Blog Tour - The Compendium by Christine Hart

The Compendium
Christine Hart
(The Variant Conspiracy Trilogy, #2)
Published by: Soul Mate Publishing
Publication date: July 13th 2016
Genres: Adult, Romance

Irina and her renegade variant friends are scrambling to pick up the trail of their former employer, Ivan, and his globally catastrophic scheme. After strategically sharing their story with the media, the group heads south from Vancouver to Seattle hoping to recruit more experienced—and lethal—variants to their cause.
Their attention develops a laser focus on an engineered disaster mere days ahead of them. Ivan is using what staff and resources remain of Innoviro Industries to set off a violent earthquake in San Francisco. While they fight to stop the earthquake, Irina pushes the love of her life Jonah as far away as she can, trying to keep his unstable genetic degradation in check.
Irina’s friends think they’ve seen the worst that Innoviro could bring forth by the time they reach a secret facility in the Mojave Desert. As they near the property, the group uncovers a horror none of them had ever imagined.

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EXCERPT

We arrived back at the parking lot and a wave of relief washed over me as I saw Faith and Jonah right where we left them sitting comfortably in the back of Josh’s Jeep. Twilight took hold as we crossed the parking lot. I squinted to see the outlines of Faith and Jonah’s heads through the glass. I smiled, remembering a time when I would have felt gut-wrenching anxiety at seeing Faith and Jonah tucked in a back seat together. With disaster on the horizon, both their feelings were the least of my worries.

“I’ll move the Jeep farther down the road before I head out again,” said Josh as we arrived at our respective doors.

“How long do you think you’ll be gone? When should we start to worry?”

“Worry about what?” said Jonah.

“We found Ivan, Tatiana and Waynesburg. Josh is going back to steal the remote for the drill,” I said.

“That’s great, right?” said Faith, leaning towards me.

“It could get complicated. We can’t afford to underestimate Ivan. He’s not liable to be guarding something he values so much with nothing more than an alarm and his wits,” said Josh.

Hairs on the back of my neck prickled and I felt as though someone watched us.

“We’ll go with you then.” Jonah’s eyebrows arched with eagerness.

“Yeah, now that you’ve scoped the place, you can use us for something,” said Faith.

“California doesn’t exactly need more forest fires,” I said looking down the bridge of my nose at Faith’s casual attitude.

“I work best alone anyway. Brute force isn’t the way to go here. I’ll disarm the trip wire, sneak into the trailer, find the remote, and slip back out. If I’m gone longer than an hour, leave and go back to the cave for the others. If I can’t get this remote, then we can’t stop that earthquake and we need to get the hell out of town,” said Josh.

“We won’t leave you with Ivan,” said Faith.

“Don’t worry about me. The worst thing he’ll be able to do is detain me. He can’t shoot, stab, freeze or burn me. If he wants to take me out, it’s going to take time and planning on his part,” said Josh.

“So if you’re caught, run. If he shoots, so what?” said Jonah.

“He doesn’t want to lead them back to us,” I said.

Josh smirked and started his Jeep. “It’s going to be fine. I know what I’m doing.”

Sequel to:

Author Bio:
Located on BC’s beautiful West Coast, I write from my suburban Burnaby home staring at North Vancouver’s iconic Coast Mountains. I love writing about places and spaces with rich history and visually fascinating elements as a backdrop for the surreal and spectacular.
In addition to my undergraduate degree in writing and literature, my background also includes corporate communications and design. I am a current member of the Federation of BC Writers and SF Canada.
When not writing, I have a habit of breaking stuff and making stuff – in that order – under the guise of my Etsy alter-ego Sleepless Storyteller. I share my eclectic home and lifestyle with my husband, baby daughter and preschool son.

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