Book info:
Title: Perfect Pitch
Author: Alex Hayes
Publication date: August 6th 2019
Genres: New Adult, Paranormal, Romance, Young Adult
Synopsis:
All Dean wants is to escape…
But he can’t leave his younger brother, Ty, in the care of their alcoholic mother. And when their abusive father shows up, Dean has to get Ty out. Which means joining Shri — his best and only friend — in taking a job out of state and breaking the law by stealing his brother away.
Cadi’s life is almost back together after Dean blew it into a million pieces. She’s come to terms with her life as a shape-shifter — well, almost. She’s still trying to wrap her head around the fact that a vicious enemy is out to destroy the remnants of her people.
As if Cadi doesn’t have enough to deal with, Dean’s about to land on her front doorstep, forcing her to decide whether to let him into her secret world or slam the door in his face.
The Chameleon Effect series, starring shape-shifter teens with extraordinary superpowers, is sure to appeal to Young Adult and New Adult readers who enjoy romance with a paranormal twist.
Excerpt:
Sorting Valdar’s
memories from my own isn’t as easy as entering Valdar in Google, and the
more scattered the memories, the easier I could lose focus. So we start small.
Some teaching sessions. Family gatherings with both my parents and Idris’s.
Trips to the playground, a rainforest where we crawl up purple trees and swing from
turquoise vines.
The remaining
memories are disparate but few enough that I think I can gather them into a
single stream. I’ll be so glad to finish up.
“Last ones,” I
say, glancing at the clock on the wall and taking Idris by the hands. It’s
getting late and I’ve work tomorrow. Shri’s expected on Tuesday, and until she
arrives, I won’t hear the final word on Dean’s summer plans.
Best not to
think about that.
Idris looks
weary and for good reason. Not all the memories I’ve shared have been joyous.
He’s witnessed some frustration and regret, too.
After pushing on a smile, he tightens his
fingers around mine.
I refocus on
gathering those last memories, bouncing from one timespan to another, in no
particular order. The crystal tree cutting comes into mind with a memory of
Valdar and my parents discussing its preparation for storage. Mr. Scrim slips
in with an image of the cutting wrapped around his chest. Then the forest
around the cave and the black bear. Papa chats over the kitchen table about
getting a dog, about offering Shri and Dean a job for the summer, and…
Idris snatches
his hands from mine. “Guess you got distracted.”
I glance down at
my palms, which still tingle from his touch. “Sorry. Those last memories of
Valdar’s were harder to stay focused on.”
“Yeah, they were
all over the place.” His tone says he’s had enough of this emotional ping pong,
anyway. He rubs both hands over his black curls. “So… who’s Dean?”
A stone drops
into the pit of my stomach.
The frown on
Idris’s face furrows deeper. He’s got to be picking up my dread at that
question.
I gnaw on my
lip, then answer, “A friend.”
An eyebrow
lifts. “So how come you never mentioned him before? You talk about Shri
plenty.”
Subterfuge won’t
work, not with our crystals tuned in to each other’s emotions.
I drop onto the
sectional. “Because Dean’s…” Where do I even start with Dean? “Different.”
Idris crosses
his arms. “That’s not telling me a hell of a lot, Cadi.”
A sigh escapes
me. “It’s complicated.”
His lips
flatline. “‘Kay, in what way?”
My head drops
against the padded leather as I press my knuckles into my eyes. “I don’t know.
He… we…” I straighten up. “He kissed me, okay.” I stare into Idris’s frozen
features. “On Christmas Eve.” I shrug. “A mistletoe thing.”
Only it was more
than that. He said he loved me.
“Last Christmas?
Like a few days before we met?”
What is that
weird emotion coming off him? Jealousy?
His crossed arms
press deeper into his chest. “So you liked him?”
Accusation, too.
Exactly the reason I didn’t mention Dean to Idris in the first place. The whole
episode was better left in the past.
I scoot deeper
into the seat cushions. “I hardly knew him. Then he saw me lift the tractor off
Papa and his idiot best friend posted what I’d done on Facebook.” I narrow my
eyes as I meet his. “That’s why I left. So I guess I’m mostly mad at him.”
Idris perches on
the arm of the couch. “So why am I picking up a boatload of uncertainty from
you?”
Damn crystal,
leaking information. “I don’t know. I’d hoped I’d never see him again.
Then Papa went and offered Dean a job.”
“Did he take
it?”
“No.”
Idris nods, his
face looking anything but placated. “Seems to me there’s unfinished business
between you.”
“Dean turned the
offer down, so it doesn’t matter.” I reach for Idris and curl my fingers around
his. “I left Vermont because of what Dean did. He opened his mouth and my life
there hit the fan. So I doubt I’ll ever trust him again.”
“Okay.” Idris
slides onto the seat beside me, nodding, slowly. “If you want me to kick his
ass—you know, for old time’s sake—just let me know.”
Author Bio:
Alex Hayes wrote her first fiction story when she was twelve. Inspired by her mother’s storytelling, she began work on her first novel, Ice Cracks, at eighteen.
She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, Creative Writing from San Francisco State University. In her twenties, she moved from Marin County, California to Boston, Massachusetts, where she built a career as an IT professional in database engineering. In 2004, she self-published Ice Cracks, which became a semi-finalist in the 2005 IPPY Awards.
Alex splits her time between Grand Junction, Colorado and Guanajuato, Mexico. When she isn’t writing, she’s helping her partner, Lee, renovate a 450 year old hacienda. She is mother to one beautiful daughter and many wonderful cats.
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