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Beyond Moondust Trilogy #1
From The Sky
She was an ordinary girl with an extraordinary secret, but it wasn’t that her boyfriend was an alien. An interdimensional being that’s stranded on earth learns what it means to give up everything for one human.
From the Sky weaves first love into an edge-of-your-seat mystery populated by fallible humans and otherworldly beings that question the inevitability of aliens among us.
Finalist in the Book Excellence Award!
Mills Press science fiction second-place award.
From the Sky weaves first love into an edge-of-your-seat mystery populated by fallible humans and otherworldly beings that question the inevitability of aliens among us.
Finalist in the Book Excellence Award!
Mills Press science fiction second-place award.
335 pages, Paperback
First published June 23, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
June 10, 2018
The book begins with Samantha (Sam) getting in a car accident with her brother and being saved by a mysterious stranger. Then it jumps to the funeral and her learning that she and her dad are moving to Arizona. While in Arizona, Samantha is depressed, refuses to drive, and moody. She also meets a boy named Lucien. For some strange reason, she cannot get him out of her mind, even though she finds him annoying at first, and he is drawn to her.
Eventually, she goes out with him and finds out he is in a band, and she makes some new friends. While at a fair, she is attacked by someone with black eyes who warns her that Lucian will get her killed. After that, she learns that Lucien is an alien (reptilian) whose family crash landed in Roswell back in 1947. They fall in love afterward and Samantha finds herself pining for Lucien whenever he isn’t around.
The story isn’t bad, but it isn’t one of those that I would reread either. I had a few problems with it.
Samantha isn’t the smartest person in the world. When Lucien is kidnapped by government agents, she decides that she has to save him and stows away on his brothers’ truck. She has no idea how she is going to save him, much less what she is going to do once she gets to the secret military base. Of course, Lucien’s brothers find her, but have to take her along. They tell her to stay with the truck, but she doesn’t and runs off to save Lucien where she gets hurt and has to be rescued herself.
When Lucien tells Sam who he is and all about Mufron, MJ 12, the Roswell crash, no whites, the grays and the reptilians, and all these government conspiracy cover ups concerning aliens, she just believes it. No questioning; no amount of time is spent with her trying to come to terms with all this. It honestly seems like the author watched a History channel program and just decided to dump it all in one story. There is no real mystery or search for the truth on Sam's part because Lucien just gives it all away the first night they are really together.
The romance between Lucien and Samantha is almost straight out of Twilight. Lucien looks like he glows when he’s in the sunlight, compare that to Edward sparkling. There is an immediate and intense attraction between the two, the kind where they can’t stop thinking about one another. Lucien actually stalks Samantha for a while (again, Twilight). They are just immediately in love and when Lucien has to go away for a bit, Sam can’t stop thinking about him and is only happy when she is with him. She is completely obsessed with him and it's not only sickening, but unhealthy.
Then, there is Sam's dad. He doesn't seem all that upset that he lost his wife and child. He also lets Sam do whatever she wants. Who buys their kid a mustang as a consolation gift for losing family? He is constantly gone on some trip, and though he tells Sam to behave, he has to know that she is sneaking out of the house. She disappears for two or three days and all he does is ground her, except he rescinds that punishment later when she begs him to. Just like Bella's father. He's only around when necessary, otherwise, the author can't be bothered to even acknowledge his existence.
When Dakota stops wanting to be with Sam, Sam goes to speak with her father, and Dakota’s father gives Sam this huge story about MJ 12 and government cover ups, almost word for word with what Lucien told her. Sam just believes it as though it backs up what Lucien told her. I found the scene a bit convenient and pat.
There is a scene where Lucien somehow manages to bring back the spirits of Sam’s mother and brother so that she could talk to them and say good-bye, but there is no explanation for this. This is how it’s explained in the book:
Anything was possible with Lucien. His DNA was from among the stars, just like the sparkling light that fell from the sky.
This is a cop out explanation. The author brought us a very interesting aspect of Lucien’s abilities and just sloughs it off as nothing. He’s able to bring back the spirits of the dead because it’s in his DNA? Whatever. The author had a chance to really delve in Lucien’s alien abilities and just glossed over it as though she was too lazy to care.
The book also suffers from editorials errors. Not a lot, but enough to be noticeable.
Page 325: Then. it fell, hitting the snow-covered ground. It should be: Then, it fell, hitting the snow-covered ground.
Page 291: “No, not me, butt he Gray Skins.” I’m sure the author meant “but the” instead of “butt he”.
The are several instances of words capitalized that shouldn’t be, punctuation missing, and areas where there is a paragraph break in the middle of a sentence. Not sure what happened here, but it does make it a bit difficult to read and jarring and showcases the need for hiring a good formatter. A good edit would fix all this.
My other problem is the constant passive voice. When will authors learn to use active voice instead of relying on words like was, were, began to, started to, etc.? The writing is just okay and the action scenes were not very exciting. Also, the writing was repetitive with the sentences all the same beat, same rhythm, and same structure.
This wasn’t a bad book. I did finish it, but it wasn’t one where I felt I had to keep reading it. Definitely not an edge of your seat type read. It was more of an okay read. I’ll probably read the second book because it's already on my kindle, but I’m not in a hurry to.
Eventually, she goes out with him and finds out he is in a band, and she makes some new friends. While at a fair, she is attacked by someone with black eyes who warns her that Lucian will get her killed. After that, she learns that Lucien is an alien (reptilian) whose family crash landed in Roswell back in 1947. They fall in love afterward and Samantha finds herself pining for Lucien whenever he isn’t around.
The story isn’t bad, but it isn’t one of those that I would reread either. I had a few problems with it.
Samantha isn’t the smartest person in the world. When Lucien is kidnapped by government agents, she decides that she has to save him and stows away on his brothers’ truck. She has no idea how she is going to save him, much less what she is going to do once she gets to the secret military base. Of course, Lucien’s brothers find her, but have to take her along. They tell her to stay with the truck, but she doesn’t and runs off to save Lucien where she gets hurt and has to be rescued herself.
When Lucien tells Sam who he is and all about Mufron, MJ 12, the Roswell crash, no whites, the grays and the reptilians, and all these government conspiracy cover ups concerning aliens, she just believes it. No questioning; no amount of time is spent with her trying to come to terms with all this. It honestly seems like the author watched a History channel program and just decided to dump it all in one story. There is no real mystery or search for the truth on Sam's part because Lucien just gives it all away the first night they are really together.
The romance between Lucien and Samantha is almost straight out of Twilight. Lucien looks like he glows when he’s in the sunlight, compare that to Edward sparkling. There is an immediate and intense attraction between the two, the kind where they can’t stop thinking about one another. Lucien actually stalks Samantha for a while (again, Twilight). They are just immediately in love and when Lucien has to go away for a bit, Sam can’t stop thinking about him and is only happy when she is with him. She is completely obsessed with him and it's not only sickening, but unhealthy.
Then, there is Sam's dad. He doesn't seem all that upset that he lost his wife and child. He also lets Sam do whatever she wants. Who buys their kid a mustang as a consolation gift for losing family? He is constantly gone on some trip, and though he tells Sam to behave, he has to know that she is sneaking out of the house. She disappears for two or three days and all he does is ground her, except he rescinds that punishment later when she begs him to. Just like Bella's father. He's only around when necessary, otherwise, the author can't be bothered to even acknowledge his existence.
When Dakota stops wanting to be with Sam, Sam goes to speak with her father, and Dakota’s father gives Sam this huge story about MJ 12 and government cover ups, almost word for word with what Lucien told her. Sam just believes it as though it backs up what Lucien told her. I found the scene a bit convenient and pat.
There is a scene where Lucien somehow manages to bring back the spirits of Sam’s mother and brother so that she could talk to them and say good-bye, but there is no explanation for this. This is how it’s explained in the book:
Anything was possible with Lucien. His DNA was from among the stars, just like the sparkling light that fell from the sky.
