KayCee K. : October 2017

Today Adrienne Kisner and Rockstar Book Tours are revealing the cover and an exclusive excerpt for DEAR RACHEL MADDOW, which releases June 5, 2018! Check out the gorgeous cover and enter to win an ARC!

On to the reveal!

Title: DEAR RACHEL MADDOW

Author: Adrienne Kisner

Pub. Date: June 5, 2018

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Formats: Hardcover, eBook

Pages: 400

Find it: Amazon, B&N, TBD, Goodreads

Sixteen-year-old Brynn Harper’s life has one steadying force—Rachel Maddow. She watches her daily, and after writing to Rachel for a school project—and actually getting a response—Brynn starts drafting emails to Rachel but never sending them. It’s an outlet; Brynn tells Rachel about breaking up with Sarah, her first serious girlfriend, about her beloved brother Nick’s death, her passive mother and even worse stepfather, about how she’s stuck in remedial courses at school and is considering dropping out.

But then Brynn is confronted with a moral dilemma. She learns that one student representative will be allowed to have a voice among teachers and administrators in the selection of a new school superintendent. Sarah, along with Brynn’s arch-nemesis John, believe only honors students worthy of the selection committee seat. Brynn knows they are more interested in power and perks. Brynn feels all students deserve a voice. When she runs for the position the knives are out and her brother’s memory and her new crush Michaela are shamed. Brynn asks herself: What would Rachel Maddow do?

Exclusive Excerpt!

Folder: Sent

To: egrimm@westing.pa.edu

From: Brynnieh0401@gmail.com

Date: September 10

Subject: School Assignment

Dear Rachel Maddow,

I am writing to you because of a school assignment. It’s a totally lame reason to be writing, but I don’t think you’ll actually read it anyway. This kind of thing is so sixth grade. I am a junior in high school and I’ve been forced to write to a “celebrity hero” by the Applied Language Arts teacher. (Hey Mr. Grimm! How’s it hanging, buddy?) I wasn’t going to do it, because my ex-girlfriend worships you and, hello, school assignment. But I turned on your show and Mom totally freaked out to see me watching you. Apparently your liberal and leftist views don’t sit well with her. Mom spat out the words like she was talking about my dad, so I knew she meant it. That made you my celebrity hero.

You were talking about some guys running for congress. But then you said one of them was “freaking amazing.” I don’t think news people are supposed to say things like that. And isn’t that biased? News people aren’t supposed to be biased. I know this because Mr. Grimm made us watch this video about newswriting. Though no one else knows this about me, Rachel Maddow, I have a near photographic memory for stuff people say. Their words just stick in my brain. So I remember what a reporter is supposed to do.

Anyway, thanks for pissing off my Mom.

Sincerely,

Brynn Harper

Folder: Sent

To: Brynnieh0401@gmail.com

From: Egrimm@westing.pa.edu

Date: September 11

Subject: RE: School Assignment

Dear Rachel Maddow,

I am writing to you because of a school assignment. ~~It’s a totally lame reason to be writing, but I don’t think you actually read them anyway.~~ ~~This kind of thing is so sixth grade.~~ [Brynn, this is good, honest writing. Can you try to put a positive spin on it?] I am a junior in high school and I’ve been ~~forced~~ [asked] to write to a “celebrity hero” by the Applied Language Arts teacher. ~~(Hey Mr. Grimm! How’s it hanging, buddy?)~~ [I’m doing well, thanks. But you can take this out.] ~~I wasn’t going to do it, because my ex-girlfriend worships you and, hello, school assignment.~~ And Mom totally freaked out to see me watching you. Apparently your liberal and leftist views still don’t sit well with her. Mom spat out the words like she was talking about my Dad, so I knew she meant it. So that made you my celebrity hero. [Again, great personal touch. But maybe too intimate for this correspondence?]

You were talking about the people running for congress. But then you said one of them was “freaking amazing.” And I don’t think news people are supposed to say things like that. And isn’t that biased? News people aren’t supposed to be biased. I know this because Mr. Grimm, my English teacher, made us watch this video about newswriting. Though no one else knows this about me, Rachel Maddow, I have a photographic memory for stuff people say. Their words just stick in my brain. So I remember what a reporter is supposed to be. [You are right, Brynn! I didn’t know that about you. Shouldn’t you remember your assignments, then?]

~~Anyway, thanks for pissing off my Mom~~. [There is a list of questions I asked you to include. Maybe you could end with that instead.]

Sincerely,

Brynn Harper

Folder: Sent

To: Egrimm@westing.pa.edu

Cc: Rachel@msnbc.com

From: Brynnieh0401@gmail.com

Date: September 12

Subject: School Assignment Again

Dear Rachel Maddow,

I learned an important lesson about rough drafts. If you really want to send someone a letter, you should just send it. Do not turn it in to your English teacher first. But Mr. Grimm (said English teacher) is the only person I know who doesn’t think I’m hopeless, so I am trying this again for his sake. Though I’m sending it to you too, to avoid further editing.

My name is Brynn Harper and I am sixteen years old. I live with my mother and stepfather in Westing, Pennsylvania. I have a brother, too. Or, I had one, anyway.

I first watched your show a couple of times in high school because my best friend (well, okay, my girlfriend) loved you, so she kind of dragged me along with her. She’s not my girlfriend anymore. And she said she didn’t have time to watch television anymore either, even for you. So she dumped us both. That gives us something in common.

