by Cheryl Rainfield
Tagline: Sometimes you have to be your own hero.
About Stained:
Seventeen-year-old Sarah Meadows covers the walls of her bedroom with images of beautiful faces she clips from magazines—and longs for “normal.” Born with a port-wine stain covering half her face, all her life she’s been plagued by stares, giggles, bullying, and disgust. Why can’t she be like Diamond, the comic-book hero she created? Diamond would never let the insults in. That’s harder for Sarah.
But when she’s abducted on the way home from school, Sarah is forced to uncover the courage she never knew she had. Can she look beyond her face to find the beauty and strength she has inside, somehow becoming a hero rather than a victim? It’s the only way Sarah will have any chance of escaping the prison—both seen and unseen—that this deranged killer has placed around her.
“Powerful. I raced through it, wanting to know if Sarah would find a way to escape both her captor and her self-doubts. A real nail-biter! “
- April Henry, New York Times-bestselling author of The Girl Who Was Supposed to Die
“A compelling, gutting, and ultimately triumphant read. You won't want to stop turning pages -- Or blink. Or breathe. -- until you reach the very last one.”
-Jennifer Brown, award-winning author of Hate List
“STAINED is dark, tense and gripping; a triumph of one girl's heart, soul and will to survive. Sarah's strength during her descent into terror kept me reading way past bedtime! “
-Laura Wiess, critically acclaimed author of Such a Pretty Girl
Excerpt:
He plans to keep me here. Something snaps in my mind, and I go at the door like I’m crazed, slamming into it with my body, not caring about the way it jars my teeth, my bones, hurts my shoulder. I batter the door, clawing and kicking and screaming until I’m sobbing with exhaustion.
I sink to the floor, trembling and feeling sick. I hurt all over, I have to pee, and I am intensely thirsty.
Don’t let me die here. Please. I never got to say goodbye. Never got to tell Mom I’m sorry, tell Dad how lucky I am to have him for a father. A whimper wrenches its way out of my throat. . . .
From the author:
Like I did with SCARS and HUNTED, I drew on some of my own experiences of bullying, abuse, and trauma to write STAINED and to give it greater emotional depth. Like Sarah in STAINED, I experienced abduction, imprisonment, periods of forced starvation, mind control, and having my life threatened. And like Sarah, I tried hard to fight against my abuser, keep my own sense of self, and escape. I hope readers will see Sarah's strength and courage, and appreciate her emotional growth as she reclaims herself.
Amazon (hardcover) (you can get an email when available)
Amazon (kindle)
Amazon.ca (hardcover)
Amazon.ca (ebook)
Amazon.co.uk (hardcover)
Amazon.co.uk (ebook)
Powell's
Books a Million
I love both this cover and the original one. If you're curious to see the original cover you can check it out here.
Books a Million
I love both this cover and the original one. If you're curious to see the original cover you can check it out here.
Ohhh, I love this cover! And it sounds really interesting! Pretty original!
ReplyDeleteLooks like Cheryl may have hit another one out of the park :-)
ReplyDeleteI agree!
DeleteI just downloaded this one because of your tweets!
ReplyDeleteAwesome! I'm glad you decided to download it :)
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