Release Day Launch (Excerpt/Trailer): THE PRINCE (Wicked Series #3.5) by Jennifer L. Armentrout (NA/A)

From #1 New York Times Bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout comes THE PRINCE, a new novella in her WICKED SERIES, brought to you by 1,001 DARK NIGHTS!!!

Be sure to grab your copy today!!!

THE PRINCE

A Wicked Novella, #3.5

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Release date: August 14th, 2018

Published by: Evil Eye Concepts, Incorporated

Genre: New Adult/Adult - Paranormal Romance/Fantasy

Format: Paperback, eBook

SUMMARY

From #1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout comes a new story in her WICKED series!

She's everything he wants...

Cold. Heartless. Deadly. 

Whispers of his name alone bring fear to fae and mortals alike. The Prince.

There is nothing in the mortal world more dangerous than him. Haunted by a past he couldn't control, all Caden desires is revenge against those who'd wronged him, trapping him in a never-ending nightmare. And there is one person he knows can help him.

She's everything he can't have...

Raised within the Order, Brighton Jussier knows just how dangerous the Prince is, reformed or not. She'd seen firsthand what atrocities he could be capable of. The last thing she wants to do is help him, but he leaves her little choice. Forced to work alongside him, she begins to see the man under the bitter ice. Yearning for him feels like the definition of insanity, but there's no denying the heat in his touch and the wicked promise is his stare.

She's everything he'll take...

But there's someone out there who wants to return the Prince to his former self. A walking, breathing nightmare that is hell-bent on destroying the world and everyone close to him. 

The last thing either of them needs is a distraction, but with the attraction growing between them each now, the one thing he wants more than anything may be the one thing that will be his undoing.

She's everything he'd die for.

BUY LINKS - The Prince (Wicked #3.5)

AMAZON US / AMAZON UK / AMAZON AU / AMAZON CANADA

 

EXCERPT - The Prince (Wicked #3.5)

Did it make you a bad friend if you were complete, a hundred percent envious of that friend? Yes? No? Kind of?

I figured it was somewhere in between.

That’s what I was mulling over as I watched Ivy Morgan brush thick, red curls over her shoulder, laughing at something her boyfriend Ren Owens had said to her.

At least I wasn’t envious of that—their love. Okay, well, that wasn’t entirely true. Pretty sure anyone who was as single as me would be envious of all that warm and fuzzy that was passed back and forth with each long look or casual brush of skin. The two could barely tear their gazes away from one another to eat the dinner we’d grabbed at the cute little diner inside the shopping center on Prytania Street.

I honest to God couldn’t be happier for them. They’d been through so much—way more than two people should ever have to go through to be together, and here they were, stronger and more in love than ever, and they deserved that happiness.

But their epic love story wasn’t the source of a current case of the green-eyed monster that was sitting on my shoulder.

Ivy was just such a… badass.

Even right now, relaxed in the chair, surrounded by twinkling Christmas lights with her hand in Ren’s and her belly full of a cheeseburger deluxe and crinkle fries and half of my tater tots, she could kick ass and take names along with addresses, telephone numbers, and social security numbers.

If the proverbial poo hit the fan, you called Ivy or Ren.

If you needed to know what streets Royal intersected with, you called… me. Or if you needed coffee or fresh beignets but were currently busy, you know, saving the world, you’d call me.

The three of us were all members of the Order, a widespread organization that was literally the only thing that stood between mankind and complete, utter enslavement and destruction by the fae. And not the super cute fae found in Disney movies or some crap like that. Humans thought they were on top of the food chain. They were wrong. The fae was.

The only thing pop culture got right about the fae was their slightly pointy ears. That was it. The fae were more than just beings from another world—the Otherworld—they were capable of glamouring their appearance to blend in with humans. But all Order members, even me, were warded at birth against the glamour. We saw through the human façade to the creature that lurked beneath.

