*~*Branded by Abi Ketner and Missy Kalicicki Blog Tour – Excerpt & Review*~*

 

Title:    Branded (A Sinners Series, 1)

Author:    Abi Ketner & Missy Kalicicki

Release Date:    June 28, 2013

Genre:    Mature YA/NA, Dystopian

 

Fifty years ago the Commander came into power and murdered all who opposed him. In his warped mind, the seven deadly sins were the downfall of society. He created the Hole where sinners are branded according to their sins and might survive a few years. At best.
Now LUST wraps around my neck like blue fingers strangling me. I’ve been accused of a crime I didn’t commit and now the Hole is my new home.

Darkness. Death. Violence. Pain.

Now every day is a fight for survival. But I won’t die. I won’t let them win.

The Hole can’t keep me. The Hole can’t break me.
I am more than my brand. I’m a fighter.
My name is Lexi Hamilton, and this is my story.

 

 

 

 

Chapter One

I’m buried six feet under, and no one hears my screams.

The rope chafes as I loop it around my neck. I pull down, making sure the knot is secure. It seems sturdy enough. My legs shake. My heart beats heavy in my throat. Sweat pours down my back.

Death and I glare at each other through my tears.

            I take one last look at the crystal chandelier, the foyer outlined with mirrors, and the flawless decorations. No photographs adorn the walls. No happy memories here.

I’m ready to go. On the count of three.

            I inhale, preparing myself for the finality of it all. Dropping my hands, a glimmer catches my eye. It’s my ring, the last precious gift my father gave me. I twist it around to read the inscription. Picturing his face forces me to reconsider my choice. He’d be heartbroken if he could see me now.

A door slams in the hallway, almost causing me to lose my balance. My thoughts already muddled, I stand waiting with the rope hanging around my neck. Voices I don’t recognize creep through the walls.

            Curiosity overshadows my current thoughts. It’s late at night, and this is a secure building in High Society. No one disturbs the peace here—ever. I tug on the noose and pull it back over my head.

Peering through the eyehole in our doorway, I see a large group of armed guards banging on my neighbors’ door. A heated conversation ensues, and my neighbors point toward my family’s home.

It hits me. I’ve been accused and they’re here to arrest me.

My father would want me to run, and in that split second, I decide to listen to his voice within me. Flinging myself forward in fear, I scramble up the marble staircase and into my brother’s old bedroom. The door is partially covered, but it exists. Pushing his dresser aside, my fingers claw at the opening. Breathing hard, I lodge myself against it. Nothing. I step back and kick it with all my strength. The wood splinters open, and my foot gets caught. I wrench it backward, scraping my calf, but adrenaline pushes me forward. The voices at the front door shout my name.

 On hands and knees, I squeeze through the jagged opening. My brother left through this passage, and now it’s my escape too. Cobwebs entangle my face, hands, and hair. At the end, I feel for the knob, twisting it clockwise. It swings open, creaking from disuse. I sprint into the hallway and smash through the large fire escape doors at the end. A burst of cool air strikes me in the face as I jump down the ladder.

            Reaching the fifth floor, I knock on a friend’s window. The lights flicker on, and I see the curtains move, but no one answers. I bang on the window harder.

            “Let me in! Please!” I say, but the lights darken. They know I’ve been accused and refuse to help me. Fear and adrenaline rush through my veins as I keep running, knocking on more windows along the way. No one has mercy. They all know what happens to sinners.

            Another flight of stairs passes in a blur when I hear the guards’ heavy footfalls from above. I can’t hide, but I don’t want to go without trying.

Help me, Daddy. I need your strength now.

My previous desolation evolves into a will to survive. I have to keep running, but I tremble and gasp for air. I steel my nerves and force my body to keep moving. In a matter of minutes, my legs cramp and my chest burns. I plunge to the ground, scraping my knee and elbow. A moan escapes from my chest.

Gotta keep going.

“Stop!” Their voices bounce off the buildings. “Lexi Hamilton, surrender yourself,” they command. They’re gaining on me.

I resist the urge to glance back, running into what I assume is an alley. I’m far from our high-rise in High Society as I plunge into a poorer section of the city where the streets all look the same and the darkness prevents me from recognizing anything. I’m lost.

            My first instinct is to leap into a dumpster, but I retain enough sense to stay still. I crouch and peek around it, watching them dash by. The abhorrent smell leaves me vomiting until nothing remains in my stomach. Desperation overtakes me, as I know my retching was anything but silent. My last few seconds tick away before they find me. Everyone knows about their special means of tracking sinners.

