The Naming of Colton Black -- a tiny peek inside

Now that you all have seen the cover of my next book (SQUEAL!), I want you to get a taste of what's to come. For those of you who found my secret page and for those of you who've signed up for my newsletter, you've gotten the first glimpses. 

But, because I'm feeling so excited about this story, I'm going to share with the rest of you an excerpt from the first chapter. (If you missed the full chapter, and want to read it, sign up for my newsletter and I'll send it to you!) I'm so excited for the release of this book in August. Love you all to pieces.

Six days. I’ll have to relive everything in six days.

I press my heels into Finn and ride faster, past the castle’s lake, the courtyard, past my memories of my thirteenth birthday. The wind streaks through my hair, and I pick up speed. Soon, the tension in my muscles relax; the fresh air pushes away my emotional bog. I breathe deep. And I’m free.

Until the walls of the castle greet me, pulling me back. We trot along the barrier, just Finn and me. Like it’s been since I can remember. Riding him has been my security blanket, and even at seventeen, it soothes me. No matter what’s happened. My dad’s disapproving face suddenly flashes in my mind, and I lose my concentration slightly, slipping from my seat. I shift back, but the tension I left behind at the castle creeps its way back.

“You still like me, right boy?”

Finn answers me with a toss of his mane. I smile. At least his view of me didn’t change four years ago, when I turned thirteen. When, like every other thirteen-year-old, I celebrated my birthday with a Naming ceremony; stood in front of a Reader and read the meaning of my name, the meaning that would determine the rest of my life. It was meant to be wonderful. It was meant to mean a transformation.
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Instead, it meant none of that.