This is a cop out explanation. The author brought us a very interesting aspect of Lucien’s abilities and just sloughs it off as nothing. He’s able to bring back the spirits of the dead because it’s in his DNA? Whatever. The author had a chance to really delve in Lucien’s alien abilities and just glossed over it as though she was too lazy to care.
The book also suffers from editorials errors. Not a lot, but enough to be noticeable.
Page 325: Then. it fell, hitting the snow-covered ground. It should be: Then, it fell, hitting the snow-covered ground.
Page 291: “No, not me, butt he Gray Skins.” I’m sure the author meant “but the” instead of “butt he”.
The are several instances of words capitalized that shouldn’t be, punctuation missing, and areas where there is a paragraph break in the middle of a sentence. Not sure what happened here, but it does make it a bit difficult to read and jarring and showcases the need for hiring a good formatter. A good edit would fix all this.
My other problem is the constant passive voice. When will authors learn to use active voice instead of relying on words like was, were, began to, started to, etc.? The writing is just okay and the action scenes were not very exciting. Also, the writing was repetitive with the sentences all the same beat, same rhythm, and same structure.
This wasn’t a bad book. I did finish it, but it wasn’t one where I felt I had to keep reading it. Definitely not an edge of your seat type read. It was more of an okay read. I’ll probably read the second book because it's already on my kindle, but I’m not in a hurry to.
September 5, 2019
2.5 stars. As a couple other reviewers have mentioned, this did have shades of "Twilight" (with the unusual pale boy at school and his unusual family and the instant connection to the clumsy new girl, living with just her father) and while others mentioned the series "Roswell" (I did watch the original series, but looong time ago) the alien slant reminded me of the Lux series (although again, it's been a long time since I read it, but the siblings/family living a little out of town, aliens, but known to government, allowed to stay under conditions, having abilities ... love interest with the human girl).
The story started off strong enough ... prologue sets up the accident, the next chapter is the funeral, but not the first funeral. Both situations indicate "someone" there, a mystery that will be explained later at some point ... then the move and everything goes on from there.
I'd had the kindle copy in my cloud since February (free download), but as my actual "reading" time is limited, I don't know when/if I would have gotten to this book. Then I had a chance to get the audio for free in exchange for an honest review, and I was happy when my request was granted.
The audio had a bit of an echo/tinny sound ... it was something I'd get used to (until it would stop and start at a chapter). The narrator was okay. I love it when I can just get absorbed in the story, lost in the voices ... rather than continually thinking critical things. Not quite enough distinction between the regular narration and when the character was talking (I'd have to refer to the kindle copy at times to see if something had actually been said aloud by Sam, or was just a thought in her head). Lucien was said to have an accent ... several times, yet the narration was not accented (in my opinion, sounded just like any of the male voices). There were times when Sam SHOUTED and the narration of the "shouting" was just the same intensity, volume, emotion, as everything else said. I realize "shouting" is tricky in narration, but it should sound a little different than everything else going on. There were some odd pauses and inflections. Narrating is hard, but I absolutely adore many of the professional narrators out there.
I struggled some with the writing itself. Again ... I love when I am completely captivated, too much to be critical. Here, I was rewriting some sentences in my head that I thought felt a little awkward, or stopping to check the Kindle copy because I hadn't quite understood something that had been said. At times ... it was very repetitive. "It was my ringtone. Someone was calling me." If your phone is ringing, then yes, I assume someone is calling. "The road became bumpy, like we were driving over speed bumps" ... "I had to go to the bathroom. If I didn't try to make it to the bathroom, I might have wet myself" ... "I hated math. It wasn't my favorite subject" ... on page 245 it said "It's true ... everything Cassiel and Michael told me about the underground at Dulce is true" and then on the next page, just a tiny bit later "Every word Michael and Cassiel told me on the ride home from Area 51 was true. I bit hard on my lower lip to stifle my panic. Everything Cassiel and Michael told me about Dulce could be true" ...
Some of the situations, and Sam's reactions felt way off. After a chase, that ends in an explosive death, Sam is freaking out, almost throwing up and then ... she and Lucien have a nice calm discussion about what it's like to be an alien and his history and such. I would have thought the trauma might have lasted a bit longer ... When Sam discovers strange ridges protruding from Lucien's back (actually gets cut and is bleeding everywhere, and Lucien is also freaking out about it) then "oh, you have a tattoo? let's talk about that, hmmm..." When Lucien is being taken away by men in black with badges, Sam is totally freaking out on them (I pounded my fists on the man holding him, "Let him go!"). Umm, does that ever worth with police or authority figures? No ... (they said if I didn't leave, they'd seize me too) .... "seize" ... I realize that is a correct description of what they were doing, but would anyone every actually say the word in that context? "I will seize you!"
In the end, it's said the planet Moira's WATER doesn't have hydrogen in it. Ummmm, isn't water H20? Isn't that what "water" is? Perhaps it should have said the liquid on that planet isn't hydrogen based or something?
There were some odd spacing issues, which I was aware of when I checked
out the kindle copy. Glancing through it there were some times with the font/size was different too.
So there were just too many things going on for me to really enjoy the story. I guess I'm a bit interested in knowing where the sequels go, but I don't think I'll be reading them.
The story started off strong enough ... prologue sets up the accident, the next chapter is the funeral, but not the first funeral. Both situations indicate "someone" there, a mystery that will be explained later at some point ... then the move and everything goes on from there.
I'd had the kindle copy in my cloud since February (free download), but as my actual "reading" time is limited, I don't know when/if I would have gotten to this book. Then I had a chance to get the audio for free in exchange for an honest review, and I was happy when my request was granted.
The audio had a bit of an echo/tinny sound ... it was something I'd get used to (until it would stop and start at a chapter). The narrator was okay. I love it when I can just get absorbed in the story, lost in the voices ... rather than continually thinking critical things. Not quite enough distinction between the regular narration and when the character was talking (I'd have to refer to the kindle copy at times to see if something had actually been said aloud by Sam, or was just a thought in her head). Lucien was said to have an accent ... several times, yet the narration was not accented (in my opinion, sounded just like any of the male voices). There were times when Sam SHOUTED and the narration of the "shouting" was just the same intensity, volume, emotion, as everything else said. I realize "shouting" is tricky in narration, but it should sound a little different than everything else going on. There were some odd pauses and inflections. Narrating is hard, but I absolutely adore many of the professional narrators out there.
I struggled some with the writing itself. Again ... I love when I am completely captivated, too much to be critical. Here, I was rewriting some sentences in my head that I thought felt a little awkward, or stopping to check the Kindle copy because I hadn't quite understood something that had been said. At times ... it was very repetitive. "It was my ringtone. Someone was calling me." If your phone is ringing, then yes, I assume someone is calling. "The road became bumpy, like we were driving over speed bumps" ... "I had to go to the bathroom. If I didn't try to make it to the bathroom, I might have wet myself" ... "I hated math. It wasn't my favorite subject" ... on page 245 it said "It's true ... everything Cassiel and Michael told me about the underground at Dulce is true" and then on the next page, just a tiny bit later "Every word Michael and Cassiel told me on the ride home from Area 51 was true. I bit hard on my lower lip to stifle my panic. Everything Cassiel and Michael told me about Dulce could be true" ...
Some of the situations, and Sam's reactions felt way off. After a chase, that ends in an explosive death, Sam is freaking out, almost throwing up and then ... she and Lucien have a nice calm discussion about what it's like to be an alien and his history and such. I would have thought the trauma might have lasted a bit longer ... When Sam discovers strange ridges protruding from Lucien's back (actually gets cut and is bleeding everywhere, and Lucien is also freaking out about it) then "oh, you have a tattoo? let's talk about that, hmmm..." When Lucien is being taken away by men in black with badges, Sam is totally freaking out on them (I pounded my fists on the man holding him, "Let him go!"). Umm, does that ever worth with police or authority figures? No ... (they said if I didn't leave, they'd seize me too) .... "seize" ... I realize that is a correct description of what they were doing, but would anyone every actually say the word in that context? "I will seize you!"
