Blog Tour: Seeds of Hate by Melissa Perea

Synopsis

They said high school would be fun.
They said we would make forever friends.
They said we would have the time of our lives.

They lied.

Excerpt from the author:

“He punished me daily Selah. Daily! He wouldn’t leave me alone. He kept making me pay. He wouldn’t stop. He wouldn’t stop!” I yelled, hot spit flying out of my mouth into the cold.

“Javi, I can’t hold on. Please stop! Make it stop!” She cried.

“I couldn’t make it stop Selah. I tried ignoring him. I tried walking away. I tried everything!” My voice cut the air and if the sky could cry from pain it did.

“Stop it, Javi! Stop it!” She yelled once more.

I grabbed one bar with both hands and halted the merry-go-round. Selah’s body had moved to the outer edge from the force of the spin, her hands were bright red and slipped from the bars as she hung over the side. Her chest moved up and down rapidly and her hair ran wild around her eyes.

We both held still.

The park now abandoned in the setting sun was quiet except for the crows on the telephone wire. Their silhouette the only movement against the moon except for the silent breeze rustling the trees.

She sat up and held her head in her hands, “What did you do Javi?” She questioned me without wanting to know the answer. Looking up she caught my eye, “What did you do?”

I walked up to her, knelt in the sand at her knees and grabbed her hand. Raising it up in the air I dropped it back down. And then my head followed into her lap and my shoulders fell forward wrapping my arms around her warmth.

“I let go.” I said. And as I held her, I let it all go again. Except this time, it was better.


4 Star Review

I had to sit back and digest this book before I could write this review. If I had to describe it, I would say it is a mixture of extreme sadness and heartache and despair. At the same time there are seeds (pardon the pun) of hope and yearning and longing for a better day.

Javier (Javi) is a senior at the high school from hell. His nemesis is Nathan, his former best friend whose life’s ambition is to ruin Javi’s life. What is his motivation? What made him turn from a trusted confidante, a long trusted childhood friend, into a vindictive douche who will stoop to whatever level he has to in order to inflict the most pain? 

“I’m not supposed to want to be you. I have everything. You have nothing. A world where you have something that I can’t have…will never exist.”

Javi suffers humiliation packed on top of heaps of public exposure and suffers in silence. One night two years ago, things in his life changed him forever and Nathan, once again, was the root of all evil. Javi has one close friend, Izzie, a good kid who has maneuvered alongside the minefield of Javi’s life. If that makes him a social outcast, well so be it. No one knows exactly how good a friend he has been to Javi, that is their secret alone. 

Selah attends the same school. She too is a social leper in this inferno of hate. She is well aware of whom Javi is, and feels drawn to him to somehow repay him for the comforting smile he gave to her on her first day there. She reaches outside her comfort zone and reaches out to him. These two slowly navigate the waters of a budding friendship, both weary and cautious of outsiders. Hers is also a tragic story. Figuratively orphaned before her teenage years, she lives with her wealthy aunt and uncle, apathetic to her at best and at worst, absent for the most part. She sporadically receives letters from her father, dangling carrots of paper, of planned visits and reunions that never occur. She longs for a touch, a hug, some comfort. The piranha at this school, otherwise known as her peers,intimidate and humiliate. She tries her best to fly under their radar. 

“I miss being loved, Javi. I just wanted to be loved. Be touched.”

The secondary characters in this novel are equally tragic. Gio is a 10 year old neighbor of Javi’s that he feeds and cares for, as his mother provides no food, care or comfort for this child. Javi’s mother works two jobs and feels as though she has to apologize for the lack of a father in the household. As if somehow her getting pregnant at 18 was solely her fault. Those in authority at the school skirt around the real issue and constantly turn a blind eye to what the truth is and only serve to perpetuate the cycle of hate that exists there.

I will warn you; this book has no HEA as its story continues with a planned sequel. Most people have memories, often nightmares that we associate with high school. Most of us, at some time or another felt alienated or ridiculed by the cool kids, the ones that seemed to hold the power. Most times, as much as those moments sucked, school was still bearable. Melissa Perea has written about a place where the balance of power is so skewed as to be criminal. If only I could hug these kids and tell them that there really is life after high school.

About the author

I get very cranky when I am tired. If getting fat wasn't a side effect, I would eat freshly baked cookies and milk every day for breakfast. Currently, I have one kid, one husband and one dog. I plan to add more to
the kids and possibly the dogs, but definitely am keeping the husband to one. If for some random reason you stumbled upon my high school yearbook you would find a picture of me under "Class Clown". I have a college degree, but instead of earning dollar bills with my educated mind, I spend my days playing with my offspring. My life is super fun.

I write because I want so share my heart with you and make you think more about the world around you.
Melissa Peres was born and raised in Southern California.  She currently resides in San Diego with her husband and children.  Seeds of Hate is Melissa's first novel.

Author links
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@melissaperea on twitter

Buy Links
AMAZON 
BARNES AND NOBLE 

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