Evernight Teen Summer Kick-off Blog Hop

Welcome to Evernight Teen's Summer Kick-off Blog Hop!   It's a great opportunity to get to know Evernight Teen: Gritty Fiction for Today's Young Adult. Our stories include fresh teen fiction that's raw, gritty and real.

My spotlight is on Diana Stager’s X5 (coming soon):

Being a socially awkward geek with anger management issues has made Travis Armstrong an outcast, but on top of that, he has visions of the future. Not that he can tell anyone that, except in an anonymous online forum. When he takes a chance and meets with another group member, he winds up at The Bunker, where everyone has these abilities, and where, finally, he feels like he belongs. Tara Gage has been at The Bunker since she was thirteen years old. Even among the residents there, she's unique, and her special talents lead her to discover that The Bunker is not the safe haven it seems to be. She's desperate to escape and get back to her family. When they each have visions of the other's death, Travis and Tara know they have to run. With their captors desperate to get them back, they must rely on each other to get away before their visions become reality.

Exclusive excerpt (unedited):

Tara

It was cold. Freezing, even. As I drifted in between sleep and wakefulness, I shivered, not having anticipated just how frigid the nights would be. There had been a lot about this escapade that I hadn’t been prepared for. Wrapping my arms around myself, I drew my knees up closer to my chest, but sleep faded away, leaving me fully aware, and unable to get warm.

“Tara,” Travis whispered from behind me. “Are you awake?”

“Yes. I can’t get warm.”

“Me neither. Turn around and face me.”

Not sure what he had in mind, I rolled over to see him lying on his side, the dim moonlight barely illuminating his face. The rasp of a zipper being pulled down sounded loudly in the stillness. “What are you doing?” I asked.

“Take your jacket off,” he said.

Clearly, the cold had gone to his brain, or else he was talking in his sleep. “I can’t keep warm if I give you my jacket, dumb-ass.”

He sighed. “I’m going to zip it together with mine and it will be sort of like a sleeping bag, with both of us in it.”

Zip the jackets together? “What the hell?”

“Just give me your jacket for a moment.”

Not looking forward to the cold air, I opened my coat and passed it to him. I could hear him fumbling with it, swearing every few seconds as he attempted to do something with the coats. A few moments later, he said, “Now come sit over here and put your arms around my waist.”

Oh, I didn’t like where this was going. “Why do you want me to do that?” I snapped.

“So we can both be in the jackets.” Another sigh. “Just get over here.”

I shimmied over to him, and the closer I got, the more I could feel the warmth radiating from his body. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad. Slipping my arms around him, I placed my head against his chest, just below his chin. He wrapped one of his arms around my shoulders, pulling my jacket with it, and then fumbled as he tried to zip them up in front of us, succeeding after several failed attempts and a couple of curse words. Then he pulled me closer and put his other arm around me.

“There,” he whispered in my ear, his breath sending heat right to my core. “Our body heat in the shell of both jackets should keep us warmer.”

I didn’t say anything, just relaxed against him, enjoying his warmth. He gently stroked my upper arm, and his mouth was still close to my ear, sending warm air sliding over my skin. Soon I was trembling again, only this time it wasn’t from the cold.

“Are you alright?” he asked.

“Yes. I was just thinking that maybe you had an ulterior motive for getting me close to you.”

His chuckle was low, but appealing, and as my body reacted, I squirmed a little. “Getting warm was my main goal,” he said. “But there are fringe benefits.”

That made me smile. “What kind of benefits?”

This time he was the one squirming, and to my surprise, I liked being the cause of that. He shifted his head closer to mine, burying his face in my hair and breathing in deeply. “God, you smell good,” he murmured.

I was having trouble breathing and my head was in a fog where the only thing I could sense was him. He smelled good, too, and felt warm and solid under my hands. The desire to taste him seized me, and I tilted my head up to find his neck in front of me. Before I could lose my nerve, I pressed my lips to his skin, feeling his pulse leap.

X5 is coming soon to Evernight Teen!

What’s up for grabs?

*One lucky hopper will win a KINDLE PAPERWHITE eREADER sponsored by Evernight Teen.

*Every book blogger/reviewer site is giving away one free eBook from Evernight Teen (winner's choice of any eBook from Evernight Teen's website).

*Plus, each author offers their own unique prize! So visit each blog hop stop for a host of fabulous prizes to win.

How to enter? Answer this:

Why did Travis zip their jackets together?

Be sure to fill out the entry form with your name, your email address, and your answer to the question above to be eligible to win a prize.

This contest is now officially closed. 

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