Camp Boyfriend (Camp Boyfriend #1) by J.K. Rock
Release Date: 07/02/13
From Spencer Hill Press
Goodreads/Amazon/BN/Kobo/BD
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?
Excerpt:
“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.”
About
the Authors
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***
***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
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