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Saving Tessa
In the year 2045, smart tech is everywhere, much of it devised by the teenage prodigy Dylan Chroz. But being at the top of the technical world means being in demand. Sometimes, by people who should be looking out for you. Sometimes, by people who won't take no for an answer. It's easy to get lost in the designs and code with absolutely no one to point you to a real life.
And so it was until Tessa Miller came into his life. Tessa alone makes Dylan's life more than schematics and computers. Her indomitable will, her impish challenges, irrepressible humor, and even her untidiness became an oasis of magic in a drab world of order and automation, adding color and breathing life into something that had been less than a life.
So what do you do when someone steals your girl to make you perform your technical wizardry on their sketchy hardware? Do you curl up and cry? Do what they want? Defy them? Or do you outsmart them and do your damnedest to smoke out every one of them so they never can do this again?
It was a mistake, of course, to make an enemy of Dylan. After all, people who threaten Tessa were definitely not going to come out unscathed.
And Maxcom didn't appreciate what those around Dylan will do to help him save Tessa. But the real mistake they made was thinking Tessa was going to sit quietly by and get used. As if! If you think Dylan's the wrong one to cross, well, you don't know Tessa.
That last mistake was really going to cost them
Contains some language and violence.
And so it was until Tessa Miller came into his life. Tessa alone makes Dylan's life more than schematics and computers. Her indomitable will, her impish challenges, irrepressible humor, and even her untidiness became an oasis of magic in a drab world of order and automation, adding color and breathing life into something that had been less than a life.
So what do you do when someone steals your girl to make you perform your technical wizardry on their sketchy hardware? Do you curl up and cry? Do what they want? Defy them? Or do you outsmart them and do your damnedest to smoke out every one of them so they never can do this again?
It was a mistake, of course, to make an enemy of Dylan. After all, people who threaten Tessa were definitely not going to come out unscathed.
And Maxcom didn't appreciate what those around Dylan will do to help him save Tessa. But the real mistake they made was thinking Tessa was going to sit quietly by and get used. As if! If you think Dylan's the wrong one to cross, well, you don't know Tessa.
That last mistake was really going to cost them
Contains some language and violence.
280 pages, Paperback
First published November 18, 2014
6 people want to read
About the author
Stephanie Barr
59 books30 followersStephanie Barr is a part time novelist, full time rocket scientist and mother of three children and slave to three cats. She has three blogs, which are sporadically updated. Anything else even vaguely interesting about her can be found in her writing since she puts a little bit of herself in everything she writes . . . just not the same piece.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 9, 2018
Futuristic technology, martial arts, corporate espionage, kidnapping, and two teenagers in love are just a few of the subjects dominating this high-action Sci-Fi/Fantasy novel by Author Stephanie Barr.
Tessa Miller is a teenage girl living in the not-so-far-away future of 2045, with average looks and problems fitting in. Her keen wit, intelligence, and smart-mouth often causes her to be singled out and bullied. Dylan Chroz is a socially awkward but handsome, rich, and brilliant computer prodigy. Dylan and Tessa have been sidekicks for years, but within 24-hours of them having declared their love for one another, a rival tech firm called Maxcom kidnaps Tessa in a desperate bid to force Dylan to comply with their demands. Little does Maxcom realize the danger they just put themselves in by underestimating how lethal this pair can be... both together and on their own.
It seems like a simple plot... However, it’s anything but.
Barr digs deep into the adolescent mind to write her novel. Her two main characters, Dylan and Tessa, have more than a friendship, but their shy and awkward personalities seem adverse to ever creating any sort of intimate bond. The fragility of their relationship spurs the author to pen a courtship so subtle, so threatened by self-doubts and fears, that neither character even suspects what truly deep feelings they have for one another until Tessa’s life is put in danger. It’s only amidst all the chaos of her kidnapping that the pair actually realizes their individual inner strengths and demons as they become hell-bent on reuniting, no matter what. Juxtaposing her couple’s relationship with heavy action scenes relative to Tessa’s kidnapping, Barr takes just the right amount of time building tension and intimacy between the two teens, so that each moment of this budding romance threatens to go up in flames at any moment.
While the romance between Barr’s socially awkward teens is always front and center in her story, “Saving Tessa” is still a fast-paced, intriguing, and revealing read. It’s Barr’s keen understanding of the adolescent mind that provides a depth and range for these two main characters to interact—even when they’re apart. As they question themselves about their new relationship, their knowledge, and certainty over how one would handle the situation if they were in the other’s shoes only enhances the high-stakes thrill-ride surrounding Tessa’s rescue. The two compliment each other perfectly—While a brilliant and tech-savvy, though lovestruck, Dylan stalls, challenges, and makes demands on Maxcom to try to get the upper hand, Tessa’s stubborn streak, her need to prove she’s not inferior to anyone, and her rock-em-sock-em ways aid Dylan in plotting and achieving her own rescue, even as she helps out others along the way. In the end, Barr’s story brings together a power-couple that may just lead their world into a brighter tomorrow.
“Saving Tessa” does contain adult language, situations, and violence, so I would recommend this novel only for ages 17 and up.
