SOULLESS
by Jacinta Maree
GENRE: Dystopian New Adult
BLURB:
We are the generation that laughs at
death.
Reincarnation; what was once
considered a gift of immortality has become an eternity of nightmares.
Nadia Richards lives in a world
plagued by reincarnation, a system of recycling souls where all past memories,
personalities and traumatic events are relived daily in disjointed sequences.
Trapped within their own warped realities, not even the richest and most
powerful are saved from their own minds unraveling. Madness is the new human
nature, and civilizations are crumpling beneath themselves trying to outrun
it.
Within a society that ignores death,
Nadia appears to be the one exception to the reincarnation trap. Born without
any reincarnated memories and with printless eyes, the hot tempered 19 year old
quickly becomes the ultimate prize to all those wishing to end the vicious
cycle, or for some, to ensure they could evade death forever.
Excerpt:
His top lip curled, as it
always did in his half smile. “I can’t stop thinking about it.”
“About what?”
In his hands, he fiddled
with the hunting knife. “You.” He twisted the blade and flicked out, clearing
the dirt under his nails. “You were going to leave me. You said it was better
this way, for the both of us.” The rasp of his accusing voice felt like a
guillotine above my neck.
I uncomfortably shuffled
back but didn’t speak.
“You were right. Your life
without me would be better. Easier. Safer.” Every word strained from his lips
as though he was pushing air from the pit of his stomach. My eyes widened and
my heart picked up speed. Diesel lightly shook his head. “But this isn’t about
making things easier. You’re with me now and you won’t leave no matter how hard
it gets.”
“That’s not for you to
decide,” I said with a cringe.
“Because if you leave me—”
With an anguished sign, I
turned my head away. “Let me guess, you’ll always find me? And if I try to run
you will break my legs and chop off my fingers and remove my eyes-”
“No. If you leave me, I will
vanish… and I don’t want to vanish, Nadia.”
Surprised, my jaw went
slack. Without even blinking, Diesel stilled his fumbling and tightened his
stare, looking at me in a way I felt penetrated to my very core.
“You don’t know what it’s
like living in this hell. I’m drowning under black water and I can never
surface. You remember what it feels like to have your body shut down only to
wake up not knowing which reality is real. It would’ve been easier to fade into
a drifter, to stop the fight all together and just crumple into the purest of
insanities. In my darkest moments I almost allowed it to happen, but then I met
you. The girl with no reincarnated memories. The one without a soul imprint.
It’s you, and only you, who can save me. But then you came into my room with that
story about how everything would be better if we were separated. You left me
tied to a bed, and for hours I thought I had lost you. Do you know how that
feels? To have everything you’ve ever wanted just walk out? I came to realise
just how dangerous you are to me. Just how easily you can break me in half.
That’s why I can’t let you leave.”
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Born in Melbourne
Australia, Jacinta Maree
considers herself a chocoholic with an obsession with dragons, video gaming and
Japan.
She writes a variety of genres including YA paranormal, steampunk, horror, new
adult, dystopian and fantasy. Winner of 2014 Horror of the year and bestselling
author, Jacinta writes to bring enjoyment to others while fulfilling her own
need to explore the weird and the impossible.
You can find her here:
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/jacinta.maree.10
Deviant art:
http://jacintamaree.deviantart.com/
Twitter: jacintamaree6.com
Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6448929.Jacinta_Maree
