Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Straight Reading from the Library: Hidden by M. Lathan


This post is part of a Virtual Book Tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. One randomly chosen commenter will win a $50 Amazon/BN.com gift card. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Sixteen-year-old Leah Grant has given up on being normal. She’d settle for stopping the voices in her head, intrusive visions of the future, and better odds of making it to her seventeenth birthday.

That’s the thing about pretending to be human in a world where magic used to exist – at any moment, her cover could be blown and she’ll be burned to death like the rest of the witches.

Everything changes when she loses control of her powers and flees the orphanage she grew up in. She desperately wants to be invisible but finds her face plastered on every news channel as humans panic over the possible resurgence of her kind. And now the hunters won’t give up until they find her.

Making friends for the first time in her life and falling in love with one of them drives her to discover why she is unlike any being she’s ever met – human or otherwise. The dangerous powers inside of her that would repel Nathan, her new, handsome reason for living, are priceless to some. The locked up forever kind of priceless. And to others, they are too dangerous to allow her to live.

Let’s hope she can stay hidden.

Excerpt

Sienna snatched last week’s Chemistry test from my desk. I hadn’t turned it over. I knew it was a D minus.

She cackled and passed it around.

“Leah, you would think someone who spends most of her time alone would have better grades,” she said. Her birds laughed on cue. “What do you do all day? Obviously not study.” She gasped slowly like she’d gotten a revelation in that blonde head of hers. “You fantasize about us, don’t you? You probably sleep in Whit’s old bed to feel close to her.”

Laughter spread around the room like an airborne disease. Disease. I shivered. That was an intriguing thought; I could almost hear the sound their bodies would make against the floor when it hit.

“Leah, come on. Say something. Scream at me, it’s been a while. At least cry,” Sienna said, laughing and leaning into my desk, closer to danger.

I didn’t cry. I never cry. And if I were going to, it wouldn’t be because of Sienna. I had bigger problems. I’d just broken a promise I’d made to God to not think about hurting His people, His children. And today was not the day to piss Him off.

My old roommate, Whitney Nguyen, graciously returned my test as she cackled with the rest of the birds. She liked the idea of me pining over her, but she knew I didn’t spend my free time thinking about her or sleeping in her old bed. After fourteen years of hard labor as my roommate, she’d given up on being friends or me being remotely normal. The current theory to explain my oddness was that I was in love with all of the girls and consumed by lust.

As long as they didn’t know it was magic.

About the Author:M. Lathan lives in San Antonio with her husband and mini-schnauzer. She enjoys writing and has a B.S. in Psych and a Masters in Counseling. Her passion is a blend of her two interests – creating new worlds and stocking them with crazy people. She enjoys reading anything with interesting characters and writing in front of a window while asking rhetorical questions … like her idol Carrie Bradshaw.

Website: mlathan.com
Twitter: @hiddenseries
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/hiddenseries/
Buy the book at Amazon

a Rafflecopter giveaway

5 comments:

  1. I'm curious, how do your psych and counseling degrees affect your writing (choice of theme, developing characters, etc)?

    vitajex(at)Aol(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm sorry! I just saw this blog post! And it affects it in every way. I'm drawn to cognitive disturbances, small or major and my characters all have an aspect of their personality that is diagnosable.

      As for story ideas, my psych background plays a major role. For example, my favorite psych theory is attachment theory and Hidden developed out of my belief in it. Thanks for your question!

      Delete
  2. So mean in that excerpt. Just nasty. You have to feel for Leah.

    marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They are, Mary. I hate bullying and a scene in this story explores that end of the rope feeling many bullied teens have. It's so sad.

      Delete
  3. Sorry for the late post. I’m playing catch-up here so I’m just popping in to say HI and sorry I missed visiting with you on party day! Hope you all had a good time!
    kareninnc at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete