman Joy is hiding from her father because he is trying to control her life and tell her who to marry. She has been teaching in Fiji but decides to go home hoping that her father would not try to tell her what to do anymore but changes her mind real quick like when she learns that the man her father is trying to force her to marry will be waiting for her when her plane lands. Wanting to escape her father Joy talks Toby into letting her work for him on his boat Miss Demeanor for a while; he could drop her off at his next stop. Zane, Joy, Afi and Toby meet when Zane is sent on assignment to Fiji and hires Toby and Miss Demeanor to take him there.

Shape of Secrets has more than one story line and I enjoyed reading it and trying to figure out how they were going to intertwine. All the characters were just great and amazing people who all got along very well and it was fun trying to figure out how all their stories and lives were going to come together. Shape of Secrets has its share of secrets keeping you guessing the whole way with each twists and turn. I enjoyed sailing from place to place and island to island with Toby, Afi, Joy and Zane learning about each and every island.

If you like a book that likes to hold on to its secrets with lots of twists and turns and sailing from island to island then you are going to love Shape of Secrets. 

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Sherrie Roth grew up in Western Kansas thinking there was no place in the universe more fascinating than outer space. After her mother vetoed astronaut as a career ambition, she went on to study journalism and physics in hopes of becoming a science writer.

She published her first science fiction short story long ago, and then waited a lot of tables while she looked for inspiration for the next story. When it finally came,  it declared to her it had to be a whole book, nothing less. One night, while digesting this disturbing piece of news, she drank way too many shots of ouzo with her boyfriend. She woke up thirty-one years later demanding to know what was going on.

The boyfriend, who she had apparently long since married, asked her to calm down and  explained how, in a fit of practicality, she had gone back to school and gotten a degree in geophysics and spent the last 28 years interpreting seismic data in the oil industry. The good news, according to Mr. Cronin, was that she had found it to be entertaining and ridiculously well-paying. The bad news was the two of them had still managed to spend almost all of the money.

She was now Mrs. Cronin, and further good news was that they had produced three wonderful children whom they loved, even though, to be honest, that was where a lot of the money had gone. Even better news was that Mr. Cronin turned out to be a warm-hearted, encouraging sort who was happy to see her awake and ready to write. "It's about time," were his exact words.

Sherrie Cronin discovered that over the ensuing decades Sally Ride had already managed to become the first woman in space and apparently had done a fine job of it. No one, however, had written the book that had been in Sherrie's head for decades. The only problem was, the book informed her it had now grown into a six book collection. Sherrie decided she better start writing it before it got any longer. She's been wide awake ever since, and writing away.

Author Social Media Links:

Twitter ~ Facebook ~ Goodreads ~ Amazon

Blogs:

46 Ascending

Face Painting for World Peace

Fire Dancing for Fun and Profit

Treasure Hunting for a Good Time

Leaving the Nest to Touch the Sky

Touching the Sky to Save the World

Email me at lola.zeitman@gmail.com

Giveaway:

$10 Amazon/BN GC and a kindle copy of One of One (the first book in the 46. Ascending Collection)

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