Read an excerpt from See You on Venus by Victoria Vinuesa

Summer is slowly but surely coming to an end yet we have a look at an exciting end-of-summer release with See You on Venus.

If the title sounds familiar, you might recognize either the trailer or have watched the movie that is based on the book. Even though the movie came out first, I don’t think you can go wrong with picking up the book and then watching the movie afterward.

I feel like most readers will pick up the book first either way and See You on Venus should be no expectation. Written by Victoria Vinuesa, the author has lived in a lot of different places and it’s clear her experiences are rubbing off on her storytelling.

Whether you’re excited about watching the movie or want to “try before you buy,” this excerpt from See You on Venus is an absolute must-read.

Read this excerpt from See You on Venus before its release date!

Before getting into anything, I’d like to thank Delacorte Press for sending this to me and letting me share this with my fellow readers. I adore getting to share these excerpts so without further ado, let’s get into this exciting excerpt from See You on Venus.

"Oh God, what am I doing? I’ve run more this afternoon than I have in my entire life. As I reach the iron fence that separates the woods from the perilous ledge of the waterfall, I’m having serious trouble breathing, as if two enormous hands were squeezing my lungs tight. I look back. Kyle’s still standing there, in the same spot I left him. But judging from the fury in his eyes, he looks ready to have the last laugh. If he does decide to jump, it will take only a few seconds for him to reach me at the cliff’s edge. All right, I have to go through with this or he won’t think I’m serious, so I slide down the other side of the fence, lean against it, and grip the wire mesh real tight.Oh my word, the view from up here is as spectacular as it is chilling. The water plunges from rocks at different heights, merging into one enormous drop right in front of me. The ledge beneath my feet is narrow, a little too narrow for my taste. One step would be enough to send me spiraling into space.I look back at him for only a split second, but it’s enough to read his expression. His eyes are agape, bristling with that eerie void of one who sees no way out (the same expression I’ve witnessed countless times in the hospital, when parents are told their child will never wake up again).I throw him a defiant look, trying to conceal the tremor in my knees.“Stay away!” I yell, my voice buried under the roar of the waterfall.Kyle shakes his head, a deep furrow in his brow, and starts walking in my direction.“Stop right there. If you take another step I swear I’ll jump!” I scream with all my might.And that’s when the ground shifts under my feet. The huge boulder on which I’m standing is starting to give way. Before I can jump to one side, the ground beneath me vanishes, dragging me into the void.“Ahh!”My fingers clutch the fence, but the fall flings me to one side and my right hand loses its grip. I’m hanging on with one hand.“Help!” I scream, my throat in shreds, but can’t even hear my own voice over the surging torrent. Where is Kyle? I don’t see anything except the water and the rocks under my feet. My lungs threaten to shut down again, so I close my eyes and pray.A deafening howl rises up from my depths as I think of the mother I will never know, and of Becca, and I’m about to burst into tears when a hand grabs me by the arm and I feel myself rise. My eyes open at once. Kyle’s are brimming with terror and confusion, but with so much life in them that it hurts.“Give me your other arm,” he shouts.I latch my free hand onto his. Kyle hoists me up and sets me down on firm ground. Grabbing the fence, he gets to his feet.“C’mon.” He offers me his hand. “Let’s get out of here.”He pulls me to my feet, guiding me over to the safe side of the ledge. Once there I collapse to the ground, face up, gasping for air.Kyle slumps to the ground next to me. I’m laughing and crying at the same time. Kyle is breathing hard.As my breathing eases and my heart stops racing (thank you, magic pills), I turn to face him. His gaze is lost in the clouds, his chin quivering. I want to help him, to talk to him about Noah, about what happened, to tell him that life isn’t a walk in the park but that it has its moments, and that a lot of people would give anything to be in his shoes, to have parents, to have someone who actually cares about you. But after my recent cliff-hanging performance I doubt I’m precisely the kind of person he would want to open his lips to, let alone his heart.Kyle sits up on the ground and starts rubbing his knee. Without saying a word, he shakes his head and gazes off into the distance.I scoot next to him, my knees folded to one side. Under the circumstances, bringing up Noah might just be the worst idea ever, so in the most soothing tone I can find, I say: “Wanna talk about it?”His eyes, a grayish blue that reminds me of the Tennessee River on an overcast day, pierce right through me.“All right, I get it, you don’t want to speak to me, but in that case, you leave me no choice. From now on I’ll be watching you.”His jaws tighten visibly, but hey, better mad than sad.“That is, until you decide to talk to me.”“You are a fucking nightmare; do you know that?” he hisses. This hurts; I can’t deny it. It reminds me, for a fleeting instant, that maybe I was a nightmare for my mother too.He gets to his feet and looks down at me like a giant glaring at a gnat that won’t stop biting. “What do you want from me?”Several things come to mind, some of which almost make me blush, but I don’t tell him. Instead, I stand up and stall for time. He’s desperate, and I’m desperate to find a solution, something that will stop him from harming himself. And just like that, out of the blue, I get the wildest and most ingenious idea ever.“Do you have a passport?”“Excuse me?”Oh my Lord, I can’t believe what I’m about to say.“Yeah, well, you asked me what I want from you, and until now I didn’t realize I wanted anything from you, but now that you’ve asked, I want you to come to Spain with me for ten days.”“What?”“A friend was supposed to come but kind of bailed on me and . . .”“Hang on. You don’t even know me, and you want me to go across the pond with you?”“I don’t want to, but hey, do I have any other option?”“Yes, you can mind your own business.”“Well, speaking of business, I won’t deny that inviting you on this trip was not quite as selfless as it may seem. Actually, I’ve been looking for someone to go with me for weeks.”“You’re completely out of your mind.”“Maybe, but what would you do in my place? Say your plane was leaving in two days, and you didn’t want to tell my folks about it, to spare them even more heartache. Would you go anyway, knowing that I might try to do it again?”“Do what again?” The quiver in this voice tells me he’s not good at lying. “I don’t know what fantasy you’ve got going in that little head of yours, but—”“I know about the accident, Kyle.” I cut him off before his nose goes Pinocchio. “I saw your picture in the paper.”His gut tightens as the anger flares up in his eyes.“You don’t know a fucking thing!”“I know that no matter how hard I try I can’t begin to imagine what you must be going through. But I also know that you have no right to take your life, that it would leave your mom, your dad, and everyone who loves you in pieces. You just don’t! It’s not fair on them.”Kyle doesn’t make a move. His eyes, gleaming like two waterfalls in midflow, seem to cry out for help. I would give anything to know just how to help this boy.“C’mon, think about it, all expenses covered. If you still want to kick the bucket after the trip, I won’t stop you. Deal?”“Forget it.”“I understand. You don’t have to decide right now. Sleep on it.”“No.”“Oh, and as I said before, until you do make up your mind, I’m going to have to keep an eye on you. Sorry. And by the way, my name’s Mia.”I stick out my hand, but instead of shaking it he turns on his heel and walks off. This time, at least, he’s moving away from the waterfall.I feel like jumping for joy, but instead I just follow him, quietly thanking my heart for still beating.Today is a good day."

Seeing this small snippet from the book is enough to have me intrigued so I’d love to know what my fellow readers are thinking. This is also Victoria Vinuesa’s debut novel so it’s incredibly impressive that it’s already been adapted before being released. Either way, I think sometimes doing things in reverse order can work out.

See You on Venus will be released on September 5th, 2023. 

Will you be picking up a copy of See You on Venus or will you be watching the movie first? Let us know in the comments!