A Girl From Forever
Yolanda McCarthy
(The Forever Institute, #1)
Publication date: September 3rd 2021
Genres: Dystopian, Romance, Science Fiction, Thriller, Young Adult
“Night is a predator, and it’s got me.”
A thrilling dystopian story of star-crossed love, perfect for fans of Eve of Man and The Hunger Games.
Do you know who you are? Do you know where you belong? Do you recognize good from evil? Seventeen-year-old Fern thought she understood it all…
“Yolanda McCarthy’s dystopian novel, A Girl From Forever, is a thrilling teen adventure that explores multiple what-if scenarios as a young woman follows a lengthy quest for answers. Told in the first-person narrative from Fern’s point of view, the reader will be instantly caught up in the turmoil that plagues the protagonist as she seeks answers. With considerable conflict, both physically and mentally, the plot moves forward with a driving force that will have the reader unable to put the book down… This is a powerful story that not only rivets the reader but speaks to them about issues all young people face: first love, betrayal, truth, and denial, and what’s really real is this complicated world in which we live.” – Readers’ Favorite 5* review
Psychics, immortals, and a battle over humanity’s destiny. First love. Betrayal. Abduction. Murder. When friends become enemies and terrorists turn into allies, Fern’s betrayer could be her soul mate – but that might not be enough to keep her alive…
Some lies are lethal.
I asked Yolanda McCarthy why she loves to write sci-fi…
Why do I love science fiction… I think I have to say for its sense of wonder and hope. Yes, science fiction is great escapism from day to day life, and I love that about it too. (Plus the weirdness, I’ve always loved weird.) But how science fiction ‘gets me’ is with that vision of a future where humans have gone on to greater and more exciting things than today. Maybe humans spread across the galaxy, or harness the power of the mind in ways we can’t imagine now, or invent incredible technologies… But in all the visions that science fiction stories offer us, humanity manages not to destroy itself, and humans change for the better in some way.
And of course, as a writer, science fiction is enormous fun. Anything can happen, right?
I was lucky to discover SFF early. Growing up I borrowed loads of ‘classic’ science fiction like Isaac Asimov and Frank Herbert from my Dad, and sword & sorcery like Tolkien and David Eddings from my Mum, while saving up my pocket money for magical adventure stories by Tamora Pierce. I also read huge piles of romance books at my gran’s house during holidays. So SFF and romantic fiction is where I fell in love with books, and all of that has become part of the stories I read and write now. My ‘sweet spot’ is science fiction with a romance subplot, and perhaps some kind of fantasy feel too, even if it isn’t actual magic. I particularly love young adult dystopia like Divergent and The Hunger Games.
The science fiction element of A Girl From Forever is ‘soft’ – think genetic engineering and psychic powers, rather than aliens/spaceships. It’s set in the year 2039, so the world is very familiar, but there are elements of dystopia, with the governments increasingly weak and beholden to huge corporates. The most powerful of those is the Forever Institute, where my heroine was born. But unlike most corporates, Forever is basically a cult, with the fanaticism and dangers that come with that. A cult that discovered how to halt the aging process, and began to make all sorts of plans based on that discovery, only to find that certain people are in their way… And, as I said, I read a lot of romance books as well as science fiction, so there’s a love story in there too, but it’s best described as complicated.
I was thrilled that A Girl From Forever hit #1 on Amazon’s chart for New Releases in Teen Science Fiction and Dystopian Romance. It seems that the story is beginning to find readers who love the same kind of stories that I do! I’ll be writing more of them as fast as I can, and updates on that will be on my site, www.yolandamccarthy.com.
Author Bio:
Yolanda grew up in London, where she worked as a lawyer, a supermarket assistant, a civil servant, and at a cat shelter. Not in that order. Her work took her to California, Serbia, and Dubai, but her fondest memories are of Bermuda. (She’s still homesick for Bermuda. Especially the pink sands of Elbow Beach…)
She now lives in Kent with her husband and son, where she writes all kinds of speculative fiction. Sometimes she climbs mountains.
GIVEAWAY!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Hosted by:
FOLLOW SUZY TURNER...
