Title- American Girl on Saturn
By- Nikki Godwin
Publication Date- August 28, 2013
Blurb-
The summer after graduation is supposed to be that first real
taste of freedom - but not for eighteen-year-old Chloe Branson. Just as that
breeze of freedom is making its way into her galaxy, her secret-service-agent
dad drops a meteor-sized bomb of bad news on her and her sisters. An attempt
has been made on the lives of Canadian boyband, Spaceships Around Saturn,
during their USA tour, and the guys have to go into hiding ASAP. The only
problem? In the midst of the crisis and media frenzy, their dad volunteered to
hide the guys...in their house.
Six-year-old Emery is as ecstatic as any self-proclaimed
Saturnite would be, but Chloe and her seventeen-year-old sister Aralie watch
their summer plans crash and burn like a falling star. The SAS guys aren't
happy with the situation, either. Bad boy Jules picks fights with Aralie about
everything from his Twitter followers to his laundry, and heart-throb Benji
can't escape Emery's fangirlisms for more than three minutes.
But after the super-cute Milo kisses Chloe during a game of
hide-and-seek, she finally understands what Emery means when she talks about
SAS being "out of this world." If this is what Saturn feels like,
Chloe doesn't want to come back to Earth.
Excerpt
He
reaches toward the tray and grabs the lone Oreo. “Okay, this is my last one for
the night,” he says. “Half it with me?”
Seriously?
If I wasn’t the envy of every Saturnite in the world just by sitting across the
table from him, I’m definitely the envy of them now because the Milo Grayson
wants to half his precious Oreo with me.
And the thing that sucks the most is that no one knows about it to be jealous
of me!
He
holds the cookie up and waits for a response.
“Yeah,
we can half it,” I say.
I
reach across the table for it, but he jerks his arm back. The sleeve of his
T-shirt hugs his bicep tightly, and oh how I wish to be that fabric.
“Not
so fast,” he says. “Let’s make it interesting.”
Could
this be any more interesting? Hello – you’re gorgeous and famous and sharing
cookies with me! Any more ‘interest’ and I might burst like a firework.
“If
you get the side with the cream, I’ll give you my honest male opinion about
your checkout line drama today,” he says. “But if I get the cream side, you
have to tell me, honestly, who you think the best looking guy is in Spaceships
Around Saturn.”
Oh
God. He’s for real. Does he know? He totally knows. He knows I’m lusting for
him from behind this glass of milk and tattoo magazine. He knows that his eyes
make me melt and that I clearly watch him on Twitter because I know all about
amazzzzzing. Now he wants to make me ‘fess up.
“Deal.”
I say it before I can chicken out.
I can
always lie and say Benji’s name. He’s the fan favorite anyway. Benji Baccarini is Spaceships Around Saturn for so many
girls.
He
leans forward, positions himself over the table, and holds up that fated Oreo.
I push my glass of milk aside because the last thing I want is to knock it over
with my quivering nerves. Then I lean toward him, grip the cookie with my
fingers, and inhale every scent of his body wash that I can while I twist my
half of the Oreo away from his half.
Excerpt 2
Mom
enters the kitchen and shreds away all of my half-courage.
“Chloe,
sweetheart, I need to talk to you,” she says.
There’s
not a single social event I can think of that I may need to cancel today. No
parties. No festivals. No lunch dates. Maybe Aralie had something planned, and
I have to do damage control.
“This
is really hard for me to say, but Ms. Sue called me this morning,” she says.
Who
in the world is Ms. Sue?
“She
said you stopped by their store last night,” Mom continues. “She wasn’t trying
to rat you out, but she was very concerned and wanted me to be aware of what
was going on.”
Oh
God. The cigarettes! I ease over a few steps and look into the dining room.
Jules stares back at me, wide-eyed and stupid. Then he looks away and buries
his face. Noah hits Jules’s arm, and Jules motions for them to shut up. He’s
seriously going to let me take the fall for this! I turn my back to the dining
room because I have to keep my composure through this, and seeing Jules Rossi
right now is not helping my
composure.
“Chloe,
I know things have been rough these last few months,” Mom says. It’s the
sympathy tone. “But smoking isn’t the answer. If you need to talk to someone,
you can always come to me or Dad or even Godfrey. Or we can pay for therapy
sessions.”
“Mom,
I’m not smoking,” I insist. “And I don’t need therapy. I’m completely fine.
Really.”
She
tilts her head and studies me like she did on graduation night, while she cried
because her baby was all grown up. She has those same worried eyes now that she
had when she talked about setting her baby bird out to fly on her own. Please, Mom. Don’t call me a baby bird while
3/5 of SAS is listening.
“Sweetheart,”
she says. “I just know you went through a lot with that break up, and seeing
Deacon the other day couldn’t have made things any easier, especially when he
acted like he did. I know you had big plans this summer, and I wish things could’ve
gone as planned.”
“I’m
okay, Mom,” I say through my teeth.
“Then
why were you buying cigarettes, Chloe? Ms. Sue wouldn’t just make that up,” she
says.
