Football Friday: Meet Ryan Blake plus a Giveaway!

THAT MEANS ALL LINED UP COMES OUT THIS MONTH!

 If you haven't heard about ALL LINED UP, you can check it out on goodreads. You can also read the first thirty four pages. AND... if you need more incentive, those who pre-order ALU and register here will give a BRAND NEW Garrick and Bliss scene Post-Losing It/Keeping Her. EVEN BETTER... you can now order your own signed paperback from Word Bookstore and get it on release day! So far I introduced Carson McClain, the heroine Dallas Cole, BFF slash Badass Stella Santos, and bad boys Levi and Silas.

And now I'm introducing Ryan Blake, team manager and Carson's friend. 

I picture him a bit like this... 

Ryan is a bit on the nerdy side, but he still loves sports and aspires to be an athletic trainer. When he and Carson become friends, he gives a much-needed bit of levity. Carson is so focused and determined that he'll drive himself into the ground. Ryan helps him work towards his goal of becoming starting quarterback, but also helps him loosen up. Ryan is funny, shamelessly flirty, and extremely loyal. 

Here's a few teaser graphics from ALU: 

I mentioned he was shameless... right? ;)

Ryan is actually the hero of book three in the series, which I'm scheduled to start working on soon, and I'm so excited. I have a feeling I'm going to laugh A LOT in that book. :) 

And that's Ryan. Enter the giveaway below for a chance to win a signed ARC and meet him in person! (Or you know... in pages). 

And if you're heading to RT convention in New Orleans, or you live in the area, join me (and a bunch of other awesome authors) for a signing on release day (May 13th) at Garden District Books! 

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The Dos and Don'ts of College, According to Dallas and Stella

With each hour that passes, we're just a little bit closer to May 13th, a.k.a the release day for All Lined Up, a.k.a. Cora is freaking out/imploding from excitement and/or nervousness. 

 

If this is the first you've heard of All Lined Up, learn more about it on Goodreads. You can also read the first thirty-four pages HERE. And if you need a little bit more motivation, pre-order ALU and register here and you'll receive a BRAND NEW Garrick and Bliss scene post Losing It/Keeping Her! EVEN BETTER... you can now order your own signed paperback from Word Bookstore and get it on release day!


You've already met our heroine Dallas Cole and her best friend Stella Santos, and you may be wondering "How do two people who are so very different manage to stay friends?" Dallas and Stella are basically poster children for the old saying, "Opposites Attract." Dallas is shy and awkward with a side of I-Hate-Everything. Stella is the life of the party, and nothing gets her down. When Dallas is all like,

 

Stella's all like, 

But they make it work, because they understand when it's okay to push each other's buttons and when it's better to take a wide berth. They soften each other, and pull each other away from their more extreme tendencies. Stella can get so wrapped up in the idea of having fun that she forgets about consequences or just pretends they don't exist. Dallas is a little too constricted and a bit of a pessimist, and needs to loosen up. And so they've come up with a system for helping each other out of their comfort zones. It's actually loosely based on a system I had with a very dear friend. I'll let you guess whether I was the awkward or the wild one. Like there's any doubt there.

Here's a little snippet from the book to explain their system:

We have this rule, something that’s helped us stay friends despite

how completely polar opposite our personalities are. It’s a

system of give and take, wherein I temper her crazy side and she

forces me to live a little.

When Stella showed up to take the SATs drunk, she got the

Dallas Cole Don’t- Be- A- Douche Stamp of Disapproval. It was my

non- nagging way of telling her that she’d gone too far. And though

there wasn’t much to do about it that Saturday, Stella signed up to

take the test again, and when the next testing day rolled around,

she was sober and serious and pulled off a decent score.

Alternately, there is the Stella Santos Suck- It- Up- You- Prude

Stamp of Approval. That stamp has gotten me into more trouble

than I care to list, including Stella’s brilliant idea to wrap a house with

toilet paper and stick maxi pads to the glass front door. What her

plan didn’t include was the knowledge that said house belonged to a

policeman, who was not keen on being an advertisement for Kotex.

The stamps are a staple of their friendship, and no matter what... when a stamp is issued, you can't say no. 

With that in mind, I'd like to present to you all The Dos and Don'ts of College, According to Dallas and Stella! See what gets approved and disapproved by our besties! 

 #1: 8 A.M. Psychology? You should...

#2: It's Friday night! Time to...

 #3: After spending the night with a guy, you....

Or try to anyway...

#4: Girls' Night Out! Grab your best friends so you can...

Try? Fail? Try again? Fail even harder?

 #5: Your crush is out with another girl, but you're not the type to wallow in self pity. Instead...

Or don't...

#6: If you can't get into a club...

 #7: To commemorate a special occasion (or just because you want to)....

Or not...

 

 #8: Need some exercise? Try this...

