Earn Your Extra Credit by Meghan Quinn 

Release Date: April 15th

Genre: Romantic Comedy

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BLURB:

“She went home with someone else that night?”

Hearing the disbelief from my best friend’s mouth makes the events of my failed date sting that much more.

I would like to make it known, I have a lot more swagger than what it seems. I don’t normally ask a girl out, have her fail to recognize it’s a date, and then give me a high five–as if I’m her wingman–and take off with someone else.

No. Normally I’m the one taking the girl home but with Stella, it’s been one failed attempt after another and frankly, I’m done trying.

But thanks to my best friend getting married in Hawaii right before the school year starts, I’m stuck on a tropical island, watching Stella parade around in what she claims is a bathing suit.

Unfortunately, that’s not the worst of it, just the tip of the iceberg. Because what I think is going to be a relaxing vacation, avoiding the one girl I can’t seem to make it work with, has turned into a spectacle of being recruited as Stella’s doting fake fiancé so she can save face with an old “friend” from high school.

Now I’m navigating through purgatory while trying not to get turned on by the way she holds my hand or kisses my jaw. It’s all fake, that’s what I keep telling myself, even though it feels entirely too real.

EXCERPT:

“Do you want to sit next to Stella on the airplane?” Arlo asks.

“What? Fuck, no,” I say while turning up the game so I can hear the announcers over my tedious, wedding-planning best friend.

Arlo snatches the remote from my hand and turns off the TV. The room is silent for a moment before uproarious objections fill the air.

“Gentry is up next,” Gunner, my other best friend and former teammate, complains from next to me. “He’s three for three so far.”

“We need to talk,” Arlo says in that stern, alpha-like voice that won over his fiancée. Little does he know it doesn’t work on me.

I reach for the remote but he swats my hand with a resounding thud, causing me to yank my hand back. “What the actual fuck, man?”

When I decided to have the guys over to my loft, I assumed we’d tear up some wings, drain some brews, and watch the Bobbies game. Never in my wildest fucking dreams would I have pictured Arlo Turner, the grumpy curmudgeon of the Forest Heights English department, to roll in like a beaming bride, holding a wedding planning folder to his chest, and consume the night with questions about what he should wear and if coconut cake is too “Hawaiian-y” for his Maui destination wedding.

But here we are.

“Cut the crap, Romeo.”

“Cut what crap?” I reach over to the coffee table and pick up my almost empty glass of beer.

“I’m not about to have the Bickersons attend my wedding, so what the hell is going on with Stella?”

“Nothing is going on,” I answer, then take a small sip of my beer, making the liquid last so I don’t have to get up for a refill.

Gunner leans in and asks, “If we get to the bottom of the problem, can we turn the TV back on?”

“Yes,” Arlo answers.

“Then it was the baseball game he took her to.”

“Dude,” I say in protest while sitting up on the couch. “What the fuck happened to don’t say anything?”

Gunner unapologetically shrugs. “I really want to watch the Bobbies kill the Rebels in interleague play.”

“What baseball game?” Arlo asks. “Do you mean the game you took her and Cora to?”

“Yup.” Gunner pops a chip in his mouth from the bowl on the coffee table. “Except Cora wasn’t supposed to go. It was supposed to be a daaate,” Gunner drags out.

“You asked Stella out?” Arlo asks, shocked.

“Way to sell me out for a game, you dick.”

Not showing an ounce of remorse, Gunner stands from the couch and takes my glass from me.

“I’ll top you off. You’ll need it.”

Seething, I pass my hand over my head and say, “Yeah, I asked her out. She invited Cora. End of story.”

“That’s not the end of the story,” Gunner says from the kitchen, the open concept of my loft allowing his voice to carry to us easily.

When you think a friend is trustworthy and then they go and shock your fucking nuts right off by divulging everything you told them in secret . . . without even a blink of an eye. Gunner is dead to me.

You’re probably wondering why I didn’t say anything to Arlo about what happened, given he’s one of my best friends, right? It’s simple. Gunner got me drunk and I relished in the comfort of far too many cold beers and a listening ear. If it wasn’t for that, I’d have kept my mouth shut, because the entire incident was fucking humiliating.

Between you and me, I’ve liked Stella Garcia, the Spanish teacher at Forest Heights, for a while now. Far too long actually. I can’t quite pinpoint when it happened, but all I know is over the three years I’ve known her, I’ve been pining after the girl for the majority of the time.

Fucking bold, quick-witted with a sharp tongue, loves sports, shy when it counts. Flat-out gorgeous with her long, wavy brown hair and fascinating green eyes that have a ring of brown around the pupil. She’s had my attention for a while and last year, I decided to finally make a move.

Enough was enough. We shared too many dinners together as friends. She’s pressed her lips to my beer glass without a second thought way too many times. The moment presented itself, I grew a pair, and asked her out to a baseball game knowing she loves watching the sport as much as I do.

