Publisher: Shomi (September 2008)
   
The year is 2036 and the world has changed. Mutated monsters walk the desolate landscape of South Carolina looking for the last remnants of mankind. What might have been the imagination of a horror movie now has become reality. Everyone had made fun of her conspiracy theorist father, but his fears have become the reality. Her father had seen the signs of the end days. Government regulation had whittled down civil rights with all communications monitored to protect society. The virtual world had become more real than outdoor activities and neighbors suddenly disappeared never to be seen again. Six years ago, Molly Anderson and her mother escaped into a bunker, avoiding the apocalyptic plague that ravaged the earth's inhabitants. With ocular implant, razor implants and nanotechnology, Molly's father rebuilt her into a new woman, a woman who can surpass any athlete. Molly is a superstar ---- a Razor Girl who can fight and outrun and outdo any of her peers. She doesn't cry, she spits. But what if a girl wants love as well as saving the world? Can a girl have both?

Emerging from the bunker, Molly meets her childhood friend Chase. Six years ago, Chase had been a computer nerd. He always had a soft spot for Molly but she wasn't interested. Chase was the kind of a guy on whose shoulder a girl cries when love goes bad. Six years and an apocalypse later, Chase has changed. Now, he is a tough warrior, a man who fights the monsters, but he is man who may not be all that trustworthy. He and his brother head up a ragtag group of children, the last remnants of humanity. Together they plan to lead their tribe to Disney World, the place where Molly's father believed civilization would be reborn. Can Molly and Chase brave the now earth-ravaged landscape and the Others to save the world? Can childhood friends survive and discover love in this new strange world?

Marianne Mancusi's Razor Girl alternates the time periods of each chapter between pre- and post- apocalypse, allowing the reader to see both the lead up to the current world and the results as well as Molly and Chase's past in a more innocent time. As these two time periods converge, Marianne Mancusi gives the reader an increasingly intense, suspenseful edge-of-the-seat thrilling ride. New dangers arise at every turn--- not only the perils of living on the brink of survival but also the dangers of the heart. Any misstep or unmerited trust can lead Molly or Chase to their death.

Marianne Mancusi's Razor Girl is brilliant! Marianne takes the best of the best in classic literature, pop culture and familiar brand names morphed into survivalist mode, creating a hot new romance sensation all her own. George Orwell's 1984 and William Golding's Lord of the Flies meets horror and action romance in post-apocalyptic South Carolina. Imagine all the unique heart-warming tender emotion of Edward Scissorhands combined with the chilling danger of a futuristic devastated landscape, populated not by suburban families but a world ravaged by monsters, a world where all the comforts of civilization are not only gone but turned on their side. In this desolate landscape, Molly and Chase fight as rebels, a man and woman determined to save themselves and the world as well as the hope for love and a vision of a caring world. Marianne Mancusi's world is breathtaking! Razor Girl creates an unusual exciting blend of emotion, humor, and danger that will make readers' hearts race. Marianne Mancusi's Razor Girl is a stunning cutting edge romance, a romance for readers who crave something emotionally dynamic and rebellious in terms of a characterization that shakes up the romance hero/heroine paradigm. Marianne Mancusi's Razor Girl is one of the highlight's of my romance reading this year --- fresh, intelligent, and avant garde.