Showing posts with label Zack Love. Show all posts

Thursday, May 14, 2015

Review: The Syrian Virgin by Zack Love

Anissa is traumatized by the most brutal conflict of the 21st Century: the Syrian Civil War. In 2012, Islamists in Homs terrorize a Syrian-Christian community and destroy everything that a young woman holds dear. Narrowly escaping death, Anissa restarts her devastated life as a college student in NY. She is bewildered and lost -- a virgin in every sense.

But despite her inexperience with men and life in the United States, Anissa is quickly drawn to two powerful individuals: Michael Kassab, the Syrian-American leader working to found the first Mideast Christian state, and Julien Morales, her Columbia University professor who runs a $20 billion hedge fund.

Complicating matters, Michael is still attached to his ex-girlfriend and Julien is the most sought after bachelor in Manhattan (and has hidden demons even his therapist can't extract). Anissa's heart and her communal ties pull her in different directions, as she seeks hope and renewal in a dark world.

WARNING: This book is about a young woman's difficult journey: her escape from Syria's Civil War, her transition to a new a country, and the relationships that she forms along the way, including her romantic interests in two very different men. The story is set against the backdrop of the Syrian Civil War and makes reference to violent acts, sometimes in detail. There is some occasional profanity and a few scenes that depict sexual intimacy. Accordingly, the recommended minimum age for readers is 16. The novel might be compared to books like "The Diary of Anne Frank" or "The Kite Runner."

Amazon

My Rating

4 of 5 Stars

Review

We open the pages of The Syrian Virgin and we're instantly transported in to the middle of a war zone where we meet fourteen year old Anissa and her family. Anissa's home is becoming increasingly dangerous and her father manages to make it so she is able to flee to the US but her family is not so lucky. She has trials she has to overcome along the way, a new land and a completely different culture to get used to. We follow her through a time of danger on to her new life where she just might be able to fight for her homeland and find love along the way. Who will ultimately win her heart though; Michael, the 26yr old college student or Julien, the 41 year old billionaire hedge fund firm owner?
The book is in a type of Journal form with the first third of the book being just Anissa's journal entries. Then Julien will have some journal entries along the way. The way the author describes everything is superb. You feel like you are seeing it rather than reading it. The Syrian civil war is really brought to the forefront throughout the entire book, which I thought was really great and very interesting to read about. There is a lot of character building in this book so really nothing is resolved by the end of this book BUT book 2, Anissa's Redemption is already out so you can continue to read on. Which is exactly what I'm going to do right now. This was a really well done depiction of pretty current events with an added story telling twist of romance.

Review: Anissa's Redemption by Zack Love

This novel contains a detailed synopsis of book 1 in the series and can be read as a standalone. Anissa Toma fled war-torn Syria after narrowly escaping the massacre of her Christian family by Islamists. Fortunate enough to rebuild her shattered life in New York City, the young refugee gained admission to an elite college, where she excelled. Her beauty, brains, and purity soon captured the interest of two powerful men: Michael, an activist working to establish Antioch, the first Mideast Christian state, and Julien, her professor and one of the city’s wealthiest bachelors.

As Anissa's saga continues, the refugee-turned-rising-star must navigate between Michael and Julien, while trying to help her surviving relatives and other vulnerable Christians in Syria. As she gets closer to both men in a complex and evolving love triangle, can she unlock Julien's traumatic childhood to open up his heart? Or will Julien find greater solace from his nightmares and other demons in the sessions with his intriguing therapist? What will Michael do for Antioch and for Anissa, and what will Julien's role be? How far will each person go to help Anissa's remaining family and other persecuted Christians at risk in Syria? Find out in this stunning sequel to "The Syrian Virgin."

Amazon

My Rating

5 Stars!

My Review

I received an ARC copy of this book via the author, in exchange for an honest review.

Anissa's Redemption picks up the story from The Syrian Virgin without any real break in the dialogue and journal. So if you do like I did and read them back to back it makes for a nice long book. It can be read as a standalone because Zack does give a brief run down of book 1 in the beginning of this book BUT I would pick it up so you don't miss out on anything minor that is not touched on in his brief synopsis.

I don't want to give anything away so I'm going to keep this short and sweet.

Anissa has been through so much already in the book the Syrian Virgin so you would think that Anissa's Redemption is just about Anissa finding herself and her happily ever after. But it is actually so much more than that. New character's are introduced into the active plot and there are so many shocking twists and turns that you don't see coming. Loss, hurt, heartache, self discovery and Anissa experiences them all over again. It all made for a deeply engrossing book. I can not recommend this book enough. Zack Love has another masterpiece on his hands.

Monday, March 2, 2015

Cover Reveal: Anissa's Redemption by Zack Love

Title: Anissa's Redemption

Author: Zack Love

Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Romance

Cover Design: Ashley Byland

Anissa Toma fled war-torn Syria after narrowly escaping the massacre of her Christian family by Islamists. Fortunate enough to rebuild her shattered life in New York City, the young refugee gained admission to an elite college, where she excelled. Her beauty, brains, and purity soon captured the interest of two powerful men: Michael, an activist working to establish Antioch, the first Mideast Christian state, and Julien, her professor and one of the city’s wealthiest bachelors.

As Anissa's saga continues, the refugee-turned-rising-star must navigate between Michael and Julien, while trying to help her surviving relatives and other vulnerable Christians in Syria. As she gets closer to both men in a complex and evolving love triangle, can she unlock Julien's traumatic childhood to open up his heart? Or will Julien find greater solace from his nightmares and other demons in the sessions with his intriguing therapist? What will Michael do for Antioch and for Anissa, and what will Julien's role be? How far will each person go to help Anissa's remaining family and other persecuted Christians at risk in Syria? Find out in this stunning sequel to "The Syrian Virgin.

