Spotlight & Giveaway: Project A.I.D.E.N. by Lindsey Frydman

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Lindsey Frydman to HJ!

Hi Lindsey and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Project A.I.D.E.N.!

 
Hello everyone! I’m super thrilled to be here.
 

Please summarize the book a la Twitter style for the readers here:

Project A.I.D.E.N. is a sci-fi romance about Aiden, a boy on the run from those who want him dead and the girl who risks everything to help him.
 

Please share the opening lines of this book:

All I know is this: I’m meeting with someone named Carter. If I do what he asks, say the right things, and act like I’m supposed to, I’ll pass my final test. Easy. In my three hundred and eighty-four days here at AIR, my life has been chockfull of tests. If I fail today, they may never let me leave.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• I got the idea for this story from one of my favorite animated videos using The Sims on YouTube.
  –> bit.ly/3Alh8cu
• At the last minute, I decided to write this book for NaNoWriMo in 2013 instead of what I had planned.
• I was accepted as a mentee in Pitch Wars with Project A.I.D.E.N. (and later went on to mentor!).
• This is my third book, though it was written long before my first two!
• I eventually found my amazing literary agent with this story.

What first attracts your main characters to each other?

For Elena, there’s something vulnerable in his voice, in his crooked smile, that makes her want to help him…even if it means breaking the rules and leaving “good” behind. People are out to kill Aiden. Not helping him would be no different than standing safely on land with a life vest, watching someone drown.

Aiden can’t believe Elena agrees to help him, a fugitive on the run who freaked her out by hijacking her car. Instead of remaining scared, she’s accepting and understanding – not to mention, gorgeous. She’s risking everything for him, and unlike everyone else, she doesn’t treat him like a lab rat to be studied.
 

Using just 5 words, how would you describe your main characters”love affair?

Sweet. Kind. Protective. Trusting. Inseparable.
 

The First Kiss…

“I’m not sure you get it. I’ve never felt more…alive than I have these past couple days with you.” He tilts his head down, and those fingers work their way up to cup the side of my face, brushing gently along my jaw. “Even though it’s been a shit storm, and none of it’s been easy, I’ve never felt more real. More human. Ironic, right? I don’t know how to thank you.”

He shifts forward until we’re toe-to-toe, and I can feel his chest rising and falling from the breaths he doesn’t actually need. Any sound from the TV fades into nothing. Light bounces off the metallic parts in Aiden’s irises, swirling together. He smells fresh, like ivory soap and mint. His fingers brush my face again, and my cheeks tingle beneath his touch. My own breaths become shallow and scattered, and my poor freaking heart thrashes from the proximity of my lips to his. When his hand moves to brush my hair back, I let out a small gasp.

Before I can make sense of it, he kisses me.

His lips are soft, incredibly warm, and though I’ve kissed guys before, I know now I’ve been doing it all wrong. A delicious shiver races from my spine all the way through my fingertips like electricity. My hands roam across his chest, and I curl my fingers over the thin material of his shirt, pulling him closer as his mouth opens to mine.

Aiden’s body presses harder against mine, pushing me into the glass. I welcome the heat and the way it makes me feel so incredibly alive. He is so real, just as I’m real. I know now it doesn’t matter what he is, but who. I could live in this moment for eternity. Just him, his lips, and his tongue. His
fingers sliding down my back to grip my hips. His pounding heart beating mere inches from my own.

A strange sensation lights up every nerve I possess, and I’m five seconds away from stripping off all my clothes. It’s an insane thought because I’ve never been that girl, but things with Aiden…they’re different than anything I’ve ever known.

Without revealing too much, what is your favorite scene in the book?

“Step out of the car, please,” the officer says from my side of the vehicle. His hand hovers near his hip—over his gun.

Pushing the door open, I swallow, the sour taste burning my throat. A glance over my shoulder shows another officer on Elena’s side.

“Place your hands on the car.”

My icy, numb fingers touch the hot, hard metal, and I take one more look around, branding the surroundings into my brain. I hear Elena’s voice—my name. No, don’t.

The officer tugs one of my arms back, then the other, and the handcuffs smolder against my frozen skin. A latch and a click later, he pulls me away from the car, shoves me forward, and starts barking at me. But I don’t hear his words. All I hear, all I see, is Elena.

Her hazel eyes glisten against the sun. They’re filled with a fresh round of horror, and that look—God, it crushes me.

Thick fingers clutch my arm tighter, and the officer pushes me again, commanding me to move. Elena shouts my name. Aiden. I’ve heard it thousands of times, but only she can make it sound so damn special, like it’s her favorite word.

The desire to never lose this feeling—that I might matter to someone—is a bulldozer to my heart. A spark ignites inside me, creating a blaze so intense it could burn the world away. It singes every ounce of my being until I fear I might literally be on fire.