In the end, it's said the planet Moira's WATER doesn't have hydrogen in it. Ummmm, isn't water H20? Isn't that what "water" is? Perhaps it should have said the liquid on that planet isn't hydrogen based or something?
There were some odd spacing issues, which I was aware of when I checked
out the kindle copy. Glancing through it there were some times with the font/size was different too.
So there were just too many things going on for me to really enjoy the story. I guess I'm a bit interested in knowing where the sequels go, but I don't think I'll be reading them.
October 16, 2017
Grieving after the death of her twin brother in an accident that she survives, Sam is devastated when her mother commits suicide a few months later. Her and her father are alone and after he accepts a new job in New Mexico, she has to leave all of her old life behind: her friends, her memories, everything feels swept away on a wave of despair and Sam needs to take anti-depressants to cope with all the recent upheaval.
Sam feels guilty about their deaths and wonders if she will ever climb out of the dark hole she finds herself in.
But things start to look up. She makes new friends in her new school and she falls in love with the strangest boy in the school, Lucien. But there is a reason for Lucien's strangeness and the fact that Sam keeps thinking she's met him somewhere before...
This book has a bit of everything, romance, adventure, mystery, conspiracy. Sam is not a perfect character, she has flaws, but she is a sympathetic one and she is a heroine you can root for. And the flaws just make her seem more realistic rather than a perfect goody-two-shoes.
The romance between Lucien and Sam is compelling and romantic without being soppy or overly sweet.
I'm not a great fan of first-person narrative in novels, but that's just my preference, not a comment on the writing itself. Here it worked well, because the reader found out things at the same time as Sam did, so you feel you are on the journey with her, rather just reading about it.
There are lots of different threads and subplots, and the book is very fast-paced and the pages seem to turn themselves.
Well written intrigue, alien mystery and captivating characters, all in all an excellent tale well-told. An excellent start to a new series.
If you're a fan of The X-files or Roswell, then I think you would certainly enjoy this book. I know I did.
Sam feels guilty about their deaths and wonders if she will ever climb out of the dark hole she finds herself in.
But things start to look up. She makes new friends in her new school and she falls in love with the strangest boy in the school, Lucien. But there is a reason for Lucien's strangeness and the fact that Sam keeps thinking she's met him somewhere before...
This book has a bit of everything, romance, adventure, mystery, conspiracy. Sam is not a perfect character, she has flaws, but she is a sympathetic one and she is a heroine you can root for. And the flaws just make her seem more realistic rather than a perfect goody-two-shoes.
The romance between Lucien and Sam is compelling and romantic without being soppy or overly sweet.
I'm not a great fan of first-person narrative in novels, but that's just my preference, not a comment on the writing itself. Here it worked well, because the reader found out things at the same time as Sam did, so you feel you are on the journey with her, rather just reading about it.
There are lots of different threads and subplots, and the book is very fast-paced and the pages seem to turn themselves.
Well written intrigue, alien mystery and captivating characters, all in all an excellent tale well-told. An excellent start to a new series.
If you're a fan of The X-files or Roswell, then I think you would certainly enjoy this book. I know I did.
April 6, 2020
DNF. I left with three hours remaining on the audiobook. I tried. I really did. But like with previous times when I was unable to finish a story (it sometimes happens), I didn’t see the point in forcing myself to continue when the story/narration wasn’t doing it for me.
I had so many issues with this story, both the story itself and the narration. Where do I start?
I couldn’t get into the story at all. I’m all about looking for mistakes (it’s something I find fun to do), but maybe there were just too many that kept distracting me, along with the poor amateurish writing style and robotic dialogue. I don’t know. I’m not a writer but I do read a lot. I feel at this point in my life, I can pick out a well-written story and one that’s not. I see that this story was for YA, but I felt at many times that it was for younger folks. The chapter titles. Foreshadowing much? Could the author have made it any more obvious about what was about to happen?
With the narrator, I get that it takes practice to become a “professional,” but still. If an author writes that a character has an accent (multiple times), at least try to do an accent, any accent. Isn’t that how you’re supposed to get better? If an author writes that a character is happy, annoyed, angry, etc. make sure that emotion comes across in the character you’re speaking for…every time! Not just once in a while. All throughout the story, the narrator would go from narrative to Sam’s dialogue or vice versa and a lot of the times, I had no clue if Sam was actually talking out loud or just mentally. I swear the narrator had it in for Sam as well. Why was it that the other characters showed more emotion than her when she was the main character? The majority of her dialogue was so flat, unemotional. Did anyone notice the narrator pronounced “cicadas” as “kicadas?” I don’t know where the narrator is from, but for some reason, her accent just annoyed me. For example, pronouncing “feelings” as “fillings” or “heal” as “hill.”
As many other reviewers mentioned, Sam was an unlikeable character. She came across as being stupid. For example, Sam comments to Lucien’s sister that she has an accent like Lucien (no accent for the audiobook listeners), to which she replies she hadn’t noticed since they’d always lived there. Sam: How would you have known you had an accent? As though someone with an accent wouldn’t be able to compare the way they speak to others?! Seriously, Sam? Mrs. Author?
Speaking of stupid characters, when Sam “learns” that there had been an alien crash in Roswell, I couldn’t help but shake my head like what? How old is she? What person by a certain age hasn’t heard about “Roswell” in relation to aliens and top-secret government stuff? Come on, Mrs. Author! Or Sam having no clue what the NSA was. Now, maybe it’s just because my husband has been in the military, have watched a lot of movies, books that I know what it stands for, a vague idea of what they do, etc., I don’t know.
Questions/Comments:
Sam had been doing whatever in her bootie-shorts yet didn’t realize how short they were until after arriving at the mall? If you noticed your shorts riding up into your nether regions, wouldn’t you have noticed while you were at home?
Sam talks to Lucien at the bookstore and her Xanax bottle falls out of her purse. Lucien hands “them” back to her. It was a single bottle. There was nothing about the pills actually falling out.
Speaking of when Sam and Lucien first met in the bookstore, I didn’t understand why Sam acted so mean to him. It’s like she’d been the one starring. Why did she seem so surprised (kinda sorta) and angry when he came over to her?
The whole thing about Lucien having static from his lack of hair conditioner… no.
After hearing Lucien and his band (siblings) the first time, San wants Lucien to stay because she needs to talk to him. But then does a 180, two seconds later, and wants him to leave. Okay.
Before parting at the bookstore, Lucien puts his number on Sam’s phone. Later, she’s unable to find the number and thinks he hadn’t really done it. But then much later, it’s suddenly there, no talk about how she found it, nothing.
I think one of the funniest parts was when Lucien told Sam that he knew how she felt because of their strong connection. Lucien: “That’s why I was at the fairgrounds that night.” (Paraphrasing there.) He was always referring to that second night when she’d gone back on her own. What about the night she’d gone with her friends and had originally been attacked? What about that night, Lucien? Then when she got home to call him, he never answered or even said anything about it when they met up.
After that whole debacle, Lucien ends up telling Sam to not go out alone. “If you get any more calls, go to the police.” Calls from where? From who? No one had been calling her. Writing this review, I feel Lucien might have been just as stupid as Sam. LOL
Moving on… Sam ends up going back to the mall’s bookstore looking for more info on Roswell and the alien crash. She finds a stack of books to take home with her. She checks them out. Umm… she was in a bookstore, not a library. You can’t checkout books from a bookstore, only purchase them.
Speaking of the mall, she’d went there after she woke up that morning. There was nothing about her having been at the store for hours, yet when she leaves and goes back to the fairgrounds, it’s suddenly nighttime. FYI, there is a difference between fairs and carnivals. I couldn’t help but notice the author seemed to use the terms (along with carnies) interchangeably.
