Read Olivia Twisted (Entangled Teen) Online
Authors: Vivi Barnes
Olivia Twisted (Entangled Teen) (24 page)
Epilogue
“’
I offer you the heart so long your own, and stake my all upon the words with which you greet the offer.’”
—Charles Dickens,
Oliver Twist
LIV
Though it’s early fall, the whisper of wind is surprisingly sharp, cutting like an icy knife through my light sweater. I ask Mel and Jess to stop while I take my favorite blue Princeton sweatshirt out of my backpack and slip it over my head.
Mel’s eyes are glued to her book. “Liv, what do you think? Greatest impact on literature from the English Renaissance?”
“Huh?”
She laughs. “Seriously, have you looked at the material at all?”
I sip my latte and toss the half-empty cup in the trash, barely listening as the two go back and forth in their debate about the impact of Marlowe and Shakespeare on contemporary literature. Usually, I would join in, but today I’m melancholy. Music from the Spill Canvas was playing in the coffee shop. The same song from which Jack took the lyrics in his note on that evening long ago—bittersweet words that spoke of love and loss with no promise held for the future.
My fingers fiddle with his mother’s bracelet on my wrist. I wonder what he’s doing right now.
Mel continues to chat it up about class, when she stops suddenly and whistles under her breath. “Whoa-hoah, hello there. Holy hot guy on a motorcycle. Is he looking at us?”
I follow her gaze to see the hot guy in question leaning against his bike, arms crossed.
Waiting for me.
I suck in the cold air as my heartbeat revs up to the rusty but familiar staccato. I walk to him, Mel and Jess on my heels.
“You lost?” I ask, trying to sound as casual as possible while my insides are dancing madly.
He looks around before his kaleidoscope eyes settle back on me. “Maybe. I’m new here. Could use a guide. You volunteering?”
“Maybe. You really enrolled?”
“Yep. Nancy knows someone on the board. I thought college might be an interesting change. There’s another incentive here, too, of course.” His lips curve into a sexy smile.
I grin and gesture to my friends without turning. “Mel and Jess, this is…” I hesitate. Z? Jack? Who is he now?
“Jack Dawkins,” he says, nodding to them. “Old friend of Liv’s.”
I barely hear the girls excuse themselves, barely notice anything except him, his black jacket, windswept blond hair hanging over his forehead. He looks older now, more serious. But then the familiar sparkle in his eyes draws a smile from me. He tucks his fingers through my belt loops and pulls me until I’m pressed hard against him. I inhale the familiar scent of spice and leather. I’m pretty sure he can hear my heart pounding.
I ask the one and only question that worries me. “Does this mean you’re out? For good?”
He tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. “Yes.”
I laugh and wrap my arms around his neck. Then something else occurs to me. “Is Dawkins really your last name?”
His voice is low and husky. “Maybe. Want to go for a ride?”
“Maybe,” I say, caressing the length of his arms and tilting my head up to him. He brushes his lips against mine. “Mmm…definitely. But you knew I would anyway.”
He laughs and swings his leg over the bike, pulling me behind him. I barely notice the cold air swiping at me as I wrap my arms around his waist and feel the warmth of his body against mine. Exhilaration builds up in me as it sinks in—he’s left his life of crime behind, all for me. For love.
I get my happy ending after all.
Acknowledgments
First and foremost, HUGE kisses and hugs and thanks to my kids, Jack, AJ, and Elaine. I’m sure you guys wish you had a dollar for every time you heard, “Shh…Mom’s writing.” Or every time you had to listen to me sing.
Learning to open myself up to the muse was a result of meeting with my amazing fellow Chicks—Peggy Jackson, Tracey Smith, and Eva Griffin. You guys helped me find myself, and I will always be grateful to have you in my life.
And my dear friend Peggy, you have forever been my confidante and partner in crime. I could write an entire book about how awesome you are.
Cheers to my fabulous agent, Pam van Hylckama Vlieg, my calm in the storm. You go above and beyond the expectations of an agent, and for everything, I thank you!
My incredible editors, Stacy Abrams and Nicole Steinhaus, who encouraged me to reach into the cobwebby depths of my mind and find just the right ways to “show this.” The entire Entangled team, especially Kelley York for the amazing cover, Alycia Tornetta for your support, Erin Crum for your error-catching skills, Jessica Estep for the fabulous advice, and all the publicity efforts of Team Heather Riccio and Sarah Nicolas! You guys are the coolest!