Tessa Miller is a teenage girl living in the not-so-far-away future of 2045, with average looks and problems fitting in. Her keen wit, intelligence, and smart-mouth often causes her to be singled out and bullied. Dylan Chroz is a socially awkward but handsome, rich, and brilliant computer prodigy. Dylan and Tessa have been sidekicks for years, but within 24-hours of them having declared their love for one another, a rival tech firm called Maxcom kidnaps Tessa in a desperate bid to force Dylan to comply with their demands. Little does Maxcom realize the danger they just put themselves in by underestimating how lethal this pair can be... both together and on their own.
It seems like a simple plot... However, it’s anything but.
Barr digs deep into the adolescent mind to write her novel. Her two main characters, Dylan and Tessa, have more than a friendship, but their shy and awkward personalities seem adverse to ever creating any sort of intimate bond. The fragility of their relationship spurs the author to pen a courtship so subtle, so threatened by self-doubts and fears, that neither character even suspects what truly deep feelings they have for one another until Tessa’s life is put in danger. It’s only amidst all the chaos of her kidnapping that the pair actually realizes their individual inner strengths and demons as they become hell-bent on reuniting, no matter what. Juxtaposing her couple’s relationship with heavy action scenes relative to Tessa’s kidnapping, Barr takes just the right amount of time building tension and intimacy between the two teens, so that each moment of this budding romance threatens to go up in flames at any moment.
While the romance between Barr’s socially awkward teens is always front and center in her story, “Saving Tessa” is still a fast-paced, intriguing, and revealing read. It’s Barr’s keen understanding of the adolescent mind that provides a depth and range for these two main characters to interact—even when they’re apart. As they question themselves about their new relationship, their knowledge, and certainty over how one would handle the situation if they were in the other’s shoes only enhances the high-stakes thrill-ride surrounding Tessa’s rescue. The two compliment each other perfectly—While a brilliant and tech-savvy, though lovestruck, Dylan stalls, challenges, and makes demands on Maxcom to try to get the upper hand, Tessa’s stubborn streak, her need to prove she’s not inferior to anyone, and her rock-em-sock-em ways aid Dylan in plotting and achieving her own rescue, even as she helps out others along the way. In the end, Barr’s story brings together a power-couple that may just lead their world into a brighter tomorrow.
“Saving Tessa” does contain adult language, situations, and violence, so I would recommend this novel only for ages 17 and up.
July 21, 2015
Saving Tessa by Stephanie Barr – A Review
The Hardy Boys Were Never Like This!
Fair Disclosure – I am acquainted with the author, and she requested I review this book. I promised an honest review, so here it is:
Saving Tessa is a helluva read... fun, scary, desperate and simply enjoyable for the mystery adventure it is. Written for teens, this e-book is worth buying for yourself when you buy one for the kids’ Kindle. I loved every bit of it.
What if you were the smartest kid in the smartest high school in the whole damned country? And what if you were the experts’ expert in your father’s engineering and design firm, with the power to tell shady would-be clients who desperately needed your help to take a hike? And what if the girl you loved were kidnapped to force you to give said shady would-be clients the help they want? Wouldn’t you and your ex-military friends go save your girl? What? You don’t have any ex-military friends? Well, you should get some. Dylan Chroz did. So Dylan and his ex-military friends head into a hurricane to rescue Tessa, the girl of his dreams and fantasies.
And speaking of Tessa... what of poor kidnapped Tessa? Tessa is herself, no slouch in the heroism department. By the time all is said and done, the question of saving Tessa, and by whom, is well and truly answered... several times. Once Tessa is kidnapped, this story is non-stop action, with storms, martial arts, guns, knives, fighting batons and frying pans all dragooned into use as weapons.
The Hardy Boys Were Never Like This!
Fair Disclosure – I am acquainted with the author, and she requested I review this book. I promised an honest review, so here it is:
Saving Tessa is a helluva read... fun, scary, desperate and simply enjoyable for the mystery adventure it is. Written for teens, this e-book is worth buying for yourself when you buy one for the kids’ Kindle. I loved every bit of it.
What if you were the smartest kid in the smartest high school in the whole damned country? And what if you were the experts’ expert in your father’s engineering and design firm, with the power to tell shady would-be clients who desperately needed your help to take a hike? And what if the girl you loved were kidnapped to force you to give said shady would-be clients the help they want? Wouldn’t you and your ex-military friends go save your girl? What? You don’t have any ex-military friends? Well, you should get some. Dylan Chroz did. So Dylan and his ex-military friends head into a hurricane to rescue Tessa, the girl of his dreams and fantasies.
And speaking of Tessa... what of poor kidnapped Tessa? Tessa is herself, no slouch in the heroism department. By the time all is said and done, the question of saving Tessa, and by whom, is well and truly answered... several times. Once Tessa is kidnapped, this story is non-stop action, with storms, martial arts, guns, knives, fighting batons and frying pans all dragooned into use as weapons.
February 7, 2021
I reviewed this on Amazon.
Near future sci fi, teen romance, thriller, very bad baddies. Dylan and Tessa are best at everything they do, yet they have trouble expressing their love for each other.
After a slow start, the pace picks up rapidly with a series of confrontations with thieves of high tech.
Near future sci fi, teen romance, thriller, very bad baddies. Dylan and Tessa are best at everything they do, yet they have trouble expressing their love for each other.
After a slow start, the pace picks up rapidly with a series of confrontations with thieves of high tech.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews