YAY--I am SO excited for what I get to share with you guys today. INSOMNIA, by JR Johansson is one of the books I'm SUPER desperate to read, and since it doesn't come out until June 8th (*impatient sigh*), I'm SO happy to get to share an exclusive excerpt.
But before we get to that, here's a little bit about the book. First: THE AWESOMELY CREEPTASTIC COVER:
And the description from the publisher:
Her eyes saved his life. Her dreams released his darkness.
After
four years of sleeplessness, high school junior Parker Chipp can’t take much
more. Every night, instead of sleeping, he enters the dreams of the last person
he’s made eye contact with. If he doesn’t sleep soon, Parker will die.
Then
he meets Mia. Her dreams, calm and beautifully uncomplicated, allow him
blissful rest that’s utterly addictive. But what starts out as a chance meeting
turns into an obsession; Parker’s furious desire for what he needs pushes him
to extremes he never thought he’d go. And when someone begins terrorizing Mia
with twisted death threats, Parker’s memory blackouts leave him doubting his
own innocence.
And these awesome blurbs:
“The perfect blend of
everything I love in a story. I hope a sequel comes soon!” –James Dashner, New York Times bestselling author of THE MAZE RUNNER
“Completely unputdownable. I’ve
decided to nickname Johansson: Scary McScarypants, because she spooked me in
all the best ways.” –Carrie Harris, author of BAD TASTE IN BOYS
“Cleverly written and
dangerously dark, Insomnia will take
you to the brink of insanity. A must-read for thriller and romance fans
alike.”—Elana Johnson, author of POSSESSION
“A riveting story of terror and
despair that will keep you up long past your bedtime.”—Jennifer Bosworth,
author of STRUCK
AHHHH--HOW COOL DOES THAT SOUND?????
*glares at calendar, wishing it were June 8th*
Thank goodness I have the exclusive excerpt to tide us all over--along with a quick intro from the author. You guys ready for it???
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This
excerpt is one of the lighter scenes from a few chapters in. Parker is with his
best friend, Finn, Mia, and Finn’s sister, Addie. They’re setting up for a
soccer team meeting on the stage in the high school auditorium. It should give
you a nice taste for the characters and the way they interact with each other.
Enjoy!
Finn took off his coat and threw it at to the back
wall. His shirt said, Come to the Dark
Side. We have cookies. I smiled as he grabbed a stack of chairs and started
setting them out in a row behind mine.
“You see who just walked in?”
I turned to the stairs Finn indicated. Thor, a monster
fullback from the soccer team, was standing on the top step, nodding while Jeff
spoke. I’d intentionally avoided Thor’s dreams. From the way he behaved, I was
pretty sure they involved cutting people into bite-sized pieces.
“Perfect.” I watched Thor’s massive shoulders as he
followed Jeff across the front of the stage. “Tell me why he picked soccer
again?”
Finn frowned. “I’m amazed they let him on the team,
after his stunt last year.”
“No kidding.” I shook my head and grabbed another
stack of chairs. “Apparently when you’re huge and fast, it doesn’t matter if
you break your teammate’s leg your first time on the field.”
“Good thing Jeff volunteered to teach him the rules.”
Finn pulled another chair off his stack and set it down a little harder than he
intended. “He really wasn’t getting the whole non-contact-sport part.”
Thor’s baseline emotional state seemed to be pure fury.
It had really bothered me at first, especially since at his monstrous 6’5”, he
was six inches taller than me and built like a brick wall. But I’d gotten used
to it. From his attitude and the dark pit stains on his shirt, I guessed God
had given him a serious overdose in the testosterone department.
Addie walked up with Mia as Finn slammed another chair
down. “Easy there. The chairs don’t work as well when you break them in half.”
Finn jerked his head toward Thor’s back. “We’re taking
bets on whose leg he’ll break this year. You in?”
Addie laughed, but then crossed her arms over her chest.
“You wouldn’t think it was so funny if it turned out to be you.” She shook her
head and lowered her voice. “Liv Campbell was crying in the girl’s bathroom the
other day—I swear I heard her say his name.”
“What do you mean?” Finn turned to face her. “Why
would she be upset about Thor?”
“Maybe he scared her?” Addie shrugged. “I didn’t hear
much, but she was really upset.”
“See what I mean? Girls make no sense.” Finn shook his
head. “Liv is hot, but if she’s interested in Thor, she deserves a special kind
of padded room.”
I saw Mia flinch, but then she laughed it off. “And
you’re an expert?”
“Yes.” Finn looked at her for a second and then tilted
his head to one side. “Aren’t you?”
Mia smiled. “Do either of you even talk to him, or do
you just hate him because he’s bigger than you?”
I leaned over to grab another stack of chairs.
“Because he’s bigger than us. Besides, talking to him would require him to
learn English.”
Finn stood with his legs spread wide and an
exaggerated look of anger plastered on his face. “Thor no need English. Thor
God of Thunder!” He beat his chest with his fists.
As if on cue, thunder rumbled outside. The walls shook
and both girls laughed.
I raised my eyebrows and pulled the last chair off the
stack. “Nice.”
“Thank you very much.” He bowed with a grin. “I’ll be
here all week.”
Mia took a seat and I sat down beside her. Addie stood
in front of us with a surprised expression, then sat down on the other side of
Mia.
“So, where did you live before this?” I asked.
Mia looked at the floor for a few seconds, her face
hard to read. “Somewhere else.”
I laughed. “At least you didn’t lie this time.”
Finn leaned down and whispered, “She’s a foster kid,
dude. Maybe she doesn’t want to talk about where she came from.”
I winced and nodded—total idiot.
Lowering my voice, I tried to sound casual. “Will you
tell me why you told me your name was Megan, then?”
She pursed her lips, then they curved up. “I don’t
know. Stranger danger?”
“Fair enough.” I leaned in. “But you’re sticking with
Mia? Because any more names might confuse me.”
She shrugged. “For now.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AHHHHHHH--NOW I WANT TO READ IT EVEN MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And here's a little more info on the book and the author:
J.R. JOHANSSON is a young adult thriller author
published with Flux & FSG/Macmillan. Her debut, INSOMNIA is coming June
2013. She has a B.S. degree in public relations and a background in marketing.
She credits her abnormal psychology minor with inspiring many of her
characters. When she's not writing, she loves reading, playing board games, and
sitting in her hot tub. Her dream is that someday she can do all three at the
same time. She has two young sons and a wonderful husband. In fact, other than
her cat, Cleo, she's nearly drowning in testosterone.
Find her online:
Find INSOMNIA on
Phew--you guys still with me??? I sure hope so because you wouldn't want to miss out on this AMAZING giveaway Jenn is offering--and she made it nice and easy for you guys to enter with this handy rafflecopter:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Okay, that's all for today. But for more awesome book recommendations, check out what my fellow Bookanistas are talking about:
