ABOUT ENSLAVEMENT (ONE BRIGHT FUTURE #1)
Publication date: October 31, 2014
Publisher: Rebelight Publishing Inc.
Author: Melinda Friesen
“One world. One currency. One bright future.”
That’s the promise made by OneEarth Bank after a global economic collapse–but only for those who accept the insertion of a commerce chip.
When Rielle’s parents refuse to comply, government officials tear her family apart. As punishment for her parent’s crimes, Rielle is forced into a Community Service Contract–a legalized form of slavery–and sold a wealthy, abusive banker.
The Banker’s secrets hold the key to Rielle’s freedom, but will she risk prison or even death to escape and search for her family?
ABOUT MELINDA FRIESEN:
Melinda Friesen writes novels for teens and short stories. Her contest winning short stories have appeared in various periodical and an anthology. Enslavement, book one in the One Bright Future series, is her first novel.
Excerpt #1 from chapter one: The End of Everything
DOZENS OF BANK SECURITY OFFICERS in black uniforms and dirty boots shout orders and tramp through our house.
Crouching beside the sofa, I clutch my two-year-old sister, Alyssa, to my chest and shield her eyes. I stroke her back and tell her lies. “Shhh. Everything is going to be okay.”
Officers swarm up the stairs. Others search the living room and kitchen. Drawers are dumped. Spoons, forks, spatulas clatter onto the tile. My grandmother’s china is flung to the floor. It pops and shatters and crunches under their feet. A crystal vase tumbles from the top shelf. I jolt as it explodes into a thousand glittering shards.
From the bedrooms, thuds and crashes rake my ears, splintering wood and clanking metal hangers. We’ve made their search easy. Dad already traded away most of our belongings. A few family treasures, now in pieces on the floor, were all we kept. But they would’ve gone soon too. Hunger trumps sentimentality.
My fifteen-year-old brother, Silas, sits on the sofa and stares at the floor. He jams his white-knuckled fists against his ears.
Mom kneels beside Dad, sprawled unconscious on the living room floor. She brushes her quaking hand over the gash on his head where they clubbed him for trying to protect us. A thread of blood winds around his ear and soaks into the ivory carpet.
An officer grinds his knee into Dad’s back, fixes a plastic zip-tie around his wrists. He grabs Dad by one arm and drags his limp body through the front door. Mom’s glassy gaze follows him, her hand hovering over the bloodstained carpet. She looks down at her red fingers, her face shiny with tears.
Another officer digs his fingers into Mom’s shoulder and hauls her upright. He pins her arms behind her back and snaps a plastic cuff around her wrists too.
Mom in handcuffs—why? My parents are not criminals.
Giveaway!
Winner will be drawn February 27, 2015
· Two (2) winners will received a signed copy of Enslavement by Melinda Friesen (US/Canada)
· Five (5) winners will receive a digital copy of Enslavement by Melinda Friesen (INT)
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Whoa — that's a good excerpt. Good luck to everyone!
Jen @ YA Romantics
Yeah, pretty cool.
This really looks like a good read, thanks for the excerpt, and I love the cover also.
Oh yeah, the cover is pretty cool. I'm trading my copy of the book because I don't have room for it.
Good review, sounds like a book for me. TFS.