Welcome to Watch Out. Take a seat and stay a while..Today I’ve got the pleasure of welcoming the one and only Michel Prince…Welcome Michel…

Savannah

Why would an adult read YA?  Seriously wasn’t high school hard enough the first time around.  I recently read a blog explaining why adult readers were so into the YA genre.  Many theories abounded and some made sense some…not so much.  Knowing what your kid is reading will bring you closer…um…maybe.  But when was the last time you read a book and got the same thing out of it that the person next to you did?  Although we have similar experiences everyone finds something different in each book.

There was one reason that jumped out at me though, the innocence of the love.  This isn’t saying there aren’t hurdles as in every relationship, but it discussed the black and white of teenage love.  I love you or I hate you…there is very little in between and the love in YA I find is always all consuming.

As adults we don’t have the freedom for all consuming love.  We have bills and jobs and family members that want more from us then “what college are you going to?” or “Take out the trash.”   That rush of first love is intoxicating and damn it just like any drug known to man we are constantly searching out that initial high.  With each failed relationship or hardship we encounter we stop falling hopelessly for someone because we have the fear of knowledge.  Much like a small child will only touch a hot stove once.  Then they’ll test it with a shaky hand or not even enter the kitchen.

But in a YA novel you have the ability to fall back to your first love.  That first rush that was so sweet and you don’t have the pain of rejection built up inside you.  Best of all you know the love is pure and so real to the characters you can’t help but fall in love with them and it again.

This doesn’t mean I shy away from the realities of love or of being a teenager in my books, but it does mean you’ll get to see a love that hasn’t been seen in hundred years…or so the angels say.

 

Excerpt from Chrysalis by Michel Prince

 

A half hour later we arrived in Bloomington for our tournament.  We realized we had a bye in the first round, so we had plenty of time to warm up.  I’d eaten my banana and cereal bar, but after stretching and a few rounds of pepper, I realized my water bottle was empty.  The hallway was a ghost town, maybe everyone was watching one of the first three games.  The water fountain was at the end of the hall, as I started to fill up my bottle, it came over me again.  The feeling of security.

He came to my game!  His hand was on the small of my back.  I froze, except for my head, which tilted slightly back in the direction of his body.  The bottle overflowed and water splashed on my shoes, causing me to jump back, spilling a little bit more, but this time on his shorts.  I put the top on immediately and laughed nervously.

“Sorry about that.  At least it’s lower so you won’t have to explain it.”

I slowly looked up from his thigh to his hips, gliding over his chest and finally to his face, perfect with the sunlight streaming through the narrow window down the hall.  He was smiling again, mischief in his eyes.  Suddenly, I was against the wall.  He caught my free wrist and held it over my head.  He bent down to look me in the eyes.

“I need you to let me give you something.  Please don’t object, but I think you need a good luck kiss.  I’m sure you will perform perfectly if I give this to you.  Are you willing to let me test my theory?”

My heart was pounding my lips ached for his touch.  They tingled, as I hoped for a long, strong kiss.  I nodded slightly, closed my eyes and tilted my head up.  His free hand gently stroked back a stray hair from my face, then he cupped my head.  His thumb stroked my cheekbone.  I felt him lean down slowly, my lips burned.  I could feel his breath, as he brought his lips closer to mine.

Instead I felt a soft peck on my forehead.  I opened my eyes, crossing them to see him lightly kissing my forehead.  I turned my head slightly and as the words were coming out, I tried to pull them back.  “What the hell was that?”

He laughed and shook his head, releasing my arm.  My lips sore from the rush of hormones that filled them and were now also pulsing through my body.

“Are you ready for that?  I thought you’d want a more stupendous moment, the perfect time, something to tell our grandchildren about.”

“So now we’re getting married and having kids?”

“I don’t know, but I’d hate to take a chance.  What if I kiss you for the first time like you were just some girl, then down the line that’s what we’d have to tell our grandchildren about?  Do you not see how your actions can have catastrophic repercussions for generations to come?”

“Well, I’d hate to disappoint our future offspring, so I guess I’ll have to wait.”

“Oh, now you want to kiss me.  I see how you are.  If this is the way our relationship’s going to go, it’ll be hard for me to keep up with you.”

“Now we’re in a relationship?”

His massive hand swallowed mine with softness and led me back towards the gym.

“Look, we can keep going on like this and waste a month or two dancing around what we know will eventually be, or you can just admit you want me to be your boyfriend and we can get started with our life together.”

Our life together?

“So, because no other girl has told you ‘no,’ you assume that I’d be the same,” I said, frustrated he was right.

“No, you’re not like any other girl.  But,” he said, grabbing me around the waist, “eventually, my winning personality will wear you down.”

It wasn’t his personality that was wearing me down right now.  It was the instant connection I felt with him.  His hands were strong, but gentle with just the lightest touch.  His arms made me feel secure, like I was in a cocoon and no one could touch us.  His touch created a world I could’ve only imagined for myself, but never envisioned could be.  So maybe Kelly was right.  I could take a chance and let him be my boyfriend, waste a few weeks, until he got bored, and then never have the regret of saying no to him.  But this had be on my terms, not his.  I was going to control the relationship!

“Fine.  I’ll admit I want you to be my boyfriend, if you give me a kiss worth remembering.”  If nothing else, I needed to release the pressure still pulsing in my lips if I was ever to focus on the game ahead.

“Lil’ Girl, you’re going to drive me crazy, I can see that now,” he said, shaking his head at me.  “I don’t want to kiss you when you’re under duress like this.”

I was going to drive him crazy?  He just said he wanted me to admit I wanted to date him.  Now he…Ugh…He was twisting…AHHHHH.  I didn’t know what I wanted.  But wait, lil’ girl?  Oh no!  That wasn’t going to fly with me.  I hated being treated like a child.

“Did you just call me little—”

He took my head in his hands, as I felt his lips brush mine.  I closed my eyes as his hands slipped down my back and he held me close, lifting me off the ground.  My arms were around his neck and I felt his tongue slightly parting my lips as I let it enter feeling his velveteen tongue caress mine.  I wished the kiss could last forever, but within a few seconds he slowly put me on the ground again.  My hands slowly glided down his biceps, stopping to feel the strength behind them.  I finally opened my eyes to see him smiling at me.

“Now that, we can tell our grandkids about.  Good luck, I’ll be cheering for you,” he said, releasing me, and turning towards the gym doors as if nothing had just happened.

You can purchase the Chrysalis series on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Allromanceebooks and Bookstrand 

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