Strange
Girl
Christopher
Pike
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Release Date: November 17, 2015
Genre: Paranormal Mystery
ISBN-10: 1481450581
ISBN-13: 978-1481450584
Paperback: 432 pages
From #1 New York Times bestselling author
Christopher Pike comes a brand-new fascinating and seductive new novel about a
girl with a mysterious ability—but one that carries an unimaginable cost.
From the moment Fred meets Aja, he knows
she’s different. She’s pretty, soft-spoken, shy—yet seems to radiate an unusual
peace. Fred quickly finds himself falling in love with her.
Then strange things begin to happen
around Aja. A riot breaks out that Aja is able to stop by merely speaking a few
words. A friend of Fred’s suffers a serious head injury and has a miraculous
recovery.
Yet Aja swears she has done nothing.
Unfortunately, Fred is not the only one
who notices Aja’s unique gifts. As more and more people begin to question who
Aja is and what she can do, she’s soon in grave danger. Because none of them
truly understands the source of Aja’s precious abilities—or their devastating
cost.
Love Aja or hate her—you will never
forget her.
In Strange
Girl, #1 bestselling author Christopher Pike has created the rarest of novels—a
love story that swings between a heart-pounding mystery and a stirring mystical
journey.
REVIEW
Fred is a young man who seems lost, trying to find out whom he is and where he's going but what he does know is Aja has his undivided attention. He doesn't know what drew him to her but he knows he wants to protect her. He's just not sure what it is exactly he's supposed to protect her from. His doubts on miracles and religions are seriously put to the test.
I'm not going to give you spoilers. I'm certainly not going to tell you if it's a "happily ever after" or not. What I will tell you is that this book is definitely worth your time! Is it my favorite book out of all his novels? No it's not but, if you're in a reading slump, tired of the same ole same ole story line or just want something new than pick up your copy of Strange Girl! If you don't read it then you're stranger than Aja! :P
STRANGE GIRL EXCERPT
It was four in the morning when I heard the soft knock on
our motel door. I appeared to be the only one who heard it.
Nearby, Janet and Shelly slept soundly on one bed, while on
the other Dale lay like a dead man as Mike snored loudly. At the knock, I sat
up on my foldout bed. I didn’t mind rollaways. If I was tired enough, I could
sleep on the floor. Pulling on my pants over the gym shorts I’d been sleeping
in, I slipped from beneath the sheets and answered the door.
“Hi,” Aja said and smiled. She had
on the same dress she’d worn to the Roadhouse. Her hair was wet, though, as if
she’d just showered, and her feet were bare. I saw no car. I assumed she’d
walked over from her own nearby motel or hotel.
“This is a surprise,” I said. It
was so good to see her I feared I might still be asleep, dreaming the whole
thing up. “What are you doing here?”
“Want to go for a walk?”
“Right now?”
“Yes.”
I glanced at my friends; they were
still out. “Give me a second, let me find my shoes and a shirt,” I said.
Minutes later we were strolling
along the cracked edge of an asphalt road beside a twenty-foot fence, topped
with barbed wire, that surrounded the base. The town was silent as Elder
usually was at this time of morning. There wasn’t a soul in sight.
The air was heavy with moisture and the ground was damp;
clouds had chased away the stars. It made me wonder if it had been raining and
if that was the real reason Aja’s hair was wet. Had she been wandering around
in the dark since we’d last seen her? I asked and she nodded.
“Are you nuts?” I said. “You should
have hooked up with us hours ago.”
She shrugged. “You were playing and
the place was noisy. Besides, I like to take walks late at night.” She glanced
over. “You look surprised.”
“I’m surprised you’re here. What
made you come?”
“You invited me to hear you play.
You remember?”
“Sure. How did you get here? Did
Bart bring you?”
“I took a bus.”
“Why didn’t you come with us?”
“I wanted to surprise you.”
“Let me get this straight. You rode
here all alone, across half the state, with only the clothes on your back. And
since we last saw you at the Roadhouse, you’ve been wandering around in the
dark—barefoot—in a strange town all by yourself.”
“No.”
“What part are you saying no to?”
“My shoes.”
“What about your shoes?”
“I brought shoes. But I got tired
of wearing them.” She added, “They’re sitting on the hood of your RV.”
“Well, that’s a relief. You’ve got
your shoes to protect you. Honestly, Aja, you can’t behave like this, not in
this country. You’re too pretty a girl. Anything could happen to you.”
