Charisma by Jeanne Ryan will make you contemplate the lengths we will go to be something different. Read a sneak peek of the upcoming novel.

Aislyn suffers from crippling shyness — that is, until she’s offered a dose of Charisma, an underground gene therapy drug guaranteed to make her shine. The effects are instant. She’s charming, vivacious, and popular. But strangely, so are some other kids she knows. The media goes into a frenzy when the disease turns contagious, and then deadly, and the doctor who gave it to them disappears. Aislyn must find a way to stop it, before it’s too late.

Part medical thriller, part social justice commentary, Charisma will have readers on the edge of their seats.

Ryan’s first novel, Nerve, is set to become a a major motion picture from Lionsgate and will star Emma Roberts and Dave Franco. Nerve follows a high school senior who finds herself immersed in an online game of truth or dare, where her every move starts to become manipulated by an anonymous community of “watchers.”

Charisma is available on March 3.

About Jeanne Ryan

Jeanne Ryan lived all over the world, and she was raised in a family with eleven brothers and sisters. Jeanne spent her early childhood in Hawaii and the rest of her growing-up years trying to figure out a way to get back there, with stops in South Korea, Michigan and Germany along the way. Before writing fiction, she tried her hand at many things, including war game simulation and youth development research. But decided it was much more fun to work on stories than statistics.
 

These days, Jeanne still loves Hawaii, but has found her home under the moody skies of the Pacific Northwest.