Title: Out of Body
Author: Kimberly Baer
Genre: Young adult paranormal/sci-fi
Book Blurb:
Those weird dreams Abby Kendrick has been having? Turns out they aren’t dreams after all. They’re out-of-body experiences, like the ones her cousin Logan is having. At first Abby has fun with her new ability, using it to spy on her neighborhood crush and spook a mean girl. But when Logan gets in trouble on the astral plane, the game changes, and Abby must bend the rules of out-of-body travel as she journeys to a distant realm. Her mission is a perilous one, and success is not guaranteed. Can she save Logan and find her way home again? Or will the cousins be lost forever on the astral plane?
Excerpt:
When I got to the corner, I saw one of the missing-dog flyers tacked to a utility pole. It included two photos of Holly—a close-up of her grinning little doggy face and a wider shot of her whole body. A reward of fifty dollars was offered for information leading to her safe return.
I really did miss that little pup. The night after my mother told me she’d run away, I’d dreamed about her. In the dream, she was tied to a tree in the backyard of a house in a nearby neighborhood, a light-green house with maroon trim. I remembered wondering why anybody would paint a house such ugly, clashing colors. I was floating in the air, and Holly was barking up at me. Then somebody hollered out a window, “Shut up, you mangy mutt!”
I frowned. Remembering that dream was giving me a funny feeling. The same itchy feeling I’d gotten during this morning’s phone call with Logan.
A small, thick cloud abruptly blotted out the sun, and in the grayed-out light, the world around me took on an ominous tone.
A black car with frowny-eyed headlights cruised past, its occupants—vampires? demons?—concealed behind tinted windows.
The season’s last insects hummed urgently, like tense violin music in a thriller movie.
My heart pounded. My breath rasped.
I tried to think about other things, happy things—lasagna for lunch, just me and Dad; a movie I’d been wanting to see coming on TV tonight—but my mind kept snapping back to that dream. It had been a tiny, meaningless dream. Not much to offer plot-wise. Why was it thumping so insistently inside me?
You know why, said a firm, quiet voice in my mind.
But I don’t.
You do. It’s because—
I walked faster, trying to outrace the voice. Knowing I couldn’t.
—because there was something different about that dream.
No, there wasn’t!
Something strange.
“No,” I said, as if uttering the word aloud would give it more weight. “It was just a dream. A normal, stupid dream that didn’t mean a thing.”
Except it didn’t feel like a dream.
Yes, it did.
It felt like real life.
That’s crazy! It’s ridiculous! It’s—
Like. Real. Life.
The words slammed into me like three bullets. I came to an abrupt stop.
Like real life. That was how Logan had described his dreams before he’d realized they were out-of-body experiences.
Had the Holly dream been an OBE?
“No,” I moaned, sagging against a hefty oak tree in the Hoffmans’ front yard.
It wasn’t true. It couldn’t be. Out-of-body travel was Logan’s thing, not mine. I was letting my imagination run wild. My mother always said I was impressionable.
Then again, was it so crazy to think I might have the same weird ability Logan had? After all, we were cousins. Maybe it was a trait we shared, like our thin brown hair and knobby knees.
A violent shiver rippled through me, even though the sun was once more warming the air. The notion that I might have left my body like a dead person and flown off into the night was terrifying.
And also exhilarating.
Something creaked nearby, a wooden swing suspended from a sturdy tree branch. A skeleton sat in the swing leering at me, a fuzzy black spider peeping out of its eye socket. You live in Eerie, the skeleton seemed to say. Embrace the weirdness!
I didn’t realize I’d started walking again until I glanced down and saw my feet moving. Quickly, purposefully. They seemed to know where I was going, even if the rest of me didn’t.
A second later, my conscious mind caught up with my subconscious, and I knew where I was heading. I was on the hunt for that ugly green house. If it existed, if I could find it—and, especially, if Holly was there—well, I would have my answer.
At the next street corner, I glanced around, getting my bearings. The dream had given me a rough idea of where the house was. I set off up the sidewalk, my heart thudding in suspense. I didn’t know what I wanted the outcome to be—house or no house? Dog or no dog? OBE or plain old dream? I couldn’t suppress a giggle-sob, thunderstruck by the outrageous sci-fi of this scenario. Yeah, I lived in Eerie, but this brand of weirdness was beyond anything I’d ever experienced.
I turned right at the next intersection and quickened my pace to a trot. After four blocks I was still going strong, fueled by my ongoing adrenaline rush.
After two more blocks I came to a street sign—“Sorcery Place.” Somehow I knew to turn left. I passed a sign that said, “Dead End.” It had a picture of a gravestone on it, like all the dead-end signs in Eerie.
I jogged to the very end of the street, and there it was—one house all by itself up a short driveway, sandwiched between a cluster of mature trees in the front yard and a thick woods in the back. Through late October’s thinned foliage I could make out the house’s color scheme.
Light green with maroon trim.
I was breathing hard now, more from astonishment than from exertion. I made my way up the crumbling asphalt driveway, hoping my trembling legs wouldn’t give out. When I reached the house, I slunk through the side yard, stealthy as a cat stalking squirrels. As I edged around the rear corner of the house, I squeezed my eyes shut.
I knew what I would find in the backyard. I just wasn’t ready to see it.
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub):
Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/book/1144460559?ean=9781509253074
What makes your featured book a must-read?
Ever wish you could become invisible? Or fly without boarding a plane? You’ll do both while reading Out of Body—vicariously, of course! Kirkus Reviews calls the novel “An entertaining interplanetary teen adventure”; Midwest Book Review describes it as “a captivating book packed with suspense, adventure, and a strong female lead.” Join Abby on her harrowing journey as she learns firsthand that “astral travel is amazing…if you survive the trip.”
Giveaway –
Enter to win a $20 Amazon gift card:
Open Internationally.
Runs September 10 – September 17, 2024.
Winner will be drawn on September 18, 2024.
Author Biography:
Kimberly Baer is an author and professional editor who was born and raised in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, a town marginally famous for having endured three major floods. She even lived there during one of them. She enjoys power-walking on days when it’s not too hot, too cold, too rainy, too snowy, or too windy. On indoor days, you're likely to find her hard at work on her next novel or binge-watching old episodes of Survivor, her favorite guilty pleasure.
Kim has had her nose in a book practically since birth. Her first story, written at age six, was about a baby chick that hatched out of a little girl’s Easter egg after somehow surviving the hard-boiling process. These days she writes in a variety of genres, including young adult, middle-grade, and adult romantic suspense. Her books are published by The Wild Rose Press and have won several awards.
Social Media Links:
Website: www.kimberlybaer.com
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/kimberly_baer