Review ~ The Conduit by Stacey Rourke (Gryphon Series, Book 1)

All 18-year-old Celeste Garrett wants is to head off to college and make those fun, yet ill-advised, choices college kids are known for. And maybe to spend some time with the hot cameraman she just met. Instead, because of a pact her ancestors made in the 17th century with a mythical creature, she has to save the world.

While normal kids are slamming energy drinks and cramming for exams, Celeste will get her adrenaline rush fighting a fire breathing dragon. She wants to meet friends in the quad to exchange lecture notes, but first she must exchange blows with a shapeshifting demon on the rooftop. Life isn’t always fair for a superhero, but at least she doesn’t have to do it alone. With her brother and sister as sidekicks, they alternate between saving lives and getting on each others’ nerves. Together the trio encounters unspeakable odds, mystical forces and comes face-to-face with an image that will haunt them forever—their grandmother in a leopard print bikini.



My Review
This was a really fun read. A lion, an "angel", and dragon...Oh My! Rourke knows what makes a great story. A little action, a dash of romance, pepper with great twists and add lots of snark. Then BAM! Just like Emeril, a cuisine that will sate your YA hunger! I didn't want to put it down. I couldn't wait to find out what would happen next with this rag tag team of "super heroes". The pace was just right. Everything moved along nicely. I loved both the main and secondary characters. And what an ending! I cannot wait to read Embrace, the second book in the Gryphon series!

My favorite quotes from The Conduit:
" I mean, you just made and angel cry. I can't say for sure that you'll go to hell for that kind of thing, but it doesn't look good."


"Keep telling yourself that. I'm sure you'll find it very reassuring while you're burning in the eternal hell fires, right next to the puppy kickers."


"Celeste is going to go get herself a boyfriend today."
"Where?"
"The grocery store. They keep them in the meat department right next to the tenderloin." 

GREAT BOOK!

BUY IT NOW!
The Conduit: The Gryphon Series (Volume 1)

A little about Stacey Rourke
Writing is something I have always done.  I can remember in elementary school creating stories that I would stand up and read aloud to my classmates…whether they liked it or not.   As I grew older I didn’t flaunt my writing as freely.  It became something I did just for me  to vent my teenage angst, or chronicle my journey to adulthood.  I never thought about becoming a writer because that title prompted the visual of a grey-haired man in a tweed smoking jacket with suede elbow patches, slaving over an old fashion typewriter while puffing away on a pipe.  No way was that stuffy kind of life for me.  (Plus tweed is itchy.)  Instead I wanted to be in the spotlight!  I wanted to be–pause for dramatic effect–an actress!  I gave it my best shot, too.  Got about as far as any aspiring actress can get in Flint, Michigan.  Which is exactly no where.  But I did get two great things out of my time delving into the theatrical world; I gained the ability to act out the scenes I write to make sure they’re believable (yes, I really do that and no, you can’t watch) and I met my amazing husband.

My theater ambitions behind me, I decided to do the “mature,” “grown up” thing and went back to college.  As I worked toward my Bachelor’s degree in marketing I did a lot of writing.   Essays, research papers, PowerPoint presentations.  All of it mandatory, none of it what I would ever call fun.  Even then, becoming a writer never entered my mind.  No, then I was going to be a business tycoon…or somethin’.

Truth be told, I never picked writing.  It picked me.  During my time as a stay at home mom I needed an outlet to give me a mental break from diapers, formula and midnight feedings.  That’s when my hands found their way back to the keyboard.  Story ideas began coming at such an incessant rate that my rapidly clicking fingers couldn’t keep up.  Post-It notes and scrapes of paper with story ideas decorated every inch of our house.  In mid-conversation with my husband I would dart off to jot down things that would come to me.  Sweet guy my hubby is, he would just shake his head at my obvious rudeness and hold my place in the conversation.

My first book was completed for an entire year before I told anyone about it.  I outed myself as an author and then sent out my first round of query letters to literary agents.  Surely, it would be picked up immediately and become an overnight success!  Yeah, not so much.  For two years I got rejection, after rejection, after rejection, after rejection…you get the idea.  Thankfully with the ever increasing pile of rejections came feedback.  I digested all the suggestions and applied the usable ones to my manuscript.  Little by little, the rough edges were chipped away and the diamond shone through.  The work paid off when I received an email from a publisher offering me a contract on The Conduit.

It’s been a long road, and it ain’t over yet.  But now, at thirty-mumble, mumble years old I finally know what I wanna be when I grow up–-a writer.

Find Stacey here
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