One step further and I spin on the officer. Here goes nothing. I yank my wrists and the metal of the handcuffs slices my skin, but they break apart as if they’re made of yarn. I spare a moment to glance at my stronger-than-steel wrists, ignoring the pain, and I slam my fist into his cheek. He stumbles back and falls, crashing into the pavement. Out.

I whirl, and the second officer is mid-stride, releasing his gun from the holster. He shouts, and I dive at him. Muscle and flesh collide, and a fraction of a second later, his back meets the ground. We roll across the sunbaked cement. It grates my skin. The gun skids away, and his fist flings through the air. Pain rages in my jaw, but I barely blink. I elbow his gut, and the sound he makes is feral and loud. My arm draws back and I punch him, catching his jaw. He stops moving.

There’s a crowd of onlookers, most of them hovering near their cars, watching with shocked expressions. I only spare a moment to look at them. Rolling away, I remember there are two more officers. My eyes find them by the time I’ve gotten to my feet. Elena screams as the two men stand
in front of me, guns drawn and pointed at my face.

“Freeze!” one says.

And I do, for a moment. They inch toward me, and Iput my hands up. More screams from Elena—my name andthe word “no” repeated over and over. Now the officers are closer, almost within reaching distance.

I lunge at them. My left hand slams against the first one’s arm. The crack of bones breaking has me wincing, but I don’t hesitate. The gun flies out of his hand, and he stumbles, cradling his limp arm against his chest.

Then a gunshot splinters the air, a blast detonating in my ears. Fire spreads through my shoulder, but I don’t stop—can’t stop. I hurdle my body toward the last officer, and another boom sounds from his outstretched arm. He misses. I punch his nose, my body on autopilot now, and a heartbeat later, he crashes against the cop car and slides to the ground.

The world turns quiet, and I spin around, my eyes searching for the only thing left that matters. Elena.

If your book was optioned for a movie, what scene would be absolutely crucial to include?

“Look—out the window.” Before I have time to move, she screeches, “It’s a cop car!”

As soon as I stand, another cop car pulls up behind the first.

“We could’ve triggered a silent alarm,” she says quickly, waving a hand through the air. “Or someone could’ve seen us. Followed us. We need to go. Now.”

I make a move for the door but remember the computer and what I’d been trying to pull up. “Zoe’s home address, we never found it.”

Fear flashes in her eyes. “There are at least two cops outside, and who knows if more are coming? We can’t wait.”

I agree with her, but without contacting Dr. Miller, our trip to her office will be a waste. So I sink back down in the chair and try to find what I’m looking for.

A siren wails in the distance, spiking my nerves. Elena paces in a two-square-foot radius, rubbing her hands together.

“Don’t let them see you through the window,” I say.

“They know we’re here. How will that matter?” Her voice is two octaves too high, but I don’t blame her for being freaked out.

“One more minute,” I say.

She starts to speak, but a loud thud stops her. The noise came from downstairs, most likely the main door. Time is up.

I spot what I’m looking for just as Elena grabs my hand
and tugs.

“Come on,” she says. “We have to go.”

I follow her toward the door, and we both exit to the hallway that separates the different offices. But coming up the only set of stairs are a couple of cops, their heads popping into view. I pull Elena back into Dr. Miller’s office.

“That’s the only way out,” she protests.

“It’s not a way out.” Not with the cops climbing the steps.

“What are we going to do from here?”

My gaze darts around the room, desperate for a solution. I see only one, and I don’t like it. With a groan I say, “The window.”

The curve of her brow deepens. “We’re on the second level.”

“I’ll go down first so I’ll be there at the bottom to catch you.”

“Won’t you get hurt?”

“Don’t worry about me,” I say as I go to the window and unlatch it.

“You know, I’ve always found that sentiment to be
highly unfair.”

Despite everything, I chuckle. “You’re not wrong.”

The screenless window slides open with no issue. But it’s not the getting-out part that concerns me, it’s the getting down. Still, I don’t hesitate for more than a moment. Long enough to glance down and think just how much a fall might hurt. I put my legs through and search for anything to let them rest on. I find nothing, so I twist slowly as I work therest of my body all the way out. By the time I’m hanging, holding on by only my hands, I hear loud, muffled voices.

Elena swings her head toward the door, then back at me. “We’ve got like five seconds.”

I release my grip on the windowsill and ready my legs for the impact. Something slides against my left forearm, leaving a wound that pulses with pain.

“Damn it,” I mumble as I roll through my landing. But it’s the only attention my arm gets before I’m calling for Elena to jump.

She does, and I use my arms to catch her, ignoring the pain.

“Thank God, you caught me.”

“What, you doubted me?” I flash her a quick grin.

She gives me a crooked smile, and I reluctantly drop my arms from around her and grab her hand. Shouts come from the second story of the office building. Neither of us bother looking back.

