~ NEW RELEASE ~ Outcast ~ by Denise Jaden
Title: Outcast
Author: Denise
Jaden
Genre: YA Contemporary (with romantic suspense
elements)
Publication Date: April
20th,
2018
Blurb:
She’s not crazy.
Kass Bateman may be a lot of things, but she swears
she's not crazy—even when she wakes up strapped to a wheelchair in a
psychiatric hospital and can't remember how she got
there.
When Kass's family members go missing one by one, she
enlists the smartest guy she knows to help find them. Unfortunately for her,
underneath his brains and indifference are some dark secrets and a whole lot of
distracting sexy.
Can Kass keep her head together long enough to rescue
her family members from their captors—the truly dangerous and crazy
ones?
Gritty, steamy, and rife with secrecy, Outcast is the
first book in a new upper YA/NA crossover series for fans of Gayle Forman and
Rainbow Rowell.
Denise Jaden’s novels have
been shortlisted or received awards through the Romance Writers of America,
Inspy, and SCBWI. The first draft of her debut novel, Losing Faith, was written
in 21 days during NaNoWriMo 2007 and she loves talking with writers and
students alike about her Just-Get-To-The-End fast-drafting
process.
Jaden’s other young adult novels include Never Enough,
Foreign Exchange, A Christmas Kerril, and Avalanche. Her non-fiction
books for writers include, Writing with a Heavy Heart, Fast Fiction, and Story
Sparks.
In her spare time, she homeschools her son, acts with
the Vancouver film industry, and dances with a Polynesian dance troupe. Find
out more at denisejaden.com.
Author Links:
Amazon: http://amzn.to/2Ge6uID
Twitter: https://twitter.com/denisejaden
Website: https://www.denisejaden.com/
Buy Links:
Roadie (Pre-Order):
https://amzn.to/2qIiUyJ
I beeline toward them, anger
blurring my vision. It’s not like I even know Elijah, but I need to protect him
like no one protected me.
"What are you doing
here?" I say straight at Elijah, since I know Sebastian could take this
little transaction somewhere where I won’t be watching. I was the one who
needed to get a clue in eighth grade. Elijah’s the one who needs to get a clue
now.
Elijah looks from side to side,
clearly not believing I’m talking to him in this tone. He finally looks back at
me blankly. Sebastian holds up his soda can and grunts something about needing
a refill.
Even better. After Sebastian
clears out, I wait for Elijah’s answer, but when he changes the subject, I
realize he’s not going to give me one.
“You did the right thing,” he
says. I think he’s talking about Sebastian, until he adds, “It’s good you
talked to your mom today, even if it made Mr. Burke angry.” He has to
yell the last part, because someone has turned up the
music.
My mom? What is he…He motions
across to where Hope has her back to us, in my mother’s coat. Right, I had
thought it was my mother at school today. That seems so long ago. I have to
smile a little that Elijah thinks I’d bring my mother to a party like
this.
“It’s my sister,” I mumble.
But when I look back at him and
realize he hasn’t answered me about why he’s here, in fact, he’s trying to give
me advice, my smile fades.
As if to push me further, he
says, “You need to make things right. You have to get rid of any guilt and the
things you’ve never been able to say while you have the
chance.”
While I have the chance? Does he
know that my mother hasn’t been around in years? And how the hell would he know
anything about my guilt? He’s staring off over my head, so I can’t read in his
eyes exactly how much he does know about
me.
“Oh yeah?” I force a mocking
tone, but the more I look at Elijah, at his unfazed eyes, the more I want to
get the hell away from him. Because I know in my right mind he doesn’t have any
clue what Kass-The-Enigma, the girl with the dead sister, the
freakshow-of-a-father, and the abandoning-secretive-mother is going through.
How could he?
I reach for my most menacing
tone to get us off this topic quickly. “Why are you hanging out with Sebastian
Brown? I think we’ll both admit, he’s not exactly your type, Elijah.” I cross
my arms.
His eyes move to the side, like
I knocked a nerve. He murmurs something, but I can’t hear him over the blaring
music.
“What?” I step closer and lean
in with a scowl. “Spit it out!”
“Don’t call me Elijah,” he says
loud and clear.
This surprises me. I could swear
Mr. Burke has called him Elijah. Or maybe he calls him Mr. Barton. I start to
doubt myself. “That’s your name, isn’t
it?”
His face is getting harder by
the second, his cheek bones tauter. And I feel myself getting softer. Which I
won’t allow. I ball my fists at my sides.
“Eli,” he practically yells.
He’s actually kind of cute when he’s angry. “If you could call me Eli, that
would be...great.” He meets my eyes on the last word and grits it out through a
smile that looks anything but
happy.
“What is your problem?” I scowl
at him.
“My problem right now seems to
be you,” he says, not missing a beat. He turns and marches toward some trees at
the far end of the property. It’s more deserted there, further from the sound
system, but I’m pretty sure he’s not headed there because he wants to have a
quiet conversation with me. He wants me to leave him the hell
alone.
I glance back and Liz and Micah
have also moved out of the din of the party. They’re arguing again, something
they usually only do in private. My mother’s coat is on the lawn swing, but at
least Hope’s not in the middle of their argument. I glance around the lawn, but
she must have gone inside. I should probably do something about Liz and Micah,
but I can’t let Eli have the last word. Not after talking to me like
that.
“Don’t you dare walk away from
me!” I say when I catch up.
“Look,” he swings around. “What
do you want from me? Have I offended you, or something, because if I have, I
seriously don’t remember it. Did you not want me to defend you to Mr. Burke
today?” He takes a big drink of his beer, and this time I think it’s slipped
his mind how bad the stuff tastes. His cringe is
obvious.
“I don’t want anything from
you.” I keep walking until I’m past him, so it feels like I’m leading this
conversation instead of him. There’s a crap-load of leaves on the ground from a
windstorm we had last week and I kick them out of my way with a vengeance. “I
think it’s messed up that Sebastian is preying on people like you.” I turn back
to face Elijah and lean against the nearest tree. “I actually thought I was
helping you, you know, a favor for a favor, but don’t bother thanking me or
anything.”
“Helping me how?” He steps
closer, keeping his eyes trained right on mine, like he’s not afraid of me in
the least. I hate to admit it, but it’s kind of turning me on. Guys don’t stand
up to me, they just don’t. But this Elijah guy—Eli—he’s ready to engage in
combat. I wonder where in his straight-laced, practically-ironed jeans he keeps
his balls, because they seem to be good sized
ones.
“I tried...” I pause for
dramatic effect, “...to get you away from those low-lifes.” I’m not sure why I
say “those,” except maybe I’m lumping Sebastian and Graham together for added
punch.
He takes another step toward me
and now we’re only inches apart. “And you’re better...” he tilts his head and
raises his eyebrows, “...how?”
Did he seriously just—? I don’t
even know what I’m doing, but all at once, I grab his head and pull it toward
me. A splash of beer hits my other hand as he drops his cup in surprise. I
plant my lips on his and kiss hard against his rigid ones. It’s a power move, I
know that much. I need to get the upper hand here, and I will one way or the
other. He’ll pull away and freak out—who knows if the guy has ever
been kissed before.
A second later he responds, but
not at all in the way I expect…
Thanks so much for featuring Outcast!
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