Find MeAuthor: Kelly Gunderman
Publication Date: July 30, 2019
Publisher: Swoon Romance
Description:
Can you ever truly love someone who robbed you of everything?
Sixteen-year-old Claire Williams spends most of her days feeling angry and alone. After a car accident took her mother and Claire’s ability to walk, life in a wheelchair is the new normal.
When she’s sent to live with her grandmother, away from school and friends, Claire has a chance for a fresh start. Just when Claire thinks she can handle things, she runs into Todd - the son of the man who caused the car accident.
At first, Claire wants nothing to do with him, but the more time they spend together, the more she hates to admit her feelings. She’s slowly falling in love with Todd.
Now, Claire’s father wants to move and take Claire with him. But she can’t go. Not now when everything is falling into place, and she’s just now finding herself. Claire’s defiant. She won’t leave Greenwood, her new friends, her grandmother, or Todd.
Can Claire find the strength to let her dad go on with his life while leaving her behind to live hers, or will she allow the guilt and shame of surviving the accident pull her back under?
Deleted Scene
This is a tough question to answer! I don’t really have much in the way of deleted scenes for Finding Me – most of what I wrote made it into the finished novel (and I’m thankful for that!). But one scene that I wrote that I ended up removing from the novel because for some reason, it just didn’t feel like it fit in, is a scene between Claire and her grandmother, where they are taking turns painting each other’s nails and talking about Claire’s relationship with Todd. For some reason, it just kind of felt a bit awkward to me, almost like a filler, so I removed it. If you’re interested in reading it, I’ll provide it here!
The day after my big date with Todd at the pizza place, I’m sitting in the kitchen with Grandma, painting her nails a violet purple with silver glitter. There’s peppermint tea steaming in a mug in front of me, so I gently push the cup to the side so I can get a better angle to paint her nails from.
“This looks really pretty,” Grandma says, admiring the vivid purple color.
“I thought so, too,” I tell her.
I paint the rest of her hand in silence, and when I finish, she holds out her left hand for me to paint next. I dip the brush back into the bottle and start painting her thumb nail.
“So how was your big date?” she asks.
I glance up from the nail polish brush and smile at her before continuing.
“It was…nice,” I tell her. “Todd really made me feel special.”
“That’s wonderful, honey,” she says. When I glance up at her again, her smile is so wide it actually reaches her eyes. I can’t remember the last time I saw her smile like that, with a genuine look of happiness on her face. It looks so much better on her than all the stress and the frowns and the tears that have been taking up residence there.
“It is. Todd is really unique.”
“How close are the two of you, really?” she asks.
“I feel like we have a real connection, Grandma. Like we’re really good together.”
Grandma nods. “That’s good to hear. I think maybe we should talk, if you are going to spending a lot of time with him.”
“Talk?”
“Mhm.”
“About?” I ask, before I realize what she means. Talk. The Talk. Oh no.
“You know you can tell me anything, Claire, right? I won’t judge or be upset. I just want to know what’s going on with you.”
I finish up painting the last nail of her hand and put the brush back into the bottle. “Of course I do,” I tell her. “I do tell you everything. You know that.”
“I know. You’re a smart girl, Claire. I’m not going to sit here and give you the talk, but I want you to know that if it comes to that, you should at least be honest with me, okay?”
I let out a sigh of relief. There is no way I want to have this conversation right now. Or ever.
“I know. I will be. We kissed, but that’s about it,” I tell her truthfully.
“I was young once, too, you know. It might seem like it was ages ago, but I’m familiar with those feelings.”
“Oh Grandma. I get it, I get it.” I slap my hand on my forehead, hoping this conversation is almost over.
She smiles, and when I look at her, she winks.
“Now,” she begins, “what color nail polish would you like?”
I hand her a bottle of shimmering orange. “This, I think.”
I’m trying to avoid any awkward feelings between us, and when she focuses on the task of painting my nails, I’m relieved that this conversation is over. I am always honest with my Grandma, but this felt a bit…too honest.
“Are you planning on going out with Todd again soon?” Grandma asks.
“I think so. I mean, we really seem to click, like I said. Plus, I really like spending time with him.”
“That’s good. You deserve a positive relationship like that in your life. Todd’s a nice boy, and I like him.”
She finishes painting my nails and puts the cap back on the bottle.
“Alright,” she says, taking a sip of her tea. “Let’s clean up and do a crossword puzzle.”
“Sounds great,” I tell her, putting the nail polish bottles back in the basket with the others. Grandma grabs her crossword puzzle book and a pencil, and we sit next to each other to work on the puzzle together.
Kelly Gunderman was born a child of the late eighties in small-town Pennsylvania. A bibliophile in her own right, she is hoping to one day surpass the number of pages she has turned with those she has written of her own accord. Having recently completed her Bachelor’s in Early Childhood Development, Kelly suddenly found herself with a bit more free time than usual, and began her immediately successful foray into blogging and Freelance Writing, which subsequently led to her renewed desire to finally put her ideas and imaginings “on paper.”
Focusing primarily on the Young Adult genre, Kelly has recently finished and her first novel, Finding Me, which is set to be published in early 2019 by Swoon Romance.
She currently resides in her original home town with her husband, their two daughters, and a few cats that constantly challenge the sanity of all with their ill-advised attempts at what can only be assumed to be world domination.
One (1) winner will get a Swoon Romance ebook title from a previous publication year of their choosing.
This is a new one to me and I like the sounds of it. Thanks for putting it on my radar.
ReplyDeleteNew to me as well, great find, was happy to add it to my TBR
ReplyDelete