Paige Agnew has
kindly agreed to guest post here about her work, and share her inspiration for becoming a writer in honor of her newest release,
Seven.
About The Author:
Paige wrote her first book, Starless Sky at age 15 and published it in January of 2010. Her second book, Seven, was published February 2011. Her sense of humor and from the heart personality shines through her writing. She was born in Michigan. Her compassion and sense of humor is in all of her writings. When Paige is not writing, she enjoys sports, dancing, singing, playing the piano, reading and attending her brother's football games. In addition, spending time with family, friends, and her dog, Tigger are important to her. She is also actively involved in her church and community. Paige is currently working on other books.
Guest Post:
My love for reading is what started my writing. As an obsessive reader, it only seems natural for the thought to cross my mind about writing. Even now, I find reading inspirational. If I ever find my writing a little…lackluster, the best solution is to pick of a good book and remember that inspiration. In the back of my head, I’m always thinking that I want people to feel the way about my books like I do about some of my favorites. I suppose that’s how it is with any art form. There’s inspiration and that inspiration leads to creation and that creation leads to expression when you share it with others.
I finished Seven the summer before my junior year of high school. I honestly don’t remember why exactly I started writing Seven. I can say that for a lot of my books, actually. It’s never anything specific. It was just a little idea here and there that continued to fester until I ended up with a plot. Before I started it, I knew I wanted to try my hand with a different genre, mystery. I wouldn’t say the book is flat out a mystery, but it’s mysterious in nature. I was also aiming for something spiritual, although the spiritually of it appears subtle.
One of my favorite aspects of the books is the romance. I think that for a lot of people, romance is a guilty pleasure. We’re a world driven by love. Why not? In Seven, there are a lot of unexpected romances, I think. There are some things you don’t see coming from the beginning. Right of the bat, there’s the obvious couple, Kale and Hazel who are both teenagers happy to spend the summer falling in love and that love is later put to the test with kidnapping. And…then there are two other couples, one in particular, I’m hesitant to talk about. The hard thing with Seven is that it’s nearly impossible to explain without giving too much away. There’s a lot the reader has to discover for themselves, but I will say that that one particular couple who I will not name, will definitely satisfy that guilty pleasure.
Seven:
Title: Seven: Seven Strangers One PurposeAuthor: Paige Agnew
Publication Date: February 10, 2011
Seven strangers.
Seven stories
One purpose.
One horrible thing in common-kidnapped. When seven people are pulled from their ordinary lives to be pawns in a madman's game of chess, the only way they will make it out alive is to put aside their differences and work together to escape to freedom.
One chance to not only save their lives, but to change them in ways they'd never even imagined possible.
Seven is a fiction, mystery, and suspense-thriller. Seven tells the story of seven people whose lives come together because of a kidnapper. The story of each individual is separate until the time they all come together, by force. Two characters are escaping an abusive childhood home. Another character is an attorney without much direction. Two other characters are teenagers in love. There is also a mom who specializes in taking care of everyone else. And, then there is a dark character who only wants to be left alone. In the book there are clues (or things that appear to be clues) that takes the reader on twists and turns, thus building the suspense. A common thread, as in Starless Sky, is self exploration among both the teens and the adults in the book. Each of the seven characters is forced to look at their own talents and lives in order to escape. Not
all of them are willing. So, will they all be freed from the grips of the kidnapper?
Find Seven Online:
Book Excerpt:
Hazel jumped when a tall man came up to her window and knocked with the very tip of his knuckle; he had a friendly smile on his face.
Friendly smile.
Such a lie.
Hazel could see that.
He obviously wanted her to roll down her window and she didn't know what to do. Now she wished she would have kept Kale on the phone because she was just so scared now. She felt stupid for feeling this way but she knew deep down in her gut, just knew something terrible was about to happen.
