Blog Tour: Thereafter (Afterlife #2) by Terri Bruce ~ Spotlight ~ Excerpt ~ Review ~ Giveaway !!!

Thereafter (Afterlife #2) by Terri Bruce

Genre: Contemporary fantasy/paranormal


Publisher: Mictlan Press

Date of Publication: May 1, 2014


ISBN: 978-0-9913036-2-5 (print) /

ISBN: 978-0-9913036-3-2 (ebook)


Number of pages: 318

Word Count: 99,000


Cover Artist: Artwork by Shelby Robinson;

Cover layout by Jennifer Stolzer




Book Description:

When recently-deceased Irene Dunphy decided to “follow the light,” she thought she’d end up in Heaven or Hell and her journey would be over.

Boy, was she wrong.

She soon finds that “the other side” isn’t a final destination but a kind of purgatory where billions of spirits are stuck, with no way to move forward or back. Even worse, deranged phantoms known as “Hungry Ghosts” stalk the dead, intent on destroying them. The only way out is for Irene to forget her life on earth—including the boy who risked everything to help her cross over—which she’s not about to do.

As Irene desperately searches for an alternative, help unexpectedly comes in the unlikeliest of forms: a twelfth-century Spanish knight and a nineteenth-century American cowboy. Even more surprising, one offers a chance for redemption; the other, love. Unfortunately, she won’t be able to have either if she can’t find a way to escape the hellish limbo where they’re all trapped.



Author’s Note:

I am THRILLED beyond all measure to finally be able to bring you Thereafter, and I want to thank all the fans who have waited (more or less patiently) an extra year for this book to finally come out. Thereafter would not have been possible without your support—thank you all! I hope you love this beautiful new cover as much as I do, and I hope you find Thereafter to be worth the wait.




Excerpt:

Her hand touched a rock, one of the flat beach stones she’d seen on graves. She picked it up, laying it flat in her palm. She didn’t remember picking this up. In fact, she had been careful not to take any. It had seemed disrespectful and too much like stealing to remove them, and while she’d seen a few here—both loose and piled in cairns—she hadn’t picked any of them up. There had been no point. What would she do with a rock?

No wonder her bag was so heavy.

She tossed the rock over her shoulder and heard it hit the ground with a satisfying thud some distance away. It felt good to be rid of something, to make a decision and be sure it was the right one.

She surveyed the pile again and then grabbed a small handful of paper animals. She picked one up between a finger and thumb. It was a horse. Irene had been in Chinatown during Chinese Ghost Festival, a holiday in which the living left offerings for the dead. These offerings included paper replicas of things people thought the dead would need in the afterlife—money, clothes, television sets, and even animals. Irene had admired the precise and delicate folds of the Origami figures and had picked some up to admire them more closely. Without thinking, she had dropped them into her bag and apparently been carrying them ever since.

Well, even Jonah couldn’t argue with her on this—there was no way she was going to need a paper horse on her journey through the afterlife. Plus, these didn’t hold any sentimental value. She cast the horse onto a nearby fire and watched as the paper curled and blackened in the low-burning flames.

The fire leapt and seemed to glow blue for a moment. Irene tensed—what was happening?

Thick black smoke began to rise slowly from the flames, spiraling upward in a thickening column. The smoke grew denser and then elongated sideways. Irene leapt to her feet and backed away, her heart pounding. Something was forming in the fire.

The smoke was taking shape now; there was purpose and design in its movements. She could see a long, horizontal back, four legs, a neck, and finally a head and a tail. The smoke swirled with a final flourish and then shuddered into the solidity of a smoke-colored horse. The animal blinked passively. Then it violently shook its head, blew out a breath, and delicately picked its way forward out of the fire. It immediately put its head down and began to lip the ground, looking for food.

Irene stared stupidly at it. “Are you shitting me?”

MY THOUGHTS:

Rating: 4.5 Stars !!!

I got this book from the author, free of cost, in exchange of an honest review from my side.

Firstly I would like to thank the author for giving me this opportunity of reading and reviewing this book.

I loved this story!!! It's awesome. The characters are developed and mature and the dialogues are to the point and crisp. I loved the mystery and suspense, it kept me hooked to the story till the end. 

The writing style of the author is remarkable and the detail descriptions that she delivered here through her enriched words really won over my heart and made me a part of the world that the author created so beautifully and most importantly the execution is brilliant which really made me believe in the plot and the characters.

The story is totally unpredictable with unknown twists and turns that are sure to shock you. The background information is good and I didn't feel lost while going in to the details of the limbo state in which Irene got stuck. Over all a great read that I would definitely recommend to all the fabulous readers out there. I'm sure you guys will enjoy this fresh and unique story as much as I did.

About the Author:


Terri Bruce has been making up adventure stories for as long as she can remember. Like Anne Shirley, she prefers to make people cry rather than laugh, but is happy if she can do either. She produces fantasy and adventure stories from a haunted house in New England where she lives with her husband and three cats.

Website/Blog: http://www.terribruce.net

Goodreads Profile: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6450132.Terri_Bruce

Facebook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Terri-Bruce-Fan-Page/325830544139030

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/@_TerriBruce

Amazon Author Page: www.amazon.com/author/terribruce

Launch Party Blog Tour Giveaway – May 1st – May 31st 

2 $50 Amazon gift cards

5 signed paperback copies of Thereafter (U.S./Canada Only)

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About "Satarupa"


I'm from Calcutta, India (the kingdom of sweets). I'm is a final year college student struggling to get Bachelor of finance honors degree. I love books more than anything and like to hang out with friends, watch horror and action movies and I'm madly in love with vampires and warlocks. Other times you’ll find me with a worn out calculator punching the numbers and making accounts and ledgers (study stuff). In leisure time I sit with a book or my e-reader leaving the known world behind and losing her in the new worlds which the author’s create. I like to write down my thoughts and ideas regarding a story sometimes but never completed it but I'm planning to do so in future and will like to give a chance to my childhood dream of being a paranormal genre writer."