When Lucien wants to prove… I don’t know what? That his blood is special? Something like that. He whips out his dagger and cuts Sam’s forearm. Insert the crickets chirping here. Why, you ask? Because Sam never made a peep.
Another funny part was after Lucien and Sam watch the bad guy burn in the car. They drive away. Sam puts her head out the window and is throwing up. What does Lucien do? He moves over to her seat (the front passenger seat) and sits beside her. Thinking of how much space I take up in the passenger seat of my car, and imaging my hubby sitting next to me… I mean on my lap… while I’m throwing up out the window. Yeah… no. LOL
Or what about after Sam finishes throwing up. She suddenly feels a vibration behind her back. What could it be? It’s Lucien’s phone! That she somehow never noticed between her back and the seat.
When they’re heading back to Lucien’s family’s farm, they stop at the little convenience store. He asks her if she needs to go to the bathroom. “No, I can hold it (meaning she doesn’t have to go badly, not an emergency). Wait, how much longer until we get there?” (Again, paraphrasing here.) Lucien: “You should go.” Sam makes her way to the outhouse thinking about how badly she suddenly has to go.
At the farmhouse, Lucien shows Sam the door behind the tapestry. “He pressed a button and the door opened…” Lucien tells her how it’s safe and blah, blah, blah. Then, “The door opened.” Here’s a perfect example of repetition.
Or “He could sense my feelings and thoughts. I didn’t really appreciate the invasion of privacy. He could sense everything about me including all my secret intimate thoughts.” Yeah, we got that the first time it was mentioned.
Lucien’s sister gives Sam a change of clothes. His sister tells her to follow her to the bathroom. Yet, Sam doesn’t feel comfortable with them (his family) because “they weren’t human.” Ah… it wasn’t because they were sending you the evil eye, saying negative things to you? Hello. I doubt the fact they weren’t human really had anything to do with it since they weren’t doing anything supernatural.
Whatever. So picture this: you’re scared because of the group of people you’re surrounded with don’t like you, some want you to leave, some want to kill you, some what *insert negative action *.
What do you do in such a scary, nerve-wracking situation? You talk a bubble bath. Yup… that makes sense to me. It’s like you know you’re dirty, you were attacked earlier in the day, threw up… So when you have the chance to clean yourself, you don’t even wash your hair. You put it up BUT leave a few strands hanging down for a tousled look. What?!
I don’t remember who the assy-sounding brother was but he tells Lucien that he should have just bred with Sam. Again, ah… why do Lucien’s siblings act as though they, themselves, had previously lived on another planet with their fellow aliens and are now trapped on Earth? I know one of them could see the future, but that doesn’t mean they were able to connect with other aliens! I just didn’t get it. Why would the government create hybrids and all the other part-alien creatures and then just release them?
Even funnier is when the reader learns that the creatures living underground are upset that the aliens (I think it was just Lucien’s father, right? He’d been the only one to survive?) had made a pact with the human government. Even though the aliens, the hybrids, the no-whites (cheesy name), the underground creature/peoples have only every lived on Earth!
I had so many issues with this story, both the story itself and the narration. Where do I start?
I couldn’t get into the story at all. I’m all about looking for mistakes (it’s something I find fun to do), but maybe there were just too many that kept distracting me, along with the poor amateurish writing style and robotic dialogue. I don’t know. I’m not a writer but I do read a lot. I feel at this point in my life, I can pick out a well-written story and one that’s not. I see that this story was for YA, but I felt at many times that it was for younger folks. The chapter titles. Foreshadowing much? Could the author have made it any more obvious about what was about to happen?
With the narrator, I get that it takes practice to become a “professional,” but still. If an author writes that a character has an accent (multiple times), at least try to do an accent, any accent. Isn’t that how you’re supposed to get better? If an author writes that a character is happy, annoyed, angry, etc. make sure that emotion comes across in the character you’re speaking for…every time! Not just once in a while. All throughout the story, the narrator would go from narrative to Sam’s dialogue or vice versa and a lot of the times, I had no clue if Sam was actually talking out loud or just mentally. I swear the narrator had it in for Sam as well. Why was it that the other characters showed more emotion than her when she was the main character? The majority of her dialogue was so flat, unemotional. Did anyone notice the narrator pronounced “cicadas” as “kicadas?” I don’t know where the narrator is from, but for some reason, her accent just annoyed me. For example, pronouncing “feelings” as “fillings” or “heal” as “hill.”
As many other reviewers mentioned, Sam was an unlikeable character. She came across as being stupid. For example, Sam comments to Lucien’s sister that she has an accent like Lucien (no accent for the audiobook listeners), to which she replies she hadn’t noticed since they’d always lived there. Sam: How would you have known you had an accent? As though someone with an accent wouldn’t be able to compare the way they speak to others?! Seriously, Sam? Mrs. Author?
Speaking of stupid characters, when Sam “learns” that there had been an alien crash in Roswell, I couldn’t help but shake my head like what? How old is she? What person by a certain age hasn’t heard about “Roswell” in relation to aliens and top-secret government stuff? Come on, Mrs. Author! Or Sam having no clue what the NSA was. Now, maybe it’s just because my husband has been in the military, have watched a lot of movies, books that I know what it stands for, a vague idea of what they do, etc., I don’t know.
Questions/Comments:
Sam had been doing whatever in her bootie-shorts yet didn’t realize how short they were until after arriving at the mall? If you noticed your shorts riding up into your nether regions, wouldn’t you have noticed while you were at home?
Sam talks to Lucien at the bookstore and her Xanax bottle falls out of her purse. Lucien hands “them” back to her. It was a single bottle. There was nothing about the pills actually falling out.
Speaking of when Sam and Lucien first met in the bookstore, I didn’t understand why Sam acted so mean to him. It’s like she’d been the one starring. Why did she seem so surprised (kinda sorta) and angry when he came over to her?
The whole thing about Lucien having static from his lack of hair conditioner… no.
After hearing Lucien and his band (siblings) the first time, San wants Lucien to stay because she needs to talk to him. But then does a 180, two seconds later, and wants him to leave. Okay.
Before parting at the bookstore, Lucien puts his number on Sam’s phone. Later, she’s unable to find the number and thinks he hadn’t really done it. But then much later, it’s suddenly there, no talk about how she found it, nothing.
I think one of the funniest parts was when Lucien told Sam that he knew how she felt because of their strong connection. Lucien: “That’s why I was at the fairgrounds that night.” (Paraphrasing there.) He was always referring to that second night when she’d gone back on her own. What about the night she’d gone with her friends and had originally been attacked? What about that night, Lucien? Then when she got home to call him, he never answered or even said anything about it when they met up.
After that whole debacle, Lucien ends up telling Sam to not go out alone. “If you get any more calls, go to the police.” Calls from where? From who? No one had been calling her. Writing this review, I feel Lucien might have been just as stupid as Sam. LOL
Moving on… Sam ends up going back to the mall’s bookstore looking for more info on Roswell and the alien crash. She finds a stack of books to take home with her. She checks them out. Umm… she was in a bookstore, not a library. You can’t checkout books from a bookstore, only purchase them.
Speaking of the mall, she’d went there after she woke up that morning. There was nothing about her having been at the store for hours, yet when she leaves and goes back to the fairgrounds, it’s suddenly nighttime. FYI, there is a difference between fairs and carnivals. I couldn’t help but notice the author seemed to use the terms (along with carnies) interchangeably.
When Lucien wants to prove… I don’t know what? That his blood is special? Something like that. He whips out his dagger and cuts Sam’s forearm. Insert the crickets chirping here. Why, you ask? Because Sam never made a peep.
Another funny part was after Lucien and Sam watch the bad guy burn in the car. They drive away. Sam puts her head out the window and is throwing up. What does Lucien do? He moves over to her seat (the front passenger seat) and sits beside her. Thinking of how much space I take up in the passenger seat of my car, and imaging my hubby sitting next to me… I mean on my lap… while I’m throwing up out the window. Yeah… no. LOL
Or what about after Sam finishes throwing up. She suddenly feels a vibration behind her back. What could it be? It’s Lucien’s phone! That she somehow never noticed between her back and the seat.
