An Island in the Stars by Susan Laine: Exclusive Guest Post, Excerpt and Giveaway

Thank you kindly, Denise, for having me here today. Hello, readers. I’m Susan Laine, an author with Dreamspinner Press. I’m here to talk about my novel, An Island in the Stars, that comes out today.

Here’s the blurb:

“Sam, a geeky college freshman, has bigger problems than lusting after Marcus, sexy jock, college junior, and his big brother’s best friend. Chasing after a beanie caught in the winter wind turns into a tumble down the rabbit hole for them both—science fiction style.

Sam and Marcus find themselves trapped on a tropical island in the middle of a strange ocean on an alien moon. The sole structure is a ruined temple devoted to the art of love. Flustered, confused, and unable to return home, they need to figure out a means of escape from a hostile jungle teeming with dangerous life-forms.

In this tale where opposites attract and secret crushes are revealed, two very dissimilar young men discover they actually have a lot in common after all, but it will take their differences as much as their points of connection to survive on an island in the stars.”

The topic today is themes. The main theme depends on the perspective. From Sam’s POV, this is a frenemies-to-lovers story; from Marcus’s POV, this is friends-to-lovers. They view their relationship in a different light. Sam sees Marcus as his big brother’s best friend, the jock he’s crushing on, but also a bit afraid of. Hence… frenemies. Or perhaps acquaintances-to-lovers. Yes, Sam has issues. Marcus sees them more as friends, viewing Sam as someone he could be very close to. Marcus hangs around Sam a lot in an effort to gain Sam’s attention, respect, and attraction. He’s friends with Simon, Sam’s big brother, so it’s natural for Marcus to see Sam as an extension of that friendship—all the while hoping for more.

The other major theme is a typical one for teenagers: Growing up. Making tough decisions, learning to work with others, even people you might dislike, adapting to new identities and sexualities, planning for the future, understanding the consequences of one’s actions and taking responsibility, developing a sense of self, learning one’s own strengths and weaknesses, analyzing one’s own feelings and empathizing with others, finding solutions to problems. All that and more are present in the story, as Sam and Marcus struggle to make sense of the new world around them—and each other. I hope the problems and issues they face feel realistic and relatable.

Here’s an exclusive teaser excerpt showing the theme of having to make a choice:

Marcus chuckled, but his eyes were round and his skin pale, so he clearly was more shocked by what had happened than he liked to admit. “Listen. If and when that thing wakes up, it’s just going to rain on our parade again. I think…. We have only two choices: Trap it somehow or… or kill it.”

Sam gulped. Could he murder an alien life-form to save his own life?

“No. I don’t want to kill it,” Sam replied emphatically. “I just don’t want it to kill us either.”

Marcus nodded. “That’s why my other option was to make a trap, not that we’d trap it only to kill and eat it. Though the meat—”

“Don’t even think it. We’re not eating an alien animal. No freaking way in hell.”

Marcus grinned, seemingly back to his old self. “That’s a no, then, is it?”

Thanks again to Two Chicks Obsessed and Denise for arranging this guest post.

If you liked that little scene, here’s the buy link:

Amazon

Dreamspinner Press

Kobo Books

You can find me:

• Website http://www.susan-laine-author.fi/
• Dreamspinner Press https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/authors/susan-laine-52
• Facebook https://www.facebook.com/susan.laine.author
• Twitter https://twitter.com/Laine_Susan
• Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Susan-Laine/e/B006HGQXRU/

 

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