BOOK TRAILER - The Prince (Wicked #3.5)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR - Jennifer L. Armentrout

# 1 New York Times, USA Today and international bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout lives in Martinsburg, West Virginia. All the rumors you’ve heard about her state aren’t true. 

When she’s not hard at work writing. she spends her time reading, working out, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, and hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russell Loki. Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class, where she spent most of her time writing short stories… which explains her dismal grades in math. 

Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She is published with Spencer Hill Press, Entangled Teen and Brazen, Disney/Hyperion and Harlequin Teen. Her book Obsidian has been optioned for a major motion picture and her Covenant Series has been optioned for TV. She also writes adult and New Adult romance under the name J. Lynn. She is published by Entangled Brazen and HarperCollins.

GOODREADS / WEBSITE / FACEBOOK / TWITTER 

Blog Tour (Excerpt, Book Trailer, Giveaway): SOMEONE I USED TO KNOW by Patty Blount (YA)

It’s been two years since the night that changed Ashley's life and two years of hell for Derek. When it all comes to a head at Thanksgiving, will these siblings be able to salvage their relationship? From the award-winning author of Some Boys comes an unflinching examination of rape culture that delves into a family torn apart by sexual assault.

SOMEONE I USED TO KNOW
by Patty Blount
Release date: August 7th, 2018
Published by: Sourcebooks Fire
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
Format: Paperback, eBook
Trigger Warning: Rape

SUMMARY

It's been two years since the night that changed Ashley's life. Two years since she was raped by her brother's teammate. And a year since she sat in a court and watched as he was given a slap on the wrist sentence. But the years have done nothing to stop the pain.

It's been two years of hell for Derek. His family is totally messed up and he and his sister are barely speaking. He knows he handled it all wrong. Now at college, he has to come to terms with what happened, and the rape culture that he was inadvertently a part of that destroyed his sister's life.

When it all comes to a head at Thanksgiving, Derek and Ashley have to decide if their relationship is able to be saved. And if their family can ever be whole again. 

Add to your TBR list:  GOODREADS

Pre-Order:  AMAZON / BARNES AND NOBLE / KOBO / iTUNES

BOOK TRAILER - SOMEONE I USED TO KNOW

EXCERPT

Copyright© 2018 Someone I Used To Know

Patty Blount

Derek

Now

Long Island, New York

My sister hates me.

Ashley’s hated me for a couple of years now and it’s okay. I wanted her to hate me and did whatever I could to make it happen. Of course, that was before I knew what hate really meant. Now that I get it, I can’t change it, can’t undo all the shit I did, can’t fix what went wrong. So I suffer.

See, hate is a meaningless word. Everybody tosses the word around like it’s confetti, diluting it, rendering it about as effective as a Band-aid over an amputated limb to describe how they feel about every little thing that annoys them. They hate this song, that food, that person, or this movie. They hate homework, hate their teachers, hate their parents. They hate this team and that game. They hate every damn thing but nobody has even the smallest clue what hate really means unless they’re the object of it. 

The focus of it.

Hating somebody is more than you stop caring about them, and it’s more than not wanting to see that person ever again. It’s this need—an urge you can barely control—to make that person suffer. True hate goes all the way down to your bone marrow. Sometimes, it’s glacier cold and infinitely patient; other times, it’s surface-of-the-sun hot and bullet fast.

Ashley hates me in that glacier cold, slow-moving kind of hate. It leaves me permanently frost-bitten and has this really annoying habit of shadowing me around even when she can’t. Like right now—I’m surrounded by flyers. One was slipped under my dorm room door, another was stuck on the exit door of my building, the third was stuffed into my hand when I ordered some breakfast and this one is folded into one of those little tent cards and placed on top of every single table in the dining hall. I’ve been on campus at Rocky Hill University—several states and hundreds of miles away from my sister—for a few weeks, relieved to be away, to be anonymous, to be on my own. Mom and Dad wanted to come with me, set up my dorm room, have the big sloppy farewell like they did when Justin left for college four years before, but I wanted no part of that. I just wanted to be gone. Free. When Dad got the last of my crap into the car and asked if I’d said my goodbyes to everybody, I’d said yes.

But I hadn’t.

I’d tried to say goodbye to Ashley. She held up a hand and said. “Just go.” It had cut deeply, but I knew I deserved it, so I did.

I’d climbed into the passenger seat. Mom came to the front door and waved as Dad pulled out of the driveway. Ashley stood behind her, freezing me with that same cold, dead stare she’d been saving just for me since the trial. I kicked back, happy to be rid of her for the next four years.

And what happens?

Everywhere I look…reminders of her.

The flyers announce You Can Stop Campus Sex Assault! Blue paper, white text, announcing we’re gonna Take Back The Night.

Great.

There’s a huge rally being planned for Homecoming week—Rock Stock here. Because we’re the Rockets.

Of course, it would be homecoming week, because, like I said, I must suffer.

There will be guest speakers and live music and a candlelight vigil for all the survivors of sexual assault. I flip it over to read my favorite part: Are you a guy against rape? Join GAR today!

GAR. I wonder if people say it with a rolling R, like a pirate. Garrrrrrrr.

Oh, and the coach informed us the entire football team would don special uniforms for that game, showing our support. 

Awesome.

I crumble up the collection of flyers into a single giant ball and shove my breakfast aside, my stomach churning up acid. I was already planning on being hurt, injured, or maybe both that day.

“Hey, Derek.”

I glance up into the smiling face of Brittany Meyers, my girlfriend. We actually met in high school but didn’t hook up until we both arrived here. “Hey, Britt.” I sit up a little straighter, shove thoughts of my sister the hell out of my brain. Brittany’s hot in that girl-next-door way. Her long blond hair’s tied up in a loose knot with strands hanging loose. She’s wearing a tank top, shorts and flip-flops and her toes are painted an electric green and my mouth goes suddenly sand-paper dry. Happens every time.

Quickly, I take a sip of orange juice. A big one.

“What’s this?” She indicates my balled up collection of flyers and I shrug. Understanding dawns a second later. “Oh. The rally.”

“Yeah. That.” I rub the side of my face, scratch at the scar near my temple.

“You’re gonna go, right?” 

Hell, no. I shake my head. “No way. I’m the last person who should be there.”

She slides into the chair opposite mine, covers my hand with hers and my whole body heats up. “Derek, you’re the best person to be at that rally. You get it. A lot of guys claim they get it and have no clue. But you do.”

I look into her big blue eyes for a minute and finally decide she believes her own bullshit. And then I decide she’s right. I do have a clue. In fact, I have the whole mystery solved. And because I do, there’s no way in hell I’m going anywhere near that rally because I don’t need the entire university knowing I’m Derek Lawrence, the guy whose sister is the Bellford High School Rape Victim.

That’s what the media called her.

Ashley was barely fourteen when it happened. A minor. So her identity was protected. But she took her story public, posting a detailed account to her do-it-yourself website. And she included my role in it. Now, everybody from feminist bloggers to Matt Lauer knows our names.

So, yeah. I don’t want my whole school saying, “Oh! You’re that Derek Lawrence.”

Yep. The Derek Lawrence that played a stupid game that got his sister raped and then told a court of law that to go easy on her rapist. The same Derek Lawrence who drove away and left her standing alone in an empty parking lot, putting the whole friggin’ ordeal into motion.

Self-hatred runs another ice cold finger across my bare skin and I shiver, reminding myself I deserve this…deserve every second of it.

GIVEAWAY

Rafflecopter for SOMEONE I USED TO KNOW First Look Giveaway!!!

Patty is offering Five (5) lucky winners a special prize pack consisting of:

- a $10 Amazon Gift Card, 

- a paperback copy of Some Boys, 

- and an advanced e-copy of SOMEONE I USED TO KNOW. 

