Healing Rain
by Katy Newton Naas
Release Date: 04/21/15
Clean Reads
222 pages
Summary from Goodreads:
Some people just naturally seem to have it all. Until five months ago, sixteen-year-old Rain Sawyer was one of those people. She had the perfect life, with a loving, wealthy family and a strong Christian faith, complete with popularity, sports, clubs, and good grades.
When one tragic incident shatters everything Rain thought she knew, she finds herself five hours away, starting over in a small town very different from her glamorous big-city life.
Armed with a different outlook on life – one that no longer includes her faith – she struggles to create a new identity for herself. Determined to keep her dark past as secret, she navigates through a new school year, a new town, and new relationships while trying to figure out who she wants to be.
Add to Goodreads
Buy Links:
Amazon│Barnes & Noble│Kobo Books│Smashwords│iBooks
View the trailer at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQuIpAf5G88
by Katy Newton Naas
Release Date: 04/21/15
Clean Reads
222 pages
Summary from Goodreads:
Some people just naturally seem to have it all. Until five months ago, sixteen-year-old Rain Sawyer was one of those people. She had the perfect life, with a loving, wealthy family and a strong Christian faith, complete with popularity, sports, clubs, and good grades.
When one tragic incident shatters everything Rain thought she knew, she finds herself five hours away, starting over in a small town very different from her glamorous big-city life.
Armed with a different outlook on life – one that no longer includes her faith – she struggles to create a new identity for herself. Determined to keep her dark past as secret, she navigates through a new school year, a new town, and new relationships while trying to figure out who she wants to be.
Add to Goodreads
Buy Links:
Amazon│Barnes & Noble│Kobo Books│Smashwords│iBooks
View the trailer at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQuIpAf5G88
About the Author
From the time she was old enough to talk, Katy Newton Naas has been creating characters and telling stories. As a child, they sometimes got her into trouble. She knew she wanted to write books when she won a Young Author's competition as a second-grader for her short story titled, "The Grape Pie." (Don't let its tasty title fool you - it was actually a sad little tale!)
Katy devoured books as a child and young adult, always doing chores and odd jobs in order to make enough money to buy more of them. Though she continues to age, her true literature love is and has always been children's and young adult fiction.
Katy currently teaches middle school reading and high school English in southern Illinois, as well as children's church. She graduated from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale with a bachelor's degree in English Education and a master's degree in Reading and Language Studies. She enjoys her life out in the country with her husband, her sweet and rowdy young sons, and all her four-legged kids: Shakespeare, Poe, Morgi, Cappy, Ana, and Gray.
She loves creating both realistic and futuristic stories about kids, tweens, and teens, and feels so fortunate to get to work with them every day as a teacher.
Author Links:
Website│Goodreads│Twitter│Facebook
From the time she was old enough to talk, Katy Newton Naas has been creating characters and telling stories. As a child, they sometimes got her into trouble. She knew she wanted to write books when she won a Young Author's competition as a second-grader for her short story titled, "The Grape Pie." (Don't let its tasty title fool you - it was actually a sad little tale!)
Katy devoured books as a child and young adult, always doing chores and odd jobs in order to make enough money to buy more of them. Though she continues to age, her true literature love is and has always been children's and young adult fiction.
Katy currently teaches middle school reading and high school English in southern Illinois, as well as children's church. She graduated from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale with a bachelor's degree in English Education and a master's degree in Reading and Language Studies. She enjoys her life out in the country with her husband, her sweet and rowdy young sons, and all her four-legged kids: Shakespeare, Poe, Morgi, Cappy, Ana, and Gray.
She loves creating both realistic and futuristic stories about kids, tweens, and teens, and feels so fortunate to get to work with them every day as a teacher.
Author Links:
Website│Goodreads│Twitter│Facebook
“No, Aiden,” I said, feeling a little anger rise. “We’re supposed to be friends. Most of the time you’re fine and we’re having a great time, but then sometimes you get quiet and look upset. What is it? Is it something I’m doing wrong?”
He looked at me with amazement. “You really don’t know, do you?”
“Know what?” I asked, exasperated.
He smirked. “Nothing, Rain. You’re doing nothing wrong. You have your cheerleader friends and your football star boyfriend and your life is perfect. I’m just the secret friend you have on the side.”
I rolled my eyes. “Are we seriously going back to this discussion? I told you – it’s not that I’m ashamed of hanging out with you. Me hiding our guitar lessons has nothing to do with you. You’re one of the greatest guys I know. I seriously consider you to be one of my best friends. I’m closer to you than I am pretty much anyone else here. Even closer than I am with my ‘cheerleader friends and football star boyfriend,’ in some ways.” I could hear the anger in my voice as it got slightly louder, but I didn’t care. “And
my life is far from perfect! You have no idea.” I stopped and looked away from him before the tears come could to my eyes. I knew it was wrong to get upset with him; he had every right to be mad at me for the way I treated our relationship. But if it bothered him so much, why was he still hanging out with me? And why would he want to take me to a concert?
Just as I was about to ask him those questions, he grabbed my arm gently. “Rain, did you hear what you just said?”
I looked at him, completely caught off guard. “Which part?”
He took a step closer as he took my other arm in his other hand. “The part about me being closer to you than anyone else here.”
“Yeah,” I said, feeling even more confused. “What about it?”
