Outcast: A Novel

By Adrienne Kress

"With a crisp, engaging voice and sharp wit, Adrienne Kress is always a treat to read." —Kelley Armstrong, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author 

“A refreshingly different take on angel mythology with a funny, gutsy, shotgun-toting heroine and a rivetingly sexy hero. Set in an eerie deep south town, OUTCAST is a spooky, spirited, compulsively readable story—charged with wit, wisdom, and bittersweet romance.” —Lesley Livingston, author of the internationally bestselling Wondrous Strange series

They come out of the sky and take you. Everyone knows that.

After six years of “angels” coming out of the sky and taking people from her town, 16-year-old Riley Carver has just about had it living with the constant fear. When one decides to terrorize her in her own backyard, it’s the final straw. She takes her mother’s shotgun and shoots the thing. So it’s dead. Or … not? In place of the creature she shot, is a guy. A really hot guy. A really hot alive and breathing guy. Oh, and he’s totally naked.

Not sure what to do, she drags his unconscious body to the tool shed and ties him up. After all, he’s an angel and they have tricks. When he regains consciousness she’s all set to interrogate him about why the angels come to her town, and how to get back her best friend (and almost boyfriend) Chris, who was taken the year before. But it turns out the naked guy in her shed is just as confused about everything as she is.

He thinks it’s 1956.

Set in the deep south, OUTCAST is a story of love, trust, and coming of age. It’s also a story about the supernatural, a girl with a strange sense of humor who’s got wicked aim, a greaser from the 50’s, and an army of misfits coming together for one purpose: To kick some serious angel ass.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Diversion Books
• Release date: Jun 4, 2013
• ISBN: 9781626810617

Adrienne Kress

Adrienne Kress is a graduate of the University of Toronto and has studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. Her work has been performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, among other venues in Canada and the UK. Following in her family tradition, Adrienne has also been a drama teacher, focusing on eight-to-twelve year olds.

Reviews for Outcast

[peptastic · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The protagonist, Riley, lives in a bible belt Southern town that is visited every year by angels. The angels kidnap a couple of people and revisit each year. The antagonist is a pastor whose moved to the town to take advantage of this implausible situation. What was implausible was Riley's mother forcing them to stay in the town because of her dying parents wish for her to raise her daughter in their house. I did not buy for one moment that her mom was reasonably allowing her family to go through that each year because of a dying wish or not being allowed back in the town if you left the one night the abductions happened.Riley and the rest of the books characters never waste a moment to tell us how Riley doesn't care what anyone thinks.Riley's mother cared more for her neighbours opinion than her family but the big reveal she did this so her daughter wouldn't have to was laughable.Because Riley wouldn't wear a bathing suit because big breasted girls are slutty if they wear bikinis or tank tops. No character in the book ever said this to her [such as when she was "forced" to a party in a bikini] but Riley herself. Outcast features the often used trope that the gorgeous lead isn't as pretty as her mom so is 'plain'.She constantly compares herself to the other girls in her school and moderates her behaviour on the wishes of others in every other paragraph. The love interest loses his cool with Riley and her mom over letting creepy pastor gain more control over the town because everyone else was doing it.The book should have actually shown her make a stand for something that didn't involve falling apart over a boy. In this case, Riley's mom does remark that twice she does completely let go of her life. At least on this one character trait, she wasn't one thing but called another.Her "only chance at happiness' was ruined when her boyfriend was abducted. She spends most of the book either miserable over her kidnapped boyfriend and getting closer to the angel she shoots in the face. The said angel turns into a boy from the '50s whose progressive over everything but women's rights.The majority of the book was formulaic but believable characterisation of a girl whose mourning her boyfriend and falling in love again.The pastor, his son and the "friend" of Riley's were interesting but if the book had explored this more in depth instead of entire chapters on high school pool parties or a date I'd have enjoyed the book a lot more. I got more out of the Zenon tv movie on the disney channel when Zenon didn't like how the villain blinked than sweaty pastor creeping Riley out.

