Spotlight on: TOUCH by Jus Accardo
Blurb: When a strange boy tumbles down a river embankment and lands at her feet, seventeen-year-old adrenaline junkie Deznee Cross snatches the opportunity to piss off her father by bringing the mysterious hottie with ice blue eyes home.
Except there’s something off with Kale. He wears her shoes in the shower, is overly fascinated with things like DVDs and vases, and acts like she’ll turn to dust if he touches her. It’s not until Dez’s father shows up, wielding a gun and knowing more about Kale than he should, that Dez realizes there’s more to this boy and her father’s “law firm” than she
realized.
Kale has been a prisoner of Denazen Corporation—an organization devoted to collecting “special” kids known as Sixes and using them as weapons his entire life. And, oh yeah, his touch? It kills. The two team up with a group of rogue Sixes hell-bent on taking down Denazen before they’re caught and her father discovers the biggest secret of all. A secret Dez
has spent her life keeping safe.
A secret Kale will kill to protect.
Find Touch at: Amazon paperback/ Kindle/ Barnes & Noble
Guest Post by Jus Accardo:
When I came up with the idea for TOUCH, I was sitting at the end of a really long drive-through line. For what? Coffee. What else? I remember the day perfectly (mainly because I’m cheesy and sentimental). I was in a bad mood. We’d run out of coffee at home (this is a catastrophic event in my world) and I’d gotten three more rejection letters that morning for the novel I was querying at the time.
I’m staring into the forest, cursing the idiot at the front of the line—who apparently couldn't read the three item limit sign—and I get this picture in my head of a girl being chased through the woods. She’s barefoot and with each step she takes, the ground beneath her shrivels up and dies. She’s running past trees, hitting low hanging branches…everything she touches… just POOF. Dust.
I went home to sleep on the idea. I have a zillion story starters like this bouncing around in my brain at any given moment. Some I write down and save for later, others just slip off into oblivion as quickly as they came. But this one was different. When the next day rolled around and I couldn’t get it out of my head, I knew it was something I needed to focus on.
I wrote the first words on June 1st, doing chapters one through three with Dez as the Denazen runaway. But it didn’t work. It never felt right. Dez’s dialog in my head kept coming across too strong, while Kale’s was always softer. More serene. At the start of chapter four, I reversed their rolls and it was instant sparkage. Like, we’re talking shining light and choirs
of angles kind of perfection. I ran with it and three weeks later, the first draft was done.
Most of the characters were easy to write. They each had a unique voice with their own quirks and personalities. I think if any of them gave me trouble, it would was Kale. He was one of the most fun to write, but also a bit challenging. I had to keep tweaking things because there was a fine line between making him seem innocent and overdoing it.
I’m thrilled to be able to share Dez and Kale with the world and hope that everyone loves them as much as I do!
When Sparks Fly
When I came up with the idea for TOUCH, I was sitting at the end of a really long drive-through line. For what? Coffee. What else? I remember the day perfectly (mainly because I’m cheesy and sentimental). I was in a bad mood. We’d run out of coffee at home (this is a catastrophic event in my world) and I’d gotten three more rejection letters that morning for the novel I was querying at the time.
I’m staring into the forest, cursing the idiot at the front of the line—who apparently couldn't read the three item limit sign—and I get this picture in my head of a girl being chased through the woods. She’s barefoot and with each step she takes, the ground beneath her shrivels up and dies. She’s running past trees, hitting low hanging branches…everything she touches… just POOF. Dust.
I went home to sleep on the idea. I have a zillion story starters like this bouncing around in my brain at any given moment. Some I write down and save for later, others just slip off into oblivion as quickly as they came. But this one was different. When the next day rolled around and I couldn’t get it out of my head, I knew it was something I needed to focus on.
I wrote the first words on June 1st, doing chapters one through three with Dez as the Denazen runaway. But it didn’t work. It never felt right. Dez’s dialog in my head kept coming across too strong, while Kale’s was always softer. More serene. At the start of chapter four, I reversed their rolls and it was instant sparkage. Like, we’re talking shining light and choirs
of angles kind of perfection. I ran with it and three weeks later, the first draft was done.
Most of the characters were easy to write. They each had a unique voice with their own quirks and personalities. I think if any of them gave me trouble, it would was Kale. He was one of the most fun to write, but also a bit challenging. I had to keep tweaking things because there was a fine line between making him seem innocent and overdoing it.
I’m thrilled to be able to share Dez and Kale with the world and hope that everyone loves them as much as I do!
This book sounds interesting!!I can't wait to read!!
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