Tuesdays for the Taking + Excerpt Tour- The Taking by Kimberly Derting

I've got two awesome things for you guys today. First off, the weekly Tuesdays for the Taking question all leading up to the release of The Taking by Kimberly Derting on April 29! Then, I'm kicking off the Excerpt Tour with an exclusive excerpt from The Taking! How cool is that? First, here's some info on Derting's latest book:

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer meets The Fifth Wave in this chilling and explosive new series. The last thing Kyra Agnew remembers is a flash of bright light. She awakes to discover that five whole years have passed. Everyone in her life has moved on—her parents divorced, her boyfriend is in college and dating her best friend—but Kyra's still the sixteen-year-old she was when she vanished. In order to find out the truth, she and her friend Tyler (the only person who seems to understand her since she got back, he also happens to be her ex-boyfriend's brother) the two of them decide to retrace her steps from that fateful night. They discover there are others who have been "taken," just like Kyra. Only, Kyra is the first person to have been returned past the forty-eight-hour taken mark. With a determined, secret government agency after her, Kyra desperately tries to find an explanation and reclaim the life she once had . . . but what if the life she wants back is not her own?


Doesn't that sound so good?! I'm so excited to read this book. And I'm giving you all the chance to win an ARC of The Taking and some swag. The contest is open to US residents. All you have to do is answer this week's Tuesday for the Taking question on this post (or on Twitter when I post it there- use #TheTaking and @bookchicclub when you reply!)- What's your favorite sci-fi book? (I should also mention I suck at being creative and coming up with questions, lol).


Now it's time for the excerpt:

The silhouette of a little boy stood above me, shadowed by the glare of the sun behind him. I blinked harder, still trying to sort it all out, and I could see his expression then, a look of delight. He held one hand behind his back.

Spread out like marbles in front of my face, I saw an array of brightly colored candies that looked suspiciously like gum balls or mini jawbreakers.

“What are you doing here?” the boy asked, the hint of a slight frown shifting the planes of his freckled face.

I searched for an answer, and when I couldn’t find a suitable one, I asked one of my own, “What are you doing here?”
The boy looked back over his shoulder. “Waiting for my mom.” Past him, I saw the gas pumps and a small convenience store behind them. I squinted against the sunlight and read the sign: Gas ’n’ Sip. A woman was at one of the stands, filling the tank of her red minivan.

What the—the Gas ’n’ Sip, really? How the heck had that happened? When had that happened? I shoved the base of my palms into my throbbing eyes, trying to crush the pain away. Eyeing me curiously, the boy absently popped a piece of the candy or gum into his mouth from the hand behind his back as I struggled to sit upright.

It wasn’t easy. Apparently, I’d slept outside all night. And behind a Dumpster at the Gas ’n’ Sip no less. That panicky feeling shook me, and I glanced around uneasily, wincing as I realized that the rotting smell had been garbage.

“Robby!” The woman yelled, and the boy’s head whipped around.

“Gotta go,” he whisper-told me as if we’d developed some sort of bond and I required an explanation for his departure. “You want these?” He held out his hand, palm open to reveal his remaining candies: three red ones, a green, and four yellows.

I thought about turning him down. They looked sticky. But my mouth tasted like I’d just licked home plate, so I nodded instead.
He held them toward me, and I accepted his gummy offering as they peeled, rather than dropped, from his skin. “Thanks,” I said before he skipped away.

You can find the next excerpt on the tour by going to my friend Sara at Novel Novice!

Pre-order The Taking from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or IndieBound!

Kimberly is the author of the BODY FINDER series, THE PLEDGE trilogy, and THE TAKING (coming Summer 2014 from HarperTeen). She lives in the Pacific Northwest, the ideal place to write anything dark or creepy...a gloomy day can set the perfect mood. She lives with her husband and their three beautiful (and often mouthy) children who provide an endless source of inspiration.