Nowhere to Run

An Alli Wendy Affair

Fiction - Fantasy - Urban
303 Pages
Reviewed on 09/13/2020
Buy on Amazon

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Author Biography

With an imagination that won’t quit, Lady is never short of ideas. A lifelong lover of fantasy, horror, and romance, she uses her writing to get lost in new worlds. Each blank page is a portal to a new adventure where the possibilities are just a keystroke away. She enjoys reading fantasy romance, some of her favorites are J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood and Sherrilyn Kenyon’s The League. When she has free time (if there is any left), she likes to craft and crochet.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Christian Sia for Readers' Favorite

Nowhere to Run: An Alli Wendy Affair by Lady DuWright is the first book in a series and a strong opening that will seduce fans of psychologically disturbing and dark urban fantasy novels. Alli Wendy is an eighteen-year-old girl who is looking forward to moving to university. But her troubles start with a nightmare that leaves her feeling disturbed. As much as she tries to forget it, the more it invades her consciousness. With old memories resurfacing and the nightmares growing stronger, she becomes more and more certain that a dark force is taking control of her life —or trying to. It is just a matter of time before it invades her reality. But when she encounters a mysterious man, he helps her see a world she never believed existed. With his help, Alli fights to destroy what is invading her mind. But can they stop it soon enough before it takes full control of her physical world?

The first thing that caught my attention when I started reading Nowhere to Run: An Alli Wendy Affair is the author’s beautiful prose. It is fluid and very descriptive and the narrator’s unusual way of saying things and her way of seeing the world is so well-written that she felt so close to me as I followed the story. While this is a story built around paranormal activity, it feels real and authentic, thanks to Lady DuWright’s gift for character. The world of the protagonist unfolds neatly before the reader’s mental gaze from the moment she feels her mom waking her up and telling her not to forget her lunch pack — she doesn’t remember using one recently. Her confusion and inadequacies become signs that something is wrong and the author uses such instances to write details into the story and to deepen the character. The story is suspenseful, filled with dark humor, and told in a voice that is irresistible. The point of view, exposition, and the plot points are marvelously written. I was completely absorbed in Alli’s frightening world and the first-person narrative voice just fitted so perfectly.

K.C. Finn

Nowhere to Run: An Alli Wendy Affair is a work of fiction in the urban fantasy, dark psychological and interpersonal drama sub-genres, and was penned by author Lady DuWright. Written for adult reading audiences, the work does contain the use of explicit language, scenes of graphic violence, and some truly terrifying dark situations. In a story of inner demons and ever-building nightmares, we meet our hero Alli Wendy when she is ready to graduate and move onto the newest phase of her life. But powerful, mind-wrenching nightmares haunt Alli every night, to the point where she begins to find it difficult to know what the truth of reality is. When she meets a mysterious figure who offers to help, so begins a fight against a powerful evil within.

Author Lady DuWright has crafted a fascinating tale of psychological struggle and supernatural presence, one which is all the more terrifying because the monster is manifesting within our hero. Alli is an excellent main character and well crafted for this journey, with relatable goals and faults, and her central narrative to empower herself and control the inner demons that plague her holds the reader in suspense throughout. One of the other things which I really enjoyed about the work was the atmospheric touches laced everywhere to give that dark fantasy feel, from the ominous dialogue and shadowy characters to the powerful, nightmare-inducing descriptions and images. Overall, I would highly recommend Nowhere to Run for fans of psychological fantasy thrillers and central heroes you really feel for.

Susan Sewell

Haunted by vivid nightmares, a young woman learns her nocturnal encounters are more than just dreams in the hair-raising urban fantasy, Nowhere to Run (An Alli Wendy Affair) by Lady DuWright. After her grandfather dies, Alli begins to have recurring nightmares where she is lost in a darkness so deep she can't see her hand in front of her face. Every time she falls asleep, Alli experiences another nightmare. While an evil entity stalks her, the fear and intensity of the dreams increase. To bring a little fun in her life, Alli and a friend visit Charles, a tarot reader at a carnival. Instead of being silly and entertaining, Charles gets upset when he views the cards and throws Alli and her friend out of the tent. After another horrendous night, Alli realizes Charles's outburst is connected to her frightening dilemma and may have answers. Early the next morning, Alli confronts the taciturn man. Although reluctant to talk, Charles finally reveals that her reading was so out of the ordinary, it indicated she wasn't normal. However, he refused to help her, telling her someone named Owen would contact her. Alli feels even more vulnerable while she waits for Owen to connect with her. Can Owen vanquish a demon? Will Alli survive long enough to find out?

