Book Blitz ~ Blackout Trail by Linda Naughton ~ Excerpt + Giveaway
Morning all!
A dark welcome to the Book Blitz for Blackout Trail by Linda Naughton~ So happy to be part, this book sounds dark and amazing and just what I would love to read. I am slowly getting more into the dystopia stuff again. When COVID was raging more I just wasn’t in the mood for more darkness.
For today’s post I got an excerpt, a giveaway, and book/author information~
Ready? Let’s start!
Doctor Anna Hastings is no stranger to disasters, having spent much of her career as an aid worker in conflict zones around the world. Yet when an electrical phenomenon known as an EMP brings down the power grid, Anna faces catastrophe on a scale she never imagined. She must learn what it means to be a doctor in a world deprived of almost all technology.
As the blackout causes planes to fall from the sky, Anna crosses paths with devoted father Mark Ryan in the chaos at the airport. Mark convinces Anna to travel with him and his seven-year-old daughter Lily to their family’s cabin in remote Maine. There Mark hopes to reunite with his wife, and find a safe refuge from a society on the brink of collapse.
Journeying across a thousand miles of backcountry trails, they will face a daily struggle against nature. Their biggest peril, though, may come from their fellow survivors. As Anna grows closer to Mark and Lily, she resolves to see them safely home. But can she hold onto her humanity in a world gone mad?

Buy this book here: Amazon
About the author:
Linda Naughton is a writer, software engineer, paramedic, and mother of two. She’s the author of several novels, gaming products, and the blog Self-Rescuing Princesses. A proud geek and gamer girl, she enjoys TV, movies, video games, and role-playing games.




Excerpt
Someone grabbed my arm. It was a little girl, about seven or eight.
“My daddy needs help. Please help him!” Her eyes were wide and pleading, tears tracing lines through the soot on her face.
“Where? Show me.” I offered my hand and let her lead the way. My stomach clenched as she took us closer to the wrecked half of the building. Survival instincts screamed at me to head away from the blaze. We were still some distance from the fire, but the heat pounded my face like a blast of hot air from an oven. The automatic sprinkler system soon drenched us both, but didn’t make a dent in the inferno at the far end. Thick smoke blanketed the area, and I had the sudden impulse to scoop the kid up and carry her out of the building.
“There! Daddy!” The girl’s urgent cry staved off any thoughts of flight. She pulled free of my hand, dashing over to a pile of rubble. It looked like the ceiling had come down. A man lay face-down, half-buried beneath the debris. Across his lower chest was a large, twisted metal frame that might once have been part of the baggage conveyor system. The girl fell to her knees beside him, and I followed suit.
“Sir, can you hear me? Sir?” The smoke made my voice hoarse. I coughed and shook his shoulder. Groaning, the man stirred.
“Daddy, wake up!” The girl tugged on his hand.
He turned his head and opened his eyes, squinting against the sprinkler mist. An instant later, alarm flooded his face.
“Lily!” He tried to push himself up, but the metal stopped him. He grimaced and then looked at the girl. “Lil, are you okay?”
Lily didn’t answer, but just burst out crying, sprawling across her father’s shoulder in an awkward hug. Only then did he seem to notice me, brow creasing in confusion.
“She’s okay,” I assured him, not wasting time on introductions. “Let’s get you out.”
I worked to get him free. The loose rubble came away easily—most of it was light ceiling tiles, insulation and chunks of mortar. The metal frame, slippery from the sprinklers, was a bigger problem. Even when I squatted down and used the full strength of my legs to lift it, the frame didn’t budge an inch. The father tried to help, straining to push up from below, but we got nowhere. I fell back, breathless and frustrated, and the exertion brought on another coughing fit.
“You need to get her out of here.” Agonized eyes pleaded with me.
Lily blubbered something unintelligible into his shoulder.
“No.” I recoiled, horrified by the suggestion. I didn’t want to admit I’d been thinking the
same thing just before we found him. It was different now that I knew he was alive. “We’ll figure something out.”

2 thoughts on “Book Blitz ~ Blackout Trail by Linda Naughton ~ Excerpt + Giveaway”
Thanks for sharing! I love your bookshelf pic with the penguin, btw.
You’re welcome! Aww, thank you! One of my precious bookshelf plushies. 🙂