Vlog Post with Paula Stokes ~ JeanBookNerd

Photo Content from Paula Stokes

Paula Stokes is the author of several novels, most recently Vicarious and Girl Against the Universe. Her writing has been translated into eleven foreign languages. Paula loves kayaking, hiking, reading, and seeking out new adventures in faraway lands. She also loves interacting with readers. Find her online at authorpaulastokes.com or on twitter as @pstokesbooks.

Series: Vicarious
Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: Tor Teen (August 15, 2017)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 076538096X
ISBN-13: 978-0765380968

Praise for VICARIOUS

"Combining elements of sci-fi and mystery, Vicarious is an expert blend from an author gifted with the ability to jump genres and stick the landing every time." ―Paste Magazine

“A total mind-bending thrill ride, with a heroine who’s as smart as she is strong. Readers will love Winter!” ―Lindsay Cummings, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Zenith and The Murder Complex

"Reading Vicarious is like tiptoeing across a field of landmines. Blindfolded. Stokes delivers enough adrenaline to make readers beg for mercy.” ―Victoria Scott, author of Titans and Fire & Flood

"An action-packed thriller that will keep you guessing until the very end--I couldn't put it down!" ―Kristi Helvig, author of Burn Out and Strange Skies

"Vicarious by Paula Stokes is a fast-paced thriller that grabs your attention on page one and doesn't let go. The main character is a fresh take on the usual heroine in YA novels." ―Julie Bond, Sales &Marketing Manager/YA Specialist, Read Booksellers

“This is the thrill ride you’ve been waiting for all summer.” ―PopCrush

“Pulse-pounding adventures and high-tech blend masterfully with romance, intrigue, and current issues, making this book completely captivating for any audience." ―VOYA, starred review

"Stokes delivers fans of suspense a story full of twists and turns...The author admirably handles graphic and disturbing material in a subtle way." ―School Library Journal

“A powerful kick-ass girl caught up in a high-tech, twisty mystery…Buckle up, this thrill ride travels at breakneck speed.” ―Justine Magazine

"Smart twists and turns...smart sci-fi worldbuilding. Complementing the mystery is a slow-burn love story between Winter and Mexican-American Jesse Ramirez, a fellow stunt artist. Their relationship is tender and complicated, with enough tension to sustain itself and enough heat to pop when things pay off." ―Kirkus Reviews

FEROCIOUS BY PAULA STOKES EXCERPT

Namdaemun Market is both the oldest and largest market in all of Korea. Jesse rests one hand on my back as we exit the subway station and head toward the nearest gate. Tall buildings, both traditional and modern, line the busy streets. Vendors crowd the sidewalk selling dumplings, noodles, and dried fish. Korean flags, with their bright red-and-blue yin-yangs, flap in the breeze above their carts.

We reach Gate Five and turn into the market proper. Tibetan prayer flags hang from wires that stretch across the path. Saturday is a prime shopping day and people are streaming in and out. It’s chaos, but at least the crush of bodies provides a little shelter from the cold. I take Jesse’s hand so he doesn’t get swept up in the quick-moving shoppers. He scans the rows and rows of market stalls selling everything from squid jerky to T-shirts to electronics.

“This place is huge,” he says.

“Better selection than the subway station, and the prices are good.” I pause just inside a stall while Jesse checks out some military surplus gear. There are displays of camouflage pants and tops along with duffel bags and other army items—most of it American. I wonder if the soldiers sell their excess stuff before they get discharged.

The shopkeeper hurries over and speaks to me in Korean. I tell him Jesse is just looking but then ask him if he sells knives. I need to replace the ones I left in Los Angeles.

“Only these.” The shopkeeper leads me over to a case of folding pocketknives, most of them small enough to fit on keychains. “Anything else requires a permit.”

Jesse comes up behind me. “Looking for new knives?”

“Yes, but they only sell pocketknives here. Bigger knives require a permit.”

“Baz can probably hook you up.”

“True,” I say, but I’m only half listening. Across the crowded market aisle, in a booth selling pots and pans, a woman wearing a black wool jacket and a green scarf seems to be staring at me. She’s also wearing a pair of wide sunglasses and a paper surgical mask, making it impossible to determine what she looks like. My heart starts pounding and I have to tuck my hands into my pockets to hide the fact that I’m shaking. What if she works for Kyung? What if he already knows that we’re here?

“Winter?” Jesse has picked up on my sudden change of mood. “You okay?”

“Come on.” I keep my eyes trained on the woman as Jesse and I leave the stall, but she turns her attention to a display of rice cookers and makes no move to follow us. I toss a glance back over my shoulder as we turn the corner onto a main aisle of the market, but the woman has disappeared from view. Stopping at some large square bins that run down the middle of the market rows, I quickly pick out some clothing to replace the stuff I left behind in Los Angeles.

As the clerk is putting my purchases in a plain black bag, I feel a prickling sensation. Sure enough, I catch a glimpse of a splash of green in my peripheral vision. I turn, ever so slightly. It’s the same woman. She’s looking down at her phone as she stands in line at a food cart, but I swear I felt her eyes on me a second ago.

“I think we’re being watched,” I murmur, just loud enough for Jesse to hear.

Paula Stokes returns to the world of Vicarious in this sequel, a high-action psychological thriller with a protagonist out for vengeance.

When Winter Kim finds out that her sister is dead and that she has a brother she never knew about, only two things matter―finding what’s left of her family and killing the man who destroyed her life. Her mission leads her from St. Louis to Los Angeles back to South Korea, where she grew up.

Things get increasingly dangerous once Winter arrives in Seoul. Aided by her friends Jesse and Sebastian, Winter attempts to infiltrate an international corporation to get close to her target, a nefarious businessman named Kyung. But keeping her last remaining loved ones out of the line of fire proves difficult, and when all seems to be lost, Winter must face one last devastating decision: is revenge worth sacrificing everything for? Or can she find a spark of hope in the darkness that threatens to engulf her?

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