Mundie Moms

Monday, March 8, 2010

Deleted Scene from THE DARK DIVINE & Giveaway!

So there’s an old saying that a writer has to “kill all her darlings” in order to make a book the best it can be. This is definitely true. And definitely hard to do. It’s very painful when you’ve written something that you absolutely love, but then you realize that it doesn’t add to the story—or actually detracts from it. And then you have to cut it out!

Seriously, it really can feel like killing one of your babies (ok, not that extreme, but you get my point). There were a few scenes that got hacked while I was revising the THE DARK DIVINE—and all of them were ones I loved. But in honor of Mundie Mom’s B-day bash, I get to share one of those scenes with all of you!!

This scene was originally a TWO PAGE flashback from Chapter Four (when Grace meets Don Mooney for the first time) that after many edits was cut down to only a two paragraph description. I absolutely hated to see the whole thing go, but alas, my agent was right, it was bogging down the story.

But YAY, I now get to share it with you! I hope you enjoy.

Also, in honor of the b-day bash, I’m giving away a signed copy of THE DARK DIVINE and a bottle TDD nail polish to a random commenter on this post. (Nail polish can only be sent within the US, so if there's an international winner, nail polish will be substituted with TDD stickers.)

Now on to the deleted scene!

(Note: This scene is a flashback, so Grace is almost 12 years old.)


Five years ago

Jude and I (and that person whose name started with a “D” and ended in an “aniel”) were helping Dad clean up the sanctuary after services when a large man staggered through the chapel doors. He stomped down the aisle toward Dad who greeted him nicely even though the stranger was dressed in dirty clothes and reeked of something sour. But when Dad said, “How can I help you, friend?” and held his hand out to him, the man grabbed my father and pulled a tarnished knife to his throat.

“Give me money,” the man said. “I need money.”

I dropped the sweeper. The handle hit the offerings basket on a nearby pew. Dollar bills and coins spilled out around my feet. My stomach felt like it would do the same.

“Gracie,” my father said, calm and unwavering, “bring the offerings here.”

I shot a look at him.

He blinked and said, “Go ahead, Gracie. It’ll be okay.”

I scooped up the money in the basket and inched toward the giant man, eyeing the knife he held to my father’s pulsing throat. I wondered what that must have felt like—cold metal that burned your skin at the same time?

Jude and Daniel watched me from the corner. I wanted to be brave in front of them, but I shook so much the coins in the basket jangled as I walked.

As I got closer, the man’s sour stench made my eyes water. I blinked fast, not wanting anyone to think I was crying. I was not a crier, and Daniel would probably call me a baby if I started now. But more moisture pooled in my eyes, and I was too terrified to move my hand to wipe it away. What if the man took the knife away from my dad and held it to me?

And was it wrong that I felt relief when he didn’t?

“I’ll give you that money, and there’s a cash box in my office,” Dad said to the man. “But what will you do when that runs out? It’ll be gone in a week, and you will need more.”

“That’s none of your business.”

“I can help you,” Dad said.

“Shut up. Ain’t nobody ever really wanted to help me.”

The man tried to reach for the money without losing hold of my father. His thick fingers stretched out for the basket in my hands, but he couldn’t reach it and I was frozen in my tracks.

“Move.” He pressed the knife into Dad’s skin to prod him forward.

“Think about it,” Dad said. “I can give you a fish, or I can teach you to fish.”

“Stop talking. There’s too much talking all the time. Everybody talks but nobody never does anything.”

“God doesn’t only talk. He cares about you.” Dad motioned for the man to look up at the stained glass window above the balcony. The light of the afternoon sun shone through the colored glass, illuminating the hundred-year-old depiction of Christ knocking on a wooden door. “I want to help you. He wants to help you.” A drop of blood rolled down my father’s neck but his voice didn’t falter. “Ask and ye shall receive. Knock and it shall be opened unto you.”

The man looked up at Christ. For the first time I could see the man’s droopy eyes were too large for his face and his shoulders slumped unevenly.

“You can take the money and leave. Or you can ask for help, and I will get you a job and a place to live.”

The man seemed to stare into Christ’s eyes. The knife slipped from his fingers. He clasped his hands over his face, and sobbing, sank to the ground. He pulled his knees into his chest like a giant baby. “Help me,” he said. “Help me.”

Dad fulfilled his promise and got Don Mooney a job stocking shelves at Day’s Market and rented out the small caretaker’s apartment behind the parish to him for only fifty dollars a month. It wasn’t long before Don became my father’s most devoted parishioner. Everyone else seemed to have forgotten the way we met him.

But I couldn’t.

He still made me shaky with fear and shame.

