Title: Outcast
Author: Denise Jaden
Genre: YA Contemporary (with romantic suspense elements)
Publication Date: April 20th, 2018
Hosted by: Lady Amber’s Reivews & PR
She’s not crazy.
Kass Bateman may be a lot of things, but she swears she's not crazy—even when she wakes up strapped to a wheelchair in a psychiatric hospital and can't remember how she got there.
When Kass's family members go missing one by one, she enlists the smartest guy she knows to help find them. Unfortunately for her, underneath his brains and indifference are some dark secrets and a whole lot of distracting sexy.
Can Kass keep her head together long enough to rescue her family members from their captors—the truly dangerous and crazy ones?
Gritty, steamy, and rife with secrecy, Outcast is the first book in a new upper YA/NA crossover series for fans of Gayle Forman and Rainbow Rowell.
Denise Jaden’s novels have been shortlisted or received awards through the Romance Writers of America, Inspy, and SCBWI. The first draft of her debut novel, Losing Faith, was written in 21 days during NaNoWriMo 2007 and she loves talking with writers and students alike about her Just-Get-To-The-End fast-drafting process.
Author Links:
Amazon: http://amzn.to/2Ge6uID
Twitter: https://twitter.com/denisejaden
Website: https://www.denisejaden.com/
Amazon: http://amzn.to/2Gikqlf
Denise Jaden has some pre-order / launch bonuses she is giving away. People can get all of these bonuses by emailing her proof of purchase to d@denisejaden.com .
They are as follows:
Bonus PDF Coloring Book!
A PDF adult coloring book that accompanies the novel.
Coloring Contest!
I’ll also be holding a coloring contest for a $25 Amazon gift card. Simply snap a photo of one of your finished coloring pages and email it to me to enter. Enter with as many of the coloring pages as you like, and I will choose a winner shortly after launch on April 20th. I will be posting entries on my social media.
Bonus Excerpt!
Read the opening seven chapters of Outcast before anyone else!
Bonus Character Interviews!
Get to know the main characters from Outcast before the book comes out with these fun character interviews.
By the principal’s reddened face, I assume he’s working himself into a tizzy, reminding himself of every single time I’ve sat in his office and shrugged off his questions. I drop into my desk chair, stare down at my sparse scrawl of notes, and will my eyes to come into focus. Sidelong glances come at me from classmates, but I don’t have the energy to stare them down today. Burke is still ranting and his words start to make their way to my brain again. Rules. Disrespect. Fail. Fail. Fail.
I won’t look up. My brain is jumbled, because something about Hope seemed true and honest and so much like Megan.
I have a sister. The sudden unbidden thought kicks me in the gut. I glance out the window and she’s still there, staring in my direction like she knows exactly which classroom, even which desk I’m in.
When I hear the word Expulsion, I look up.
Burke marches over so he’s right beside my desk, right in my face. He angles his head from side to side like he’s silently cracking his neck. “That’s right, Kass. You want to disrespect me, I’d be happy to arrange for you to leave this school.” There’s an unspoken “finally” at the end of his sentence.
I open my mouth to a dry puff of air. No, I don’t want to get kicked out. At least I don’t think I want that. But I seriously cannot concentrate. “I—I need to go home,” I say in a voice so soft, so confused, so completely unlike me, I’m tempted to look around and see if someone else said it.
“You what?” Burke booms. His eyebrows pull together, but before he can say anything else, the kid one seat back jumps out of his chair and stands between me and the principal.
Other than borrowing a pencil from him at the beginning of class, I’ve never spoken to the guy. Elijah Barton, I think is his name. He’s this quiet academic guy, as terrified of me as the rest of the student body. But apparently he’s not afraid of Mr. Burke.
“Sir, I’m sure Kass doesn’t mean any disrespect.”
Burke’s eyes practically spring out of their sockets toward Elijah, but he seems unfazed. Any other time Elijah’s line would sound downright ludicrous. Of course I mean to disrespect. I always mean to disrespect. But right now I don’t know what the hell I mean, and I’m ecstatic for someone, anyone, who’s willing to form a sentence on my behalf.
I can’t for the life of me figure out why Elijah’s doing it.
“I know how hard…family stuff can be,” Elijah goes on, undaunted by our military-teacher-slash-principal’s glare. “Sometimes there are things that are more urgent than class.”
I glance back to the parking lot. Hope is still there. My sister.
Mr. Burke studies Elijah for a second and something unsaid passes between them. Obviously Elijah has told Mr. Burke his story, whatever it is. Elijah keeps his eyes on the principal’s and doesn’t flinch. I finally find it within me to bend toward my backpack and at least pull out my essay. I slide it across my desk and Mr. Burke snaps it up without even looking in my direction.
He turns on his heel and heads back to his desk. I can’t believe it. He’s going to let it go?
“Everyone stays until the bell,” Mr. Burke murmurs, then shoots a pointed look back at me. “Everyone.”
