Guest Post with Casey Griffin ~ JeanBookNerd

Photo Content from Casey Griffin

Casey Griffin can often be found at comic conventions on her days off from her day job, driving 400 ton dump trucks in Northern Alberta, Canada. As a jack of all trades with a resume boasting registered nurse, English teacher, and photographer, books are her true passion, and she is currently busy writing every moment she can.

Paperback: 250 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (June 20, 2018)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1721622969
ISBN-13: 978-1721622962

MEET THE CHARACTERS - GUEST POST BY CASEY GRIFFIN

Katie is smart, fun, and a loyal friend, but she’s not overly confident—especially when it comes to boys. After her only “boyfriend” dated her just to get the attention of her ex BFF, she was teased so much that she changed schools. She feels like she always comes last. Even her best friend, Parker, friend-zoned her. This year, she’s determined to change all that with The Plan.

Quote: She wouldn’t blend into the pages of the yearbook, forgotten. She’d attract friends like Alex attracted girls, and ten years from now, when her classmates were reminiscing, they’d say “Remember Katie Warner?” And not in a “God, she was so weird” kind of way or a “Remember that time she farted in Biology?” way.

Alex is confident, thoughtful, and outgoing. Ever since his brother passed away, Alex had been living life to the fullest—extreme partying, extreme sports, and an extreme dating life. But he still feels like there’s something missing. He’s convinced he needs a girlfriend, but just not the girl his brother developed serious feelings for before he died: Katie.

Quote: He’d dated at least twenty girls in the last two years. Not that he’d planned it that way, though. The relationships just fizzled out every time, like a skydiving trip where the plane won’t take off the ground or scuba diving with an empty tank of air—short-lived. Only, there was one girl he couldn’t touch, the person his brother had developed serious feelings for before he’d died: Katie.

TEN QUOTES FROM PLAYING HER SECRET CRUSH
1. She reached up and her fingertips brushed his jaw, feeling the scrape of stubble she’d touched so many times before. Her fingers wove into hair that she knew exactly how it liked to fall, and her lips kissed the mouth she’d watched him pop a million mints into, but now she could taste the sweet peppermint for herself. It was all so familiar and yet different.

2. The first thing Alex felt when Katie opened her front door was immense guilt. Well, first it was surprise over the dress she was wearing, and how it made her honey eyes pop, and how it hugged her curves. And then he felt guilty for checking out those curves. Alex wasn’t supposed to be checking out Katie’s anything. Katie Warner was off-limits.

3. She couldn’t help but think of Red Rover, and here she was again, hoping not to be picked last.

4. Every guy loved the chase. It was in their primitive DNA makeup or whatever. It was total science. The article had stats and everything, so it must have been true.

5. He hadn’t just followed in his brother’s footsteps. He’d taken that life and practically made it an extreme sport. Despite his parents’ and therapist’s objections, he wouldn’t live with any regrets. And yet, he still felt like there was something missing, something more that he could be doing. Between the skydiving, mountain biking, white water rafting, and a new girl every chance he got, it was just never enough.

6. She didn’t know when these kinds of thoughts started creeping back into her brain or why. After two years, she’d all but suppressed them. She didn’t want to think it, and she didn’t want to want it. But she was. And she did. She wanted Alex to kiss her.

7. Her hands ached to touch him, to hug him, but it was like someone had cast a barrier spell between them.

8. The pain of being with her, without actually being with her, was beginning to outweigh the warning in his chest and the gnawing guilt every time he wanted to tell her how he felt.

9. His arms automatically pulled her closer like he was desperate to keep her there, like it was the only way he could continue breathing.

10. Alex was jealous. It wasn’t right, and it wasn’t fair. He could come up with a million reasons why she should be out there dating. Yet it didn’t take away the feeling of a sword tearing through his chest.

All her life, Katie has been chosen last for everything: the last picked on the playground, the last picked by her absent father, and definitely the last picked by boys—even her secret crush, Alex, friend-zoned her. This senior year, Katie is determined to come first.

But then Alex asks her to help him find a date?!

Alex has been living life in the fast lane, but he's ready to slow down—with a girlfriend. The last person on earth he’d consider? The girl his brother developed serious feelings for before he died: Katie. The only way Alex is going to get over Katie is by falling for someone new. And who better to help him find his new crush than the girl he can’t stop thinking about?

What can possibly go wrong?

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