To enter for your chance to win one of these exciting prizes, 

please fill out the Rafflecopter link below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*Bumbles and Fairy-Tales is not responsible for any lost, damaged, unclaimed, etc. prizes.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR - Patty Blount

Patty Blount grew up quiet and somewhat invisible in Queens, NY, but found her voice writing smart and strong characters willing to fight for what's right. 

Today, she's the award-winning author of edgy, realistic, gut-wrenching contemporary and young adult romance. 

Still a bit introverted, she gets lost often, eats way too much chocolate, and tends to develop mad, passionate crushes on fictional characters... and actors like Gilles Marini... and Sam Heughan. Okay, so Patty's not nearly as cool as her characters, but she is a solid supporter of women's rights and loves delivering school presentations.

Patty is best known for her internet issues novels, including SOME BOYS, a 2015 CLMP Firecracker winner and RWA Rita Finalist, and SEND, a 2012 Junior Library Guild Fall Pick. Her upcoming release, SOMEONE I USED TO KNOW, has already been selected as a 2018 Junior Library Guild Fall Pick. 

Visit her website at pattyblount.com, where you can sign up for her newsletter. 

She blogs at YA Outside the Lines and is also active on Twitter and Facebook.

When she's not writing, Patty loves to watch bad sci-fi movies, live tweeting the hilarity, and scour Pinterest for ideas on awesome bookcases.

Patty lives on Long Island with her family in a house that, sadly, lacks bookcases. 

She loves hearing from readers, especially when they tell her she's cool (even though she knows it's not true), and is easily bribed with chocolate. Never underestimate the power of chocolate. 

Connect with Patty: 

WEBSITE / FACEBOOK / TWITTER / GOODREADS / AMAZON / BOOKBUB

Blog Tour (Excerpt and Giveaway): SAY YOU'LL REMEMBER ME by Katie McGarry (YA)

I am so very excited and happy to be able to share with you today an excerpt from Katie McGarry's latest book, SAY YOU'LL REMEMBER ME!!! A story of two people from different worlds pushing themselves, and each other, to get what they deserve! 

Katie McGarry is one of the few first authors that I was able to meet and interview in person when I first started reviewing books and blogging - she is such a wonderful person! And all of her books (that I have already read, I'm a few books behind, lol!) are favorites of mine :) 

SAY YOU'LL REMEMBER ME

by Katie McGarry

Release date: January 30th, 2018

Published by: Harlequin Teen

Genre: Young Adult Contemporary

Format: Hardcover, eBook

SUMMARY

"Doesn't matter who did it. Not anymore. I did the time. It's over."

When Drix was convicted of a crime - one he didn't commit - he thought his life was over.

But an opportunity came with the Second Chance Program, the governor's newest pet project to get delinquents off the streets, rehabilitated and back into society. Drix knows this is his chance to get his life back on track, even if it means being paraded in front of reporters for a while. 

Elle knows she lives a life of privilege. As the governor's daughter, she can open doors with her name alone. But the expectations and pressure to be someone she isn't may be too much to handle. She wants to follow her own path, whatever that means. 

When Drix and Elle meet, their connection is immediate, but so are their problems. Drix is not the type of boy Elle's parents have in mind for her, and Elle is not the kind of girl who can understand Drix's messy life.

But sometimes love can breach all barriers.

Fighting against a society that can't imagine them together, Drix and Elle must push themselves - Drix to confront the truth of the robbery, and Elle to assert her independence - and each other to finally get what they deserve. 

Grab your copy of SAY YOU’LL REMEMBER ME here!

Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks 

Google Play / BAM / Kobo

EXCERPT

Hendrix

“Everyone says you have a blank slate.” My brother Axle sits beside me on the ground, arms resting on his bent knees, and he stares at the bonfire I built with my own two hands with only flint and sticks. It’s one of the many tricks I learned over the last three months. That and how to survive on my own in the middle of nowhere.

