Deadly frigid temperatures. An authoritarian government. An impossible decision that requires trusting the enemy with your life.

This is the backdrop of Annabelle Blume’s latest installment of The Outlier Chronicles, MELTED TEARS. I’m a total sucker for survival stories, so this hefty novella (and yes, this is much more than a short story) appealed to me on a number of fronts. It’s almost like a shorter, adult version of The Hunger Games, but with yummy steam and some seriously heartbreaking sacrifices. Blume does a fantastic job of dragging you into the pit of despair, only to haul you to your feet with hope.

I could definitely see this as a full-length novel. I want to know more about the Affinity and why, exactly, they’re so authoritarian. The line they feed the people is that they need to control reproduction to keep the race alive during an ice age, but I’m betting there’s more to that story.

And call me sick and twisted (no, really, please 🙂 ) but I’d love to revisit the prison camps. The system in The Outlier Chronicles is complex and seemingly goes against the Affinity’s mission to optimize reproduction. I’d love to hear Beckett’s POV and what he learns while working on the inside.

Check it out:

Two lovers face off against a government determined to keep them apart. It’s only brave if it’s hard.    

After a decade of being alone in the wilderness, Cressenda is still adjusting to life with the man of her dreams. When Beckett hatches a plan to break her parents out of The Affinity prison work camps, Cressenda must make the biggest sacrifice of her life; trading her freedom for her parents’. Cressenda’s fortitude is tested at every turn, from surviving the conditions of West Fallen work camp to believing in Beckett’s dedication to their plan and their love, even when it looks like all hope is lost. With the help of an unlikely ally, Cressenda learns to stop fighting against her fears and embrace the power of fighting for her dreams.

Will trusting Beckett to take down The Affinity be the ultimate show of faith or a fatal mistake? 

Got your attention? Good. You can enter to win one of fifteen digital copies of MELTED TEARS.

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More about Annabelle:

Annabelle is a Science Fiction and Urban Fantasy Romance author, that is, when she’s not checking homework or begrudgingly cooking dinner. Wife, mother, and creator of alternate worlds, Annabelle has a penchant for that which is outside the norm.

Her Sociology degree has given her the ability to construct worlds that exist only in her head and translate them passionately to the page. The time spent studying individuals, interpersonal relationships, and particularly, women, within the constraints of our society led to Annabelle’s unabashed ability to talk about sex as it fits into our modern lives.

She’s also the author/personality of The Bombshell Mommy at Vitacost.com, where she expounds her knowledge of being a vixen clad in sweatpants.

A serial book monogamist, Annabelle is deeply devoted to the literary love of her life until the next amazing book falls into her clutches and she obsesses anew.

Find her here:

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