“Anything can happen,” she appeared
to agree, before adding, “Don’t worry about me.”
I shook my head. “I do worry about
you.”
“Why?”
“Because . . . maybe where you come
from it’s safe to wan¬der around at night. But this can be a violent town. You
saw those guys at the club. They were ready to kill Mike and Dale.” When Aja
didn’t respond I looked over at her. “But they didn’t because you showed up.
How did you get them to stop?”
“I didn’t do anything. They were
afraid, that’s all. They didn’t want to hurt anybody. And when they understood
that, everything was okay.”
I shook my head. “If Shelly had
stood on that table instead of you and begged that drunken herd to calm down,
they would have beaten the shit out of her. What you did was amazing.”
“Fred.”
“What?”
“I can’t be in danger one minute
and amazing the next. You have to make up your mind.”
She had a point, sort of. I was
contradicting myself. Not that she still wasn’t acting naive. “What I mean is .
. . ,” I began.
She interrupted by reaching over
and taking my hand. “I liked when you sang by yourself at the beginning,” she
said.
Her hand felt good in mine. “You
were there at the start? I didn’t see you.”
“Yes. At first you were nervous,
then you relaxed.” She added as if to herself, “You enjoy singing in front of
people.”
For such a naive girl, I thought,
she was perceptive.
“I do,” I said. When she didn’t
reply, I asked, “How have you been this last week?”
“Good.”
“It must have made you mad getting
expelled on your second day of school.”
“It doesn’t matter. I’ll be there
Monday.”
I shook my head. “I can’t
understand why Billard hates you.”
“She doesn’t hate me.”
“What do you mean?”
“She’s afraid of me.”
“Huh?”
“We met over the summer.”
“Where?”
“At the town cemetery. I often walk
there.”
“What happened at the cemetery?”
Aja hesitated. “Better you ask
her.”
“Why?”
“She’ll explain.”
I pushed Aja to elaborate but she
just shook her head and kept walking. I finally decided to shut my mouth and
enjoy the touch of her hand, which was remarkably soothing. I don’t know how
far we’d walked when I noticed that I was feeling awfully energized for a guy who
hadn’t really slept in two days. More, I felt light, light as a balloon, as if
I wasn’t walking but floating alongside the fence. And the clouds in the sky,
they felt somehow closer, like I could touch them.
Aja suddenly stopped and faced me,
her big, brown eyes bright in the dark night. She reached up and stroked my
cheek, my hair, and even though I did my best to stay cool I trembled. She
inched up on her toes and kissed me on the lips, just for a second or two.
“Let’s go back to your RV,” she
said.
“You mean the motel? You can sleep
on my foldout. I can sleep on the floor.”
Aja shook her head and tightened
her grip on my hand. She began to lead me back the way we’d come. “I want to
sleep with you in the RV.”
I don’t recall much about the walk back. But I do remember
lying beside her on the cushions in the rear of the RV, our two bodies barely
fitting between the crush of our equipment. We didn’t have sex—we didn’t even
make out, nor did she kiss me again.
But she held me and let me hold her
and for the first time in my life I felt as if all my hidden fears had been
deftly exposed and quietly put to bed, once and for all. I had fought with her
that it wasn’t safe to wander alone in the dark, but when I slept with her
cheek resting on mine, and felt the brush of her eyelashes as they fluttered
during her dreams, I was the one who felt protected.
About the
Author:
Christopher Pike is a bestselling author
of young adult novels. The Thirst series, The Secret of Ka, and the Remember Me
and Alosha trilogies are some of his favorite titles. He is also the author of
several adult novels, including Sati and The Season of Passage.
Thirst and Alosha are slated to be
released as feature films. Pike currently lives in Santa Barbara, where it is
rumored he never leaves his house.
But he can be found online at www.Facebook.com/ChristopherPikeBooks
Series of writing advice on Wattpad:
Tour giveaway
25 paperback copies of STRANGE GIRL
5 paperback sets of RED QUEEN and BLACK
KNIGHT
5 paperback sets of all 5 copies of
THIRST series (1-5) in PB.
5 paperback copies CHAIN LETTER
5 paperback copies UNTIL THE END
5 paperback copies BOUND TO YOU
5 paperback copies REMEMBER ME
Embed code
No comments:
Post a Comment