Trees and bears I can handle. It’s not knowing who I can trust, now that I’m home, that’s the problem. Axle knows this. It’s why he’s next to me as our friends and family walk around the backyard for the impromptu “Welcome Home” party I told Axle I didn’t want.

Someone in this yard is the reason why I spent a year away from home for a crime I didn’t commit.

My neck tenses and I roll it in an attempt to release the anger. It took me close to eight months to find some Zen, and it has taken less than thirty minutes for some of the old underlying rage that followed me around like a black thunderhead to return.

Across from us, two girls I used to go to school with are roasting marshmallows. They’re waiting for me to talk to them. That’s who I was before: the smooth talker, the guy who made girls laugh and caused them to light up with a few specially chosen words. The right smile dropped at the right time, and panties would be shed. But I don’t feel up for conversation and I don’t feel like manipulating anyone anymore.

Crazy—I used to thrive when surrounded by people. The more, the better. But after being in juvenile detention for seven months and spending three in the wilderness taking part in an Outward Bound program for troubled teens, I’m more at ease by myself in front of a fire.

“They’ve all confirmed you’re walking out of all this with sealed records,” Axle continues.

Hel’s leaving out the part of how those records only remain sealed if I uphold my end of the plea deal—the agreement I made with the district attorney after I was arrested. I agreed to plead guilty, and the DA didn’t charge me as an adult and send me to hard-core prison. Considering we had no money for a lawyer to help prove my innocence, the deal sounded like the better of two bad options.

“You’re getting a massive second chance,” Axle says.

It was rotten luck that got me into this mess, but it happened at the right time. Our governor was searching for screwed-up teens to use for his pilot program. Someone high up in the world thought I stood a chance at turning my life around, but that second chance comes with a price. A price my brother is currently breaking down for me.

“This is a good thing. A blank slate. Not many people get one of those.”

Blank slate. That’s what I’m scared of. I may not have liked parts of the person I was before I was arrested, but at least I knew who I was. This blank slate, this chance to create someone new, scares me. This is a new type of pressure. At least I had a good excuse for being a delinquent before. Now, if I mess up, it’s because I’m truly broken.

The fire crackles then pops, and embers rise into the late May night. My younger sister laughs at the other end of the narrow yard near the aging shotgun house, and the sound is like an eight-eight beat with a high hat cymbal. It’s welcomed, and it’s the first time this feels like home.

She’s sixteen now, grown up faster than I’d prefer, and she’s one of the four people I love more than my own life. She’s also the only reason I’m still out here instead of holed up in my room. According to Axle, it was Holiday’s idea to set up the party.

Old Christmas lights are strung from one towering oak tree to the next, zigzagging green, red and blue across the yard. Most people brought their own chairs and a dish to share. My first meal as a free man and it’s hamburgers, hot dogs, and potato salad. I don’t have the heart to tell her I would have given my left ball for a slice of thick crust pizza.

“She missed you,” Axle says, catching my train of sight.

“I missed her, too.” Those are my first words since we pulled into the driveway. I used to be the life of the party, but that was before, and as I said, I don’t know who I am anymore, so for now, I’m quiet.

“I missed you,” he says in such a low tone I barely catch it. “We weren’t the same without you.”

I take a deep breath because I’m not sure any of us will be the same again.

Order your copy of SAY YOU'LL REMEMBER ME, register and you will receive AND THEY ALL LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER, a novella that features your favorite PUSHING THE LIMITS and THUNDER ROAD characters!!! 

From the PUSHING THE LIMITS series, Noah, Beth, Isaiah, West, and Logan are all grown up. Catch up with your favorite characters as one of them finally says, I DO!

Pigpen, Eli, and Addison from the THUNDER ROAD series: 

Three separate personalities who still needed to find love... and still had someone important to meet.

This is a limited time offer! SO HURRY!

Registration ends on February 3, 2018!

