Today I get the honor of kicking of the blog tour for Jennifer Rush’s Altered. Each of the blogs on the tour has been assigned a character (Nick, Cas, Trev, Sam and Anna) and Jennifer has shared her thoughts on each character based on a selected excerpt from the book. So first, a bit more about the book:
When you can’t trust yourself, who can you believe?
Everything about Anna’s life is a secret. Her father works for the Branch at the helm of its latest project: monitoring and administering treatments to the four genetically altered boys in the lab below their farmhouse. There’s Nick, Cas, Trev . . . and Sam, who’s stolen Anna’s heart. When the Branch decides it’s time to take the boys, Sam stages an escape, killing the agents sent to retrieve them.
Anna is torn between following Sam or staying behind in the safety of her everyday life. But her father pushes her to flee, making Sam promise to keep her away from the Branch, at all costs. There’s just one problem. Sam and the boys don’t remember anything before living in the lab—not even their true identities.
Now on the run, Anna soon discovers that she and Sam are connected in more ways than either of them expected. And if they’re both going to survive, they must piece together the clues of their past before the Branch catches up to them and steals it all away.
Sounds amazing, yes? It totally is. Check back tomorrow for my review! And now on to the good stuff! I’m kicking off the tour with a little insight to the ever-mysterious Nick! Check out the excerpt and then Jennifer’s thoughts. She totally shares a secret with us! Also, I promise it’s not spoilery!
Altered excerpt:
“It’s hard to protect yourself when you don’t even know who you are or why you were part of the program to begin with.”
Nick pushed off the tree with one foot and set his steely blue eyes on me. “I might not remember who I was before all this, but I can bet it wasn’t all sunshine and f——g roses.”
The hard edges of his scowl softened, but just barely. Seeing an opening, I said, “Your parents might be out there somewhere, looking for you.”
“Or maybe not. Maybe they never cared to begin with.” (Altered, page 109)
Jennifer’s Thoughts:
I have a secret — Nick is my favorite of the Altered boys. DON’T TELL THE OTHERS!
In all seriousness, when I first started writing Altered, I was totally, crazily in love with Sam. He was the whole reason I started writing the book, but later, after it sold, and while revising it, Nick started to change. This scene was one of the ones I wrote later on (I think while revising with my agent, if I remember correctly). I wanted to show a tiny crack in Nick’s hardened exterior, and give readers an idea of what he was thinking without him coming right out and saying it. Nick is not the type of character to be forthcoming with his feelings!
First, at the beginning of this excerpt, Anna makes the presumption that Nick doesn’t remember anything about his life before the lab. In truth, he’s had a few memory flashes, nothing concrete, but enough to tell him his past life isn’t worth recovering. When Anna notes that his scowl softens, he’s thinking about the few glimpses he has had, and he’s realizing that eventually it will come back, and he will have to face the pain. It frightens him. And furthermore, he doesn’t want Anna, or any one for that matter, to know how terrified he is. Which is exactly why I fell for him. HARD. Nick is just a boy running from his past, and he can hear the footsteps pounding behind him.
I delve a little deeper into his past in book 2, and I’m super excited for readers to see even more of him!
Oh man. I am so excited for book two! Can’t wait to see where it all goes and learn more about Nick. Out of all the boys in the book I feel like I know him the least. Thanks to Jennifer for stopping by and giving us more insight into his life.
Check out the rest of the ALTERED BLOG TOUR:
Also, because I loved this book so much and it was the first book I read this year (way to start the year off right!) I’m giving a copy away! US only. Must be 13 or older to win. Use the rafflecopter below to enter:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Leave a Reply