(Copyright Bree Despain 2010)

Book Review- The Dead Tossed Waves

By Carrie Ryan
Published by Knopf Delacorte Dell Younger Readers Group/Random House Kids
To Be Released March 9, 2010
Source: from Knopf Delacorte/Random House Kids
5 Stars

Gabry lives a quiet life, secure in her town next to the sea and behind the Barrier. She's contest in let her friends dream of the Dark City up the coast while she watches from the top of her lighthouse. Home is all she's ever known, and all she needs for happiness.

But life after the Return is never safe, and there are threats even the Barrier can't hold back.

Gabry's mother thought she left her secrets behind in the Forest of Hands and Teeth, but like the dead in their world, secrets don't stay buried. And now, Gabry's world is crumbling.

One night behind the Barrier.....
One boy Gabry's known forever and one veiled in mystery....
One reckless moment, and half of Gabry's generation is dead, and the other half imprisoned.

Gabry knows only one thing: is she is to have any hope of a future, she must face the forest of her mother's past. (taken from the book cover)

You don't need to be a zombie fan to fall in love with Carrie's books. I'm not a big zombie fan, but I'm a huge fan of Carrie's The Dead Tossed Waves. This whole world she's created is enthralling. It's so real. I can't help but think, "What If" as I'm reading this. This is a brilliantly written companion book. While it is it's own compelling story, Carrie has done a fantastic job at answering the few questions I had at the end of The Forest of Hands and Teeth. She has woven the stories together perfectly. It has all the right elements, suspense, romance, love and is action packed. I was hooked from page one. There's great twists and turns and an air of mystery with some of the characters, that I was completely engaged with the whole story.

Gabry is amazing character and one that was written well. She's so real. She has an unexpected inner strength, especially when everything she thought she knew about her life is turned upside down. In the span of 24 hrs she stands to lose her best friend Cira, Catcher who could be her first boyfriend and Mary, the mother she thought she knew. Gabry isn't who she thought she knew any more. Nothing is what she thought it was nor is the secure life she thought she was living, safe.

I got so wrapped up in the different elements of love, that Carrie presents, with the mother daughter relationship, the best friends, first love, and the love of family. Carrie does such a great job at adding so many of these elements to the story, that it's so much more than a zombie story. Oh, the two love interests. I am hooked and I'm torn between Elias and Catcher. These two have both won a place in my heart. Both of them are so different and yet so great. Both of their stories are heart breaking. Each character brings so much to the story and I become so emotionally invested in them. I fell in love with each character and their stories. I really liked how Gabry's true story was told. Now Gabry has to decide the path she's going to take. The safe one she's always known, or the one that leads through the forest.

Does she choose the boy she's grown up with? The one she thought could keep her safe, but could end up infected? Or does she choose the mysterious guy she meets on the beach one night, who protects her from the walking dead? The one with whom she feels a connection with, and who makes her feel safe.

You know there's those few books that once you pick them up, you know there's no way you can put them down no matter how little sleep you get. The Dead Tossed Waves is simply one of those books and simply AMAZING! I can officially say this is my favorite Carrie Ryan book. When I was done, I wanted more.

Don't miss your chance to meet Carrie on tour. See her schedule here-
Be sure to visit Carrie's blog to grab TDTW buttons and banners for your site-http://www.carrieryan.com/extras.php
Don't forget to join our Book Of The Month forum to discuss The Dead Tossed Waves

Mundane Monday #24

http://fadding-memories.deviantart.com/art/City-of-Glass-ARC-MI-107394376
“Since I’ve met you, everything I’ve done has been in part because of you. I can’t untie myself from you, Clary – not my heart or my blood or my mind or any other part of me. And I don’t want to.”
“You don’t?” she whispered.
He took a step towards her. His gaze was fastened on her face, as if he couldn’t look away. “I always thought love made you stupid. Made you weak. A bad Shadowhunter. To love is to destroy. I believed that.”
She bit her lip, but she couldn’t look away from him, either.
“I used to think being a good warrior meant not caring,” he said. “About anything, myself especially. I took every risk I could. I flung myself in the path of demons. I think I gave Alec a complex about what kind of fighter he was, just because he wanted to live.” Jace smiled unevenly. “And then I met you. You were a mundane. Weak. Not a fighter. Never trained. And then I saw how much you loved your mother, loved Simon, and how you’d walk into hell to save them. You did walk into that vampire hotel. Shadowhunters with a decade of experience wouldn’t have tried that. Love didn’t make you weak, it made you stronger than anyone I’d ever met. And I realized I was the one who was weak.”
“No.” She was shocked. “You’re not.”
“Maybe not anymore.” He took another step, and now he was close enough to touch her. “Valentine couldn’t believe I’d killed Jonathan,” he said. “Couldn’t believe it because I was the weak one, and Jonathan was the one with more training. By all rights he probably should have killed me. He nearly did. But I thought of you - I saw you there, clearly, as if you were standing in front of me, watching me, and I knew I wanted to live, wanted it more than I’d ever wanted anything, if only so that I could see your face one more time.”
-City of Glass, Jace & Clary

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