You must register your order to receive AND THEY ALL LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER.

https://a.pgtb.me/4tLZSM

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*Bumbles and Fairy-Tales is not responsible for any lost, damaged, unclaimed, etc. prizes.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR - Katie McGarry

Katie McGarry was a teenager during the age of grunge and boy bands and remembers those years as the best and worst of her life. 

She is a lover of music, happy endings, reality television, and is a secret University of Kentucky basketball fan.

Katie is the author of full-length YA novels, PUSHING THE LIMITS, DARE YOU TO, CRASH INTO YOU, TAKE ME ON, BREAKING THE RULES, and NOWHERE BUT HERE and the e-novellas, CROSSING THE LINE and RED AT NIGHT. 

Her debut YA novel, PUSHING THE LIMITS, was a 2012 Goodreads Choice Finalist for YA Fiction, a RT Magazine's 2012 Reviewer's Choice Awards Nominee for Young Adult Contemporary Novel, a double Rita Finalist, and a 2013 YALSA Top Ten Teen Pick.

DARE YOU TO was also a Goodreads Choice Finalist for YA Fiction and won RT Magazine's Reviewer's Choice Best Book Award for Young Adult Contemporary fiction in 2013.

LINKS: Website / Twitter / Facebook / Goodreads 

Pinterest / Tumbler / Instagram

Book Excerpt: FLOWER MOON by Gina Linko (MG)

Hello, friends! 

I am so over the moon to be able to share with you an excerpt of one of my most anticipated middle-grade books for 2018 called FLOWER MOON... it is about "sisterhood, carnivals, and summer magic!" Once you read this excerpt you will agree with me that this is definitely a book to keep an eye out and read as soon as it is released!

FLOWER MOON

by Gina Linko

Expected release date: January 2nd, 2018

Published by: Sky Pony Press

Genre: Middle-Grade Magical Realism/Fantasy

Format: Hardcover, eBook

SUMMARY

Tempest and Tally Jo Trimble are mirror twins - so alike they were almost born the same person - and they've been inseparable since birth. But it's the summer they turn thirteen, and it seems like everyone can tell something is changing between them.

Pa Charlie, whose traveling carnival is the best part of every summer, is watching them closer than ever. 

Digger, who sneaks poor kids onto the carnival rides for free and smiles faster than anyone, seems to be fixing for a fight.

Even Mama is acting different, refusing to travel with the carnival this year even though her own twin, who she hasn't seen since childhood, will be there.

And Tally and Tempest are the most different of all. There's a strangeness between them, a thickness to the air, an unseen push and pull, and it's getting stronger. It starts with a feeling, but soon it's sputtering and sparking, hurling them backward, threatening to explode.

When Tally learns that she and Tempest may not be the first twins in their family to be separated by whatever this force is, she realizes she'll have to find a way to stop it - or she might lose not only her sister but everyone she loves. 

EXCERPT OF FLOWER MOON

The light show was really something. Purples and reds, blues and whites, and a couple of umbrella-shaped oranges and yellows. The sparks erupted in the sky, dazzling. They dangled there for a moment before tapering off into nothingness.

I found myself wishing Tempest was with us. She would love this, I thought.

Or would she? She would’ve last summer. But now, she spent more and more time on her own, with her box of bolts and her trips to the junkyard for parts.

I shook the thought away, the smile fading from my face, and I knew Digger’s eyes were on me.

“You’re different,” he said. He lit a bottle rocket and tossed it away from us.

“No, I’m not,” I said, scowling. “You’re different.”

“I guess I am,” he said, and I could hear something in his voice, something new. I didn’t like it. “Playing on the eighth-grade baseball team next fall,” he boasted. “My curveball is the best in three counties.” He sort of stuck his chest out when he said this.

“You’re still a pain in the butt to me.”

And with that, he laughed, his car-engine laugh, and he sounded like my Digger again.

That’s when Tempest appeared out of nowhere, scaring me half to death. “Why’d you leave me behind?” she said, folding her arms over her chest.

I shrugged.

“We didn’t know where you were,” Digger said.

“Fat Sam let me look through his old bicycle parts.”