The guy knocked again, a little harder this time and Hazel didn't know what to do. It didn't seem safe to let down her window or open her door. You couldn't just trust everyone because there were some real crazy psychos out there. So she quickly formulated a plan in her head. Leave. It seemed like the safest option to put the car into drive and get away from where she was as soon as possible. No need to worry about being rude to the "friendly" smile.
She took a deep breath and wrapped her fingers around the gear shift but it was too late. She saw now that the guy by her window, the tailgater, it had all been just one big distraction. A trap. On the passenger side of the car someone had already broke in with a not so friendly smile. She was about to scream but the man reached over and grabbed her mouth. She kicked and pushed him off with all her might but it was no use. Clawing and scratching she fought and fought but in the end she wasn't strong enough.
They dragged her out of the car and threw her in the backseat of their own. She gave one last fight and was about to scream her lungs out before they knocked her unconscious. Her head hit against the window and that was the last thing she felt for a very long time.
She had no idea how much time had gone by when she woke up; more than anything else in the world she wanted to wake up screaming and crying over the awful nightmare. Her eyes opened and she hated the reality it all was.
Hazel had no idea where she was or why she was there. The walls were made of cement creating a dusky kind of atmosphere. She sat in the center of the room in a wooden chair; she was surprised to find she wasn't strapped down to it or anything like they did in the movies. However, the door was locked so it wasn't like she could make an escape anyway.
"What's her name?" A male voice outside the steel door asked.
She could hear the sound of someone flipping papers before answering, "Um, Hazel O'Connor."
How did they know that, she wondered, and more importantly, what do they want?
Her heart skipped a beat when the door creaked open slowly and a tall man walked in calmly. For some reason this surprised her...because the man just looked so average with brown hair and brown eyes like any person off the street. He was tall with a muscular body, slight beard growing on his chin. She didn't know what she had expected him to look like but something just seemed so weird about it.
He came until he was about a foot away from her when he kneeled down beside her and rested his hand on top of his knee. "Hazel, it is?"
She was too frozen with fear to even move. But if anything she would have rolled her eyes because she was positive he already knew what her name was.
He ignored her silence. "Well Hazel, I know you're scared, okay? But I promise if you just cooperate with us that you'll be fine. We won't hurt you if you're a good girl. I'm not going to lie, I'll tell you right now that we had to take care of a few other people who would not cooperate."
She swallowed hard and said in a quiet voice, "What do you mean by 'take care of'?"
He tried to smile warmly. "We just sedated them...nothing too harmful. They just couldn't calm down but you seem calm enough so we'll leave you conscious if you like." Then she couldn't hold back anymore. Silent tears fell from her cheeks, one after the other, faster and faster.
"I know you're scared and confused," he said softly. "But as soon as everyone else arrives, everything will be explained- well most of everything will be explained."
She could hardly listen to a word he said after that. She didn't care how nice this guy was trying to be because she didn't feel right about him. To her, he felt as awful as a black hole trying to suck the life out of her. He wasn't a good guy and she didn't have to be a rocket scientist to know that.
Hazel caught bits and pieces of what he was saying as he rambled on about the situation but as each second passed, her heart beat faster and faster. What about her parents? Were they looking for her? What about the cottage and the trip they were going to take? What about Kale? Kale. His name repeated again and again in her head to the point that her poor heart was working too hard. She didn't even realize it at first but she was having a panic attack. She was breathing heavily, gasping for air, sweat was forming on her forehead and now she felt a little dizzy.
The man stopped talking to cuss underneath his breath as if he knew this would happen. Suddenly he stood up and left out of the room and she calmed herself down enough to hear the conversation taking place outside the door.
"Well where am I supposed to put this one?" A female voice asked.
"Hit her with some of the heavier drugs." The man she had just been talking to ordered. "We don't want her waking up until we're organized."
The woman chuckled. "So this one is special, huh?"
"Dangerous is more like it," he mumbled and she heard his footsteps getting closer.
Virtual Book Tour Schedule:
Seven Virtual Book Tour Schedule September 12 - October 30, 2011
Happy reading until next time!
