MY TOP 10 OF 2015

Here are my top 10 books of 2015 (Most recent listed first)

BONE GAP by Laura Ruby
WOLF BY WOLF by Ryan Graudin
WALK ON EARTH A STRANGER by Rae Carson
EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING by Nicola Yoon
MORE HAPPY THAN NOT by Adam Silvera
AN EMBER IN THE ASHES by Sabaa Tahir
THE FIVE STAGES OF ANDREW BRAWLEY by Sean David Hutchinson
SIMON VS THE HOMOSAPIENS AGENDA by Beck Albertelli
A DARKER SHADE OF MAGIC by V.E. Schwab 
GOLDEN SON (sequel to RED RISING) by Pierce Brown

THE FINISH LINE

Cliff's Notes Stuffed Animals

from BEA Conventions

Me, about 40 years ago:

Pitch Slam Revised 250 
All comments welcome and appreciated.

Rather than checking out college websites like an ordinary teenager on dull November evening, I stood shivering beside a grove of trees on the wet, musty Italian coast, watching the taillights of a limousine disappear into the dusk. A harsh autumn wind fluttered my ponytail as my brother, Raj, tugged on my arm. He’d unburied the ladder we’d stashed beneath a carpet of leaves the night before.

“Grab the other end, Sasha.” He shot me his sly grin.

I refused to return his smile, but I did pick up the ladder, and a chill from the cold aluminum seeped inside my gloves. With his usual stealth, Raj crept from from the woods, pulling me along by the ladder. We gazed toward Signora D’Agnelli’s majestic villa, dark except for a single lamppost.

“Wait.” My pulse raced, and I reminded myself to breathe. We were really going through with this, on our own, without Dad. The words echoed in my head. Without Dad. “You’re sure?”

“Two-hundred carats of brilliant white diamonds? I’m sure.” Raj laughed. “C’mon. Her alarm system’s a joke.  It’s like she’s  inviting us inside.”

Typical. My brother had the Chinese characters for genius tattooed on his bicep. I’d call him cocky but he’d take it as a compliment.

In Paris, our apartment waited, along with stacks of unread books and the possibility of a glowing fire. Three weeks and we’d be there, the Rome and New York heists behind us. I took a deep breath. “Well then, hopefully she left out hot chocolate.”

MY FIRST 300 WORDS. All comments welcome!

VANISHED

My brother Raj and I hid in a grove of trees at the edge of Signora D’Agnelli’s driveway, watching the taillights of her limousine disappear into the dusky evening. A day earlier we’d stashed a ladder under a carpet of pine needles and damp leaves. Raj grabbed one end and I took the other. The chill from the cold aluminum seeped inside my gloves and a musty autumn breeze fluttered through my ponytail.

Raj shot me his sly grin. We were really going through with this, on our own, without Dad. My pulse raced. The words echoed in my head. Without Dad. I reminded myself to breathe. 

Sticking close to the shadowy woods, we jogged alongside the driveway. Signora D’Agnelli’s majestic Italian villa rose in front of us on a hill, dark except for a single lamppost in the front garden. We circled around back to a stone patio. Plants and huge rocks surrounded a tropical paradise of a swimming pool. I rested the ladder against a stucco column beneath a balcony. Raj took his laptop from his backpack and set it on a wooden table. With practiced ease, he hacked into the website for Tele-Italia. Three weeks earlier he’d figured out the villa’s alarm and motion detectors ran on landlines rather than a cellular network.  

“She’s practically inviting us inside, Sasha,” Raj said in French.

I hugged myself against the nip in the air, thinking of our apartment in Paris, my stack of unread books and a glowing fire. “Well, then, hopefully she left out hot chocolate.”

His fingers danced across the keyboard. “Seriously. This alarm system is a joke.”

Typical. My brother had the Chinese characters for genius tattooed on his bicep. I’d call him cocky but he’d take it as a compliment.