Friday, February 17, 2023

About the Book

Book: The Underground Book Readers: The Secret Society

Author: Terry Overton

Genre: Upper Middle Grade, Pre-Teen, Teen, YA Christian Fiction Dystopian

Release date: December 15, 2022

In a world without books, schools, churches, and parents, how can teens and pre-teens find each other and work to bring back a world like the world before? Ever watchful, this group of friends meet in an underground cavern in the mountains of Virginia. Rumors of spies, enemy soldiers, and the possibility of finding their parents, keep these friends searching to make a better life for everyone.

In Book 1, The Secret Society, the original four members of the group discover new documents, clues, and tools to assist in their adventures. In the hope of someday finding others who can help establish a new settlement, they study, plan, and make discoveries that will propel them forward in their journey. Are others hiding from the World Force Soldiers? They are determined to find the answer.

Click here to get your copy!

About the Author

Terry Overton obtained her Ph.D. in Psychology and her Ed. D. in special education. She taught in public schools and was a school psychologist and a professor before retiring in 2016. She began her second “career” after retirement writing Christian fiction books and devotionals. She hopes to share the Christian worldview through her writing and touch the lives of her readers. Her books have earned Bookfest Awards, Firebird Award Winner, American Writing Award Gold, International Finalist Book Award, Reader Views Awards, and Reader’s Favorite Awards. She currently resides in Laguna Vista, Texas, near the Texas-Mexico border. She enjoys Biblical history and general Bible studies, writing, and enjoying family and friends. She has seven grandchildren and one great granddaughter.

More from Terry

This book came from my concern about children and teens not being able to read many of the classic books we cherish. My concern that many children and teens do not value reading, our faith, and our freedoms, is the reason for the book being a dystopian story. In this new world, there are no books, school, or churches.

Here is the intro:

The world was not ready for what happened. And in the mountains and valleys of Virginia, a group of young friends wondered what to do in this different world. Their parents and older siblings were taken away, or “disappeared,” and have not been seen since that fateful day. Schools were destroyed, churches burned, and books banned. There was no fuel or electricity available for the anyone. Cars and other vehicles no longer worked and were found abandoned beside the roads rusting and in disrepair. Only the World Force military had fuel and vehicles.

The discovery of books, documents, tools, clues, and other teens hiding in the countryside, brought hope to group of friends who met daily deep in the cavern. Follow their journey of hope and adventure through the series: The Underground Book Readers.

And what do teens do when their world has changed and there are no parents or other friendly adults? They find each other, find forbidden books such as Huckleberry Finn and the Bible, hide in a cavern, read, study, and plan for a better world.

MY REVIEW

This is a great story for middle school and up as we journey through what it may be like when the world is taken over. Can you imagine being all alone as a young child and find out that what you use to call The United States is now run by those who want to control everything? The author paints a picture of survival and banning together in order to survive. When we are introduced to this group of young children I was in awe of how structured they were. They shared food, looked out for each other, read books together and attended their own church. I was impressed with how easy it was to find myself waking beside them as they went for food rations each day.

Each child has something of value for the group and it was interesting to see how they figured out how to survive each day and keep their faith. I really enjoyed their time in church as they went through scriptures and talked about the different people in the Bible. I liked how one of the kids said, “ I think people forgot about the important things and were not paying attention.” We do that today with our busy lives and forget about what is really important. People stop going to church and before you know it the world is changing from God first to worldly things. The author does a great job of sharing God’s Word through these characters who are very wise. They see how things have changed and want to try to get back to the way God wants us to live. He desires us to worship him, love each other and share the Word with others.

The story is full of surprises and secret documents that will help the group in the days ahead. The author leaves readers with a cliffhanger and I will be anxiously awaiting for the next book in this exciting series set in the future.

I received a copy of this book from Celebrate Lit. The review is my own opinion.