Saint Sloan deals with sexual assault, peer pressure, faith, love, and loyalty. It’s a ‘clean’ novel which means no cussing, pink parts, or anything like that. But, I’m not going to lie, it’s one of the darker stories I’ve written. Still, it’s gotten great reviews on Amazon and people have been begging for a sequel (great news! I’m writing TWO of them!! So Sloan will be a trilogy!!)
Excerpt from SAINT SLOAN.A honk from her driveway made her throw the paper down, grab her dark purple backpack, and run out the back door next to the stove. She grabbed her old black coat and wished it was the beautiful gray one she left at Boyd’s. With the pastry dangling from her mouth, she jogged to the passenger side of Mackenzie’s silver Honda Accord.
“Took ya long enough,” Mackenzie said, throwing the car in reverse and speeding down the driveway. She wore faded jeans, a white shirt under an emerald colored coat, and lime green sneakers. Her thick red hair hung in curls to her shoulder blades. It always reminded Sloan of a lion’s mane when she wore it down like that.
“Sorry, Monday after vacation and all.” Sloan put her seatbelt on, trying to juggle her breakfast and talk at the same time: way too much to do at once on a Monday morning.
“Bet you won’t be so slow tomorrow,” Mackenzie laughed. “We still on for the movies Saturday to celebrate?”
“Of course.” Sloan beamed. “My first movie as an official adult.”
“You’ll miss me when I’m gone.”
“And you’ll drive. Finally. My tires need a rest from carting you around so much.”
“Like the plague,” Mackenzie teased, accelerating the car a few miles over the speed limit.
“Speaking of carting, why are we going too fast?”
“Don’t wanna be late.”
Sloan leaned over and checked the clock on the dash. “We’re not going to be late. It’s only 7:30. We have plenty of time.”
One side of Mackenzie’s mouth quirked up. “I still have to pick up Travis.”
“Travis? Travis Baylock? You’re taking him to school now, too?”
“At least he didn’t leave me to fend for myself at a party.”
Ouch. “I told you I was sorry about that. I felt bad about it, but I couldn’t deal with Darcy any more. Plus I didn’t want to bother you and Travis. I would have come back if you needed me. You know that.”
“I know. I’m teasing,” she grinned playfully, which made Sloan relax. “I could drive myself home. I didn’t drink, remember? You’re not the only person in the world who doesn’t.”
“I’m glad about that.” Sloan meant every word.
Mackenzie turned on the blinker and pulled into Travis’s driveway. His house resembled Sloan’s except it was brick instead of white siding like hers was.
Travis sat on the porch steps, tapping the concrete with a stick. He threw it down and jumped up when he saw the car. Sloan could understand why Mackenzie liked him so much. His dark hair hung in loose curls near his ears, and his eyes were chocolate brown. Blessed with a football player’s build, he hadn’t played since freshman year. Boyd told Sloan when they were dating that it was a waste of natural talent. Personally, she didn’t care either way. In her mind, football players were just like everyone else.
“This isn’t too weird, is it?” Mackenzie asked a little too late because Travis had almost made it to the car. “Since he’s Boyd’s best friend and all.”
“We’ve been broken up for months. It’s okay. I’m over him.” And most of her was. Only a small part missed him. He had been a great kisser.
Travis crawled in the backseat and scooted to the middle. He had on a steel-colored gray shirt with some sort of black graffiti on it under an open black jacket and black jeans. “Ladies.”
“Travis.” Mackenzie smiled, and Sloan nodded politely.
Mackenzie and Travis started chattering as they went down the road, and Sloan tuned them out. She watched the clouds move freely in the sky, little signs of God’s love. Donna had told her that once. Watching the physical evidence of how much God cared, Sloan prayed for Darcy to leave her alone for one day. It would make her Monday go much more smoothly.
About a half a mile from Travis’s house, Sloan saw a dark blue Mustang pulling into the Hunters’ driveway. She watched Aaron lumber slowly out of the car. He had a shadow of a beard around his jawline, and his body slouched as he stood. His hair stuck out in different directions, and Sloan found herself wanting to run her fingers through it. Quickly, she shook the idea from her mind. It wasn’t right to think of him like that when she barely knew him. Under his coat, he had on a dark blue uniform like the men who worked at the aluminum plant in Harrisburg wore. Gauging by the time, she figured he’d just gotten off work.
Like the pulling of a magnet, she couldn’t keep her eyes off him. He looked up at her and did a double take. She could have sworn he looked glad to see her. As the car passed him, she waved. They were going too fast to see if he waved back.
Travis laid over the seat and plopped his head on his arms. “What’s up with you and Hunter? You act like you know him.”
“Nothing.”
“Hmmm…” He didn’t sound convinced. “Have ya’ll heard about the Hunters?” He sounded like a giddy old woman with a juicy little secret to share.
Mackenzie took the bait. “No, what?”
**
Can’t wait to read what happens next?
Buy the book from any of the links below:
~Kelly
Martin is a best selling author of young adult fiction. She has two books:
Grace Award nominee CROSSING THE DEEP and Amazon Best selling in Teen/Religion
SAINT SLOAN. She has several short stories published and loves to write
‘twitter fiction’ when she’s bored. Kelly loves God, is addicted to chocolate,
and would rather write than sleep.
You can find me at:-Thank you so much for having me here today!
You're very welcome, Kelly.
2 comments:
Thank you so much for having me here, Sherry :)
Kelly, it's been a pleasure to have you visit here today. I hope you've had a wonderful book-blast blog tour.
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