When they’re heading back to Lucien’s family’s farm, they stop at the little convenience store. He asks her if she needs to go to the bathroom. “No, I can hold it (meaning she doesn’t have to go badly, not an emergency). Wait, how much longer until we get there?” (Again, paraphrasing here.) Lucien: “You should go.” Sam makes her way to the outhouse thinking about how badly she suddenly has to go.
At the farmhouse, Lucien shows Sam the door behind the tapestry. “He pressed a button and the door opened…” Lucien tells her how it’s safe and blah, blah, blah. Then, “The door opened.” Here’s a perfect example of repetition.
Or “He could sense my feelings and thoughts. I didn’t really appreciate the invasion of privacy. He could sense everything about me including all my secret intimate thoughts.” Yeah, we got that the first time it was mentioned.
Lucien’s sister gives Sam a change of clothes. His sister tells her to follow her to the bathroom. Yet, Sam doesn’t feel comfortable with them (his family) because “they weren’t human.” Ah… it wasn’t because they were sending you the evil eye, saying negative things to you? Hello. I doubt the fact they weren’t human really had anything to do with it since they weren’t doing anything supernatural.
Whatever. So picture this: you’re scared because of the group of people you’re surrounded with don’t like you, some want you to leave, some want to kill you, some what *insert negative action *.
What do you do in such a scary, nerve-wracking situation? You talk a bubble bath. Yup… that makes sense to me. It’s like you know you’re dirty, you were attacked earlier in the day, threw up… So when you have the chance to clean yourself, you don’t even wash your hair. You put it up BUT leave a few strands hanging down for a tousled look. What?!
I don’t remember who the assy-sounding brother was but he tells Lucien that he should have just bred with Sam. Again, ah… why do Lucien’s siblings act as though they, themselves, had previously lived on another planet with their fellow aliens and are now trapped on Earth? I know one of them could see the future, but that doesn’t mean they were able to connect with other aliens! I just didn’t get it. Why would the government create hybrids and all the other part-alien creatures and then just release them?
Even funnier is when the reader learns that the creatures living underground are upset that the aliens (I think it was just Lucien’s father, right? He’d been the only one to survive?) had made a pact with the human government. Even though the aliens, the hybrids, the no-whites (cheesy name), the underground creature/peoples have only every lived on Earth!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 1, 2015
From the Sky is a exceptionally well written fiction book by author J.E. Nicassio. When reading the Prelude of the book, the readers will get a look into what happened before the main characters meet- or when the author wants you to think they first meet. From the Sky is arranged by chapters. This book will keep you on edge, and wanting more. Its difficult to put down, and is a short, easy, yet intriguing read for a young adult. Other books written by J.E. Nicassio are the following: Louis-Josephs Ooh Rah, and Rocky: The Rockefeller Christmas Tree.
From the Sky begins with Samantha Hunter, and how her life is just out of sorts. She was in a car accident that took the life of her twin brother, and now a few months later after the death of her mother, her father is making her leave her world in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania behind to start new in New Mexico. As Sam is out exploring her new city, she meets someone new- or so she thinks he's new to her, and his name is Lucien Foster. At first, Sam is a little hesitant and annoyed with him because he keeps showing up out of nowhere, and swears she's met him before but she knows that it's just not possible that she has. But once Samantha knows the truth, the world as she knows it is completely over and a whole new world is introduced to her. Lucien shows Sam things that she never thought imaginable. The power of healing, telekinesis, and time traveling are just a few topics Sam experiences with Lucien. As long as she has Lucien, she's not afraid, but as she grows closer to him, she realizes her fear of what will happen to them if he finds away to return to his home.
My favorite part of this book would towards the end when Lucien brings the spirit of Sam's mother and brother back to be able to speak to her one last time. This part of the book really appealed to me emotionally because it is something that some people, including myself, so strongly wish they could do themselves, speak to a loved one just one more time. This book was an example of a completely different way to think about how if this world really did have extraterrestrials among us, what amazing things they could do and what we could learn from them. From the Sky gives readers a totally different way of thinking how extraterrestrials could possibly look and act, despite what people would normally think of them: green skin, four arms, and three eyeballs. In conclusion, anyone that has an interest in life other than humans, and like a romantic-drama theme, this is the book for you. It is exceptionally written with so much detail, and will leave you wanting more when finished reading.
From the Sky begins with Samantha Hunter, and how her life is just out of sorts. She was in a car accident that took the life of her twin brother, and now a few months later after the death of her mother, her father is making her leave her world in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania behind to start new in New Mexico. As Sam is out exploring her new city, she meets someone new- or so she thinks he's new to her, and his name is Lucien Foster. At first, Sam is a little hesitant and annoyed with him because he keeps showing up out of nowhere, and swears she's met him before but she knows that it's just not possible that she has. But once Samantha knows the truth, the world as she knows it is completely over and a whole new world is introduced to her. Lucien shows Sam things that she never thought imaginable. The power of healing, telekinesis, and time traveling are just a few topics Sam experiences with Lucien. As long as she has Lucien, she's not afraid, but as she grows closer to him, she realizes her fear of what will happen to them if he finds away to return to his home.
My favorite part of this book would towards the end when Lucien brings the spirit of Sam's mother and brother back to be able to speak to her one last time. This part of the book really appealed to me emotionally because it is something that some people, including myself, so strongly wish they could do themselves, speak to a loved one just one more time. This book was an example of a completely different way to think about how if this world really did have extraterrestrials among us, what amazing things they could do and what we could learn from them. From the Sky gives readers a totally different way of thinking how extraterrestrials could possibly look and act, despite what people would normally think of them: green skin, four arms, and three eyeballs. In conclusion, anyone that has an interest in life other than humans, and like a romantic-drama theme, this is the book for you. It is exceptionally written with so much detail, and will leave you wanting more when finished reading.
February 18, 2019
So this book had a great blurb and interesting premise. Once reading it however all I could picture was someone taking the tv show Roswell mixing in a bit of the Twilight books, and bam this was born. It had a lot of potential but a lot seemed borrowed from other things and that subtracted from its possibilities. There were some sentences that an editor clearly missed but I have seen that in traditionally published things as well. There were a few more of them than most books though. After the ending, I am a little curious as to how the relationship will end up but I am not sure if I will continue the series or not.
September 16, 2019
I'll be honest. This book ticked a lot of my favorite boxes: science fiction, romance, aliens. Young Adult was something extra that I hadn't tried when reading science fiction romance and, since the premise brought to mind the new CW show Roswell, New Mexico, I was all in. That ended up being a big mistake for me.
There were a lot of similarities between this book and that show. So much so that I did some research to find out if the show was based on this book. It was not. In fact, Roswell, New Mexico was a remake of a show based on another book, The Outsider, with a similar premise. Somehow I missed that show growing up and I'm a little bummed about that.
The YA aspects really came through in this book and not always in a good way. It's a little juvenile even for a YA and is not consistent in details. I think one of the areas where YA romance often fails is it’s portrayal of the romance. Lucien did not coming across as romantic or cute, but stalkery, and I was so annoyed at the number of times he told Sam not to worry about something or that he'd tell her later. To me, this was a clear dismissal of Sam and her feelings, not mention that Lucien didn't seem to think that Sam needed to be on the same level information-wise. I'm not even going to get into the fact that Lucien was good at everything. *Eye roll*
As for Sam, I couldn't decide if she was TSTL or just a bystander in her own story. She stood around a lot and didn't do much. She also came across as selfish when things were clearly not about her. Between her and the secondary characters, I got whiplash from their emotions.
To be honest, the Area 51 scene seemed like the climax of the book, and yet there was still more to go that seemed to be mere fluff. I will say, however, that I enjoyed the ending. I felt that it was the right way to segue into the next book.
I listened to the audiobook and the narrator, Holly Holt, did a fairly good job. She appears to be a great selection to narrate a teenage girl, but most of her male voices were atrocious. The shadowy bad guy at the fair was perfectly creepy and Lucien was passable. I often had to hold back a laugh at the others. Though the narrator sounds good for YA, I think the narration sounds best sped up a little bit. Holt has a slow cadence, but it sounds perfectly fine sped up 1.1x or 1.2x.
If you want my opinion, skip this book and watch Roswell, New Mexico instead. It's more New Adult than YA, but does a much better job with the storyline.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
There were a lot of similarities between this book and that show. So much so that I did some research to find out if the show was based on this book. It was not. In fact, Roswell, New Mexico was a remake of a show based on another book, The Outsider, with a similar premise. Somehow I missed that show growing up and I'm a little bummed about that.
The YA aspects really came through in this book and not always in a good way. It's a little juvenile even for a YA and is not consistent in details. I think one of the areas where YA romance often fails is it’s portrayal of the romance. Lucien did not coming across as romantic or cute, but stalkery, and I was so annoyed at the number of times he told Sam not to worry about something or that he'd tell her later. To me, this was a clear dismissal of Sam and her feelings, not mention that Lucien didn't seem to think that Sam needed to be on the same level information-wise. I'm not even going to get into the fact that Lucien was good at everything. *Eye roll*
As for Sam, I couldn't decide if she was TSTL or just a bystander in her own story. She stood around a lot and didn't do much. She also came across as selfish when things were clearly not about her. Between her and the secondary characters, I got whiplash from their emotions.
To be honest, the Area 51 scene seemed like the climax of the book, and yet there was still more to go that seemed to be mere fluff. I will say, however, that I enjoyed the ending. I felt that it was the right way to segue into the next book.
I listened to the audiobook and the narrator, Holly Holt, did a fairly good job. She appears to be a great selection to narrate a teenage girl, but most of her male voices were atrocious. The shadowy bad guy at the fair was perfectly creepy and Lucien was passable. I often had to hold back a laugh at the others. Though the narrator sounds good for YA, I think the narration sounds best sped up a little bit. Holt has a slow cadence, but it sounds perfectly fine sped up 1.1x or 1.2x.
If you want my opinion, skip this book and watch Roswell, New Mexico instead. It's more New Adult than YA, but does a much better job with the storyline.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
July 7, 2024
From The Sky is a paranormal story written by Jennie Nicassio about the relationship between Sam and a boy who leads to uncovering a shocking truth that was better left untold. Samantha Hunter, a young girl, felt so devastated about the death of her brother and her mum. It was surprising and strange that she had survived the deadly accident and her brother couldn't. A few days after the burial, her father got a job that required him to relocate. This made Sam angry, but she complied. After their relocation, Sam went sightseeing on her own, and she visited a library where she met a strange boy named Lucien. Their meeting felt strange to her because she thought she had seen him somewhere before. After that day, she began to see him everywhere, especially at school where he was also a student. Her friends always told her that there was something strange about Lucien, but she always waved it off until one particular day that made her realize that her friends might actually be telling the truth. What did she find out? What do you think would happen next?
Opinion:
This edgy story centers around the existence of alien creatures. It explains through a character how they came about, their behaviors, what they eat, and how they live their life on Earth. The story is fast-paced and can also be said to be sci-fi as it describes the use of science and scientific devices to aid the existence of the aliens. The book started off with the accident, which is saddening since she (Sam) blamed herself for her brother's death, but as I read further, those feelings began to seep away as she recovers quickly from the trauma. It also included a bit of romance as we read about the relationship between Sam and Lucien. The character, beginning with the female lead, is a young girl who is trying to overcome the heap of sadness the death of her mother and her brother has brought to her. She was faced with terrible situations and landed in places that would have taken her life, but despite that, she was brave enough to summon up the courage to find out a mysterious truth. Next, the male protagonist, Lucien, who is an alien, was nice even though he wasn't human. He saved Sam during the accident by giving her his blood and choosing to make her his priority by protecting her from danger. He was a warmhearted and lively character that could fit in any situation. While reading, I came across some grammatical errors that mildly disrupted my reading. Notwithstanding that, the book kept me pinned down for some days as I read it engaging content.
Opinion:
This edgy story centers around the existence of alien creatures. It explains through a character how they came about, their behaviors, what they eat, and how they live their life on Earth. The story is fast-paced and can also be said to be sci-fi as it describes the use of science and scientific devices to aid the existence of the aliens. The book started off with the accident, which is saddening since she (Sam) blamed herself for her brother's death, but as I read further, those feelings began to seep away as she recovers quickly from the trauma. It also included a bit of romance as we read about the relationship between Sam and Lucien. The character, beginning with the female lead, is a young girl who is trying to overcome the heap of sadness the death of her mother and her brother has brought to her. She was faced with terrible situations and landed in places that would have taken her life, but despite that, she was brave enough to summon up the courage to find out a mysterious truth. Next, the male protagonist, Lucien, who is an alien, was nice even though he wasn't human. He saved Sam during the accident by giving her his blood and choosing to make her his priority by protecting her from danger. He was a warmhearted and lively character that could fit in any situation. While reading, I came across some grammatical errors that mildly disrupted my reading. Notwithstanding that, the book kept me pinned down for some days as I read it engaging content.
May 20, 2019
‘I just wish I could figure all this out’ – An exceptional novel!
Pennsylvania author Jennie E. Nicassio is a former freelance writer, MUFON (Mutual UFO Network) field investigator, and the author of ROCKY, LOUIS-JOSEPH’S OOH RAH, HAUNTING SHORT TALES OF TWILA, and the From the Sky Trilogy, of which FROM THE SKY is Volume 1. Her writing reflects her fascination with life on other planets and she has become well known for her fascinating paranormal fantasy works. She lives Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The depth and sensitivity of Jennie’s projected trilogy is evident in the quotation she places at book’s opening: ‘Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.” – Arthur C. Clarke. Knowing her passion for UFOs and the probability of life on other planets, this book sails into the mind with surety and succeeds in transporting the reader into Jennie’s special realm.
The tale begins in Pittsburgh with an auto accident in which Samantha (aka Sam) survives while her twin brother Finn succumbs: Sam is visited by a stranger who comforts her, saying she will not die, and then disappears. Months pass, Sam’s mother dies in a depressed state, and Sam once again views the stranger in the cemetery after her mother’s funeral. Moving to New Mexico with her father’s new university position as Dean of the Archaeology Department Sam continues to encounter visions of the stranger. Gradually she learns the stranger is from another planet, and her life becomes more complex after meeting the strange but enchanting Lucien Foster. From this point on the story becomes a much a mystery thriller as a fantasy, so perfectly blended is the line that normally separates reality and the unknown – intrigue, alien conspiracies, and yes, romance.
Though written for the Young Adult audience, this book is so fine that it is equally irresistible for imaginative adults. Exceptional writing, this, and a very fine opening chapter of Jennie’s successful trilogy. Highly recommended.
Pennsylvania author Jennie E. Nicassio is a former freelance writer, MUFON (Mutual UFO Network) field investigator, and the author of ROCKY, LOUIS-JOSEPH’S OOH RAH, HAUNTING SHORT TALES OF TWILA, and the From the Sky Trilogy, of which FROM THE SKY is Volume 1. Her writing reflects her fascination with life on other planets and she has become well known for her fascinating paranormal fantasy works. She lives Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The depth and sensitivity of Jennie’s projected trilogy is evident in the quotation she places at book’s opening: ‘Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.” – Arthur C. Clarke. Knowing her passion for UFOs and the probability of life on other planets, this book sails into the mind with surety and succeeds in transporting the reader into Jennie’s special realm.