Her
voice pleads with me, like she’s truly heartbroken and worried. She doesn’t
even seem mad about it. I don’t know who this Ms. Sue woman is or where she was
hiding at that service station, but damn her all the way across the universe
for running her big freaking mouth.
“They
were for me.” The voice is directly behind me.
But
it’s not Jules.
Author Interview
What would you have done
differently if you were the main character of your book?
If I'd been Chloe, I would've confronted Milo about some things
rather than crying in my bedroom. I'm a bit more quick to call someone out than
she is.
What was your
inspiration behind this book?
My sister actually came up with the idea for American Girl On
Saturn. She said it'd be a really cool book to read. She said she wasn't going
to write it but that I could if I wanted to. I plotted it that night. Having a
strong love for music/bands and One Direction really helped too, though!
Why did you become a
writer?
I read The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton in 8th grade. I fell in
love with how edgy and authentic Dallas Winston was, and I knew the world
needed more characters like him. So I stopped dreaming up storylines and
actually started writing them. I truly started writing for publication in 2010.
As a reader and writer,
I think it is important to get to know your fans and make a connection with
them as an author who takes the extra step to hear what their fans think and
want in their continued writing is continued success and key to selling more
books. Do you agree with that?
Yes! I think authors definitely should take time to listen and
respond to readers/fans. These are the people who are reading our works and
sharing them with others. Their thoughts are always extremely valuable!
Do you have a favorite
author or authors?
J. H. Trumble, Sarah Ockler, and that super creative sister of
mine I mentioned earlier, Emily Godwin
Do you like to write
your books in a continuing series ?
I only have one book that has a series planned around it
(Chasing Forever Down). I plan to release the sequel next year and branch into
some companion books later on. I just really love the characters and surf
world, so I want to spend more time there. However, a lot of people have asked
about future books with the American Girl On Saturn characters, so that's
another thing I'm toying with in my brain.
If you could date any
character from any book, who would it be and why?
Richard Cole from Anthony Horowitz's Gatekeepers series. First,
he's actually in my age group, and two, he's a writer. I fell in love with his
character in the 1st book of the series, and he's an all-time favorite of mine.
What kinds of books do
you like to read in your spare time?
I prefer YA contemporary novels, and I really like m/m LGBT.
Do you cry when writing
sad scenes?
Oh yes. I've cried on every book I've written, and I usually
cry on every book I read. I'm an emotional disaster.
Did you have a Cover
Designer?
Nope, I designed American Girl On Saturn's cover on my own.
Who is your fictional
boyfriend or girlfriend crush?
Well, I've already mentioned Richard Cole so... Andrew McNelis
from Where You Are by J. H. Trumble and Hawk from Behind The Wooden Door by
Emily Godwin.
If you were able to dine
and have a one on one with your favorite writer/author who would it be?
Sarah Ockler. Her writing is beautiful. I'd love to just hear
her thoughts.
Do just re-read your
favorite books?
Yep!
Do you ever get in a
reading slump like your readers do?
Oh yes, most of the time. I'm not a hardcore reader. I'm
insanely picky.
Author bio-
Nikki Godwin is a Young Adult/New Adult author from the
southern USA. She is a city girl who can't live without Mountain Dew, black
eyeliner, Hawthorne Heights, and candles from Bath & Body Works. When not
writing, she's not-so-secretly internet-stalking her favorite bands. She may or
may not completely love One Direction.
Twitter- https://twitter.com/NikGodwin
Can you share your idea of the perfect soundtrack to ‘American
Girl on Saturn’ with us?
This was the soundtrack I created before I actually wrote the
book. For the most part, it’s in order of how the storyline played out.
God Must Hate Me by Simple Plan
Hey You by Miranda Cosgrove
Boyfriend by Justin Bieber
Shut Up by Simple Plan
Take Me Home by Boys Like Girls
Chemicals Collide by Boys Like Girls (Milo & Chloe’s first
kiss!)
Stand Up by One Direction
Rock Me by One Direction
Superstar by Taylor Swift (as much as I didn't want her on this
soundtrack, *sigh*)
Untitled by Since Forever
Lightning in a Bottle by The Summer Set
Low by Kelly Clarkson
One More Night by Maroon 5
She's Not Afraid by One Direction
Change My Mind by One Direction
Worth Waiting For by Tyler Kyte
Summer Love by One Direction
Keep You With Me by Hot Chelle Rae
Can you share the playlist you listened to while writing
‘American Girl on Saturn’ with us?
I always make a 'soundtrack' to each book before I actually
write it, but for American Girl On Saturn, I had both a soundtrack and a
"listen to while I write" playlist. Some of the songs overlapped, but
here's a glance at what played in the background while this book was being
drafted.
Same Mistakes by One Direction (This is my ultimate writing
song)
Heart on the Floor by The Summer Set
State Lines by the Story Changes
Lightning in a Bottle by The Summer Set
Summer Love by One Direction
Blue Burns Orange by Hawthorne Heights
All Around the World (acoustic version) by Justin Bieber
Seven Days by The Summer Set
Take Me Home by Boys Like Girls
Keep You With Me by Hot Chelle Rae
Little Things by One Direction
Giveaway for both
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