I push myself to my feet and look left, right, and left again. Their batons click against their black leather belts, and their boots stomp the cement on both sides of me. I shrink into myself. Their heavy steps mock my fear, growing closer and closer until I know I’m trapped.

Never did I imagine they’d come for me. Never did I imagine all those nights I heard them dragging someone else away that I’d join them.

            “You’re a sinner,” they say. “Time to leave our society.”

I stand defiant. I refuse to bend or break before them, even as I shiver with fear.

“There’s no reason to make this difficult. The more you cooperate, the smoother this will be for everyone,” a guard says.

I cringe into the blackness along the wall. I’m innocent, but they won’t believe me or care.

The next instant, my face slams into the pavement as one guard plants a knee in my back and another handcuffs me. A warm liquid trails into my mouth. Blood. Their fingers grip my arms like steel traps as they peel me off the cement. The tops of my shoes scrape along the ground as I’m dragged behind them until they discard me into the back of a black vehicle. The doors slam in unison with one guard stationed on each side of me, my shoulders digging into their arms.

Swallowing hard, I stare ahead to avoid their eyes. My dignity is all I have left. The handcuffs dig into my wrists, so I clasp them together hard behind me and press my back into the seat, unwilling to admit how much it hurts.

 Did they need so many guards to capture me?

 I’m not carrying any weapons, nor do I own any. I don’t even know self-defense. High Society frowns on activities like that.

The driver jerks the vehicle around and I try to keep my bearings, but it’s dark and the scenery changes too fast. Hours pass, and the air grows warmer, more humid the farther we drive. The landscape mutates from city to rolling hills. They don’t bother blindfolding me because they escort all the sinners to the same place—the Hole. Twenty-foot cement walls encase the chaos within. There’s no way out and no way in unless they transport you. They say the Hole is a prison with no rules. We learned about it last year in twelfth grade.

To the outside, I’m filth now. I’ll never be allowed to return to the life I knew. No one ever does.

“All sinners go through a transformation,” one of the guards says to me. His smirk infuriates me. “I’m sure you’ve heard all kinds of stories.” I don’t respond. I don’t want to think about the things I’ve been told.

“You won’t last too long, though. Young girls like you get eaten alive.” He pulls a strand of my hair up to his face.

 Get your hands off me, you pig. I want to lash out, but resist. The punishment for disobeying authority is severe, and I’m not positioned to defy him.

            They’re the Guards of the Commander. They’re chosen from a young age and trained in combat. They keep the order of society by using violent methods of intimidation. No one befriends a guard. Relationships with them are forbidden inside the Hole.

Few have seen the commander. His identity stays under lock and key. His own paranoia and desire to stay pure drove him to live this way. He controls our depraved society and believes sinners make the human race unforgivable. His power is a crushing fist, rendering all beneath him helpless. So much so, even family members turn on each other when an accusation surfaces. Just an accusation. No trial, no evidence, nothing but an accusation.

I lose myself in thoughts of my father.

“Never show fear, Lexi,” my father said to me before he was taken. “They’ll use it against you.” His compassionate eyes filled with warning as he commanded me to be strong. That was many years ago, but I remember it clearly. My father. My rock. The one person in my life who provided unconditional love.

“Get out,” the guard says while pulling me to my feet. The vehicle stops, and I’m jerked back to reality. The doors slide open and the two guards lift me up and out into the night. A windowless cement building looms in front of us, looking barren in the darkness.

The coolness of the air sends a shiver up my spine. This is really happening. I’ve been labeled a sinner. My lip starts to quiver, but I bite it before anyone sees. They shove me in line, and I realize I’m not alone. Women and men stand with faces frozen white with fear. A guard grabs my finger, pricks it, and dabs my blood on a tiny microchip.

 I follow the man in front of me into the next room where we’re lined up facing the wall. Glancing right, I see one of the men crying.

“Spread your legs,” one of the guards says.

They remove my outer layers and their hands roam up and down my body.

What do they think I can possibly be hiding? I press my head into the wall, trying to block out what they’re doing to me.

“MOVE!” a guard commands. So I shuffle across the room, trying to cover up.

One

Two

Three

Four

Five of us sit in the holding room. One by one, they pull people into the next room, forcing the rest of us to wonder what torture we’ll endure. An agonizing amount of time passes. I lean my head back and try to imagine a place far away. The door opens.

