Well,
here we are folks. The final day of Science Geek Appreciation Week. And what a
week it's been! We've read all about The Avery Shaw Experiment, revealed
the cover and got a few teasers from The Libby Garrett Intervention
releasing this October, we've gotten up close and personal with Science Squad
author Kelly Oram, and we've invaded Avery's and Grayson's privacy by reading
their journals.
We've
partied on Facebook with games, teasers, bonus material, and giveaways. (The
party's still going on, so stop by the FACEBOOK EVENT and enter the
giveaways before they're over.)
Hopefully
you've all bought your copy of Avery at its Science Geek Appreciation price of
just $0.99. I promise, it's worth the dollar! Amazon * iBooks * B&N * Kobo. And, of course,
(fingers crossed) you've preordered your copy of Libby at the early bird sale
price of $2.99.
It
seems there's only one thing left to do, and that would be get a nice good look
at The Libby Garrett Intervention in this first-ever sneak peek!
Libby Garrett is addicted to Owen
Jackson's hot lovin'. But the sexy, popular college basketball player doesn't
appreciate all of Libby's awesomeness. He refuses to be exclusive or even admit
to people that they're dating. The relationship is ruining Libby and she's the
only one who can't see it.
When Libby's behavior spirals
completely out of control, her best friend Avery Shaw and the rest of the
Science Squad stage an intervention hoping to cure Libby of her harmful Owen
addiction. They put her through her very own Twelve Step program—Owen's Anonymous—and
recruit the help of a sexy, broody, hard as nails coffee man to be her official
sponsor.
...
Adam Koepp has watched Libby
Garrett for years. How could he not notice the sassy girl with the purple
skateboard and helmet plastered with cat stickers? But in all the years he's
crushed on her, Libby has failed to take notice of him. Why would she when he
was just a nobody high school drop out who served her apple cider several times
a week? Especially when she was hooking up with a guy like Owen Jackson—a guy
with a college scholarship and more abs than Kyle Hamilton.
Adam finally gets the chance to
meet Libby when his co-worker Avery Shaw recruits him to take Libby on the
journey of a lifetime. With his ability to play Bad Cop and his experience with
the Twelve Step program he's the perfect candidate to be Libby's sponsor. But
will he be able to keep his personal feelings out of the matter and really help
her the way she needs? And will Libby hate him when he forces her to take an
honest look at herself?
SNEAK
PEEK
(This
excerpt hasn't been though it's final round of edits and is subject to change
in the final draft.)
“I love Avery, and I’m happy for her—she certainly
deserves Grayson—but now her perception of reality is totally skewed. She
thinks everyone has a fairy-tale ending coming to them. She doesn’t understand
that most of us won’t be so lucky. Especially not someone like me.”
Adam kept his gaze on the window and let out a breath.
“Someone like you?”
“Yeah, someone like me. Fat girls don’t exactly get a
lot of love.”
He pulled his eyes away from the view to glare at me
for that one. I wasn’t sure what his problem was. It’s not like my weight was a
secret.
“Maybe I’m not three hundred pounds, but I’m
definitely pushing it when I use the word chubby. In high school, that
equates to being the fat girl, and, before you ask, I can’t just lose the
weight. I have hypothyroidism. I was diagnosed when I was eleven because I
became borderline diabetic. I’ve been on a strict diet and exercise program
ever since so that I don’t develop more serious health problems. I’m actually
in decent shape cardiovascularly speaking; I just can’t get rid of all the
weight. This is as good as I will ever get.”
Adam pulled his eyes away from the window and shifted
his entire body so that he was facing me. “You don’t think you’ll ever find
someone that loves you because you’ll never be thin?”
I scoffed. “This is real life, not Hairspray.
There is no Link Larkin out there waiting for me. Don’t even try to tell me
that there is. You know there’s not. It’s a miracle Owen even gives me the time
of day.”
After pulling the beanie off his head to rake his hand
through his hair, Adam slumped in his seat and crossed his arms over his chest,
glaring out the windshield. I didn’t understand the mood swing. He’d seemed
pretty chill when I first picked him up. Now he was back to being that
stick-up-the-butt grump I first met. “What about Owen?” he asked suddenly. “He
doesn’t seem to mind your weight.”
“Ha!” I clenched my hands so tightly on the steering
wheel that my knuckles turned white. I’d been telling myself that same thing
for a year, but that didn’t make it true. “Of course he does. That’s the
biggest problem we have. He acts the way he does with me because he’s
embarrassed of my looks. I always knew that, but I told myself it didn’t
matter, because even if he was ashamed of his feelings for me, at least he had
them.”
Adam was appalled by my logic. “Are you serious?
The guy is ashamed of you, and you don’t think that matters?”
A surge of anger pulsed through me, but I managed to
keep hold of my temper. “Of course it matters. Do you think I like that he won’t
introduce me to any of his friends? I don’t. I hate it. He won’t even admit to Grayson
that we’re dating. Do you know how that makes me feel?”
“Then why do you put up with it?”
“Because it’s better than nothing. Which is what I
have without Owen. No one has ever wanted me before. At all. In any way. Owen
can be a jerk, but I know at least part of him cares about me. It’s not like he
hooks up with me because I’m his only option. The guy is gorgeous, popular, and
athletic. He can be with anyone he wants, but he still chooses to be with me.
He likes being with me. He’s not a total douche. He does
appreciate my awesomeness. When we’re together and it’s just us, he can be so
sweet. He makes me feel beautiful—desirable, special, wanted. I don’t get to
feel like that any other time in my life, so I take the bad with the good.”
