Hope's Rebellion: Sneak Peek

This is a first look at my newest book, Hope's Rebellion. Enjoy!

Hope's Rebellion

Coming November 2013

“Do it again!” Maura screamed. “One, two, three.”

All at once, twenty little bodies hit the stones beneath them. The sun was starting to sink, and they’d been doing drills for hours.

“If an Argot passes you or enters into the same room as you, it’s your duty to react appropriately. To do otherwise could cost you your life. Keep your eyes on the ground!” She shouted. “Remember to touch your forehead to the floor in front of you, and then you’ll never forget.”

“Do you think she listens to herself when she speaks?” whispered Preeka.

“Shhh,” Yala warned, behind her.

“She never listens to anybody when they speak,” Drexi replied. “She only likes the sound of her own voice. The words don’t matter.”

“Maybe you think you know more than me about proper behavior, Drexi?” Maura was suddenly standing in front of her. Drexi saw her own black hair reflected in the shiny tips of Maura’s boots. “Up!”

Drexi stood.

“Down!”

Drexi bent at the waist, pointing her eyes downward.

“All the way!” Maura screamed. “We’ve been doing this drill all day.”

“But you’re not an Argot,” Drexi answered innocently, keeping her eyes trained on Maura’s boots. “I thought the drill was proper positioning. This is the proper position for you.”

Snickers rippled through the girls, and when Drexi chanced a glance upward she saw that Maura’s face had turned a deep, terrifying shade of red.

“Go stand on the peg!” She screeched. “Up, the rest of you. I want you to see what happens when you let your smart mouths run away with you. If I were Drexi’s mistress, I could have her beaten or even put her out of my home. She’s lucky to only stand on the peg.”

Drexi almost snapped that Maura wouldn’t really know if it was better or not, since she never stood her big body on the peg, but there wasn’t any point in making her punishment worse. So she bit her tongue as she walked to the center of the quad, toward a narrow post that rose six feet above the ground. She climbed the ladder and established her balance before kicking it away, the way she was supposed to.

The peg measured about two inches in circumference, too narrow for both feet. Drexi would have to balance herself, and try not to fall down to the hard stones below. If she did, she would only have to climb back up again.

And she would know. Drexi had been on the peg more than anyone else in Camp Five…ever.

After the other girls all filed passed her into the cafeteria for dinner, Preeka got her wish. It started to rain for the first time that winter. The deluge lasted well into the night. Maura finally let Drexi step down from her spot ten minutes before lights out.

When she couldn’t be roused the next day, she was taken to the infirmary. It took four days before Drexi became conscious again, she was so ill from standing in the cold rain. When she was able to return to the dorm six days later, Maura gave her kitchen duty for two straight weeks.

Cover Reveal: Judgment

The fourth and final book in the Deck of Lies series, Judgment, is nearly here! The book will be available in online bookstores soon. Now, you'll know what to look for. The cover has been officially revealed!

Cashing Out

Do I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

How can I, when the truth will destroy us all? Now that I've started telling lies, I can't stop. Not until all this is over, and I'm free of the family that never felt like mine. Maybe it's wrong. Maybe I'm a bad person.

But it's definitely the only way I'm ever going to escape them. I have to take this opportunity to end things between us once and for all, no matter what it takes.

Don't I?

And here's a little taste of Judgment (Deck of Lies, #4). You won't find this brief excerpt anywhere else! 

“It’s fine, Rain,” Asher assured me maybe four minutes later. He’d excused himself to leave the room, no doubt to talk to media outside the courthouse, and arrived looking loose and relaxed. At least someone was having a good time. “Warren loves to showboat and grandstand, but he’s never won a case in a head-to-head against me.”

“This isn’t a boxing match,” I answered woodenly. My eyes were still glued to the judge’s bench, though she’d retired to the little room where she hid when court wasn’t in session. I didn’t dare look to the jury; I didn’t know what I would find there if I did.

“You’re wrong about that,” Asher answered. He was actually smiling as he double-checked to make sure his cufflinks were in place and his tie was perfectly straight. He had his briefcase open, and I caught him checking his hair in a tiny mirror secured to the inside corner before he closed it. “It is a boxing match, and you’ve got the better man on your side. Just wait and see,” he added.

Asher came to his feet like he knew the bailiff would choose that moment to enter. The judge followed, and within a minute the court settled down into uneasy silence. Graham Warren’s speech had left its mark on them all.

It was Asher’s job to undo all that work.

“Court is resumed,” the judge tapped her gavel. “Mr. von Shelton, we are now prepared to hear your opening statement.”

Act one of my drama continued as Asher swept gracefully to the center of the room. His brown hair gleamed under the lights, and his light blue silk tie perfectly brought out the golden, tanned tone of his skin.

