Giveaway! The Eleventh Plague ARC

**** GIVEAWAY CLOSED ****


A couple months ago at the Houston Teen Book Con, I snagged an ARC of Jeff Hirsch's debut, The Eleventh Plague. It doesn't release until September 1st, but you could might get to read it early because I'm having a giveaway!! 

From Goodreads:

The wars that followed The Collapse nearly destroyed civilization. Now, twenty years later, the world is faced with a choice—rebuild what was or make something new. 

Stephen Quinn, a quiet and dutiful fifteen-year-old scavenger, travels Post-Collapse America with his Dad and stern ex-Marine Grandfather. They travel light. They keep to themselves. Nothing ever changes. But when his Grandfather passes suddenly and Stephen and his Dad decide to risk it all to save the lives of two strangers, Stephen's life is turned upside down. With his father terribly injured, Stephen is left alone to make his own choices for the first time. 

Stephen’s choices lead him to Settler's Landing, a lost slice of the Pre-Collapse world where he encounters a seemingly benign world of barbecues, baseball games and days spent in a one-room schoolhouse. Distrustful of such tranquility, Stephen quickly falls in with Jenny Tan, the beautiful town outcast. As his relationship with Jenny grows it brings him into violent conflict with the leaders of Settler's Landing who are determined to remake the world they grew up in, no matter what the cost.

My thoughts:

What's so terrifying about this dystopian is how real it feels. Most are set so far in the future, or seem so far removed from reality, that they're just neat stories. But The Eleventh Plague feels like it could happen tomorrow. Hirsch's descriptions of empty highways, shopping malls with cars still in the parking lot, abandoned Applebee's, Starbucks, MacDonald's, downed planes, schools, AT&T billboards, etc., are just haunting. It's our world today, but a fraction of the inhabitants, no electricity, no government, no organization whatsoever.

Fantastic writing, great story! Stephen's journey is one any dystopian fan will enjoy.

What do you have to do to win this fab ARC?

Just leave a comment below with a way to contact you if you win! Easy as that!

 You'll have 48 hours to respond before I pick a new winner.

Extra entries:

+1 New Follower

+2 Old Follower

+5 for Tweeting (mention @kristincreative and leave link in comments)

+5 for blog post (link me!)

+1 Sidebar

Giveaway ends at midnight central on Tuesday, July 26th.