"Gated"

Amy Christine Parker writes full-time from her home near Tampa, Florida, where she lives with her husband, their two daughters, and one ridiculously fat cat.

Parker applied the Page 69 Test to her new YA novel, Gated, and reported the following:

From page 69:

“Dance with me,” Will says from above me. He offers me his hand and I groan.

Marie giggles. “This should be good.”

I’m a horrible dancer. It isn’t that I don’t like the music or feel the rhythm. It’s that to do it well, you have to be able to let go, get lost in the song and feel it inside you. I’m not sure I’m built to let go of anything, no matter what it is. Ever. Letting go is as foreign to me as thinking things through is to Marie.

Will puts his hand on the small of my back, his thumb lightly stroking my pajama top. He takes me out into the grass. The moon silvers his blond hair, making him look almost distinguished, mature. He twirls me around in a slow circle. I grip one of his hands and the opposite shoulder so tight it has to be uncomfortable for him, but I can’t make myself relax.

“Just let me lead you, okay?” he whispers, his eyes strangely soft in the moonlight. The way he’s looking at me makes me shiver. There’s a hunger to his gaze. He pulls me closer, his chin resting lightly on my hair. I concentrate on not stepping on his feet so I don’t have to think about how close he is to me.

“Not a complete disaster. Good, Lyla!” Marie calls over Brian’s shoulder. She looks perfectly content. Once Brian finally slimmed down and muscled up, she fell for him hard. It shows in the way she looks at him now.

Marie and Brian are dancing too. I watch as she moves in his arms. It’s hard not to watch her when she dances.

This page is representative of my book in some aspects. It shows my main character, Lyla’s, relationships with her friends and her observant nature. But I fear that by skimming just this page any reader would assume that the book is a romance at its core when really, the romantic bits are few and far between. This book is primarily a psychological thriller. The story focuses on Lyla’s feelings about her Community, its leader, Pioneer, and his predictions about the end of the world. Creepy and unsettling are words I would use to describe the book. This passage is more romantic and wistful.

Learn more about the book and author at Amy Christine Parker's blog and website.

--Marshal Zeringue