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Albert Camus

Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Guest Post, Excerpt and Giveaway American Girl On Saturn (Saturn #1) by Nikki Godwin

Published: August 24th, 2013

Description:

The summer after graduation is supposed to be that first real taste of freedom - but not for eighteen-year-old Chloe Branson. Just as that breeze of freedom is making its way into her galaxy, her secret-service-agent dad drops a meteor-sized bomb of bad news on her and her sisters. An attempt has been made on the lives of Canadian boyband, Spaceships Around Saturn, during their USA tour, and the guys have to go into hiding ASAP. The only problem? In the midst of the crisis and media frenzy, their dad volunteered to hide the guys...in their house.

Six-year-old Emery is as ecstatic as any self-proclaimed Saturnite would be, but Chloe and her seventeen-year-old sister Aralie watch their summer plans crash and burn like a falling star. The SAS guys aren't happy with the situation, either. Bad boy Jules picks fights with Aralie about everything from his Twitter followers to his laundry, and heart-throb Benji can't escape Emery's fangirlisms for more than three minutes.

But after the super-cute Milo kisses Chloe during a game of hide-and-seek, she finally understands what Emery means when she talks about SAS being "out of this world." If this is what Saturn feels like, Chloe doesn't want to come back to earth.

GUEST POST
"Best balance between humor and the story plot” 
(MB's Topic)
So many people have told me how much they've laughed throughout American Girl On Saturn, which is a relief to me because I'm not a very comical person. I'm actually a bit too serious. I have no problem digging into deeper meanings, hardcore emotions, and tough stuff, but when it comes to humor, I'm usually stuck. 

I depended heavily on the character of Emery for my comic relief in this book, and I owe her character to two people in my life - my little sisters! Although Emily is now 20 and Lexie is 14, there is so much of both of them in Emery's character. There were moments from their childhoods weaved into the story and into Emery's dialogue/actions/personality. (Lexie and I are actually thirteen years apart, just like Chloe and Emery are in the book, so their relationship was very true-to-life for me to write.) 

They've served as the "OMG moments" and comic relief in my own life and that helped keep the situations in American Girl On Saturn very authentic. The thing about readers is that they don't always want heavy books. They don't always want sappy, cute romances. Anything and everything can get overwhelming, overdone, and boring after a while, so it's important to keep multiple elements in every book that's written. I plot my stories in extreme details, so I can glance over it and see when it's a bit "heavy" and needs a ray of sunlight. I personally rely on my characters to be funny and quirky to balance out my seriousness. I'm very much like Milo, so I need the Emerys of the world to balance me out.

EXCERPT:




TOUR SCHEDULE

We move up the staircase a bit more quietly. Then I lead Milo down the hallway to Mom’s old crafting room. Sunlight pours through the sheer white curtains and reflects off of the wooden flooring. Milo notes that the acoustics probably sound great in here with such a high ceiling. Thick layers of dust hug the old tables and piano that Mom quit playing years ago. Inside of the wall is a huge walk-in closet. I reach inside to flip on the light, but the bulb is shot.
“Can you handle the dark?” I ask, spinning on my heel to face Milo.
“Are you not hiding in there with me?” he asks. “You know, I won’t have fireflies to make me feel safe this time. I kind of need you.”
Do you hear that, Saturnites? Milo Grayson kind of needs me. Of course, you don’t hear it, though. This is lockdown. I can’t share my excitement with anyone. Maybe Noah will be willing to listen to details later. I can make him feel ‘in the loop’ about things.
Milo steps into the closet and reaches his hand out for me. There’s not a question in my mind as to whether I want to hide in a dark closet with him – who wouldn’t want to? – but my mature older sister side kicks in.
“Do you know how bad this is?” I ask him. “We’re supposed to be in charge, but we’re hiding out in a dark closet with each other.”
His mouth scrunches to one side as he shrugs.
“Technically, you’re not actually in the dark closet with me yet,” he says.
I grab his hand and let him tug me toward him. He doesn’t close the closet door all the way, allowing just enough light to leak inside so that I can see his silhouette. He leans back against the wall, sinking into the shadows, and pulls me to him.
His breath is warm against my ear as he holds me close to him. “You know,” he whispers. “When we found out about the lockdown, I never expected this to happen.”
His grip tightens around my waist, and I run my hands along his arms.
“That shirt looks so good on you.” I say it now since I know I’ll never be able to admit it outside of our dark hiding spot.
“You can’t even see my shirt right now,” he whispers directly into my ear.
“I don’t have to,” I say, somewhere just above a whisper. “I thought that the first night you got here, when you were sitting on the armrest.”
His hand moves up to my face and pushes my hair back over my shoulder. Then his fingers trail along my cheek and down my jaw line.
“You wanna know a secret?” he asks.

***********
He leans in to kiss me, but the kitchen light comes on through the window, and I pull away.
“Someone’s awake,” I say. “Someone’s up. Oh God. What if they come out here?”
Milo slips down in the pool, barely keeping his head above water. I stretch my neck to see through the window, but I see nothing more than a shadowy figure moving around next to the fridge. If it’s Mom and she finds me alone in the pool after midnight with Milo, I’ll have to confess. She’ll know. Moms always know.
We wait in deafening silence. It’s like my ears are ringing with extreme anxiety and anticipation. The shadow moves across the kitchen toward the glass door, and I panic.
“Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod. They’re coming!” I whisper through my teeth.
“I can hold my breath for about two minutes, so hurry,” Milo says.
He inhales a deep breath and drops underwater. He wraps his arm around my shin and squeezes his hand into my skin. I try to relax as much as I can. I prop my elbows up on the concrete and loosen my shoulders, so maybe I can pass for ‘just lounging in the dark.’ If it’s Mom, I’ll tell her I just needed to clear my head and have some alone time. Hopefully she won’t notice the pretty boy underwater who is tangled up with my leg.

But it’s not Mom’s head that pokes outside.


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About the author:
Nikki Godwin is a Young Adult/New Adult author. She is a city girl who can't live without Mountain Dew, black eyeliner, Hawthorne Heights, and candles from Bath & Body Works. When not writing, she's not-so-secretly stalking her favorite bands. She may or may not completely love One Direction. 



4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nikki, what a wonderful idea for a novel! I'm already enjoying it-- and I was only here checking on my own novel, STEALING FIRE, which is posted right under yours today on Mythical Books--a heckuva way to shop for new books! Best of luck with it - can't wait to read it!

Unknown said...

Looks like it will be an excellent read! Thanks for sharing and the chance.

Unknown said...

Amazing and can't wait to check it out. congrats and good luck in your success.

Andreea said...

A BIG THANKS <3!