Blog Tour (Book Review) - Perfect Couple by Jennifer Echols (Hosted by IFB Tours)

Perfect Couple
By: Jennifer Echols
Series: Superlatives #2
Publication Date: 13th January 2015
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Page Count: 336 (paperback)
Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Source: Review Copy from IFB Tours
Buy: Amazon

Rating: 7.5 - 8 (great - excellent)

In this second book in The Superlatives trilogy from Endless Summer author Jennifer Echols, Harper and Brody think they're an unlikely match but the senior class says they belong together.

As yearbook photographer, Harper is responsible for those candid moments that make high school memorable. But her own life is anything but picture perfect. Her parents' bitter divorce left her wondering what a loving relationship looks like. And ever since the senior class voted her and star quarterback Brody "Perfect Couple That Never Was" her friends have been pushing her to ask Brody out.

Brody doesn't lack female admirers, but Harper can't see herself with him. He's confused about the match too. Yet they find themselves drawn together first by curiosity about why the class paired them, then by an undeniable bond.

The trouble is, though they're attracted to each other, they have a hard time getting along or even communicating well. If they're the perfect couple, this shouldn't be so difficult! Soon it becomes clear their class was wrong, and they throw in the towel. But they feel so changed from making the effort, they can't forget each other. What if this match made in hell is the perfect couple after all?

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All quotes were taken from the ARC and may be subject to change.
Firstly I would like to thank Simon Pulse, Shane @ Itching for Books Tours and Jennifer Echols for allowing me to read the book early and for letting me be part of this amazing tour! I literally jumped for joy when I saw the email!

Fun, Flirtatious, Fabulous. The only three words I need to describe this book. Literally.

But oh well let's just write the full review. Haha! Anyways, I REALLY loved Biggest Flirts so much and I was super excited for Perfect Couple! Boy, was I not disappointed! 

I gave Perfect Couple a 7.5 - 8 rating because of how much I loved it. If you've followed this blog for a while, you would know how I hardly give high ratings because I am very particular about books. Giving an 8 rating for a contemporary was practically unheard of!

From the start I had superbly high expectations for this book and I am so ecstatic that my expectations were met. In my opinion, the relationship between Harper and Brody was  perfect because it was awkward and unstable and funny and imperfect just like what a real life romance was. I mean, they got together because of a freaking vote for goodness sake! What's more BOTH of them had bfs/gfs already! AND THEY WERE LITERAL OPPOSITES! 

What's more Echols being an experienced and knowing author gave the story the right amount of romance build up and made it all so flirtatious and fun to read! 

The only thing I was unsure of was that the book was honestly just a tad too fast-paced for me. I think this was the only reason I hesitated between 7.5 and 8. I understood that for a contemporary novel this would always be the case but I did feel that things zoomed past a little too fast. 

However, asides from being a pretty short read, for a contemporary romance, I think that this had just the right amount of romance for a day when you just want to kick back and read a hell of a relatable romance. I do think that perhaps some scenes would be more suited for older readers though!

Also, I was super happy that Jennifer included old characters such as Will and Tia and we got to see them be so cute together! BTW, Sawyer is my bae and I claim DIPS! I can't wait to see more of Sawyer in Most Likely to Succeed! <3

Perfect Couple is filled with so much love and joy and laughter that you will just keep wanting more after you've put it down! It will keep you thinking about Harper and Brody for days to come and hope for Sawyer and Kaye's romance to come sooner! This book WILL NOT disappoint! 

I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a young-adult romance with fun, sass, a kick-ass female and a hell of a hottie. The book comes out on the 13th of January 2015 and if you do not pick this book up, you will utterly regret it! Go read it and find out more about the unforgettable love that is Harper and Brody's! <3

---

Favorite Quotes

Hey guys! These are some of my favorite quotes for the book!!!! Honestly I loved every line but... 

1. 

     "You look hot, Harper." Will said.

      Tia told him, "There's Thanks for being nice to my friends,' and then there's 'You can stop being nice to my friends now."

2.

      "You're an artistic," [Brody] said. "It seems like you could just paint the world the way you wanted it, and then you wouldn't have to worry about catching it just right."

      "The world is beautiful exactly like it is," I said. "You just have to know how to frame it, and bring it into focus."

3.

      "All in favor?" I asked. "Aye -- and my opinion is the only one that counts. I am on deadline with this shit."

4. 

      Sawyer rolled his eyes. "If you want to know what people are saying about you, they're saying you're hot."

      "Really?" I asked skeptically.

      "Yes."

      "I felt like I needed to wear glasses so my face would have something in it. It just looks kind of blank to me, not pretty."

      "We all have issues," Sawyer said, almost unkindly.

      I nodded.

      "But that is the most fucked-up thing I've ever heard. You thought you weren't pretty, so you wore glasses? That's pathological."

5.

      "And Tia," Kaye said.

      Of course. The free spirit. The sexy chick who didn't give a damn what anybody thought. My complete opposite. The girl Brody had a crush on in middle school.

That's it from me! Now to end off, here's a little teaser ;)

--

About the Author:

Jennifer Echols was born in Atlanta and grew up in a small town on a beautiful lake in Alabama—a setting that has inspired many of her books. She has written nine romantic novels for young adults, including the comedy MAJOR CRUSH, which won the National Readers’ Choice Award, and the drama GOING TOO FAR, which was a finalist in the RITA, the National Readers’ Choice Award, and the Book Buyer’s Best, and was nominated by the American Library Association as a Best Book for Young Adults. Simon & Schuster will debut her adult romance novels in 2013, with many more teen novels scheduled for the next few years. She lives in Birmingham with her husband and her son.

*All pictures and graphics do not belong to me. I take no credit for any of it.

** All opinions are mine and are in no way influenced by anyone or anything.

Book Blitz - Dead Girl Walking by Ruth Silver

Welcome to Ruth Silver's Dead Girl Walking promo tour hosted by Itching for Books.

Genre: YA Paranormal
Release date: April 25th 2014
Series: Royal Reaper #1

Publisher: Patchwork Press

Purchase: Amazon | B&N

Synopsis via Goodreads:

Princess Ophelia Dacre sneaks out of the castle to visit her boyfriend in secret. A perfect night cut short when she’s brutally murdered.

Ophelia is given the rare chance to become a grim reaper. She must become Leila Bele, cut ties with her old life, and follow the rules of the reapers. Her greatest adventure begins with death.

About the Author

Ruth Silver is the best-selling author of Aberrant. The Young Adult/New Adult Romantic Dystopian Adventure, Aberrant is the first in a trilogy, released April 17th, 2013. Silver first began writing poetry as a teenager and reading heaps of fan fiction in her free time. She attended Northern Illinois University in 2001 and graduated with a Bachelor’s in Communication. While in college she spent much of her free time writing with friends she met online and penning her first novel, Deuces are Wild, which she self-published in 2004. Her favorite class was Creative Writing senior year where she often handed in assignments longer than the professor required because she loved to write and always wanted to finish her stories. Her love of writing, led her on an adventure in 2007 to Melbourne, Australia. Silver enjoys reading YA/NA novels and sharing her favorite books with other readers. She also enjoys photography, traveling and of most of all writing.

WEBSITE | TWITTER | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM

GUEST POST

=======================

Casmerelda, The Black Plague, and How a World was Born 

I began with an idea for a story. Isn’t that normally how books are written? I loved the series Dead Like Me on Showtime. It was on from 2003 to 2004. Way too short a lifespan for a fabulous show. So I got to thinking, I haven’t read any books about grim reapers and certainly not any that were geared to a teen audience, quirky, and different. That was the thing about Dead Like Me, it was different. It was humorous, light-hearted, had a love story mixed in, and had characters you were rooting for the entire way through. 

As I was beginning to let my story take shape, I wanted something that went beyond reapers and pushed the boundaries into something fantastical. A mix of paranormal and fantasy. The princess idea was born. 

I didn’t want my main character, Princess Ophelia to solely be a princess from our current land, there had to be more. So, the initial plot took place in the 1400’s, specifically 1346 when the Black Plague spread along the Silk Road. What better way to kill off massive amounts of people than let a virulent disease do it? 

Complication: There were no monarchies (no princesses) where the story was taking place. At least not in that time period. Which obviously made things difficult. Either pull the novel away from historical fantasy or get the facts right. 

I tugged with the idea of how to make it historically accurate, and then decided the language would have to match. I didn’t like the sound of, “You're going to kill my beau.” I preferred it read “boyfriend.” That was just one instance, there were several language issues and I strongly felt the story would be better set in a fantasy world that parallels our history. Casmerelda was born.

EXCERPT

====================

“Listen, kid, I don’t care what you believe in. It’s not for me to say what’s true and untrue, real or unreal. My assignment was you. You get to be one of us, if you want it. Otherwise, you move on, life is over, kaput.” 

Ophelia backed away from the stranger. For the first time, she realized she didn’t feel cold and wasn’t shivering. Is this what being dead was like? “One of you?” 

“A grim reaper.” He held out his hand to properly introduce himself. “Edon Montgomery, head reaper and old soul.”

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Release Day Blitz - Shameless by Nina Lemay

IFB will host the release day blitz for Nina Lemay's Shameless. See details below:

Shameless

by Nina Lemay

Publication date: 18th August 2014

Publisher: Entangled Teen
Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance
-- recommended for mature readers--

Purchase: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Smash Word | 

Synopsis via Goodreads:

Girls like me don’t get happy endings.

I know what I am. At worst a cliché, at best a cautionary tale. I put an international border between me and my past, only to wind up working in a low-end titty bar. Even my excuse is as lame as it gets: I’m paying for college, getting my art degree from Montreal’s most prestigious school. Although some days it becomes confusing: am I just a student who moonlights as a stripper, or a stripper who masquerades as a student?

But the inevitable happens and my two lives collide. And now there’s one other person who knows both the quiet, antisocial Hannah and the sensual, shameless Alicia. One person who keeps my secret.

He’s beautiful, he’s sophisticated. He comes from the other side of life, the one where I’m not wanted or accepted. But he calls me la petite Américaine, and his hot, hot hands on my skin promise me things I long ago gave up on.

The problem? He teaches my Classic Photography class.

This is a standalone novel, no series, no cliffhanger.

Guest Post:

Thank you so much for helping me launch SHAMELESS into the world. Being a writer, especially an indie debut author, is often lonely and occasionally scary. All the support I’ve had with SHAMELESS just blew me away. You guys are amazing!

SHAMELESS is set in Montreal. Why Montreal, you ask? Montreal was the perfect setting for many reasons.

First… well, I’ve never read a New Adult novel set in Montreal. Actually, I haven’t read that many novels set in Montreal at all. It’s always a big city in the US, New York or LA or Chicago, and when the story needs a touch of exoticism, New Orleans. So I said to myself, how is Montreal worse than New Orleans? At least here we actually speak French, you know?

Montreal is a Canadian city, kind of on the small side (give or take 2 million people) and yes, it speaks French. French is the only official language of the province of Quebec, but in the heart of Montreal you can usually get by in English too. Montreal is known for a kind of libertine attitude and what we call joie de vivre—you gotta, when it’s freezing nine months of the year. I took this picture in the middle of April, after I woke up to a surprise snowstorm (surprise!).

Good music (Montreal is home to the giant outdoor Jazz Festival and several others throughout the summer), good food (and I don’t just mean poutine) and good nightlife is what it’s known for. It also has a sort of European feel to it. This is from when I lived on the Plateau, aka the French-speaking hipster neighborhood par excellence:

Coffee shop on the Plateau:

In the downtown core, the area is more English and more touristy. And I didn’t exaggerate: there really are strip clubs all along Ste-Catherine, the main shopping street of downtown Montreal. Here’s one right above a teen clothing store!

Quebec City, where Hannah and Emmanuel go for the long weekend, is one of the oldest settlements in North America and the provincial capital. About three hours by car to the north of Montreal, Ville de Quebec has the look and feel of a majestic European city.

I went to university with many people who moved across the continent to go to school here, and I always admired (and was kind of envious of) the courage it takes. So when I wrote Hannah, a girl who’s desperate to escape her high school years no matter the cost, I thought, what better place to run away to than Montreal?

About the Author:

Nina Lemay is a YA writer by day and author of sinfully twisted New Adult…well, also by day. She loves all things dark and edgy and never tires of tormenting her characters. While Nina is a fan of all things scary, Gothic, and fantastic, she doesn’t shy away from a gritty contemporary romance when the muse strikes. She lives in Montreal, a city that never fails to inspire, with her partner and her dog.

Author Links: Website ** Twitter **

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Cover Reveal - Shameless by Nina Lemay

IFB is hosting the cover reveal for Nina Lemay's NA Contemporary Romance. See it below and continue for the giveaway:

Shameless

by Nina Lemay

Publication date: 18th August 2014

Genres: New Adult Contemporary Romance (For Mature Readers)

Link(s): Goodreads

Synopsis:

Girls like me don’t get happy endings.

I know what I am. At worst a cliché, at best a cautionary tale. I put an international border between me and my past, only to wind up working in a low-end titty bar. Even my excuse is as lame as it gets: I’m paying for college, getting my art degree from Montreal’s most prestigious school. Although some days it becomes confusing: am I just a student who moonlights as a stripper, or a stripper who masquerades as a student?

But the inevitable happens and my two lives collide. And now there’s one other person who knows both the quiet, antisocial Hannah and the sensual, shameless Alicia. One person who keeps my secret.

He’s beautiful, he’s sophisticated. He comes from the other side of life, the one where I’m not wanted or accepted. But he calls me la petite Américaine, and his hot, hot hands on my skin promise me things I long ago gave up on.

The problem? He teaches my Classic Photography class.

This is a standalone novel, no series, no cliffhanger.

Excerpt: 

His hand slides, hesitant, across the edge of his seat as he leans closer. The black ink of the letters on his knuckles is stark against his skin.

“Show me,” I say.

And he kisses me. Our lips don’t meet smooth and choreographed like in movies. The stubble on his cheek grazes the corner of my mouth, leaving behind a burning trail, and then his lips cover mine. Nothing hesitant about them. Assertive, self-assured like I thought his kiss would be, the promise of those strong hands and broad shoulders and arrogant posture made real. But he’s anything but arrogant. He gently nips on my lower lip and his hands caress my neck, my jaw, cup my face. He’s holding me like I’m something fragile and precious.

I’m afraid to close my eyes.

He has that lavender scent, sharp and clean, with a note of wild muskiness lurking underneath when you get close enough—that note that’s just him. I don’t know what to do with my hands so I slip them under his jacket and put them on his waist, right above his belt. I finally start to sketch out what his body looks like under his shirt: sinewy and fit and hard.

His hands finally move on, mirroring mine, down to my bare belly exposed by my cropped top. The little hairs along my spine stand on end. An involuntary shudder courses through me, making my abs tighten and quiver. His hand finds the small of my back and settles there, guiding me forward with smooth confidence, pulling me toward him. The heat of his palm melts through my skin into my bones and up my spine, softening my muscles until my entire body feels like hot wax held together by a membrane of skin. I tuck my hand under his belt, just the fingertips—past the hem of his shirt where the pads of my fingers find hot, smooth skin over taut muscle.

He groans softly into my mouth. I lean in and slide onto his lap, barely aware that I’m clambering over a car seat. It’s just so smooth and natural, the grooves of our bodies clicking together like a jigsaw puzzle. His hands on my waist, spreading goosebumps all over my belly, up my back and down my arms; then they move up, up, under my top, stopping when they find my bra. Pausing, hesitant.

I kiss my way along his jaw and his neck, peel away the collar of his shirt to continue down his clavicle. His hand settles over my bra and I can feel its heat through the fabric, a tiny little jolt of sensation that lights up my nerve endings like a Christmas tree.

My mind floats up, under the closed sunroof of the Audi, and watches me from there, impassive. I’m aware of everything I’m doing, too aware, but I don’t stop. My body continues like an automaton, the lips, the hands, performing the motions. Like I’m a car on cruise control, easing into the familiar mode. I know what happens next.

A part of me, very deep down, hopes I don’t.

Only one way to find out.

I go for his belt buckle, find it, tug on it. It yields with a soft clink.

And just as I’m about to stick my hand down his pants, he pulls away.

“’Annah,” he pants. His hand slips out from under my shirt and dives down to catch my wrist. His fingers wrap around my wrist bone, strong and firm.

Maybe it’s the touch that zaps me back into my body, disrupts my functioning. The false step that throws off the whole routine, the bad note that ruins the aria.

“What?” I whisper. My body’s nerves settle into normal mode one by one.

“No.”

“Why not?”

“This isn’t right. This is… overstepping.”

I sit back. I’m still balancing with my shins on his legs—kind of like at work when I lean in, my hair brushing over a customer’s face, and ask in a seductive whisper if he wants another dance.

I blink at him in utter dismay. Thrown off. Tossed overboard into unfamiliar territory and I don’t know what to do.

But I want to be doing this, I start to say. We aren’t doing anything wrong. “I’m attracted to you,” he says. His voice still holds a hint of breathlessness. “But then again, you already knew that.”

“But I’m—” I’m attracted to you too. This much should be obvious.

“I know,” he says softly. He lets go of my wrist and instead takes my hand between his hot, hot palms. He brings it to his lips. “But this isn’t right.”

About the Author:
Nina Lemay is a YA writer by day and author of sinfully twisted New Adult…well, also by day. She loves all things dark and edgy and never tires of tormenting her characters. While Nina is a fan of all things scary, Gothic, and fantastic, she doesn’t shy away from a gritty contemporary romance when the muse strikes. She lives in Montreal, a city that never fails to inspire, with her partner and her dog.

Author Links: ninalemay.com | TWITTER | GOODREADS

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Blitz - Our Kind Of Love by Shane Morgan

Welcome to our stop of Shane' Morgan's Our Kind of Love promo tour. See excerpt & giveaway below:

Our Kind of Love

by Shane Morgan

Publication date: 21st June 2014

Publisher: TSW Books

Links: Goodreads/Amazon/B&N

 

Synopsis:

Reign is convinced that Nate is the perfect guy for her. That’s until Micah walks into her Mom’s restaurant looking for a job. Now Reign can’t seem to stop her heart from yearning for the guy with the mysterious sea blue eyes and melting smile.

Micah is all but perfect. He’s spent eight months in a juvenile detention center back in Colorado for his unintentional involvement in a crime. Now at nineteen and hoping to escape his ghosts, he lands a part-time job working at a seaside restaurant in Newport, Rhode Island where he meets the irresistible Reign. 

He can’t help the way he feels whenever he’s around her, but she’s already taken and Micah doesn't want to disrupt her life or get himself in anymore trouble. But then his attraction for Reign proves too strong to deny, and Micah finds that he just might discover a reason to stop running.

Excerpt: 

   Sitting down on a park bench, I stare up at the colors of the fading sky. The bursting orange and yellows mix together like one big orgasm. I appreciate the natural beauty for a while, until something, okay, someone, more captivating graces my view. 

   A young woman, lost in thought, walks barefoot across the sea wall made of rustic red pebble stones separating sand from sea. With the poise of a gymnast, her body shivers with each step against the ocean breeze. Her cute blue dress with floral prints flares modestly just below her knees. She pays no attention to anything else around her, unaware of how my eyes are trained on her every move.

   As the setting sun slants across her tanned legs, she pauses for a beat. Flipping straight light brown hair off her shoulders, strands falling elegantly down her back. I love long hair on girls; the smell—that’s if it’s clean, I’ve had instances where it wasn’t—the feel, and the texture. Caught up, I lean forward, my gaze fixed on nothing but her. Turn. How I wish she’d turn around so I could see her face. Even my heart begins to thud with anticipation.

   Finally, as if hearing me, she twists, her attention riveted on something out on the street to her left. Oh c’mon, turn toward me. The sun will be gone in minutes. She swivels, fully around this time. I’m breathless as I catch a glimpse. She’s beautiful, but I don’t mean that in a shallow way. Something about her intrigues me.

   So what am I doing? Why am I just sitting here watching her?

Snapping back to my senses, I spring from the bench and start to walk over to her, hoping she won’t run away when I tell her how angelic she is before my eyes. Jeez. That’s corny as Hell, but I don’t care. I have to talk to this girl.

  I’m almost there when the loud beep-beep of a car draws her attention. She twirls and I stop in my tracks. A wide smile spreads across her pink lips, and like an idiot, I convince myself she’s actually smiling at me. Realization bites me on the ass when she hurries past me like I’m invisible, heading for the red jeep parked on the side of the street waiting for her. 

She didn’t see me. Like seriously?

  I stand in place and watch as she climbs inside the jeep, shuts the door, and the driver takes off. Now I feel like crap, because I wasted time and missed the chance to talk to her. I wonder if I’ll ever see her again. 

  With hunched shoulders, I walk up the sand onto the grass and sit back on the bench, dumping grains out of my flip-flops. 

  A lone gull scampers across the sand. A bright moon rises in the sky. I run my fingers through my already messy hair and start to laugh at myself. Dude, why did you get so riled up? That girl’s simply another pretty face. How many have I seen these last few months? Why should I care? We meet, hook-up, and I move on.

  The last thing I’m looking for is a girlfriend. I’m a no commitments type of guy. None of them ever took the guilt away, anyway.

But it’s crazy how I feel now. From just one look, my gut says that girl is worth getting to know. Maybe someone I wouldn’t mind sticking around for.

About the Author:
Shane Morgan is a twenty-something bestselling author of Young Adult and New Adult Fiction. Currently living in the beautiful town of Narragansett, Rhode Island, Shane spends her days blogging, reading, and escaping in her stories.

Author Links: WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM

Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Blitz - A French Princess in Versailles by Anna Adams

 

The French Princess in Versailles

(The French Girl #3) 

Author: Anna Adams

Release Date: 30th June 2014

SYNOPSIS VIA GOODREADS:

Determined to escape her failed pop career and focus on her classical training, Maude Laurent moves back to France and enrolls at the prestigious National Academy of Arts. 

Between balls, charity events, concerts, and navigating in the French elite, Maude has to prove she’s cut out to become a professional opera singer in a world where pop music is regarded with disdain. 

Though she fights it, her past catches up with her when she meets an English teacher who forces her to see a world beyond the safety of the Academy and takes her down an unusual musical journey where the risk is great and the reward uncertain. And when a chain of events bring her and Matt back in the same town, Maude will learn that music can bring people closer or tear them apart forever.

EXCERPT - PROLOGUE

“I’ve decided to move back to France.”
When she spoke the fatal words, silence filled the room, and Maude enjoyed the savory sense of satisfaction to its fullest. Her glass was half raised and half full with clear, icy, mineral water, transparent and brilliant as the truth.
The glass slipped from her fingers, and as easily as crystal explodes in a million pieces, the shocked silence shattered and the reporters craved for every detail of the decision, details Maude refused to give.
She grabbed a tissue and rubbed her dark pencil skirt furiously. She’d worn that precise skirt because she associated it with seriousness. Solemnity was required of her in the midst of a scandal. Her natural dark hair tied into a tight bun, very little makeup on her smooth chocolate skin. Just enough foundation to hide that she’d barely slept a wink the night before. She’d weighed the pros and the cons. But it all came down to one thing: her love for music.

Her passion for classical music had helped her years ago when she lived in a basement in the north of France. In those days, she’d dreamed of becoming a concert pianist or an opera singer.

Dreams, like nature, change over time. When she’d been discovered by James Baldwin almost two years ago and whisked off to New York, she’d fallen in love with pop music and her ambitions grew as did her love for music.
She wanted to show the world that classical and pop could make a wonderful combination.
This ambition had given birth to her first self-titled album. Success, praise, fame. All had ensued with impeccable timing.
How had her dreams turned into frightful nightmares? She’d lied, unwillingly to be sure, but the consequences had been disastrous. She’d lost her way.
She thought about this as her uncle led her out of the crowded room, the sound of her heels muffled by the wool carpeting. His grip tightened around her elbow. Security guards surrounded her every side, but as they rushed outside to the dark sedan waiting for her, a crowd had gathered. Maude’s tenacious bodyguards contained a vocal, vociferating mob with difficulty. They held cardboard signs instead of pitchforks, yet their intentions weren’t so different from that of angry villagers in medieval times. The focus of public outrage may differ through time, but its force rarely alters.
“Liar!”
“Aren’t you ashamed of yourself? Faking a relationship just to sell more albums?”
She might’ve argued she wasn’t the first to do so and probably wouldn’t be the last. Did it matter? She’d been caught, no one else had, and that remained the only difference.
The origin of the leak remained a mystery although she had a pretty strong hunch it was Lindsey Linton, the blonde beauty who saw in Maude an unprecedented rival.
“Duck!” yelled James. Too late, much too late.
Splat!
A ripe tomato landed in her dark mane and oozed down her neck, leaving a reddish trail of slime. Maude continued to advance to the car, swallowing repeatedly to push down her disgust. Her heart stopped when she noticed a girl, not much older than twelve, clutching her music album. Tears were streaming down her face as she squeezed the album against her chest, biting her lip with an unsettling fierceness.
Incomprehension, disappointment, accusation. Her eyes were the accumulation of all the feelings Maude’s scandal had unleashed. The little girl’s expressive distress tormented Maude more than any of the cardboards or edibles thrown at her. She faltered at the car’s door, one foot inside, one foot out, prompting a bodyguard to push her head inside, entangling her hair with the tomato further. His grip hurt, and she caught one last glimpse of the girl before he slammed the door in her face. A rotten banana hit the window.
It was high time to go, and Maude was keener than ever to escape public fury.
While the pop world no longer wanted her, the classical world greeted her with open arms.
After her performance in Aida a couple of days ago, in which she’d played the devious Egyptian princess intent on thwarting the purest love of all time, her talent had been recognized by the National Academy of Arts, the most prestigious French music school based in the Parisian area.
They wanted her.
No paparazzi, no scandal, just music. Going back to her classical roots. So what if her dream of bringing classical to the pop world was to be ignored henceforth?
The pop world didn’t want her. And as much as it hurt, as much as the crashing sales hurt and the dreadful names she was being called pained her (“a conniving little Frenchie”), she needed to step away from it all. To go back to a peaceful existence in France where no one had really heard of Maude Laurent anyway. Forget launching her international career.
She would live in blissful anonymity.
That was Maude’s plan. And she honestly hoped everything would go smoothly.
***

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Born in France, raised partly in the United States and in France, Anna Adams grew up loving stories in French and English. 

Anna currently lives in Paris where she studies at la Sorbonne as a Law Student. 

She's the author of the French Girl series for which she is writing the the third installment. 

When she isn't writing, Anna likes to travel in Europe and dreams of going to Asia and Africa.

Strolling in Storyland | Anna Adams (ADAMSANNA1) on Twitter

GIVEAWAY!

a Rafflecopter giveaway