I am thrilled to be hosting a spot
on the THE PACK #2: CLAW AND ORDER by Lisi Harrison Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Check out
my post and make sure to enter the giveaway!
About The Book:
Title: THE PACK #2: CLAW AND ORDER
Author: Lisi Harrison
Pub. Date: June 21, 2022
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Formats: Hardcover, eBook, Audiobook
Pages: 192
Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle, Audible, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, TBD, Bookshop.org
Sadie and
her best friends are back in book two of this series about girls with animal
powers. The Pack seems stronger than ever but Sadie has a secret that
could claw its way out.
Sadie thought joining the Pack would be the wildest thing to happen to her this
year but the school year is becoming even harder.
On top of classes Sadie has to navigate her growing feelings for her crush,
taming her powers during cheer practice and trouble making hyenas trying to
take her crown.
Then there is the massive secret she is keeping from her BFF Lindsey--that
could destroy their friendship and The Pack as they know it. Will the shocking
truth come out to bite them?
Grab book 1, THE PACK now!
Excerpt:
one
The
classroom smelled like a Sephora. Instead of paying attention to Professor
Norma’s snoozer of a lecture on landforms, the caged animal-lights were swiping
fruit-flavored gloss across their lips and rubbing floral-scented salves into their
hands--all in anticipation of that final gong. Once struck, Typical Topics
would be over, and the most anticipated weekend of the year (since last month’s
dance with the Allendale boys) would finally begin.
Sadie gazed
beyond the metal-framed windows. Those smoke-gray clouds were still hovering.
Oppressive and suffocating, they loomed above the private grounds of the Charm
House boarding school like an overbearing parent, there to put a damper on her
plans and, even worse, her new hairstyle. Hair that Sadie spent most of the day
admiring in the reflection of her dead laptop screen.
She’d meant
to charge her computer the night before. Really. But Claw Spa, the new beauty
salon Sadie was opening with her pack mates, had become a major attention suck.
Saturday morning was fully booked, and they were wildly unprepared.
Lindsey,
tiger-light and queen of the claws, had to set up a manicure table. Taylor,
chameleon-light and color expert, needed a dyeing station. Amy, snake-light and
scaly skin specialist, had to blend her oil treatments. And Sadie, lion-light
with superhuman strength and a dry blond mane, was stuck rearranging
furniture--a bummer, but not a surprise.
They had
finished setting up around midnight. While Lindsey, Taylor, and Amy applauded
their work, Sadie, now surrounded by mirrors, fixated on her unruly hair.
Gathering it in a bristly bundle, she tried twisting it into something elegant
at the nape of her neck. Tying straw into a bow would have been easier. “I
should just shave it off.”
“Funny,”
Taylor said as she worked her short pink layers into spikes. “I’ve been
thinking about all of that”--she waved her hand in the general vicinity of
Sadie’s head--“and I have an idea. Trust me.”
“You’ve been
thinking about it?” How long had Taylor been contemplating Sadie’s look? “Is it
that bad?” Her stomach dipped as she remembered the girls at her old school,
how they called her Hairy Poppins. And Taylor’s whole “trust me” thing? That
was an elephant-sized ask.
Only weeks
earlier, Taylor had secretly terrorized the animal-lights--and worse, her own
pack mates. Her plan was to scare the girls (mostly Lindsey) so they would stop
sneaking out to meet the boys. If the animal-lights were discovered, the evil
doctors at Institute of Behavioral Science would lock them in cages on the
thirteenth floor, just like they did with Kate, and experiment on them 24/7. So
Taylor’s intention was to keep them safe. But really, T? Did you have to turn
invisible, scratch venom into our bodies to make us sleep, then carve the number
13 into our skin? You couldn’t think of any other way to keep us safe from IBS?
Nothing?
Apparently,
she couldn’t. And technically, that was fine. Taylor meant well and the Pack
forgave her. But “trust”? Yeah, that was going to take a while.
“Sadie, I’m
not saying your frizzy vibe is brutal,” she continued. “I’m just--”
“Then I’ll
say it,” Lindsey interrupted, her emerald-green eyes fierce and focused. “Sadie
Lady, we love you, but your frizzy vibe is brutal.”
