Genre:
Young Adult
Book
Title: Dead Dreams, Book 1, a young adult contemporary
psychological thriller and mystery
Print
Length: 170 pages
Publisher:
Right House Books; 2013 First edition edition (August 26, 2013)
Format:
Kindle
ASIN:
B00ESVEVBQ
About
The Book:
Eighteen-year-old
Brie O’Mara has so much going for her: a loving family in the sidelines, an
heiress for a roommate, and dreams that might just come true. Big dreams--of
going to acting school, finishing college and making a name for herself. She is
about to be the envy of everyone she knew. What more could she hope for? Except
her dreams are about to lead her down the road to nightmares. Nightmares that
could turn into a deadly reality.
Add Dead Dreams to your Goodreads list
Purchase Link: Amazon
Excerpt
Chapter One
It started on a warm April afternoon. Gusts of wind blew against the oak tree right
outside my kitchen balcony, in my tiny apartment in Atherton, California.
Sometimes the branches that touched the side of the building made scraping
noises. The yellow huckleberry flowers twining their way across my apartment
balcony infused the air with sweetness.
My mother had insisted, as was
her tendency on most things, I take the pot of wild huckleberry, her
housewarming gift, to my new two-bedroom apartment. It wasn’t really new, just
new to me, as was the entire experience of living separately, away from my
family, and the prospect of having a roommate, someone who could be a best
friend, something I’d dreamed of since I finished high school and debuted into
adulthood.
“Wait for me by the curb,” my
mother said, her voice blaring from the phone even though I didn’t set her on
speaker. “You need to eat better.” Her usual punctuation at the end of her
orders.
So, I skipped down three
flights of steps and headed toward the side of the apartment building to await
my mother’s gift of the evening, salad in an á la chicken style, her insistent
recipe to cure me of bad eating habits. At least it wasn’t chicken soup
double-boiled till the bones melted, I consoled myself.
I hadn’t waited long when a
vehicle careened round the corner. I heard it first, that high-pitched screech
of brakes wearing thin when the driver rammed his foot against it. From the
corner of my eye, even before I turned to face it, I saw the blue truck. It
rounded the bend where Emerson Street met Ravenswood, tottered before it
righted itself and headed straight at me.
I took three steps back, fell
and scrambled to get back up as the vehicle like a giant bullet struck the
sidewalk I had only seconds ago stood on. The driver must have lost control,
but when he hit the sidewalk it slowed the vehicle enough so he could bridle
his speed and manage the truck as he continued to careen down the street.
My mother arrived a half minute
later but she had seen it all. Like superwoman, she leaped out of her
twenty-year-old Mercedes and rushed toward me, all breathless and blonde hair
disheveled.
“Are you all right?” She reached out to help me up.
“Yes, yes,” I said, brushing
the dirt off my yoga pants.
“Crazy driver. Brie, I just
don’t know about this business of you staying alone here like this.” She walked
back to her white Mercedes, leaned in the open window, and brought out a
casserole dish piled high with something green. Make that several shades of
green.
I followed her, admittedly
winded.“Seriously, Mom. It’s just one of those things. Mad drivers could happen
anywhere I live.”
She gave me no end of grief as
to what a bad idea it was for me to live alone like this even though she knew I
was going to get a roommate.
“Mom, stop worrying,” I said.
“You’re asking me to stop being
your mother, I hope you realize this.”
“I’ll find someone dependable
by the end of the week, I promise.” No way I was going back to live at home.
Not that I came from a bad home environment. But I had my reasons.
I had advertised on Craig’s
List, despite my mother’s protests that only scum would answer “those kinds of
ads.”
Perhaps there was some truth to
Mother’s biases, but I wouldn’t exactly call Sarah McIntyre scum. If she was,
what would that make me?
Sarah’s father had inherited
the family “coal” money. Their ancestors had emigrated from Scotland (where
else, with a name like McIntyre, right?) in the early 1800s and bought an
entire mountain (I kid you not) in West Virginia. It was a one-hit wonder in that
the mountain hid a coal fortune under it, and hence the McIntyre Coal Rights
Company was born. This was the McIntyre claim to wealth, and also a source of
remorse and guilt for Sarah, for supposedly dozens of miners working for them
had lost their lives due to the business, most to lung cancer or black lung, as
it was commonly called. Hazards of the occupation.
.
About The Author:
Emma Right is a happy wife and Christian homeschool
mother of five living in the Pacific West Coast of the USA. Besides running a
busy home, and looking after their five pets, which includes two cats, a
bunny and a Long-haired dachshund, she also writes stories for her
children. She loves the Lord and when she doesn't have her nose in a book, she
is telling her kids to get theirs in one.
Right worked as a copywriter for two major advertising agencies and won several awards, including the prestigious Clio Award for her ads, before she settled down to have children.
Right worked as a copywriter for two major advertising agencies and won several awards, including the prestigious Clio Award for her ads, before she settled down to have children.
Connect with Emma Right:
No comments :
Post a Comment