Another Successful Blog Hijack!!!!
Psst! Jesi Lea Ryan
here. Welcome to my sneak-attack blog
tour!
Charlene is busy
doing research for her next Cornerstone novel and forgot to lock her
computer. So I’m taking over her blog
for my own nefarious (shameless?) purposes.
I have to hurry though before she comes back. (Hee, hee!) Read to the end and you have a chance to win a
free e-book!
I want to take a
moment to tell you about my new young adult, paranormal romance, Arcadia’s
Gift.
Most people who
experience death don’t live to tell about it.
When sixteen year
old Arcadia “Cady” Day wakes in a hospital after experiencing what can only be
called a psychic episode, she finds her family in tatters. With her twin sister
gone, her dad moved out, her mom’s spiraling depression and her sister’s
boyfriend, Cane, barely able to look at her, the only bright spot in her life
is Bryan Sullivan, the new guy in school. When Bryan’s around, Cady can almost
pretend she’s a regular girl, living a regular life; when he’s not, she’s
wracked with wild, inexplicable mood swings. As her home life crumbles and her
emotional control slips away, Cady begins to suspect that her first psychic
episode was just the beginning…
I am so excited to
share this book with the world! Cady is
such an amazing character. I think what
I like best about her is that she has to deal with some seriously heavy family
issues in addition to her new gifts.
Because of this, both teen and adult readers will be able to find
different ways to relate to her on an emotional level.
Where did the idea
for Arcadia’s Gift come from? I
honestly don’t remember. I knew I wanted
to write a young adult paranormal, since I read a lot of young adult
literature. Vampires are a tad overdone
right now and werewolves just don’t appeal to me. (Hello? Doggy breath is NOT sexy!) I seem to recall the character of Cady
forming in my mind first. I wanted her
to be as realistic as possible. I truly
believe some people have psychic abilities, so it seemed natural to develop
them in Cady. Once I figured out what
those abilities would be, the story of how she got them unfolded
naturally.
Why set the story in
Dubuque, Iowa? My first novel, Four Thousand
Miles, was set in England. While I have been to England and all of the
places in my book, I had to do a ton of research into the setting, the culture
and the speech. With Arcadia’s Gift,
I chose to set the story in my hometown of Dubuque where I am intimately
familiar with the city. Cady goes to the
same high school I attended, lives in the neighborhood I used to live in and
hangs out in the places my friends and I used to haunt on Saturday nights. What I discovered is that I felt a greater
emotional connection to this story because I could draw on my sense of
nostalgia.
The other reason I
chose Dubuque is because it hasn’t been done before. I can’t think of another young adult novel set
there, can you? Bordered by the
Mississippi River on one side and the Great Plains on the other, Dubuque is
unique to Iowa for its incredible bluffs and hills. It truly has a natural beauty. The landscape plays a strong role in the plot
of the novel.
What’s next for
Arcadia? Nice try! I’m not giving you any spoilers. I can tell you that Arcadia’s Gift is
the first in a planned trilogy. The
second book, Arcadia’s Curse, is planned to release in May or June
2013.
Oh, crap! I hear Charlene coming. Have to dash!
Before I go, I’ll leave you with an excerpt from my novel. Tell me what you think of it in the comments and
leave your email address for a chance to win a copy of Arcadia’s Gift!!
~Jesi Lea Ryan, Future
Bestselling Author and International Hijacker of Blogs
Excerpt:
It felt like
ripping… ripping through me, ripping from me. A deafening roar reverberated all
around as I lay flat on my back, drowning the shrieks and screams echoing on
the river valley walls. My eyes were wide open, unblinking, but all I could see
were abstract forms in shades of black, gray and red. A searing burn cut across
both of my thighs as if I’d been struck by a flaming hot iron. My flesh melted
and bubbled, absorbing the phantom burning metal and shattering my femur bones
like glass. Although I was screaming as loud as I could, the sound was distant,
like someone screaming under water.
A hub of activity
swirled around me, but I had the distinct feeling of being alone… alone in
hell. I groped around on the cool soil at my sides, sparse patches of long
grass and loose gravel, trying to remember where I was and what had happened to
me. The pain prevented any coherent thoughts.
Voices. Panic all
around me. Yet I was alone in my hell.
A flash of heat
seared through my head, pounding rhythmically. Rust coated my tongue. The heat
began to sink down my torso, leaking out of the stumps left under my hips. I
sucked in jagged breaths as I realized that the heat was my blood, pumping
through my arteries and spilling onto the cool ground.
No! I don’t want to
die! Again, the screams tore out of me. No one answered my cries.
My body grew colder.
The pain faded to numbness. They say when you know that you are dying, your life
flashes before your eyes. I knew I was dying, but curiously, it was my twin
sister Lony’s life that came to me in last minute mourning, not mine. I saw her
love for me, even if we fought more than talked these days. I saw her fierce
hope that our parents would reconcile their failed marriage and reunite, before
nothing remained to salvage. I saw her boyfriend, Cane, and the lost promise of
young love. A swell of love and pain filled my chest when I pictured Cane. It
made no sense…I didn’t even like him.
The forms in my
vision began moving more slowly, becoming even darker. I struggled to reach out
to them, but my arms were as heavy as iron weights. I opened my mouth to scream
again, but only rust flavored foam escaped my throat and rolled down the corner
of my mouth and into my hair. The skin on my face broke into a cold sweat as I
steadily bled out.
It was almost over.
I wanted my mom.
A shock of pain
ripped through my chest as my heart raced, running out of blood.
Thump-thump.
Thump-thump.
The faster my heart
pumped, the less time I had left. My back reared up, head scraping the ground.
My lungs heaved, panting. The forms in my vision swirled so dark they blended
with the night. I reached out desperately with my hands, fingers not even
finding a hand to hold. Breath rattled in my chest as it left my body for the
final time and the whole world faded to black.
Arcadia’s Gift is available for
purchase at the following retailers:
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