Dorianna
Catherine Stine
Genre: YA paranormal/horror
Publisher: Evernight Teen
Date of Publication: October 24, 2014
Word Count: 91K
Cover Artist: Sour Cherry Designs
Book Description:
Internet followers, beauty, power. It all sounded good.
Until it transformed into a terrifying reality Dorianna couldn’t stop
Dorianna is a dark twist for the Internet generation on A Picture of Dorian Gray.
When her father is jailed, her mother ships lonely, plain Dorianna to her aunt’s. There, Dorianna yearns to build a new identity, but the popular Lacey bullies her—mostly for getting attention from her ex, Ander.
Ander takes Dorianna to Coney Island where Wilson, a videographer, creates a stunning compilation of her. She dreams of being an online sensation, as she’s never even had a birthday party, and vows she’d give anything to go viral. Wilson claims he’s the Prince of Darkness and warns her the pledge has downsides.
Dorianna thinks he’s joking. She has no idea of how dire the consequences might be.
the first part of
chapter three:
After
mere minutes, Wilson turns to me. His eyes burn with a manic intensity. “Ready
for your debut, Dorianna?”
Are
you kidding? I’ve only been waiting for it my whole life.
His finger, with its dash of black polish,
presses play.
Onscreen,
my video likeness emerges with outstretched arms through a glory of sun. I’m me
but not me. I’m brighter, bigger, glowing. As I shimmy, the sun settles itself
into my palms. And then, in a beach-goddess bestowal of gifts, from my open
palms I release a psychedelic explosion of plastic daisies, clouds, sand pails,
and seagulls. They float out and up, and morph into arching sunrays. The
sunrays dance around my cascading hair, and kiss my sickly white cheeks into
candy-cane pink.
“I,
I can’t believe this!” I rasp.
“You’re
like an Indian deity,” Ander exclaims. “You know, the ones with a zillion
hands, offering up the entire earth.”
“You’re
the Coney Island Queen,” Wilson says. “Presiding proudly over toxic starfish,
mermaids with piercings, and sideshow freaks.”
Ander
and I exchange looks of shocked pleasure. No wonder Ander’s friends with this
guy. He’s a conjuring genius. I swing back to Wilson’s screen, where his impish
conjuring is still unfolding.
This
time, I’m framed by playful waves and children’s grinning faces, and then by
sandcastles and undulating fish in jewel tones. I’m dancing my heart out to the
sound of a spacey lyre. Inside, I’m leaping and dancing, too. “How’d you do
it?” I gasp.
“Software
called Final Cut Pro . . . plus enchantment. What else do you expect from an
agent of the devil?”
“Lay
off, Warren. You’ll scare the girl. Really, though, it’s incredible.”
Now the cups of lemonade are soaring around.
My onscreen image catches one and offers it to the viewer. As I do, the cup
distorts to huge, juicy proportions.
“You
like?” Wilson presses pause.
“Wait!
Don’t stop!” I cry. My cheeks are on fire. My chest is heaving. I want to suck
in more and more. “Oh, my god,” I say breathlessly, and then shiver,
remembering the harsh reality. “But . . . it’s not exactly me.”
“It’s
a new and improved you,” Ander says reasonably.
Wilson
touches my arm again. This time it’s not slithery. It startles me into
something deep, unidentifiable. It’s as if he wants me to confess something,
but I don’t know what. I gaze at him behind a sudden prick of tears. “If I
could look like that, I’d. . .”
Abruptly,
horrid memories rush in: the old nicknames, the beady, nauseating stares. When
I was fourteen a friend of Len’s said I was too buck-toothed to get a boyfriend,
and that if I ever wanted one, I better get braces fast because my wonky front
teeth cut a red line into my bottom lip.
And
that final humiliation. When my dad was on trial, my classmates didn’t even
bother to blurt out nicknames. Instead, they passed me unblinking, the same way
Lacey and her gang have done every morning and will continue to do, day after
depressing day.
Nothing
will be different here. Nothing can.
Through
my haze of pain, Ander’s saying, “Strange! You don’t even look like the same
girl. If Wilson puts this on YouTube, you could be the next big thing.” Ander’s
voice has intense heat for the first time today. “People would follow your
every move.”
“They
used to call them ‘It Girls’,” Wilson informs us.
It Girl, and not simply It?