“Find anything good?” I asked. I was trying to be interested in Tempest’s quest for gadgets galore.

Tempest nodded. “A vintage speedometer. Some cogs and ball bearings.” She shrugged and started to root around in the bag of fireworks. Digger took off across the field to set up a line of bottle rockets.

“Here, let me light that for you,” I said, striking a match for Tempest, who had chosen a big chrysanthemum.

But when I got close to her, there it was. That strange something again, just like that day in the science lab.

But stronger. It exploded between us, pushed me back from her in a jolt of energy, a hissing whoosh of air. I nearly fell back on my behind. I scuttled backward three steps, four, and the force still brushed my hair back. The match went out, and I stopped dead still.

“What in the world is this?” I asked. “You got some invention brushing me back, Tally? You pulling some kind of prank?”

“No . . .”

Digger’s bottle-rocket succession exploded and the noise jolted me.

Tempest and I stood about two feet away from each other, and I took another step closer. It wasn’t like I couldn’t do it; I could. But it was hard, like trying to propel myself through a wind tunnel. The air between Tempest and me, it was thick and fairly pulsing.

I ripped out another match and worked to strike it on the matchbook cover while Tempest eyed me all suspicious-like. I couldn’t get the darn match to strike.

“Let me try,” Tempest said, and then she reached out for the book in my hand. And I could see her struggle, see her eyes widen at how hard it was to push through the space toward me.

“What the heck is—”
            But I didn’t finish my sentence because as she reached toward me, and even before her hand grasped the matchbook, I watched one of the matches spark a weird, blue-purple color. In a blink, the whole book caught fire, every single match in one big hot flame.

“Whoa,” Digger yelped from where he stood nearby.

I hurled the fiery matchbook away, and it landed in a patch of brush near Tempest. The dried grass and brush crackled and caught fire. Tempest took several steps away from me, eyeing me closely.

“You better cut this out,” I said. “You’re—”

“It’s not me.” She busied herself stomping out the fire, and Digger joined in, muttering to himself.

I stared at them, scared to get too close.

When the flames were out, Digger turned his attention back to me. “What was that? You forget how to light a match?”

“I . . . um . . .” I let my voice trail off as I backed even farther away from Tempest, needing to lessen the pressure on my lungs. I snatched my inhaler from my pocket, took two long pulls. It was still there, coming at me in waves, settling between my eyes like a bad case of brain freeze. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t get a breath. “You got a drink of water?” I squeaked.

“Yeah,” Digger said, digging into his bag.

Tempest looked at me all funny. “I just remembered, I gotta go back . . .” she stammered. “I promised Pa Charlie . . .” She turned back for camp, and my breathing came easier with each bit of distance Tempest put between us.

Digger’s eyes were full of questions. “Here.” He gave me a bottle of water, and I took a pull. I felt better already, though.

Digger watched me, but I just ignored him like it was my job, draining the bottle of water.

Instead of peppering me with the twenty questions I was sure he wanted to ask, Digger let it drop.

Wonders never cease.

He took off toward the Spanish oak near the base of the hill. I watched Digger’s silhouette as he climbed up into its massive, kudzu-covered branches.

“Come on, Tally, you’re missing the view!” he yelled.

“Uh-huh,” I called. I ran toward the tree, but when I got up into the branches of that old oak, it wasn’t the view that drew my attention. Not the bright sickle moon in the sky or the lit-up constellations in the wide-open country sky. No, it was the tiny, disappearing figure of my sister running back to camp, small and alone, a silhouette against the lights of the carnival and flame of the campfire, her pigtails bouncing with each step she took.

ADD THE BOOK TO YOUR GOODREADS TBR NOW!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR - Gina Linko

Author of the middle-grade novel, FLOWER MOON, coming in January 2018 from Sky Pony Press.

YA author of INDIGO and FLUTTER, both from Random House Books for Young Readers.

GOODREADS / WEBSITE / TWITTER