Ghost Heart (The PSS Chronicles #3)By Ripley Patton
Genre: Paranormal Thriller
Age category: Young Adult
Release date: October 14, 2014
Blurb:
In the aftermath of a brutal tragedy, Jason and Passion are on the run. Marcus is lost beyond reach, and The Hold is in shambles. If that weren't enough, Olivia Black has been taken by the CAMFers to be used as Dr. Fineman's personal lab rat in his merciless quest to uncover the mysteries of Psyche Sans Soma once and for all. But only if he can break her.
They are scattered.
They are devastated.
They are ruined.
Their only hope is Olivia's stubborn determination to thwart her captors and unlock the secrets of her ghost hand before Dr. Fineman can. Will she finally find the strength within herself to embrace the full power of her PSS?
And will it even matter if Marcus has already betrayed her?
Excerpt
GHOST HEART Excerpt from Olivia's
perspective – some strong language.
When I came to, I wasn't back in my
cell. I was still handcuffed to the chair in the interrogation room
with Dr. Fineman and Anthony. I was slumped over the table, my hair
wet with blood from the blow to my ear. It wasn't crusting though,
which meant I'd only been out a few minutes.
"Welcome back," Anthony
said, grabbing my hair and lifting my head up, leaving a brownish-red
smear on the table where it had been. "No time for naps. We're
not done with you yet."
My head was spinning, and I felt like
I might throw up. If I did, I would aim for the doctor.
And that's when I noticed the new guy
in the room. He was a CAMFer soldier, an older guy I didn't recognize
with a prominent scar across his right cheek, running from eye to
chin. I did the best I could to pretend he wasn't intimidating, but
he was. I had a bad feeling the torture was about to ramp up a notch.
Great. Something to look forward to.
"This is Major Tom," Dr.
Fineman introduced him, smiling. "And he has somewhat of a bone
to pick with you."
Really? Major Tom? Was that his real
name or was he just a huge David Bowie fan? Either way, I was pretty
sure I'd never met the guy. And if he was out to get me, he should
probably get in line.
"You see," Dr. Fineman said,
"The Major had a reputation as one of the best knife fighters on
this continent. I say 'had' because it was somewhat ruined when you
stole a knife from his person and used it to stab three of his men."
Shit. This was the guy who'd been
carrying me the night of the Eidolon. I hadn't seen his face because
I'd been slung over his shoulder. But I had reached straight into his
back with my ghost hand and pulled out a knife, the same knife that
was now sitting on the table in front of me. My eyes flashed to it.
"Yes," Dr. Fineman said,
smiling at me. "Now you understand." He turned to Anthony.
"Let's have the other hand for this," he directed.
Anthony fumbled at my flesh hand,
unlocking the handcuffs. Then he yanked my left arm onto the table,
pinning my hand palm-up.
I didn't struggle. It wouldn't do any
good. Anthony had proved many times he was stronger than me. Still,
sometimes I could outsmart him if I was patient enough. He wasn't the
brightest crayon in the box. For example, he'd just forgotten to
recuff my other arm to the chair, and my ghost hand was now tucked in
my lap, hidden under the table.
Dr. Fineman picked up the knife,
turning it in his hands. Then he lowered it gently, setting it in my
open palm, handle-first.
I was never willingly going to do what
they wanted me to. They were going to have to force my hand every
inch of the way.
Anthony squeezed my wrist even harder
as Dr. Fineman closed my fingers around the knife.
Suddenly, I was standing at the door,
huge and looming, looking at the pitiful, bloody, minus girl. No,
at me. I was looking at me.
"She's in my fucking head,"
I—he—Major Tom said, stumbling back toward the door. "I can
feel her there. I can feel where she is."
"Hold your
ground," Dr. Fineman barked at me—no, him. I wasn't
him.—and I held steady at the door, remembering my training and
honoring my rank. This little bitch wasn't going to embarrass me a
second time.
What the fuck? That hadn't been my
thought. It had been his thought in my head.
I looked down at the knife in my hand
and tried desperately to unclench my fingers, but Dr. Fineman
squeezed them even harder around it.
You can find Ghost Heart on Goodreads.
You can buy Ghost Heart here:
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Earlier books in the series:
Ghost Hand (The PSS Chronicles #1)
By Ripley Patton
Genre: Paranormal Thriller
Age category: Young Adult
Blurb:
Seventeen-year-old Olivia Black has a rare birth defect known as Psyche Sans Soma, or PSS. Instead of a right hand made of flesh and blood, she was born with a hand made of ethereal energy.
