Hello Readers!
Welcome to the Release Week Blitz for
Welcome to the Release Week Blitz for
Girl on the Verge by Pintip Dunn!
(Congratulations Pintip!!)
Keep reading to catch a peek between the pages with a special excerpt, and
be sure to enter the giveaway found at the end of the post!
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Girl on the Verge
by
Pintip Dunn
Publication Date: June 27, 2017
Publisher: Kensington
From the author of The Darkest Lie comes a compelling, provocative story for fans of I Was Here and Vanishing Girls, about a high school senior straddling two worlds, unsure how she fits in either—and the journey of self-discovery that leads her to surprising truths.
In her small Kansas town, at her predominantly white school, Kanchana doesn’t look like anyone else. But at home, her Thai grandmother chides her for being too westernized. Only through the clothing Kan designs in secret can she find a way to fuse both cultures into something distinctly her own. When her mother agrees to provide a home for a teenage girl named Shelly, Kan sees a chance to prove herself useful. Making Shelly feel comfortable is easy at first—her new friend is eager to please, embraces the family’s Thai traditions, and clearly looks up to Kan. Perhaps too much. Shelly seems to want everything Kanchana has, even the blond, blue-eyed boy she has a crush on. As Kan’s growing discomfort compels her to investigate Shelly’s past, she’s shocked to find how much it intersects with her own—and just how far Shelly will go to belong…
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A fish swims beneath the open staircase
in my Khun Yai’s house. A real live fish, with its
translucent fins fluttering in the water, its belly gold-scaled and
bloated from regular feedings. If I part my knees, I can catch long
glimpses of its lazy swimming through the gap in the stairs.
Of course, I’m not supposed to part
my knees. It’s not ladylike for a twelve-year-old girl, not here,
not in Thailand. The land where my parents grew up; the place that’s
supposed to be my home, too. That’s what the banner said, when my
relatives came to pick us up at the airport. “Welcome home,
Kanchana.”
Never mind that I only come to Thailand
every couple years. Never mind that I don’t look like anyone else
here, with my American build and my frizzy, out-of-control hair.
Never mind that I don’t look like anyone in my hometown, either,
since I’m the only Asian girl in school. Never mind that the only
reason we’re here now is because my father’s dead and my mom
can’t keep it together.
For a moment, pain lances through me,
so sharp and severe that it might as well slice my heart in half,
like in one of those video games my friends like to play. I squeeze
my eyes shut, but that doesn’t keep the tears from spilling out.
Neither do the glasses sliding down my nose. And so the tears drip
down, down, down, past my unladylike knees, through the gap in the
stairs, into the fish basin below.
The drops scare the fish, who swims
away with its tail swishing in the water, no longer languid, no
longer lazy. So, even this creature wants to get away from me—from
my grief, from my strangeness—as quickly as possible.
“There you are, luk lak,”
Khun Yai says in Thai, coming down the stairs. She is my mother’s
mother, and since we arrived, she’s used the endearment—child
that I love—more often than my name.
“You’re up early.” She pats her
forehead with a handkerchief. It’s only seven a.m., and already
sweat drenches my skin like I’ve taken a dip in the basin. No
wonder they take two or three showers a day here.
“Couldn’t sleep. Jet lag.”
“I’ve been up for a couple hours
myself.” She eases onto the step next to me, her knees pressed
together, her legs folded demurely to one side.
Immediately, I try to rearrange my body
to look like hers and then give up. My legs just don’t go that way.
“What do you want to do today?”
Khun Yai asks. “More shopping?”
“Um, no thanks.” I make a face.
“Didn’t you hear those salesgirls at Siam Square yesterday? They
rushed up as soon as we entered and said they didn’t have anything
in my size.” My cheeks still burn when I think about their haughty
expressions.
She sighs. “The clothes there are
just ridiculously small. We’ll go to the mall today. They should
have something that will fit you.”
I stare at her diminutive frame and her
chopstick legs. “One of the salesgirls asked how much I weighed.
Another grabbed my arm and said I felt like a side pillow.”
“They didn’t mean any harm. It is
just the Thai way to be blunt.” She catches my chin and tilts up my
face. “You are so beautiful. I wish you could see that.”
I could say so many things. I could
tell her that I’m ugly not only in Thailand but also in the United
States. Even though I’m not big by American standards—far from
it—I could confess how the boys call me Squinty. How those Thai
salesgirls snickered at my poodle-fuzz hair. I could explain how I’m
from two worlds but fit in neither.
But I don’t. Because my words will
only make her sad, and there have been enough tears in our family.
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Pintip is a New York Times bestselling author of YA fiction. She graduated from Harvard University, magna cum laude, with an A.B. in English Literature and Language. She received her J.D. at Yale Law School, where she was an editor of the YALE LAW JOURNAL.
Pintip's first novel, FORGET TOMORROW won the RWA RITA® award for Best First Book. Her other novels include THE DARKEST LIE, REMEMBER YESTERDAY, and the novella, BEFORE TOMORROW. She is represented by literary agent Beth Miller of Writers House.
She lives with her husband and children in Maryland.
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Special thanks to the Chapter by Chapter Blog Tours team for the chance to bring this BLAST to you. (THANKS!) For more information on this title, the author, or those tours on the horizon, feel free to click through the links provided above. This title is available now via Kensington, so be on the lookout for it on a bookstore shelf or virtual retailer of your choosing.
Until next time, remember...if it looks good, READ IT!
Thank you for visiting my blog, Gina!
ReplyDeletePintip is a new-to-me author. Thank you for the heads up!
Oh yes, definitely one for my wish list.
ReplyDelete