Review: When Chaos Descends (Connor Hale #2) by January Bain @JanuaryBain

When Chaos Descends

Connor Hale #2

by January Bain

Published: September 16, 2025

Publisher: Rough Edges Press

Genre: Disaster Fiction, Technothrillers, Post-Apocalyptic, Survival Thriller

Blurb:

The action-packed Connor Hale post-apocalyptic survival thriller series continues…

Chaos reigns, and Connor Hale is running out of time...

Three days after the devastating EMP plunged the world into darkness, Alaska has become a war zone of desperate survivors, violent cartels, and power-hungry militias. Civilization is gone. In its place, only the ruthless thrive.

Connor Hale rides hard across the ruined wilderness, determined to rescue Mckenna Stewart—the woman he’s loved since high school—and her young daughter, Lily. But the road to Golden, Alaska, is a gauntlet of danger. A newborn child and a traumatized woman—both in need of protection—slow his pace, even as deadly enemies close in on all sides.

Luther Meech, a brutal cartel enforcer with a vendetta, wants Connor dead and his ranch, Braveheart, for himself. Meanwhile, Diego Martinez—Mckenna’s vengeful ex and godfather of the notorious Martinez Knights—is on a collision course with Connor, intent on reclaiming his daughter and punishing the woman who defied him.

With bullets flying, trust unraveling, and the AI menace Eastwood still looming unseen, Connor must navigate a collapsing world to protect the only people who matter—and preserve the fragile hope that Braveheart still stands.

Can one man defy the rising tide of anarchy—or will chaos swallow everything he holds dear?

If you crave gritty survival fiction, emotionally charged reunions, and edge-of-your-seat action, don’t miss When Chaos Descends—the explosive second chapter of this unforgettable post-apocalyptic saga.

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My Review:

It has been three days since the EMP hit and left the world in darkness in more ways than one. Civilization is no longer intact as people begin to reveal who they truly are and have been for a long time, finally allowing their true selves to emerge. The chaos only deepens with each passing minute.

Waves of chaos, suspense, and bad people roll in as Connor Hale rides his horse to rescue Mckenna Stewart—the woman he’s loved since high school—and her young daughter, Lily.

Luther Meech, a savage cartel enforcer with a grudge against Connor, is close behind. Luther aims to eliminate Connor and take over his ranch, Braveheart. During his journey, Connor discovers a newborn baby whose mother died after giving birth. With no other options, Connor decides to take the baby along and raise her on his ranch.

Meanwhile, Mckenna and Lily are on the run, trying to stay safe and hide from her ex-husband, Diego Martinez, the godfather of the notorious Martinez Knights.

Jake, a neighbor, finds Mckenna and Lily and chooses to help them reunite with Connor. That task proves difficult with her ex speeding to find them. He wants his daughter back and vows to make Mckenna regret leaving and taking his child.

When Chaos Descends is an excellent continuation of the Connor Hale series by January Bain. The suspense intensifies in this book, leaving me eager to reach the end, hoping and praying that Connor and Mckenna will find their way to each other and live happily ever after.

I can’t wait to read more from the Connor Hale series. The next book, When Killing Rules, can’t come soon enough; it’s scheduled for release on October 14, 2025.

I highly recommend When Chaos Descends to all fans of post-apocalyptic stories! Grab your copy today!

Check out all the books in the Connor Hale Series I’ve read.

When Darkness Comes #1

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When Chaos Descends #2

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Book Blitz: The Tide Waits for No Woman by Richard K Perkins @RABTBookTours

Historical Fiction, American Civil War

Date Published: September 16, 2025

Newlywed Abby Anderson is unsure whether to call herself a widow. In July of 1860, as the nation teeters on the brink of war, word comes that her merchant captain husband, Clifford, has been lost to the Graveyard of the Atlantic. Rejecting social expectations regarding proper mourning, Abby agrees to assist in an Underground Railroad operation out of her hometown of Woolwich, Maine. But an early October winter storm catches Abby and the fugitive slave family she’s smuggling, and they find themselves snowed in with Bill Boudreaux, an Acadian trapper and farmer, and two Abenaki teenagers in the remote Maine wilderness.

The unlikely companions must work together to ensure their survival through the long, harsh winter and find themselves growing closer, creating an unexpected family few societies would approve of—and leaving Abby with what feels like an impossible choice. When spring comes, she will continue her quest to see the fugitive family safely to Canada. And then, she must decide where she truly belongs.

 

About the Author

 

 Richard K. Perkins was born in Salem, Massachusetts, and grew up in two New England villages. He is a US Naval Academy graduate, a career naval officer, and a systems engineer in the aerospace sector. He earned graduate degrees from the National Intelligence University, the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, and the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. He has contributed nonfiction columns for The Doctor T. J. Eckleburg Review and published short fiction in Penn Union. He lives with his wife in Southeastern Virginia, where he spends his time penning historical fiction.

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Release Blitz + #Giveaway: The Patron Saint of Lost Girls by Maureen Aitken @MaureenTAitken @RABTBookTours

Literary Fiction / Short Story Collection

Date Published: 09-16-2025

Publisher: Wayne State University Press

In 1970s and '80s Detroit, the city wrestles with an unending economic downturn, increasing violence, and white exodus to the suburbs. Amid all of this is twentysomething Mary who is just trying to grapple with her identity in a world filled with uncertainty.

