NOW AVAILABLE: A Different Kind

If you haven't ever given an alien novel a chance before, this book is a must read!

The lovely and talented Lauryn April just released A Different Kind, a young adult paranormal romance/sci-fi thriller about a girl who is abducted by aliens and is desperate to find a way to keep them from taking her away. One of the most refreshing aspects of this book is that it's told by a queen cheerleading bee who is borderline bitchy (don't worry, she evolves with the story) rather than the stereotyped quiet, awkward girl (**cough** Bella Swan **cough**).

The further I dove into this story, the more I wondered just how many abductions have been reported, and if anything like this has ever happened. April's book has a tremendous amount of credibility as well as heart. Check out the official blurb below, and watch the awesome trailer at the end.

Payton Carlson’s life is perfect – until the night she’s abducted by aliens. Now she’s plagued by pieces of memories from a night that feels as hazy as a dream, and that’s not the only strange thing that’s been happening. When Payton’s neighbor, Logan Reed, who spends every night sitting on his roof staring at the stars, starts to pay extra attention to her, Payton starts to wonder if he knows more about the night she can’t remember than she does. Suddenly finding a date to the Homecoming dance and cheering at the football games aren’t as important as they used to be - especially when the aliens return for a second time.

Grab your copy of A Different Kind!

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Lauryn April is an indie writer in the young adult / adult paranormal romance genre. She lives in Oshkosh, Wisconsin and is currently seeking a degree in Psychology. Her debut novel "Into the Deep" explores the intricacies of the adolescent mind and what it means to feel alone. 

Follow Lauryn: Twitter | Blog | Facebook 

COVER REVEAL: A DIFFERENT KIND

Genre: YA Scifi Romance

Release Date: March 2014

Cover Design: Lauryn April

Publisher: Phantom Owl Press

Goodreads

"All I could see was bright blinding white. I tried to glance back at my bedroom window, but couldn’t move. My eyes were frozen open and watering as I stared into the abyss. God, this can’t be real."

Book Description:

Payton Carlson’s life is perfect, until the night she’s abducted by aliens. Now she’s plagued by pieces of memories from a night that feels as hazy as a dream, and that’s not the only strange thing that’s been happening. When Payton’s neighbor, Logan Reed, who spends every night sitting on his roof staring at the stars, starts to pay extra attention to her, Payton starts to wonder if he knows more about the night she can’t remember than she does. Suddenly finding a date to the Homecoming dance and cheering at the football games aren’t as important as they used to be - especially when the aliens return for a second time.

 

About the Author:

Lauryn has always been fascinated by the paranormal, picking up a healthy Stephen King habit by the age of thirteen. Her favorite TV show growing up was "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", and she's always preferred bands like The Rolling Stones and The Doors over whatever they're playing on the radio (However she admits “I Love It” by Icona Pop always puts her in a good mood). She self-published her first two books “Into the Deep” and “Hidden Beneath”, and continues to write paranormal YA and NA stories.

 

Ways to follow Lauryn:

Her blog

Facebook

Twitter

How Para is Your Normal?

Picture of clouds in our backyard. UFO cover?

Personally, I've never experienced anything strange that could be explained only as a paranormal encounter (if you don't count the weirdness brought on by a bunch of teenaged girls with a Ouija board in junior high or the really strange clouds that once hung over our backyard). Yet one friend told me that she always saw her grandmother's ghost after she moved into her house, while another swears she saw some crazy lights that could only be UFOs. A few of my Twitter friends recently shared very detailed stories of some pretty creepy things that happened to them that really don't have any other logical explanation.

House I grew up in. Haunted?

Last weekend I met a man who lived in the same house as I did growing up. It was a rather large old house, built in the late 1800s. There were servant stairways, old-fashioned radiators for heat and stained glass windows throughout. This 50-something-year-old man looked me in the eye and said he knew there were ghosts in that house. Whatever wisdom he held in those eyes actually gave me the shivers. All I kept thinking was how happy I was that I didn't know this 20 years ago.

Still, I remain a skeptic. We live in a time where just about everyone knows how to photoshop images. Old houses have old boilers and really creaky doors that don't stay closed. How much of paranormal stuff is a result of imagines fueled by television shows and scary stories? If you see a shift in shadows, it could just be your overactive imagination telling you that you saw a ghost. If you ever watch the ghost hunter reality shows, you know how those guys are good at scaring the crap out of themselves just by walking through these old buildings more than anything. And I always get a good laugh out of the "voices" they "translate". How they ever get actual words out of those noises, I'll never understand.

Relax, I found this one on the internet.

If there really are ghosts among us, I would think that every single person would have experienced an encounter of sorts. If there really are aliens that come and experiment on people in the night, I doubt the government would be able to keep a total lid on that kind of information.

I would love to tour a well-known haunted site (it's on my bucket list) or see strange lights floating in the sky. The very thought of it is exciting (did I mention I'm a big X-Files fan?). But I think the only reason I can get excited about these things is because in my heart I don't think it's real. Therefore, it's just fun entertainment. Or so I tell myself.

What do you think? Have you ever experienced anything that couldn't be explained by plain logic? I'd love to hear your stories!