“Brutal is a
little harsh,” Amy said. “Brittle is more appropriate.” Her sympathetic smile
revealed one fang on either side of her mouth. “Why don’t I heat some orange
and clove oil and--”
“We can give
you a mane-over!” Taylor bellowed.
“Purrrfect,”
Lindsey said. “I’ll do her claws!”
Two hours
later, Sadie was running the sharp points of her gold nails through
flat-ironed, deep-conditioned blond hair that faded to black.
“Wow, you
look sixteen!” Amy gushed.
“Yeah, the
ombré technique is a total mane-changer,” Taylor said. “And the dark tips hide
your split ends.”
“You
actually look pretty!” Lindsey added.
“Actually?”
“Not that
you didn’t look pretty before. You did. On the inside. But now you’re pretty on
the outside, too.”
Sadie was
too excited about her mane-over to be offended. Before heading to bed, Taylor
gave her a bottle of dry shampoo and strict instructions not to get her hair
wet or it would frizz again. Which was why Sadie was currently admiring her
reflection in a dead laptop screen and praying the rain away instead of
listening to--
“Miss
Samson!” Professor Norma shouted, or maybe it just sounded like a shout because
of Sadie’s extra-sensitive hearing. “Are you paying attention?”
Chairs
creaked as everyone turned.
“Uh . . .”
Sadie’s cheeks warmed. “You were talking about animal migration.”
“Correct. I
was talking about animal migration. Twenty minutes ago . . .”
The
hyena-lights giggled. Jealous of the Pack’s popularity, they feasted on their
misfortunes.
“Now I’m
asking our Charm Club leaders for status reports, and since you’re one of those
leaders, why don’t you update us on your progress.”
Lindsey,
Taylor, and Amy glared at Sadie, silently reminding her not to divulge their
secret. As if she needed a reminder. The Charm Club project was worth 50
percent of their Typical Topics grade. And with her slipping GPA, Sadie was
counting on a high score to bring up her average. If word got out that their
club, the Claw Spa, was charging for treatments, they’d fail. Granted, the Pack
wasn’t asking for money. Just that customers cover the Pack’s chores and hand
over their desserts whenever asked. This seemed like a reasonable request,
considering Claw Spa was the only club providing an essential service. But try
telling that to a professor preaching a free-flowing exchange of ideas and
teamwork.
“Our
progress?” Sadie lowered the screen on her laptop. “Um, last night we set up
the spa in our dorm rooms, and it opens tomorrow. That’s about it.”
Professor
Norma lowered her glasses, which were attached to a beaded string that held
them around her neck, against her navy cardigan. Her small features were tight,
and her makeup-free skin was the color of Silly Putty. She was probably a
terrible joke-teller. “Can you share your most positive experience so far?”
Sadie
reached for the glossy tips of her hair and sat up a little taller. “Um, the
Allendale football game is tomorrow night, and Family Day is Sunday, so we’re
booked solid, which is cool.”
“Sounds
promising.” The professor searched Sadie’s eyes like hiding places. “And your
most challenging experience?”
“Fitting
everyone in, I guess. Demand is pretty high.”
“Well, you
are offering a free service.”
“Free?” Val
yipped. “Ha!” She and the other hyena-lights had started a comedy club named
Cackle. Ever since Professor Norma had said she thought the name was clever
(cackle is the sound of a laugh, and it’s also the name for a group of hyenas),
Val had been incredibly cocky.
Professor
Norma folded her arms across her dangling glasses. “Is there a problem?”
“Only if you
think doing someone else’s chores is a--”
Lindsey
growled softly.
“Chores?”
Professor Norma’s thin eyebrows arched.
Lindsey
glowered at Val and whispered, “Watch it, hy-e-nerd,” knowing that Professor
Norma couldn’t hear her.
“Val, are
you suggesting that--”
“Nope. All
good. I was just workshopping one of my jokes for the Family Day showcase. I
guess it needs more work. Sorry about that.”