Lots of love to my fabulous OWLS critique group that helped me become a better writer (and kept me laughing), especially Marlana Antifit, Joe Iriarte, Rina Heisel, Jan Eldredge, Christy Koehnlein, Jennye Kamin, Peggy Jackson, and Stephanie Becherer.
Virtual hugs to my critique partners who totally rock—Tara Kelly, Julie Bourbeau, and Kristen Lippert-Martin. You are amazing authors, and I’m in awe of you!
Thank you to my early readers—Lindsey Jackson and Leslie Fillip, who helped me with teen talk (though I still don’t get “like a boss”); teachers extraordinaire Kellee Moye and Dawn Mincher; my sister, Patricia Taylor (that hat has a slimming effect on you); my fabulous mom, Pat Harris; the lovely Jen Woods (who realized that the Jen in the story was just misunderstood); Amy Parrish; Nancy Williams; and Marco van Hylckama Vlieg (master of all things technical!).
A toast to my entire work team for your incredible support during this entire journey and your patience during my freak-out moments, especially Jen Woods, Dina Kuhlman, Karen McClintock, Karla Salansky, Sarah Reed, Becca Dixon, Em Schaefer, and yes, even you, George Rowen.
Special thanks to all my Twitter, OneFour KidLit, Facebook, and SCBWI Florida friends who kept me sane throughout this entire process. And a shout out to my funny friend Wynn, who introduced me to my MacBook Pro. You know I love it!
To you, dear reader, thank you for taking this journey with Olivia and Z.
And finally, to my sweet, wonderful David, who dealt with all the home chaos (and all my “personalities”) while I worked on this story. I could not have done this without your support. Scale of one to ten—I love you ten billion trillion!
About the Author
Vivi Barnes was raised on a farm in East Texas where her theater-loving mom and cowboy dad gave her a unique perspective on life. Now living in the magic and sunshine of Orlando, Florida, she divides her time writing, working, goofing off with her husband and three kids, and avoiding dirty dishes.
Olivia Twisted Reading Group Guide
The Carters take Liv’s laptop away and censor what she can view as soon as she first gets to the house. Why do you think they did this? Is censorship ever okay?
Z tells Liv that the Monroe Street family is what saved him, and that what they do is necessary because they’d be on the streets otherwise. Is there ever a time that it’s okay to break the law?
Why do you think the author chose those specific quotes at the beginning of each chapter? Are there any that stand out to you as particularly fitting?
Liv ends up trusting Z even though he was not always honest with her. After being burned so many times by families in the past, why do you think she let her heart rule her head? Did she make the right decision by trusting Z again?
Denise is very cold throughout the book. Based on the background we are given about her, why do you think she is the way she is? Does it make you feel angry or sorry for her?
Why was Liv okay with hacking, but not okay with stealing? Aren’t they both breaking the law?
Why did Sam test Liv by having her steal a shirt at the mall before bringing her to the house? Why didn’t they begin with hacking?
What made Liv succumb to the pressure to steal the shirt?
How did your impression of the Carters differ from the beginning to the end? At what point did your impression of them change?
In what ways did Sam and Z manipulate Liv throughout the story? Why did she go along with them even though she knew something was wrong?
Why did Z erase his past? Why is he afraid to allow Liv or anyone else to know anything personal about him?
Why do Z and the other children stay dependent on Bill even though he is clearly not a good man?
What in Z’s and Liv’s pasts make it so hard for them to trust others?
Why didn’t it ever cross Liv’s mind to turn in the Monroe Street gang to the authorities? What would you have done in her situation?
If you are interested in learning more about how the characters connect in the two stories, visit
www.vivibarnes.com.
Olivia Twisted Interview With the Author
Why did you choose to write a version of OLIVER TWIST?
My aunt introduced me to the movie musical
Oliver!
when I was going through a difficult time in middle school. I probably watched it fifty times that year (“Please sir, I want some more!”). I remember thinking, “Now there’s a kid with real problems.” Then I read the story and thought it’d be cool to have a book with a female protagonist and call it
Olivia Twisted
. So truly, that’s how the idea began—with a title.
How does your book compare to OLIVER TWIST?
