Interview with Tiffany Schmidt for The Boy Next Story

The Boy Next Story (Bookish Boyfriends #2)

by Tiffany Schmidt

Publisher: Amulet Paperbacks

Release Date: May 21st 2019

Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Contemporary

Synopsis:

The second book in a series where your favorite literary characters come to life, inspired by the timeless classic, Little Women!

There’s no one better than the boy next door. At least not according to Aurora Campbell, fourteen, who has been in love with Tobias May since their very first sandbox kiss. The problem is, he’s in love with her older sister, Merrilee. And Merri is already dating one of his best friends.

Rory is learning all about pining as her class reads The Great Gatsby, a book she doesn’t find “great” at all. Also not great—her GPA, something she needs to fix, quickly, if she’d like to apply for the chance to spend a week studying art with her hero in New York City over winter break. But when Ms. Gregoire assigns her to read Little Women for extra credit, Rory discovers more than she expected—both about herself and Toby. Maybe she wasn’t in love with the boy next door. . . but the boy next story.

Love is complicated, and it’s all about to get even trickier for Rory at Reginald R. Hero Prep . . . where with the help of one quirky English teacher, students’ fantasies come true, often with surprising consequences.

Can you briefly describe what’s happening in THE BOY NEXT STORY and their main characters? 

Rory loves the boy next door, Toby. 

Toby pining for Rory’s sister Merri. 

Merri’s dating Toby’s best friend, Fielding. 

Literary hijinks ensue when their (maybe magical!) teacher assigns Rory to read Little Women and her life starts to resemble the plot of the book. It’s a story of sisters and outgrowing old crushes, knocking ideals off pedestals, and falling in love while figuring out who you are and how to use your voice. 

Who would you say is your favourite character from the story and why? 

Oh geez. I love them all. Is that answer allowed? I will say that Huck Baker is a character who exploded onto the page and stole scenes in a way I hadn’t originally envisioned or anticipated. He quickly became one of my favorites to write and he’ll be getting his own love story in BOOKISH BOYFRIENDS 4: GET A CLUE. 

How did the story occur to you? Did you find inspiration anywhere? 

I’m going to say something very controversial right here – I’m #TeamAmyMarch. It’s a younger sister’s prerogative and I’ve always been so frustrated by the Little Women Amy haters. This book might just be my attempt to get them to change their mind (and I’ve definitely done a fist pump for every early reader who’s contacted me to say they have). 

Even while drafting the first book in the BOOKISH BOYFRIENDS series, I knew that Rory needed her own story. As a younger sister myself, I know what it feels like to be overshadowed by a high-achieving and charismatic older sibling (Thanks, Heather!). Add in Rory’s lifelong secret crush on the boy who’s smitten with her sister, and you’ve got all the elements of an angsty rom-com. 

Oh, and I can’t forget Ms. Gregoire, the girls’ (maybe magical) English teacher whose assignments bleed over into the characters’ lives. Poor Rory has to read The Great Gatsby and Little Women. Drawing from and playing with aspects of these classic novels was one of my favorite parts of writing The Boy Next Story. And, yes, there is a twist on the book-burning scene. (Go, #TeamAmy!) 

If you could choose one song to describe your book, which one would it be? 

Vancouver Sleep Clinic’s “Someone to Stay” 

I have a whole playlist for this book, but this is the song that hits its emotional core. I still can’t listen to it without tearing up over the lyrics: “Can you keep me close? Can you love me most?” 

What drink/snacks do you think will go with your book to have a perfect book date? 

A cup of tea, a bottle of kombucha, a package of liquorice, and key lime pie. . . Hmm, probably not all at the same time.

Can you recommend your readers any other books in case they are left hungry for more once they finish THE BOY NEXT STORY? 

Jenny Han’s The Summer I Turned Pretty 

Stephanie Perkins Isla and the Happily Ever After 

Jessica Spotswood’s The Last Summer of the Garrett Girls 

Stephanie Kate Strohm’s Love a la Mode 

What’s next for you? 

Bookish Boyfriends 3 & 4! Talk Nerdy to Me (Eliza + Curtis!) and Get a Clue (Huck + Winston) are both in various stages of drafting and editing. I cannot wait for these romances to get in readers’ hands!

