Hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving and didn't overindulge like some people (who shall remain nameless) seem to do every year. I had a pretty great week considering I finished the prequel to my first novel that I'm redoing as a trilogy. :-) I'm really excited about it because it's unique in that it features a middle grade novel, a young adult novel, and a new adult novel. More about it later.
This week's Snippet Sunday post from Shades of Blue takes place while Sam and JoJo are swimming at the creek with a bunch of kids from school during Spring Break. A loud-mouthed jerk named Chip Wiley snaps JoJo's bathing suit top and breaks it, so she's swimming in her T-shirt. Chip starts teasing her about putting some Band-Aids on the mosquito bites on her chest, and Sam is not amused.
Sam’s eyes turned a strange dark-green shade, and he walked over to the rope swing where Chip and his two moron friends were taking turns. Without another word, Sam hauled off and punched Chip right in the stomach. I almost swallowed a minnow when he did it.
Chip’s eyes got real big and his mouth kept moving the way it always did, but for once nothing was coming out. Danny and Freddy did what morons do best—laughed like a couple of hyenas. Sam said something to Chip I couldn’t hear, then he dove into the water. When he came up next to me a few seconds later, I was still gawking at him for punching Chip.
“Come on, JoJo. Let’s get outta here.”
Hmm... Sam and JoJo have only been best friends until now, but it looks like "the times they are a-changing" thanks to puberty. Wonder how JoJo will take it? Stay tuned to find out. Or you can just buy you own copy of Shades of Blue here.
~Stay true to yourself and your dreams will come true!
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Good for Sam! This is a nice start to their story, for sure. Excellent excerpt. The only thing I wonder is - aren't the audiences usually quite different for the three age ranges you mention splitting the book into? And in this fast moving day and age, would people who read the age appropriate middle-grade novel really return years later to read the others? I'm thinking you'll have a marketing challenge here to say the least. Will the parents be upset if their middle-grade readers want to read the next two books NOW and the story becomes inappropriate for them (only because of age)? But as always, the author does have to follow their own vision...! Just thinking out loud here...
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment, Veronica. While every parent has the right to decide for their own kids, there's nothing in any of the three books that my mother wouldn't have let me read in middle school, or that I would've minded my own kids reading. And although the characters are kids in the first book, it sets up the basis for their volatile relationships later on, so older readers will want to see them from the beginning. I'm sure some publishers would have the same concerns as you, and that's one of the many reasons I'm glad I don't have to answer to them anymore. :-)
ReplyDelete~Joyce
Loved the snippet. Great introduction to the characters. Loved JoJo's inner thoughts about Sam and the way he handled the bully. Loved this line: "I almost swallowed a minnow when he did it."
ReplyDeleteLoved this snippet. Great job.
ReplyDeleteGood on him! Let's hope it doesn't come back to bite him.
ReplyDeleteGood job Sam! I only hope the three of them don't gang up on him next time.
ReplyDeleteLove the line about the minnow! And you've captured the interactions so well.
ReplyDeleteSam is a good guy, I wished Jojo could have punched Chip too.
ReplyDeleteWhat morons do best!!! What a great line. Nice snippet.
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