Guest Post and Giveaway: Sculpting David by Chadi Nassar

Please help us welcome author Chadi Nassar today to tell us a bit about himself and his book, Sculpting David. Chadi’s also giving one lucky reader the chance to win an e-copy of the book, so just follow the Rafflecopter instructions to enter.

Welcome, Chadi!

First, please let me thank The Novel Approach Reviews for hosting my Guest Post with you today. I am honored to be here with you guys! I will be telling you a little more about myself and the book itself.

Sculpting David is a book about love, family, discovering one’s sexuality, death, siblings and then some. It is a labor of over a decade on and off. It all started with the person I dedicate the book to; she broke my heart. We were young and reckless and our relationship ended in one of those sad college loves that you hear about and sometimes reminisce about. Though I do thank her since, if it wasn’t for her, I honestly do not think I would’ve started any book. The end of that relationship was the start of my own with this character called David. In a way, his losses and heartaches were mine once, and in many ways, a lot of them were not.

The book is written in 3 voices and from 3 different perspectives. David has the most to say, but we do get 2 other equally strong voices in the book and they are of 2 of his most important loves that pass through his life. I have to say, all 3 of the voices are interesting, although from the feedback I’ve gotten, the last voice to speak has been the one most associated with the “villian” character. I myself do not view her that way. On the contrary, I see her as a strong character that made the best choices for herself. I do hope that all 3 of them touch you in some way when you do read the book.

The reason I wrote the book was to shed a lot of my own pain. We see David go through moments of almost insanity and a few of depression. Yet, we also see him flourish and become a strong person with a raw perspective on things. I do sincerely hope that you, the reader, connects with the book and feel something. If the book made your emotions stir, I consider this book a win. I’ve had readers tell me they hated a character or another, others told me they’ve cried while reading it, and a lot of them tell me they saw themselves in at least one of the characters! Nothing can be more of a compliment!!

About me, now. I started telling stories in my head since I was a little boy. I never thought I had a boogie man under my bed, I created him! LOL My imagination spans to everything, especially the road trip we took as kids, and me sitting in the back seat of the car and watching the scenery roll on by. The reason I connected so much with the movie American Beauty, for example, was the scene with the plastic bag. That scene jolted me back to a time when I told my cousin (who is quite older than me, and by then was a sought after reporter, and me, a wee kid of 8 or 9 years) that the beach was having a birthday. In fact, it was littered with plastic bags that flew into it and were playing with the waves. I still tell stories in my head of a couple sitting for a coffee that I see while I’m walking past, or the dog walker that’s passing me by almost every day. I don’t even think about it, the stories just roll out of my thoughts and a story is born! One thing I lack though, is that I wish I could write sci-fi or fantasy novels. Those worlds are fantastic! I should attempt them… We shall see! Time will tell ;)

In conclusion, Sculpting David isn’t your run of the mill kind of book. It is definitely contemporary in its nature, and although it does have an LGBT undertone, it is a book that spans all genres and anyone can connect with. Please, do let me know what you thought of it by getting in contact with me :)

Thank you for reading my Guest Post today! I am quite humbled to know that someone is reading what I write.

~Chadi

About Sculpting David

Following your heart may not lead you where you expect it, but is it worth the journey?

“It is my favorite word, it is my favorite question. I always want to know why.”

David, a trust fund baby, has gone through the biggest heartbreak of his life. He is successful, spontaneous, and generally liked, yet he cannot hold onto his one true love. Trodding down a street one day, David is bumped on the shoulder. When he turns around, the individual is staring at him with the crispest blue eyes he had ever seen. Jolted from his broken heart and thrown into a world of love so different from what he has known, David ventures on a journey of self-discovery taking him across the world and through all realms of emotions.

Buy the Book: Smashwords || Amazon || iTunes || Kobo || Barnes & Noble || Inktera || Scribd || Blio

Excerpt

Sometimes I just want to cry.

*

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. The alarm is going off. I want to stay asleep.

Another morning, another day, another sixteen hours of making it through.

*

I live in a world where smiles and jokes are my specialty. I am known as the social butterfly, the guy that always has something funny to say or some fun idea of something to do.

The only idea I’ve had in a while is to die.

I am in love. I was in love. I think I still am in the Love.

*

Monday morning, and the sun is shining brightly through my window. I love waking up to the sun in my eyes and looking forward to being alive.

To live: what a beautiful thing. What a gift we humans have to actually perceive our existence and question it at times. The moments in life when one is contemplating their reason for being are some of the best: all the confusion, the ‘a-ha’ moments, and the times when you think that life is all what you didn’t think it was.

Ah Life!

As much as I can’t wait to wake up most mornings, I always love to snooze in my bed, especially in the winter when it is cold and snowy outside and all nice and warm under my sheets. I am very much a summer person, yet I still take comfort in the cold winter nights.

*

Next thing I know, I am in the shower, the warm water striking my naked body in one long stride. I stand there, both my palms flat on the wall under the showerhead, with the water falling on my back, my head tucked in between my arms, and my eyes closed. It feels good, but I want it to feel better. I increase the temperature, and now the water is striking my back with a sting. I can feel my back going red because of the heat. I like it. I really like it and want it to keep on going. I want to be cleansed of everything. I want everything to be back to the way it was.

No, I want it all to become better, whatever that means. I want my life to be happy again. Please Shower Water, take it all away: make me feel. Make this numbness go away, make the love come back and play, make the pain stop, make me smile; make the shell of a person I have become change back to the full-of-flesh human I once was. Make me cry it all away, and bring back the old me to stay.

I scrub my body hard. I want to be cleansed. The water, no matter how hot, did not seem to do it for me.

About the Author

Chadi’s vivid imagination originated during family road trips every weekend. Anything could get his mind running, from a garbage bag swaying in the wind to the person crossing the road. Growing up as an expat in the UAE he is considered a Third Culture Kid. His adventures as a child and his ability to create a story out of any object has fueled his passion for  writing. Sculpting David is his debut novel which is only the start of Chadi’s budding career.

Contact Chadi: Email || Website || Amazon || Goodreads

The Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway
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