Thursday, January 23, 2014

"Begotten: Book One of The Forsaken Prophecies" by Giovanna Lagana

EXCERPT and GIVEAWAY
Begotten:
Book One of The Forsaken Prophecies
by Giovanna Lagana


Begotten is currently on tour with Bewitching Book Tours. The tour stops here today for an excerpt and a giveaway. Please make sure you visit the other tour stops as well.


Description
Evil is watching and waiting…only love can save them when it strikes …
In the blink of an eye Megan Johnson’s perfect life turns into a nightmare. Her beloved husband mysteriously dies in a car crash and her fourteen-year-old son, Tristan, runs away with a diabolical cult leader named Vincent Hellion. Her world is spiraling to destruction. She leans on her husband’s best friend, Rhett Foster, for support and help. But when feelings she thought she never had for Rhett begin to surface and unknown psychic powers possess her, she becomes more confused than ever. She tries to push her feelings for Rhett aside and focus on her visions to save her son before it’s too late.
Rhett Foster has loved Megan for so long. But he never confessed his feelings to her because his best friend was her husband. Now that her husband is dead, he struggles with his conscience. Should he tell Megan how he really feels or should he honor his best friend's memory?
Megan's desperate quest to find and free her son sets them both on a path of love, danger, and renewal. If they return, their lives will be changed forever.

Book Trailer


Begotten was originally published in 2005 as With Black and White Comes The Grey - The Battle of Armageddon.

Excerpt
Megan closed the door and leaned on it. She began to cry. Fatigue and the doctor’s words took their toll on her.
Rhett hugged her and caressed her long hair. “You heard what the doctor said? Tristan is going to be all right.”
She sniffled. “But what if he gets worse? Mark and he were so close. He lost his whole world a few days ago.”
“He still has you,” Rhett said.
“Yeah, but what if he doesn’t let me in? What if he won’t let me help him and support him? He’s a teenager now, Rhett. At his age, who knows how he will react.”
Rhett stared into her eyes, which she knew were watery, red, and puffy. “Then I’m here. Granted, my relationship with Tristan isn’t anywhere as close as his relationship had been with his dad, but we are still close. If he won’t confide in you, then I’ll try. The kid is tough. You and Mark hit the jackpot with him. He’ll be okay.”
“I hope you’re right, Rhett.”
He pulled out a compact pouch of tissues from his suit pocket. “Here you go.”
She smiled, wiped her teary eyes, and jokingly said, “Thanks, do you have any mascara in there, too?”
He put his hand in his pocket to check. “No, just a small lint remover. Care to use it?”
They both laughed at his joke. Then Megan felt a twinge of guilt for experiencing a happy emotion when she buried her husband just a few hours before. She turned serious. “Why is it that you always know what to say or do? It’s like you can read my mind.”
He smiled as he raised his left eyebrow. “That’s because we’ve known each other almost all our lives.”
“That’s true. There’s nothing we don’t know about each other. We have no secrets. You’re like the big brother I always wanted.”
Looking up into the air, he nodded. “Yeah, yeah, I know. I know. You always say that.”
“But it’s true. You’ve always been there for me, and for Mark.” A yawn escaped her lips. “What am I thinking right now?”
Rhett winked as he spoke. “Okay, okay, I get the hint. I’ll go now.” With genuine concern, he continued, “Are you going to be okay?”
“Yes, I think I’ll go to bed early.”
He opened the door. “I’ll call you tomorrow from work. Bye.” He kissed her cheek and left.
* * * *
As Rhett closed the door behind him, he rubbed his nose. Megan’s soft locks had tickled his cheek. He could still smell her strawberry scented shampoo. He thought about what she had just said as he stood on her porch. “We have no secrets,” she’d uttered. She was wrong.
He had a secret that he kept from her all of these years. He wondered if he should ever tell her the truth. Their friendship would be at great risk if he did.
Rhett got into his car, put on the radio, and tuned it to his favorite station. The Wind Beneath My Wings was playing. He had a flashback of when he and Megan had been seventeen. They were dancing to this song at their prom.
Since they didn’t have any dates, they decided to go with each other. A smile formed on his face as he remembered how they both had two left feet. A spectacle they had made of themselves on the dance floor. Ah, the fun times they had. Megan was certainly someone special. How boring his life would have been if she had never come into it.
He drove off, vowing to protect her and her son in these troubled times. He owed it to Mark and to himself.

Review
Begotten is a tale of good versus evil. While it's not marketed as a Christian based book, it should be. I found the story entertaining with enough human interest to balance the strong biblical theme.
Megan Johnson is devastated when her husband is killed in a tragic accident, but not as much as her son, Tristan, who dreamed of the horrifying events before they happened. At the funeral, Tristan hears a loud tapping and an ominous stranger convinces him it's his father inside the casket. Tristan jumps into the grave and attempts to rescue his deceased parent.
Megan knows something was bothering her son before the accident, and is even more concerned by his actions at the funeral. Tristan grows more distant with each passing day, eventually running away with a cult leader named Vincent. When her husband's best friend offers support, Megan discovers feelings that take their relationship beyond platonic. To make her life even more confusing and tumultuous, she begins to experience psychic powers.
Megan's visions warn her of Tristan's imminent danger. She will risk anything to save her son but she'll need God's help to fight the evil threatening their lives.
This book was originally published in 2005 as With Black and White Comes The Grey - The Battle of Armageddon. It's been re-written in part, edited and some names have changed but the story is basically the same. If you haven't read it in either incarnation, and you enjoy Armageddon themed stories with a strong biblical slant, you'll enjoy Begotten.

About the Author
Giovanna Lagana is an award-winning freelance author and editor, who loves to work with authors on their stories as well as to create her own. In both instances, she gets to escape reality and travel into worlds of fiction to meet the most interesting and memorable characters.
She's married to her loving husband, Ghislain, and is a proud mother of three beautiful children, named Mathieu, Nicholas and Isabelle.
When she isn't busy playing with her kids, writing or editing, she spends her time reading. It's no surprise that her bookshelves are overflowing with an ever-growing to-be-read booklist.

Giveaway
Enter the tour-wide giveaway for a chance to win a $40 Amazon gift card or one of five ebook copies of Begotten.

Links