Friday, March 18, 2016

Blog Tour Excerpt + Giveaway- THE HISTORY MAJOR by Michael Phillip Cash

The History Major



After a vicious fight with her boyfriend followed by a night of heavy partying, college freshman Amanda Greene wakes up in her dorm room to find things are not the same as they were yesterday. She can't quite put her finger on it. She's sharing her room with a peculiar stranger. Amanda discovers she's registered for classes she would never choose with people that are oddly familiar. An ominous shadow is stalking her. Uncomfortable memories are bubbling dangerously close to her fracturing world, propelling her to an inevitable collision between fantasy and reality. Is this the mother of all hangovers or is something bigger happening?

Available at Amazon: http://amzn.to/21xUmE9

Chapter 1
 
    Amanda Greene lay facedown on the bed, her nose squashed against the scratchy blanket. She became aware of the smell first—musty, with the hint of sourness that comes from too much vodka on an empty stomach. She sniffed, rubbed her aching eyes, and then rolled up, the light sending darts of pain all the way to the middle of her fuzzy brain.

Groaning, she fell back and tried in vain to pull the thin cover over her gummy eyes. It was trapped beneath her body, but she continued to tug crankily.

“Shut the lights off, Danielle,” she wailed, surprised that her voice was this thin, reedy thing. She tossed restlessly, something hard digging into her thigh. She shifted, causing it to dig deeper. That’s going to bruise, she thought absently. Reaching beneath her leg, she pulled out her phone. Swiping her finger across the surface, she squinted. She propped herself onto her elbow and looked at the smudged face of her cell. Seventeen missed calls. 

She scrolled down; more than half were from her mother. What does she want? Amanda groaned, her head falling back heavily onto the mattress. They had only just reconnected, and now her newly divorced mother wouldn’t leave her alone.

“Danielle,” she said. “Kaitlyn?” She called for her two best friends. Her knee throbbed. She rubbed it absently, the skin raw and sensitive. Her rib cage screamed when she moved. Ugh, what did I do to myself? she wondered.

The phone vibrated impatiently in her hand. She looked at the illuminated screen, disappointment blooming in her sore chest when she recognized the number was not Patrick’s. Her mother. Again. Really, her mother had virtually ignored her for four years after Amanda moved back with her dad. It had taken her mother’s second divorce and the death of her beloved grandmother for them to reconnect at all. It hadn’t been all peaches and cream, either.

 Just recently they had developed a wary sense of appropriate—unless there was a phone involved, apparently. Her mother never understood boundaries. Amanda threw her phone onto the floor, wincing when it made a crunchy sound.

Something fluttered from the corner of her eye. It changed the quality of the light in the room, playing with the shadows for a second. She raised her impossibly heavy head and looked through squinting eyes, but she couldn’t quite see anything. Her head was loaded, as though it weighed too much. It fell back onto the tousled sheets. Movement by the window competed with her attention again, but she didn’t have the strength to look at it. 

Her belly spasmed with anxiety, and inexplicably, her eyelids prickled as if she were going to cry. She stretched her right hand to the messy side table, searching for her antacids, but her fingers fumbled with her collection of pill containers, all of them empty. She cursed long and loud, throwing the amber-colored container against the wall with a loud crack. Patrick had said he would reorder her prescription. 

He always took care of her, reminding her to renew her megastrength stomach meds and antianxiety pills. Yeah, well, that was before yesterday, she thought angrily. Her bottom lip trembled, but she fought the feelings of hurt and despair with deep, painful breaths. She sucked in air through her nose and exhaled slowly through her mouth. It left her lightheaded, the gut-wrenching, twisting pain persisting.

Praise


"Cash never shies away from tough topics and themes; however, in The History Major his exploration of certain thematic elements goes deeper than usual. His love of history combined with a keen sense of human nature has provided a riveting story that deals with trauma, grief, acceptance, and finding inner strength. Cash has created a multi-dimensional experience between plot and character through the exploration of dreams and historical figures. He has created a riveting sense of perplexity that lingers long after the last page and author's note.”—Bianca Schulze, Book Reviewer

"Cash intermingles beauty and violence ...It's smartly ambiguous and open to interpretation, and some may delight in a second (or third) read." Kirkus Reviews

About Michael Phillip Cash

Michael Phillip Cash is an award-winning screenwriter and novelist. He’s written eleven books including the best-selling Brood X, Stillwell, The Flip, The After House, The Hanging Tree, Witches Protection Program, Pokergeist, and Battle for Darracia series. Michael resides on the North Shore of Long Island. He writes full-time with his screaming monsters in the background.


Enter to win an autographed copy of The History Major, by Michael Phillip Cash; plus a Google Chromebook!

One (1) winner receives the grand prize:
  • A copy of The History Major autographed by Michael Phillip Cash.
  • An Asus Chromebook C201.

Value: $179.99

Three (3) winners receive:
  • A copy of The History Major autographed by Michael Phillip Cash.

Value: $10.99

Giveaway begins March 1, 2016, at 12:01 A.M. PST and ends March 31, 2016, at 11:59 P.M. PST.

How to enter:
  • Fill out the required fields in the form below. It may take a moment to load.

This giveaway is sponsored by Michael Phillip Cash.


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2 comments

  1. thanks for the excerpt and review -- so keeping fingers crossed I win the google chromebook -- that would be awesome

    ReplyDelete
  2. The book sounds awesome! The chromebook is an amazing prize, and I'd be thrilled to win it, but I'd be super happy just to win a signed book. Thanks for the amazing giveaway chance!

    ReplyDelete

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