Blog Tour: Nobody But Us by Kristin Halbrook

Hello everyone, today I'm hosting a tour stop for the Nobody But Us blog tour hosted by Shane @ Itching For Books. I'll be sharing an excerpt with you guys, but first here's a little bit about the book. 

Published: January 29th 2013.

Bonnie and Clyde meets IF I STAY in this addictively heart-wrenching story of two desperate teenagers on the run from their pasts.

They’re young. They’re in love. They’re on the run.

Zoe wants to save Will as much as Will wants to save Zoe. When Will turns eighteen, they decide to run away together. But they never expected their escape to be so fraught with danger....

When the whole world is after you, sometimes it seems like you can’t run fast enough.

Nobody But Us, told in alternating perspectives from Will and Zoe, is an unflinching novel, in turns heartbreaking and hopeful, about survival, choices, and love...and how having love doesn’t always mean that you get a happy ending. Described as “beautiful, heartbreaking, and exhilarating” by Kody Keplinger, author of The DUFF, Nobody But Us will prove irresistible to fans of Nina Lacour, Jenny Han, and Sara Zarr.

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Extract

He guides my hand into third and fourth gears, and by now were soaring down the road. It’s exhilarating, like my first taste of real freedom, to be in control of a machine that can take me far, far away from where I’ve been. I’m enjoying the ride so much that I pass right by the diner we’re supposed to eat at.

“Oops” I turn the steering wheel, but we’re still going really fast and I don’t know how to slow down. I can’t take my foot off the gas, because I remembered what happened last time, and breaking would be pointless. I steer as hard as I can, putting my whole body into the movement. The wheels screech on the road, and I yelp. We’re headed for a ditch. “Will!”

“It’s okay. Use the brake and the clutch at the same time. I’ll downshift.”

It’s too much to keep track of – the wheel and the shifting and the brake, the clutch, the gas – and my head’s spinning and there’s the ditch and my feet get tangled under the dash. I’ve got the clutch but forgotten the brake or the other way around, but as we slow, I hear a nasty grating sound and see Will wince again.

“The clutch baby.”

My hands are gripping the steering wheel like it’s a lifesaver. I take a breath and try to focus on the pedals. The clutch goes in and I’m turning the wheel for all I’m worth. The car’s slowing down, but not fast enough. "Will!”

He leans over and takes the wheel. “Brake! Just brake!”

I slam both feet on the middle pedal, and we slide halfway into the ditch with a shudder. A shattering sound splits the air as a semi truck whizzes past us, horn blaring, driver’s middle finger extended out the window.

I try catch my breath. It feels like I’ve been running for miles.

“I’m sorry.”

“No. you did great.” His voice is a little shaky. “We’ll try again later. But I’m hungry so...” We get out and push the car back to the road. I’m useless because every time he lifts his arms to push, I get the urge to tickle his sides. We end up sprawled on the weeds, hands and mouths seeking, twice, before I am flushed and out of breath enough to leave him alone.

I want it to always be like this. Cars in ditches and tickling and kissing in the weeds because we can’t help ourselves.

I never want us to be able to help ourselves.

This extract was probably one of my favourites from Nobody But Us, it shows Zoe and Will having a small moment where they're just having fun and have left all their worries behind for the time being. Moments like these are hard to come by for Zoe and Will and so this is one of the reasons why this extract stood out for me.

Kristin Halbrook is a Seattleite who loves good coffee, good food, good music, good sports, good causes, and good reads. She’s both intense and a goofball, introverted and gregarious. Nobody But Us is her debut novel.