Today I want to introduce you to the author of February!!!
LeighAnn Kopans
Raised on comic books and classic novels, Leigh Ann developed an early love of science fiction and literature. As an adult, she rediscovered her love for not only reading, but also writing the types of fiction that enchanted her as a teen. Her debut novel, ONE, is about a girl with only half a superpower, the boy who makes her fly, and her struggle to make herself whole.
Leigh Ann, her husband, and four children live in Columbus, Ohio. When she’s not immersed in the world of fiction, you can find her obsessing over the latest superhero movie or using her kids as an excuse to go out for ice cream (again.)
LeighAnn just released her newest book, SOLVING FOR EX!! It is a super cute little contemporary and she has graciously provided us with an excerpt teaser!!!
SOLVING FOR EX
1 crush on your best friend +
1 gorgeous, scheming new girl +1 Mathletics competition =
1 big mess
SIMPLIFY.
Ashley Price doesn’t have much in life after being bullied so hard she had to leave her old school to live with her aunt and uncle in Pittsburgh. But the camera she borrowed from her best friend and secret crush Brendan, and her off the charts math abilities, make things a lot more bearable. Plus, since Brendan is the captain, making the school Mathletes team should be easy.
But when gorgeous new girl Sofia rolls in and steals Brendan, Ashley's place on the team, and her fragile foothold on the Mansfield Park Prep social totem pole, it’s on. Sofia is everything Ashley left her old school to escape. The only thing Ashley didn’t count on is Sofia’s sexy twin brother Vincent.
Vincent is not only the hottest boy in school, he’s charming, sweet, and he’s got his eye on Ashley. He’s also not taking no for an answer. There's no real reason Ashley shouldn't like Vincent, but with the
battle lines being drawn between her and Sofia, Ashley’s not sure which side he’s on. Or which side she wants him to be on.
She does know Sofia is trouble with a capital T, and she’s determined to make Brendan see it.
SOLVING FOR EX is a YA contemporary romance that remixes Mansfield Park as Clueless meets Mean Girls in a crazy mix of high school society, mathletic competition, and teenage romance.
LeighAnn has provided us with a cute little excerpty this week and an awesome giveaway!! Next week come back to see another absolutely ADORABLE excerpt from LeighAnn, and look for an interview soon, and my review for SOLVING FOR EX! ♥
Excerpt:
It was starting to get pretty chilly
outside. The wind had already begun to howl through the mountains that held
Pittsburgh, and the air it swept in off the rivers was frigid. Even though I
had on a long-sleeved shirt underneath the math tee, and full-length jeans with
my heels, a shiver shuddered through my whole body. “Jesus, Brendan. What are
you doing out here?” If he couldn’t hear my teeth chatter from two feet away
where he stood, it would be a miracle.
A song that was not fast, but not slow either,
floated out into the courtyard. I peered inside to see how the other kids were
taking it. Slow, with lots of wandering hands. Awesome.
I clutched at my upper arms, crossing my
arms in front of me. “Oh, Ash.” Brendan looked over at me with a soft smile.
“Here, babe.” He unbuttoned the paisley shirt that Sofia had given him—under
which he wore a dark blue shirt with a very faded Superman logo on it—and held
it out to me. I winced.
“You know how I hate DC comics.”
He laughed, lazily, and leaned back against
the pillar. He didn’t shiver at all, though his arms were now bare. “Well, then
don’t look at me.”
I couldn’t not look at him if I tried. He wasn’t beautiful like Vincent, but
my God. There was something about the way his shoulders sloped down into toned arms,
and the way his throat moved when he swallowed. And the way he smelled, which
surrounded me as I pulled the cotton button-down over my own shoulders. Like
his shampoo and dryer sheets and the grapefruit I knew he ate every morning,
and a little vanilla—warm and comforting. I don’t know how or why the stupid
pink paisley shirt didn’t smell like some perfume that Sofia had put on there,
but I was grateful.
“What are you doing out here? You’ll catch
your death.”
He chuckled. “You sound like my grandmother.”
“I’m
just worried about you,” I grumbled, and shivered again.
Brendan pushed himself away from the pillar
and walked over to me, where I leaned against the other one. He faced me and
stepped in closer, so that our feet almost touched. His breath came in white
clouds that warmed my face. It was all I could do to not close my eyes.
That is, until a split second later, when
the smell on his breath hit me. Sharp. Alcohol. Not beer.
But I couldn’t say anything. He was so
close. Then, he reached out to rub my upper arms, and I swear, I could have
shaken down to my individual molecules right there in the courtyard. I shook,
but it was no longer cold. It was straight-up nervousness.
“You’re freezing,” he said, looking down at
me with a slight smile on his face. With something in his eyes that I had never
seen before. He studied my face, smiling bigger now, and dropped his hands,
sliding his fingers down over my forearms and weaving them with mine. Warm
waves ran up through my arms and back down my torso. He drew my hands toward
him and put them around his waist. “Come here. Dance with me. You’ll warm up.”
“Um…okay,” I managed to stammer before he
swept me up in the biggest, softest bear hug we’d ever had. We swayed together
there in the freezing air of the courtyard, to a beat decidedly slower than the
song playing inside.
We’d sat close before, but never pressed up
against each other front-to-front. We’d certainly never hugged for this long.
Brendan leaned his chin on the top of my head, and before I could even compose
myself from that, kissed it softly.
I
couldn’t breathe. I swore I would never take a breath again. Brendan hugged me
even closer. “I love you, you know that,
Ash?”
I closed my eyes. Those were the words I’d
dreamed of hearing since the first week I met him. But something about this
picture—Brendan in just a T-shirt in the frigid air, the sharp smell on his
breath, and the way the “l” in “love” slurred just the slightest bit—it wasn’t
right. This was not right.
Sadie Hawkins was not normally a dance that
people brought their own beverages to, as far as I knew—kids at Mansfield saved
all their serious partying for prom, when punishments would have less weight,
since it was the end of the year. But Brendan had come with Sofia. She was new
here. And a bitch. A rich bitch. And probably a lush, too.
“Brendan,” I sighed, “You’re drunk, aren’t
you?”
Giveaway:
LeighAnn has also been kind enough to let me attach the giveaway that is part of her blog tour!! I wish all of you luck and hope you check out SOLVING FOR EX!!!
Have you read SOLVING FOR EX? Do you plan to? Why do you want to read it?
Oh, this book looks darling. I can't wait to read it! Thank you so much for the giveaway, LeighAnn & Crystal!
ReplyDeleteUm, YES this is on my TBR! Mansfield Park is one of my FAVORITE Austens! And you can't just throw an excerpt like that at a girl and not expect her to respond to it--I'm feelin' the need for MORE:)
ReplyDelete