Check the blog every day this weekend for announcements about Judgment (Deck of Lies, #4), and get the book as soon as it's released! 

Judgment: Sneak Peek

Happy Halloween! It's a day for scares, and that means it's perfect for unveiling my newest excerpt from Judgment (Deck of Lies, #4). The fourth and final installment in the Deck of Lies comes out next month. If you buy Death (Deck of Lies, #3) from Amazon, Smashwords or B&N, you'll get an excerpt from the first chapter. If you haven't already read the first three books in the Deck of Lies, you probably shouldn't read this sneak peek!

Chapter 4

The day’s mail arrived about forty minutes after my tutoring session ended. It was 3 PM, so it was Morales who came to the cell with a stack of envelopes and magazines in his hands. “Mail call,” he announced. “Please stand back from the bars in the center of your cell.”

I knew this, of course, and I rolled my eyes as he made the requisite announcement. Minutes ticked by in silence as he sorted through the pile. The magazines he shoved between the bars, where they landed on the concrete floor with lazy slapping sounds. The envelopes he saved until last, looking into each one before he either dropped it into the mailbag on his shoulder or slid it between the bars into my cell. They were all slit open, and earlier in the day someone had already looked at every single piece of mail sent my way. Everything I sent out was examined, too.

The guards used to give me every single piece of mail, even the ugliest stuff. My upcoming trial, and Laurel’s murder, had been national news for weeks. The story wasn’t being covered as vigorously as it had been in the very beginning, but I was still getting plenty of what the guards used to mockingly call “fan mail.”

It started arriving for me two days after I was locked in jail in July. The first “fan mail” was written in bold red marker on a crisp white page. It simply said “you will burn in hell.” Other letters were more intricate, and more threatening. I’d even received artwork, graphic caricatures of myself sitting in an electric chair or hanging from a rope around my neck.

They terrified me and haunted me, those pictures, until I finally broke down and told River about it. He assured me it couldn’t possibly happen. “They do lethal injection in California,” he’d said.

So the picture of me in the chair, with my hair sticking up all over my head and my eyes bulging out of my skull, shouldn’t frighten me at all.

Morales was the first guard to start sorting the mail for me, throwing away the hate letters and horrible drawings and leaving only the stuff I might want to see. By the time August was coming to its end, none of the guards still subjected me to the horrors the came to me in the mail each and every day.

The world hated me…because it loved Laurel.

I’d read all the articles that I could get my hands on, and managed to pull some information out of River and Asher. The press were treating Laurel like she was some sort of angel, and I was this totally messed up girl with a messed up past. Laurel was the queen of the Debate Team, she was on the volleyball team, she ran marathons for charity, she was active in teen activities at one of the big LA churches. She was beautiful, and she was tall, and she was apparently incapable of taking a bad picture at any point in her brief life. The media had printed the entire Riordan family album in the last few weeks. Pictures of baby Laurel, toddler Laurel and school girl Laurel were splashed on the front pages of People and the like. Teary quotes from volunteer organizers and teachers were printed and re-printed.

Every picture they’d ever printed of me showed wild hair, reddish eyes and a twisted facial expression that made me look like Satan’s daughter. The worst one of them all was one of the pictures taken at my hearing – I was wearing county jail orange and staring into the crowd with an angry, intense look on my face.

“Just one letter today,” Morales chirped. He’d thrown most of my stack back into the mailbag. “Anything outgoing?”

“Not today.”

“Be back to check on you later.”

I nodded, and waited for him to get to the end of the hall before I rushed forward to gather up my remaining mail. The one letter I still had was from River, and as usual it contained very few words. It was another pencil sketch, this one an elaborate design of curving lines that reminded me of flowers, with a short note on the back: see you soon.

Judgment: Exclusive First Look

Can't wait until Judgment (Deck of Lies, #4) comes out in November? You don't have to! Death, the third book in the Deck of Lies series, now has an exclusive preview of Judgment. 

Blog readers can get Death free in any electronic format at Smashwords all week long. Use the coupon code PZ96Z to get 100% off, and get a sneak peek of what's coming up in the fourth (and final) installment of the Deck of Lies series.

Death: An Exclusive Excerpt

 I'll be revealing the cover for Death (Deck of Lies, #3) in less than two weeks, and you've only got a little longer than that to wait for the book's release. Until then, I'm releasing this exclusive excerpt that you can't find anywhere else. Keep reading! 

