BooksChatter: ☀ My Senior Year of Awesome: School Dayz [1]

Thursday, 3 March 2016

☀ My Senior Year of Awesome: School Dayz [1] - Jennifer DiGiovanni

Thank you for joining us on the Release Day Party for My Senior Year of Awesome, a Young Adult Contemporary Romance by Jennifer DiGiovanni (1 March 2016, Swoon Romance, 304 pages).

This is the first book in the School Dayz series.

Don't miss our interview with author Jennifer DiGiovanni on Thursday 3 March 2016!

PREVIEW: Check out the book's synopsis and excerpt below. Author Jennifer DiGiovanni will be awarding a $10 Amazon Gift Card and a digital copy of My Senior Year of Awesome to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.

Please do take part: comment on our post and follow the tour where you will be able to read other excerpts (☀), interviews (ℚ), reviews (✍) and guest blog posts (✉).

Synopsis | Teaser | Author Q&A | About the Author | Giveaway & Tour Stops

Synopsis

School days don't get easier just because you're a senior

It's the final semester of senior year, and everyone at Harmony High can't wait to find out the results of theSenior Superlative votes! But the balloon bursts in Sadie's face when she discovers she's been voted "Most Likely to Get Married" to Andy - a boy she's never dated or ever thought of as a potential boyfriend.

Completely and utter mortification sets in. To prove high school means something more than a Senior Superlative award, Sadie and her best friend Jana decide to create their own list of awesome non-academic achievements to be completed before graduation.

Yet, the harder Sadie works to show everyone she's not the least bit attracted to Andy, the more appealing he becomes. Typical for the girl who can't seem to achieve anything important, even the completion of one lousy college application.

When senioritis kicks in and the school year dwindles down to mere weeks, Sadie decides to risk her good girl reputation to prove that an Awesome Achievement means much more than any Senior Superlative vote. By the time Sadie realizes her epic screw-up, she just might have lost her chance at the prom date of her dreams.

Teaser: Excerpt

     I pull the latest version of Fill It In from my backpack and crack the spine to loosen the pages. Jana squeals and grabs it out of my hands. She starts flipping through three hundred and sixty-five new lists, every single page offering blank lines begging for completion. Twenty-five Strange and Random Facts about Me. Top Ten Food Cravings on Sunday Mornings. Fifteen Unique Hot Dog Toppings I Want to Try. Stuff like that.
     “I’ve been so waiting for this. What’s today’s assignment?” Jana twists away from me, prepping for the big reveal. “Ahem. Drum roll, please. Coolest Baby Names for the 21st Century. Dibs on girls.”
     At least coming up with insane celebrity-worthy child names will divert my attention from the whole Senior Superlative mess. To avoid morning announcements, I excuse myself and hide in the bathroom until the bell rings. For the rest of the morning, while everyone stares and whispers about me and my future betrothed, Jana and I devote ourselves to baby-name research, hiding our iPhones under contraptions built with tented folders and notebooks.
     By the time we meet for lunch, we’ve each devised an alphabetical list of names and favorited our top ten. “I like Abileen, Olivia, and Whitney,” she says, dropping into the seat next to mine at our usual table. A dreamy look floats in her eyes as she imagines her future mini-me. Pretty little Abileen, with her mother’s silky brown hair and coffee-colored eyes. Jana’s mother is French, her father Cuban, and their genetic combination sparked my best friend’s flawless complexion. Also, years of braces and faithful retainer-wearing have shaped Jana’s perfect smile, which she now flashes my way, apparently satisfied with her mentally crafted reproduction.
     “So, what did you come up with for your future son’s name?” she asks.
     “Chase.”
     Jana’s eyes grow wide. “Chase? That’s a verb, not a name.”
     “It’s also a noun, meaning pursuit.”
     “Okay, Chase it is.” Jana carefully scribes my top boy’s name in the book. “Does Andy agree with your choice?”
     I toss my empty Gatorade bottle at her head, but she ducks away, laughing.
     Anyway, unlucky Chase will probably inherit my boring brown hair, a few shades short of blond, and my light brown eyes, more cafe latte compared to Jana’s straight espresso. Also, I pray Chase won’t have my high forehead because boys really can’t cover up that particular physical trait with fringe bangs.
     “Check tomorrow’s assignment.” I’m more than ready to drop the subject of baby names and potential husbands. “We can start a rough draft tonight and finalize it in homeroom tomorrow.”
     Jana flips the page. “It’s an awesome achievement list. The top ten things you’ve done to make your life bigger and better.”

My Senior Year of Awesome
Available NOW!

About the Author

Jennifer lives in a small town near Philadelphia, PA with her husband and three children.

In college, she double majored in English and business, and later went back to school for her MBA. She currently works as a freelance writer and owns a small business. She also spends time cheering at her kids’ soccer games, re-learning algebra to help with homework assignments, and cooking up healthy dinners that nobody eats.

When she’s not doing any of those things, you can find her reading, working on home design projects, or running (though she's much better at walking).

At night, when her house is finally quiet, she brings her YA characters to life. My Senior Year of Awesome is her first novel.

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