Radio Silence by Alyssa Cole

(I received an Advanced Reader Copy of this book from Net Galley.)

I heard of Radio Silence by Alyssa Cole on Twitter from authors Alisha Rai and Moira Rogers (technically, Bree is half of Moira Rogers).

So, I was intrigued. And greedy.

Which pushed me to request an ARC from Net Galley, and I was approved.  

And I approve.

Radio Silence is the first book in the Off the Grid trilogy; it's set in a world where the power has recently gone off--no electricity, no cell phones, no Internet.  At least, as far as roommates Arden Highmore and John Seong can tell, the whole world is that way.  Turns out you can't exactly check in with neighboring communities or distant countries when all the typical means of communication are disconnected. Society isn't coping well, so Arden and John take off walking to find John's family house.  It should be safer--John's parents own a grocery store and his family members are all versed in Boy Scout-y type things.

But before the roommates can make it all the way to the house, they must be rescued from a vicious attack by John's brother, Gabriel.  His dominant, sexy, older brother, the medical doctor that Arden can't stop obsessing about even when he holds her responsible for the injuries John sustains in the attack.

The set-up, today's world without power and with society breaking apart at the edges, is riveting in the scariest kind of way.  The new reality of living in world where nothing works the way is supposed to and nobody knows why is harrowing. You all know I'm completed addicted Twitter and Pinterest and Amazon Prime and texting my sister.  How in the WORLD would I get along with all that? What survival skills do I have?

Seriously.  I need my texts.

So, based on the set-up, I'd have recommended the book and told I was craving the second one.  (One drawback to reading Advance Reader Copies is that I'm jonesing for the second installment before the first one is even released.  Le sigh.)  But gleefully, I can tell you that the characters in this story are even more intriguing then the scenario in which they're placed.  The friendship between John and Arden is real, and developing much-more-than-friendship between Arden and Gabriel is sizzling hot and completely believable.  Ahhh, yeah.  Radio Silence is a good one.

You all can pre-order the first installment before its February 2 release.  I'll just sit here and fret about the sale date for the second one.