Blind Speed Dating #10 (YA)

Title: KISSED

Genre: YA Speculative Fiction

Word Count: 80,000

Query:

Trapped in an dark cult, sixteen-year-old Naomi Aren has lived a

quiet, albeit unhappy, life nestled deep in the hills of the Ozarks.

With uncut hair, denim skirts, and only roses for friends, Naomi

seldom questions why her life is different from other kids at school.

Until the day her abusive father, who is also the cult’s leader,

announces her wedding. Naomi must marry Dwayne Yerdin, a bully who reeks of sweat and manure and is the only one person who scares her worse than her father.

Then she meets Kai, the mysterious boy who brings her exotic new roses and stolen midnight kisses. Kisses that bring her a supernatural

strength she never knew she had.  As the big day approaches, Naomi

unearths more secrets of about her father’s cult. She learns she has

power of her own and while Kai may have awakened that power, Naomi

must find a way to use it to escape Dwayne and her father—without

destroying herself.

First 250:

The sink looked odd next to our front door.  My mother had my father 

install it after I kept tracking in dirt and fertilizer.  I washed the

soil off my hands with the warm water and used a file to clear the

dirt out from under my nails.  Then I exchanged one dirty pair of ugly

tennis shoes for a pair of clean ugly tennis shoes and made my way

into the kitchen.

Paint on the cabinets peeled away in white curls.  A single light bulb

gave enough light to cook but not enough to read a recipe.  My mother

stood by the tiny window, her bottle blonde hair twisted in a bun on

the back of her head. She wiped her hands on her apron, then smoothed a stray hair from my braid.  I knelt down to tie my shoes, anything to avoid her touch. Physical touch burned, even something as little as a finger brushing my forehead.

“Wash your face.  We have guests for dinner.”  

My stomach knotted.  I tied and untied my shoes three times, wondering how to respond.  Years ago my father had closed our home to visitors. No one crossed our threshold.  And I was allowed to leave only to go to school and to church. Well, if you want to call it that.  I’ve watched movies in school and I went to the Baptist church until I was eight and our new church, Crusaders of God, was a bigger shock than no more pants.