I'm happy to share the release of Just Friends by Tiffany Pitcock! This contemporary YA novel comes out tomorrow (August 1, 2017) and you can get a sneak peek here with the excerpt below. And don't forget to enter the giveaway for a print copy of Just Friends!
Just Friends
Tiffany Pitcock
Published by: Swoon Reads
Publication date: August 1st 2017
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult
A new spin on the classic smart-girl-and-bad-boy setup, this witty contemporary romance shows how easily a friendship – even one built on an elaborate lie – can become so much more. Jenny meets Chance for the very first time when she is assigned as his partner in their Junior Oral Communications class. But after they rescue a doomed assignment with one clever lie, the whole school is suddenly convinced that Little-Miss-Really-Likes-Having-A’s and the most scandalous heartbreaker in school have been best friends forever. It’s amazing how quickly a lie can grow―especially when you really, really want it to be the truth. With Jenny, Chance can live the normal life he’s always kind of wanted. And with Chance, Jenny can have the exciting teen experiences that TV shows and movies have always promised. Through it all, they hold on to the fact that they are “just friends.” But that might be the biggest lie of all. Debut author Tiffany Pitcock delivers a spot-on depiction of first love and the high school rumor mill in Just Friends, chosen by readers like you for Macmillan’s young adult imprint Swoon Reads.
EXCERPT
Chance’s Charger was still parked by the library, where he’d
left it that morning. The black paint shone in the afternoon sun.
Unfortunately, so did all the dirt clinging to it. I should really get that
washed.
“I guess you’ve never been in my car before, huh?” Chance
said as Jenny eyed it skeptically. He was wary of people judging his baby.
She circled it, scrutinizing it as she did so. “Of course I
have,” she said after she reached the passenger’s side again. “I helped you
pick it out.”
Now it was her turn to make up a story. Chance unlocked the
door, slipping into the driver’s seat. “You did?” he asked after she climbed
in.
“Mhm,” she nodded. “You were unsure about it, you see,
because it’s so run down with its ripped seats and messy floor boards. I was
the one who convinced you it had character.” She reached into her front pocket,
producing a small tube of lip gloss. She flipped down the front visor so she
could use the mirror. Chance watched as she applied the gloss – some cherry red
flavor, by the strong smell of it. She pursed her lips once before leaning up
and pressing her lips to the mirror. She pulled back, revealing a single
perfect kiss mark. “I marked my territory, see?”
Damn, Jenny definitely knew how to play the game.
Chance’s eyes lingered on the kiss mark, “As my oldest
friend you always get shotgun.”
She nodded, slipping the lip gloss back into her pocket.
“Now everybody knows that.”
He had to admit, the sight of her kissing that mirror made
his heart hammer. He wasn’t even sure why. For one, he had done a lot
more than kiss other girls in that car and yet none of them had got his heart
going like Jenny and that mirror had.
Maybe it was because, in the back of his mind, he knew that
this was the start of something bigger than those things before. That kiss mark
wasn’t a hasty hook up in the backseat of a car, it was precise – it was planned.
It was, well, kinda permanent. Many people would pass in and out of that car,
but that lip print would stay.
Jenny would stay.
Author Bio:23. Writer. Reader. Sarcastic.
I was born and raised in Arkansas, which isn’t terribly exciting. I’ve wanted to be a writer for as long as I can remember. I used to sit in class and write stories in my notebooks, thinking that everyone did. It turns out, everyone didn’t. I love writing because it means I’m putting my thoughts, feelings, and soul out there for someone else to read – for someone else to feel. The fact that someone can read my words, and empathize with my characters – characters that wouldn’t exist with out me, that I created from my mind – is such a wonderful concept to me. I could happily write for the rest of my life as long as there was one person out there who was affected by my words.