I had a list of questions that I was supposed to ask you, but I got most of the answers online already. Mr. Grimm suggested I think of new ones. So here you go:

1. When you look at the papers on your desk and circle something, are you really reading from them? Don’t you read from a teleprompter? When you go to commercial, you shuffle those papers, too. Seriously, is there anything even written on them?

2. How much does a person have to know to be considered a “wonk?”

3. At least one person laughs in the background while you are talking. Is this on purpose? Who is that?

4. Why don’t you run for political office?

5. Is there ever a staff meeting when you think to yourself, “Huh, there really isn’t a lot going on in the news today.”

6. How many pairs of shoes do you actually own?

About Adrienne:

I have lived my entire “adult” life in a college dormitory working in both Residence Life and college chaplaincy. I like the term "dormitory" better than "residence hall." I went to school for a long time so that now I get to swoop around in a fancy robe and silly hat (like at Hogwarts). I have an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts (a place like Hogwarts). I play both the viola and tennis with more heart than skill. I love my current home in Boston but will always be a Pennsylvanian at heart.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Giveaway Details:

2 winners will receive an ARC of DEAR RACHEL MADDOW, US Only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Armed with what she considers her grandmother’s curse, 15-year-old Rosa agrees to help the ghost of King Tut find his lost queen Hesena. Thrust back into Ancient Egypt with Tut, Rosa discovers that finding Hesena is not all she must do. She must keep out of the reach of the living Horemheb - who crosses mortal boundaries using Seth’s evil magic - if she is to stay alive to make it back home.

Sons of the Sphinx snippets

No way am I that crazy.

“ ‘Touch me, Roosa. You will see I’m real enough.’

Touch him? Is he as crazy as I am? Okay, so I’m going to touch him, just for my own peace of mind.

I reach out my hand, fingers extended, trying to reach him but not move from the wall. A crooked smile appears on his face. He takes a couple of steps forward, reaches out and touches me.

Lightning heat shoots out from him, races up my arm, switches direction and dives into my stomach. I snatch my hand back and grab my belly with both hands. The burning sensation knocks my knees out from under me. I slump to the floor, still leaning on the wall. The room spins, and my head swims. Tears mixed with stars blur my vision so there is no focusing. Not enough air in here; my chest tightens as if the lungs inside are ready to explode.”

Dead?

A shout from behind makes me turn. Tut is running after me, but it is not his voice that ignites the terror in my heart. It is mine screaming to hold on to life.

“No. No. NO!”

The force of the explosion flings me through the air like a rag doll. By the time I pick my head up a dense cloud of dust engulfs me. Too late I cover my face.

I’m choking, can’t breathe, can’t see! I’m dying!

Arms encircle my chest pulling me backwards. My legs scrape painfully across the debris- covered granite floor. Another pair of arms lifts my legs. Floating. That’s what it’s like. Dying is like floating on air.

My body touches solid ground. Voices, whispers really, penetrate my clogged brain. I hope this is heaven.

Without warning, I start coughing and gagging. My brain screams at me. “Fight! Breathe!”

The Queen Speaks

No way! “Hey, Tut. This sphinx still has its nose. This isn’t The Sphinx.”

“What are you saying, Roosa? Come and help me clear the sand away from the stele.” “I said, this isn’t The Sphinx. It still has its nose.”

“Of course, it has a nose. That’s the way it was made.”

“No. You don’t understand,” I protest. “The Sphinx in my time has no nose. It’s been broken off for centuries.”

Tut casts me a perplexed look. A tingling sensation goes through me like when you touch your tongue to the two terminals of a battery. “Come, Roosa. We need to unbury the stele.”

I follow blindly, still looking at the undamaged face of the Sphinx. It’s definitely more striking to see it in one piece.

“People have always wondered what happened to it,” I say more to myself than to Tut. “Guess I won’t find out now.”

It is only as I help Tut scoop the sand away from the top edge of the stele that I realize the sand has drifted and blown all around the Sphinx, burying it up to its neck in places. No wonder it appears smaller.

“The desert always reclaims its own, even mighty Pharaohs.”

I jerk my head up searching for the voice. I glance at Tut, but he continues to dig.

My hands wrap themselves around my stomach. The nausea’s coming back. It is her. It is Ankhesenamun.

“It is all right, Rosa. Here in my homeland I find communication easier for short moments.”

Tut stops digging, his eyes glued on me. “Please, Rosa. Show him I still love and support him.”

Confused, I start to question her, but like an avalanche, the answer bursts into my mind.

The picture at home in my room. The two of them. Her longing sits heavy in the pit of my stomach. Unable to do anything else, I nod ever so slightly. Then, with Tut’s expression still questioning, I reach out and touch him as she does in the picture. Energy flows down my arm into my fingertips. Tut grips my hand and presses it to his heart.

Sons of the Sphinx Playlist

1. Walk like an Egyptian by The Bangles

2. Hunger by Of Monsters and Men

3. King and Lionheart by Of Monsters and Men

4. The Darkest Hour by Howard Shore (The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies)

5. America by Simon and Garfunkel

AUTHOR BIO

I am a retired high school English teacher. A devourer of books growing up, my profession introduced me to writings and authors from times long past. Through my studies and teaching, I fell in love with the Ancient and Medieval Worlds. Now, I hope to inspire young readers and those Young-at-Heart to read more through my Tales & Legends for Reluctant Readers set in these worlds.