Book Tour for When All the World Sleeps by Lisa Henry & J.A. Rock (Review & GIVEAWAY)

Hi! We’re Lisa Henry and J.A. Rock, authors of When All the World Sleeps. We’re touring the web talking about our influences, our crazy ideas, this new book, and even giving you a sneak peek or two! And of course there’s a giveaway involved! Leave a comment to win!

Thanks so much to Words of Wisdom for having us, and to everyone following the tour. Here’s today’s look at When All the World Sleeps:

Daniel Whitlock is terrified of going to sleep. And rightly so: he sleepwalks, with no awareness or memory of his actions. Including burning down Kenny Cooper’s house—with Kenny inside it—after Kenny brutally beat him for being gay. Back in the tiny town of Logan after serving his prison sentence, Daniel isolates himself in a cabin in the woods and chains himself to his bed at night.

Like the rest of Logan, local cop Joe Belman doesn’t believe Daniel’s absurd defense. But when Bel saves Daniel from a retaliatory fire, he discovers that Daniel might not be what everyone thinks: killer, liar, tweaker, freak. Bel agrees to control Daniel at night—for the sake of the other townsfolk. Daniel’s fascinating, but Bel’s not going there.

Yet as he’s drawn further into Daniel’s dark world, Bel finds that he likes being in charge. And submitting to Bel gives Daniel the only peace he’s ever known. But Daniel’s demons won’t leave him alone, and he’ll need Bel’s help to slay them once and for all—assuming Bel is willing to risk everything to stand by him.

You can read an excerpt and purchase When All the World Sleeps here.

MY IMPRESSIONS OF THIS BOOK:

In dreams we can be and do whatever we want.  In dreams our lives are what we make them and in this suspenseful release Daniel's dreams have greatly impacted his life since he was young.  In his dreams Daniel acts completely different from his waking self.  When sleepwalking he's a darker man willing to fight those who hurt him as well as experiencing the grittier aspects of life.  Between his sleepwalking self and his awake self it's as if there's a split personality.  His sleepwalking self exudes confidence and surety whereas his awake self lives in fear and guilt over an act he unconsciously committed years ago.  The guilt's led him to seclusion where the only one permitted inside is Bel who's desperate to help him with his ailment.

Bel is clearly the more confident of the two.  He's not ashamed of his sexuality or his dark desires.  He becomes more of a caretaker to Daniel rather than a lover though.  He stays with him through all hours of the night and day, changing his life to accommodate Daniel's needs.  He scours the Internet for ways to help Daniel while Daniel continues to wallow in guilt.  Daniel's a rather immature character constantly afraid and needy.  He's more than willing to use Bel in every aspect of his life, from sex to everyday living, but not willing to find a cure for his ailment.  He's too busy hiding from his ailment to face it head-on and find a cure.  I felt empathetic towards Daniel but never found him admirable in how he dealt with his past or future.

The authors have written a compelling story that fully immerses you at the start with its suspenseful feel but with an ending that fell a bit flat.  The sleepwalking sequences are almost dreamlike and lyrical in tone to draw you into Daniel's other world.  The BDSM scenes are nicely handled and further demonstrate Bel's tendency to act as caretaker along with his need to take charge.  The scenes aren't too extreme in their depictions so those uncomfortable with the genre will not have reason to complain.  The good and bad aspects of living in a small town are vividly depicted with all the usual stereotypes on display.  Some of the secondary characters I therefore found entertaining and likable but Clayton is one I found annoying in the extreme.  His constant bullying and threats got old and stretched out this story unnecessarily.  On a whole though this is a well-written and compelling story with just a few issues.  I applaud the authors for doing something unexpected and look forward to their next collaboration.

My rating for this is a C+

*I received this book from the author for review in exchange for my honest opinion.

AUTHOR INFO:

Lisa Henry lives in tropical North Queensland, Australia. She doesn’t know why, because she hates the heat, but suspects she’s too lazy to move. She spends half her time slaving away as a government minion, and the other half plotting her escape.

She attended university at sixteen, not because she was a child prodigy or anything, but because of a mix-up between international school systems early in life. She studied History and English, neither of them very thoroughly.

She shares her house with too many cats, a dog, a green tree frog that swims in the toilet, and as many possums as can break in every night. This is not how she imagined life as a grown-up.

You can visit Lisa her website, at Goodreads, or on Facebook or Twitter.

J.A. Rock has worked as a dog groomer, knife seller, haunted house zombie, standardized patient, cashier, census taker, state fair quilt hanger, and, for one less-than-magical evening, a server—and would much rather be writing about those jobs than doing them. J.A. lives mostly in West Virginia, and always with a beloved dog, Professor Anne.

You can visit J.A. at her website, her blog, or on Twitter or Facebook.

**********GIVEAWAY**********

Thanks for following our tour! To celebrate our release, we’re giving away a great pair of prizes! Up for grabs is an ebook of our last co-release, Mark Cooper versus America, and a $20 gift voucher from Riptide.  All you have to do is leave a comment on this post with a way for us to contact you, be it your email, your twitter, or a link to your Facebook or Goodreads account. Please put your email in the body of the comment, not just in email section of the comment form, because we won’t be able to see it otherwise! On APRIL 2, we’ll draw a winner from all eligible comments! Be sure to follow the whole tour, because the more comments you leave the more chances you have to win this awesome prize!