“Lexi Hamilton.”

            A guard escorts me out of the room, and I don’t have time to look back. As soon as the door closes, they pick me up and place me on a table. It’s cold and my skin sticks to it slightly, like wet fingers on an ice cube. Then they exit in procession, and I lie on the table with a doctor standing over me. His hands are busy as he speaks.

“Don’t move. This will only take a few minutes. It’s time for you to be branded.”

A wet cloth that smells like rubbing alcohol is used to clean my skin. Then he places a metal collar around my neck.

Click. Click. Click.

The collar locks into place, and I struggle to breathe. The doctor loosens it some as I focus on the painted black words above me.

The Seven Deadly Sins:

Lust – Blue

Gluttony – Orange

Greed – Yellow

Sloth – Black

Wrath – Red

Envy – Green

Pride – Purple

 “Memorize it. Might keep you alive longer if you know who to stay away from.” He opens my mouth, placing a bit inside. “Bite this.”

Within seconds, the collar heats from hot to scorching. The smell of flesh sizzling makes my head spin. I bite down so hard a tooth cracks.

“GRRRRRRRRR,” escapes from deep within my chest. Just when I’m about to pass out, the temperature drops, and the doctor loosens the collar.

He removes it and sits me up. Excruciating pain rips through me, and I’m on the verge of a mental and physical breakdown. Focus. Don’t pass out.

Stainless steel counters and boring white walls press in on me. A guard laughs at me from an observation room above and yells, “Blue. It’s a great color for a pretty young thing like yourself.” His eyes dance with suggestion. The others meander around like it’s business as usual.

I finally find my voice and turn to the doctor.

“Are you going to give me clothes?” A burning pain spreads like fire up from my neck to my jaw, making me wince.

He points to a set of folded grey scrubs on a chair. I cover myself as much as I can and scurry sideways. Grabbing my clothes and pulling the shirt over my head, I try to avoid the raw meat around my throat. I quickly knot the cord of my pants around my waist and slide my feet into the hospital-issue slippers as the doctor observes. He hands me a bag labeled with my name.

“Nothing is allowed through the door but what we’ve given you,” he says.

I hide my right hand behind me, hoping no one notices. A guard scans my body and opens his hand.

“Give it to me,” he says. “Don’t make me rip off your finger.” He crouches down and I turn to stone. I don’t know what to do, so I beg.

 “My father gave this to me. Please, let me keep it.” I smash my eyes shut and think of the moment my father handed the golden ring to me.

“It was my mother’s ring,” he’d said. “She’s the strongest woman I ever knew.” With tears in his eyes, he reached for my hand and said, “Lexi, you’re exactly like her. She’d want you to wear this. No matter how this world changes, you can survive.” I turned the gold band over in my palm and read the engraving.

You can overcome anything… short of death.

 “You’re going to take the one thing that matters the most to me?” I say, glaring into the guard’s emotionless eyes. “Isn’t it enough taking my life, dignity, and respect?”

A hard blow falls upon my back. As I fall, my hands shoot out to stop me from smashing into the wall in front of me. The guard bends down and grabs my chin with his meaty fist.

“Look at me,” he commands. I look up and he smiles with arrogance.

“What the hell?” He staggers a step backward. “What’s wrong with you? What’s wrong with your eyes?”

“Nothing,” I respond, confused.

“What color are they?”

“Turquoise.” I glower at him.

“Interesting,” he says, regaining his composure. “Now those’ll get you in trouble.”

Reality slaps me across the face. I have my father’s eyes. They can’t take them from me. I twist the ring off my finger and drop it in his hand.

“Take the damn ring,” I say. I walk to the door. He swipes a card and the massive door slides open to the outside.

“You have to wear your hair back at all times, so everyone knows what you are.” He hands me a tie, so I pull my frizzy hair away from my face and secure it into a ponytail. My neck burns and itches as my hand traces the scabs that have already begun to form. Squinting ahead in the darkness, I almost run into a guard standing on the sidewalk.

 “Watch where you’re going,” he says, shoving me backward. His stiff figure stands tall and I cringe at the sharpness of his voice.

“Cole, this is your new assignment, Lexi Hamilton. See to it she feels welcome in her new home.” The guard departs with a salute.

“Let’s move,” Cole says.

