Today we have the blog tour for Amanda Marin’s North to Nara! Check out this great new dystopian romance and grab your copy today!
Title: North to Nara
Author: Amanda Marin
Genre: YA Dystopian
Neve Hall has always admired the good works of the civil servants who brought prosperity back to the Nation. She especially respects the Sufferers—empaths who, with the help of technology, anonymously bear others’ troubles for them. But when her assigned empath is abruptly retired, she uncovers certain secrets. Like the identity of her new Sufferer, Micah Ward... and the fact that behind his kind smile is a life filled with loneliness and pain.
The closer Neve grows to Micah, the more desperate she becomes to protect him from a cruel and gruesome fate. But in a world where only a few are allowed the luxury of love, saving Micah comes with a price: Neve must choose between her loyalty to the Nation or her heart—a decision that will take them both on a race for their freedom, and their lives.
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Frantically, I glance around the darkened street, trying to think of something to say to postpone our inevitable goodbye. Each second that passes is like wind blowing through my fingers—impossible to hold on to no matter how hard I try.
“For what it’s worth, I admire how you always do the right thing, even when others say it’s not. I hope you never lose that,” I tell him. “I’ve never met anyone who seems as alive as you do, either. And I guess… I’ve never felt as alive as I do when I’m with you.”
“And you’re curious about everything—I like that about you,” he replies. Delaying, just like me. Desperate, just like me. “You also have this quiet strength within you. You’re braver than you think you are—you should trust yourself more.”
As I look at Micah, I try to remember everything about him. The angle of his jaw. The persistent stubble on his chin. The wildness of his hair. After tonight, I may never see him again—and if I do, he’ll look older, more tired and weak from carrying others’ troubles. In time, I may not even recognize him. Realizing this, I reach up to touch his cheek, to help me map the way he looks right now, tonight, in my mind.
“There are laws against this,” he says quietly. “We’re not even supposed to know each other… And I signed a contract when I was seventeen—a thousand years of service to the Nation.”
He’s right: this is wrong. Being here together, talking like this—it’s all illegal. Every moment we’ve spent together over the last few weeks has been. A blatant disregard for his civil service contract. We’ll be punished if we’re caught. It’ll be even worse for us if we continue.
“Of course,” I agree. I pull my hand back and glance away. “Nation first.” I say our refrain, but for the first time in my life, it brings me no comfort.
“Nation first,” Micah echoes.
His voice is little more than a strained whisper, though, and as I look back up at him, I’m sure he feels the same reluctance tugging at him that I do, so I take a chance.
“I’m not ready to give you up, Micah,” I murmur.
Relief flickers through his features. “I don’t want to give you up, either.”
He leans closer then. A sliver of moonlight crosses his face. His eyes are warm like the pelt of an animal, and his lips look soft and hungry. He puts his arm around me, and his fingertips graze the back of my neck, then work their way up into my hair. I can’t hear anything but the sound of my heart thundering in my chest—I can’t even hear my breath, if I’m breathing at all. And then Micah’s mouth is pressed to mine. His kiss is cautious at first, shy in a way I didn’t expect from him. Then, when I kiss him back, he grows braver, more powerful and confident. Like the lion I’ve always seen in him.
When Amanda was a child, her father traveled frequently for business, always bringing her back a book as a present. Whether she was getting lost in the pages of a tale about far-away knights, girls with supernatural powers, or kindly giants, she was quickly hooked on stories.
Over the years, Amanda has followed her own yellow brick road of reading and writing, and although her adventures haven't involved sword fights or saving the planet from certain annihilation, they have involved jobs in scholarly publishing and marketing, a modest amount of travel, and a lifelong love of novels.
Amanda holds degrees in English from Salve Regina University and Boston College. Her favorite things include Starbucks lattes, lazy summer afternoons at the beach, and books with characters that make you go "awww." She lives in New Hampshire with her family and furbaby, Snickers the Poodle.
