EXCERPT and GIVEAWAY
Inner Fire
by R. L. Stedman
Inner Fire is currently on tour with YA Bound Book Tours. The tour stops here today for an excerpt and a giveaway. Please be sure to visit the other tour stops as well.
Description
"Maybe it would be better if I started at the beginning." Gran watched me carefully. "This ability we have; my mother, me. You. We draw heat along our bodies; anger makes us flame."
When her friend is assaulted, Corrine Peterson can’t help reacting. But she didn’t think and now her hands are burnt, Gran is coming to look after her and, scariest of all, strange men are watching her house. Could they be terrorists? Secret agents?
It seems that Gran’s idea of a solution is to introduce Corrine to Rowan. Okay, sure, maybe eighteen year old Rowan is gorgeous – but he has his own troubles. And right now, Corrine doesn’t need complications in her life.
But in a world of surveillance and secrecy, complexity is inevitable. And as the tension mounts Corrine realizes - maybe Gran can help her, after all.
Excerpt
‘Don’t worry, my dear. Everything will be just fine.’ Holding her around the shoulder, Mr Patel slipped off her school bag. Deepti didn’t even try to stop him; she just stood there, letting him move her around. He passed me the bag. Automatically, my hand reached out and I took it.
‘You can leave,’ he told me, staring at Deepti. ‘Deepti and I have something to discuss now, don’t we dear?’
‘Don’t touch her!’ My voice sounded weak, afraid.
He said nothing, just turned away from me, as though I didn’t exist, as though Deepti was the only thing in the world to him, like she was his own personal private present.
I held her bag to my chest, fighting for breath. This is not happening. This is not happening.
‘Stop it!’ I could feel my anger, almost taste it on my tongue.
Mr Patel looked at me, his face mildly surprised, as though he wasn’t doing anything wrong. ‘But Miss Jalali and I have an understanding.’ He smiled at me. His skin was olive-gray and his eyes had tiny red veins in them. ‘The last time I caught her lovely hands stealing my stock, I warned her. Didn’t I, Miss Jalali? I told you I would demand payment of you.’
Deepti turned her head away. ‘No! No!’ She struggled against him like a pinned fly. ‘I didn’t. I didn’t. Please let me go!’ She was crying now, really crying.
‘Let her go!’ But my voice sounded small and weak, and he ignored me.
Oh my God. What do I do? Then, quite suddenly, I wasn’t scared – I felt angry. The walls of the grotty shop seemed to pulse in time with my heart. Who the hell did this man think he was? I heard a distant roaring, the sound of fire and heat and red-hot flames.
I shouted, ‘Leave her alone!’
Featured Review
Inner Fire is a great read.
It's specially appealing because it is both plot driven (I kept reading long after I should have been asleep because I wanted to see what would happen) and it is also character driven (the narrator is so honest an d speaks to the reader as if she were confiding in her best friend). As the book continues we come to care about the narrator and want see how she will cope with all the things happening around, and to, her.
The writer skilfully allows the narrator to share with the reader her ambivalence and confusion about her emerging sexual development and feelings, partly by using contemporary language and slang.
I'd like a sequel please.
From the Author
My name is Rachel Stedman. I’m a physiotherapist (physical therapist) by background, but now I work as a freelance contractor. I live in the wild and windy place of Dunedin, New Zealand, with my husband and two kids.
I write mostly for children and young adults. In 2012 I won the Tessa Duder Award for an unpublished YA work and my first novel, A Necklace of Souls, was published by HarperCollins in 2013. This year, A Necklace of Souls was awarded Best First Book at the 2014 New Zealand Post Book Awards and won a Notable Book Award from Storylines. Inner Fire is my second novel.
Giveaway
Enter the tour-wide giveaway for a chance to win some great prizes.
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