The tale begins in Pittsburgh with an auto accident in which Samantha (aka Sam) survives while her twin brother Finn succumbs: Sam is visited by a stranger who comforts her, saying she will not die, and then disappears. Months pass, Sam’s mother dies in a depressed state, and Sam once again views the stranger in the cemetery after her mother’s funeral. Moving to New Mexico with her father’s new university position as Dean of the Archaeology Department Sam continues to encounter visions of the stranger. Gradually she learns the stranger is from another planet, and her life becomes more complex after meeting the strange but enchanting Lucien Foster. From this point on the story becomes a much a mystery thriller as a fantasy, so perfectly blended is the line that normally separates reality and the unknown – intrigue, alien conspiracies, and yes, romance.
Though written for the Young Adult audience, this book is so fine that it is equally irresistible for imaginative adults. Exceptional writing, this, and a very fine opening chapter of Jennie’s successful trilogy. Highly recommended.
October 7, 2017
I think I've decided I need more aliens in my life. Well, in fictional form that is. As soon as I got into this book, I definitely felt some major Roswell vibes, if anyone's ever seen that series. Nevertheless, this was a fantastic book in it's own right. I have zero time to do anything right now, but I still enjoyed reading this immensely.
The feeling of loss and the move that opens up the book is described in such a raw way. The idea of a new life in New Mexico away from painful memories is promising, but Sam will never fully be separated from the tragedy that has befallen her. She's content to blend in at first, and then she meets a boy she swears she's met before. Of course, this strange coincidence is only the first step in a large collection of even stranger things.
The emotion and character depth in this book is wonderful, I was engaged with the characters from page one. There is just enough action, suspense, romance, and even a little conspiracy theory, because you can't have a novel with aliens without a little crazy conspiracy. Not to mention the relationship between Lucien and Sam, which I absolutely adored. What can I say? I'm a sucker for romance.
As with most books the include specific jargon, there was a fair amount of new terms. It wasn't too hard to follow along, but I did forget what some meant and had to go back a few times.
I was provided with this book in exchange for an honest review.
The feeling of loss and the move that opens up the book is described in such a raw way. The idea of a new life in New Mexico away from painful memories is promising, but Sam will never fully be separated from the tragedy that has befallen her. She's content to blend in at first, and then she meets a boy she swears she's met before. Of course, this strange coincidence is only the first step in a large collection of even stranger things.
The emotion and character depth in this book is wonderful, I was engaged with the characters from page one. There is just enough action, suspense, romance, and even a little conspiracy theory, because you can't have a novel with aliens without a little crazy conspiracy. Not to mention the relationship between Lucien and Sam, which I absolutely adored. What can I say? I'm a sucker for romance.
As with most books the include specific jargon, there was a fair amount of new terms. It wasn't too hard to follow along, but I did forget what some meant and had to go back a few times.
I was provided with this book in exchange for an honest review.
March 28, 2019
This book is about two teenagers named Lucien and Samantha,her and her father moved to New Mexico after her mom died her father got a job at the University and they had to move, when runs into a strange guy named Lucien there’s these strange people that keep attacking her then learns that Lucien is an alien and that him and his brothers and sisters crashed in Roswell in 1968and are looking for there home the ther are these strange guys that are hybrids that are trying to help the government, when they scientists decide to help Lucien and his brothers and sisters and then Lucien gets kinaped and Jordan and Michael has to rescue him from the scientist Jordan and Michael tell Samantha to stay home but she doesn’t listen and hides in the back of the Jeep and when they got to Area 51 when the find her they are mad they blame Sam for what’s happening to Lucien they use their powers to rescue Lucien they rescue him he’s almost dead and Sam doesn’t whant to leave him. But they tell her to get home before her dad gets home she’s supposed to be grounded her father forbids her from seeing him but she still gets out to see him
I love this book it has good characters and it is very interesting it had aliens it sounded like twilight with aliens instead of vampires and werewolves i love that there’s romance but no sex.
I recieved this book for free in exchange for an honest option
I love this book it has good characters and it is very interesting it had aliens it sounded like twilight with aliens instead of vampires and werewolves i love that there’s romance but no sex.
I recieved this book for free in exchange for an honest option
September 30, 2020
From the Sky is a YA sci-fi romance.
After her twin's and and mom's death's, Samantha's dad moves them to New Mexico where she meets a mysterious, attractive young man named Lucian who has many secrets.
This novel was a typical teen romance - but with aliens. It definitely made an intriguing read, as I learned with Sam the mysteries behind Lucian, his weird abilities, and his glowing necklace as well as the reasons people began hunting Sam. There was quite a bit of danger and thrill, as well as steamy romance.
What I didn't like had a lot to do with the content warnings: while they never had sex on screen, they came pretty close to it. There was a lot of swearing and underage smokers. I also didn't like that they used the Bible out of context as one more myth in the many about aliens. Perhaps if it had been taken in context, with the actual meanings in place, I would have been less irritated by it.
So I enjoyed the plot of the book, but some of the other things I didn't appreciate. Perhaps you will find it more to your liking than I did. Oh, and forewarning - there's a dreadful cliffhanger.
I received a complementary copy of this book from the author. All opinions are my own.
After her twin's and and mom's death's, Samantha's dad moves them to New Mexico where she meets a mysterious, attractive young man named Lucian who has many secrets.
This novel was a typical teen romance - but with aliens. It definitely made an intriguing read, as I learned with Sam the mysteries behind Lucian, his weird abilities, and his glowing necklace as well as the reasons people began hunting Sam. There was quite a bit of danger and thrill, as well as steamy romance.
What I didn't like had a lot to do with the content warnings: while they never had sex on screen, they came pretty close to it. There was a lot of swearing and underage smokers. I also didn't like that they used the Bible out of context as one more myth in the many about aliens. Perhaps if it had been taken in context, with the actual meanings in place, I would have been less irritated by it.
So I enjoyed the plot of the book, but some of the other things I didn't appreciate. Perhaps you will find it more to your liking than I did. Oh, and forewarning - there's a dreadful cliffhanger.
I received a complementary copy of this book from the author. All opinions are my own.
May 20, 2019
Geared toward the YA crowd, From the Sky (Beyond Moondust Trilogy@1) by J.E. Nicassio is a great science fiction read. Sam is the main character, and having just dealt with the death of not only her twin brother, must grieve for her mother as well, who just passed away after dealing with depression. A paranormal and urban fantasy this book checks all the boxes if you are looking for a good mix of the story of Roswell as well as the Twilight series. There is plenty of action, extraterrestrials, mystery, and a touch of romance that makes this story unique and fun to read. The characters are well conceived, and the plot is lovingly handled. It is also quite apparent that the author did a lot of research about New Mexico and various supposed government conspiracies. The pace and plot will hold your attention and keep you reading until the satisfying ending. Highly recommend.
September 23, 2025
Moondust" is an absolute gem a perfect blend of history, science fiction, and heartfelt storytelling. J. E. Nicassio has created a tale that is both thrilling and deeply human, with Bobby/Jordan’s journey capturing the sacrifice, resilience, and emotional weight of starting over. The mix of wartime espionage, secret projects, and the tender bond he forms while raising the alien children kept me turning pages late into the night. It’s rare to find a book that balances suspense with such heart, but this one does it beautifully. An imaginative and unforgettable story that lingers with you long after the last page.
April 2, 2019
My Review: This book had a little bit of everything that you look for in a good story. Romance, mystery, action, adventure, and great characters. I really enjoyed the romance in this one and the fact that it didn't over power the story at large. Sam was a great character she was flawed and totally believable. The pacing of the book was well done. I think I finished this one in just over a few hours. The entire thing was one great ride that I didn't want to end. I can not wait until the next title.
March 22, 2019
Suspension of disbelief
I fully embrace the concept of "suspension of disbelief" I believe that most stories require it.
Hydrogen is poison is too much. It is the most plentiful element in the universe. It is something that no one can avoid.
I read on dispite that. I really bonded with the main character. Sigh.
Spoiler alert. This is a cliffhanger. Don't bother reading it. You won't want to continue.
I fully embrace the concept of "suspension of disbelief" I believe that most stories require it.