In this collection of linked stories, we follow Mary as she seeks to cope with and withstand hardship and confront her fears of exploitation, abuse, and death. Along the way, she delves into the complex yet nurturing relationships with her family and friends who teach her to love better, live fuller, and question power. The Patron Saint of Lost Girls presents an unflinching tale of life in the late twentieth-century postindustrial Midwest.

 

About the Author

Maureen Aitken’s short-story collection, The Patron Saint of Lost Girls, received a Kirkus star, the Nilsen Prize, and the Foreword Review INDIE Gold Prize for General Fiction. It will be reissued in September, 2025 by Wayne State University Press. Her stories have earned a Minnesota State Arts Board’s Artist Initiative Grant, a Loft Mentor Award, an award from Ireland’s Fish Short Story Prize, and two Pushcart Prize nominations. It was also nominated for a Minnesota Book Award. Her stories have been published in Prairie Schooner and New Letters, among others. This is her second story featured in The Missouri Review’s Blast section.

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Teaser Tuesday: Scenes From a Song by Susan Sloate @Susan_Sloate @RABTBookTours

Music Fiction

Date Published: 09-30-2025

Publisher: Covfefe Press

 

 For anyone who's ever said, "They're playing my song!"

 

On Halloween Eve, 1961, in his dingy Bronx walkup apartment, seventeen-year-old Jimmy Welton hears the opening notes of a song in his head. Jimmy’s still mourning his firefighter father, who taught him to play the guitar but recently died in a house fire, leaving his family destitute. Jimmy takes this song, about all he misses from his life now, to the New York amusement park where he works after school. There, he meets Mark Morgan, a rebellious teen with his own band, who eventually invites Jimmy to join them. And the rest is rock'n roll history...

The GooseBumps become a worldwide phenomenon, and the songs they write and sing together become the backbone of rock musical history. And the song Jimmy first heard on Halloween, "Wrapped in Gauze", becomes the song that not only comforts him in that terrible time but also comforts others: Victoria, recently divorced and dealing with an unthinkable family tragedy; Carolyn, whose final flippant words to someone in pain can't be taken back; and Jack, battling back from unimaginable loss with the help of his cheeky therapist and a song he thinks he hates.

 

SCENES FROM A SONG is the story of a song that makes us smile, that breaks our hearts, that stays with us forever, and the very special band that started it all.

Excerpt

Mark went on, “Jimmy’s got a great new song we hope you’ll get up and dance to. It’s so new, we’re playing it here for the first time. I don’t even know it!”
     The audience chuckled—they clearly liked Mark—but Jimmy was suddenly nervous as Mark swung the microphone toward him. They’d liked the first songs, and Jimmy had kept up fine with Kellen on guitar, but he and Mark hadn’t sung harmony yet, and the new song that Mark had generously allotted lead to him wasn’t coming up till later. He had to put “Bawk Bawk” over.
     He took a deep breath and stepped up to the mike, trying to sound reassuring and confident. “Hi, folks. This is new, and, well, we hope you like it. It’s a dance song, and we’ll do all the moves up here, and you can just follow us. The song is called ‘Bawk Bawk’.”
    He did the four-count lead-in and Kellen came in behind him, with Mark backing him up. Hammy bashed out a steady rhythm, and Jimmy launched into the vocal, trying to pump up the energy with exuberant gestures. He strutted, he clucked, he waved, he pumped his elbows together like a chicken.
     The audience just about died laughing.
     No one clapped. No one stomped their feet. No one got up and danced.
     But they did laugh their heads off, all the time Jimmy was singing. They laughed so much they could hardly hear the vocal, though he kept going doggedly till the end. He remembered to do the high whistle and the click of his heels, and when he bobbed his head like a chicken for the final notes, the audience all but fell out of their seats. Jimmy began to feel like a fool.
     Hammy played the last beats on the drums, and Kellen finished strumming his guitar with a flourish.
     As the last notes died away, Jimmy gave an embarrassed nod to the audience. They finally stopped laughing.
     They began to clap.
     They began to cheer.
  In a moment, the room was echoing with stomping feet and yelling patrons.

 

About the Author

 

 SUSAN SLOATE is the author or co-author of more than 25 published books. This includes 3 editions of Forward to Camelot, a time-travel thriller about the JFK assassination that became a #6 Amazon bestseller, was honored in 3 literary competitions and was optioned by a Hollywood company for film production. She also wrote the autobiographical Broadway novel Stealing Fire, which became a #2 Amazon bestseller and Hot New Release, and Realizing You (with Ron Doades), for which she invented a new genre: the self-help novel.

Susan has also written young-adult fiction and non-fiction, including the children’s biography Ray Charles: Find Another Way, which won the silver medal in the 2007 Children’s Moonbeam Awards. Mysteries Unwrapped: The Secrets of Alcatraz led to her 2009 appearance on the TV series MysteryQuest for The History Channel. She has also been a sportswriter and a screenwriter, edited the popular Kyle & Corey young-adult book series, managed two political campaigns and founded an author’s festival to promote student literacy in her hometown outside Charleston, SC. She has appeared in multiple volumes of WHO’S WHO IN AMERICA, WHO’S WHO IN ENTERTAINMENT and WHO’S WHO AMONG AMERICAN WOMEN.

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