The Things That Keep Us Here by Carla Buckley - Giveaway

Touring with Pump Up Your Book Promotion in February is debut author Carla Buckley.

Carla Buckley was born in Washington, D.C. She has worked in a variety of jobs, including a stint as an assistant press secretary for a U.S. senator, an analyst with the Smithsonian Institution, and a technical writer for a defense contractor. She currently lives in Ohio with her husband and children. The Things That Keep Us Here is her first novel. Bantam Dell will publish Buckley’s next novel in 2011. You can visit Carla Buckley’s website at http://www.carlabuckley.com/

About The Things That Keep Us Here

How far would you go to protect your family?

Ann Brooks never thought she’d have to answer that question. Then she found her limits tested by a crisis no one could prevent. Now, as her neighborhood descends into panic, she must make tough choices to protect everyone she loves from a threat she cannot even see. In this chillingly urgent novel, Carla Buckley confronts us with the terrifying decisions we are forced to make when ordinary life changes overnight.

A year ago, Ann and Peter Brooks were just another unhappily married couple trying–and failing–to keep their relationship together while they raised two young daughters. Now the world around them is about to be shaken as Peter, a university researcher, comes to a startling realization: A virulent pandemic has made the terrible leap across the ocean to America’s heartland.

And it is killing fifty out of every hundred people it touches.

As their town goes into lockdown, Peter is forced to return home–with his beautiful graduate assistant. But the Brookses’ safe suburban world is no longer the refuge it once was. Food grows scarce, and neighbor turns against neighbor in grocery stores and at gas pumps. And then a winter storm strikes, and the community is left huddling in the dark.

Trapped inside the house she once called home, Ann Brooks must make life-or-death decisions in an environment where opening a door to a neighbor could threaten all the things she holds dear.

Carla Buckley’s poignant debut raises important questions to which there are no easy answers, in an emotionally riveting tale of one family facing unimaginable stress.

Read what reviewers are saying about The Things That Keep Us Here!

"Absolutely amazing, engrossing and thought provoking." - Cafe of Dreams

"I will tell you right now that this book will probably be in my top 10 books of 2010...Carla Buckley is a fantastic writer and I can definitely see myself becoming a long time fan of her work!" - The Cajun Book Lady

“In her debut, Carla Buckley provides a thought-provoking thriller that asks her readers who would they become if civilization somewhat vanished.” - Harriet Klausner, Alternative Worlds

“This apocalyptic novel is an absolute page turner…Highly recommended for anyone interested in realistic apocalyptic scenarios and for readers who like a bit of science as well as internal conflict in their reading.” – Shellie, Layers of Thought

You can read an excerpt from The Things That Keep Us Here at Carla's website.

Here's how to enter to win a copy of The Things That Keep Us Here:


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This giveaway will run from today until 11:59 p.m.(Eastern) on February 28th. A winner will be announced in early March.

This contest is open to all residents of the United States and Canada.