Lynn's Romance Enthusiasm: Audio bookworm Presents: Blood Divine by Greg Howard; #AudioReviewTour, #NowAvailable, #OutNow, #Review

Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Audio bookworm Presents: Blood Divine by Greg Howard; #AudioReviewTour, #NowAvailable, #OutNow, #Review

Author: Greg Howard

Narrator: Gary Furlong

Length: 9 hours 6 minutes

Publisher: Anakim Press

Released: Aug. 1, 2017

Genre: Paranormal

Rating:

Cooper Causey spent a lifetime eluding the demons of his youth and suppressing the destructive power inside him. But a disconcerting voicemail lures Cooper back home to the coast of South Carolina and to Warfield, the deserted plantation where his darkness first awakened. While searching for his missing grandmother, Cooper uncovers the truth about his ancestry and becomes a pawn in an ancient war between two supernatural races. In order to protect the only man he's ever loved, Cooper must embrace the dark power threatening to consume him, and choose sides in a deadly war between the righteous and the fallen.

Greg Howard grew up near the coast of South Carolina, or as he fondly refers to it, “the armpit of the American South.” His hometown of Georgetown, South Carolina is known as the “Ghost Capital of the South,” (seriously…there’s a sign), and was always a great source of material for his overactive imagination.

Raised in a staunchly religious home, Greg escaped into the arts: singing, playing piano, acting, writing songs, and making up stories. After running away to the bright lights and big city of Nashville, Tennessee with stars in his eyes and dreams of being the Dianne Warren of Music City, he took a job peddling CDs and has been a cog in the music business machine ever since.

Now an adult with a brain, Greg finds the South Carolina coast to be a perfectly magical place where he vacations yearly. Currently, Greg resides in Nashville, TN with his husband, Steve, and their three rescued fur babies. Molly, Toby, and Riley.

Greg’s debut adult paranormal novel, BLOOD DIVINE, was released by Wilde City Press in September 2016. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers acquired Greg's debut young adult novel, SOCIAL INTERCOURSE, which will be released in Summer 2018.

Website⎮Facebook⎮Twitter⎮Goodreads

Gary Furlong grew up in Wexford, Ireland. Throughout his life he has worn many a hat: He has worked as a teacher in Niigata, Japan; a puppeteer in Prague; an improv artist in Memphis, Tennessee; and as a singer and actor all over Ireland. He started narrating audiobooks in late 2015 and hasn't looked back.

Gary made his acting debut in the musical Godspell as a student. Since then he has pursued acting both on the amateur and professional circuits. Notable roles include Tom Collins in Bare Cheek's production of Rent in 2010.

Over the course of his five years in Japan, he was an actor, director, and audio producer. It was during this time that he discovered his interest in audiobooks and voice-over.

He now works full-time as an audiobook narrator and voice actor from his home in Ireland.

Website⎮Twitter

What made the experience of listening to Blood Divine the most enjoyable?

It was the great combination of the author's words and the narrator's interpretation of the characters.

Who was your favorite character and why?

It was hard to say because all the characters are important to this story but if I have to choose it would be Cooper. The unbelievable becomes his world but he has to believe in order to save him, his family, and his friends.

What about Gary Furlong’s performance did you like?

He was a perfect choice for this book. He does a great job in giving life to a book that if I had read it would not have had the same effect. He also changes the tone of his voice, a great job with accents and even a passable job of doing a woman's voice. Because of Mr. Furlong, I thoroughly enjoyed a book that is outside my normal romance genre.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

There were a couple times that I chuckled but not outright laugh. Did I cry? No but it did hold me entranced. I'm surprising myself by saying this but it is a book that I would listen to again. It also had me looking forward to reading more by the author and listening to more of the narrator's work.

Any additional comments?

This book is very creative. It takes both our country's history and biblical history and mixes it with science fiction, the paranormal, and fantasy. It shows that we need to pay attention to the stories that are passed down generation to generation. You never know what you may have missed in your family history. It's what drew me in.

If you want to give yourself a scare, say for Halloween, why not listen to this at night. Maybe even sit in a cemetery and listen to it. Just make sure to be aware of your surroundings because you never know what will pop out at you.

There was nothing that I didn't love or enjoy with this one and that was a complete surprise to me. If not for being part of a tour of this book, I probably would never have listened to Mr. Howard's book. It was a great reminder that sometimes you need to get out of your comfort zone and take the chance on an author who writes something different than what you're used to. Otherwise you might miss something like Blood Divine and that would be a shame.