Judy Corry's Blog, page 2

Sneak Peek of WHEN WE BEGAN!

Enjoy this sneak peek into my latest novella. Coming soon!

CHAPTER ONE

CASSIE

“See you in a week, Sweetie,” my mom said through the rolled down window of her Prius.

I bent over to see her and Issac one last time before they went on their anniversary trip to Belize. 

“Have fun on your trip.” I pulled on the handle of my suitcase and made ready to walk towards the Turner’s house. I waited until my parents pulled away from the curb and then I rolled my suitcase down the sidewalk to knock on the front door.

Alyssa opened the door as soon as I rang the doorbell. Her blue eyes were bright with excitement, her honey-blonde hair pulled up into the ponytail she’d worn to cheerleading practice this morning. 

“You’re here!” Alyssa, one of my best friends, beckoned me in. “I’m so excited for this week!”

I lifted my suitcase over the threshold and stepped inside. “Me too.” 

Since my mom and Isaac had gotten married six years ago, I got to spend a week at the Turner’s house while they went on a week-long anniversary trip.

“I have a surprise,” Alyssa said in a sing-song voice.

“Did the football team decide to have an extra summer camp, forcing Liam to be gone all week?” Liam was her older brother who found joy in tormenting me every time I was around him.

Power-complex anyone?

“You wish.” Alyssa smiled. “It’s something even better.”

I didn’t know if anything could be better than that dream of mine. For some reason, back in middle school, Liam had decided that because I was friends with Alyssa it also meant that he should take on the role of an honorary big brother. Apparently bossing around Alyssa and their younger brother Caleb wasn’t enough for him.

“My surprise is this way.” Alyssa led me from the entryway, through the living room and to the hall that led to the bedrooms on the main floor.

She stopped at her bedroom door at the end of the hall.

“Are you ready?” she asked.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” I grinned, having no idea what her surprise was. Alyssa was pretty down to earth usually, so I doubted there was anything crazy waiting behind the door.

She turned the knob and swung the door wide open, showing me her room.

I looked around at the room covered with gymnastics trophies and photos of us with our friend Raven and Alyssa’s boyfriend Trey stuck all over the walls, trying to figure out what her surprise might be. But her room looked about the same as usual, if not slightly cleaner. 

I stepped inside further, and then I saw something new. There was an air mattress at the foot of her bed.

“Is that air mattress for me?“ I asked. 

She looked at me with bright eyes. “Yep, no sleeping pad on the carpet for you this summer, my dear.”

“Man, talk about living like a queen.” I laughed. “Though I must say that I’m most excited that your bathroom isn’t being remodeled anymore. That will be super nice.”

“I know, right?” Alyssa sat on her bed. “No more rushing across the hall in my bathrobe anymore.”

At her mention of that, I couldn’t help but remember what had happened the last time I’d stayed over. I’d taken a shower one morning, and had forgotten the need for a robe. So I’d had to wrap myself in a towel before going back into Alyssa’s room to get dressed. Unfortunately, I’d neglected to poke my head out the door to make sure the coast was clear and ended up running smack into Liam.

Thankfully, I’d had a good grip on my towel and nothing too awkward had happened. But Liam had looked at me differently for the rest of the day. 

I set my suitcase against the wall, beneath her window and saw that Liam was in the backyard, mowing the lawn without a shirt.

I studied his tall frame as he pushed the mower down a stretch of lawn. He’d gotten his blond hair cut since the last time I’d seen him. He wore dark sunglasses to shade his blue eyes from the sunlight, and the morning sunlight glistened on his tanned shoulders.

But those weren’t the things I noticed most about him.

I’d heard he was going to be the quarterback for Ridgewater High’s football team this year, but I hadn’t realized how much bigger he’d gotten in the past couple of months to accomplish that.

“Since when did Liam get muscles?” I asked Alyssa, letting my gaze linger on her brother a little longer. Even though I couldn’t stand him most of the time, I couldn’t deny that he was extremely attractive.

