The First Publicly Released excerpt of NOCTE!!!

You guys, the readers have spoken!  You shared the Nocte teasers, entered on Rafflectoper, etc, in order to receive an excerpt of NOCTE.

There are also TWO winners of the signed ARCs!  We’ll be drawing them today, and then contacting the winners by email, so watch your mail!

Now… regarding the excerpt.  I struggled with what to share.  NOCTE is a…unique book.  It’s hard to categorize, hard to describe.  Any one scene could easily be taken out of context or misunderstood.  But I guess that’s part of the beauty of it.

Karpov Kindrade, ( an award-winning, bestselling author)  read it and had this to say about it:

“Nocte is mysterious, thought-provoking, spell-binding and romantic. It pulls you in to a narrative that twists and turns in on itself, turning every thought, every memory, every bit of dialogue into a clue to be unraveled. Without a doubt this is one of the best books I’ve ever read, and I encourage anyone who enjoys psychological mysteries and romance to read Nocte. Courtney Cole is a genius, and this book will stay with you long after you turn the last page.”

Whew– that’s high praise!  OMG.   But I think it hints at something that is the essence of NOCTE— it’s mysteries and secrets, romance and emotion.  It has a million facets, and a thousand hidden meanings. What might not make sense in one second, will hit you like a ton of bricks when the context comes into focus.

But anyway.  Without further ado, your excerpt of NOCTE.  You earned it!  Enjoy!

***

“Did you know that ancient Egyptians shaved off their eyebrows to mourn the death of their cats?”

I change the subject and Calla laughs, shoving her long red hair out of her eyes with slender fingers. It’s our thing, these stupid death facts. It’s my thing, really. I don’t know why. I guess it’s from all the years of living in the stupid funeral home. It’s my way of giving death the finger. Plus, by focusing on death facts and learning Latin and making my stupid mental lists, it gives me something to focus on. Any time I focus hard on something, it staves off the voices.

Trust me, I’ll do anything for that.

“I didn’t. But thank God I know now,” Calla answers. “What would you shave off for me if I died?”

I would plunge to the bottom of the ocean for you. I’d comb it for shells and make you a necklace and then hang myself with it. Because if you aren’t here, I don’t want to be either.

I can’t show her how panicky the mere thought makes me, so I shrug. “Don’t give me the chance.”

She looks horrified, as she realizes what she said, so soon after mom died.

“I didn’t mean to….” She starts to say, then trails off. “I’m sorry. That was stupid.”

Calla and I are twins. Our level of connection can’t be understood by those who don’t have it. I know what she means even when she doesn’t.  Her comment had come out before she remembered mom. It sounds stupid, but sometimes, we can forget our loss for a second. A blissful second.

“Don’t worry about it,” I tell her, as I turn onto the highway.

Fuck her. She has no right.

The voices are loud.

Too loud.

I close my eyes and squeeze them hard, trying not to hear.

But the voices are still there, still persistent.

She doesn’t deserve you. Kill her you fucking pussy kill her now. Push her off the cliffs. Lick her bones. Lick her bones. Lick her bones.

I grip the steering wheel until my knuckles turn white, trying to force the voices away.

Lick her bones, suck her marrow, show her show her show her.

Today, the voices sound real, even though I know they aren’t. They’re not my voice, they’re just masquerades, a scary mask, imposters. They’re not real.

My voice is real.

Those voices are not.

But it’s getting harder and harder to tell them apart.

***

I hope you’ve enjoyed your first taste of NOCTE!!

Be among the first to unravel the secrets of NOCTE.  NOCTE is now up for pre-order HERE.  

If you want to read more excerpts in the days leading up to release day, you NEED to sign up for the NOCTE LIST.  It’s an exclusive newsletter that will run until the release of NOCTE.  It sends out exclusive clues and excerpts– and in fact, an excerpt is scheduled to go out tomorrow.  SO, if you want to read it, sign up now.  You can do that HERE.  

The November 3 release date is creeping up, and I CAN’T WAIT UNTIL THE WORLD CAN READ IT!

Have a fabulous weekend!!