Haunted Chemistry
Lindsey
Loucks
Genre: Par
ISBN: 9781622662982
ISBN: 9781622662982
Book Description:
When bookish college co-ed
Alexis heads to the laundry room in her new apartment, she runs into Ian Reese,
the chem lab partner she crushed on all last semester. And the guy who stood
her up on their first date. But she’s down for an awkward reunion, and no
better place than her creepy laundry room.
Ian has every intention of
making amends, but just when Alexis begins to trust him again, a new threat
calls more than their future together into question. A ghost from the
apartment’s past is hellbent on revenge, and if he wants to get his girl, he’ll
have to get the ghost first.
Guest
Blog: Thrills & Chills While Doing Laundry
(Wait. What?)
(Wait. What?)
By
Lindsey R. Loucks
Instead of taking one of the
buses speeding through campus during my college career, I always walked, my
gaze aimed at the ground for anything shiny and round. If I found treasure in
the form of a quarter, it was well worth the few bumps on the head or rude
comments I got from not looking where I was going. Like most college students,
I was poor.
But I became a pretty
successful quarter tracker, and when I’d find one, I’d add it to my carefully
stacked pile with the hope I’d have enough to do laundry soon. With all that
walking around campus, there were days when I came home smelling a tad ripe.
The washers and dryers were
located on the basement floor of my apartment building, and let’s just say that
going down there, alone, was the equivalent of walking into a dragon dungeon
with my arms loaded with raw meat. That’s what it felt like anyway.
Storage cupboards took up the
far wall that led from the stairs to the laundry area, each one about three
feet long and three feet wide. Sometimes one of them would be open a crack. The
single overhead light only cast a faint orange glow, deepening the shadows
inside that open cupboard to an inky black.
Whenever I’d see one of those
open cupboards, I’d stop in my tracks while my imagination tumbled over
everything that could be lurking inside. Usually the things I imagined involved
segmented legs, machetes, Brazilian poison dart frogs, porcelain dolls, or a
combination of all of the above, just waiting to spring out.
My pulse racing, I’d give my
laundry bag a squeeze and check to make sure I still had my quarters. Then,
with my breath held, I’d race past the open cupboard, dump all my clothes into
the washer, throw in some soap, push my quarters into the slots, start the
machine, and sprint back out before I’d used up all the stored air in my lungs.
It was such a rush! It made
laundry day pretty much the best day ever! Of course, I’ve always lived for
that pump of adrenaline that fear gives me. I watch scary movies alone in the
dark by myself on purpose. I guess I’m weird like that.
On one of my trips to the
laundry room, my boyfriend’s brother went with me (I can’t remember why
exactly, but I may have told him about the spooky basement). When he saw the
wall of cupboards, his exact words were, “A serial killer stores his victims in
these, huh?”
And that’s when I stopped doing
laundry in that apartment building. Nah, just kidding. I still did. Remember
that adrenaline rush thing I was talking about? Yep.
All of this was the fuel I
needed to eventually write Haunted Chemistry. Who knew laundry could be so
delightfully scary?
How about you? What’s the most
interesting thing that’s happened to you while doing laundry? Have you ever
done laundry in a particularly frightening place?
Excerpt:
“Uh, Alexis?”
My name on his
tongue sounds amazing, but I try not to notice. I turn, the bulk of my laundry
bag holding the door open for me. “What?”
He swallows
and glances at his black boots. “It’s great to see you again.”
I nod. It’s
great to see him, too, but I’m not the one who didn’t show up for our date at
the end of last semester and who vanished for an entire summer with no
explanation. Maybe he forgot about our non-date, because he sure isn’t trying
to explain himself. But why didn’t he call to tell me he wouldn’t be coming
instead of making me wait for him?
My bag bites
its weight into my shoulder. When I shift it to the other one, the door creaks
closed in Ian’s face. I wince. I didn’t mean for that to happen.
“Well.” He
frowns through the broken squares in the window. “See you.”
“Yeah.” With a
sigh, I watch him walk away. I’ve missed our group study sessions where we’d
always sit next to each other and accidentally nudge each other’s knee or foot.
I’ve missed how easy it is to be with him. I’ve missed him. He doesn’t seem
like the type who wouldn’t call to say he couldn’t make it. But he didn’t.
Lindsey R. Loucks works as a
school librarian in rural Kansas. When she’s not discussing books with anyone
who will listen, she’s dreaming up her own stories. Eventually her brain gives
out, and she’ll play hide and seek with her cat, put herself in a chocolate
induced coma, or watch scary movies alone in the dark to reenergize.
She’s been with her significant
other for almost two decades.
Enter The Giveaway Here:
$50 gift card. Winner’s choice of Amazon or B&N
No comments :
Post a Comment