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Book 1 of an epic dystopian romance series that blends humor, action, and dark drama in a near-future fiction reminiscent of a Beauty and the Beast / Mad Max mashup.
For those of you already familiar with the story and who are eager to sink your teeth into some free samples, click below to read a few excerpts from Book 1.
If you’re new around here, please check out the summary further down and then pop back up here to take a taste!
The Gist:
HBH is set about 40+ years in the future, and it’s a dim view of our world. Countries across the globe are dominated by a sense of paranoia, having instituted a universal isolationism in response to widespread economic instability. Yep, I’d say that’s all too possible, wouldn’t you?
As a result, things are pretty rough wherever you are, but a smidge worse in Europe. Borders are difficult, if not nearly impossible, to cross . . . unless you’ve got yourself a skilled enough band of multi-national soldiers who are more or less old hands at this. And heading them all up is an ex-US Army captain. Good combo, if you’re looking to survive, and that goal is front-and-center, considering Captain Ethan Evans has been running like hell from a group of pissed-off Ukrainians he’d wronged a few years ago. But deep down, he knows that for what he did to them, he deserves what’s coming.
His own command to blow up their home is what also physically burned him to a crisp, so that he’s forced to hide his humiliation behind a mask and robe. Classic Phantom-of-the-Opera syndrome made worse by the knowledge that he’s brought this upon himself. After being hunted across the continent, Captain Evans and his men decide to hole up in an eighteenth-century Dutch fort in North Holland. But the fort is already occupied by a bunch of civilians who’ve been living there for years, considering this “compound” their home, so his arrival isn’t exactly welcome. No matter. His army needs a place to settle and re-supply, so he barges in and takes over. He only needs to control the residents long enough to get his men ready to move on before his revenge-driven pursuers catch up.
Oh, and one other thing: There’s a certain girl among the residents. (There’s always a girl.) Vanessa Brouwer. She’s pretty, she’s odd, she’s often inadvertently vocal, and, despite the cap’s best efforts, he likes it. And that just makes life more complicated.
Because now there are enemies all around, and the compound—the place Vanessa calls home and Ethan calls temporary—may not be the safe refuge any of them thought.
