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We’re a little more than a month from Dramatically Ever After hitting bookstore shelves on June 20, 2017!!!! (ebook is available June 6, 2017!), so it’s the perfect time for an excerpt and a tumblr giveaway. We’re giving away one *annotated* advanced reader copy of Dramatically Ever After. Giveaway info after the excerpt!

Excerpt:

I took a sip of my cocoa, my eyes opening in surprise as the kick from the chili powder hit my tongue unexpectedly. It took another two sips before I decided I liked it. “You’re such a politician. Always on, always talking to people like you’re in the middle of a campaign or something.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

Instead of arching my eyebrow at him like I usually would, I wrapped my hands around the hot mug and said, “Okay, I bite. Why are you so into politics?”

Kris dumped another packet of sugar into his cocoa then stirred it with the little biscotti that had been balanced on his saucer. “You do remember my dad was mayor for, like, eight years, right? And that he’s a senator now?”

“Yeah. My parents voted against him in all three elections.” I winked to show I was teasing him, even though it was true.

“And he still won,” Kris said with a smirk. “The thing is, I loved it.”

Of course he would. His dad always had pictures of Kris and his brothers playing soccer on an immaculately manicured lawn or smiling perfectly posed magazine-worthy smiles in his campaign posters. “What, being the center of attention?

“Actually, no, that part kind of sucked, even though our town media is only, like, four people and Mrs. Millstone’s gossip blog.” He finally took a sip of his cocoa and I was surprised he didn’t fall over from sugar overdose.

“Wait, let’s pause for a second. She’s blogging now?” Mrs. Millstone had been the neighborhood gossip since I was a baby, the person you could go to if you wanted to know anything about anyone in the development where Kris, Alec, and I lived. Mom always reminded us that we couldn’t get away with anything, like sneaking out or parties, thanks to our one-person neighborhood watch.

“Yup, you can even get breaking news sent to your phone.”

I sat back, imitating his posture, and tried to imagine the older woman typing away into a smartphone. My side hurt from the suppressed laughter and I had to put down my mug before I could spill anything. “Wow.”

“Anyway, politics. It was so cool watching democracy in process, and seeing how powerful each of our votes can be. Dad always had people from both sides over for dinner and I’d hang out with him at the town hall when we were off from school. I really liked seeing how hard he worked to listen to all sides and come up with solutions that would make everyone happy.”

“Well, I don’t know about everyone—”

“You know what I mean,” he said, cutting me off. “I saw how much good someone can do as the voice of the people, and I wanted to do the same. And then I really got hooked after joining the student council.”

I tapped the table with my fingernail. “Right. You started strong in seventh grade when you won the tech club vote by saying we needed to stop wasting school funds and class time on band concerts because ‘they hurt your ears and nobody actually wants to sit through those anyway.’” That may have been the first time in my memory Kris had gone from being that annoyingly perfect kid down the street to despicable.

He rubbed the back of his head and his smile turned sheepish. “Yeah…not the brightest moment of my political career, but in my defense, they really hated having to do the lighting for your concerts.”

I waved my hand dismissively at that comment. “Oh, please. The tech club was lucky to have a front row seat to some of Lambertfield’s rising talent.”

“We’re talking about the same middle school band, right?” Kris leaned forward onto his elbows, a massive, teasing grin on his face. “With the really squeaky clarinets and flutes coming in all the wrong times and Alec massacring the trombone all while playing a Dirty Dancing medley?” I opened my mouth to protest, and he added, “By the way, the school got a few of complaints from parents who didn’t think it was appropriate for you guys to play that.”

I forgot what I was going to say and snorted involuntarily. “Wow.”

“’Hungry Eyes’ was apparently super offensive. The student council had to weigh in and I got to point out that no one was actually going to see the lyrics.” He laughed, too, then shook his head and said, “You got to grill me about politics, so now it’s my turn. Why acting?”

I thought about it for a second, breaking up my biscotti into crumbs as I tried to find a way to put something into words that was ephemeral. “I’ve wanted to be an actress for as long as I can remember. It’s a part of me, like breathing. I don’t think I could give it up if I tried. There’s something...” I dug around for the right word again—‘magical’ was overused, ‘amazing’ was weak, “…powerful about getting to become another person. I need to breathe and walk and talk like them, and it’s a little like getting to play dress up and pretend all the time. And it’s so wonderful to finish a scene and see the audience laughing or crying, knowing I made that reaction happen. Not only did I get to inhabit someone else, but I was able to transport the audience into that world, too. It makes all the sweat and makeup and rehearsal worth it, you know?” Kris had stopped drinking and was watching me intently with a small smile, and I felt warmth creep over my cheeks again. “Or something like that,” I finished, drowning my mumble with cocoa.

Giveaway info and rules:

North America only (US, Canada, Mexico)

Giveaway will run until May 31, 2017

The giveaway is for one signed and annotated copy of Dramatically Ever After, winner will be chosen randomly from rebloggers.

How to enter:

Reblog this post (it’s that easy!)

For an additional entry, add Dramatically Ever After on Goodreads and comment/reply (with your goodreads screenname, if it’s different)

For a third entry, follow the spencer hill press tumblr and isabel bandeira’s tumblr

Good luck!!!

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