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Rebel
Goodreads / Amazon / iBooks / GooglePlay / Kobo FREE! For a limited time only! -- EXCERPT: My name’s Teagan. I know, I know … the name. Twenty-two years ago, my mother thought a Welsh name for her only child would be beautiful. Teagan means pretty, so it should have fit perfectly. Who has an ugly baby, right? I guess I did okay in the looks department. I’m not too short, not too tall. Eating chips and gummy bears every day has no effect on my somewhat athletic frame, and I’ve been told my green eyes compliment my pale complexion. The problem with the name Teagan is my mom never considered the creative names kids would morph it into. “Yo, Teabag, what’s up?” I flip Perry Spitler off, but he just laughs as he passes on by. He and I have an understanding; when we see each other on campus, he insults me, I flip him off, and we never actually talk. It suits us both just fine. Making out with him and then ralphing on his shoes in freshman year was one of the best moves I’ve ever made in my climb up the social ladder at UCLA. “Why do you even talk to that douche canoe?” asks my friend Quin as she brushes out her long, black hair. Quinlan is her real name, but she refuses to answer to it. We both have a thing with names, which is only one of the many reasons we get along so well. “I hear he puts toy cars in dark places on weekends.” She puts away her brush and takes a bite of an energy bar, chewing it like a cow and waiting for my reaction. I’m both intrigued and disgusted. “And by toy cars and dark places we mean…” I twist my longish, wavy brown hair up into a bun and stick a pencil in it to keep it from falling to my shoulders again. It’s frigging hot out here in the student union today. Dry heat, my butt. “Literally. Like that movie Jackass. He put a toy car in his asshole at a party the other night.” I snort in disbelief and disgust. “He did not.” Quin puts up her hand like a girl scout. “Swear. Guy’s an asscar driver.” I’m really happy I barfed on him now. Really, really happy. The kiss we shared? Well, we’ll just tally that up to a serious lapse in judgment on my part. In my defense, there were copious amounts of beer involved. I can’t help but stare at his butt as he goes by. “Remind me not to accept any rides from him in the future.” We collapse in immature giggles that have Perry turning around and frowning. Watching his face and imagining that I can see he’s walking with a slight limp only makes it worse. By the time I can see clearly again, he’s gone. “Man, I totally needed that.” I can feel the good mood drugs floating around in my brain. Now the upcoming Summer of Doom doesn’t seem quite so bleak. “You ready for summer break?” Quin asks, crumpling up the wrapper to her energy bar and throwing it on the ground. I lean down and pick it up, sighing as I stick it in my bag. This is her thing. This is my thing. This is how we roll, with her being a pain in the ass and me picking up after her. “No. I’m not ready. I want to stay here and hang out with you and all the cool people.” “No, you don’t. Do you know how hot it gets here in the summer? Ugh.” She brushes crumbs off her lap. “I am going to literally cook in my own skin, like a poached egg.” “You forget, I’ve lived here for almost four years now, and No Cal isn’t that different.” “But you always leave in the summer, and No Cal is different, so that doesn’t count. By the time you get back this September for your very last semester – by the way, you completely suck for graduating before me – all the poaching will be done.” “You should come with me. Silicon Valley’s got a drier heat than LA.” I’m lying, but she’ll never know. She faces me, not smiling. That’s a rare expression for her, as Quin-grins come frequently and often without provocation. We’re not much alike in that way; my smiles are rationed for only truly happy moments. “You should invite me, and maybe I would,” she says. “I always invite you.” “No, you don’t. You just say, ‘You should come.’ That’s not the same thing.” “What do you want, an engraved invitation?” A tiny spark of hope glimmers in my chest. Summer would only suck half as much if Quin were with me back at my father’s place. “Yes. That would work.” She sniffs and looks off into the distance. “I’ll seriously do it, if that’s what it would take to finally get you up there.” “No, don’t bother. I can’t go.” “Why? Because LA’s social scene would never survive without you?” “No.” She stands, brushing off her legs. “Come on, we’re going to be late.” “Late for what? My classes were all done as of twenty minutes ago.” “I have an appointment with a milkshake over at McDonald’s House of Horrors. Come on. Your treat.” We begin the long walk across campus. “I’ll pay for your ticket,” I say, testing the waters. I don’t know why I bother, though. “Nope. I pay my own way.” “Do you have the money?” “No. You know I’m broke.” Quin is always broke. She lives off the kindness of others and a scholarship. I’m not even sure what the scholarship is for. Do they give scholarships for being a smartass? Because if they do, she qualifies for a full ride. “Then let me pay,” I say. “No.” “You can pay me back.” “No.” I try a different tack. “It’s because you don’t like me, I know. Admit it.” “No, that’s not it, and if you try and guilt me into doing it, we won’t be friends anymore.” “That’s a lie.” “Yes, it is, but still … I won’t let you pay.” I give her my puppy dog eyes. “I’m going to be desperately lonely.” “No, you won’t be. You’ll have a bodyguard babysitter.” I sigh. “They always suck.” “That last one didn’t.” “The last one was like forty years old!” “So? What do you want to do? Fuck them or just have them take a bullet for you?” “Can’t I do both?” We laugh, knowing I’m full of crap. I actually liked the last guy assigned to babysit me, the guy being paid to assuage my father’s paranoia. He actually believes there are people in silicon valley trolling the neighborhoods for executives’ kids, since according to him they’d make really excellent kidnapping targets. Jim was the name of my last babysitter. Maybe I’ll get him again and we can play chess all summer like we did last year. I’ve never slept with one of my dad’s employees. They’re always married, ugly, old, or a trifecta of all three. Besides, my dad would kill us both if I did something that stupid. We don’t fraternize with the help. That’s what my uber arrogant step-mother says, anyway, although I’m not so sure she hasn’t put that rule to the side from time to time with the pool boy. Seriously … I’m not kidding. The pool boy. “What are you thinking about right now?” Quin asks me. “I.O.U. for your thoughts.” “I’m thinking how much I hate The Heinous One for being such a bag of dicks.” Quin smiles. “I’m really looking forward to meeting your step-mother at graduation, you know that? I’m totally going to call her that to her face.” I smile back. “Me too. Some day.” When I find a way to support myself and don’t have to worry about my father cutting me off. 
