A to Z April: T Reviews - Total Constant Order by Crissa-Jean Chappell/Tales of the Slayers/ Through Violet Eyes by Stephen Woodworth

Again the letter T has a lot of titles, so I narrowed it down to 3.  One of them is from the Buffyverse but each one in the series is by different authors, so I can't list that for sure in the title of this post.  And the other is the first book I read by an author that I think deserves more attention for her amazing teen novels.

First is Total Constant Order by Crissa-Jean Chappell.  Ms. Chappell is an author that I feel deserves so much more attention.  Her books all have a great theme to them.  Some kind of hard hitting subject that you may not often see in stories, or at least they are not done as well as this author does.  This book I think was one of my first e-galleys, and I loved it.  I also got to meet the author the first year I went to BEA.

Here's the blurb for the book I'm spotlighting today from Goodreads:

Fin can't stop counting. She's always heard a voice inside her head, ordering her to listen, but ever since she's moved to the Sunshine State and her parents split up, numbers thump like a metronome, rhythmically keeping things in control. When a new doctor introduces terms such as "clinical depression" and "OCD" and offers a prescription for medication, the chemical effects make Fin feel even more messed up. Until she meets Thayer, a doodling, rule-bending skater who buzzes to his own beat—and who might just understand Fin's hunger to belong, and her struggle for total constant order.

Crissa-Jean Chappell's candid and vividly told debut novel shares the story of a young teen's experience with obsessive compulsive disorder and her remarkable resolve to find her own inner strength.

The second book is kind of a series.  If you watched the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series you know that there have been slayers all throughout history.  And we also know that there are those in training up until the current chosen one dies, and then one of them is called into service. This fascinating side series goes into the stories about the other slayers.  There are some great authors that wrote the different books in this series, included Nancy Holder, Christopher Golden, Yvonne Navarro, Mel Odom, just to name a few.  Here is the blurb for the first one from Goodreads:
A collection of original short stories based on the hit TV series created by Joss Whedon

Into every generation, a Slayer is born. One girl in all the world, to find the vampires where they gather, and to stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their numbers. In our time, that girl is Buffy Summers. But Buffy is merely one Slayer in an eternal continuum of warriors for the Powers That Be.

We've known of others; The Primal Slayer, who stalked the earth and the forces of darkness in fierce solitude... Nikki, the funky hipster whose demise at Spike's hands lent an urban edge to his wardrobe and a bigger bounce to his swagger. Slayers by nature have a limited life expectancy; for each one who falls, another rises to take her place.

Tales of the Slayer, Vol. 1, chronicles Slayers past who have influenced -- and are influenced by -- the traditions and mythologies of yore. From ancient Greece, to aristocratic Slayers holding court in revolution-era France, to the legend of the Bloody Countess Elizabeth Bathory, to 1920's Munich, each girl has a personal history, a shared moral code, and a commitment to conquer evil, regardless of the cost...

The last book I want to talk about today is the first in another series, it is called Through Violet Eyes by Stephen Woodworth.  One that I don't feel got the attention it should have either.  It was a science fiction type of story, about people who can communicate with the dead.  People born with violet colored eyes.  But their lives are not as easy, even though they have jobs just lined up for them.  Because now they have a serial killer after them.  Here is the blurb from Goodreads:
In a world where the dead can testify against the living, someone is getting away with murder. Because to every generation are born a select few souls with violet-colored eyes, and the ability to channel the dead. Both rare and precious—and rigidly controlled by a society that craves their services—these Violets perform a number of different duties. The most fortunate increase the world's cultural heritage by channeling the still-creative spirits of famous dead artists and musicians. The least fortunate aid the police and the law courts, catching criminals by interviewing the deceased victims of violent crime.

But now the Violets themselves have become the target of a brutal serial murderer—a murderer who had learned how to mask his or her identity even from the victims. Can the FBI, aided by a Violet so scared of death that she is afraid to live, uncover the criminal in time? Or must more of her race be dispatched to the realm that has haunted them all since childhood?

Have you heard of either of my authors I've talked about here that I feel need more attention?  Have you read their books?  How about the extra stories for the Buffyverse?  Do you think those sound like fun?

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