But fuck did it backfire.

“What’s the end of the story?” Arlo asks, growing agitated. His patience runs thin, which is surprising, given his profession of educating the youth.

He’s not going to drop it.

Arlo’s relentless when he wants to know something.

Dragging my hand down my face, I say, “It was supposed to be a date.” Gunner sits next to me and hands me my refilled glass, which I gladly take. “She invited Cora. Which was fine. We had a good time, I still sat next to Stella, and we shared jokes even if there was a third wheel. But it was what happened afterwards that—”

“That gutted him,” Gunner finishes for me. When I snap a look at him, he smirks. “That’s what you told me. Just thought I’d help tell the story.”

“I wasn’t gutted.”

Maybe I was a little.

Hell . . . I was humiliated.

Gutted isn’t a strong enough word for what happened.

“What the fuck happened after? Christ. Why are you taking so damn long to get to the point?” Arlo practically growls.

“Go easy on our guy.” Gunner grips my shoulder. “He was embarrassed, man.”

“It’s fine, I’m over it now,” I say in a passive-aggressive tone.

“You’re clearly not if you and Stella can’t even be in the same room together. I don’t want anything ruining this trip for Greer, and your constant arguing with Stella is driving everyone fucking crazy.”

“Great, then I just won’t talk to her. Simple.”

“Just tell him,” Gunner says, nudging me.

Christ.

Staring down at my beer, I quietly say, “She went home with someone else that night.”

The room falls silent.

They don’t have to react for me to know what they must be thinking. They know I’ve liked Stella for a while. They know I’ve been trying to figure out a way to ask her out.

And this . . . hell, this was an epic fail on my end.

It wouldn’t be as bad if I weren’t already carrying a chip on my shoulder about the way I was forced to twist my life around.

Five years ago, everything changed.

Five years ago, I was stripped of the one thing that brought me life.

A ruptured Achilles tendon ended everything for me.

I never got the chance to appreciate my last game.

I never had the opportunity to sit on the field and say goodbye.

Instead, playing professional baseball was stripped from me and I was forced to fall back on my teaching degree I earned while playing in college.

To say I’m bitter, resentful, and fucking angry . . . yeah, that’s an understatement.

I live with regret daily and harbor more animosity than anyone should.

So, when I took Stella to the game, on a date, hoping to tell her how I feel, and she went home with someone else, it fucking stung.

Do you know what stung more, though?

The fact that she looked right past me and instead went for a rookie on the Bobbies.

Why go out with a washed-up baseball player turned phys ed teacher with a slight limp in his walk, when you can go out with an unmarred professional baseball player?

Yeah. There’s resentment for a reason. She chose the star. That’s who she wants.

That’s who I’ll never be.

And that’s why I plan on staying as far away from Stella Garcia on this trip as I can.

And when we get back to Chicago and the school year starts, everything will go on as planned.

Avoid. Avoid. Avoid.

Too easy, right?

Sunny Shelly’s Review: 5 Stars

AH! Stella and Brock’s story was everything I wanted it to be! These two just COULD NOT get on the same page!

Miscommunication abounds in this story, and it leads to lots of frustration and hurt and anger on both their parts. Neither one of them actually comes out and says how they feel about the other until it is almost too late, and that’s a shame because they are made for one another.

Stella and Brock’s relationship is so easy. They were best friends for a long time before either of them realized that they wanted something more from the other. That friendship is a solid base for them, but Stella has some family drama she needs to work through before she can be the woman that she thinks Brock deserves to be with. And all Brock wants to do is be there for her, to hold her hand, be the shoulder she cries on…. The guy is a saint when it comes to waiting for Stella to be ready to take their relationship to the next level!

I loved all the shenanigans with this group of friends. The way that the guys and the girls both come together for each other is amazing. And I love the interactions between the girl group and the guys as well. Those text messages between the guys crack me up! I know that Cora’s book is coming next, and I would love to see a Keiko/Kelvin book. And this has all made me realize that I would have loved to have read a longer story between Gunner and Lindsay. Oh well!

Great job, Meghan! Bravo! I received an advanced copy and voluntarily left a review.

Connect with Meghan:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/meghanquinnauthor

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7360513.Meghan_Quinn

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authormeghanquinn/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorMegQuinn

Website: http://authormeghanquinn.com

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/meghan-quinn

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2LitE4x

Gabriel’s Album
Sian Ceinwen
(Cruise Control Heroes, #1)
Publication date: March 14th 2021
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

The rock star always gets the girl…

I’m living my dream. For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to be a rock star. And now here I am, about to start my first big tour, when she comes along.

Ariana.

From the second we meet, she’s all I can think about.Asking her to come on tour with me is easy. But she’s shy, insecure, and the paparazzi scare her. We live in two completely different worlds.

I love her and I know that she’s worth fighting for. The problem is, I’m not sure if love is enough.

