The Shortest Distance Between Love & Hate
Sandy Hall
Published by: Swoon Reads
Publication date: July 9th 2019
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult
A teen girl starting at a new school is torn between long-held loyalties and a bright new love in this irresistible new YA contemporary romance from the author of A Little Something Different.
Paisley is really looking forward to college. She is ready to take charge of her destiny and embrace some new experiences! Finding a hot guy to make out with at her first ever college party seems like a great start…until her best friend informs her that mystery guy is actually Carter Schmitt, Paisley’s sworn enemy who basically ruined their lives in middle school.
So much for new people and exciting new experiences. Oh well. Paisley will just pretend he doesn’t exist. Of course that would be easier if Carter, AKA her super-hot-sworn-enemy, hadn’t ended up in threeof her classes AND the same work study. Is it too late to rethink this college thing?
Sandy Hall, author of A Little Something Different and A Prom to Remember, is heading back to college in this sweet and quirky contemporary romance.
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EXCERPT:
-Paisley- Record scratch.
Freeze frame.
Yup, that's me. Paisley Turner. Making out with a random guy at my first college party. You're probably wondering how I got into this situation.
Not that it really matters at the moment, seeing as how all I can think about is this guy's hand on my waist and his fingers in my hair and, oh my god, there's his tongue in my mouth. WE HAVE TONGUE, PEOPLE.
This is the weirdest, most wonderful thing that has ever happened to me.
Should I be thinking so much?
I turn my brain to silent mode and concentrate on the kissing.
When that doesn't work, I take to cataloging the moment, so I can remember it always. The way his fingers lightly brush my neck and send a chill down my spine. How the pulsing bass seems to beat along with my heart. The way the dark basement around us fades from existence. The slightly minty flavor on his lips that makes me wish I had brushed my teeth before leaving my dorm room.
But I wasn't thinking about making out when I left my dorm! I was thinking, I've never had beer before, and I don't want the first time I taste it to be tainted by toothpaste breath.
Is this how college is going to be? Walking into parties and being swept away in a kiss?
This was not in the brochure.
Did I even get a brochure?
Focus, Paisley!
All too soon he pulls away from me. I want to chase his lips with my own, but I realize I'm breathless and a bit dazed and could probably use a break. I look up at his face. He's so tall I want to climb him like a tree. Just scamper up him and perch on his shoulder and hang out there in his sandy-brown hair. But then I wouldn't be able to see his eyes, which are dark brown, at least in the dim light of the basement.
I am the whitest white person, there's no denying that, but my hand on his neck practically glows white because he's got this tan that's like something you'd see in a teen drama that takes place near the beach.
"That was . . . ," I say.
"Yeah," he responds when I don't finish my sentence.
I lean back and try to ignore the way the damp of the wall immediately seeps into my shirt. "I could use a beer," Mystery Boy says. "You want a beer?"
I nod and almost as soon as he walks away, my new roommate, Stef, ambushes me.
"What the hell is going on?" she asks. Her voice isn't accusing, more intensely curious.
Which I understand. This is a very curious situation.
"I don't know!" I stage-whisper, glancing over at The Boy. He's standing in the beer line, waiting for a new keg to be tapped. I turn my back to him because I don't want him to be able to read my lips. I start talking. Fast. I need to get this full story relayed before he comes back over.
"So, I'm standing here in the corner, playing with my phone, trying to talk myself out of begging you to leave early. Then that guy comes up to me and he was like, 'Remember me? And I was like, 'Yeah, totally!' Because I didn't want to admit to not knowing him. I figure he's prob- ably one of the guys who was in our group at the choosing- a-major thing earlier."
"Yeah, maybe. I don't remember him either," Stef says. "But I'm following you so far."
Author Bio:
I’m a teen librarian from New Jersey where I was born and raised. I have a BA in Communication and a Master of Library and Information Science from Rutgers University. When I’m not writing, or teen librarian-ing, I enjoy reading, slot machines, marathoning TV shows, and long scrolls through Tumblr. A LITTLE SOMETHING DIFFERENT is my first novel.
1 comments:
Thanks for being on the tour! :)
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