“He’s been lifting at the gym with the football team in the mornings.” She shrugged and plopped down on her bed. “Not that I’ve noticed any difference. I am his sister.”

I pulled my gaze away from the window and shrugged like I hadn’t just been checking out her brother. “He looks good.”

When I looked at Alyssa, her mouth was hanging open like I just said I’d seen a pixie flying around back there. 

“Did you just compliment my brother?” she asked. “I think I need to write this moment down or something.”

I waved my hand and unzipped my suitcase, pulling out my makeup bag. “You say that as if I’ve never had a nice thing to say about Liam before.”

“I don’t think you have,” she said, her blue eyes still wide with surprise. “Does this mean you two might actually get along with each other instead of acting like a couple of toddlers fighting over a toy all week?”

I unzipped my gold and blue makeup case and gave her a non-committal shrug. “I guess you never know.”

“Good. Because Caleb is at science camp all week, and therefore won’t be home to distract Liam. We might have to put up with him more than usual.” Caleb was their ten-year-old brother who got into all sorts of mischief when he was around. He was basically just like Liam had been at that age, so I couldn’t pretend like I wasn’t relieved that at least one of Alyssa’s annoying brothers would be gone for the week.

“Liam still has football practice though, right? Like, he won’t be around 24/7 will he?”

“Yeah, he’s usually still at football practice by the time we’ll get home from cheer practice.”

“Well, as long as we get a bit of a reprieve, we might be okay.” I winked. “What’s the plan for today, anyway?”

“Liam and I are in charge of watching our nephew Mason today since his regular babysitter is sick, so we were thinking about taking him to the swimming pool. Does that sound okay?”

“Sure, I can lay in the sun and tan at the pool just as easily as I can in your backyard. Plus, I heard something about there being a hot lifeguard that might be worth checking out.” It had been two weeks since Jess Brooks and I had broken up, so it was about time I found a replacement boyfriend. He probably already had a new girlfriend by now with the rate he went through them.

Until dating him myself, I’d always wondered why he went through girls so fast. But after seeing how he looked at his best friend I finally understood it. It was obvious he was in love with her, but she was oblivious to it all.

Alyssa spoke, taking me away from my thoughts of my ex. “You do know you don’t always have to have a boyfriend, right?”

“Says the girl who’s been dating the same guy for a year.” I smirked at her then ran some mascara along my lashes.

“Yeah, yeah.” Alyssa rolled her eyes.

Alyssa and her boyfriend had been together for seemingly forever, though I still didn’t understand why exactly. Alyssa was gorgeous and could have any guy she wanted, and while her boyfriend was nice enough, I couldn’t help but think that she had just settled since the boy she’d really liked had moved to North Carolina last summer.

“Why are you putting mascara on before we go swimming?” Alyssa asked.

I pumped my mascara applicator in the tube. “You’re going to the pool to swim. I’m going to the pool to find a new guy.”

“I think you’re just too scared to get in the pool after watching that documentary on swimming in public pools last month.”

I shrugged. “I’ve been enlightened and don’t have the ability to ignore what I’ve learned.” 

“You’re not going to catch an infectious disease by going in the pool. That’s what all the chlorine is for.”

I scrunched up my nose as I brushed another coat of mascara along my lashes. “Yeah, but I don’t like thinking about why they need to dump all the chlorine in there in the first place.”

***

“Do you want to take him for the first or second half?” Liam asked Alyssa in his deep voice as he lifted their nephew Mason from the carseat in the back of Liam’s car.

Mason was such a cute toddler. He had these big, blue eyes—the same color as all of the Turner sibling’s—and his dark hair was super curly like his mom’s.

“How about you take him first,” Alyssa said. “That will give me time to wear Cassie down the first half and maybe get her to climb in the disease infested pool with us.”

Liam turned to me as we approached the Ridgewater Aquatic Center. “Charlotte said she already changed a poopy diaper today, so I doubt Mason will leave any chocolate covered raisins this time around.”

I shook my head as images from last summer flashed through my mind. “You just had to bring that up again, didn’t you?” 