I couldn’t believe I was having such an intimate
conversation with this odd stranger, but it was surprisingly nice to be
completely honest for once. “I can’t say no to Owen because I know that if I
say yes, I’ll get to feel those things. The bad stuff will disappear and I’ll
feel amazing, at least for a little while. And I’m afraid that if I don’t come
when he calls, he’ll find someone else. I’m sure he sees other girls at
college. Yes, I hate that, but what other choice do I have? If I push him away,
then I’m back to having nobody. Without Owen, I’m back to being a lonely, fat
nerd. I don’t want to be alone for the rest of my life.”
The conversation died there.
I’d never been so honest with anyone before, not even
Avery. I wasn’t sure how Adam got me to crack open like that, but I felt so
exposed. I’d spent years building up the thickest skin a human being could
possibly have, and somehow, in less than an hour, Adam broke right through all of
my defenses. That scared me. Who was this guy? How did he get to me so easily?
Adam sat in silence on the other side of the car. I
knew he was thinking about everything I’d just said. Knew he was putting it
together with all the times we’d met so far, and forming a new opinion of me. I
didn’t want to know what that might be.
I drove us through the winding mountains, paying more
attention to my crappy thoughts and feelings than the road. We were lucky I
didn’t send us plummeting over the side of the canyon to our deaths.
“Believe it or not, I understand how you feel,” Adam
said, breaking the long silence with his soft voice. “I know exactly what it’s
like to be so desperate for someone’s affection that you’d let them destroy you
just to win their approval.”
My chest tightened at his admission. It made me crazy
with curiosity. Who had he loved so much that he could sound as full of despair
as he did now? There was truth in his words, and whatever truth it was, it had
been devastating to him. Was there more to Avery asking him for help than just
his ability to play Bad Cop? He said we had something in common, but I couldn’t
understand how a guy like him could ever be an outcast the way I am.
“If you don’t let him go,” Adam said, pulling my
attention back to the conversation, “he will destroy you eventually.”
I had no doubt he was speaking from experience, but I
didn’t ask, and he didn’t elaborate. He left me alone after that, and we spent
the rest of the drive in silence. It wasn’t until we reached the ski resort and
climbed out of the Escalade that he finally said, “You have to want it, Libby.
Admitting that the relationship is unhealthy is a good start, but it isn’t
enough. If you don’t genuinely want to give him up, then we’re wasting
each other’s time.”
I wasn’t sure I’d ever fully want to give Owen up, but
I didn’t want to let him keep using me, either. “What exactly are we
doing with each other, anyway?” I asked as I led Adam through the parking lot
toward the mountain. “How do you plan to help me?”
“Every twelve-step program is a journey. It’s actually
a very spiritual experience for the person taking the steps. It requires a leap
of faith. My job as your sponsor—so to say—is to take that leap with you and
sort of guide you through the process. You’ll have to do all the work. I can’t
take the steps for you, but I can show you the way. I’m here to hold your hand
or give you a nudge when you need it, point you in the right direction if you
can’t see clearly, and pick you up if you fall.”
We reached the base of the mountain and immediately
hit a wall of people. The mountain was packed because it was the last weekend
of the season, and it looked like the competition had also drawn quite a crowd
as well.
I grabbed Adam’s hand tightly so that we wouldn’t get
separated, and headed toward the halfpipe. Adam startled at my touch, but
didn’t pull away. He looked down at our hands and then did that infuriatingly
sexy thing where he raises one of his eyebrows at me, as if demanding an
answer.
Man, he could be so hot when he wanted. If I weren’t
in such a hurry, I’d have stayed locked in that challenging stare with him
until the snow melted. Unfortunately, there was no time to explore the tension
that sometimes ignited between us. I rolled my eyes at him, pretending I wasn’t
the least bit excited to be touching him, and started tugging him through the
spectators. “Gotta move your honeybuns, Coffee Man. We’re late.”
“You know,” he said lightly as he followed me through
the crowd, “when I mentioned hand holding before, I was speaking
metaphorically.”
“Well, that’s just too bad, because right now I need
it in the literal sense. I don’t have time to lose you. It looks like they’ve
already started, and I’ll be the worst daughter ever if I miss my dad’s first
run.”
Adam chuckled. Then, a few seconds later he relaxed
his grip, shifting his hand in mine so that our fingers laced together. There
was something intimate in the casual way he clung to me as we walked. It was as
if he weren’t hanging on for the purpose of staying together, but rather
holding my hand simply for the pleasure of it. The way a boyfriend would. The
way Owen had never done. The way no one had ever done.
It took everything in me not to stumble to a stop and
gape at him. I glanced back as subtly as I could manage. He met my eyes,
smiling as if he didn’t have a care in the world. As though holding my hand was
something he did every day, something so natural he didn’t even have to think
about it.
Kelly
wrote her first novel at age fifteen--a fan fiction about her favorite music
group, The Backstreet Boys, for which her family and friends still tease her.
She's obsessed with reading, talks way too much, and likes to eat frosting by
the spoonful. She lives outside of Phoenix, Arizona with her husband, four
children, and her cat, Mr. Darcy.
Connect
with Kelly
Facebook
Preorder links:
Libby on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Libby-Garrett-Intervention-Science-Squad-ebook/dp/B01328HWU2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1438546137&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Libby+Garrett+Intervention
Preorder links:
Libby on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Libby-Garrett-Intervention-Science-Squad-ebook/dp/B01328HWU2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1438546137&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Libby+Garrett+Intervention
Libby on B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-libby-garrett-intervention-kelly-oram/1122426840?ean=2940151087971
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