 

Readers should read this book …

if you enjoy light, futuristic sci-fi and romance about what it means to be human and what it means to have hope.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have planned?

Right now, my WIP is a fantasy romance about a girl with a curse that makes her skin radioactive whenever it rains, killing anyone who touches her. She’s already killed three people, and would give anything to make it stop.

It’s a romantic redemption story with mermaids and sirens, a hidden world, a love triangle (my favorite), dark themes, and poetry.

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: A $15 Amazon gift card along with a signed copy of PROJECT A.I.D.E.N.

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: What are some of your favorite scifi novels/themes? Anything to recommend?

 
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Excerpt from Project A.I.D.E.N.:

No. No, no, fucking no.

This is all wrong.

My life shouldn’t be in danger because I hypothetically refuse to kill someone in some hypothetical question.

Spinning, my back hits the wall hard, and I shut my eyes, trying to maintain a normal breathing pattern. I can’t let them do this. Kill me. If I want to live—and I want nothing more—I need to do something.

I need to escape.

Shoving my hands into the pockets of my jeans, I muster as much calm as I can manage and get far away from Dr. Niels and Carter.

I need a plan, and I need it fast.

All the exits are locked twenty-four-seven, and I can only access the door to my own room. Someone else will have to open the doors leading outside. Who will do that for
me? And hell, what will happen if I make it outside? Where will I go? What will I do?

First things first.

I haul ass toward the nearest exit: Zone B. I’d run if it wouldn’t call attention to myself. A man in a white lab coat, staring at his ComPad, is headed to the double doors, and I slow down, looking back and forth and behind me. No one else is in sight.

I’ve never seen this guy before, and thanks to his distraction, he doesn’t notice me fall into step behind him. He places his palm against the scanner, barely glancing up. Following him through the door is easy—too easy. Once we’re on the other side, I quickly assess the empty corridor. There are two main exits within AIR, and one of them is up ahead, to my right. I’m only one more fingerprint and retinal scan away from the outside.

But the man I’m trailing doesn’t head for those doors. He walks—no longer staring at his screen but still oblivious to my intentions—toward a different hallway. I squeeze my eyes shut and fight the urge to scream. The walls are closing in on me and, and God, someone must have seen me by now on one of the hundred cameras. No time for second guessing.

“Excuse me,” I say to the man’s back.

He turns, and his wide, puffy face is twisted into a curious expression. “Yes?”

“I need you to open that door for me.” As if he’ll do it just because I asked nicely.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Open. That. Door.”

“I can’t. It’s against protocol. I’m sure you know—”

“What I know”—I easily slam his body against the wall behind him, my hands gripping his plump shoulders—“is that you are going to open that door for me. Now.” The whole room shakes from the impact, but if being nice won’t work, what other choice do I have?

The man’s eyes grow wide. His bottom lip quivers. “But I—it’s not—I don’t—”

“Do it.” The last thing I want is to actually hurt him, but making him think I will just might work in my favor. “Open the fucking door, and I’ll let you walk away.”

“Okay. Okay!” He pleads with me as I press him against the wall like he weighs no more than fifty pounds. “Please.” He holds his hands out to the sides, admitting defeat.

I release him and step back. He’s flustered, his cheeks a bright red, and…he’s terrified of me. I resist scrubbing a hand down my face as a wave of nausea consumes me. This is wrong. But what they want to do to me is more wrong. I don’t have a choice.

I become his shadow, following him as he shifts toward the door and lifts one hand for the scanner to process. His breathing is heavy and unusually loud. I do my best to ignore it, waiting for the light to turn orange. A glance over my shoulder shows no signs of Carter. If the mystery man on the other end of those cameras hasn’t pegged me as out of place yet, he certainly will now.

The retinal scan takes only seconds, but now all of those seconds matter. The door beeps, finally unlocked, and a surge of warmth shoots through me at the relief. As soon as the thick metal plate slides open, I bolt through.

Mild air and bright-white sunlight hit me like a boulder to the head. It isn’t often that I get to be outside while the sun is shining, and I’m momentarily blinded, blinking furiously. Once I regain my perfect vision, I spot two men standing at the guard post. The sun glints off their metal guns—why do they have guns? This will be the greatest challenge. If I get past these two, I’ll be out of the facility.

I’ll be safe.

I’ll be free.

They haven’t seen me yet, so I’ve got the advantage. I’d forced the man inside to open the door and it hadn’t taken much. These guys—the ones with heavy machinery—will take more than an empty threat.

I get five feet from them, and it’s harder to breathe. If I don’t act swiftly, I’ll have to pass by more than just two men. Without further thought, I close the distance between me and them. My arm swings out at one of the unsuspecting strangers, and he whips his head, but the rest of his reflexes
aren’t quick enough. I pull the weapon from his side, and in an instant, I have one hand around his neck, the other holding the gun at his head.

