I cannot express my gratitude to everyone who participated by either hosting or following my blog tour last week. The Entertaining Angels blog tour was hosted by close to fifteen blogs, and I LOVED each and every one of the interviews, posts, and reviews that were published. If you missed them, don’t worry; you can re-read all of them here.
Even the 99cent sale was a success! I’m thrilled to announce that Entertaining Angels finally ranked in an Amazon category. It’s now a best-seller in the: Teen & Young Adult > Literature & Fiction > Religious and Teen & Young Adult > Religion & Spirituality. I know it’s not much, but it’s something. I can’t call myself a NYT best-seller yet, but one day… one day…
So, I thank you again for supporting me and my book. I may not be famous, but I do know that my message is getting out to people. Even at church, they’ve been talking about my book. (I found that out Sunday night from my pastor!) So, the message is a strong one, and I hope that everyone takes the time to read it. Even if they borrow it from a friend. I don’t care about the sales, although I won’t lie. They’d be nice. But, I’d rather lose money and one person realize their worth than make millions of dollars off of it. If I can help one person, that means more to me than money. I just want everyone to be comfortable in their own skin.
Here’s an excerpt from Entertaining Angels. Just in case you still want to know more about the book before committing to buy or read it.
Ashley Woods and her crew, including Zach, Leena, Raven and Katelyn, were standing in the middle of the hallway, talking and laughing about something. Probably me. I put my head down and maneuvered around them, accidentally bumping into Ashley in the process.
“Sorry,” I mumbled and hurried on.
“Watch it, cow,” she said, and everyone in her group laughed. Raven, Leena, and Katelyn bit back their laugher–at least for the time being. I ignored them and blinked back the tears that now stung my eyes.
Chase said, “Shut it, Barbie. At least she has a figure. You look like a really skinny man. No boobs. No butt. Sexy.”
She narrowed her eyes and glared at Chase. He shouldn’t have stood up for me. Now he would be a victim of her attacks as well.
“At least I don’t knock people over in the hallways when I walk by,” she said, placing her hands on her hips and smiling smugly at me. “I can practically feel the earth move when she passes by.”
“You wh– .”
“Chase,” I cut him off before he said something that we would all regret. This was so unlike him. He’d never called anyone names before. He was too good a person. “Don’t worry about it.”
He looked at me like I’d slapped him. “I’m gonna worry about it, Mads. She hasn’t got the right to talk about you like that. None of them do.”
Zach, the new guy, stepped up and said, “He’s right. No one should talk to you like that. Ever. You’re absolutely beautiful. Any girl would be lucky to have the body that you do.”
I gawked at him. I’m sure my mouth was hanging open, but had this tall, handsome guy actually just called me beautiful? Did he mean it, or was this part of their joke? Was this Ashley’s doing?
“I told you,” Chase whispered, walking closer to me and wrapping his arm around my waist protectively. A little louder, he said, “Come on, Mads. Let’s go. These people aren’t worth our time.”
I let him pull me away. Zach continued to watch me as we walked away. What was going on here? Why was he even talking to me? Heck, why was he calling me beautiful? Their laughter chased after me, pushing the thoughts of what Zach had said down. It was all a joke.
“Are you okay?” Chase asked as we stood beside his truck. When had we gotten here? He pulled me into a tight hug, and I rested my head on his chest, letting his rhythmic breathing calm me.
“I’m fine.”
“Will you quit lying to me? I know you aren’t.”
“Then why did you even ask?” I looked up into his worried gaze.
“Because I was hoping that you would finally open up to me. I guess that ain’t happening.” His voice told me he was hurt by my actions, and he let me go. I, immediately, missed the feel of his arms around me, protecting and calming me.
Chase opened the door for me, and I slid in, setting my bag at my feet. He entered the truck soon after and pulled out of the parking lot, driving away from the torture I had just endured.
“Chase, you know how I feel,” I said, finally, hoping to fix what had just happened between us. I didn’t like the thought of hurting him. “And I don’t like being called a cow.”
“No one does,” he said.
Tears rolled down my cheeks, and he reached out and took hold of my hand. “Her opinion doesn’t matter though,” he said.
“But it does. People listen to her, and if she starts making fun of me, everyone else will too. I am a fat cow.”
“Madison Leanne Andrews, you are not a fat cow. Just because you don’t look like a stick doesn’t mean you aren’t beautiful. Don’t judge yourself by their standards. They’re obviously wrong.”
I shook my head. “You don’t understand Chase. You don’t know what it feels like to be judged because you aren’t thin.”
“You’re right. I don’t, but I understand what it’s like to be a guy, and I know what they like. These guys, if they’re honest, like girls like you. Curvy. But because they’re being judged too, they date the girls who aren’t, those who are magazine standards. But secretly, they’re wishing they were dating someone like you.”
Someone like me? A size twenty-two with wide hips, a muffin top, and flabby arms?
“You’re just trying to make me feel better.” I clasped the straps of my backpack tightly in my hand.
“I’m telling you the truth. Andy and I have talked about it. We like curvy women.”
I shook my head. If this was true, in order to get a boyfriend, I’d have to find someone who didn’t care what others thought of them. That was going to be difficult. Everyone cared what others thought, even if they said they didn’t. No one wanted to be hated or looked at in disgust. I could attest to that.
“Why aren’t you saying anything?” he asked, probably unable to take the silence much longer.
“There’s nothing to say.” My voice was hoarse, and I cleared my throat.
“You don’t believe me, do you?” Chase looked at me briefly, but in that one glance I saw how much he wished I did believe him.
“I want to,” I said, being honest, “but it’s too hard.”
“I’ll keep working on you. I won’t let you doubt yourself.”
“Good luck.” I rolled my eyes. I wasn’t so sure he could do that.
“Don’t need it. I have every confidence that I’ll be able to. Plus, I have God on my side.”
I shook my head. “If you say so.” God probably couldn’t even change my mind about this.
I didn’t see how he’d be able to change my mind, but I’d let him have that belief. Eventually, he’d see the truth. I couldn’t change who I was, even if I lost weight.
For more information on Entertaining Angels, you can check out these buy links:
Amazon US: http://bit.ly/EntertainingAngelsAm
Amazon UK: http://bit.ly/EntertainingAngelsAMUK
Barnes and Noble: http://bit.ly/EntertainingAngelsBN
Kobo: http://bit.ly/EntertainingAngelsKobo
Dreaming Awake 