Book Blitz: My Summer Roommate by Bridie Hall



My Summer Roommate by Bridie Hall
Published by: Evernight Teen
Publication date: September 19th 2014
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult
See on:Goodreads

Purchase: Amazon ll B&N
Chloe needs a place to crash for the summer before college. When Chris offers, she moves in with him. It’s just for two months, no biggie. But soon she realizes she may have made a mistake. He is too perfect; a former snowboarder, laid-back and kind to boot, and he’s smitten with her. But she’s got trust issues and a relationship feels daunting. When he keeps trying to win her over, the temptation becomes overwhelming.
Just as she gives in and decides it’s not worth fighting their emotions anymore, Chris reveals he’s made a stupid mistake which might ruin Chloe’s trust in him and tear them apart.

“Remember Chris? He was in History with us this year,” I say over my shoulder to Isabelle, as I lead the way into the
deli. Isabelle’s expression is confused, but I know she remembers Chris. We’ve talked about him before. A lot of girls from class were all ‘gaga’ over him because he was hot and a snowboarder––or a shredder, as he called himself. Except for Isabelle, who’s had love troubles with Harper and Jamie, two brothers from Atlanta. Harper won. I like him well enough. I even had a crush
on him way back when.
“That cute guy with iPod earphones practically glued to his ears?” she asks, recognition lighting up her face.
“Yes. I’m going to crash with Chris for the next two months,” I say quickly, hoping that Isabelle won’t react too strongly
to the news.
“What do you mean?”
I drop into a chair.
“Aren’t you going to stay with me?”
Isabelle said I should come live with her. But Harper hangs out at her place constantly, because their relationship is still
in the head-over-heels stage, too.
“I don’t want to be in the way. You and Harper need some alone time, Izzy.”
The waitress takes our orders and then rushes back with a small bowl of peanuts.
“My dad’s there, too, and he’s not in the way,” Isabelle says, taking a peanut and munching it absent-mindedly.
“Because he’s holed up in his study all day long.”
I smile and keep the tone light, but the thought of everyone around me starting their new lives, with their new, happy
relationships, makes me feel lonely. Deserted. Even though I’m not looking for a relationship.
“It’s just for the two months until I go to college.”
“You wouldn’t be in the way, Chloe. You could never be in the way.”
“Okay, okay, I admit it. Watching you two being all crazy about each other would just make me envious.”
“Oh.”
Izzy’s my best friend, which means I know her well enough to have predicted such a response. Fact is, I broke up with Adam a few weeks ago. For the second time, but this time it’s for real. Of course Isabelle thinks I’m broken-hearted about it. I am sad, but not too much. I’ve never really thought our relationship would last. He was just a pretty boy, selfish and immature. I wasn’t looking for a long-term relationship, anyhow. I’m too young for that. Or maybe I’m too selfish and immature, too.
“Yeah.” I sigh. I feel a bit guilty for not being entirely honest with Isabelle, but the waitress bringing our drinks distracts me so I forget it quickly enough. Besides, I’m doing it to give her some space. Well, her, and Harper.
“So … You’re just moving in with this Chris? I didn’t know you were tight.”
“We’re not. I mean, I saw him at Adam’s birthday party. We started talking and he was sort of cool. We stayed in
touch.”
“And he just asked you to come live with him?”
She looks incredulous, a bit worried, perhaps.
“I told Mark—Jamie’s friend? The lacrosse team captain?—about my situation, and apparently he told Chris. He called me last week and said I could crash with him for the two months, no prob. He’s got enough space now that his roommate went back home for the summer.”
“Hm.” Isabelle looks thoughtful as she sips her drink.
“How are things with you and Harper?” I say to change the topic, because I don’t like her frowning. I grin when I see Izzy’s
cheeks warm up. “That cozy, huh?”
“We’re … great.”
“Uh-huh.” I’m amused by Isabelle’s short answer. She has always been very private and reserved. I wonder how that works
with Harper, but my thoughts quickly veer into the gutter territory. Good thing Izzy can’t read my mind.
“Okay, okay,” Isabelle says, holding up her hands in surrender. “He’s wonderful. He’s so much fun, and experienced and …”
I wiggle my eyebrows just to taunt her and it has an immediate effect. Isabelle turns scarlet and starts to protest.
“I didn’t mean it like that. I meant in a general sort of way, like … he can teach me about life and such.”
“Sure.” I can’t help my lips stretching into a wide grin. This is better relaxation even than yoga.
“Well, he’s experienced … like that, too.”
Isabelle stumbles over the words, but it is obvious that she is more than happy about it.
I snort in my tea, spilling it all over the table. “Good for you.”
Isabelle’s face radiates with happiness, different than when she was with Jamie, Harper’s younger brother. I’ve always
known Harper was the right one for her, but Isabelle didn’t believe me until she spent one long day with him on the way home from Atlanta. That road trip made her see that Harper wasn’t just an arrogant jerk that taunted her at every opportunity he got. I saw right through him the first time I saw him with Isabelle, long before they ended up together. I could tell he’d fallen for her and that he wasn’t the bad person everyone thought.
I’m pretty good at that, reading people and their deepest secrets. I think that’s because I have experience guarding my own
heart against selfish bastards, so I know all the tricks in existence. I’ve even invented some.
“You sure you’re going to be okay with Chris?”
Izzy asks.
“It’s just two months. He’s a cool guy. Honestly. I wouldn’t accept his offer if I wasn’t sure I could handle it.”