Tiffany Schmidt is the author of Send Me a Sign, Bright Before Sunrise, and Hold Me Like a Breath (Once Upon a Crime Family book 1). 

She’s found her happily ever after in Pennsylvania with her saintly husband, impish twin boys, and a pair of mischievous puggles.

You can find out more about her and her books at: TiffanySchmidt.com, TiffanySchmidtWrites.Tumblr.com or by following her on Twitter @TiffanySchmidt.

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FFBC: Welcome to the club, The First Last Boy by Sonya Weiss

The First Last Boy
by Sonya Weiss
Release Date: October 20th 2015
Genre: Adult, Romance, Erotica

Synopsis:

Sex was the plan. Falling in love wasn't.

Eighteen-year-old Montana "Tana" Shaw has a plan for her life and she follows it to the letter. That includes losing her virginity to her best friend, Ryan Collins before she leaves for college. He's wild, tattooed, and oh-so-tempting. She never meant to fall for him. But when Tana learns that Ryan's past is responsible for her family's heartache, she's not sure her heart or their relationship can survive.

Ryan Collins is the foster boy from the wrong side of the tracks. He's scarred, no good, and knows with a past like his that he shouldn't get involved with Tana even if the sparks are hot enough to drive him crazy. But when the past rears its ugly head, he'll become the guy he hates in order to save the girl he loves.

Chapter One
TANA

Three nights ago I’d asked my best friend, Ryan Collins, to have sex with me. The request blew up in my face and I didn’t even have being drunk to use as an excuse for asking him. I closed my laptop and rolled over onto my back, staring at the brown ringed water spot on the bedroom ceiling.

Eighteen years old and still a virgin. There were half a dozen boys I could hook up with before heading off to my freshman year at Bayside College in Illinois, but I wanted my first time to be with someone I trusted, someone who made my heart beat faster just by being near him.

Grabbing my phone, I texted him. Hey, wanna hang?

Montana, no.

Usually Ryan called me Tana, the shortened version of my name. The one he’s used since the day we met. He only used Montana when he was pissed off. Like he’d been ever since I’d asked him, like I’d suggested he let me rip out his nipple piercing or something. He’d recoiled and shut me out the second I’d mentioned sex.

Whatever, I texted back, trying to convince myself I just wanted company and not specifically his. I had to get a grip and stop lying to myself, stop ignoring how Ryan affected me.

It was Friday night and since my friends went to a concert I couldn’t afford, I didn’t have anything to do. Ignoring the incoming text, I rolled off the bed to see if Mom made it home yet. If she hadn’t, it was up to me to fix something for supper so Creature, my eight-year-old brother, Mark, wouldn’t starve. We called him that because ever since he’d seen the Harry Potter movies, he’d wanted to be called Creature after Kreacher in the movies. He’d walked around for weeks after seeing them muttering insults like the house elf.

Mom wasn’t home. I didn’t mind cooking or helping out when I wasn’t working my shift as a waitress at the Blue Seagull. Mom had busted her ass for us since the divorce. My father bailed three years ago when Creature was five and I was fifteen. No big loss. We were better off without his drama. He showed up hit and miss and only stayed long enough to stir up reality show type shit.

“Hey, Creature! You want some pizza?” I yelled down the hallway when none of the options at hand in the ancient, rattling refrigerator looked appealing.

He flung open his bedroom door and poked his head out, blinking, readjusting to the real world from his virtual one. “Real pizza, not the kind you make?” he asked with a mixture of suspicion and hope.

So I’m not known for my culinary skills. “Yeah, real pizza.” I reached into my pocket and pulled out the change I had left. “Let me get my purse and I’ll see for sure if I have enough.”

He followed me back to my room and did a dive landing onto my bed, narrowly missing my laptop while he made explosive noises. “Where’s Ryan? He always comes over on Friday.”

“I dunno, and careful with my laptop.” I picked up my purse and dug through my wallet for the leftover tip money.

“There’s enough.”

“Yay!” He leaned over the bed and plopped the computer onto the crappy carpet I thought was left over from the seventies. He bounced up to his knees, then his feet and started jumping on the bed. “Hurry up and order it before Mom comes home and does this.” He pulled his eyebrows into a frown. “You need vegetables, young man.”

