Welcome Back A to Z!!! A is for Aura

Welcome back, fellow A to Z'rs!! I missed the theme reveal day, so I cannot wait to see what everyone has decided to theme their A to Z around. Please be sure to leave the link to your own blog so I can be sure to visit!

My theme this year is female characters. I thought I'd share a bit about the female characters I love or that I've read recently. I love contributing to fellow readers' to-read lists.

A is for Aura

from Shine 1: Childhood's End by William Bernhardt

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the first female character of the multi-author Shine series in which I'm a contributing author. Aura is the first Shine and the reason that all other Shine exist. She is strong, snarky, and a natural, if reluctant, leader. Aura has the ability to save all Shine, if she can manage to live long enough to figure out how. I like Aura because she doesn't do as the other Shines locked in the rehabilitation facility and just accept being locked up, being tested on, and the disappearance of their friends.

Shine 1: Childhood's End is the first novella in this non-traditional series and you can download and read it for FREE from William Bernhardt's website here. Our hope is that you'll love it and want to read the rest, including my own contributions to the series. So far there are 14 of them. Bernhardt wrote the first 5, and the other four contributing authors have written the rest. Our intention is to publish one a month. They're all available in e-book format. Some are also available as audio and print books.

Here is the summary courtesy of Bernhardt's website:

In the near future, a few young women manifest extraordinary abilities called "Shine." Each girl's ability is different. Some develop extraordinary mental abilities. Some become physically strong. Others have powers that defy description. But the world does not embrace these Shines. It fears them.

Aura was only trying to use her healing powers to help a small child. But when she Shined, something went horribly wrong--and Seattle was destroyed. In the aftermath of this disaster, the government institutionalizes Shines in "rehabilitative treatment centers." Aura is sent to the Transforming Your Light island rehab--but to her it seems more like a prison. The other Shines hate her. The people running the place are out to get her. And she feels certain more is going on here than "group grope" and twelve-step programs. But when she tumbles onto the horrible secret beneath the rehab--she realizes just how great the danger to her and all the other Shines really is. Aura resolves to escape before it's too late. But she can only do that if she organizes the Shines, persuades them to work together, and overcomes the deadly opposition she only barely understands.

Have you read any of the novellas in the Shine series? What'd you think? Are you visiting from the A to Z trail? *waves* Welcome! I hope you'll leave the link to your blog so I can return the favor!! Happy hopping!