#9: Hey, it worked for Bliss....

Not so much... 

#10. When in doubt...

And... hate yourself. 

(MAJOR thanks to Christine at I Heart Big Books for these amazing graphics!)

Want to find out if you're a Stella or a Dallas? Take the quiz!!

Then please feel free to share your favorite advice from above! Or come up with your own! 

Football Friday: Meet Stella Santos & a GIVEAWAY!

We're one week closer to the release of All Lined Up on May 13th! ARCS are out in the world, reviews are rolling in, and I'm SO excited. If you haven't heard about ALL LINED UP, you can check it out on goodreads. You can also read the first thirty four pages. AND... if you need more incentive, those who pre-order ALU and register here will give a BRAND NEW Garrick and Bliss scene Post-Losing It/Keeping Her. So far I introduced Carson McClain, and the heroine Dallas Cole, and now it's time to meet one of my FAVORITE characters!  

Stella is confident and bold and knows exactly who she is. She's always challenging Dallas to loosen up and have some fun, something she's very good at having. She's funny, and she'll say whatever she's thinking because she could care less what others think. 

Basically, she's everything I wish I was. ;) And because I love her so much, she plays a pretty big role in the series as a whole. 

Here's a few of my dream Stella's with some quotes! 

And because I love you guys... a slightly longer teaser featuring Stella and Dallas before one of Carson's games: 

I pull out my phone to text Carson, but I don’t know what to say. I want to tell him something that matters, something big, but the only thing that comes to mind are those three little words that we are so, so not ready for.

I tell Stella as much, and she pauses in unwrapping a piece of gum to say, “I’ve got three different words for you. Winning = BJ.”

“Stella!”

She pops the gum in her mouth. “You said you wanted something big that matters. I think that qualifies.”

“You’re terrible. And no help whatsoever.”

“Speaking of big things...” Her slow-spreading smile reminds me for the thousandth time how different we are. “How big is it? You can tell me.” 

I hope you enjoyed meeting Stella! Enter to win a signed advanced copy below! And come back next week for more chances to win and to meet more characters from the series! 

*cough* sexy football players up next *cough*

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Football Friday: Meet Dallas Cole & an ARC giveaway!

We're one week closer to the release of All Lined Up on May 13th! ARCS are out in the world, reviews are rolling in, and I'm SO excited. If you haven't heard about ALL LINED UP, you can check it out on goodreads. You can also read the first thirty four pages. AND... if you need more incentive, those who pre-order ALU and register here will give a BRAND NEW Garrick and Bliss scene Post-Losing It/Keeping Her. Last week, I introduced Carson McClain, the first of multiple sexy football player book boyfriends in my new Rusk University series.

Today, I'm giving you the skinny on our heroine.

I try to get a new perspective in each of my books in an attempt to make sure as many people as possible can "see" themselves in my books and characters. So, with Dallas... I wanted to take a different route from most NA books. One reason it's so fun to write NA is that the characters are experiencing all kinds of new freedoms and getting to decide who they're going to be for the rest of their life. For All Lined Up, I threw that out the window and decided to take a look at what college is like for those who don't get to start over or get the freedom to do whatever they want. There are plenty of people who stay at home after they graduate high school, or go to college in the same town, or with people they knew from high school. 

Dallas has spent her whole life surrounded by this: 

All she wants from college is to get away and start fresh. She's a dance major, dying for the day when her father doesn't control her entire life, and she can move out of Texas and pursue what she loves. 

Then she finds out her father has taken the open coaching position at Rusk University, and that escape she'd planned gets crushed by the same thing that always seems to screw up her life: football. 

And she feels a bit like this: 

But you know... Dallas is a good ole Texas girl. We don't just take things lying down. So, she sucks it up and heads to her first college party in an attempt to have some fun and blow off steam. That's where she meets Carson McClain. He's the kind of guy that can make a girl forget all about why she had decided to hate college. 

Then she finds out he's on her father's football team. And, well... you see where this is going. 

A little more about Dallas: 

She's feisty and direct (aka... brutally honest). That's what happens when you're raised by a football coach. She's snarky and just a touch insecure (aren't we all?). She's unemotional and unattached and that's how she likes it. She prefers to push all of her emotions into her dancing where they're useful. 

And some of my favorite quotes with some potential Dallas's:

(Thanks to Amber, Yvette, and Kim for the awesome graphics. Love you ladies!)

And that's my Dallas. I can't wait for you all to meet her. As a Coach's daughter, it's hard for me not to see myself in her, except, you know, way cooler than me. 

And now that you've met Dallas, you can enter to win a signed advanced copy of All Lined Up! 

And if you want to Pre-Order ALU, you get 10 extra entries in the giveaway (plus that new Garrick/Bliss bonus scene I mentioned)! 

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