Once Upon a Twilight!: Blog Tour: Gilt Hollow by Lorie Langdon | Excerpt

Welcome to our stop on the Gilt Hollow tour for Lorie Langdon. This tour is hosted by Jean Book Nerd.

Gilt Hollow
Author: Lorie Langdon
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Mystery
Released: September 27th 2016
Publisher: Blink

Willow Lamott’s best friend is a murderer, and no one in the small town of Gilt Hollow will let her forget it. For four long years, she’s tried to fade into the background—but none of that matters when Ashton Keller comes striding into school, fresh out of juvie and fueled by revenge. The moment their eyes meet, Willow no longer feels invisible. Drawn to the vulnerability behind Ashton’s mask of rage, she sinks deeper into his sinister world and begins to question whether he’s a villain, a savior, or both.

Ashton thought he wanted vengeance, until Willow reminded him what he’d been missing. Now he longs to clear his name and become the person she sees in him. But the closer they get to uncovering the truth, the darker the secrets become, and Ashton fears his return to Gilt Hollow will destroy everyone he loves, especially the girl he left behind.

Excerpt

Willow despised crowds—the stink of too many bodies clustered in one place, people touching her she didn’t know …

Who scheduled a pep rally in the middle of the week anyway? As the cheerleaders began their first routine, Willow glanced around trying to find Lisa’s bright curls but instead saw Ashton two rows behind, his dark head melding with Penelope’s platinum blonde as he whispered something in her ear. Willow whipped around, heat bursting into her cheeks, her rib cage squeezing her insides until she thought she might gag. It had to be at least a hundred degrees in there. Whatever Willow thought was between her and Ashton, the magnetic energy she felt when she was with him, must be one-sided. Obviously he preferred the beautiful, flighty type.

The band joined the cheerleaders in the school fight song, and people raised their fists to chant all around her. A buzz vibrated in Willow’s pocket. Praying it was Lisa texting to rescue her, she whipped out her cell and swiped in the code. But it was another SnapMail notification. Unable to resist, she pressed the icon.

If you don’t stop helping Keller, what happens to you will be worse than this . . .

The next message was a picture of Cory Martin, lying flat, arms at his sides—dead in his casket.

The room spun in a hard circle, and Willow felt herself sway. Her heart pumped so fast it hurt. She gripped her chest, the room narrowing to a shadowy tunnel as the football players ran out onto the floor. It was too hot. Too close. Her lungs constricted until it felt like she was sucking every breath through a tube. She had to get out of there.

Turning, she pushed past the kids in her row, stepping on book bags and feet, stumbling into people as she swayed. But their protests were jumbled in her brain. If she didn’t get air soon, she would suffocate.

Finally out of her row, she made it down two sets of stairs before a wave of dizziness turned the room on its side and she fell forward. Her arms flailed as she tried to catch herself. She smacked hard on her hands and knees, the angle of the stairs and the momentum of her bag knocking her flat on her face. Silence spread through the room like a wave.

Then someone yelled out, “Is she drunk?” Followed by laughter and “We’ve got a stoner here!”

“Wait! I think she’s sick.”

“Somebody call 911!”

Lorie Langdon has longed to write her own novels since she was a wee girl reading every Judy Blume book she could get her hands on. So a few years ago, she left her thriving corporate career to satisfy the voices in her head. Now as a full-time author, she spends her days tucked into her cozy office, Havanese puppy by her side, working to translate her effusive imagination into the written word.
Lorie has been interviewed on Entertainment Weekly.com and several NPR radio programs, including Lisa Loeb’s national Kid Lit show. The DOON series has been featured on such high profile sites as USAToday.com, Hypable.com and BroadwayWorld.com.
Lorie’s first solo novel, GILT HOLLOW, a YA romantic thriller, releases September 27th 2016!