I laughed at the imitation and picked up my phone, ignoring a second text message. I knew Ryan wanted to explain the reasons why sex with me was such a god-awful bad idea but I was too humiliated to deal with it. I dialed the number of the pizza place at the strip mall a few miles away and ordered a pepperoni with extra cheese.

“Mom’s gonna complain.”

“Sit,” I said after I hung up. With my hands on his shoulders, I scowled into his face. “About Mom…don’t tell her. Problem solved.”

“She might not notice anyway. She’s always working,” he said. He swung his bare feet back and forth. “Who’s gonna take care of me when you leave for college?”

My heart twisted at the worry reminder. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I’d wondered the same thing. “There’s no…c’mon…what is it?”

“Bridge to cross yet.” He jumped off the bed. “Wanna play one of my games? I’ll let you win.”

I followed him into his room that smelled like wet socks, half-eaten Cheetos, and sweaty little boy. I wrinkled my nose. “How can you stand this? It’s almost toxic in here. You should clean.”

“You’re not Mom.” He slumped his shoulders and dragged his voice out in another weary imitation of hers. “Look at this room, son. How can you find anything? It looks like the city dump. One day, you’ll get lost in here and I’ll have to call search and rescue.”

“She’s right.” I laughed and grabbed him around the neck to scrub the top of his head. His hair was thick and chestnut brown just like mine and he also had the same brown eyes. He looked so much like me that when we were out together, people sometimes asked if he was my kid. I loved him like he was. Thanks to some stuff the absentee father put him through, Mark had what his doctor called arrested emotional development. It made him act younger than he was.

He pulled away, rolled his eyes, and handed me a controller. “C’mon.”

We’d only played for fifteen minutes when the doorbell rang. That was fast. I hoped the pizza wasn’t doughy this time. “Coming,” I yelled and tossed aside the controller.

“You can’t do that! Your man will die.” Mark made a frantic grab for the controller and saved me from virtual destruction.

I hurried into the living room and yanked open the door. Under the soft illumination of the porch light, Ryan stared back at me in all his holy hell hotness. My stomach clenched, then dropped to my feet. I experienced the suspended-in-space sensation every time I saw him.

His eyes were a mix of blue and green that made my friends talk about how beautiful they were. They reminded me of the colors found in a turbulent storm. He had a hand on each side of the doorframe and leaned slightly forward. With his dark hair, handsome face, and tattooed body, he was every girl’s bad boy fantasy. When he wore the white tank undershirts he favored, like he was doing now, it showed off his well-defined muscles and made it difficult to think about anything but how good he looked.

“What?” I managed to snap out like his being there didn’t affect me at all. I was getting good at hiding the way my body had started reacting around him.

He motioned to the storm door. “Let me in.”

I shrugged and didn’t move to undo the latch. “What for?”

His lips tightened and the storm in his eyes grew more pronounced. “Come on, Montana. Don’t be like that.”

Behind him, a car with a pizza sign on the roof pulled up. Ryan jogged off the porch, paid for the pizza, and when the delivery guy left, said, “Let me in or I’ll hold your pizza hostage.”

I would have told him so what, but then Creature ran up behind me yelling Ryan’s name in an excited tone. He thought of Ryan like a brother and sometimes I think Mark loved spending time with Ryan more than he did with me.

Mark barreled past me and shoved open the door. “Gimme.” He took the box and dashed into the kitchen leaving me alone with Ryan and the most awkward question in the world hanging between us.

Follow the The First Last Boy by Sonya Weiss Blog Tour and don't miss anything! Click on the banner to see the tour schedule.

Sonya Weiss is a freelance writer, ghostwriter and author. She's addicted to great books, good movies, and Italian chocolates. 

She's passionate about causes that support abused animals and children. Her parents always supported her bringing stray animals home although the Great Dane rescue was a surprise.

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Blog Tour: Breaking Ryann (Bad Boy Reformed #3) by Alyssa Rae Taylor

Breaking Ryann (Bad Boy Reformed #3)
by Alyssa Rae Taylor
Release Date: August 31st 2015

Rate: Enjoyed it (4 stars)

Synopsis:

He promised to leave me alone, but that was a lie. I should have known he’d have this pull on me—seeping through my skin and into my bones, burning me from the outside in. It’s just like when we were kids, and I can no longer avoid him. I’ve accepted it, but what will it take to convince him that I am no longer his? Is that really what I want?

