Pages

▼

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Guest Post: Elizabeth Scott - HEARTBEAT



Elizabeth Scott is one of many of my favorite young adult authors. I've read over half of her books and the over half are in my TBR pile. Heartbeat, her newest book published by Harlequin Teen, came out yesterday. Today I'm hosting Elizabeth as a part of the Heartbeat Blog Tour hosted by Kismet Book Touring. I've asked Elizabeth to share her favorite bookstore memory.

Welcome Elizabeth!!! 

I grew up in a very rural area. We had one tiny library and one--even smaller--bookstore. (Picture a large closet, and there you have it.)

I spent my first paycheck at that bookstore.

When I went to college, I took the bus everywhere (because it was free) and still remember seeing my first non-campus bookstore. It was in a shopping center and now I realize the bookstore wasn't that large, but at the time, it seemed mythical. I walked in and thought, "I'm home."

I still feel that way every time I walk into a bookstore, actually. I just--books are my comfy blanket.




Purchase


Emma would give anything to talk to her mother one last time. Tell her about her slipping grades, her anger with her stepfather, and the boy with the bad reputation who might be the only one Emma can be herself with.
But Emma can’t tell her mother anything. Because her mother is brain-dead and being kept alive by machines for the baby growing inside her.
Meeting bad-boy Caleb Harrison wouldn’t have interested Old Emma. But New Emma—the one who exists in a fog of grief, who no longer cares about school, whose only social outlet is her best friend Olivia—New Emma is startled by the connection she and Caleb forge. Feeling her own heart beat again wakes Emma from the grief that has grayed her existence. Is there hope for life after death—and maybe, for love?
Excerpt from Heartbeat
I sit down with my mother. My smile is shaky as I tell her about my day.

“I think I did okay on my History test,” I say. “Oh, and Olivia wore her new pair of false eyelashes, the ones I told you about. She was batting them around so much that a teacher stopped and asked if she had something caught in her eyes.”

I laugh at the memory, and the sound is shaky too. “Olivia wasn’t super happy about that.”

There’s the slightest movement, but it’s not on Mom’s face. Her face never changes. But under the skin of Mom’s stomach…I don’t want to look but I can’t help it, because there my mother’s skin is moving.

Because the baby is moving.

I close my eyes.

When I open them, Mom’s stomach is stretched out and still.

“Emma, are you ready to go?” Dan says as he comes into the room, and I look up at him and nod.

“Did you two have a nice chat?” he says, bending over to kiss Mom.

I stare at him.

He must feel it because he straightens up, clearing his throat, and pats Mom’s stomach. “Look how big he’s getting. Lisa, he’s growing so much.”

Mom doesn’t say anything, not even to that.

She can’t.

She’s dead. Machines are keeping her alive. They breathe for her. They feed her. They regulate her whole body.

My mother is dead, but Dan is keeping her alive because of the baby.

 
About Elizabeth Scott



ELIZABETH SCOTT grew up in a town so small it didn’t even have a post office, though it did boast an impressive cattle population. She’s sold hardware and panty hose and had a memorable three-day stint in the dot-com industry, where she learned that she really didn’t want a career burning CDs. She lives just outside Washington, D.C., with her husband, and firmly believes you can never own too many books.




Giveaways

On my blog
Signed Copy of Heartbeat by Elizabeth Scott

 Tour Wide Grand Prize

Enter by Rafflecopter
(click link below)

US/Canada Addresses Only
Giveaway Ends Feb. 14th

Go To Rafflecopter



 Tour Schedule





at

8 comments:

  1. BURIED IN BOOKSJanuary 29, 2014 at 5:30 PM

    Okay, bookstore moment- I grew up in Florida and in my town there was a small local chain of bookstores called White's. They were a combination of bookstore, gift shop with really unique high end gifts and cards, not like Hallmark, very different. Anyway, I would go there and spend $100 a stop in the bookstore because I was single, had a good job and I could. I was a favorite customer. But my high pressure job got to me and I quit. And started working my dream job in my favorite bookstore, White's! I eventually managed one of the stores, but I wasn't in charge of buying the books :(, just special orders. Still I loved working there and did until the day before my son was born. He came early so I didn't get to give notice. I loved that job!

    And I have read one Elizabeth Scott novel- Love You, Hate You, Miss You and I thought it was great. I have Heartbeat from NetGalley to read and review. I'm a little behind :)

    Heather

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownJanuary 31, 2014 at 2:49 PM

    I have a habit of hitting Hastings weekly and raking through the shelves in the YA Teen section. They have 75% off books and I have more books than I have bookshelves! I love book stores and I think if I didn't visit them at least once a month I'd go crazy!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Kelly February 3, 2014 at 4:41 PM

    I LOVE Elizabeth Scott's other books, especially Perfect You, so I know I'll love Heartbeat too! :D

    ReplyDelete
  4. UnknownFebruary 4, 2014 at 12:22 AM

    I can totally relate to Elizabeth! My friends and family consider the bookstore or the library my "second home."

    ReplyDelete
  5. Tiffany HolmeFebruary 6, 2014 at 10:55 PM

    That excerpt kind of killed me a little on the inside. That's suck a sensitive subject :'( This book does sound amazing and thank you for the chance to win!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. UnknownFebruary 8, 2014 at 7:47 PM

    That excerpt was soooo sad! I still want to read the book though. If a little section makes me feel that much, I can't even imagine what the book as a whole would make me feel.

    ReplyDelete
  7. ShellFebruary 9, 2014 at 3:05 PM

    Holy cow! That premise! Poor baby... Poor mommy... I have a feeling I'll be crying a lot when reading this.

    **Rachelle**

    ReplyDelete
  8. UnknownFebruary 9, 2014 at 10:04 PM

    I am known to visit my local B&N on a weekly, if not daily, basis. Sometimes I don't even go in to buy a book, but just to be surrounded by books. Geeky? I know. :) As much as I love my B&N, nothing beats the feeling I get when I go in my favorite indie, Blue Bicycle Books (Charleston, SC). I get lost in there and love every minute of it. I would so drive down there more frequently just for that bookstore. It's an addiction.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for stopping by my blog and taking the time to comment!