Last time we’d taken Mason to the pool, I’d helped Alyssa give him his bath after we’d finished swimming, only to realize too late that he’d pooped in his diaper while we’d swam. And because poop was gross, I’d totally screamed when little balls fell to the ground and at my feet. 

Liam had, of course, thought that seeing me jumping up and screaming was the funniest thing in the world. And had been absolutely no help in cleaning him up.

“It was pretty funny.” Liam laughed and opened the door to the Aquatic Center for Alyssa and I to walk through. “You have to admit that.”

I stepped up right next to him and Mason, taking the toddler’s hand in mine. “Make sure to poop really good this time, okay? Uncle Liam needs a taste of his own medicine.”

Mason smiled at me and said, “Poop,” then laughed his cute two-year-old laugh.

Liam looked down at his nephew. “No poop allowed, Mason.”

“Poop.” Mason laughed again.

I touched his cute chubby cheeks. “Just save the excitement for Uncle Liam and we’ll be best friends forever, okay little guy?”

Mason smiled his toothy grin and said, “Poop.”

I smiled, deciding we’d come to an agreement, and then continued past the boys and through the door Liam still held open for me. 

After paying and getting our wrist bands for the day, Alyssa and I took Mason into the locker room with us. I changed into my bathing suit—a cute white two piece with a lacy overlay—while Alyssa changed Mason into his swim diaper, swim trunks and life vest.

“Do you mind taking him out to Liam while I change?” Alyssa asked once Mason was ready.

“Sure.” I grabbed the beach bag from off the bench and took him out to the kiddie pool. Liam was standing with his feet in the water, his light blue swim trunks hung low on his hips. 

Dang, he was looking way better than he should if I wanted to ignore him like I usually did.

I looked down at myself, feeling self-conscious for the first time in front of Liam. My swim suit was really cute and only showed a few inches of my stomach, but I suddenly wished I hadn’t pigged out so much at lunch. 

I sucked my stomach in before I put Mason down, hoping my food baby wasn’t too prominent.

“Well I’ll let you two have your fun,” I said. “There’s a lounge chair calling my name outside.” 

Liam took Mason’s hand from mine, his fingers grazing mine briefly in the exchange.

Instead of thinking about the zing of electricity the short touch had shot through my arm, I focused on maintaining a serene expression. And when I looked at Liam again I noticed that his gaze seemed to run over the full length of me before he looked back to his nephew.

Had Liam just checked me out?

Liam cleared his throat when he saw that I’d noticed his inspection.

After hesitating for just a moment, he said, “Don’t get too comfortable in your lounge chair. I have a feeling the swimming pool will be calling your name today.” 

And then he winked.

He’d never winked at me before. Should I be reading into this?

No, it probably wasn’t a flirtatious wink, more of a warning wink, like he had some sort of mischief planned. 

“I’ll make sure to keep an eye out for you in case you decide to try and throw me in.”

His eyes lit up. “What a great idea you just gave me.”

I gripped my beach bag. “Don’t even think about it. Revenge is kind of my thing.”

He smiled at me like I’d just presented him with an irresistible challenge. “I’ll look forward to it.”

*WHEN WE BEGAN will be exclusively available to member’s of Judy’s VIP Reader’s Club once it’s available. To make sure you don’t miss this fun and swoon-worthy read, sign up here!

KISSING THE BOY NEXT DOOR is HERE!!

I’m excited to announce that my latest book KISSING THE BOY NEXT DOOR is available on Amazon! This book is brand new, so grab it while it’s hot! While it is book three in the Sweet Water High multi-author series, this book is 100% standalone.

I’m so excited to finally share Lauren and Wes’s story with you!

It’s been five years since Wes and I have spoken. Five years since he decided our friendship was less important than our parents’ fight. So when we’re forced to practice a duet together, I expect him to keep our contact to a minimum.

Instead, he’s telling me the feud between our parents has gone on long enough. That he misses me and wants to fix things between us.

But I’m not going to fall for it. I won’t fall for his charms like so many other girls have in the past.

