Paperback Princess: Excerpt ~ Boys of Summer by CJ Duggan {Giveaway}

Sunday, 17 February 2013

Excerpt ~ Boys of Summer by CJ Duggan {Giveaway}

4:00 pm | Posted by Unknown

Title: The Boys of Summer

Author: C.J. Duggan

Release Date: December 17, 2012

Genre: New Adult Romance

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It seemed only natural to nickname them the ‘Onslow Boys’. Every time they swaggered in the front door of the Onslow Hotel after a hard week’s work, their laughter was loud and genuine as they settled onto their bar stools. I peeked through the restaurant partition, a flimsy divider between my world and theirs. I couldn’t help but smile whenever I saw them, saw him ... Toby Morrison.

Quiet seventeen-year-old Tess doesn’t relish the thought of a summertime job. She wants nothing more than to forget the past haunts of high school and have fun with her best friends before the dreaded Year Twelve begins. To Tess, summer is when everything happens: riding bikes down to the lake, watching the fireworks at the Onslow Show and water bomb fights at the sweltering Sunday markets.

How did she let her friends talk her into working?

After first-shift disasters, rude, wealthy tourists and a taunting ex-boyfriend, Tess is convinced nothing good can come of working her summer away. However, Tess finds unlikely allies in a group of locals dubbed ‘The Onslow Boys’, who are old enough to drive cars, drink beer and not worry about curfews. Tess’s summer of working expands her world with a series of first times with new friends, forbidden love and heartbreaking chaos.

All with the one boy she has never been able to forget.

It will be a summer she will always remember.

Warning: sexual references and occasional course language.

Excerpt

“Don’t you dare.” I grabbed his arm, pulling him backwards. His eyes darted to where my hand rested on him. I didn’t move my hand, I couldn’t physically bring myself to break the contact; all of a sudden there were no smiles, no jokes, just him and me and our space on the couch. I could only hear the music and be aware of the heat of his skin and the rapid rise and fall of my chest in this moment.

The only thing that snapped me out of my daze was Toby’s words which seemed low and raspy.

“Is Adam your boyfriend?” His gaze flicked over my face as he waited for my answer. My mouth gaped open; I couldn’t hide the fact I was dumbfounded by the question.

I blinked quickly and took my hand from his arm. I struggled to construct a legible sentence.

“Oh – um, no, we’re just friends, it’s not like that.”

His stony expression didn’t falter, didn’t reveal any kind of emotion. He was so hard to read, and I wanted to read him so badly. He gave a small nod and handed me the CD cover.

“Better go and make sure these guys aren’t cheating.” And without another word, he got up and headed towards the pool table.

About The Author

C.J Duggan

Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

C.J Duggan is an Australian author who lives with her husband in a rural border town of New South Wales, Australia.

The Boys of Summer is Book One in her Mature Young Adult Romance Series.

For more on C.J and ‘The Summer Series’, visit CJ Duggan.

Inspiration for Boys of Summer ~ by CJ Duggan

It was something that has been churning in my mind since I was a little girl, even if it was something no more mapped out than a group of friends hanging lakeside over a summer. It was an idea that has manifested into an entire world and I felt that I owed it to that eleven-year-old little me to develop into a story. I know I was eleven because I had found an old exercise book with the story plotted out in my child-like handwriting and I could seldom believe it was something that had been swimming around in my subconscious for so long. It fell perfectly in line with me doing NaNo that year (National Novel Writing Month) and that was that, in one month I smashed out the bones of "The Boys of Summer" (TBoS). In writing TBoS I really wanted to capture the essence of growing up in Australia. I set it in a small fictional lake side town in the 90's to give it a certain flavour and provide a rich setting for a coming of age story, it is an absolute labor of love.