Here’s an excerpt from page 66 of “Paper Girl.” Click “Menu” and “Buy Now” button above to purchase this chilling young adult novel.

The singer’s gravel voice was intoxicating. A motor, strong and deliberate — the most beautiful sound Nikki had ever heard. Free. Raw. Passion. The voice wasn’t trying to be pretty. It wasn’t trying to be anything. Nikki had, on no occasion, witnessed anyone as raw and beautiful as the gravel-voiced boy with the striped green shirt, playing left-handed guitar and making quirky faces into the camera.