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This is my stop during the book blitz for Ella's Twisted Senior Year by Amy Sparling. This book blitz is organized by Lola's Blog Tours. The book blitz runs from 31 May till 6 June, you can view the blitz schedule here.  Ella's Twisted Senior YearBy Amy Sparling Genre: Contemporary Romance Age category: Young Adult Release Date: May 31, 2016 Blurb: Having spent most of her senior year flying under the radar, the last thing Ella Lockhart expected was to have a tornado rip straight through her house, leaving her homeless. It’s bad enough that the whole school now pities her, but did her parents have to let the neighbors take them in? You can find Ella's Twisted Senior Year on Goodreads You can buy Ella's Twisted Senior Year here: - Amazon - Amazon UK - Amazon Australia  About the Author:Amy Sparling is the author of The Summer Unplugged Series, Deadbeat & other awesome books for younger teens. She lives in Texas and has an addiction to sparkly nail polish, taking photos of her cute dog, and swooning over book boyfriends. You can find and contact Amy here: - Website - Goodreads There is a book blitz wide giveaway for the book blitz of Ella's Twisted Senior Year. These are the prizes you can win: - a $10 Amazon gift card (Open internationally) - a signed paperback of Ella's Twisted Senior Year by Amy Sparling (USA only) For a chance to win, enter the rafflecopter below: a Rafflecopter giveaway 
A Reason to Stay
Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble EXCERPT: Like A Wrecking Ball Elise Newton sat across the table from Darren Masterson in Pierre’s, one of the swankiest places in town to eat, watching him like she would an ailing person in the hospital. Right after the doctor informed her he only had hours left to live. She studied him, trying to remember everything about him that she could. Things that normally couldn’t be recalled if just the image of him popped up in her mind. Like a quick snapshot of a tall guy with a nice smile, dark hair, and an amazing set of blue eyes. No, Elise wanted to remember the details. Like the lines in his forehead, and how there was one very pronounced one dead center over the bridge of his nose, etched deeper than all the others. And that solitary vein that pulsed on his right temple when he was either chewing or talking very seriously about something. She took a sip of her expensive wine and swished it around in her mouth before swallowing. It tasted dry; she much more preferred sweet. But this would do the trick. She needed just a few more glasses of it, though, to deaden the pain she knew would come after she told him what she had to say. But first his lips. She needed to remember his soft lips. If they had a flavor, it’d be buttercream, like the kind found in the middle of her favorite doughnut from Margie’s Bakery, down off Ontario Boulevard. She looked at him then, letting her eyes wander down to his perfectly shaped mouth as it took another bite. Lord, she’d miss that mouth … that tongue … that… “Babe, are you all right?” he asked, chewing at the same time. “Of course,” she said, blinking rapidly to get the image of him licking her lips out of her mind. “It just seems like there’s something on your mind. Something you want to tell me.” He wiped the corner of his mouth with the linen napkin. She shook her head and stared at his blue eyes as he drove his fork around the plate. Now, his eyes were a whole other story than his lips. Ones that she would miss the most. To describe them merely as being blue as the Arctic ocean would be like describing the Northern Lights as blurry thing-a-ma-bobs. No, they were like two of the most devastatingly blue eyes that she’d ever seen in California, since moving there fourteen years ago. When she looked into them long enough, she discovered they were actually secret portals into the heart of his soul. And Bam! There she had it. These thoughts about the man sitting across the table from her were the precise reasons why she had to end it. Nip it in the bud. Stop the presses. Lane four is closing, take all your feelings and emotions to the express checkout and get the H-E-double-L out of there. Elise’s brain sent the cut-it-and-run messages through the loud speaker in her head, but her mouth was having a hard time with the command. She shook her head, trying to snap out of the trance she’d fallen into again. Like the one that caught her last week when she told herself that would be her last date with Mr. Perfect. So far, this was the fifth ‘last’ date she’d had with him. What was her problem? Instead of studying him like an Adonis sitting front and center in a Petri dish, she had to saddle up for what she came to dinner to do. To break up with him. There was no way around it. It had to be done. Only she had to think of a way. He wasn’t like the other guys she was used to dating. There was nothing that truly stood out to be a problem with him. Other than Elise was beginning to fall for him. She had been for the past couple of eight months. She could hear her mother’s Southern-coated drawl play over and over inside her head. “Don’t ever think a man is the answer to your problems, little girl. There is no man out there that’s gonna do anything but destroy you. Destroy all your dreams, and destroy your future. End it with them before they end it with you.”
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