Hi, I am new! I am based in New Jersey and PORTAL is my first novel.
For as long as I can remember, I have dreamt stories. Stories that can and do continue from night to night, from dream to dream. I was born in a small town in Sweden and moved to London in my twenties. After obtaining a PhD in immunology from Imperial College, I moved with my family to New Jersey, where I has been based for the past ten years. Although storytelling is my real passion, I have only now decided to share my stories by publishing my first work of fiction, PORTAL.
PORTAL would have remained in my imagination, to be shared only with my daughter, Lauren, had my eight-year-old not insisted that I write it down. In the course of a month, I typed while Lauren waited eagerly by the printer for the pages to appear, and a novel took shape.
Come Find Me Two Years Ago...
These six words propel sullen teen Arizona Stevens into an alternate dimension. She suddenly finds herself in the past. In one moment she goes from being an ice hockey-playing teenager in New Jersey to a glamorous cheerleader in California. She finds herself transported from a happy life with her dad, Dillard, to a new, strange one living with her mother whom she loathes. Apparently it's a life she's always lived.
Everyone knows her as Arizona Darley, but she isn't. She is Arizona Stevens.
As she struggles to find answers she is certain of one thing–that her mother Olivia, a brilliant physicist, is somehow responsible.
PORTAL is the story of the repercussions of Olivia Darley's attempt at creating a perfect world for herself and her children. Arizona's quest for answers threatens to undermine the seemingly perfect world that her mother has so carefully constructed.
PORTAL is the first book of the Portal Chronicles. Fans of time travel and the supernatural will enjoy Arizona's quest for answers.
Review by K. Robinson on Amazon
PORTAL is a sci-fi romance with well-fleshed characters and an intriguing plot. Normally, a novel in the romance genre would be of no interest to me at all (being a guy and all!) but PORTAL managed to keep my interest throughout thanks to its main character, Arizona, and its fascinating sci-fi plot involving time travel and alternative dimensions. There's such a careful balance of sci-fi versus romance that both genre readers will enjoy it equally. I'd be hard pushed to say which genre comes through the strongest, and in this regard it reminds me slightly of The Time Traveler's Wife, another story that's hard to pigeonhole and one that wouldn't work if either the sci-fi or the romance was taken away.
There's a lot to think about after the book ends. All the complexities of the "experiment" are finally laid out for the readers (and poor Arizona) to see, and yet you come away with your head spinning -- in a good way. The best kinds of movies and novels are those that leave you with something to ponder, and PORTAL certainly does that. And the fact that there's a forthcoming sequel, EQUILIBRIUM, due in Summer 2010, is something of a no-brainer -- there's plenty more story waiting to be explored yet!
Not wanting to give away spoilers, I was happy with Arizona's decision at the end and think it would have been unrealistic for her to choose otherwise. Still, part of me wanted her to "take the plunge" and choose the other option, because what a great story that would make! Maybe that's what we have to look forward to in EQUILIBRIUM... or maybe the author will take us in a new direction altogether. There are so many possibilities, especially after the Epilogue, which almost came out of left field and really throws a sinister spanner in the works. Roll on Book II!
Purchasing info
PORTAL is available in paperback and Kindle.
ISBN: 0615345077
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