A REBORN Excerpt

A while back, someone asked me on Twitter to post an excerpt of REBORN. Of course, I said yes. Because I love sharing teasers! I had planned on posting this back when that dear, sweet reader asked for an excerpt, but I've been having website issues and just now fixed it. Or it seems to be fixed. If you have any issues posting comments or navigating on here, please tweet me or email!

So to celebrate getting the site back up and running, and to do what I promised I'd do, I'm posting an excerpt of REBORN from Nick's point-of-view. This takes place early in the book, and you'll see Nick has gotten himself in a bit of trouble. I really did love writing Nick. He was sometimes unpredictable. Sometimes so kind and caring it hurt. I seriously can't wait for you all to read REBORN.

All right, here we go!

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Anna gave me a shove. "Sit down so I can take a look at your injuries." All trace of the earlier panic was gone, leaving only her exasperation, and a driving need to take care of something that was broken. Unfortunately, that something was me.

"You don't have to—"

"I know I don't have to." Her jaw tensed. "Sit down."

I closed the toilet seat and sat, feeling the ache of the fight settling into my joints. I needed pain killers. Maybe something stronger than OTC.

"Where's Sam?" I asked.

"In town, filling the gas cans."

"Cas?"

She bent down to fish out the first aid kit from beneath the sink. "He went running about a half hour ago." She unzipped the kit on the vanity top and started tearing into gauze packs. I caught her hand mid tear and she glared over at me.

"Stop," I said. "Don't waste the supplies. A rag will do."

She frowned, but didn't argue, and switched over to a rag she dug out of the closet. She wetted it down and came over to me, hunching so we were face to face.

Her blond hair was braided, and it hung over her shoulder, tied off with a black rubber band. Dark shadows painted the skin beneath her eyes. She hadn't been sleeping well lately. Flashbacks and old demons haunting her out of bed. I could relate. None of us really slept well, except for Cas. Cas could sleep through an air raid.

Anna cleaned the blood from my face, and the open wound on the side of my eye, working with the methodic confidence of a professional, even though she wasn't.

"Why do you keep doing this?" she mumbled.

I scowled. "Why do you keep asking?"

Another frown. It was her default expression with me.

"What's going on, Nick? Is it more flashbacks?"

Yes.

I looked past her at the towel hanging from the towel rack. It used to be brown. Now it was a faded mud color.

I saw a flash of a girl and I slammed my eyes shut.

I kept seeing her. The same girl. And every time I did, she was shaking. No, not shaking. Trembling.

REBORN: More on Nick's Book

I’ve received a lot of questions about Reborn (Altered #3), especially now that people have read Erased, so I thought I’d do another update post for those of you who might be new to the series (or the blog).

Altered and Erased were Anna’s books, and her story ended with Erased. But, while her story has an end, the Branch’s story doesn’t. The same could be said for the boys. There are still a lot of holes in the boys’ pasts. Who were they before the Branch? How did they come to work together? This was something I wanted to explore in Reborn, and I really really wanted to explore it with Nick.

Reborn is Nick’s book, for sure, but it will be told in a dual POV. Half from Nick’s POV, and half from a new girl character’s POV. If you read my old post about A3, then you might have heard me call her Callie, but once I started writing the book, I realized she wasn’t a Callie at all. So I changed her name! It’s now Elizabeth, and it fits so much better.

Nick has been having flashbacks about his life before and after joining the Branch, and there’s one girl he can’t get out of his head. He breaks from the group to do a bit more digging, and that’s when the action begins. Who is this girl? And is she connected to the Branch?

Reborn is very close to being finished (YAY!), so I can confidently say that it turned out to be a lot different than Altered and Erased. For one, it’s a dual POV, and one of those POVs is a genetically altered (male) badass. I’ve never really tackled writing a male POV (other than Trout in Bot Wars – but he’s a preteen, so it’s different!). Nick doesn’t see the world the same way Anna does. That was an adjustment, but a great writing experience. He’s also a lot angrier, a lot more broken, and a bit unpredictable. I loved writing him.

Elizabeth is also broken, for many reasons, and I certainly don’t want to give anything away. But, I can say, she’s a perfect match for Nick, in that they’re both confused about the past, present, and especially their future. They both have a lot of healing to do before either of them can let another person into their lives.

When I set out to write this book, and when I tried to picture who would make a great companion for Nick, I originally pictured a girl who was as equally badass as Nick, someone to whip him into shape, someone who wouldn’t take his crap. But then I realized, Nick would never let someone like that into his life. He would immediately go on the defensive. He grew up in a home where he was constantly pushed around, whipped into shape, and those kinds of strong personalities turn Nick off.

What someone like Nick needs is a person who is not afraid of a damaged past, who knows what pain is, and who would accept him, flaws and all.

I love writing characters who kickass, especially female characters that kickass! But strength can come in many forms, and I thought perhaps it was time to write a female character that, on the outside, is the opposite of kickass, but on the inside, is as strong as steel.

Reborn is a long ways away (eleven months!) but I can’t wait for people to read it. It IS different from Altered and Erased, but I think it’s a good different. And of course, there IS lots of ass kicking!

If you have any other questions about Reborn, drop them in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer! 

Salt & Erased Release Day Fun

It’s Friday! And you know what that means? ERASED is only 3 days away from being released! Not only that, but my good friend, Danielle Ellison, has a book coming out the same day. SALT is a YA about witches and hot boys, and I highly recommend you read it.

Danielle and I are hosting a Twitter party January 7^th 9-10 PM EST to celebrate our release day. We’ll be giving away books and swag, answering questions, and most certainly chatting about hot guys. We hope you all can make it! But, in the event you’re busy (kids, homework, deadlines, your own hot guy), we wanted to give everyone a chance to win a prize pack simply by entering through the Rafflecopter form below. It’s that easy!

Here’s what you’ll win:

I'm throwing in some Altered bookmarks and Altered boy pins as well, and Danielle is throwing in a necklace with a salt charm. So, you'll definitely be winning some great prizes! 

Enter on the Rafflecopter form below, and if you can make it, we'd love to see you at the Twitter party on January 7th 9PM! Follow along on the #HotBoysWin hashtag.

a Rafflecopter giveaway