I told her I’d leave her alone. But who was I kidding? I’ve never been one to back away from a challenge. He stole my girl—my future—from me. I’m coming back with a vengeance. I’m taking back what he took from me. After all the secrets and lies, can we come back from this? Even if it breaks me, I’ll stop at nothing to protect what’s always been mine.

I think Breaking Ryann is my favorite book in the Bad Boy Reformed series. This is the story of the happy ending we were promised when we started reading Alyssa's series and she didn't disappointed her fans.

Luke is back ready to win Reese and it teared my heart out to see Reese at first rejecting him. Like in other stories their drama continues due to Reese misinformation and don't give Luke the chance to explain himself. However, we can now say that we know Luke and he's not willing to give up. 

The story has progressed and the same thing can be said about the writing, the characters and the plot. I think that this story is my favorite out of the three books, not only for the awaited finale, but because we have what we were promised in the synopsis. There's drama, there's love, there's old wounds not healed, there's mistrust, sacrifice, friendship and the decision to make from the characters if being in love is enough to keep them together, this time forever. 

This book is the chance for the author to get those unsolved topics that were left behind in the first two books, give the characters time to solve their personal problems and decide what to do with their love. I fell for the characters all over again, with Gia, Logan and Reese, and even harder for Luke. 

Breaking Ryann is a great tribute for all Bad Boy Reformed fans and a great finale. The author just kept getting better and delivered an emotional story that would make all her readers happy.

I received these two ARCs in exchange of an honest review. Participating in this tour does not affect my opinion in any way.

For this tour I also read the first two books in the Bad Boy Reformed series. I received these two ARCs in exchange of an honest review. Participating in this tour does not affect my opinion in any way.

Overall conclusion: The Bad Boy Reformed book are a great story, with a lot of potential, great characters and a beautiful story to tell. But in my opinion is one of those series you need to read all books in one day to not end up miserable and hating the story. To understand what I said, read my mini reviews below.

Raising Ryann (Bad Boy Reformed #1)
by Alyssa Rae Taylor
Release Date: January 9th 2014

Rate: Average + (3,5 stars)

Mini Review:

Raising Ryann has a great potential. The characters have a story and there's chemistry between them. However, I thought the storyline would go different due to what I read on the prologue. It's true that the author amends that error in the following books, but leaves the reader a bit confused just by reading the first book. Moreover, there was some details that I missed. I was promised a MMA fighter and thought that this information would be important for the story. However, it's just the profession of Ryann. 

To sum up, the author had a great idea and a great story to tell, but maybe she wanted to tell a bit too much or didn't get to organize it well.

I loved that these two people shared a special and traumatizing story and that they could forgive themselves and their past in order to fall in love with each other all over again.

Resisting Ryann (Bad Boy Reformed #2)
by Alyssa Rae Taylor
Release Date: May 26th 2014
Rate: Average + (3,5 stars)

Mini Review:

This book is a bittersweet story for me. I was having such a hard time having the two main characters away from each other that I couldn't enjoy the story in his fully glory. It seemed like the two main characters were doomed no matter what they did.

However, I think that this story gave me as a reader a more insight to the secondary characters and made us fall in love with Luke a bit more. They are funny and it's the other couple meant to end up together and that have it easier than the main one.

In this story the plot was consistent and the story kept evolving to a point where the reader just wanted to cry and grab the next one. I think that this book is better distributed and organized than the first one, making the story more enjoyable despite all the drama that broke my reading heart.

USA Today Bestselling author Alyssa Rae Taylor lives in Phoenix, Arizona with her husband, their three daughters, two English bulldogs and a miniature pig. Her hobbies include reading, writing, and watching Sam & Dean Winchester fight off scary creatures on the WB. She enjoys stories that tug at her emotions and isn't a fan of the insta-love type of romance. Her dream is to travel the world with her husband and children beside her. The first time she started writing, she couldn't stop, which leads to now, and the publication of the Bad Boy Reformed Series.

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