Zack Love graduated from Harvard College, where he studied mostly literature, psychology, philosophy, and film. After college, he moved to New York City and took a corporate consulting job that had absolutely nothing to do with his studies. The attacks of September 11, 2001 inspired him to write a novelette titled “The Doorman” and heightened his interest in the Middle East. A decade later, that interest extended to the Syrian Civil War, which provided the backdrop for his latest work. In late 2013, Zack began releasing his unpublished works of fiction and became a full-time author. He has published comedy, psychological and philosophical fiction, and romance. Zack enjoys confining himself to one genre about as much as he likes trying to sum up his existence in one paragraph.

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Friday, February 20, 2015

Special Excerpt from The Syrian Virgin by Zack Love

The scene (from "The Syrian Virgin") depicts 18-year-old Anissa's very first date, which happens to take place on Valentine's Day...Her longtime crush, Michael, takes her ice skating in Central Park.
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V-DAY EXCERPT In honor of Valentine's Day, we are pleased to share with you this romantic excerpt from "The Syrian Virgin" by Zack Love...In this scene, the 18-year-old Anissa, who fled war-torn Syria for a new life of hope and love in New York City, goes on her very first date ever, and it happens to take place on Valentine's Day...Her longtime crush, Michael (27), takes her ice skating in Central Park. Enjoy! :-)

<3 <3 <3

At 3 p.m. on February 14, the security guard for my dorm called me with a cute message from my visitor. “There’s a Mr. Kassab downstairs who wants to know if you’ll be his Valentine today.” I quickly looked in the mirror one last time before leaving, and felt butterflies in my stomach as I closed the door and made my way to the elevator.

When I arrived in the lobby, I saw that Michael was waiting for me by the door. He held it open for me and we exited the building into the crisp New York air.

As we walked towards the subway stop on 116th Street, I lightly shared a small confession: “Do you realize that this is officially the first date of my life?”

“Wow. Well, it’s good to know that there’s no pressure on me here!” he replied ironically.
I playfully elbowed him. “None at all.”

“And that means it’s also a good thing that I brought these goodies for you,” he said, taking a small bag of Baci chocolates out of his coat. “But – since this is your first date – I should warn you that most dates do not come with chocolate! You know, just to manage your expectations a little.”

“And why shouldn’t they all come with chocolates?” I replied with a teasing smile.

“I guess that’s a fair question. But if you got chocolates on every date, then getting them on Valentine’s Day wouldn’t seem very special, now would it?”

“I think I’d be OK with that,” I said, amusing us both with my understatement as we arrived at the subway entrance.

We passed through the turnstile, went down the stairs, and stood by the track, waiting for the downtown train to show up. Our flirty banter resumed as the area gradually filled up with more New Yorkers heading downtown in sweaters, scarves, hats, and gloves.

“Well, I think there may be a compromise arrangement we can work out,” he replied, looking down at me with a smile.

I glanced up into his brown eyes, curious. “What’s that?”

“You see, Baci literally means ‘kiss’ in Italian, so I think you could fairly expect some kind of kiss on every date.”

“Will I ever get both chocolate and non-chocolate kisses on the same date?” I responded, glimpsing at him coyly from the side.

“Are we getting greedy now?” he joked. “Ten minutes into your very first date ever? I guess you may need to make up for some lost time,” he said with a teasing glint.

“I might.”

“Well, your odds of getting both kinds of kisses are probably best on Valentine’s Day, so there may be cause for optimism.”

And just as it seemed like the space between us was subtly starting to shrink, the train arrived. But we soon stood even closer to each other on the crowded subway car. As we traveled downtown with countless strangers, we were at times pressed up against one another during the twenty-minute ride to the Columbus Circle station. At 59th Street, we got out of the subway and walked over to the skating rink in Central Park.

February 14, 2014 brought with it a few firsts, and ice skating was one of them.

Michael was comfortable and experienced on the ice but went very slowly so that he could effectively serve as my training wheels while I clung to his arm to avoid crashing every other minute. Thanks to his support, I fell only every ten minutes or so, and sometimes brought him down with me – usually with some silly or self-conscious laughs along the way. He always helped me up, and a few times, I felt his big palm cup itself around my hip when lifting me to my feet.

After holding onto him so much while ice skating, it felt almost oddly distant for us not to be holding hands after we left and headed back towards the subway together. But the tension surrounding if and when our hands might clasp again (without any external cause like ice skating) proved to be a good distraction from my sore behind. After I jokingly complained about it, Michael replied, “Next time we visit a rink, remember to stuff your pants with lots of toilet paper, or some other butt cushion.”

A few minutes later, I saw the subway station in the distance, and figured that we probably weren’t going to hold hands again. I reasoned that there wasn’t that much time left before we’d have to stop holding hands in order to go down the stairs and through the subway turnstile, and that might make it seem even more awkward or silly to have held hands for so short a time before that. Of course, we could resume holding hands on the subway platform, but then we’d have an audience and it wouldn’t be as cold, so the reason for our hand-holding would be more obviously a growing intimacy rather than, for example, a way to keep our palms warm.

“How are your hands doing?” Michael suddenly asked, as if he had read my thoughts. “Are they warm enough?” he inquired, taking my hand into his.

“They are now,” I replied with a smile.

<3 <3 <3
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