If only my stupid heart would listen to my brain. Because kissing the boy next door is no way to fix a family feud.

Or is it?

Grab your copy today!

Sneak Peek of KISSING THE BOY NEXT DOOR!

Chapter One

“You sure you don’t want to join the Cross Country team with me?” I begged my best friend, Jenna, after school on Wednesday as she walked me toward the parking lot. She was still in her cute jeans and a t-shirt, I was in a pink tank top, gray running shorts, and new running shoes with my blonde hair in a high ponytail.

“You know me and running haven’t been friends since elementary,” Jenna said. “So I must respectfully decline and cheer you on from the sidelines instead.”

I gave her my best pout. I hated running as much as she did. But unlike me, she had actually taken the mandatory PE credits each year. I, on the other hand, had just found out yesterday that because of an oversight on my transcript, I was missing a quarter credit of PE and I’d need to fix that ASAP if I wanted to graduate at the end of the year.

But since my schedule was already full of classes I either couldn’t switch out of or didn’t want to trade, I was forced to join a sport. And sadly for me, Cross Country was the only sport that accepted new runners at any time of the season.

The group of runners came into sight when we rounded the corner of the school. All of them looked too happy as they warmed up for today’s run. I didn’t know how people could be happy when they knew running miles on end was in their near future.

“This is where we go our separate ways,” Jenna turned to me, the sunlight hitting her brown hair just right to make it look reddish.

“You sure you don’t want to join the team?” I widened my green eyes with my pleading. “They don’t cut anyone, so I’m sure we could just walk and chat the whole time.”

She shook her head. “Sorry. You know I only run when I’m playing softball.” She glanced over to my new teammates, her eyes pausing on someone before she looked back to me with a half smile. “But your buddy Wes is over there.” She pointed to the tall guy with brown hair at the edge of the group wearing a green t-shirt and black shorts. “Who better to show you the ropes than your super hot, next-door neighbor?”

I groaned. I’d forgotten he was on the Boy’s Cross Country team. “Maybe I should just plan to do a winter sport instead.”

“Or maybe your families could forget about the vendetta you’ve had against each other since middle school and learn to get along.”

Wouldn’t that be something?

Wes and I had been best friends throughout elementary, but then in middle school, our dad’s got into some feud about my dad no longer using Wes’s dad’s company as a supplier for a certain airplane part and our families had never gotten over it.

I’d thought it was stupid at the time and had assumed Wes and I could still be friends, but apparently, he had sided with his parents because the next thing I knew he was hanging out with the athletes and I was on my own.

And so, even though we were still next-door neighbors and went to the same school, we never hung out again. We weren’t exactly enemies. But we weren’t friends either. And he wasn’t above hurling an insult or two my way if the occasion arose.

I drew in a deep breath as I watched Wes stretch his long legs. While I didn’t like how his personality had changed through the years, I couldn’t deny that he’d turned out to be okay to look at. He had great hair, amazing blue eyes and the kind of jaw that girls drooled over. And he was never without a girlfriend because of it. He was dating Olivia Matthews, who was pretty much the worst.

But since Wes and I had obviously turned out to be two very different people, it made sense they’d gotten together.

Jenna’s phone dinged and after briefly checking the screen, she gave me a frown and said, “My mom needs me to pick up my brother.” She slipped her phone into her back pocket and gave me a warm smile. “Call me when you’re done.”

My shoulders slumped. She was really going to leave me all alone with these running fanatics.

“If you never see me again, it’s probably because I died somewhere along the road, all alone because my best friend abandoned me,” I called after her.

Jenna laughed. “You’re so dramatic sometimes.”

I shrugged. “Yeah, well. Most people know if they see me running it’s because there’s a fire or a murderer chasing after me.”

“You’ll do fine. ” She shot me one last smile before stepping off the curb.

After trudging over to my new teammates and finding a place on the grass, I tried to copy what I saw everyone else doing to get warmed up. I did a few jumping jacks. Jogged in place a little and then did a few hamstring stretches.