Unlike the
other teachers at Charm House, Professor “Normal” did not have an animal-light,
so quiet whispers often went undetected. Sadie often wondered why Headmistress
Flora had hired a Typical in the first place. Yes, she taught Typical Topics,
so that part made sense, but still. The whole point of Charm House was to
protect its students from the outside world. A world in which researchers from
the Institute of Behavioral Science hunted animal-lights and imprisoned them on
the thirteenth floor of their creepy building, where they experimented on their
prisoners and would continue to do so until the source of their animal powers
was uncovered. Professor Norma’s daughter was a light, which was why everyone
trusted her. But what kind of light? And where was this daughter? Was she with
Kate--Amy’s old roommate, who had been captured by IBS the week before Sadie
arrived? No one seemed to know.
“Who else
will be presenting their club during the Family Day showcase?” the professor
asked.
Before
anyone could answer, the gong rang. The weekend had officially started, and the
students began clearing out.
“Miss
Samson, may I have a few words?”
“Of course.”
Smiling, Sadie made her way to the front of the room, anticipating another
compliment. All her other teachers had had something positive to say about her
hair, and every student (except the hyena-lights, of course) had booked a spa
appointment, hoping for a similar look. If Professor Normal’s few words were
flattering, she could have as many as she wanted.
“I’ve
noticed a change in you lately,” she said once Sadie approached her desk.
“I elevated
my style.”
Professor
Normal glanced at Sadie’s black tips. “I see that.”
An awkward
silence filled the space between them. A space that no longer smelled like
fruity gloss and floral salves. Just tension.
“Any chance
of you elevating your grades?”
“My grades?”
Was that was this was about? Because come on. For the first time, Sadie had
best friends, regular friends, and a crush on an Allendale boy who liked her
back. As the only lion-light at Charm House, she no longer feared mean girls;
they feared her. She was CEO of Claw Spa. Boss-lady of the jungle. Leader of
the Pack. Yes, socializing had been cutting into her study time lately. But
she’d bounce back. Good grades had always come easy to her. But BFFs? Not as
much.
“I’m
concerned,” Professor Normal said with a coffee-scented sigh. “The other
teachers are, too.”
“Don’t
worry. I’m a cat. We always land on our feet.”
“Do you
think your parents will feel the same way?”
“I do,”
Sadie said, sure of it. Her parents always wanted her to branch out and make
friends. So yeah, they would feel the same way. How could they not?
two
The Claw Spa
opened its dorm-room doors immediately after breakfast, and now Sadie’s
bacon-free belly was shouting, Time for lunch! Had it been five hours already?
She chased her hunger with cucumber-infused water, then greeted her next
customer.
“Welcome to
Claw Spa,” she said to Sondra, a petite rat-light with chin zits and oily brown
hair. “Checking in?”
Sondra
nodded, brows raised, smile wide. Like a caterpillar on the verge of
metamorphosis, she, and the dozens who checked in before her, wanted a beauty
transformation, just like Sadie’s. “I’m getting ombré hair with Taylor and an
oil treatment with Amy.”
“Same,” said
her friend Kara--a dingo-light with deep-set brown eyes and sharp, uneven
teeth. “Can you see if Lindsey has time to do my nails?”
Sadie checked
her spreadsheet. “I can squeeze you in with Lindsey if Sondra skips her
treatment with Amy.”
Did it make
sense? No. Amy’s schedule had nothing to do with Lindsey’s. But someone had to
stop Sondra from getting an oil treatment, or her already greasy hair would
look wet.
“What do you
say?” Sadie asked, desperate to speed things up. The check-in line was snaking
into the hallway, and the reception area was standing room only. The beds,
which Sadie converted into couches thanks to some creative pillow placement,
were taken. Same with the four chairs she positioned under Amy’s heat lamp. Who
knew the hot orange light, meant for warming cold-blooded reptiles, could cut
nail-polish drying time in half? Lindsey, that’s who.
Sondra
approved the change, and Kara thanked her with a suffocating hug.
“Once you
agree to the terms, you’ll be all set.” Sadie folded a piece of paper and slid
it across her desk. It read: Kara and Sondra do our laundry Monday, November 8.
