Today I am very excited to bring you all a deleted scene from Amanda Troyer's debut YA novel, Harrow.
This definitely seems like the perfect book for those who are into psychological thrillers!
The cover is definitely eerie enough to make you at least check out the synopsis and that will have you wanting to read it asap! I obviously got to read the deleted scene before posting it for you guys and let me tell you, it is CREEPY! I got goose bumps just from reading this small scene and it isn't even in the final copy of the book. Imagine what is in there in it's place!
So, check out the synopsis and read the deleted scene to see what you're in store for.
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Synopsis:
Sixteen-year-old Brenna doesn't believe her vivid imagination
can hurt her, until she wakes up in a church, covered in blood.
Blood that isn't hers.
She thinks her life can't get much worse, but when she finally
finds a way to escape her abusive home, her imagination turns
to nightmarish hallucinations.
Niven likes staying inside the abandoned church, hiding from his
violent father. The two bond through art and misery, but Brenna
knows good things in her life don't last long.
Her delusions take a horrific turn when she thinks she sees two men
gruesomely murdered by a monster in the church basement, but in
the end, she’s the one with blood on her hands.
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Releases August 27th, 2014!!
Available for Preorder:
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Deleted Scene:
Authors Note: I didn't have too much extra in this book, so I was surprised to randomly find a few hundred words I wrote and cut. I now have a similar scene in place of this one, and a version of this scene elsewhere in the book. It didn't feel right where I had it for some reason. If you read the book and are curious about where this would be, it’s the section break in Chapter 21.
“Miss Brenna?” I look up, toward the end of the driveway, where a little girl with a black bob stands. A handful of books—too big to possibly be carried by such a small thing—towering in her hands.
“Reagan?” I walk down the driveway, and her little eyes light up in surprise.
“You remember me!”
“Of course,” I say as we start walking in the direction of the library. “We're friends, remember?”
She smiles.
“Are you taking those back already?”
Her smile falls on one side, and morphs into a cute smirk. “Nope.” She looks up at me. “I am going to my secret hideout to read without Tanner bothering me.”
“Sounds like fun.” I rub at my eyes to remove all the remnants of unnecessary feelings. “Have a good time.”
“Come with me?” She skips ahead of me, and looks back over her little shoulder.
I’m not sure I want to spend an afternoon making small talk with a life-loving child, but unpleasant memories of being a lonely little kid put me into mentor mode. I follow her off the sidewalk into the woods lining the park. The grass is up to my knees tickling at my ankles and shins as we walk, but Reagan doesn't seem to mind, she just hikes forward on a mission to a safe place to escape her reality.
“How far is it?” I ask after a couple feet into the trees. They sway above my head in the wind, reminding me of the skyscrapers, torturing me with that lost feeling of freedom. I’ve tried to recall that particular emotion all day, but haven’t been able to get it just right again. Instead it just keeps tearing a bigger hole into my soul, reminding me that I’m probably chained to this town forever.
“Just over here…” Her voice travels on the wind that whips through the skinny branches above, and my eyes follow the trail up ahead of her, spotting a wide tree in the middle of our path. The thing is twice as wide as most of the others and much shorter in comparison. The green of the leaves reminds me of Niven’s eyes, and I decide to go see him as soon as I find the right time to leave Reagan.
She runs ahead, toward a hollow in the tree that she’s piled leaves in, creating a retreat in the wilds of nature. I smile at her adorable enthusiasm as she dives into the hole and makes herself comfortable. The park is quiet, aside from the few chirps and squeaks of birds and squirrels. It reminds me of how I feel every summer, of fresh new scents after the long dead winter, and the wind that carries a sense of new beginnings.
I glance back over at Reagan and she is hunched over, her back toward me. Her head is dropped low between her shoulders and it jerks side to side, like she’s eating a snack or untying a shoelace. I walk over, and place a hand on her back as I squat down to sit on my heels.
“Eating something?” I ask as I take in the landscape around us.
When she looks over her shoulder at me I see something drip down her chin, bright red liquid and I force myself to not assume it’s blood. She smiles—a haunting spread of bloody teeth—and swallows a piece of something she’s been chewing on.
“I am having a snack.” She confirms, giving me a look at her arm. It’s gushing blood from between her wrist and elbow where a large chunk of flesh is missing, and I fall backwards, instinctively crawling away from the horrific scene. She turns slowly onto her hands and knees and crawls toward me, smiling like the Cheshire cat. “Don't you want to try a bite, Miss Brenna?”
I scramble to my feet and hit the ground running. I can't help looking back, hoping the little girl will poof into the air, or fade into the background, and I slam into something hard once I reach the sidewalk.
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About the Author:
Amanda hasn't always been a reader, but she’s always been a daydreamer. Once her sister started giving her young adult books, she realized books fuel her daydreams and has since become an avid reader and a writer as well. You can connect with her online here:
