Sentence Sneak Peek - The Last Echo

The Last Echo by Kimberly Derting

The first sentence from each chapter of The Last Echo, it's a mini summary of what you can expect to read.

* Spoilers are highlighted like so :)
* Book will be released April 17, 2012
* ARC read via Around The World ARC Tours

"VIOLET STRAINED, SEARCHING FOR THE SENSA-tion through the suffocating blackness."

"VIOLET FELT BETTER THE NEXT MORNING."

"HE SAT AT THE TABLE IN THE CORNER, KEEPING his head low, his eyes down."

"VIOLET GLANCED AT THE ASSORTMENT OF SCI-ence journals and National Geographics on the table in front of her."

"IT HAD BEEN HARD TO WAIT ALL DAY."

"SOMETIMES VIOLET FELT LIKE A FRAUD, LIVING A double life the way she did."

"HE STEPPED CAUTIOUSLY INTO HER ROOM, NOT wanting to disturb her too soon."

"VIOLET WAITED WHILE KRYSTAL SHOVED ASIDE magazines and wadded-up drive-through bags so she could get into Roxy."

"SOME DAYS THE RAIN JUST SEEMED TO FIT, AND today felt like one of those days."

"HE CREPT IN QUIETLY, MORE CAUTIOUSLY THAN he had before."

"ARE YOU SURE YOU HAVE TO WORK TONIGHT?"

"THE HAIR ON THE BACK OF VIOLET'S NECK TIGHT-ened, standing on end as she pulled into a tight space in the parking lot and took a deep breath."

"SHE WAS SLEEPING."

"VIOLET STARED OUT HER BEDROOM WINDOW AT a black sky punctuated by a million effervescent white lights."

"THE SCREAMING HAD STARTED EARLY, AND EVEN though he couldn't hear her from upstairs—not with all of the pre-cautions he'd taken in preparing her room—the speakers on the monitor he looked at still blared with her staticky cries."

"VIOLET HAD KNOWN BEFORE SHE WAS FULLY awake the next morning that she'd overslept, and she vaguely wondered why her parents hadn't come in to wake her."

"IT FELT GOOD TO GET OUT OF THERE, TO BE AWAY from her, even if the reprieve was only temporary."

"VIOLET SAT AT THE KITCHEN TABLE STARING numbly at the paper plate in front of her."

"IT HAD BEEN HARD TO SLEEP THAT NIGHT, AND Violet was up way earlier than she needed to be."

"THE EMERGENCY ROOM WAS CHAOTIC, EVEN ON a Saturday afternoon, practically combusting with echoes."

"HE WATCHED HER FROM THE DOORWAY, HIS heart aching."

"VIOLET HATED THAT SHE'D SPENT SO MUCH TIME standing in front of the mirror the next morning."

"SHE KNEW THE MOMENT SHE REACHED THE BOT-tom of the steps outside the outer door that something was wrong."

"VIOLET!"

"HE CHECKED HIS REFLECTION AS HE PASSED THE oversized gilded mirror in the lobby of the upscale boutique hotel."

"HER PARENTS HAD MET THEM AT THE FRONT door, and as much as Jay might have wanted to bolt, Violet was grateful that he'd stayed by her side."

"VIOLET WASN'T SURPRISED THAT NO ONE HAD come in to wake her."

"HE SAT IN THE RESTAURANT, WATCHING THE girl."

"VIOLET SIGHED WHEN SHE SAW THE MINIVAN IN her driveway, the one her aunt was always trying to con-vince her was cooler than a normal minivan."

"VIOLET GLANCED DOWN AT THE PIECE OF PAPER Sara had ripped from her notebook just before she'd left the hospital, just a scrap with tattered edges . . . and an address scribbled on it."

"VIOLET FELT LIKE AN IDIOT AFTER SHE LEFT Rafe's, and replayed the conversation in her head all the way home."

"THE FIRST THING SHE WAS AWARE OF WAS HER breathing."

"CAINE."

"HE WAS IN THE BED WITH HER."

"FRUSTRATION LICKED THROUGH HIM, SETTING his veins on fire."

"INSIDE THE BARN IT WAS EVEN DARKER THAN IT had been outside."

"SUNLIGHT."

"VIOLET'S PARENTS SHOVED THROUGH THE DOOR of the small sheriff's office as the patrol car parked in front."

Epilogue - "VIOLET STOOD AT THE CHAIN-LINK FENCING outside the park, curling her fingers through it as she stared at the playground beyond."