Gabriel’s Album is the first book in the Cruise Control Heroes series. It’s the companion novel to The Album. Fall in love with Gabriel and Ariana all over again as Cruise Control embarks on their first world tour.

EXCERPT

Sebastian hands us our bottles of water and walks over to a trunk with ‘DREAMS COME TRUE’ written on it. He opens it and pulls three journals and pens out if before giving one of each to both me and Hayden.

“This is called the Wisdom Tree,” Sebastian informs us. “You write your thoughts, ideas, or dreams in these books. People add to them all the time. I thought this might be good for you, Gabriel.”

I flick through the journal he gave me, reading the thoughts, dreams, and ideas that other hikers have contributed. My heart rate increases as I consider what I should add to this. I close my eyes and take some deep breaths while I think about it. I’ve just achieved a life dream, probably my biggest one, but I know what I want. I begin to write.

I’ve worked hard to get where I am. I’ve succeeded in achieving my goals. What does it mean if I can’t have you?

It’s the thought that I’ve been struggling with since Ariana left. I thought that what we were building together could become something much more. The possibility that she might not come back to me is too painful to bear. I have to cling to the hope that Heather will get through to her while she’s back at home, and we can get through this.

A single tear drops from my face and splashes on the page, causing the ink in front of me to blur. I wipe the other tears from my face and close the book before walking over and placing the journal and pen in the trunk again.

I cough and ask, “Are you guys done?”

“Just finished,” Hayden smiles.

“I’m done too,” Sebastian nods.

If either of them notices my tears, they don’t mention them, and we continue on our way to the sign. On the way there, Sebastian stops and drops the backpack on the ground before pulling out my phone.

“You can check it if you want,” he says as he holds it out to me.

My heartbeat increases as I take it from him, and I can barely breathe as I check the screen. Nothing. I take a deep breath and fight back tears. Surely, Heather should’ve gotten a hold of her by now.

I hand the phone back to Sebastian without saying a word, or even unlocking it. He puts it away without further comment, but for the rest of the hike, my mind is a blur. I can’t focus on the amazing scenery; I can only focus on my inner turmoil. Everything is wrong. I hate knowing that I’m going to see the Hollywood sign without Ariana. She should’ve been here.

When we get to the point where we can see the sign, we finally see other hikers. Sebastian was right about the Burbank Peak Trail being a solitary hike. I see a couple of the other hikers take photos of us, but they don’t approach us.

“Should we go and try to climb the sign?” Sebastian asks with a cheeky grin on his face as he gestures to the chain-link fence protecting it.

“Pass,” Hayden laughs. “I don’t feel like being arrested today. Can you even imagine what Cooper would say?”

“You’re not talking me out of it,” Sebastian smirks, then looks at me, and his face drops. “Okay, bad idea, I guess. Well, let’s get pictures. I’ll put them on Instagram and make Heather jealous, at least.”

We take selfies in front of the view of the sign below us. I’ve gotten so used to posing for photos that when I look at the ones we’ve taken, you can’t even tell that my heart is broken and every cell in my body is aching for Ariana. I look like any other guy out on a hike with his friends.

Sebastian takes some more pictures of the view, then we have a drink of water before beginning the hike back to the car.

When we reach the Wisdom Tree again, I say, “Wait a second.”

I open the trunk and pull out another journal and pen. I open it to write another message.

If you don’t come back to me, I know the pain will fade. My love, though? That will remain the same.

I know Ariana will never read this, but it doesn’t matter. I feel better for writing it down. It’s the truth, as well. I can barely stand to think about her not coming back to me, but even if she doesn’t, I will always love her. I kiss the words on the page, wishing they were Ariana’s lips, and place the journal back in the trunk.

By the time we get back to the car, I’m tired, both physically and emotionally. Sebastian and Hayden talk on the way back to the hotel, but I’m grateful that they don’t push me to talk at all. As soon as I reach the quiet darkness of my hotel suite, I pull out my phone again and see nothing of interest. People have called and messaged, but none of them are Ariana. So, I call her.

Goodreads / Amazon

Author Bio:

Hi, I’m Sian Ceinwen and I live in Western Australia with my husband and two kids. I started writing this in the third person but it was just odd. A little bit about me, I’ve enjoyed writing all my life, getting the worlds and characters in my head down for other people to enjoy is my passion.

Writing a book wasn’t something I ever thought I could really do but inspired by a song, I aimed to do it. With a lot of coaxing from my friends for me to finish it so they could find out the ending.

I released Gabriel and Ariana’s story, The Album, on March 14th, 2020. Harrison and Heather’s story, The Wedding, came out on June 6th, 2020. Sebastian and Lita’s book, The Baby, was released on November 18th, 2020.

The first book in the companion series, Gabriel’s Album, is available for pre-order and will be released on March 14th, 2021. It’s Gabriel and Ariana’s story retold from Gabriel’s point of view.

I hope that you will fall in love with the Cruise Control world the same way that I have.

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