Living Violet Read Free Page A

Beat ; go to your local cemetery. Corpses are the new heartthrobs.”
    â€œNo, I mean he’s a ghost,” Alicia explained. “Anyway, the girl doesn’t know that at first, and the thing is she’s the only one who can see him. Nicolas thinks it’s a sign that Angelica is his soul mate.”
    â€œAngelica?” Nadine and I mimicked in unison.
    Alicia spun her head at the jeering. “What’s wrong with that?”
    â€œIt’s reaching, isn’t it?” Nadine asked. “Let me guess, Nicolas calls her ‘his angel’?”
    Alicia snarled in our direction, then continued, “Anyway, it’s about forbidden love. They can’t be together because Angelica is still alive and he’s a ghost, and they can’t even touch. The story follows her search to figure out how Nick died, all while fighting their attraction.”
    â€œWhy is she the only one that can see him?” Linda asked.
    â€œBecause Angelica is a rare and unique snowflake,” I answered, picking at my doughnut.
    Redness rushed to Alicia’s cheeks, giving her skin a rich mahogany tint. Her fist slammed down against her knees. “Shut up! You’re just jealous of Nicky and Angie.”
    â€œWow, we’re on a nickname basis with these made-up people?” Caleb asked, his chest shaking with laughter. “It’s just a book, Alicia. Relax.”
    Applying some serious neck action, Alicia contended, “Look, you write a bestselling novel and then you can complain about someone else’s book.”
    â€œWill someone else go now, please?” Linda rubbed the bridge of her nose and squeezed her eyes shut. That vein on her forehead looked ready to pop, so I jumped in.
    â€œOkay.” I reached behind my chair and pulled the book from my shoulder bag. “ Trick of the Light —I love that title—by Harriet Coffman-Frost. It’s about this male prostitute, Ren, who runs into some bad luck and gets evicted from his house, and ends up rooming with one of his lady customers, named Janice. Janice is emotionally unavailable—some Madonna-whore complex where she can’t sleep with someone she has feelings for, so she buys male company. The tables slowly turn as they get to know each other. Ren ends up having feelings for Janice and tries to woo her, but she clams up and ignores him. So he ends up using his hooker money to buy her affection. I’m almost to the end; I’ll let you know what happens.”
    Alicia sucked her teeth in disgust. “That’s sick.”
    I grinned. “Isn’t it, though? But the characters are real to life, unlike your oh-so-perfect Nicky.”
    â€œCan’t be too perfect if Nicky can’t remember how he died,” another employee added.
    â€œAll right, settle down people,” Linda broke in. She turned toward Caleb and smiled. “Okay, how about you? What book did you read?”
    Caleb unfolded his arms and presented the paperback to the group. “ Snap Shot , by Orlando Hutchins. It’s about this demonic photo booth in the middle of the Jersey boardwalk. When Mark Daniels goes inside, the camera flash gives him a subliminal message to murder people. And out of the photo slot are pictures of five people he has to kill. So Mark goes on a mindless killing spree, but he only figures it out when a friend comes to kill him. The friend also has a strip of pictures with Mark’s face on the last square. It’s a crazy, vicious circle.”
    â€œWow, that’s awesome.” Linda jotted something down on her notepad.
    â€œYeah, it’s got plenty of gore and violence,” he agreed, glancing over at me. “Good family fun.”
    After another twenty minutes of show-and-tell, we all decided on Caleb’s book choice. Sighing in relief, everyone got up and filed toward the doors. I grabbed my bag and walked out, ignoring the prickling feeling on the back of my neck, the