99% Faking It

Check out the cover of my upcoming romantic comedy 99% Faking It. Here’s the blurb.

Lisa is a card-carrying, book-loving Gryffindor. Solid. And that’s why everyone knows she’s awesome. Well, except for her crush, Matt. He only ever sees her as a friend. Plus, he’s got his eye on another girl. Oh well, plenty of fish and all that.

Good thing Lisa just read a book on the “wedding ring phenomenon”—you get more attention when you’re already taken. What if Lisa pretends to be Matt’s plus one? Maybe it’ll help Matt get his girl and Lisa can hook her own fish. 

After the plan works, Matt suddenly claims he doesn’t like the view from the friend-zone and wants her instead… But she isn’t interested in being anyone’s second choice. If this guy wants to earn her attention, he’ll need more than some silly “phenomenon.” 

He’ll need to go all out…

Want to add it to your Goodreads TBR list? Here’s the link. 99%Faking It

The book goes up for pre-order February 14th. Until then, here’s the first chapter.

Chapter One

Lisa

Matt walked toward me with an easy grin on his face. He’d finally started to relax around me now that he realized I wasn’t going to throw myself at him. Not that I hadn’t entertained the idea, because he had chocolate-brown eyes and dark wavy hair and broad shoulders and…wait…where am I going with this?

Right. I wasn’t throwing myself at man-candy-Matt because he’d made it clear that he thought of me only as a friend. And at first that had sort of sucked, but I was a big girl and I could deal with it. He made a good friend. We had fun together.

At one time, I may have held out hope that he would
turn to me and say, “Lisa, I was wrong. You’re exactly the
short, nerdy girl I’ve been looking for.” But it had been a
few months and now I was over it. At this point in my life I
wasn’t sure any guy was worth the trouble. Until some new
guy showed up and took my breath away, I was declaring my
life a drama-free, date-free zone.

Matt sat down next to me at our normal lunch table
in the Greenbrier High School cafeteria and opened his
brown paper bag. “Are you and Nina getting your nerd on
tonight?” he asked.

“Is it Friday?” I said, like it answered the question, because it totally did. Every Friday night my best friend Nina and I engaged in Nerd-girl Festivities. We went to Books-A-Million to find new treasures and then hung out in the coffee shop afterward talking books and boys and anything else that came to mind. “What about you?” I asked. “Any exciting plans?”

He shrugged. “Not sure yet.”

“Someone has commitment issues,” I teased in a sing-
song voice.

“Hey,” Matt said, “I’m just a guy who likes to keep his
options open.”

“Please. You have a pathological resistance about committing to plans. You always wait until the last second.”

“Right.” Matt took a bite of his sandwich. “Just because your mom’s a therapist doesn’t mean you’re qualified to analyze me.”

“My mom’s job doesn’t have anything to do with it.” I popped the top on my soda and took a drink. “I’ve seen you try to pick out a donut at Krispy Kreme.”

“It’s not my fault they all look good.”

“Yes, but most people have a favorite.” Maybe that
was his problem with dating. All girls looked good and he
couldn’t pick one. “Let’s try an exercise my mom does with
her clients. If you could do anything tonight, no matter how
impractical, what would you choose?”

Matt’s gaze flicked over to the table where his younger sister sat with her best friend Jane and then he glanced back at me. “That’s a stupid question.”

Busted. I leaned in so no one would overhear us. “I
didn’t ask who you’d do.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Matt’s tone was a
little too defensive.

“Nothing.” Jane had a steady boyfriend, who happened
to be drop-dead gorgeous, and they appeared to be very
much in love. That didn’t stop Matt from staring at her
whenever he thought no one was looking. Since I used to
spend a fair amount of my time checking out Matt while
he was otherwise occupied, I recognized the game he was
playing. It was a no-win situation.

Nina picked me up to go to the bookstore a few hours after
school. “So you and Matt seemed awful chatty at lunch
today. Anything I should know about?”

“Nope. I’m still living my life in the friend zone.” I tilted
the air-conditioning vents down so the air didn’t hit me in
the face. Short girl problem 101. Whatever normal-sized
person who’d sat here last had left the vents aimed so the air
blew my hair all around my face. Since I wasn’t modeling for
a shampoo commercial, this was not an ideal setting.

“I know you still like him,” Nina said.
“Wrong. That ship has sailed.”
“Are you sure? West said Matt talks about you when you’re not around.”

I froze for a second and then took a cleansing breath. “Please tell me you’re not discussing my past crush with
your boyfriend. That would be in direct violation of the best
friend code.”

“Wrong. It doesn’t count if he’s the one that asked about
you. He said Matt talks about you almost as much as he
talks about Jane.”

“Does he realize Matt is into Jane?”

“I don’t think so and the better question is why does
Matt have a crush on a girl who is obviously so into her
boyfriend? And no offense, but not many people could
compete with that guy.”