I wanted to keep the themes of abandonment, abuse, hope, desperation, and love that are prevalent through the original story. Wherever possible, I tried to parallel the plot lines of OLIVER TWIST. To update the story for contemporary times, I took license with certain story lines, such as making the criminals an underground ring of hackers instead of pickpockets and making the romance central to the story instead of an aside.
Oliver Twist is a passive child. Why did you choose to make Olivia more confident?
In the original story, society was more of a protagonist than Oliver himself. With
Olivia Twisted
, I wanted to have two strong main characters who weren’t just victims of their world, but instead shaped their own destinies.
What type of research did you do for this book?
I’m convinced there’s a special list the FBI uses for writers, considering the searches I’ve conducted. But I’m grateful to have experts with computer programming to help guide and review the hacking scenes. I also did extensive research on the foster care system, and though there are some amazing stories out there about people who truly care, there are also a lot of holes in the system. My hope is that someday, these deserving children will stop falling through the cracks.
by Christine O’Neil
Her fate is in his hands…
My name is Maggie Raynard. After sixteen years being just plain me, suddenly, when I lose my temper, my fingers become weapons of mass destruction. Turns out I’m a semi-god, descended from Aphrodite. Sounds cool in theory, but when I accidentally put my ex-boyfriend in a coma, things go downhill pretty fast.
Now some new guy named Mac Finnegan has made it his mission in life to continually piss me off. I’m stuck learning how to use my new powers while also dealing with regular high school problems, and with this annoying—and super-hot—guy all up in my business, I’m about to flip out.
But it gets worse. I just learned there’s this watchdog council of semis who keeps an eye out for any bad apples. They think I’m the baddest of the bunch and want to take me out before I do any more damage. My nemesis Mac might turn out to be my salvation, only he’s got secrets of his own…and they may just kill us both.
by Lea Nolan
Worst. Summer. Ever.
Emma Guthrie races to learn the hoodoo magic needed to break The Beaumont Curse before her marked boyfriend Cooper’s sixteenth birthday. But deep in the South Carolina Lowcountry, dark, mysterious forces encroach, conspiring to separate Emma and Cooper forever. When Cooper starts to change, turning cold and indifferent, Emma discovers that both his heart and body are marked for possession by competing but equally powerful adversaries.
Desperate to save him, Emma and her twin brother, Jack, risk their lives to uncover the source of the black magic that has allured Cooper and holds him in its grip. Faced with the horror of a soul-eating boohag, Emma and Jack must fight to resist its fiendish power to free Cooper long enough to join their strengths and face it together, before it destroys them all.
by Victoria Scott
Bad boy, meet bad girl.
Dante has a shiny new cuff wrapped around his ankle, and he doesn’t like that mess one bit. His new accessory comes straight from Big Guy himself and marks the former demon as a liberator. Despite his gritty past and bad boy ways, Dante Walker has been granted a second chance.
When Dante is given his first mission as a liberator to save the soul of seventeen-year-old Aspen, he knows he’s got this. But Aspen reminds him of the rebellious life he used to live and is making it difficult to resist sinful temptations. Though Dante is committed to living clean for his girlfriend Charlie, this dude’s been a playboy for far too long…and old demons die hard.
With Charlie becoming the girl she was never able to be pre-makeover and Aspen showing him how delicious it feels to embrace his inner beast, Dante will have to go somewhere he never thought he’d return to in order to accomplish the impossible: save the girl he’s been assigned to, and keep the girl he loves.
by Kelley York
Even the stars are lies…
When eighteen-year-old Hunter Jackson and his half sister, Ashlin, return to their dad’s for the first winter in years, they expect everything to be just like the warmer months they’d spent there as kids. And it is—at first. But Chance, the charismatic and adventurous boy who made their summers epic, is harboring deep secrets. Secrets that are quickly spiraling into something else entirely.
The reason they’ve never met Chance’s parents or seen his home is becoming clearer. And what the siblings used to think of as Chance’s quirks—the outrageous stories, his clinginess, his dangerous impulsiveness—are now warning signs that something is seriously off.
Then someone turns up with a bullet to the head, and all eyes shift to Chance’s family. Hunter and Ashlin know Chance is innocent...they just have to prove it. But how can they protect the boy they both love when they can’t trust a word Chance says?