     I nearly shouted with glee when I saw Fallon’s familiar curvy figure leaning against my locker door. She’s a little taller than me, but Fallon had a habit of slouching and turning her shoulders inward that made us almost look the same size -- at least vertically.
     “Where have you been?” I was so pleased, I leapt forward to give her a hug.
     “I wasn’t in the mood this morning,” she shrugged. “But I showed up in time for lunch. Thanks for not bailing on school again today.”
     “Yeah, I know. Sorry about that. I wasn’t feeling well.” It wasn’t really a lie. I’d been feeling terrible the last few days, but not in the way I was trying to suggest to Fallon.
     “Suuure.” She wasn’t buying it, anyway.
     “Listen, Fall, I need to borrow your car.” I finished shoving books into my locker and turned to look at her, straight into her vivid blue-green eyes so she would know how serious I was.
     “What? What for? Is something wrong with yours?”
     “No, not at all. In fact, you can take mine.” I reached into my Polo purse to pull out the keys and shoved them toward her.
     “Rain, what’s going on?” She didn’t reach to take them.
     “I can’t really explain right now, Fallon.” I took her right hand in mine and turned it face up so I could drop the keys inside. “Just hang onto them until I get back. I’ll meet you in the parking lot at the end of the school day. If something happens and I’m not back, just take the car for today and you can drive it to school tomorrow.”
     “Rain!” She tried to shove the keys back at me, but I’d crossed my arms. “I can’t take your car home. My mom will flip.”
     “Look, I’ll be back in time. She’ll never find out. Has it got gas in it? Where are your keys?”
     “Rain!”
     “Be quiet,” I hissed at her. “This is really important. It’s…it’s about Laurel, Fall.”
     “Laurel?” She looked down, hiding her expression with a curtain of long bluish-black hair. “Is it really, or are you just saying that?”
     “Fall,” I reached out to put a hand on her shoulder. “It is really about Laurel, and it is really important. I’ll be back in time. Wait for me.”
     “Okay. I guess.” I tried not to let her see me celebrate while she dug into her purse for the keys. Fallon held onto my hand after she slapped the keys inside, her bright gaze boring into me. “Not one scratch. And I want my seat put back the way I had it when you’re done.”
     “It’ll be just like I was never there,” I assured her. I sprang forward to give her a quick hug, then fled down the hall before she could change her mind. I would take Fallon’s car straight to the police station, explain everything to Edwards over the next two class periods, and then meet her when school let out for the day. The von Sheltons would never even know. It was a perfect plan.

     For once, everything seemed to work in my favor. I made it all the way to the parking lot without getting spotted, not even by another student who was sneaking away from school grounds, and saw Fallon’s tiny yellow Porsche convertible pretty quickly. She was parked way in the back, because she’d been late. I ran toward the car, weaving through the high-end automobiles that packed the student lot.
     Freedom was just a few steps away when I stepped into one of the wide lanes. My eyes were fixed on the distinct round headlights of Fallon’s Porsche, the keys gripped in my hand. Everything was going to be okay. I heard the squeal of tires at the same time the thought went whizzing through my head, and turned toward the noise instinctively.
     A Mercedes-Benz was barreling toward me at full speed. For a moment I was completely frozen, my legs turned to cement columns beneath me. The car was almost close enough to touch when I heard my own voice in my head, screaming at me to MOVE, and I jerked myself to the right.
     I hit the asphalt roughly, skinning a knee and the heel of my left hand as I went down on all fours. The car blew by me, and I realized how close I’d just come to certain doom. “Slow down!” I screamed, even though the vehicle had already reached the end of the lane and jerked into a screeching turn. I watched it as I picked myself up and tried to brush off my skirt, speeding down the lane next to me. At the end, the car wrenched into a left turn…and started coming down my lane again.

Look Inside the Deck of Lies

 Love to read? Read a new excerpt from Justice (Deck of Lies, #1) at Loves 2 Read, and meet one of the fan-favorite characters from the series.

Exclusive Excerpt

 Visit There For You, a blog that celebrates the written word, to get a look at an exclusive excerpt from Justice (Deck of Lies, #1).

Book 3 Sneak Peek!

Yes, the rumors are true: I've finished the first draft of Death, Book 3 in the Deck of Lies series. I still have some serious editing to do, but a few very brief passages are suitable for public viewing and I'm going to share one of them!

(image from the official trailer, yet to be released)

Excerpt from Chapter ?

    I was striding across the grass with a smile frozen onto my lips. I was wearing a bit less eye makeup, and my mascara had been re-applied with a shaking hand, but no one looked at me oddly as I moved toward the milling party guests -- so I guess I did a good enough job of repairing my appearance.

    Things were in full swing, now. All of the Japanese lanterns were lit, their colorful shades creating a haze of light that made it difficult to see the stars above. Voices were louder now that the beautifully-garbed people had been here long enough to enjoy more than one of the complimentary drinks that were being doled out by the truckload. There were a dozen or so servers milling among the glittering guests with bubbling glasses of champagne, and the bartenders were in a frenzy of activity to lubricate the crowd gathered near the dance floor.