I felt someone step up beside me as I was stretching my calf muscles. When I stood up straighter, I was face to face with Wes. And as I should have expected, he did not look happy to see me.

“What are you doing here?” Wes asked, sounding like I was trespassing onto his turf. Like me being at Cross Country practice was somehow breaking the guidelines of our unwritten agreement to avoid each other.

I cleared my throat and gave Wes the most confident look I could muster. “I just joined the team.”

If I showed any sign of weakness, he would pounce on it.

He raised a dark eyebrow. “You joined the Cross Country team? You do know that we actually run for our sport, not just to warm up for something else, right?”

I gritted my teeth. “I know what Cross Country is.”

“And how long do you plan to be on the team?”

“For the rest of the season.” I needed the credit, and I would not let our family feud get in the way of me graduating.

A frustrated look crossed his face, but he sighed and asked, “Does Coach Slater know your plans?”

My gaze quickly darted to the middle-aged guy in front of the group. I hadn’t exactly talked to the coach yet, but my advisor had told me she’d speak to him and make sure he knew my situation.

When I didn’t say anything, Wes said, “Let’s introduce you to Coach.” And when I didn’t follow behind him he grabbed my arm and pulled me in the direction of the coach.

“Hey, coach. I got your new recruit here,” Wes said once we were in front of a middle-aged man with blond hair and green eyes who looked like he could run a marathon at the drop of a hat.

Coach Slater’s gaze met mine and he looked surprised momentarily before he held out his hand. “Hi, I’m Coach Slater. I assume you’re Lauren Carmichael.”

“That’s me.” I shook his hand.

“Have you done much running before?” He seemed to give me a quick look over as if he could tell if someone was a runner just by looking at them.

“I’m not exactly a runner, no,” I said. “But I’m a fast learner.”

A fast learner? What a stupid thing to say.

Wes chuckled at my side. “I don’t think your straight A’s will help your stumpy legs move any faster than a B average would.”

Stumpy legs?

I looked down at my legs. Sure I was only five foot five and I might be more torso than legs, but my legs were not what I’d call stumpy!

The jerk!

I glared at Wes.

Coach cleared his throat awkwardly and gave me a sympathetic look. “I think I know what you meant, Lauren. And since your friend Wes seems so keen on giving you pointers, I’m sure he’d be happy to answer any questions you may have.”

“Oh, we’re not friends,” Wes and I said at the same time.

Coach Slater gave us a weird look but said, “Well, regardless of what you are, Wes is my top runner so he’s a good guy to get pointers from.”

“Okay,” I said. I never should have said the whole “fast learner” line. Was there that much to learn when it came to running?

Weren’t you just supposed to put one foot in front of the other and do it as fast as you could?

The coach gave the whole group some instructions on where we were going to be running today. Apparently, it was the “gray water tower trail” and it was one of the preferred routes for the team since most people cheered.

“So today was a good day to start?” I asked Wes since he was still standing near me. I figured I might as well tempt fate and talk to him again. Maybe he’d even know how to respond without throwing in an insult this time.

He shrugged. “It’s the shortest route. Only four miles.”

My jaw dropped. “Only four miles?” That was four times longer than I’d ever run in my life. And I hadn’t run a mile since freshman year.

He shot me a half smile. “Yesterday we ran eight.”

I let that sentence hit me like a diesel truck. Eight miles?

“How long are your races typically?” My voice came out higher than normal.

“Our course here is about three and a half miles. Most of the other schools we compete against have similar lengths.”

“So why have the eight-mile days?” Seriously, who in their right mind would run for that long if they didn’t really have to?

“To build up your endurance and help you get in the optimal shape.” He looked at me like I was stupid.  “Coach Slater has coached the girls’ team to take state for the past seven years and the boys’ team to take state the past five. He knows what he’s doing.”

I held up my hands. “Sorry for asking.”

“Why exactly are you here if you don’t want to run?”

I shrugged. “I need this so I can graduate.”

“I’m guessing that when you broke your leg sophomore year, they didn’t give you a pass on PE.”

“Yup.” Honestly, I was surprised that he even remembered that I’d broken my leg. “But I have a plan.”