The second man spins, uttering a curse, pulling his gun up, aiming at me. “Drop the weapon.”

“All I want is through the gate,” I say, gripping both the man and the gun tighter. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Drop it. Drop it now.”

I step back, pulling the guy I’m holding with me. “I just want to leave. I don’t want to shoot you. Or him.”

The man still pointing the gun at my face doesn’t look like he’s about to give up. Of course not. Why would he believe me?

“What do you mean you want to leave?” he asks, inching closer to me. “Who the hell are you?”

I blink but don’t loosen my grip on the steel beneath my fingertips. My gaze stays locked on his face as recognition develops, flickering across his features. There’s only one person who would have any problem leaving AIR, only one who needs to resort to holding a man at gunpoint to get out
of here.

“Shit, you’re Aiden.” His eyes widen, and I see the fear in them, identical to Lab Coat Guy. Now that he recognizes me, he’s horrified. Clearly, they know something about me that I don’t, but I’m not sticking around to ask questions. Staying alive is more important than getting the answers
right now.

His left hand reaches to touch the intercom piece attached to his ear. If he signals to everyone that I’m trying to escape, my chance at freedom will vanish.

I can’t let that happen.

I fling my body forward, propelling the man I’m holding. Their bodies collide and the sound of clashing bones crackles around us. In a blink, they slam into the ground with a thud, almost as if the ground was a magnet pulling them down to it. I’m only this strong because they made me this strong, and now they want to kill me because I didn’t pass some critical test they didn’t even prepare me for.

It makes me sick.

I take off running as fast as possible. My hand grips the cool metal of the gun as tightly as I’ve ever gripped anything in my life. My shoes smack against the solid cement, echoing my raging pulse. I reach the wrought-iron fence that stands ten feet tall, harrowing and ominous. It’s either up and over or nothing at all.

Clinging to the sun-warmed metal, I use all my strength to make the climb in a matter of seconds, putting one hand over the other, shoving my feet into the tiny rungs. At the top, I throw my body to the other side and land on the concrete with nothing more than a minor thump.

I’ve run around a track plenty of times, but never outside, never without a clear finish line in sight. I don’t have a clue where I’m going or where I can go, and one thought keeps repeating in my head. Over and over and over.

If you don’t run, they will kill you.

The concrete gives way to grass, and I sprint down the road. I can’t get the white, three-story death trap out of my sight soon enough. No alarms are sounding—not yet. As I run, I toss the gun into the tall grass. I know little of the outside world, but I’m certain waving a gun around will cause more problems than it will solve.

Fresh air whips around me, and I don’t even have time to enjoy the sensations of life outside the gates. For minutes,I run faster than I ever have before. I dare a peek over my shoulder, keeping my momentum up. When I see no guards making chase, relief washes over me like a warm blanket. I turn my head forward again, and the blanket is abruptly ripped away, replaced with a metaphorical bucket of ice-cold water to the face.

The screeching of tires erupts as a red blur comes into focus. I’m frozen, horrified, and I imagine I look just like that saying I’ve heard Dr. Burns use before—a deer in the headlights. I do nothing more than stand there and watch as a car barrels right toward me.

Excerpts. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

Until the moment I met him, I’d never done anything wrong. Like, seriously, anything. Until that summery afternoon when an exceptionally cute boy with unnatural green eyes—like emerald flames—stepped out in front of my car. And I hit him.

Only the boy didn’t die. There isn’t a mark on him. And now Aiden is begging me to drive him somewhere, anywhere. Because he’s being hunted, and the people chasing him will only stop when he’s dead. I know I should just keep driving, but there’s something vulnerable in his voice, in his crooked smile, that makes me want to help him…even if it means leaving “good” behind.

And “leaving good” feels a whole lot like being alive. More alive than I’ve ever felt.

Now I’m risking everything—my safety, my relationship with my dad, even my freedom—for a guy I just met. It’s not Stockholm Syndrome or even Hot Hijacker Syndrome. Something tells me Aiden’s different, really different, and it’s not just his eyes, his strength, or his preternatural smarts. Or that when he kisses me, everything else just disappears.

It’s like he’s the perfect guy.

And he might just be hiding the perfect secret
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Meet the Author:

Lindsey writes about heart-stopping romance, rule-breaking heroes, and everyday magic. She lives in Ohio (where the weather is never quite right). Her BFA in Photography and Graphic Design has granted her a wide assortment of creative knowledge that serves mostly as inspiration. When she’s not crafting stories, you’ll likely find her spending waaay too much time on Pinterest, gaming, or performing in a burlesque show—because she enjoys giving her introversion a worthy adversary. (Plus, it’s the closest to Broadway she’ll ever get.) Lindsey is represented by the amazing Naomi Davis.
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