I take two steps and collapse, my knees giving out. The unforgiving pavement reopens the scrapes from earlier and I struggle to stand. A powerful arm snatches me up, and I see his face for the first time.

Branded by Abi Ketner

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

*ARC Given to Blog for Honest Review*

4 “You can overcome anything…short of death.” Kisses

I am a romantic girl at heart, but every now and then it’s nice to change it up. Different is just one of the words I would choose to describe Branded . Just one, mind you. It’s a complete change up from the regular books that I read and I don’t think I realized how badly I needed to read this book. It’s an emotional read, it’s a gut wrenching read and for me, it was kind of a mind-fuck if you will. I enjoyed Branded enough that I did a re-read of the new edition and I was happily surprised to find that it still got me in every way that it did the first time around…I still swooned over Cole…I still loved Lexi and her strength, determination and passion…and I still cried like a little baby over the same scenes. For me…that shows that I truly did connect with this book.

Lexi Hamilton….she was named after Lexington Bay. A beautiful girl with turquoise eyes, left to suffer in a horrible, disgusting world that only causes her pain. We start off the book with her almost committing suicide – see? Told ya…mind-fuck! From the get go. But she’s a fighter. She has no one, her father died, he brother left, never to be heard from again, her mother is so drugged up and her step father has all but turned her mother against her anyways. And her step father…*shivers* (and not the good kind of shivers)…he’s the lowest of low. Worst human in existence. And as if that’s not enough, now she is a ‘sinner’ – life’s just peachy, right? So, when I say this girl has more strength in her pinky than most people do in their whole body, it’s not an understatement. Grown men have crumbled from far less than what she has endured – and yet she still manages to keep going.

‘You can overcome anything…short of death.”

Lexi is sent to ‘the Hole’ where all the sinners go. Her sin? Lust…but she’s innocent. Of course she is…but what’s the use? The system is not made up to protect the innocent and punish the guilty, it is made up to create fear and abuse control. Because that’s the whole point. Before the war, before the Hole, before the sinners even existed, the system wasn’t perfect, what system is? But this? This is madness, it’s sick and twisted, and it’s one man controlling thousands, because he can. Makes me want to crawl out of my skin because it’s so scary how real this could possibly be. So the sinners are branded, literally, like fucking cattle – one more example of the ‘mind-fuck’.

‘The Seven Deadly Sins:
Lust – Blue
Gluttony – Orange
Greed – Yellow
Sloth – Black
Wrath – Red
Envy – Green
Pride – Purple’

Cole is a hard nut to crack, he’s very complex. He’s a guard. Guards are a few steps away from being not human. They are raised differently, trained differently, they think differently – it’s not a life any normal person would want to live. It’s not an easy life…by far. For whatever reason, he is chosen and his job is to guard Lexi – protect her, keep her safe no matter what the cost, even if that means sacrificing his own life, and Cole doesn’t take his job lightly at all. He does it very well. And all the while, you watch him morph from the guard he has had to be for so long into the man that has always been behind the layers. Layers that only Lexi has the ability to melt away.

‘He puts his fingers under my chin and tilts my head back until we’re eye to eye.
“I want you to trust me. Can you do that?”
“I already do,” I say.
I can’t believe I just said that. I don’t trust anyone.’

So does Branded have romance in it? Yes…what’s even better is that it’s ‘forbidden romance’. Guards are not supposed to have emotions period but a guard falling in love with a sinner. Pssh! Yeah…that just doesn’t happen and when it does and they get caught…well, it’s just bad. So, yes there is romance but it’s minor to all of the rest of the story. You’re so focused on Lexi and her struggles, her battle to stay alive and cope with everything that is going on around her. There are also other relationships that, to me, are just as important as hers and Cole’s, if not maybe more so. That’s really hard for me to say, btw! She befriends a sick girl named Alyssa at the hospital where she works. Alyssa is a 13 year old girl that never got to be young since she’s been in the Hole since she was 8. The friendship that Alyssa and Lexi make is…in the middle of all the pain, death and the heart breaking things around them…it’s just beautiful.

‘She looks at me with an anxious expression. “I promised you I’d come back. I’ve never gone back on a promise and I’m sure not going to go back on one now.” It’s true. I don’t. I’ve had so many broken promises in my life I could never do that to anyone.’

