Evernight Teen's Birthday Blog Hop and Giveaway!

By: Meradeth Houston on 4:00 AM

Evernight Teen published my most recent release, An Absence of Light, and it was a pleasure to work with them! They're celebrating their birthday, and it's got some awesome prizes!

Happy Birthday to EVERNIGHT TEEN!

EVERNIGHT TEEN turns two this month and we’re having a huge party to celebrate! It may be EVERNIGHT TEEN’s birthday, but you get the presents. So, grab a piece of cake, hop from blog-to-blog and discover EVERNIGHT TEEN!

Be sure to visit every stop on the hop and answer each question. The more you blogs you hop, the more chances to win the GRAND PRIZE of an iPad Mini sponsored by EVERNIGHT TEEN (one entry per blog). Plus, hop each blog for a host of other fabulous prizes.

Have your TBR list handy because we have lots of new titles for you to add, including my featured book, An Absence of Light.

Today, I thought I'd share a little outtake from An Absence of Light--actually, kind of a big one: a whole character. Leah and Adam are the main couple in AAoL in the published form, but in the original draft, Leah dated a hottie from the auto shop she worked at for a while. Eddy, who was this adorable guy with dimples, well, it just hurt to cut him out. He currently lives in a file on my hard drive, and I hope that someday he finds his way into his own story. Anyhow, here's a little snippet of Eddy and Leah:

The next morning, Eddy was parked out front, driving a different car—a black Cadi composed of

more rust than metal. I stepped off of the steps from my place and crossed my arms over my chest, glaring down the drive at him.

He looked up and grinned.

“What’s going on?” I asked, walking to his window, which he pumped down with a squeal from the glass.

“Thought you might like a ride.”

“Yeah? Really?”

His tan deepened. “You always ride with Manuel. I thought I’d offer.”

It took a whole lot of effort to keep from grinning. I shouldn’t encourage him, but I had to admit there was some kind of charm with him sitting there, looking up at me all expectantly.

“So, you wanna ride to work?”

Sighing, I didn’t respond, just went around and dropped into the deep seat next to him. He pulled out a paper bag stained with grease, handing it to me. “I stopped at the bakery.”

Opening the bag let out a delicious scent that had me salivating. He’d obviously hit the Panaderia, and the warm breads coated with sugar were nearly gone by the time we pulled in at the garage.

“Damn girl, did you leave me anything?” Eddy laughed, pulling the bag away from me.

“Wait, that wasn’t my share?” I asked, feigning innocence.

He rolled his eyes and pulled out a giant pan-dulce, covered with a thick coating of white sugar in a shell pattern. “Thanks for not eating it all.”

“I wouldn’t do that,” I laughed, settling back in my seat. We were actually early. Manuel wasn’t there yet, and Andy hadn’t unlocked the main doors.

“I wasn’t so sure,” Eddy shook his head, wiping crumbs from his lips.

We sat in silence for a minute, me starting out of the car, not able to see anything. Emily’s words from yesterday about the shadows were creeping back into my mind, slowly circling like a giant shark about to attack. I needed to find out more, but didn’t know where to start.

I flinched when Eddy reached over, his fingertips brushing against mine on the seat. Glancing at him, I forced a small smile, struggling to keep my hand in place and not pull it away like Eddy was a leper.

Eddy’s fingers were warm when they slipped between mine. If I’d thought about it days ago, I would have been repulsed by the idea of allowing myself to do something like this. I had to keep my distance. It was for his safety.

Now it just felt good. Felt safe. Felt, well, just felt. Like something for once wasn’t bad, or stressful, or all confusing.

The knock on my window made me flinch, and Eddy’s fingers gripped mine more tightly. Outside the glass, Adam grinned at us.

I swallowed hard, knowing I was going to hear about this later. Adam held up his keys and jerked his thumb at the shop.

“Looks like work’s started,” Eddy muttered, clearly not relishing the interruption.

I hurried into the front office, busying myself with messages on the machine, updating our schedule, and placing some orders left over from last week.

And, just for fun, another little outtake, which explains why I often refer to this novel as X-Files meets Buffy:

“You know what they’ve always kind of reminded me of?” I asked. The guys shook their heads. “Ever watch the X-Files? You know the creepy alien virus slime things that attack people?”

Manuel chuckled, nodding. Adam gave me a one-eyebrow look like I’d lost my mind.

“They always made me think of a bigger version of those things. Gross, and almost like they’d be slimy, but still like a big shadow,” I continued.

“That does seem kind of right, I mean, at least how they look,” Adam conceded. “Thanks for ruining that show for me.”

“You’re totally welcome, Mulder,” I smirked.

Enter for a chance to win EVERNIGHT TEEN’s GRAND PRIZE of an iPad Mini and my blog prize by answering this question (be sure to include your email address to be eligible to win):

If you're a writer, have you ever had to cut a character? As a reader, what do you think when you hear about characters that get cut out?

The birthday blog hop continues here:

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