How does Olivia handle being the girl with the ghost hand? Well, she's a little bit morbid and a whole lot snarky.
Her mother thinks her obsession with death, black clothing, and the local cemetery is a bid for attention. But when Marcus, the new guy in Olivia's calculus class, stares at her like she's a freak, Olivia doesn't like it. And when her hand goes rogue, doing things she never imagined possible, Olivia finds herself running for her life with Marcus from a group of men bent on taking the power of her hand for their own nefarious purposes.
You can add Ghost hand to your to-read list on Goodreads.
You can download Ghost Hand for free here:
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Ghost Hold (The PSS Chronicles #2)By Ripley Patton
Genre: Paranormal Thriller
Age category: Young Adult
Blurb:
Olivia Black is back.
Only this time she's not the one in need of rescue.
Samantha James, rich, popular, and an award-winning composer at age seventeen, is the next target on the CAMFers' list. In order to convince Samantha to come with them, Olivia and Passion must pose as cousins, blend into the most affluent high school in Indianapolis, and infiltrate a mysterious cult known as The Hold.
Olivia doesn't expect it to be easy, even with the PSS guys backing them up. But what she discovers over the course of the mission will call into question everything she ever believed about herself, her family, and especially about Marcus, the guy she is undoubtedly falling in love with.
You can add Ghost Hold to your to-read list on Goodreads.
You can buy Ghost Hold here:
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About the Author:
Ripley Patton lives in Portland, Oregon with one cat, two teenagers, and a man who wants to live on a boat. She is an award-winning short story writer and author of The PSS Chronicles, a young adult paranormal thriller series.
Ripley doesn't smoke, or drink, or cuss as much as her characters. Her only real vices are writing, eating M&Ms, and watching reality television.
You can find and contact Ripley here:
Website / Facebook / Twitter / Goodreads / Google +
15 Things You Didn't Know About the PSS Chronicles
- Ghost Hand took Ripley three years to write and went through seven revisions. It was originally in third person and was 120,000 words long.
- Ghost Hand is set in Ripley's hometown of Greenville, Illinois (called Greenfield in the book). Many of the locations in the book including Olivia's house, the cemetery, the ice house, the abandoned oil tankers/lumber camp, and the hospital are real places in Greenville.
- The idea for PSS was inspired by the real phenomenon of Phantom Limb Syndrome and Psyche Sans Soma is Greek for "Life without Flesh".
- Ripley Patton's best friend is a nurse and they spend hours discussing the medical and physical ramifications of PSS as if it were real.
- Because of number four, many readers and fans of the book think PSS is real and look it up on the internet to find out more about it.
- Much like Olivia Black, Ripley Patton lost a parent (her mother) to cancer when she was thirteen.
- In the original draft of Ghost Hand, there was an explanation as to why Marcus had so many orange Frisbees. In the final draft, the explanation was edited out. Only one reader has ever asked about the Frisbees.
- The horrible car/train collision that Marcus and Danielle survive as children is based on a real car/train collision Ripley's husband miraculously survived as a child. Her husband was clinically dead on the scene but was resuscitated by the next vehicle to come by which just happened to contain a doctor.
- Ghost Hold took Ripley seven months to write and only went through two revisions.
- The covers for Ghost Hold and Ghost Heart were designed by a different cover artist than Ghost Hand.
- Ripley delights in hiding Easter eggs in her novels of things she loves. For example, chapter six of Ghost Hold, Stealth R Us, is named after an alliance from Survivor Caramoan. Ripley is a huge reality television fan and Survivor is her favorite show.
- Most of the locations in Ghost Hold are real and were carefully researched. There really is a Shades of Death State Park, an Edgemont High (though with a different name) where they make Segways in their physics class, and Ripley has personally stayed in the McMansion.
- Ghost Heart is set in Oregon, where Ripley lives now. Again, most of the locations are places she has visited and researched carefully, including Warm Springs Reservation and Kah-Nee-Tah Resort. However, she has never been kept in The Roundhouse. She made that up.
- Ripley originally planned The PSS Chronicles to be a trilogy. However, now she knows there will be a fourth book coming out next year. Possibly the last in the series, but we'll all just have to wait and see.
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There is a tour wide giveaway. The prizes are as follows:
- a set of signed cover posters (US only)
- a $10 Amazon gift card (international)
For a chance to win, enter the rafflecopter below:
Booky Ramblings is not responsible for this giveaway.
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