“Oh, my God. I’d give—” Ander’s hungry stare at the beach rushes into my
memory. If I was that beautiful all of the time, he’d gaze at me like that
every day . . . be drawn to me.
“Give
what?” Wilson’s stare is a wrestler’s grip, tightening around my chest.
“I
told you, lay off,” Ander snaps.
“Sure,
sure,” Wilson drones, and then, “I have some brownies in the kitchen. They’d go
well with the lemonade. Might sweeten your mood. They’re on the counter.”
“Trying
to get rid of me?” Ander grouses, but ducks out anyway.
Wilson
turns back to me with a charismatic grin. “So, what were you saying?”
I
just met this guy. I shouldn’t blurt out personal stuff. He’s scaring me, but I
want acceptance so, so badly. It’s so
much easier to admit that without Ander in the room. Wilson must sense this.
“If I could be really popular,” I start, “I’d give my next six months of checks
from my mom to charity.”
“You’d
what?” Wilson hisses. “Never mind. I thought you cared.”
I
gasp for air. This feels like some creep-show pledge. But I don’t believe in Hell,
or the devil, or any superstitious junk. I don’t know what I believe, except
that I’m cynical about religion, after that mess with my father’s church, and
finding his list. So, it doesn’t matter what I say to Wilson. It’s only a
torrent of words. How much sway do words have in the real world, anyway?
Wilson
taps impatiently on the keypad. “You want beauty and youth forever? I can give
you that. Power over those mean girls, Ava and Lacey. Power over a lot of
people. It’s yours for a price. Just say it.”
“How
do you know about them? I, I never told you.” Wilson doesn’t answer, just keeps
on grinning. His eyes are golden and black and red all at once. Like unearthly
spears, piercing me. I’m dizzy. I need fresh air, now. But I want this promise more than anything. Ever. “What’s the price?” I rasp.
Wilson’s
stare burns into me. “Can’t say, exactly.” He takes a long breath. “But there
always is.”
About the Author:
Catherine Stine’s novels span the range from science fiction to paranormal to contemporary. Her futuristic thriller, Fireseed One won finalist spots in YA and Sci-Fi in the 2013 USA News International Book Awards and an Indie Reader Approved notable seal. Its companion novel, Ruby’s Fire was a finalist in the 2014 Next Generation Indie Awards. Her paranormal YA, Dorianna launches with Evernight Teen in October. She also writes new adult fiction as Kitsy Clare. Her new adult Art of Love series includes Model Position and Private Internship. She loves all things spooky, exotic and edgy, including travel to unusual locations. She also loves hearing from readers.
Website: http://catherinestine.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/crossoverwriter
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/kitsy84557/
Subscribe to her newsletter http://goo.gl/JRGtJh
October 27 Spotlight
Sapphyria's Book Reviews
October 27 Review
Bookworm Babblings
October 28 Spotlight
3Partners in Shopping, Nana, Mommy, & Sissy, Too!
October 29 Guest blog
The A P Book Club
October 29 Live Facebook Party
October 30 Interview
Mom With A Kindle
October 31 Spotlight
The Creatively Green Write at Home Mom
November 3 Interview
Boundless Daydreamer
November 4 Guest blog and review
Kayl's Krazy Obsession
November 5 Guest blog
D'eBook Sharing Book Reviews
November 5 Spotlight
Book Purses & Reviews
November 6 Guest blog
Preternatura
November 7 Guest blog
Fang-tastic Books
November 10 Guest blog
Books Direct
November 10 Interview
Shut Up & Read
November 11 Guest blog
Vivacious Hobo
November 12 Spotlight
Share My Destiny
November 12 Spotlight
BabyCakes Book Blog
November 13 Spotlight
Once Upon a YA Book
November 13 Spotlight
Soaring Eagle Publicity
November 14 Spotlight
CBY Book Club
November 14 review
The Word at My Fingertips
November 17 Guest blog
FictionZeal.com
November 18 review
Paranormal Romance and Authors That Rock
November 19 Guest blog and review
Coffee Addicts' Book Reviews
November 20 Interview
Pembroke Sinclair.
November 21 Spotlight
Geeks In High School
November 21 Spotlight and review
Musings of the Book-a-holic Fairies, inc.
November 24 Mini Q and A
ARe Café
0 comments:
Post a Comment