How to Breathe Underwater
Vicky Skinner
Published by: Swoon Reads
Publication date: August 14th 2018
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult
Kate’s father has been pressuring her to be perfect for her whole life, pushing her to be the best swimmer she can be. But when Kate finds her dad cheating on her mom, Kate’s perfect world comes crashing down, and Kate is forced to leave home and the swim team she’s been a part of her whole life.
Now in a new home, new school, and faced with the prospect of starting over, Kate isn’t so sure that swimming is what she wants anymore. But when she decides to quit, her whole world seems to fall apart. But when Kate gets to know Michael, the cute boy that lives across the hall, she starts to think that starting over might not be so bad. There’s only one problem: Michael has a girlfriend.
As the pressures of love, family, and success press down on her, can Kate keep her head above water?
EXCERPT:
Harris sent me an irritated look but did as Coach Judd asked. I did the same, splashing up out of the water and sitting on the edge of the pool, my legs still knee-deep. Everyone else was hanging out in the stands and on the side of the pool, their suits dry. Over by the bleachers, April (a master in all events, and Harris’s girlfriend) blew him a kiss. Beside her, Jenny Carther rolled her eyes.
“Hey, Jenny!” Chuck (100-yard backstroke, bulkiest and slowest on the varsity team) yelled out. “When’s Mommy gonna buy you implants so you can fill out your suit?”
Coach Judd made a disgruntled noise but didn’t call Chuck out. Jenny Carther (breaststroke leg of the 200-yard medley relay and exceptionally self-conscious for someone who weighed one hundred and thirty pounds of almost pure muscle) bolted from her spot poolside and raced by me. I listened to her bare feet slapping the floor behind me before she threw open the door to my father’s office, probably to tattle on Chuck.
I didn’t turn to watch the scene behind me, instead massaging my sore calves in the warm pool water. But after a moment, everyone went quiet. I looked up at Harris to say something but immediately forgot what it was when I realized that every member of the girls’ and boys’ swim teams was looking in the direction of Coach’s office, like a car had just crashed into it.
I turned to look, and my mouth fell open.
Inside the office, Jenny Carther’s mother and my father were making out against his trophy case, and it was embarrassing how long it took for them to realize that every athlete on the swim team was watching them.
Finally, they broke apart, my father’s eyes finding mine amid everyone’s, and the horror on his face matched the horror that had settled into my chest.
Before the end of the day, the swim team had spread the word about my father’s little slipup. It felt like everyone in Salem knew, and it didn’t take long for my mother get wind of it as well. A month later, my mother and I were moving to Portland to live near my sister, Lily, and my life was completely ruined.
Author Bio:
Born and raised in Texas, I don’t act like much of a Texan. I like cold weather and hate country music. I have a gorgeous husband, two dogs, and a Literature degree from the University of Texas at Dallas. If I’m not at home reading a book or doing laundry, I’m probably at the bookstore, nannying three rambunctious boys, or stuck on the side of the road with car trouble. I’m a reader, a writer, and a bit of a crazy person.
1 comments:
Thanks for being on the tour!
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