Inceptio by Alison Morton

#BlogTour #BookReview #Extract Inceptio by Alison Morton

My Rating: 🤩🤩🤩🤩

Series: Roma Nova 1

Pages: 316

Publisher:  Pulcheria Press

Available: 1st Jan 2019

Genre: Thriller / Fiction / Action / Adventure

• Language: English

• ISBN-13: 979-1097310134

• ASIN: B07MKGPTWT

 

Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/INCEPTIO-Carina-Mitela-thriller-Thriller/dp/B07MKGPTWT/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1548968528&sr=1-1&keywords=inceptio+alison+morton

 With thanks to Anne Cater of #RandomThingsTours and the Author Alison Morton for my copy of #Inceptio for this #Blogtour. Read on for my #Review and and #Extract from the book

BLURB

New Yorker Karen Brown is caught in a tangle of hot foreign agents, vicious maniacs and tough families.

Running for her life, she is forced to flee from her home into the alien culture of Roma Nova, the mysterious last outpost of the Roman Empire in Europe. Who wouldn’t fear failure? Or will she tough it out and find herself? Apart from kidnapping, heartache and a close encounter with Latin grammar, she must contend with a fascinating but arrogant Praetorian special forces captain. Plus a crazy killer wants to terminate her for a very personal reason.

Roma Nova is Karen’s dead mother’s homeland. Founded sixteen hundred years ago by Roman exiles and now ruled by women, it gives her safety, a lover and a ready-made family – but at a price. Joining a law enforcement service as an undercover investigator, Karen focuses on staying alive, but is determined to find out why the killer persists in hunting her. Part action adventure, part military thriller, laced with romance and coming of age, this is Roman fiction brought into the 21st century through the lens of alternative history and driven by a female protagonist with heart and courage.

If you enjoy thrillers and mystery books for women with twists, this is for you!”Eve Dallas meets Lindsey Davis’s Roman detective Falco meets The Hunger Games.” – B.R.A.G. Medallion honoree– shortlisted for the 2013 International Rubery Book Award– finalist in 2014 Writing Magazine Self-Published Book of the Year

EXTRACT from INCEPTIO

 

Carina has just arrived in her new home – Roma Nova

 

I gaped like a tourist out of the window several hours later when land came into sight: my first view of Europe. We landed early afternoon local time and thirsty for a view of my new home, I glued my face to the window. Mountains stretched up into the sky in the background, conifers clinging to them under the snow line, fields and isolated houses below them. As the tyres touched the runway, I was disappointed to see it looked like any other airport, until I saw the terminal building with the sign PORTUS – ROMA NOVA. It was true, then.

We taxied past the main glass-fronted building to a smaller single-storey one with three wide shallow steps and glass doors. A gold eagle crested the arch above the doorway. Two men in suits and a woman in a blue uniform stood waiting on the tarmac for our plane to stop. Fresh air flooded in as the door opened.

‘Ready?’ Conrad smiled at me and held out his hand. He stood awkwardly, leaning on a cane. His leg must have been so sore.

Nervous didn’t describe it; I was extremely reluctant to leave the comfort of my leather seat.

‘Yes, of course.’ I was wearing a new cream designer pants suit. I checked my hair and face for the hundredth time. I thanked the French crew as I stood hesitating in the doorway. I swallowed and placed my foot on the first step.

Outside, it was warm, but not as oppressively hot as Washington had been. Above the sour smells of fuel and tyre rubber, I caught a fresh, sharp tang of pine resin. On the ground, the VIP suite manager and his assistant welcomed me with smiles and energetic handshakes. I didn’t catch the blue-uniformed woman’s role, but she and Conrad nodded to each other.

In the glass-walled lounge, a tall, older woman in a chic forest-green suit rose to meet me. Assured and elegant, with an indefinable air of power, her direct look intimidated me. The heavy gold antique ring on her manicured right hand was curiously out of place. I did look like her, especially the eyes. I didn’t think I had such a defined jawline. She had the same slender build but, instead of my red-gold, her hair was all over different shades of grey.

Conrad gave me a light push in the small of my back and retreated. I took one step and stopped. My mouth dried up. She smiled and closed the gap between us in two paces.

‘Hello, darling,’ she said and held her hands out.

‘Nonna.’

I gave a nervous laugh as she embraced me. Honey and cinnamon. It was the cookie smell from when I visited as a little girl. I took a couple of breaths to steady myself. I didn’t know what to say.

She scrutinised my face. I was unsure what she was looking for but, after a flicker, a tightening of anxiety in her eyes, I only saw warmth. She looked away for a moment or two, her face confused by sadness, by longing. But, almost instantly, the smile and warmth were reinstated, her eyes liquid.

‘I don’t know what you like,’ she said, ‘what your favourite colour or food is; what you enjoy doing.’ She coughed. ‘Never mind, we’ll get the hang of it as we go along.’

She was as nervous as I was. But I think she understood almost by instinct how awkward, how disrupted I felt. I loved her from that moment.

 

‘You’ll find things are different here; some better, some worse, some unexpected,’ she said as we left the airport. ‘You seem resourceful and bright, Carina, but you must ask if you don’t understand something. If you’re unhappy, you must tell me, however trivial. It’s the small things that cause most misery.’

‘Thank you, Nonna. I’m determined to do my best and learn quickly. I don’t want to let anybody down.’

‘Carina.’ She took hold of my hand and looked straight at me. ‘Don’t do it for me, or for anybody else. Don’t try to please everybody or you’ll drive yourself insane.’

My Thoughts:

There are very few Authors who can take something from the Past and creat something wholly new, something engaging and fun that has you wanting to turn the pages, using previous situations in a way that not only makes you wish to visit, but leaves you feeling as though you already have. And yet, that is precisely what this Author has managed.

I really did enjoy reading this, it had me engaged and wondering what would happen next with each new page. I enjoyed following Karen/Cara etc through this story, seeing how she changed and grew throughout the tale, how she adapted to her new situations she was faced with. Starting a new life can be complicated, and I adored how the Author wove this in with gorgeous descriptions of the Roman culture and scenery.

The recreations were wonderfully done and the explanations of all the emotions that having to change your life so entirely can result in were not only believable, they were so well done it made me feel as though I had been with Karen throughout.

The story is full of wonderful action, fast paced and unpredictable in the variety of scenarios, and how each one turns out. The twists and turns were a lot of fun! I can’t wait to see what happens in the second book 😍

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Alison Morton writes the Roma Nova thriller series featuring modern Praetorian heroines. This springs from a deep love of Roman history, six years’ military service and a life of reading crime, adventure and thriller fiction. 

All six full-length novels have received the BRAG Medallion. SUCCESSIO, AURELIA and INSURRECTIO were selected as Historical Novel Society’s Indie Editor’s Choices. AURELIA was a finalist in the 2016 HNS Indie Award. SUCCESSIO featured as Editor’s Choice in The Bookseller. 

A ‘Roman nut’ since age 11, Alison has misspent decades clambering over Roman sites throughout Europe. She holds an MA History, blogs about Romans, social media and writing. Oh, and she gives talks.

She continues writing, cultivates a Roman herb garden and drinks wine in France with her husband. To get the latest news, subscribe to her free newsletter https://alison-morton.com/newsletter/

 

Twitter : @alison_morton

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