Then there is also Sutton, the doctor and head of the hospital. I can’t lie, in the beginning I was worried – because it’s the Hole, you have to be worried about everyone, nobody does something nice without there being consequences or ulterior motives, but I’m not sure at what point but it finally clicked with me that Sutton was actually one of the good and decent people left in that place. And of course I can’t forget Zeus. Zeus the goofy ass guard dog and pretty much the main reason why you don’t slit your wrist from the sadness, pain and angst of this book. He is loyal to two people…Cole and Lexi – but in all seriousness, he loves Lexi more (it’s so freakin cute!).

‘In the relative safety of the elevator, I can’t hold it in any longer. “I can’t believe he killed her. Why would he kill her? If he loved her—”
“Because he loved her.” Cole cuts me off. Without any invitation, he keeps talking. “Everyone’s known about Mac and Claire for a while. Mac’s been a friend of mine since we joined the guards. I have no doubt he did it because he loved her. He knew they’d torture her just to break him. And they’d do it in front of him.” Cole pauses and closes his eyes for a moment. “He killed her out of love. The very love that most of us will never feel because we aren’t allowed.”’

The entire book is told from Lexi’s POV and Missy and Abi did an amazing job with painting a very descriptive picture. You feel like you are seeing everything thru Lexi’s eyes, experiencing what she is experiencing – every little detail, from the smells, to the sounds, to the emotions – not one detail is spared. I really appreciated that, because that’s part of what made me love the Hunger Games series so much. I hate to compare the two, but they do have a lot in common – I just feel that with the content that is in Branded it’s much better suited to an older audience – which isn’t a bad thing, at all. It’s just a little harsher – deals with more adult things. There are absolutely no emotions sparred throughout the course of the story…you feel it all and then some…and then for good measure, a little bit more. Just when I thought every ounce of sadness had been rung out of me, oh no…wait – there’s more! My poor aching heart…

‘“I hate it when you leave, and that scares me too.” I face him and our eyes meet. I see the conflict between his duty and his feelings mirrored in his face. His dark eyes flitter in the light. The hand with the bloody knuckles rubs my shoulder, my arm, and then he touches my chin.
I want more. So much more. ‘

This book made me think…a lot. I think what gets me the most is that, yes…in excess Lust, Greed, Pride, etc., are and can be sins – but that does not mean we’re not allowed to experience those emotions. I cannot imagine the mindless zombies that would walk around if we weren’t allowed to express, feel and have emotions – how boring can you get?? It’s not allowing those emotions take you over, control your life and make you do evil/horrible/wrong things that separates us from the ‘bad people’. Having those emotions doesn’t make you a ‘sinner’, letting them control you does. Thank GOD I’m allowed to lust over a good book boyfriend and not be branded a sinner, cause I would have been locked up years ago! 😛

“You’re amazing just the way you are. There’s not a single thing I would change about you. When you smile my entire world stops. All I see if you. I need you.”
My head shakes back and forth, willing his words away. If he keeps this up, I don’t know if my promise to Sutton will stick. “No, you don’t. You have to stop.”
“I wish I knew how.” His arms break away from me, and he steps back. “You’re the last person I ever wanted to fall for.”

So, thank GOD Branded did not end in a cliffhanger, I don’t think my poor little battered and bruised heart could have handled it. It was torture enough dealing with all the ups and (mostly) downs of what was happening to the characters…but it did have me on the edge of my seat there for a while…I really wasn’t sure. So while it’s not a cliff…there is still a lot that needs to happen before this story is complete. Lexi and Cole have a long way to go before they get their HEA and I’m very intrigued to see what is going to happen. This book kept my emotions on high alert and me biting my nails and wondering what was going to happen next, so I can’t even fathom what is in store for book #2. 🙂

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Abi Ketner Is a registered nurse with a passion for novels, the beaches of St. John, and her Philadelphia Phillies. A talented singer, Abi loves to go running and spend lots of time with her family. She currently resides in Lancaster, Pennsylvania with her husband, triplet daughters and two very spoiled dogs.

Melissa Kalicicki received her bachelor’s degree from Millersville University in 2003. She married, had two boys and currently lives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Aside from reading and writing, her interests include running and mixed martial arts. She also remains an avid Cleveland sports fan.

Abi and Missy met in the summer of 1999 at college orientation and have been best friends ever since. After college, they added jobs, husbands and kids to their lives, but they still found time for their friendship. Instead of hanging out on weekends, they went to dinner once a month and reviewed books. What started out as an enjoyable hobby has now become an incredible adventure.