“It’s kind of karma that she isn’t into him,” I said. “He’ll
just have to move on, like I did.”

“Fine. If you’ve moved on, then who are you interested
in?”

“No one, for the moment,” I said. “Although I’m actively looking for a new book boyfriend. Hopefully, I’ll find a fabulous new guy at the bookstore.”

“This is totally selfish, but you need a real boyfriend so we can double-date.”

I laughed. “So my love life should revolve around yours?
Is that what you’re saying?”

“Yes,” Nina said. “And I’d appreciate it if you’d get with
the program.”

“I’ll get right on that.” I knew she was joking but part of it rang true and that kind of bothered me. Is this what life was going to be like from now on? If my best friend has a boyfriend I’d better find one, too, or soon I wouldn’t have a best friend anymore? Because that would suck.

“Hey,” Nina said. “You know I’m joking, right?”

“I know.” I sighed and slid lower in my seat. “I have to tell
you I don’t have a lot of trust in the male half of the species.”
Given that my mom was a family counselor, it was the irony
of ironies that my dad had abandoned her when she’d told
him she was pregnant. They’d been married less than a year,
and I guess the idea of being a parent had freaked him out.
My mom said one day she came home from work and he
was gone. No discussion. No warning. Just a bunch of empty
drawers and a note about how he wasn’t ready to be a father.
She’d received divorce papers in the mail before I was even
born. I’d never even met the guy and pretty much thought
of him as nothing more than a sperm donor and a complete
douchebag.

“Given your situation, that’s justified. But look at your mom now. She’s been dating the same guy for years.”

“Yeah, Tony is great,” I said. “But I don’t think it’s a
coincidence that they’ve never even discussed marriage.”

“Maybe he has his own reasons for not wanting to get
married,” Nina said.

“It’s weird. I’ve overheard his cell calls to an insurance
company about some woman’s bills and prescriptions. I’m
kind of afraid of what that might mean.”

“Okay. So either he’s cheating on his sick wife, or he’s
stayed married to someone he doesn’t love so his insurance
will cover her medical bills?” Nina pulled into the lot of
the bookstore and parked in the front row. “That’s either
terrible or tragic.”

“I’ve almost asked my mom about it a few times, but
if she’s okay with the situation then it can’t be too shady.”
Everything my mom did was above board. Her motto was
Honesty is the best and only policy. “Maybe it’s his sister
or his mom or something.” I unbuckled my seatbelt. “I’m
done with all this stressful real life crap. I’m ready to get my
happily ever after on. Let’s go buy some books.”

We entered the bookstore. I inhaled the scent of coffee
and ink-covered pages, my two favorite fragrances, and
suddenly all was Zen in my world. A new display of Harry
Potter shirts and bags caught my eye and sucked me in like
a tractor beam.

I ran my fingers down the strap of a messenger bag with an owl pattern on one side and Platform 9 3⁄4 on the other. It seemed to be calling my name. I opened the flap. The bag was divided into two compartments and even had loops for pens. “I love this.”

“It’s cute,” Nina said. “I don’t really need another bag.”

“Since when does need have anything to do with it?” I
had what some might call a purse problem. I liked to think
of it as an eclectic collection of geek-girl handbags.

“Didn’t you tell me not to let you buy any more purses?”

I hugged the messenger bag to my chest. “I have no
recollection of that conversation.”

“Do you have room in your closet for another purse?”

I pictured the shelf in the top of my closet. My handbags were lined up facing out like they were on display because seeing them made me happy. There wasn’t much room left. “If I put the Darth Vader bag inside the Tardis bag I could fit this one up there, too.”

“I would point out that the Darth Vader bag is bigger
than the Tardis,” Nina said. “But I know what your response
to that statement would be.”

“It’s bigger on the inside.” I grinned. While Nina didn’t
share a love for all my geeky fandoms, she did at least
understand and appreciate them. I ran my hand over the bag.
“But cross pollinating fandoms might lead to a disruption in
the space-time continuum, so I could just keep this bag on
my dresser.”

Nina snorted but didn’t bother responding. Then she
picked up a pair of socks with an owl and wand pattern.
“You can never have too many pairs of socks and they take
up much less room.”

I sighed and checked the price on the bag. It was
more than I wanted to spend. So, I reluctantly set it back
down. “Don’t worry, dear. I’ll be watching for you to go on
clearance.” I grabbed a pair of socks decorated with the
Sorting Hat and Harry Potter spectacles and checked the
price tag. “These are cute and much more budget friendly.”

My job at Crazy Crafts kept me in yarn and books with
a little left over for fun money. I crocheted scarves and sold
them on Etsy, so in a way one of my hobbies paid for itself.
Now that we were headed into warmer weather, my
scarf sales would drop. That was okay. I could crochet and
stock up for next winter.

“Good choice. I declare tomorrow Harry Potter sock
day,” she stated like it was a new holiday.

“Works for me.”

99% Faking It is now available on Netgalley.

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