Frankie Rose's Halo Makes Emotions Surge Forth!

You've lived

Almost entirely devoid of emotion

For as long as you can remember.

One day, though, the emotions all come back.

Can you imagine what that would be like? And I thought I had problems...

Halo is the first installment of the YA dystopian Blood and Fire series, written by Frankie Rose.

So what's it about?

Falin Kitsch is a member of Sanctuary's fighting caste, and uses her knives to compete within the Colloseum. The halo she wears around her neck infuses her with drugs that keep her from feeling emotion, enabling her to apply her training with a clear mind, making her a perfect fighter.

Or does it? One day, she is pitted against Falin Asha, who has trained with her for years. His last action before he dies is to grab ahold of her halo, ripping it almost entirely free of her neck. "Don't let them see..." 

Suddenly, she begins to feel emotions surging back to her. She now has a choice: Have technicians repair her halo so that she can continue to be the perfect Falin, or apply her well-honed skills to leave Sanctuary and the only life she's ever known... 

To us, the answer seems pretty easy: Get rid of that darned device. But imagine what it would be like to have your first memory of emotion be one that comes in the aftermath of blood and pain. That's your emotional awakening.

The choice isn't so clear anymore, is it?

Rose gives us the opportunity to feel what that would be like, through the eyes of the Falin of House Kitsch. We go through our lives constantly keeping our reactions to our emotions in check. We consider the feelings of others when we reply to their statements. We gauge society's response to every choice.

We've trained ourselves to control our emotions.

Small children, on the other hand, are still learning. Their reactions are juvenile, and often confusing.They don't always understand our decisions, and many times respond with anger or sadness when they have no need to do so.

Now imagine knowing you have to react maturely, like an adult, without having the training to do so, like a child.

Welcome to Kit's world.

As you can imagine, her emotional reactions are often juvenile. She doesn't have the experience that we do. This tends to get her into trouble, which tends to make her emotions spiral even more out of control.

Poor Kit...

And we're taken on that overwhelmingly intense ride along with her, meaning that we feel much of what she feels... plus the added frustration of realizing that proper emotional control would have kept her out of trouble, minimizing her agony.

Poor us!

This ebook was extraordinarily exhausting... in a good way. I felt like I was right there next to Kit, and I wanted her to succeed. I needed her to succeed. She was important to me, and I had to know that she'd be able to pry herself from any situation she placed herself in.

And there were many of those!

I didn't want to put this one down. I had to know what would happen. Naturally, then, this ebook became the very next...

Treasured Tome!!!

If you're looking for a highly emotional story that rips your heart out, throws it on the floor, and stomps on it a few times, you'll love this one. Be warned, though: you'll want to read it when you're alone.

Interruptions will not be welcomed, and you'll notice that your fuse is remarkably short if someone is silly enough to get in between yourself and Halo for even a few moments.

You'll start wondering if you need a halo!

Halo can be found on Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords.