Puppy Love? Maybe Not

Time again for Weekend Writing Warriors and Snippet Sunday!

Last week you met three of the four main characters in True Blue, the first book in my True Blue Trilogy releasing next month. (If you missed it, you can catch up on the earlier excerpts here.) Jeana, Wade and Billy Joe live on the same street and grew up together, but why would two ten-year-old boys hang out with a girl who usually has her nose in a book, hates sports and is pretty bossy? Here's why.

When they left the shed in Wade’s back yard a few minutes later, they blinked as their eyes adjusted to the brightness of the late afternoon sun that was still warm enough for all of them to be wearing shorts in the middle of October—business as usual in Chickasaw, Alabama. The three of them said goodbye at the privacy fence that separated Wade’s yard from Jeana’s. Wade swung the loose board aside so Jeana could slip through, then he and Billy Joe watched until she was safely on her back porch.

They'd been looking out for Jeana all their lives, and neither of them planned to stop anytime soon. Sure, she was bossy and kind of a know-it-all, but she also wasn’t silly and giggly like most of the other girls at school. She was so smart it was scary sometimes, and she’d been making up cool games for the three of them to play for as long as either boy could remember.

Of course, neither of them would ever consider admitting to anyone—including each other—the real reasons they would always look out for Jeana. That was a secret they kept hidden deep in their ten-year-old hearts and only thought about when they were lying awake at night, remembering the way Jeana's eyes looked when she smiled and the way it made her face glow like the strands of her curly red hair in the sunlight. Her smile made them want to be smarter, nicer, braver—someone who deserved the admiration of a girl as special as Jeana.

Those were the things that kept both boys willing to do anything she wanted as long as it meant they got to see that smile again.

Next week you'll meet the fourth main character—another ten-year-old boy named Mickey who's obsessed with baseball, but for a reason you might not expect. And he doesn't know it yet, but he's gonna end up feeling the same way about Jeana. I also hope I'll be able to share the cover art next week too! Please do also check out the other Snippet Sunday folks and the Weekend Writing Warriors. Something for everyone among these talented writers!

~Stay true to yourself and your dreams will come true!

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Balance Due

Time again for Weekend Writing Warriors and Snippet Sunday!

Here's a little more from my YA paranormal thriller After Me. (You can catch up on the earlier excerpts here.) Last week Jada discovered that she has to stay among the living until she finds and stops the man who murdered her. As you might expect, Jada's not too happy about having to be "some kind of psycho zombie chick," but here's why she's obligated to do it.

"You had a verbal contract with us that must be honored, Miss Gayle.”

“What contract?”

She typed something then looked at the monitor and said, "This one.”

I watched the screen go black, then I saw myself when I was thirteen, kneeling on the floor next to my bed with my eyes turned heavenward. Flo turned up the volume on the monitor, and I heard myself promising that I would do anything to keep my best friend Cassie from dying of leukemia.

“But that’s not fair,” I said. “Yeah, Cassie went into remission, but look what happened to her later. I shouldn’t have to keep a promise for that.”

“I’m sorry, but we don’t argue semantics here. You said you would do anything, and now it’s time to pay up.”

Oh, snap! Don't you hate when a promise comes back to bite you in the butt? Find out next week how our heroine handles her first week as Jada the Pervert Slayer. Can't wait? You can buy After Me here. And please also check out the other Snippet Sunday folks and the Weekend Writing Warriors. Something for everyone among these talented writers!


~Stay true to yourself and your dreams will come true!

See all my books at my Web site
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Puberty Raises Its Ugly Head

Hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving and didn't overindulge like some people (who shall remain nameless) seem to do every year. I had a pretty great week considering I finished the prequel to my first novel that I'm redoing as a trilogy. :-) I'm really excited about it because it's unique in that it features a middle grade novel, a young adult novel, and a new adult novel. More about it later.

This week's Snippet Sunday post from Shades of Blue takes place while Sam and JoJo are swimming at the creek with a bunch of kids from school during Spring Break. A loud-mouthed jerk named Chip Wiley snaps JoJo's bathing suit top and breaks it, so she's swimming in her T-shirt. Chip starts teasing her about putting some Band-Aids on the mosquito bites on her chest, and Sam is not amused.

Sam’s eyes turned a strange dark-green shade, and he walked over to the rope swing where Chip and his two moron friends were taking turns. Without another word, Sam hauled off and punched Chip right in the stomach. I almost swallowed a minnow when he did it.

Chip’s eyes got real big and his mouth kept moving the way it always did, but for once nothing was coming out. Danny and Freddy did what morons do best—laughed like a couple of hyenas. Sam said something to Chip I couldn’t hear, then he dove into the water. When he came up next to me a few seconds later, I was still gawking at him for punching Chip.

“Come on, JoJo. Let’s get outta here.”

Hmm... Sam and JoJo have only been best friends until now, but it looks like "the times they are a-changing" thanks to puberty. Wonder how JoJo will take it? Stay tuned to find out. Or you can just buy you own copy of Shades of Blue here.

~Stay true to yourself and your dreams will come true!

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