Taking the fight of demonic entities to the dream world, Nowhere to Run (An Alli Wendy Affair) by Lady DuWright is a freaky and spine-tingling story. Balancing the supernatural with reality, similar to a Jim Butcher Dresden Files novel, it is a chilling tale with breathtaking, edge-of-the-seat action-filled scenes. Brimming with chilling and macabre otherworldly locations combined with gore and violence, the feelings of horror and fear permeate the plot. With supernaturals as protagonists and a sadistic bloodthirsty demon as the villain, it is a dazzling story that will enthrall urban fantasy enthusiasts. Be aware, due to its violent, terrifying, and nightmare-inducing content, it is more suitable for courageous, mature readers.

Kayla Cook

Nowhere to Run by Lady DuWright is the story of Alli Wendy. By day, Alli is an average young woman preparing to start college. By night, she is a scared, lost soul hunted in her own dreams by a powerful demon. As time goes on, the nightmares become more intense, and when they start bleeding into the waking world, Alli starts to fear for her sanity . . . and her life. A chance encounter with a strange man reveals two things: She is indeed in grave danger, and she is a Dreamweaver, one who can manipulate and even construct dreams. Soon after, Alli meets other Dreamweavers who teach her about their world and promise to help rid her of the demon. However, Alli quickly realizes that her presence only puts her friends in danger, and, ultimately, she must rely on her own newly awakened powers to defeat the demon before it uses her to rip a portal into the real world.

Nowhere to Run is the first book of the Alli Wendy Affair series and an exciting new addition to the genre of urban fantasy. Alli Wendy was an edgy protagonist with a big heart who could tap into unexpectedly deep wells of courage. I loved reading about the terrors she faced in her dreams, her complex relationship with her mother, and the camaraderie she had with her friends. The slower pacing helped build the suspense surrounding Alli’s predicament, setting the stage for epic, hair-raising confrontations. The dream sequences were delightfully unnerving, even downright terrifying. I often found myself having to guess whether Alli was actually dreaming—so much so that when the horrific moment that proved my suspicions were true finally came, I was almost as shocked as Alli herself! Lovers of urban fantasy, the supernatural, and paranormal fiction won’t want to miss Nowhere to Run by Lady DuWright!

Jose Cornelio

Nowhere to Run: An Alli Wendy Affair by Lady DuWright is a tightly written urban fantasy that is as engrossing as it is disturbing. Eighteen-year-old Alli Wendy is an imaginative girl who is about to graduate from high school, but she is plagued by nightmares that make her question her sanity. It is understandable to have recurrent nightmares, but hers are slowly spilling over into her reality and, as days go by, the situation gets worse. It is not long before she becomes overwhelmed with old memories. When she is desperate about the encroaching darkness that invades her soul, a shadowy man comes into her life, opening a whole new world and its rules. Can this stranger help her stop the darkness from taking over her life or will it take full control of her reality?

There is so much to love in this novel, starting with Lady DuWright’s writing. The first-person narrative is engrossing and the story is told from the perspective of the protagonist. From the very start of the narrative, grim humor grips the reader immediately. Alli is an interesting, multidimensional, and very complex character. I was immediately pulled in from the first page at how reality gets distorted before her waking eyes. The moment the reader meets her, they know that there is something fundamentally wrong. The author does a wonderful job of keeping a paranormal experience real and capturing the empathy of readers for the protagonist. The prose is gorgeous, littered with strong imagery, insightful thoughts, and humor. Nowhere to Run: An Alli Wendy Affair is dark, bordering on horror, but it feels real and is absorbing. It pulls the reader into the worldview of the protagonist and her struggles to stay in the light and remain rational in the midst of the darkness growing inside her.