He shook his head as he smiled at me. “Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”
“Okay, Aiden, you need to just tell me what you’re getting at, because I don’t understand this little puzzle you’re trying to get me to solve,” I said in frustration.
He sighed incredulously. “You really don’t, do you?”
I didn’t even respond. I just looked at him expectantly, waiting on him to explain himself.
Finally, after a few moments of silence, he took a deep breath. “Look. I’m not going to pretend that I can compete with Ethan Collins. I can’t. He’s in a whole different league. At the same time, I’m not going to go on pretending that I only want to be your friend. Because the truth is, I don’t. I have been completely infatuated with you from the moment I met you on the first day of school. I have never met any other girl like you. And last week, at your house, it just got stronger. When we sang together, I just got this feeling. We had a weird connection there, and I know you felt something, too. I know there’s some stuff going on with you that for whatever reason, you don’t want to tell me about, but this is just something I can’t ignore anymore. There’s a reason I feel this crazy link to you. I’m not sure what it is yet, but I have to find out.”
I stared at him, astounded. Though I heard every word he said, I couldn’t put together any words to respond. As I stood there motionless, trying to gather my thoughts, he leaned in and kissed me.
I knew it was wrong, but I couldn’t stop it. His lips were sweet and soft, and I was absorbed in it for the short moment that it lasted. It was completely different than Ethan’s kisses, but I would be lying if I said it was horrible. I don’t think I really even kissed him back – my brain was in too much shock as it tried to process the new information it was just handed.
When he pulled away, he let go of my arms and dropped his head. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.” I didn’t respond. I couldn’t force my lips to move to even make a sound. “Look, maybe we should cancel our guitar lesson today. I should probably just go home and let you go home too.” Without waiting for my
response, he turned and walked out the door.
I watched him walk away as my fingers moved automatically to my lips. I rested them there, still feeling the warmth of Aiden’s lips on mine. Suddenly, I saw a movement out of the corner of my eye. I turned slowly to see what it was, and found Alexis standing a few feet away, staring at me with a wicked smile on her face.
He looked at me with amazement. “You really don’t know, do you?”
“Know what?” I asked, exasperated.
He smirked. “Nothing, Rain. You’re doing nothing wrong. You have your cheerleader friends and your football star boyfriend and your life is perfect. I’m just the secret friend you have on the side.”
I rolled my eyes. “Are we seriously going back to this discussion? I told you – it’s not that I’m ashamed of hanging out with you. Me hiding our guitar lessons has nothing to do with you. You’re one of the greatest guys I know. I seriously consider you to be one of my best friends. I’m closer to you than I am pretty much anyone else here. Even closer than I am with my ‘cheerleader friends and football star boyfriend,’ in some ways.” I could hear the anger in my voice as it got slightly louder, but I didn’t care. “And
my life is far from perfect! You have no idea.” I stopped and looked away from him before the tears come could to my eyes. I knew it was wrong to get upset with him; he had every right to be mad at me for the way I treated our relationship. But if it bothered him so much, why was he still hanging out with me? And why would he want to take me to a concert?
Just as I was about to ask him those questions, he grabbed my arm gently. “Rain, did you hear what you just said?”
I looked at him, completely caught off guard. “Which part?”
He took a step closer as he took my other arm in his other hand. “The part about me being closer to you than anyone else here.”
“Yeah,” I said, feeling even more confused. “What about it?”
He shook his head as he smiled at me. “Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”
“Okay, Aiden, you need to just tell me what you’re getting at, because I don’t understand this little puzzle you’re trying to get me to solve,” I said in frustration.
He sighed incredulously. “You really don’t, do you?”
I didn’t even respond. I just looked at him expectantly, waiting on him to explain himself.
Finally, after a few moments of silence, he took a deep breath. “Look. I’m not going to pretend that I can compete with Ethan Collins. I can’t. He’s in a whole different league. At the same time, I’m not going to go on pretending that I only want to be your friend. Because the truth is, I don’t. I have been completely infatuated with you from the moment I met you on the first day of school. I have never met any other girl like you. And last week, at your house, it just got stronger. When we sang together, I just got this feeling. We had a weird connection there, and I know you felt something, too. I know there’s some stuff going on with you that for whatever reason, you don’t want to tell me about, but this is just something I can’t ignore anymore. There’s a reason I feel this crazy link to you. I’m not sure what it is yet, but I have to find out.”
I stared at him, astounded. Though I heard every word he said, I couldn’t put together any words to respond. As I stood there motionless, trying to gather my thoughts, he leaned in and kissed me.
I knew it was wrong, but I couldn’t stop it. His lips were sweet and soft, and I was absorbed in it for the short moment that it lasted. It was completely different than Ethan’s kisses, but I would be lying if I said it was horrible. I don’t think I really even kissed him back – my brain was in too much shock as it tried to process the new information it was just handed.
When he pulled away, he let go of my arms and dropped his head. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.” I didn’t respond. I couldn’t force my lips to move to even make a sound. “Look, maybe we should cancel our guitar lesson today. I should probably just go home and let you go home too.” Without waiting for my
response, he turned and walked out the door.
I watched him walk away as my fingers moved automatically to my lips. I rested them there, still feeling the warmth of Aiden’s lips on mine. Suddenly, I saw a movement out of the corner of my eye. I turned slowly to see what it was, and found Alexis standing a few feet away, staring at me with a wicked smile on her face.
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