Hydrogen is poison is too much. It is the most plentiful element in the universe. It is something that no one can avoid.
I read on dispite that. I really bonded with the main character. Sigh.
Spoiler alert. This is a cliffhanger. Don't bother reading it. You won't want to continue.
February 19, 2019
It was a fun read and I like Samantha (Sam) for she was strong and courageous. other times, she did some really stupid and dumb things that got her into trouble. After all, she was a teenager and teenagers don’t always make the greatest choices.
It was a simple read of a love story about two teenagers filled with tragedy, danger, and figuring out what the future holds for them.
I also felt there was a lot of potential underneath the story waiting to emerge, but it never happened.
My full review is at: https://alexandramars.com/2019/02/20/...
It was a simple read of a love story about two teenagers filled with tragedy, danger, and figuring out what the future holds for them.
I also felt there was a lot of potential underneath the story waiting to emerge, but it never happened.
My full review is at: https://alexandramars.com/2019/02/20/...
February 16, 2019
Good
There were parts of this book that were intense and I am so hoping for a HEA at the end. I liked the characters a lot and the heartache is palpable as is the healing. Can't wait for the next book
There were parts of this book that were intense and I am so hoping for a HEA at the end. I liked the characters a lot and the heartache is palpable as is the healing. Can't wait for the next book
March 15, 2019
Ehhh
Concept is good. Writing is rushed, dialogue is stilted, and grammar is questionable. FYI - donned = clothing. I donned a hat. Dawned = occurred, ie, it dawned on me. The past perfect of drive is had driven, not had drove, etc. Good luck in the future.
Concept is good. Writing is rushed, dialogue is stilted, and grammar is questionable. FYI - donned = clothing. I donned a hat. Dawned = occurred, ie, it dawned on me. The past perfect of drive is had driven, not had drove, etc. Good luck in the future.
September 12, 2019
A great storyline that captivated me from the beginning to the end where you are left with a cliffhanger. Characters are definitely something and wow. Definitely a must. The author got herself a new fan.
September 19, 2017
Fun and fantasy
A fun read especially for the young adult audience. Fun for adults too. O am anxious to read the sequel.
A fun read especially for the young adult audience. Fun for adults too. O am anxious to read the sequel.
September 21, 2017
😻
A lot of it was a bit hard to understand. But the story pulled me in I had a hard time putting it down.
A lot of it was a bit hard to understand. But the story pulled me in I had a hard time putting it down.
October 12, 2017
A very good read
I really loved this book. The characters were believable.
The author held my interest and I really cared about the characters.
I can't wait to read the next book!!
I really loved this book. The characters were believable.
The author held my interest and I really cared about the characters.
I can't wait to read the next book!!
April 2, 2020
I did enjoy the book but I found it hard to get into . I only started to get into it about 70% of the way through which makes me reluctant to start the sequel
February 12, 2016
‘From the Sky’ written by J.E. Nicassio is a nice YA surprise, delivering great combination of SF with romance motives and few drops of conspiracy theory – the result is believable story full of action that younger reader will highly enjoy.
The book begins with main character - Samantha Hunter – losing her twin brother in a car accident. This would only be beginning of sad things in her life, because only several months later her mother is going to die and she remains only with her father.
They are going to move from Pittsburgh to New Mexico, trying to start new life. Samantha is going to meet guy named Lucien Foster, who though new to her somehow feels so familiar. Samantha is firstly a bit nervous when it comes to Lucien because of his sudden showing up, but soon the unbelievable truth is going to be revealed in front of her eyes – Lucien will show her the whole new world, some fantastic powers she only read about or watch in movies.
And though all of it seems so appealing, especially as Samantha grows closer Lucien, in same time she is afraid what is going to happen in the future…
‘From the Sky’ is a book that with its interesting premise will be appealing to teens and YA people all around the globe, though equally good part of book are its characters, both Samantha and Lucien, enabling reader to become part of this exciting story. The result is story full of strong emotions and doubts, chases and action that overall makes reading of this book a powerful and unforgettable experience.
Therefore, though I was asking myself being the right person for reading it, J.E. Nicassio with her book managed to hook me completely and I could not recommend it enough for YA lovers – the author wrote a story that you could read few times and then recommend to all your friends to do the same.
I was given a copy of this book by the author for the purpose of unbiased review, while all the presented information is based on my impressions.
The book begins with main character - Samantha Hunter – losing her twin brother in a car accident. This would only be beginning of sad things in her life, because only several months later her mother is going to die and she remains only with her father.
They are going to move from Pittsburgh to New Mexico, trying to start new life. Samantha is going to meet guy named Lucien Foster, who though new to her somehow feels so familiar. Samantha is firstly a bit nervous when it comes to Lucien because of his sudden showing up, but soon the unbelievable truth is going to be revealed in front of her eyes – Lucien will show her the whole new world, some fantastic powers she only read about or watch in movies.
And though all of it seems so appealing, especially as Samantha grows closer Lucien, in same time she is afraid what is going to happen in the future…
‘From the Sky’ is a book that with its interesting premise will be appealing to teens and YA people all around the globe, though equally good part of book are its characters, both Samantha and Lucien, enabling reader to become part of this exciting story. The result is story full of strong emotions and doubts, chases and action that overall makes reading of this book a powerful and unforgettable experience.
Therefore, though I was asking myself being the right person for reading it, J.E. Nicassio with her book managed to hook me completely and I could not recommend it enough for YA lovers – the author wrote a story that you could read few times and then recommend to all your friends to do the same.
I was given a copy of this book by the author for the purpose of unbiased review, while all the presented information is based on my impressions.
October 1, 2017
* this book was sent to me in exchange for an honest review*
I really liked this book, I read it pretty quickly and was instantly enamored by the characters especially Lucien.
The ending was so extremely dramatic and heartbreaking and I felt like I was part of the story every step of the way.
it was adorably funny at times too and that just lifted the occasional sombre mood.
I only gave it 4 stars and not 5 because I am not an alien expert, I don't read conspiracy theory's in my spare time and they used a lot of technical terms and acronyms that I didn't know and weren't explained. I just had to take a guess at what each one was and it made it difficult to follow occasionally.
A full review of this and the sequel Equinox will be on my blog: https://hawthornbookreviews.com/2017/...
I really liked this book, I read it pretty quickly and was instantly enamored by the characters especially Lucien.
The ending was so extremely dramatic and heartbreaking and I felt like I was part of the story every step of the way.
it was adorably funny at times too and that just lifted the occasional sombre mood.
I only gave it 4 stars and not 5 because I am not an alien expert, I don't read conspiracy theory's in my spare time and they used a lot of technical terms and acronyms that I didn't know and weren't explained. I just had to take a guess at what each one was and it made it difficult to follow occasionally.
A full review of this and the sequel Equinox will be on my blog: https://hawthornbookreviews.com/2017/...
August 19, 2015
From The Sky will have you on the edge of your seat from the first page. You get to meet Samantha Hunter,a courageous girl anyone would love to have as a friend, and experience an entire new world you never knew existed right here on Earth! But nothing comes close to the beautiful and breathtaking love she feels for the gorgeous Lucien. A love he just as strongly feels for her too. I give From The Sky five stars and can't wait for the next one!
July 24, 2015
I am naturally a Thriller story line kind of person.
However,I enjoyed this book immensely.
Once I started reading I couldn't put it down till I was done.
The twist and turns in the story line was worth the purchase.
This book has you questioning ,What is the truth?
I am looking forward to reading the next book by j.Nicassio .
However,I enjoyed this book immensely.
Once I started reading I couldn't put it down till I was done.
The twist and turns in the story line was worth the purchase.
This book has you questioning ,What is the truth?
I am looking forward to reading the next book by j.Nicassio .
December 23, 2019
STwilight with aliens and I love it! Conspiracies, danger, UFOs, aliens of different kinds and a guy and a girl in love. What more could I want?
See more at fundinmental
See more at fundinmental
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