I have a plan?

Why had I even said that?

Probably because I wasn’t used to talking to Wes and so only stupid sentences were coming out.

He narrowed his eyes. “What’s your plan for?”

I looked ahead. “Like I’m going to tell you.”

He laughed, showing the dimple in his left cheek that I remembered poking several times with my finger back when we were friends. “Well, good luck with your plan. I’ll see you at the end of the trail.”

I must not have seen or heard the coach give the signal, but a second later Wes was pulling off his shirt, revealing his tanned and toned torso.

I blinked my eyes, momentarily caught off guard by the sight. I’d seen him surfing or paddleboarding in the ocean behind our houses plenty of times, but that had always been from a distance since we had always been careful to never to go the beach at the same time as each other. I’d never been close enough to see how muscular his arms were, or how defined his six-pack was.

No wonder Olivia had dug her claws into Wes.

I tore my gaze away from him before he could notice my stare and drew in a deep breath to bring me back to the task ahead.

The coach blew his whistle and an instant later the stomping of feet greeted my ears as everyone started running. I watched Wes toss his shirt in the back of the coach’s truck and a few seconds later he was at the front of the pack.

Before I could get completely left in the dust, I drew in another deep breath and ran after the group.

***

I was able to keep up with the slowest runners on the team for about five minutes, but then my body decided it was done and I fell further and further behind. After another minute of jogging so slowly a baby could probably crawl faster than me, I gave up and started walking.

I wiped my sweaty face with the bottom half of my pink tank top. Even though it was the end of September, I was dying in the North Carolina humidity. I put my hands on my hips and tried to catch my breath as I watched my teammates disappear in the distance. I hadn’t seen Wes since the first fifty yards into our run.

I looked at my smartwatch. It said I’d only run half of a mile. I did the math in my head. I still had three and a half miles to go. This wasn’t looking good. If I didn’t find shortcuts along the way, I wouldn’t make it home until dark.

After catching my breath, I tried to pick up the pace again. I’d look up a couple things last night to prepare for today’s run and had read somewhere that running slow was the best way to get good at running long distances, so I gave it another shot.

Three minutes later my lungs threatened to explode on me.

How did people do this for fun? Wasn’t running considered a punishment in all the other sports?

I was considering just turning around and heading back toward the school when I saw someone in black shorts running toward me.

Oh, no! Wes was already on his way back.

If he saw that I’d only gone a mile, I’d never hear the end of it.

So I did the only thing I could think to do and ran onto someone’s front lawn to hide behind their big live oak tree.

When I peeked around the trunk to watch Wes as he ran by I had to quickly pull my head back because he was just about to pass the house I was hiding at.

I leaned my forehead against the trunk and blinked my eyes shut, hoping he hadn’t seen me.

But a second later his voice cut into the air. “Are we going back to our elementary days and playing hide and seek behind the tree again, Lauren?”

I scrunched up my face and lightly punched the tree. So much for not looking like a bad runner with stumpy legs.

“Just head back to the school,” he called over his shoulder on his way past. “You can try again tomorrow.”

So after another group of guys from school ran past, I left my hiding spot behind the tree and headed back toward the school.

*Look for the rest of Lauren and Wes’s story this April!

Christmas is coming early this year!

I’m super excited to finally share what I’ve been working on recently. I’ve teamed up with five other awesome YA Contemporary Romance authors to bring Christmas to you a little early this year. We are counting down to Christmas with SIX FREE books, one each week starting the first full week in November. The day of the week will vary and which author is up next will be a surprise, so be sure to keep an eye out for each week’s announcement by signing up for my newsletter or watching me on social media.

In addition to the freebies, we’re running an awesome GIVEAWAY, so stay tuned for more details on that as well. Such great stuff coming soon!!!

My Second Chance is HERE!

I am totally a slacker on updating my website, but I just wanted to let you know that MY SECOND CHANCE was published this month!

This book was one that I couldn’t get out of my head, and even though I was supposed to write a couple other books before this one…it just would not be ignored.

