Take a Road Trip to the Smokies
HELLO, FELLOW BOOKNERDS!
Thanks for joining me at my stop for Entangled Teen’s Road Tripping BlogHop! My stop–where my recent book GLOW OF THE FIREFLIES takes place–is the Great Smoky Mountains!
I love the mountains! Especially the Smokies. There’s something truly otherworldly about them. When I set out to write this book, I wanted to include as much real world information about the Smokies as I could. So I went on a mini-tour through them and learned a lot of really interesting facts that I wove into my book (while also connecting it to the magical in my world). For example, did you know…?
- There is a species of fireflies that synchronize their lighting patterns.
- The rivers and creeks in the Smokies are a consistent sixty degrees most of the year.
- The Tuckaleechee Caverns in the Smokies hosts the most sensitive seismic station on Earth.
- The “Blue Smoke” of the Smokies is actually vapor from the vegetation that is released and the molecules that make up the gas scatter blue light from the sky.
About Glow of the Fireflies…
Briony Redwrell is missing the first ten years of her life.
No one is able to explain how or why the fire that stole her memories began or how she even survived, but when Briony returns to her old home in the Smoky Mountains to take care of an aging grandparent, she finds the only clue to her past she’s ever had in six years…a nature spirit.
And she won’t let him slip away.
Enjoy a Quick Excerpt!
His hand closed around mine on his shirt, slowly, gently, prying my fingers away from the fabric. “You shouldn’t be here, Briony,” he said. His voice had lost its edge. There was no angry undertone, just one of deep despair.
At the sound of my name, which I’d never said to him, my fingers loosened, and he slipped away. While I stood there, shocked, he fled from the house, through the scorched, cracked doorway. I didn’t snap out of it until he jumped from the slanting porch.
I went after him. “Wait!”
His warning burned through me like the fire that had destroyed this house. He knows my name and I never told him.
He was the clue. He was the piece that I didn’t know I’d been searching for.
And I wouldn’t let him get away.
His feet pounded against the pathway as he headed into the surrounding woods, and I jumped from the porch and followed. There was no clear path through the trees, but the boy didn’t seem to care. It was as if he made his own path, weaving his way between the basswood trees and cutting through the sweetshrub, wild hydrangea, and the tall deerberry bushes.
I ran as fast as I could, ignoring the bushes and undergrowth as well, my steps mirroring his and following the path he crafted. His speed felt almost inhuman, or that of an Olympic gold medalist. But the strangest thing was that I somehow kept up. I gained on him, and felt the air shift around me, as if I’d just entered into a sort of slipstream.
I’d learned the term in a science class—it was the area behind a moving object in which the state of matter around it sped at the same velocity. The very air around him was moving as fast as he was. And I was caught inside—inside the slipstream—with the air bending around us.
Wind rippled through my shirt and shorts, while branches whacked and scraped at my bare arms and legs. Going at this speed was impossible—should have been impossible.
The minute I’d realized it, my body seemed to reject the physics of the slipstream and my own momentum. My feet slowed and the boy disappeared ahead of me. I could no longer keep up. Like a deer escaping a mountain lion, he moved too fast and too gracefully. He disappeared into the forest in a matter of seconds, and I came to a dead stop, my pulse going wild.
“Oh, c’mon!” I shouted into the trees, bending over and placing my palms on my knees.
Swearing under my breath, I waited for my asthma to punish me for sprinting, but it never did. The mountain air that filled my lungs was sweet, and clean. Every breath I took, I waited for it to turn against me, but it didn’t.
Smoothing my hair away from my forehead and sweaty cheeks, I stared in the direction he disappeared and then noticed something odd.
The trees looked different.
The whole forest did.
It…glowed.
Giveaway Details
On Wednesday, March 25th there will be a final trip to Entangled Teen’s Facebook page. From 6pm PST/ 9pm EST Entangled Teen authors will be answering questions from readers and generally having a blast! It’s there we will pick the winners of this event’s giveaway!
Here is what I will be giving away…
- A signed copy of Glow of the Fireflies
- $10 Amazon Gift Card
(US only – sorry!)
Your Next Road Trip Stops:
Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out the rest of the road tripping destinations! 😉