Excerpt & Giveaway: A Love for the Pages

Hey you! This is actually on sale for AIA, so 
it's only $0.99! You're welcome. ;)

Later in the month, Joy Penny, author of A Love for the Pages, is going to stop by and share her thoughts on the amazing things that Pemberley Digital is doing. (You know, the LBD people. Amazing. Things.)
But today we thought we'd give you a peak of her book, and a chance to win a copy!
Click through and check it out, and make sure to stop back for her guest post in a few days!

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Excerpt: “Open up!”

I snap out of it, flicking the unlock button on my side and crossing my arms as Owen opens the back passenger door and tosses his filthy gym bag onto the back seat. I can’t bring myself to look to see if Sinjin is still standing there, but even so, I feel this presence, like the shivers running down my spine are my own Spidey sense warning me, “He’s here. He’s here. Don’t make a fool of yourself.”

Too late for that.

“Yo, earth to Spoon! Guess you killed her, SJ.” I hate when Owen calls him that. I hate when Owen calls me Spoon. No one else needs to turn every name on the planet into something new.

My own personal your-ex-boyfriend-okay-you-just-went-to-three-dances-together-and-never-officially-became-an-item-so-is-that-really-an-ex-boyfriend-is-nearby Spidey sense relaxes—and where exactly was that superpower before he pounded on the car window?—and I breathe a sigh of relief. I suddenly remember my wounded (paperback) warrior on my lap and scramble for the Kleenex box on the floor behind the seat, grabbing one tissue after another in painstaking single serve doses, and I look up just in time to see Sinjin bumping his fist against Owen’s shoulder, laughing, smiling that chiseled Greek-god smile that lights up his gorgeous dark skin, and I freeze again.

 “Hey, how’s it going, June?” Sinjin runs a hand through his short black hair and speaks to me casually, as if we see each other regularly, even though we haven’t seen each other for months—that little blip over Spring Break while hanging with Margot and Deana hardly counts. His tone gives no indication I’m a laughing stock for falling head over heels at first sight with my best friends’ brother. My best friends’ younger brother. My best friends’ he-was-a-freshman-and-I-was-a-junior-the-first-time-I-saw-him-but-how-was-I-to-know-since-he-just-transferred-in younger brother.

I will my hand to finish pulling the fifth tissue out of the box and add it to the crumpled wad forming in my fist. “Great,” I lie, mumbling.

Owen finds this hilarious. But Owen finds most things to do with me hilarious. I’m so glad to see the last few weeks haven’t changed him. As if somehow when I felt like I’d aged a decade as I was cramming like mad for finals and writing half a dozen papers, the world would have also progressed a dozen years and I could look forward to finding a far more mature brother when I got home for more than the occasional weekend visit. No such luck.

Sinjin walks away, and I twist myself back into my seat and dab my book and lap with the tissues. Okay, good. Bye. Take your Greek-god smile and your smooth, silky, gorgeous jet black hair to some other hapless victim.

The passenger door opens beside me. “I’m sorry about that.” Sinjin pokes his head in. I cringe and do my best to smile. “I didn’t mean to scare you. You just didn’t notice us beside the car. Here, let me—” He scoops my purse up and lays it on the dashboard, climbing onto the seat. His fingers disappear around his side as he reaches into his pocket, pulling out a small washcloth.

I know what my Spidey sense should tell me. An athlete’s hand towel. Probably used for mopping up sweat. About fifteen kinds of oh-my-god-gross. But Sinjin’s hand is on my thigh, dabbing the tea stains as casually as if the liquid had spilled on the floor or on the seat. His palm lingers on my thigh—true, there’s my pant leg and the washcloth between his skin and mine—but dear lord, his hand is on my thigh and I just about meld with the upholstery. He reaches his other hand out. “Let me.”

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****GIVEAWAY****
Joy has offered up a copy of A Love for the Pages in winner's choice of ebook (Kindle, Nook, Kobo)! Fill out the Rafflecopter to enter. Ends September 6th, 2014 at midnight EST. Good luck!

Psst! If you're too impatient to wait for a giveaway and trust your luck, Joy has put A Love for the Pages on sale for Austen in August! You can grab it now for only $0.99!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


ABOUT THE BOOK:

Kiss. Marry. Kill.* Nineteen-year-old June Eyermann has always known exactly which of her favorite Byronic heroes goes where. She’d kiss moody and possessive Rochester from Jane Eyre and marry prideful but repentant Darcy from Pride and Prejudice, leaving obsessive and spiteful Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights to be chucked off a cliff—but no. She couldn’t leave any of her heroes behind. She lives for her favorite fictional worlds.

But June is about to get a serious wake up call when she returns home for the summer after her college freshman year. Stuck somewhere between feeling like a kid again under her parents’ roof and being forced to start acting like an adult with worries about her future career, June looks at the library volunteer position offered to her as a way to keep her sanity for the next few months before she can go back to school.

What June doesn’t expect to find at the library is her favorite romantic heroes brought to life—all in the same man. Obstinate, prideful and even a bit rude, Everett Rockford shouldn’t exactly be “dating material,” even if June’s heart rate accelerates whenever she’s near him. But after discovering his enigmatic past and witnessing a few fiery moments of tenderness, June can’t help but see Rochester, Darcy and even Heathcliff in Everett. If she’s going to make it through the summer without becoming a tragic heroine in her own story, she has to separate the man from the ideals of fiction in her head. Because if there’s one thing she knows about Byronic love stories, it’s that they don’t always end happily ever after.

*Hey, we know all about that...

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