Then she handed them a pen. “Your signatures, please.”
They
scribbled their names without hesitation, and Sadie filed the paper away in her
desk drawer. “Next!”
Rachel
stepped forward. An energetic monkey-light with a nasty nail-biting habit and
the swollen cuticles to prove it. “One manicure, please.”
“What about
a hot oil hand massage?” Sadie said, realizing that Sondra’s cancellation left
Amy wide open. “Those cuticles look parched.” If Rachel’s bloody nubs came
within five feet of Lindsey, she’d pack up her Caboodles kit and walk off the
job.
“But I booked
a manicure.”
“Yeah, but
right now, you need a little less mani and a lot more cure. The oil treatment
will be perfect.”
Rachel began
nibbling on her thumbnail.
“Trust me.”
Sadie slid a folded piece of paper across her desk, which Rachel promptly
signed. Now that Sadie had someone to return the water glasses to the cafeteria
after closing, she could dry-shampoo her hair, raid Lindsey’s closet for a
flattering outfit, and get to Allendale without missing a second of the
football game.
Not that
Sadie liked football. She loathed it. Her father, a San Francisco superfan,
always shouted at the TV when the 49ers played. Which, thanks to Sadie’s
super-sensitive lion-light hearing, sounded like he was screaming into a
megaphone aimed at a microphone.
It was Beak
she looked forward to--a like-minded sports hater who also preferred books to
balls. And she hadn’t seen him, or his distracting green eyes, since the dance,
four weeks earlier. She listened to “Without Me” by Halsey several times a day
to relive their magical night.
Beak’s warm
breath against her neck while they swayed to the heart-pounding beat of the
song. The grape bubble gum scent of his skin. How the twinkle lights in the gym
hinted at the C-shaped scar on his cheek--a scar he got while breaking up a fight
between his sister and an innocent girl at a coffee shop. How he shared his
most guarded secret--that this sister was Lindsey--and Lindsey had no idea that
Beak was her brother. . . .
Granted,
Beak already knew that Miss Flora (his grandmother) and Professor Jo (his
mother) had let Sadie in on the family secret. What choice did they have? Sadie
figured it out. But Beak said he was relieved that he had someone to talk to
about it and that that someone was Sadie. Which made the soda-pop love mist
inside Sadie’s belly fizz even more.
Since then,
they’d texted frequently and shared each other’s locations on Trkr. She loved
seeing a picture of his face move around the app’s map as he roamed the
Allendale campus, loved knowing where he was. Not because she was a stalker,
but because it helped her feel connected to Beak when they were apart. There
hadn’t been any more school-approved occasions for the Charm House girls to
hang out with the Allendale boys until this football game. And Sadie couldn’t
wait! She’d put in her earplugs, cozy up to Beak on the bleachers, share her
popcorn, and captivate him with her new hair. Then, as if hearing her thoughts,
he texted.
About Lisi Harrison:
Lisi Harrison
is a #1 New York Times bestselling author.
In 2003,
Lisi left her position as senior director of development at MTV Networks to
write The Clique series (2013-2011), which sold more than
eight million copies and was on the New York Times bestseller
list for more than two hundred weeks. Ten titles hit #1, and foreign rights
were sold in thirty-three countries. Alphas was a #1 New
York Times bestseller, and Monster High was an
instant bestseller. In 2013 Lisi released her YA series Pretenders and
her first adult novel, The Dirty Book Club in 2017. In
2021 Lisi launched two new middle-grade series—Girl Stuff and The
Pack. Currently, she is working on a middle-grade series with New
York Times bestselling author Daniel Kraus called Graveyard
Girls (9.6.22).
Lisi lives
in Laguna Beach, California, where she leads Drama Free Friend workshops
that teach kids, and their parents, how to have healthy, drama-free
friendships.
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok | Goodreads | Amazon | BookBub
Giveaway Details:
1 winner
will receive a finished copy of THE PACK #2: CLAW AND ORDER, US Only.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Tour Schedule:
Week One:
Week Two:
