Clean YA Suspense/ Fantasy
Date Published: 8/8/2012
Jason Tanner lives between two worlds. Problem is, only one is
real.
Inside the hologram machine 17-year-old Jason has everything his
heart desires, including a digital simulation of his dead mother. While outside
the machine, he’s forbidden contact with everyone. Living within the shadow of
a serial killer, Jason is captivated by the beautiful girl next door, Boston
Manning. Disobeying his father, he secretly cultivates a relationship with her.
For Boston life is divided into those that have and those that
have not. Displaced in a new high school, she is determined to have the life
she’s always wanted. But will her choices hijack her dreams and plunge her into
the treacherous clutches of a serial killer?
As an action-packed romantic thriller, DiSemblance is sure to
keep you guessing until the very end.
“A Marvelous, fast-paced
thriller, sure to appeal to teen science-fiction aficionados and the
uninitiated alike.” ~ Jill Allen, Clarion Review
EXCERPT
Jason (This section is first person through
Jason’s point of view.)
Friday, October 31st, night
Boston steps through the hole she created in
the alder brush onto a patch of grass between a straw-bale wall and the woods.
“Who’s there?” a girl calls from a blanket a
short distance off to our right.
I shut off the flashlight and step through
beside her, waiting for her instructions.
“Don’t worry, honey.” The male voice is
coming from the same direction. “Whoever it is can join us. We’re just getting
started.”
Boston drops the machete and bolts back into
the woods heading down the trail. I switch on the flashlight and shine it at
the voices. The creep that attacked Boston last night and a pretty blonde girl
are sitting together on a blanket spread out beside the straw-bale wall. The
girl is frantically buttoning her shirt. Hard-edge squints against the light.
He’s getting around well, with a cast on his leg.
I pick up Boston’s machete and her backpack
and trail her to the car, where she’s trembling in the driver’s seat. Confused
by the sudden change of plan, I throw her stuff in the backseat, climb into the
passenger side and wait for her to explain herself.
She stares out the front window for the
longest time. Then she tosses her mask in the backseat and starts the engine.
“What are you doing?”
Her face is pale as a ghost when she looks at
me. “That’s Candice with Ricky.”
I know that her statement is supposed to mean
something to me, but it doesn’t. “Who’s Candice?”
“She’s the girl I was going to warn about
Ricky.”
“You can still—”
“What?” Her tone is acid. “Tell my friend
that the guy she’s making out with tried to rape me last night?”
“Yeah.” I don’t understand what she’s afraid
of. If I were Candice, I’d want to know that I was hanging out with a rapist.
“Wouldn’t you want to know?”
“But what if Candice doesn’t believe me? What
if Ricky says those horrible things about my mother and calls me a slut,
again?”
I’m not aware of any horrible things about
her mother. “You’re not a slut.”
“Thanks.” She lowers her chin. “If that’s
true, then why’d your brother take pictures of me?”
“Because he’s messed up and doesn’t
understand people need to be respected.”
Her voice cracks when she speaks. “Why’d your
dad let him?”
“Because he doesn’t know how to fix Isaac so
he only focuses on his invention, hoping that we’ll be all right on our own.”
She looks at me. “Why didn’t you stop him?”
She’s accusing me of being the bad guy? I
feel my pulse throb in my neck as I try to keep the anger out of my voice. “I
saw the pictures of our neighbors that you threw away in your room. You didn’t
take those pictures because you thought they were sluts, did you?”
Her body goes rigid. “Of course not.”
“My brother likes you.” I touch her hand and
her muscles relax. “I should have stopped him, but I didn’t know how. I didn’t
want to upset him. Just like you don’t want to upset Candice.”
She draws her hand away from me. “So you’re
saying I should go back!”
“Only if you really believe I should have
stopped Isaac.”
She glares at me and turns the radio up so
loud that the music destroys any chance of further conversation. After several
minutes, she grabs the machete from the back seat and shuts off the radio. “I’m
not scared!”
“I know.” But I don’t know. My heart is
racing like I’m riding a fifty-foot wave.
Switching the headlights on, she presses on
the gas pedal and speeds down Daemon’s driveway. Nearing the back of the maze,
she turns onto the grassy section and plows through the edge of the woods moving
towards Ricky and Candice. Branches crack and break against the windshield and
scrape the side of the car until she stops in front of her targets. Bursting
from the vehicle with the machete in one hand and the mini recorder in the
other . . .
AUTHOR BIO
I am a professional
writer with a bachelor's degree in creative writing and a minor in grammar. I
have also attended several years of classes and workshops in screenplay writing
at the Los Angeles Screenplay writer's Expo.
I love suspenseful,
action-adventures and clean, young adult, romance stories. I was born and
raised in a small town in Idaho. I am the second out of six children. When I
was in my early 20's my mother was killed by a drunk driver. This one incident
drastically changed my life. I have always had a passion for reading and
writing fiction. Owing to a life long struggle with Dyslexia, early teachers
discouraged me from pursuing a career in writing.
As I have spent over
twenty-five years transforming my language disabilities into professional writing
skills, God has honed my insatiable passion into an incredible vision.
Contact Information
Website: http://shanaebranham.com/books/
Purchase Links
Barnes and Noble:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/disemblance-shanae-branham/1112526679?ean=9781477527764
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