First, I’d like to thank you for hosting me on your blog today.
One of the most often asked questions a writer hears is about where they get their inspiration from. One of the most often answers is: everywhere. Just like every book is different, so the inspiration for each book comes from different places, people, or events. Everything can, indeed, be an inspiration if only you look at it consciously and deeply enough.
The inspiration for My Summer Roommate comes mostly from the main character. Chloe first appeared in Letting Go as Isabelle’s best friend. At the time, the story needed a character that was more insightful than Isabelle so as to help her see her situation more clearly. That was why I wrote Chloe the way I did. Once Letting Go was finished, Chloe kept popping up in my mind. Quite unintentionally, I’d made her a very compelling character. So I wanted to know more about her. I wanted her to tell her story.
Although Chloe and Isabelle are best friends and that friendship stems from a very similar single-parent family situation, they are also essentially different. Where Isabelle compensates for having so many responsibilities from an early age by becoming a control freak, Chloe is far more laid back and a carefree party girl. The long list of ex-boyfriends perhaps suggests it’s easy to gain her affections, but the bitter truth is, Chloe’s heart is locked away behind a reinforced steel door. She’s not melodramatic about it; instead she’s determined to enjoy life while she’s young and focus on love later.
When you’ve got a character that is as full of life as Chloe is, it’s difficult to create another character that would be wonderful enough to be able to rock her world. Because let’s face it – Chloe needed her world rocked. Usually, boys and men are the ones that play the role of no-strings-attached lovers in novels, eager to have fun and then move on. But I wanted to challenge that stereotype, so while Chloe is avoiding a serious relationship at all cost, Chris is the boy who has no problems admitting to how he feels. He’s this warm, fun, wholesome personality that gets under Chloe’s skin and she can’t shake him. The nicer he is to her, the more Chloe fights him, and the more apparent it is that she’s losing.
So, apart from that initial inspiration that I got from Chloe’s character and the stereotypical love stories, it was the characters that later decided on how the story would unfold. The dynamic between Chloe and Chris dictated the rhythm and the pace of the novel. A lot of the time while I was writing My Summer Roommate I felt like I were coordinating a tango dance between Chris and Chloe. It was a sort of a love dance, but instead of an elegant curtsy to finish it off, the dancers stumbled and got hurt. And by that point, the conflict was already fleshed out, the stakes were known, and all I had to do was wrap up the story.
Ha, I wish it were that easy. The truth is, I probably agonized over Chris’s mistake almost as much as he did. And I hurt right along with Chloe. But then Harper from Letting Go dished out some unasked-for love advice, and Sal urged Chris to do the right thing, and Isabelle nudged Chloe in just the right direction ... All’s well that ends well. Mostly, inspiration is what gives a story a good start, but it’s only persistence and work that can lead to a good ending.

Bridie Hall sold her first story at fourteen. Since then, she has written dozens more, translated books, studied writing, and started writing novels. Her days revolve around stories and words, her sleepless nights involve plotting and inventing fascinating new characters. The only activity that takes up more of her time than writing, is reading.

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