Camp
Boyfriend (Camp
Boyfriend #1)
by J.K. Rock
Release Date: 07/02/13
From Spencer Hill Press
Summary from Goodreads:
The summer of her dreams is about to get a reality check.
They said it couldn't be done, but geeky sophomore Lauren Carlson transformed herself into a popular girl after moving to a new school halfway across the country. Amazing what losing her braces and going out for cheerleading will do. Only trouble is, the popular crowd is wearing on Lauren's nerves and she can't wait to return to summer camp where she's valued for her brain instead of her handsprings. She misses her old friends and most of all, her long time camp-only boyfriend, Seth. This year she intends to upgrade their relationship to year-round status once she's broken up with her new, jock boyfriend, Matt. He doesn't even begin to know the real her, a girl fascinated by the night sky who dreams of discovering new planets and galaxies.
But Matt isn't giving her up without a fight. As he makes his case to stay together, Lauren begins to realize his feelings run deeper than she ever would have guessed. What if the guy she thought she was meant to be with forever isn't really The One? Returning to Camp Juniper Point was supposed to ground her uprooted life, but she's more adrift than ever. Everything feels different and soon Lauren's friends are turning on her and both guys question what she really wants. As summer tensions escalate, Lauren wonders if she's changed more than she thought. Will her first big discovery be herself?
by J.K. Rock
Release Date: 07/02/13
From Spencer Hill Press
Summary from Goodreads:
The summer of her dreams is about to get a reality check.
They said it couldn't be done, but geeky sophomore Lauren Carlson transformed herself into a popular girl after moving to a new school halfway across the country. Amazing what losing her braces and going out for cheerleading will do. Only trouble is, the popular crowd is wearing on Lauren's nerves and she can't wait to return to summer camp where she's valued for her brain instead of her handsprings. She misses her old friends and most of all, her long time camp-only boyfriend, Seth. This year she intends to upgrade their relationship to year-round status once she's broken up with her new, jock boyfriend, Matt. He doesn't even begin to know the real her, a girl fascinated by the night sky who dreams of discovering new planets and galaxies.
But Matt isn't giving her up without a fight. As he makes his case to stay together, Lauren begins to realize his feelings run deeper than she ever would have guessed. What if the guy she thought she was meant to be with forever isn't really The One? Returning to Camp Juniper Point was supposed to ground her uprooted life, but she's more adrift than ever. Everything feels different and soon Lauren's friends are turning on her and both guys question what she really wants. As summer tensions escalate, Lauren wonders if she's changed more than she thought. Will her first big discovery be herself?
Links to: Goodreads, Amazon, Kobo, Book Depository and Barnes and Noble.
Extract #4:
“Can
I ask you a question?” I’d been dying to ask him this for years,
but the old me had been too afraid.
“Shoot.”
He wrapped his arms around his knees and locked a hand around his
other wrist.
I
gathered my courage. “Why did you want to break up every year after
camp?”
In
the quiet that followed, I traced the white stitching on the
embroidery that outlined Madison’s initial.
When
Seth finally answered, his voice was low.
“It’s
easier to end things on good terms than risk something going wrong
during the school year.”
“Why
assume the worst?” I’d never given him reason to doubt me.
“I
saw what my dad went through after my mom left us.” He reached for
a stick to shove the logs around in the dusty fireplace as I marveled
that he’d finally admitted what I’d suspected. When Seth’s mom
abandoned him, she’d left a huge hole. No wonder he had trust
issues. Still, we could have worked through that if he’d given me a
chance. Opened up to me like this before.
“I
always figured I’d wait to get serious with anyone until I was…
really sure,” he continued.
“And
you were never sure of me?”
His
crooked grin made a surprise appearance, but his tone was dry. “I
was hoping this would be the year we’d be ready to take that step.”
Something
inside me collapsed. My chest felt so tight that for a minute I
couldn’t breathe. We’d been so close to developing something
amazing.
“Instead,
I showed up with someone else.”
Outside,
the wind rubbed tree limbs against the cabin, making a squeaking
scrape.
“It
wasn’t just that.” He put the stick down and looked at me. Really
looked me. “You showed up as
someone else. Someone I didn’t recognize with a new look, clothes,
interests.”
I
opened my mouth to protest but stayed silent when I followed his gaze
to my trendy sneakers.
“I
didn’t know who you were anymore,” Seth went on. “Since when
did you prefer dancing to stargazing, tanning to pursuing your
Aerospace Scholar dreams? That wasn’t the Lauren I knew. Loved.”
I
flinched. Who knew a verb tense could cut as deep as a knife? Seth no
longer loved me because I’d changed.
How
ironic that I’d come back to camp to get back to the things I’d
loved, especially Seth. But Matt had stopped that chance and,
suddenly, I was glad he had. What was so wrong with liking dance and
astronomy? Cheering and the science club? The popular and the
outsider cliques? The problem was, I hadn’t realized I could do
both, be
both. If I’d gone back to Seth, I would never have learned that.
I
looked over at my drying wedge sandals by the fireplace. They were
awesome, even if they had slowed us down. And yeah, I was the girl
who worried about weather-induced hair frizz.
So
maybe I had changed. And Seth had a point about letting my dreams
lapse. But why couldn’t he see through the make-up and clothes to
the person who still thrilled at the site of a meteor shower and drew
constellations on her notebook covers?
I
laid back, tired of justifying myself. “That girl’s gone, Seth.
I’m different now.”
Seth
stretched beside me. His amber eyes searched mine in the shadows
between us, a wistful smile lifting the corners of his mouth.
“It’s
not a bad thing,” he agreed, his fingers toying with my curls. “I
just miss the old you sometimes.”
I
closed my eyes and enjoyed his touch, knowing it wasn’t going any
further. After all, he cared about someone else, someone I’d never
be again.
“Sometimes…”
I edged a little closer to ease the empty ache inside. “…so do
I.”
J.
K. Rock is the writing partnership of sisters-in-law Joanne &
Karen Rock. Separately, they write adult romance. Together, they
dream up Young Adult books like CAMP BOYFRIEND, the first in a
three-book series. The summer camp stories continue
with CAMP PAYBACK (4/14) and CAMP FORGET-ME-NOT
(8/14), plus bonus free novellas in between stories.
Visit http://campboyfriend.net to
learn more about the series and the free prequel novella, CAMP KISS,
which you can download here.
***Author
Links***
Author
Website / Amazon / Barnes
& Noble / Goodreads / Karen's
Twitter / Joanne's
Twitter / Facebook
***GIVEAWAY***Grand
prize - Signed copies Amanda Ink's SUN, Jennifer Armentrout writing
as J. Lynn's FRIGID and JK Rock's CAMP BOYFRIEND. Also included,
advance sneak peek copy Laurie Halse Anderson's THE IMPOSSIBLE KNIFE
OF MEMORY and Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian's FIRE WITH FIRE, plus
an "I <3 my Camp Boyfriend" tee shirt,
friendship bracelets, 'I <3 Camp' temporary
tattoos, and a bookmark with the download code for CAMP KISS.
Three
other winners will receive $10 Amazon gift cards
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Cannot wait to get my hands on this book! Don't forget to enter the fabulous giveaway!
Keely x
Keely you are so kind! Thank you so much for hosting CAMP BOYFRIEND on your blog. Look for it on our Rock Star Blogger Hall of Fame pinterest board http://bit.ly/14t0ctr :)
ReplyDeleteWe also wanted to mention that the prequel to Camp Boyfriend, Camp Kiss, is now available on Kindle! It's a .99 cent download at http://www.amazon.com/Camp-Kiss-Boyfriend-ebook/dp/B00ECZ6W1A
ReplyDelete