Title: Who We Were
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Release Date: February 25, 2017
Publisher: Hot Tree Publishing
Cover Designer: Claire Smith
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“I guess that’s the thing about high school reunions, though. They make you snap a little.”
In the ten years since high school graduation, Maylee’s career, living arrangements, family, and especially her love life are at a standstill. When her twin brother, Mitch, falls for her high school enemy at their ten-year reunion, Maylee’s life is catapulted into chaos.
Maylee’s hatred for the blonde-haired Josephine isn’t the only thing she discovers at her reunion. Benson Drake, the introvert from high school, has matured into a sexy intellect. Now a writer and bartender, Benson’s grown into a man with a perfect balance of quirky wit and sex appeal. After a wardrobe malfunction, a spy mission gone wrong, and a dangerous cup of coffee, Maylee and Benson explore something they never even thought about during senior year. Along the way, they find out that reconnecting with the past can change you… or maybe just help you find your true self.
My Favorite Scene in Who We Were
by Lindsay Detwiler
“Are you okay?” a husky voice asks as a blond, spiky-haired guy leans over me. He must be an inch from kissing me. My heart flutters a bit. I look up at him, his almost royal blue eyes peering into mine, framed by brown glasses matching mine—when I’m not torturing myself with contacts. The smell of his aftershave wafts toward me. I like it.
Usually, my favorite scene to write in a novel is the first kiss scene. There’s just something beautiful and magic about the first time two characters’ lips meet, the first time realization sets in that things are getting serious.
For Who We Were, though, my favorite scene is when Maylee and Benson rediscover each other at their high school reunion. Maylee finds herself in an embarrassing predicament at their ten-year reunion, and Benson just happens to come to her rescue. It’s a scene brimming with humor but also with possibility.
For me, Benson and Maylee’s first scene together is symbolic of who they are together and as individuals. It’s a quirky, socially awkward encounter marked by both mortification and laughter. Even though Maylee and Benson have been away from their nerdy high school days for a decade, they both come to realize they’ll never quite escape their penchant for being the outliers.
While she’s trying to pick herself up from the situation, Maylee finds something else, too. She finds that Benson Drake, who was introverted to the point of practical silence in high school, has grown into a sexy intellect. From his hair to his eyes to his smooth voice, Benson’s encounter with Maylee helps her see something she completely overlooked in high school—how great Benson is for her. From their first interaction in the book, Benson helps Maylee realize that she can reconcile who she was with the woman she wants to be. He helps her see the best in herself and in her future. Most of all, he helps her see that sometimes love comes along in our lowest moments, quite literally.
I love that Maylee and Benson’s first moment together isn’t the picture-perfect moment of most love stories. As Benson says to Maylee, “I think getting away from high school is good for some of us, huh? The outliers?” From their first encounter to their last in the book, Maylee and Benson learn to own their outlier status and build a relationship that is truly envy-worthy.
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A high school English teacher, an author, and a fan of anything pink and/or glittery, Lindsay's the English teacher cliché; she love cats, reading, Shakespeare, and Poe.
She currently lives in her hometown with her husband, Chad (her junior high sweetheart); their cats, Arya, Amelia, Alice, and Bob; and their Mastiff, Henry.
Lindsay's goal with her writing is to show the power of love and the beauty of life while also instilling a true sense of realism in her work. Some reviewers have noted that her books are not the “typical romance.” With her novels coming from a place of honesty, Lindsay examines the difficult questions, looks at the tough emotions, and paints the pictures that are sometimes difficult to look at. She wants her fiction to resonate with readers as realistic, poetic, and powerful. Lindsay wants women readers to be able to say, “I see myself in that novel.” She wants to speak to the modern woman’s experience while also bringing a twist of something new and exciting. Her aim is for readers to say, “That could happen,” or “I feel like the characters are real.” That’s how she knows she's done her job.
Lindsay's hope is that by becoming a published author, she can inspire some of her students and other aspiring writers to pursue their own passions. She wants them to see that any dream can be attained and publishing a novel isn’t out of the realm of possibility.
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