Curling Up With A Good Book: Rockstar Book Tours Blog Tour, Excerpt, & Giveaway: You Don't Know My Name (Kristen Orlando)

YOU DON'T KNOW MY NAME (The Black Angel Chronicles #1)
Author: Kristen Orlando
Pub. Date: January 10, 2017
Publisher: Swoon Reads
Pages: 320
Formats: Hardcover, eBook

Fighter, Faker, Student, Spy.
Seventeen-year-old Reagan Elizabeth Hillis is used to changing identities overnight, lying to every friend she’s ever had, and pushing away anyone who gets too close. Trained in mortal combat and weaponry her entire life, Reagan is expected to follow in her parents’ footsteps and join the ranks of the most powerful top-secret agency in the world, the Black Angels. Falling in love with the boy next door was never part of the plan.
Now Reagan has to decide: Will she use her incredible talents and lead the dangerous life she was born into, or throw it all away to follow her heart and embrace the normal life she's always wanted? And does she even have a choice at all?
Find out if you are ready to join the Black Angels in the captivating and emotional page-turner, You Don't Know My Name, from debut novelist Kristen Orlando!

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Writing is one of the great loves of my life (with bacon mac and cheese, Netflix binges and PJs also in the mix). My childhood in Columbus, Ohio was spent reading every single Baby-Sitter’s Club book ever written and acting out imaginary tragedies in my room (complete with costumes and props) until a really embarrassing age. I started writing plays for my younger cousins as soon as they were all old enough to act (The Spoiled Princess may be a personal favorite) and haven’t stopped writing since. After graduating from Kenyon College with a B.A. in English Literature, I’ve been lucky enough to make writing my career; first as a television producer, then as a marketer and now as a novelist.

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I flip open the keypad and punch in the six-digit code, unlocking the secret door to our basement. My feet pound down the stairs, relieved to find the basement empty and cold. I head straight for the punching dummy, rage bubbling and burning my skin. My hands are shaking. I can’t even be bothered to put on training gloves. All I want to do is smash the dummy’s face.

I tear off my jacket and throw it to the floor. A piece of paper flies from a pocket and pinwheels to the ground.

It’s folded, its edges torn. I pick it up, unfold it, and recognize the half-cursive, half-printed handwriting immediately. Luke’s. Inside the note are four words. I’m falling for you. I hold the note in my hand and read the words over and over again. The tears I’ve been struggling to contain rise, burning the corners of my eyes.

“No,” I whisper and close my eyes. “Please, no.”

I breathe in once, twice, then attack the dummy. Punch after punch after punch the dummy bounces back to me, mocking my strength, unmoved by my rage.

You’re leaving him, you’re leaving him, my mind hisses with every violent punch.

The tears crawling up my throat finally break free, rolling hot and thick down my face. I don’t swallow them or fight them or even brush them off my face. For the first time in years, I let them fall.

Through glassy eyes, I hit the dummy again and again until I cannot take him coming back to me one more time. “Goddammit!” I scream and shove the dummy with so much strength, it falls with a deafening crash to the floor.

Pain shoots sharp and searing through my muscles, sending me to my knees.

“Please don’t,” I whisper as the tears fall faster and turn into full-body sobs.

Please don’t take me away from him.