When shy 17-year-old Andy winds up at a summer leadership camp, she’ll have to muster up all her courage to survive, meeting friends and a very special guy along the way.
Welcome to one of the February 7th stops on the blog tour for Andy and the Extroverts by Jessica K. Foster with Silver Dagger Book Tours (scheduled linked.) Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for spotlights, reviews, more guest posts, and a giveaway! More on that at the end of this post.
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Author Guest Post
How I find time to write as a full-time teacher and parent
I’m often asked how I find the time to write with my busy schedule of teaching middle school ELA full time and chasing around two elementary-aged sons and taking care of our rescue animals. To that, I usually tell everyone it is organized chaos. It’s also a lot of prioritization. I do most of my drafting in the summer because it is harder to be creative while I am grading research papers and organizing book clubs during the school year. I always make sure my family is taken care of first. Sometimes the laundry is behind. Sometimes the dishes don’t get done right after we use them.
But my real secret weapon is my husband. I managed to marry the perfect partner. We were both middle children, so we live for harmony and calm. It works out really well in our house, because when I need some slack for a deadline, he steps up to the plate and takes on some of my household chores in addition to his own. None of my books would be possible without him. We’re a team. I married my favorite cinnamon roll.
About the Book
Andy and the Extroverts
by Jessica K. Foster
Published 12 May 2023
Winding Road Stories
Genre: YA Contemporary Sweet Romance
Page Count: 292
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!
Seventeen-year-old bookish Andy has no friends. When her over-involved mother has the audacity to ship her off to summer leadership camp, she’s thrust into an introvert’s nightmare. Everyone is a Communicator with a capital C, icebreaker activities are scheduled into every waking moment, and horror of all horrors: there’s no coffee. Even the girls who take her under their wing are the kind of self-assured people Andy could never dream of becoming.
Then she meets Lucas—hot, attentive, and everything Andy reads about in her books. Though the girls in her cottage try to warn her about him, she’s swept into the first romance of her life. But when she discovers her friends may be right, she’ll have to find her inner confidence to save her summer and become the leader she was always meant to be.
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Excerpt
“Okay, campers!” Suzie screeched the second we got back to the cottage.
It was like doomsday every time she used that phrase because right after it, she’d announce the next stupid activity and expect everyone to be excited about it.
“It’s time for the next awesome leadership activity! I know you’ve been enjoying them so far, but you’re really going to like this one.” She gave an exaggerated wink. Wait. That meant…
“We’re going to do this with our male counterparts, Beavers, so pair on up so we can get started.”
Pair? I looked to Paige helplessly, but she was already out the door. I sighed and followed her to where the Hippo cottage stood outside waiting for us. How did they get here so fast? Even more alarming was how fast everyone broke off into pairs. My hands tingled as Marshall sidled up next to Paige. I craned my neck and looked for Emma.
“Good thing I’ve forgiven you,” Lucas said as he walked toward me. “Or this might be awkward.”
I rolled my eyes. Like it was so hard to get pushed off a dock when you had the skills of a gold medal swimmer. I raised my eyebrows, but he didn’t say any more. Unlike me, he focused his attention on the instructions Tyler gave the group.
“…so choose who the person with the blindfold will be and who will give directions. We’ll start once you’ve got it sorted out.”
I peeked between Lucas and Paige and held back a groan when the course came into view. A grove of trees spanned the area in front of us, and pieces of red tape were strung between their wide trunks like trip wires. Stumps littered the ground. I’d seen this before on reality television. Minefield. One of us would have to be all yelly and tell the other one to go right or left or whatever to get through an obstacle course.
“What do you want to be?” Lucas asked like I had a choice. I couldn’t yell for crap, so it looked like I’d have to trust him not to kill me.
“Blindfolded.”
He frowned. “What?”
I snatched the red bandana from his hand with a scowl. I wasn’t talking that quietly.
“Oh, okay.” He smiled. “Don’t worry. I’ll be with you every step of the way.”
No, he wouldn’t. He’d be yelling at me every step of the way.
“Now, remember,” Suzie chirped as I struggled to tie the bandana around my eyes. “You can be next to your partner, but don’t touch the unless they look like their about to fall. This is a trust exercise. It’s also an exercise in giving clear, concise directions. Learn how to be the kind of leader who knows how to follow. Don’t peek!” She giggled.
Lucas brushed my hands away when the bandana came undone an tied it snugly around my eyes. He pushed the folds into layers until it blacked out everything.
“Good?” he asked.
If good meant helpless, then yes. I should’ve chosen to be his voice if partners could walk with each other the whole way—too late now.
I nodded.
“Okay, partners,” Tyler shouted, “the goal is to get them around—that—and back to your starting positions. It isn’t a race. It’s about finishing. Good luck! And go!”
“Okay, walk ten steps forward and then stop.” Lucas’s hot breath on my neck made my heartbeat triple. This was such a bad idea. A very sexy, very bad idea.
About the Author
Jessica K. Foster writes funny, heartfelt Young Adult Contemporary fiction with a dash of romance. She is a middle school Language Arts teacher with a penchant for hot tea and romantic beach reads. Jessica lives in West Michigan with her husband, two boys, and their ragtag crew of rescue animals.
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How do you research for your books?
I always have been to the places I write. I also am surrounded by teenagers in my day job. 🙂