I’m super excited to share it with you!

Sixteen-year-old Juliette Cardini has been keeping a secret for months. Before she went to her semester abroad in Paris, she dated her best friend’s older brother, Easton Stevens. What had started as a whirlwind romance filled with forbidden meetings, came to a crashing halt when they crossed a line together that neither of them could return from.

Now she’s back in Ridgewater and has to face everyone she left behind. But there’s one more secret she is afraid for anyone to discover. She’s pregnant. And Easton is the father.

But she has a plan: go to her grandma’s house in Buffalo for the next few months. Keep the baby a secret. No one will ever have to know. But when Juliette sees signs that Easton might want a second chance, she wonders if keeping everything to herself is the best choice.

Can a relationship built on such a rocky foundation have a chance at a happy ending? And what will Easton do if Juliette’s secret comes out?

Grab your copy here!

It Was Always You is coming soon!

I have been terrible about keeping this blog up to date. I guess that’s what happens when you already write for a living.

My First Book Launch

I know many of you received an early copy of Protect My Heart because you are awesome and nominated it for Kindle Scout. (Thank you for doing that, by the way!) But yesterday was the official release day for that book. It was my first book birthday! I have dreamed about that moment since 2012 and it was so great to finally get there!

My goal for Protect My Heart was to get in the top 100 of any category on Amazon. It’s my first book after all, so I’m not super well known yet. This is a snapshot of where it ranks this morning.

It not only made it in the top 100, it made it to #13!

And then I saw this…

I may or may not have run around my house with each of my kids on my back for a victory dance when I saw it had reached the #2 Hot New Release for its category on Amazon. People are actually buying something I wrote!

Needless to say, it was a great day for me!

Instead of having a big launch party, I opted to have a nice dinner out with the main people in my life–my reason for going on this crazy adventure in the first place: my family.

DON’T FORGET ME Cover Reveal and Release Date!

I’ve been working with my cover designer over this past week and I’m so excited to share the beautiful cover she came up with for my upcoming YA Contemporary Romance!

I love it so much and am so excited to get this book out into the world! And because I’m crazy, I’ve decided to publish this book just three weeks after Protect My Heart comes out. That’s right, Don’t Forget Me will be available on Amazon on October 25, 2017!!!

The following is from the back cover to give you an idea of what this book is about! I hope you all love it!

“We’re just really good friends.” I shrugged before grabbing a paper towel.

“Sure.” Madison moved her head up and down slowly. “Since it’s completely normal for best friends to check each other out.”

I crumpled the paper towel. “I wasn’t checking Jess out.”

Madison looked at her friends and raised her eyebrow at me. “I never said it was you.”

Eliana Costa has never kissed a guy. Her best friend, Jess, is more than willing to help her out. He has plenty of experience, since he finds a new girlfriend every other week. But when the practice kiss brings on feelings Eliana hadn’t bargained for, her life is thrown into a new level of chaos.

Life is already more than she can handle. Her dad abandoned her family, and she’s moved into her uncle’s tiny house with a mother she barely recognizes. Eliana needs Jess’s friendship more than ever, but telling him how she feels could ruin things between them, especially with Jess’s infamous dating history. Will she choose to tell Jess how she feels and risk losing the one good thing in her life, or will she hide her true feelings and pass up a chance at true love?

DON’T FORGET ME is one girl’s story of life-changing love, unspeakable heartache, and her determination not to lose hope.

Add it to your goodreads “to read” list here.

Goodreads giveaway of Protect My Heart

I’m excited to announce that there is a giveaway going on for a signed paperback copy of Protect My Heart. The giveaway will run from September 13 – September 26, 2017.

To enter the giveaway click here.

Release date for Protect My Heart!

I’m excited to announce that Protect My Heart will be released on October 3! I’m so excited! Thank you to everyone who helped make this happen by voting for it on Kindle Scout.

 If you nominated Protect My Heart on Kindle Scout, you should be able to download your free copy through the Kindle Scout website. For everyone else, you can pre-order your copy now on Amazon!