Dana's YA Bookpile: About Last Summer Release Day Celebration

Hello Readers! Welcome to the Release Day Celebration for

About Last Summer by Patricia B. Tighe

presented by Swoon Romance!

Check out the excerpt below, and find your next read!

Happy Book Birthday, Patricia!

Pretend to be from Spain? Act like she can barely speak English? Sure, why not? It wouldn’t be the first time Gabby Vega had agreed to a challenge from her best friend, Kenzie. Besides, it’s only for a week of vacation with Kenzie’s cousins. Gabby will prove to Kenzie she can keep up the fake identity for the whole trip—that she’s not a quitter.
There’s just one major surprise. Noah Jernigan is also staying with Kenzie’s cousins. Noah, the boy she fell in love with at drama camp last summer and the boy she had to dump when it was over. The boy who knows who she really is. Noah can’t believe it when Gabby appears at the Bryson’s vacation home in the New Mexico mountains. He hasn’t seen her in a year. It practically took that long just to get over her. And now she’s Gabriela from Spain? All he wants is to get as far away as he can. Or maybe the exact opposite. Stick as close to her as possible and find out what the heck happened last summer. And definitely get some payback. Now Gabby has to keep Noah at arm’s length as she pretends to be Gabriela. She doesn’t want to answer his questions or rehash last summer. Because one thing is clear—the more time she spends with Noah, the more she’s in danger of falling for him all over again.

About Last Summer by Patricia B. Tighe Publication Date: May 30, 2017 Publisher: Swoon Romance

Available for Purchase: Amazon

Gabby

We entered a bright corner room with windows on two sides and twin beds. It was pretty, but I couldn’t really take it all in.

“Sit down,” Kenzie said, taking the backpack from my shoulder. “What’s the matter? You look like you’ve lost your best friend, and I’m still right here, so talk.”

I sat on one of the beds and slid my hands under my thighs. “Remember last fall when I was getting over the guy from drama camp?”

“Yeah?”

“That’s him. Noah Jernigan.”

Kenzie’s mouth fell open. “No way.”

I nodded.

“But, how could—? I mean, I thought he lived far away from Austin, like San Diego or something.”

“No, San Antonio.”

Kenzie was shaking her head. “And he goes to Geoff’s school. What are the odds?”

“I don’t know. But I can’t stay here. This is a nightmare.”

“No, you have to stay. That would be quitting. You wanted a challenge, didn’t you?”

“This is more than a challenge. I have no idea what he’s going to do. He knows me, Kenz. He can tell everyone who I am.”

She plopped onto the opposite bed. “But you don’t know that for sure. I mean, he went along with it outside, didn’t he?”

“Yeah, but it was so sudden. After he thinks about it, he’ll probably want to stand on the table and announce it to everybody.”

Kenzie laughed. “Still. He didn’t give you away, and he could’ve.” She got up and walked to the window. After staring out for a second, she turned back. “I say wait it out. See what he’s going to do. He might be really cool about it.”

I rubbed my forehead. “Would you? If someone dumped you and a year later you saw them pretending to be somebody else … would you be nice about it?”

***

Noah

I took a swig of Coke and chanced another look at Gabby. She was staring at Kenzie who was describing the nearby town and things to do. Gabby’s dark brown hair hung around her shoulders in loose curls. I could still remember how it felt to wrap one of those silky curls around my finger, and then let it slide free.

The conversation went on, but I wasn’t listening anymore. What would it be like to run my hands through Gabby’s hair again, to have her look only at me? And, as if she heard my thoughts, she made eye contact. Her smile fell away. There was a weird look in her dark brown eyes. One I’d never seen before. And then it sank in. Fear.

Gabby was afraid of me.

I turned back to my plate, but it was empty. I couldn’t remember finishing the sandwich. A pasty taste filled my mouth, so I chugged the rest of my soda. What did she have to be afraid of? I almost laughed out loud. Stupid question. I knew who she was. I could ruin her little game. The Spanish girl. Anger surged back through me.

The girl from Spain, who was really the girl from Austin, who was the girl who’d dumped me, who was the girl I’d been in love with. It had hurt. It was embarrassing how much it had hurt. Had she cared at all? I doubted it.

But she was afraid. The opportunity for revenge appeared as easily as if I’d asked someone at the table to pass it to me.

Hey, Geoff, pass the revenge.

Sure. Mind if I take some first?

Not at all. Help yourself.

Everything inside me settled into determination. No way was I going home early. Not when I could spend a week getting back at Gabby Vega. I smiled. She was scared of what I might do? Good. Because I was just getting started.

The mother of two grown sons, Patricia B. Tighe lives in West Texas with her husband and dog. She eats way too much pizza, drinks way too much coffee, and watches way too much NFL football. On the bright side, she also reads and writes teen fiction. She promises to include as much romance, angst, and adventure as possible in her books.