Blog Tour: I Become Shadow by Joe Shine - Excerpt + GIVEAWAY

Hey Everyone!

Welcome to my stop on the I Become Shadow Blog Tour!

Find out more about this book and the author and read an except form the book!

Goodreads

Amazon

Synopsis:

Ren Sharpe was abducted at fourteen and chosen by the mysterious F.A.T.E. Center to become a Shadow: the fearless and unstoppable guardian of a future leader. Everything she held dear—her family, her home, her former life—is gone forever. 

Ren survives four years of training, torture, and misery, in large part thanks to Junie, a fellow F.A.T.E. abductee who started out as lost and confused as she did. She wouldn’t admit it was possible to find love in a prison beyond imagining, but what she feels for Junie may just be the closest thing to it. 

At eighteen they part ways when Ren receives her assignment: find and protect college science student Gareth Young, or die trying. Life following a college nerd is uneventful, until an attack on Gareth forces Ren to track down the only person she can trust. When she and Junie discover that the F.A.T.E. itself might be behind the attacks, even certain knowledge of the future may not be enough to save their kidnappers from the killing machines they created.

Excerpt:

When I was about to explode, there was a knock on the door. Son of a . . . !

I was still funkified and not ready for this pivotal moment in my ever-so-eventful love life.

“It’s open, come on in,” I said loudly but with a touch of bitterness. But no one did.

“Come in, Junie,” I said a bit louder. Another knock. Finally I stormed to the door. “Jesus, Junie, just come in.”

Before me stood a small girl dressed in an outfit similar to what a hotel staffer would wear. She held out a cardboard box. “I was asked to deliver this to you by Mr. Miller.”

I took the box from her and asked, “Where’s Junie?”

“He’s been assigned and is being shipped out. Good day, ma’am.” She turned on her heels and headed toward the elevator.

Huh? Seriously? My fingers felt clammy as I closed the door. The silence was suffocating. Reality set in. He was really gone and I’d never see him again. Ever. How could he have not come to say goodbye? He said he would. Instead I get this stupid box?

I was beyond angry. I was enraged about a kiss that never was. I had been nervous, yes, but I had wanted it. No Junie meant no kiss. I would be living that life of regret after all. Funk on with a vengeance.

I tossed the stupid box on the kitchen table and slumped down into a chair glaring at it. It wasn’t even wrapped. On top was a sticky note with his sad little chicken scratch on it: Sorry I couldn’t do this in person. They were pretty adamant about it. Adamant?! I’d show him adamant.

I tore the note off and tossed it on the floor. I ripped open the cardboard box and took out the ornately carved wooden chest from inside it. It had my initials, R.S., carved into the top. I unhinged the latch and flipped open the box.

 There were two nasty-looking trench knives inside. Vicious little things they were, with brass knuckles around the handle, a blade on top, and a small point called a skull cracker on the bottom. If you couldn’t stab your enemy, you could beat them to death. Trench knives were my favorite.

I picked one up. Even furious, I could appreciate how badass these were. It was practically weightless and perfectly balanced. My reflection shone back off of the blade. I looked how I felt: pitiful and angry. I put the knife back into the box and closed the lid.

There was some small writing under my initials on the lid of the box that I had originally passed off as decorative swooshes. It read: Remember when?

The waterworks were hinting at an encore performance when there was a knock. But it didn’t come from the door. It came from behind me. Standing on my balcony was Junie Miller. 

I barely managed a stuttered, “Wha . . .” and finished it off with an odd, “How?”

Anxiously he said through the glass, “I climbed.”

“But—” I started to say but was cut off.

“Hurry up, they think I’m packing.” He motioned for me to let him in. I ran over to the door, unlocked it, and slid it open.

He took one step inside and, without hesitating, took my head in his hands and kissed me. It was sweet, passionate, a little wet. It smelled like toothpaste. It was the most wonderful sensation I’d ever felt. It was the release of years of pent-up emotion. And it was over way too quick.

He pulled his head away, but kept my head cradled in his hands when he murmured “That’s me saying goodbye.” He wrapped his arms around me and held me for a few seconds. He let go of me, backed through the patio door, and climbed over the edge of my balcony railing where a grappling hook sat firmly latched to a post.

Upon grabbing the rope, he looked me in the eye. “I love you, Ren Sharpe,” he said.

Then he jumped off and disappeared down the side of the building.

Funk gone.

 “I love you, too,” I whispered. 

Author Bio:

Joe Shine grew up in Austin, TX (the greatest city ever), and is a graduate of Texas A&M University. He has an MFA from the Peter Stark Producing Program at the University of Southern California, and after brief stints in Los Angeles and Washington, DC, Joe returned home to Austin (repeat: the greatest city ever). Joe has a normal human job like most everyone else but hopes  to become a full-time writer one day, and this is where you, the reader, must do him a really big solid and love I Become Shadow, his first novel. 

GIVEAWAY

I was very fortunate to sent an arc of  I Become Shadow by the wonderful people at SohoTeen.

And then I received a second one the next day. 

So since I was accidentally sent a second arc I am going to give it away 

to one lucky person!

Open INT

Must be 13 or older to enter

Winner will be contacted by winner and must reply back in 48 hours

I am not responsible for lost or stolen packages

a Rafflecopter giveaway