    Carsyn was laughing with a group of her friends from Sloane Academy, the school we both attended. I stepped past a portrait of myself to reach the raised dance floor, built just that day to accommodate the guests. Everywhere I looked, I saw pink. Special rose-colored lights were aimed at the ice sculptures that dotted the buffet tales, which were all decorated with clear pink decorations that looked like diamonds. Each one of the round tables held a display of pink tea roses and more of those silly diamonds. I’d wanted red, but Violet thought the color was too violent.

    What a joke.

    I went straight to the nearest server, the smile firmly in place, nodding to the few people who greeted me as I passed. The party was supposed to be in my honor, to re-introduce me to the von Shelton’s friends. I was meeting all the “important people” in and around our community of Silverwood, California. I didn’t trust myself to speak, so I only nodded a thanks to the server when I plucked a frothy glass from his tray.

    I’d barely brought it to my lips when I heard the voice at my right side. “Are you old enough to be drinking, young lady?”

    I sputtered and nearly spit the first sip back into my glass, but I tossed the contents down my throat instead. It was a little too much; I nearly choked when the bubbles began to tickle my nose and mouth. I smeared my lipstick when I rubbed the back of my hand across my mouth, but I didn’t care. “Owen.”

    “Sorry. Didn’t mean to surprise you.” He had an odd sort of expression on his face, as if he wanted to smile but wasn’t quite sure if he should.

    “No, it’s okay,” I answered, and I was still trying to keep that idiotic smile plastered to my face. “I’m glad you came.”

....

If you've read Justice or The Tower, you'll recognize all these names. The excerpt above is taken from a scene between Owen and Rain. Will there be a confrontation? What's the deal with this party? You'll find out in Death, which is the longest book in the series to date. And I promise, Tower fans, the scene you've been waiting for takes place very, very early in the book so the wait is almost over!

The Tower: An Excerpt

The Tower (Deck of Lies, #2) has just been released this month -- and to celebrate, I'm releasing a selective excerpt. The piece of the scene you're about to read takes place in Chapter 5. Some names have been hidden to protect the dead (and the spoilers from Book 1!).

   I was taken aback by his interruption, and the way he’d honed in on my true feelings. “I…I wouldn’t say I hated her, exactly, but I-”
   “Where were you on the morning of March 29?”
   “What?”
   “March 29, Rain. It was barely two weeks ago. Surely you can remember where you were on the day that your fellow student disappeared?” His voice was low and gentle, almost chant-like.
   “I…” And I racked my brain for a moment before the memory clicked into place. Of course. March 29. That was the day I went to school to find that my locker had been completely trashed by Carsyn. I felt my cheeks flame just thinking about it. “I was at school.”
   “And before that?” He pressed.
   “Before that I was at home,” I answered hotly. Maybe it was that horrible memory of seeing Carsyn’s angry red lipstick smeared all over my personal space, but I was suddenly furious at Lieutenant Edwards. Why was he dredging all this up? And why were we sitting in this tiny room?
   “Did anyone see you leave that morning? Did you eat breakfast with your family? Can anyone verify your whereabouts before you walked into Sloane Academy that Monday morning? When did you first see the suspect that day? Were you with him in the canyons, Rain?” His tone had dramatically changed from singsong to rapid-fire, each word hurtled at me like a bullet.
   His hard expression, his unrelenting questions, the plain little room…I suddenly realized I’d seen this all before. On TV. And that’s when I understood that I was being interrogated by the police. I spun around in my chair to stare at the mirror, and cold dread washed over me when I thought that another police officer was probably staring at me from the other side.
   My mind started to spin madly. The note he’d asked me to copy. The receipt he’d pulled out of his pocket. Dread settled in my stomach, and for a few horrifying seconds I was certain I was going to throw up. “Oh my God,” I whispered. “A Fendi purse purchased on March 28. She was killed with a leather strap. Do you think -- do you mean --” I couldn’t even finish the question. I leapt out of the plastic seat, not at all surprised to find that my legs felt wobbly when I forced them straight. “Was she murdered with a purse strap?” I didn’t mean to halfway scream the question, but waves of shock were rolling over me now. I felt like I was caught inside a storm. “Then why have you been holding the suspect? Because his name was on the note? Where did you find that note? Did you find that note on her…on her?” I couldn’t say “body.” It was just too gruesome.
   Edwards was standing now, too. “Where were you on Monday morning, Rain?”
   “I’m a suspect?” It came out half-question, half-accusation. “Am I your new suspect?”







The Tower is now available at Amazon, on B&N and Smashwords. Read Justice (Deck of Lies, #1) to get caught up on all the backstory, or just dive right in to this installment of the ongoing saga of family deceit and secrets!

We Write Worlds: Justice Excerpt

We Write Worlds: "Justice" by Jade Varden

Visit the link to read an excerpt of Justice as published by We Write Worlds!