I love that readers have been commenting about Louder Than Love giving them a “book hangover” – that pillar of reference, Urban Dictionary, defines a book hangover as “When you’ve finished a book and you suddenly return to the real world, but the real world feels incomplete or surreal because you’re still living in the world of the book.” That is the best compliment EVER, people! Seriously, that’s a love letter in a bottle washed up on the shore to us authors, shipwrecked alone with our words on a desert island. Thank you!

So what better cure for a hangover than a little hair of the dog? How about an exclusive look at some deleted content?

Louder Than Love is written in the first person, through my main character Kat’s point of view. Some readers have said they would’ve really loved a peek into Adrian’s mind as well. Originally, I had small bits of Adrian’s POV prefacing random chapters, but they were pulled out at some point during the editing process.

This was the very first appearance of Adrian on the page – a much more bitter and jaded version of the guy we come to know and love.  If you’ve read the novel, you’ll understand this scene in its context: soon after Kat sent out her very first email to him, requesting his appearance at the library. And if you haven’t read the novel – what are you waiting for?

ADRIAN’S DELETED SCENE #1

The world is a vampire, Billy Corgan warned us, sent to drain.

Bloody hell, I wish I wrote that lyric.

What I’ve been feeling and trying to convey my whole life, The Smashing Pumpkins accomplish in one sentence.  Parents disappoint, marriages crumble, colleagues forget you, old friends self-destruct.

Heroes and idols either die or become parodies.

Children become strangers…don’t get me started on Natalie.

As I stare at this kiss-off letter she has so hastily fired off from across the ocean, I am left wondering who the hell she thinks she is. Wondering what she thinks of me, what kind of fool she takes me for.

Asking me to pay for her high-end London wedding to her low-brow fiancé yet here, typed in black and white, she is basically telling me I’m on the B-list, barely invited, and definitely not walking her down the aisle. Let’s give that honor to fecking Leopold; the cheeky bastard who handled my business affairs, then handled my wife.

Bloody hell, I hate email.

I would rather sit and watch paint peel than spend time checking the blasted things, but since Natalie relegated our father/daughter chats to electronic format, I’ve had no choice.

She’d rather AIM and shoot me texts than suffer through an oral conversation. Our initial flow of correspondence has all but dried to a slow drip.

And this last one…she’s drained the last drop of life-blood from this corpse of a relationship. I’ve received spam with more warmth. Speaking of which, I might as well scan and delete today’s pandering dribble.

Work from Home! Grow your Hair! Grow your hair as you work from home. Grow your penis!

Good God.

And what is this? Program Appearance Request? Don’t tell me…Top of the Pops has come calling again? This should be good for a laugh….

Copy­right © 2013 by Jes­sica Top­per. “Bullet with Butterfly Wings” Copy­right © Cinderful Music

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Hope you enjoyed this peek into Adrian’s head – tell me what you think and if you’d like so see some more of his deleted scenes as a bonus…or as a cure to the book hangover!