[mvthebookbabe · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

ACTUALLY RATED 3.5 STARS.Due to copy and paste, formatting has been lost.Sing 'em to remember. Sing 'em because you remember. I remember Gabe, I remember. And I'm never going to forget.The idea behind Outcast was really intriguing, but I honestly wasn't sure how it would turn out. Because, well, let's be honest here. How often do books deliver based on intriguingness? Almost never. But it turns out that Outcast was a step above the rest. Because it did deliver, in my mind. It had all of the elements that I like to see in a paranormal-- a hot guy who's somewhat paranormal, a freaky cult, some kind of scaryish ghost and some crazy twists in between.I really liked our main character, Riley. At first I was expecting her to be our average, virginal, annoyingly whiny paranormal girl lead. I was pleasantly surprised! Riley was actually quite the badass. She was very straightforward and sarcastic, and let's be honest. She shot an "angel" in the face. That was pretty frecking epic. Am I right or what? Loved that. I also loved that she almost always has something to say that is so true. Seriously, check out this quote-- I love it because it's true!Or worse. You see, an adorable little tank top on Lacy would look demure and pretty. One me it would look totally indecent, like I was some sex kitten. Basically, big boobs make people think you're trashy.That is absolutely true! I can never get out of the house in anything resembling a tank top, so I feel for Riley. But I'm going to move on now. I liked Gabe-- he was a lot sweeter and more decent than I thought he would be. And I don't know that I would necessarily refer to him as a greaser, but whatever. He is who he is, right? Gabe was a huge part of the story-- he kept it going. You just don't realize until the end how big of a deal he is, and then it hits you how crazy awesome the whole plot was. It was twisty and turny and actually kind of confusing...but in a good way, do you know what I mean?It was really interesting in the beginning, but as the story progressed it seemed like we were getting way too much information at one time...but it all starts to make sense later, so I'm actually okay with it. I just hope that there's less info-dump in the author's next book, because I really liked her writing. I didn't realize it until the end, but I was totally following and feeling everything that Riley was throughout Outcast, which can't be anything but good in my opinion.All in all, Outcast really is worth a read. It was a great paranormal that made my head spin, and I absolutely loved the surprise ending, it was totally epic!

[sunset_x_cocktail · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was an unusual take on the whole angel concept I've not seen before in YA paranormal novels. And I did thoroughly enjoy it. I liked it right off, the tone of the novel was interesting and sounded just right for a socially awkward small town teen. Something about the small southern town setting and the tone of Riley's character reminded me in a way of Sookie Stackhouse.

I found the character of Gabe an interesting one, he was a lot of fun and turned out to be a really decent guy. The initial meeting between him and Riley was very entertaining and reading about them dealing with each other's lives and getting around together was entertaining. The relationship worked well (no insta love) and it was easy to see how Riley's emotions changed and developed throughout the story.

Riley as a heroine was easy to relate to and strong in a lot of senses, but completely dense in some - like dealing with new friends, how to act socially. Even Lacy the not so evil cheerleader turned out to be a pretty cool character in her own way after a first introduction into Riley's social awkwardness.

I suppose that in any angel related novel its impossible not to go into the religious side of things. One thing I hate is being preached at but this book handled the whole religious aspect very well. The Church of Angels was handled well, and a little weird right from the start but it built into the plot nicely.

There were some nice spooky paranormal touches and I thought the things brought in about Riley's true past were done well and all built up nicely to fit into the story and drive the plot forward towards the end of the novel.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around the ending, it was rather emotional and like a WHAT???!!!! after everything. And made me like Gabe and Riley even more.

All in all, a very good read.

[emily1s · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

For a while I was over reading angel related books.Much like vampire and werewolf books, I was wary of picking up another one because they all seemed the same and I was bored of reading about it.So I chose Outcast with a glimmer of hope and a Southern setting promise.I was So. Blown. Away.The lyrical, dreamy writing combined with the charm of this small, somewhat creepy town drove me to stay up late night after night and devour this book.Never will angels be the same for me.I adored Riley’s world and the way she perceived everyone else. Her views were original and I appreciated that. The people in this town, especially around Etta Mae’s parts, were so unique and special that I don’t believe I will ever forget a single character.Riley’s parents were realistic. It just felt real to me and reminded me of my own familyNow. Can I please take a small moment to bask in the perfect, sexy, rebel radiance that is Gabe? He was this seamless mix of gentleman and badass. His dialogue was adorable. I LOVE how he and Riley’s paths intertwined and I appreciated how they mixed into each other’s worlds.The cultish following of these angels was so creepy. And I know shit like that actually exists in some religions, and it is hella weird. Father Warren was a damn crazy person. Those types of “churches” are disturbing.And that ending is tearing me up and I can’t help but want more. Some other form of closure. Just a little more time with every single person in this town.