Today I’m thrilled to be a part of the cover reveal and first chapter preview of my friend and CP Ann Rought‘s YA debut novel Broken (January, 2013).

First, a summary:

Imagine a modern spin on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein where a young couple’s undying love and the grief of a father pushed beyond sanity could spell the destruction of them all.

A string of suspicious deaths near a small Michigan town ends with a fall that claims the life of Emma Gentry’s boyfriend, Daniel. Emma is broken, a hollow shell mechanically moving through her days. She and Daniel had been made for each other, complete only when they were together. Now she restlessly wanders the town in the late Fall gloom, haunting the cemetery and its white-marbled tombs, feeling Daniel everywhere, his spectre in the moonlight and the fog.

When she encounters newcomer Alex Franks, only son of a renowned widowed surgeon, she’s intrigued despite herself. He’s an enigma, melting into shadows, preferring to keep to himself. But he is as drawn to her as she is to him. He is strangely…familiar. From the way he knows how to open her locker when it sticks, to the nickname she shared only with Daniel, even his hazel eyes with brown flecks are just like Daniel’s. The closer they become, though, the more something inside her screams there’s something very wrong with Alex Franks.

And when Emma stumbles across a grotesque and terrifying menagerie of mangled but living animals within the walls of the Franks’ estate, creatures she surely knows must have died from their injuries, she knows.

And, Broken‘s gorgeous cover: 

Today Ann is sharing bits of the first chapter of Broken on blogs all over the YA community. Below is PART THREE. If you’ve yet to do so, I encourage you to visit Jessie Harrel for PART TWO before reading on…

After backhanding moisture from my cheeks, I jam my hands into my pockets and turn from the fence. We’ll never sit together again, and someday I’m going to have to accept it. He would want me to move on, not haunt the graveside his parents will never give his ashes. Heart heavy and somehow empty at the same time, I drift toward home. Fall leaves whisper beneath my steps. Jack-o’-lanterns leer from porches, glowing faces following my every step, as if they see the hollow space in me and find it familiar. The Wendell’s pumpkin is particularly vicious looking, narrow pointy teeth and angular flaming eyes, squatting like a gargoyle on the front step. Jason, a junior at Shelley High like me, really went all out with the carving this year. He’s always had a flair for dark and drama.

The front porch door opens with a screech of hinges. Mrs. Wendell shuffles out, flowered house coat catching the breeze and showing her corpulent, pasty white legs. She gives me a wave and sympathetic smile when she stoops in her housecoat to blow the candle out.

You can continue on with PART FOUR over at Elana Johnson‘s blog!

I’m so excited about Broken and its gorgeous cover. I hope you’ll hop on over to Goodreads and add it to your To-Read shelf now!