Title: Leftover Girl
Author: C.C. Bolick
Genre: YA Mystery/Sci-fi
Book Blurb:
How far will she go to learn what happened to her parents?
At fifteen, Jes has adjusted to moving without notice and never fitting in. Her adoptive parents insist she keep her past a secret from everyone they meet. Should she feel bad about the lies? It's not like Jes remembers the night they found her barefoot in the snow. Plus, they cared enough to keep her out of a foster home.
But knowing they care doesn't stop Jes from feeling alone.
After starting over in the latest town, she turns to the only person who understands her. His power should scare Jes, but she's determined to learn why he seems so familiar.
As Jes will learn, truth comes at a cost. Could he be the key to unlocking her past?
Excerpt:
The stone heaved a chilling breath through the fabric against my skin. My throat knotted around a sobbing mess no fifteen-year-old deserved, though tears were useless at this point.
Arms outstretched, I could feel my left hand, but not the other. Pink and green stars danced across the ceiling, jarring with bass chords of music like a thunderstorm. My favorite song, but all I could picture were the people who left me in New York. I closed my eyes and their faces glared in black-and-white, not as my parents, but as crinkled newspaper clippings.
Somewhere a switch flipped and row after row of fluorescents hummed to life, glowing beyond my eyelids. At the same time, the music died in a massive screech. The darkness in my heart dissolved with the voices around me. I opened my eyes to see Pade shoving through the crowd.
He dropped to his knees beside me, taking my good hand in his. “Are you okay?”
Instead of his eyes, I focused on the skeleton face that glowed from the front of his T-shirt. The sunken eyes tugged at the corners of my mouth, reminding me of, well, something like hope.
His fingers tightened around mine. “Tell me where it hurts.”
Pade’s cologne teased my nose, threatening to unearth a longing no one could know about. A fog surrounded us as I raised my eyes to his. Voices pressed closer, threatening to steal his dark eyes, but I banished all thoughts of who he really was to me. I tried to push up with my free hand but crashed down hard on my elbow.
“Hey,” he said, in a flurry, and reached for my damaged hand.
I jerked back. “It’s fine.”
A ref dropped to my other side. “Let me see. Try to move your fingers. Good.” She turned to Pade. “The wrist isn’t broken, but she needs to have it checked out. Are you…”
“Yes,” Pade said, with authority. “I’ll call her mom.”
“Get back everyone.” The ref helped me to my feet.
“Don’t call, please.” I reached for Pade, but he was already cutting our path to a set of benches.
Lights switched off above and the music returned, which brought clapping from every angle. Since the ref had my good arm, I stared down and not at the faces.
“Just relax,” she said, nudging me ahead. “Let your boyfriend handle this.”
As she smiled, my heart sank. The girl was older, not really a woman, but definitely older than the sixteen years Pade could claim. Her eyes sparkled and I realized two things: she liked Pade and she was happy for me. I wanted to tell her Pade wasn’t my boyfriend. The words were in my mouth, at the tip of my tongue, but I failed to spit them out. Explaining would be weird after the way he’d held my hand.
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub):
Why is your featured book a must-read?
Leftover Girl starts an exciting new coming-of-age series that will take one girl from high school to the stars. These books blend high school drama with sci-fi for a mainstream story. Simply written, these books are heavy on dialogue with twists you won't see coming, family secrets, and special powers.
Giveaway –
Enter to win an e-book bundle of all 66 books featured in the Backlist Bonanza:
Open Internationally.
Runs August 25 – 31, 2020.
Winner will be drawn on September 7, 2020.
Author Biography:
C.C. Bolick grew up in south Alabama, where she’s happy to still reside. She’s an engineer by day and a writer by night—too bad she could never do one without the other.
Camping, fishing… she loves the outdoors and the warm Alabama weather. For years she thought up stories to write and finally started putting them on paper back in 2006. If you hear her talking with no one to answer, don’t think she’s crazy. Since talking through her stories works best, a library is her worst place to write… even though it’s her favorite!
C.C. loves to mix sci-fi and paranormal—throw in a little romance and adventure and you’ve got her kind of story. She’s written a dozen books including the Leftover Girl series, The Agency series, and The Fear Chronicles.
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Thank you, CC, for sharing your book in our Backlist Bonanza!