BooksChatter: ☀ Keeping Her Secret: Endless Summer

Thank you for joining us on the Virtual Book Tour for Keeping Her Secret, a Young Adult Contemporary F/F Romance by Sarah Nicolas (22 August 2016, Entangled: Crush, 220 pages), an Endless Summer novel.

Don't miss our interview with author Sarah Nicolas.

PREVIEW: Check out the book's synopsis and excerpt below. Read the first chapter with Amazon Look Inside.

Author Sarah Nicolas will be awarding a $50 B&N gift card 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 interviews (ℚ), reviews (✍), and guest blog posts (✉).

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

Synopsis

Disclaimer: This Entangled Teen Crush book contains drinking, sexual situations, and a fairy-tale romance sure to make your heart melt.

The last person Riya Johnson expected to run into at her new summer camp is Courtney Chastain—her childhood best friend and the girl who broke her heart after a secret, mind-blowing, life-altering kiss. She definitely didn’t expect to be sharing a bunk bed with her for four long weeks.

Courtney has what every girl wants—she’s beautiful, rich, and the object of every boy’s desire at Camp Pine Ridge. Too bad none of them make her feel an iota of what Riya’s kiss did all those years ago. But Courtney needs to uphold appearances at all costs—even if it means instigating an all-out prank war with Riya as her main target.

Neither girl can stop thinking about the other…but that doesn’t mean they can give up past hurts and take a chance on a future together.

Teaser: Excerpt

Chapter 1

      Riya’s toe caught on the rock embedded in the gravel path, and she lurched before catching herself. Her duffel bag tilted forward, jerking her arm with it until the sturdy canvas smacked against the ground. She glanced around and breathed a sigh of relief. All the campers near enough to see were too absorbed in pre-camp excitement to have noticed.
      The sun beat harshly down on her bronze skin. Sweat prickled her neck, so she swept her thick black hair into a lazy ponytail.
      Riya hoisted the bag back to her shoulder and walked on, the lake on her right and cabins on her left. Boys milled about these cabins, ages increasing as she walked along. Somehow, the front porches were already draped in towels and half-dried clothes. She’d obviously gone the wrong way from the parking lot. The girls’ cabins must be the identical, but tidier, lineup on the other side of the lake.
      Her mom’s car had overheated, and she’d arrived almost an hour after check-in, too shy to ask anyone for directions. Riya’d seen the error of her ways since then. She told herself she’d stop the next employee she saw. She considered asking one of the boys for about half a second before chickening out.
      Gravel crunched under approaching steps. Riya jerked her gaze up to find an overly perky girl wearing a baseball cap with “Camp Pine Ridge” embroidered across it practically bouncing toward her.
      “I’m Camp Counselor Becky,” the girl said, voice chirping like a bird. “You look a little lost?”
      Becky smiled up at her with so much joy it should’ve been fake. But it wasn’t. Riya had always been suspicious of people who seemed so happy they were about to burst out of their skin with it. Not natural.
      Becky was only a couple years older than Riya and ridiculously cute with huge hazel eyes and a freckled button nose. She’d certainly have no shortage of campers harboring secret crushes over the next couple of weeks. If it weren’t for the supernatural levels of cheer, Riya would probably be one of them.
      Riya smiled back at Becky with a mere fraction of her happiness. “Do you know where cabin G7A is?”
      Becky nodded so enthusiastically Riya worried for the muscular health of her neck. She pointed farther down the path. “I’m actually the counselor assigned to your cabin. You must be Riya. I was just headed to the parking lot to meet you.”
      She paused and peered up at Riya expectantly. Riya knew her five-six height was considered perfectly average, but she always thought of herself as short. Probably because she spent all her time around volleyball players. Becky bounced, drawing Riya’s attention to the fact that she was waiting for Riya’s response.
      “Great?” Riya hadn’t intended for it to come out as a question. “So it’s…” she trailed off, searching the other side of the lake as if she might see the cabin number from there.
      “You went the wrong way, I’m afraid. But go ahead and walk past the arts and crafts hut—you can’t miss it; it’s the one with the huge windows—and yours will be the second cabin.”
      Riya took a few steps backward, maintaining eye contact with Becky as she said, “Thank you.” Then, she spun on her heel and picked up the pace toward the court.
      Sweat trickled down Riya’s neck as she approached the arts and crafts building. As Becky promised, windows made up two entire sides of the building. Between blinding flashes of reflected sunlight, a flicker of movement inside the room caught Riya’s attention.
      She veered closer, stepping off of the gravel path onto the patchy grass. The bursts of movement coalesced into a ballet dancer, twirling and leaping with singular grace. A blond bun swirled high upon her head. Black tights and a pale blue fitted tank stretched across her tall, lean frame. In the seconds when the movement slowed and the glare on the glass moved in just the right way, Riya thought the girl looked familiar. Of their own accord, her feet led her toward the propped-open door. She entered, thinking of nothing else besides getting a better view of the supremely talented dancer.
      Music played from a portable speaker the size of a soda can in one corner. The dancer slid and spun and flew across a worn wooden floor. She moved with so much passion, so much soul, that Riya stood riveted two steps inside the doorway, sure her mouth hung open in admiration but unable to bring herself to care how it looked. This—the dancer and the dance, combined, inseparable—was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen.
      Glimpses of the ballerina’s face crashed against her memories, leaving her on the teetering edge of recognition.
      Then, another person she hadn’t noticed before moved in the corner and several things happened at once. The second person was a guy she also recognized, which made everything fall into place. The dancer stumbled to a stop, staring at Riya, drawing the guy’s attention to her as well. Riya’s duffel bag thudded to the floor.
      “Riya?” the guy said, voice hopeful, happy, excited.
      “Riya!” the girl said, voice none of those things. The very opposite of those things.
      The two were twins. Colt Chastain was the masculine version of his willowy sister, Courtney—all blue eyes and blond hair and winking dimples and skin like velvety whipped cream.
      And up until four years ago, they had been Riya’s best friends.
      All the air sucked out of the room when Riya’s gaze discovered the agitation roiling out of Courtney’s every pore. She was twelve again, heart shattered and stomped to bits in the backyard she’d be leaving in three days.
      Colt bounded to Riya and swept her into a celebratory hug. “Riya!” he said. “I thought I’d never see you again.”
      He pulled back and grinned at her, a grin Riya tried to return and failed miserably, resulting in something that felt like a grimace. Colt was kind enough to pretend not to notice.
      “You never called or emailed. We worried.” Colt glanced back at his sister but then turned quickly away from her death glare. He squeezed Riya’s shoulders. “I missed you.”
      Riya regained enough composure to mumble, “Missed you, too, Colt.” She swallowed down a lump the size of Texas, before mustering the bravery to look at Courtney again. Despite her obvious resentment, the girl glowed in the golden light of sunset, as beautiful as she’d ever been. Dancing had served her well, packing her lithe frame with lean muscle and matchless grace.
      “Missed you too, Courtney.”
      The spell broke as Courtney’s scowl deepened.
      “Oh, hell no.” Courtney stomped past the two of them, her shoulder brushing Riya’s as she passed.
      The beautiful ballerina disappeared into the blinding light just as Riya did something she hadn’t done in four years: burst into tears.
      [...]

Keeping Her Secret
Available NOW!

About the Author

Sarah is a 31-year-old YA author who currently lives in Orlando, FL.

She believes that some boys are worth trusting, all girls have power, and dragons are people too.

She's a proud member of the Gator Nation and has a BS in Mechanical Engineering, but has switched careers entirely.

She now works as an Event Coordinator for a County Library. She also blogs at YAtopia.

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