Woodburn’s debut novel The Best Week That Never Happened won the Grand Prize in the Dante Rossetti Book Award for Young Adult Fiction, and her follow-up Thanks, Carissa, For Ruining My Life captured hearts around the world. Now she’s back with an emotionally captivating, unforgettable story about first love, first heartbreak, and the fierce hope of starting over.

Tara K. Ross says, “Woodburn’s ingenious use of timelines and her powerful command of details puts her in league with the best of today’s contemporary YA authors.” Author Rebecca Bischoff agrees: “If it’s possible for a book to break your heart and mend it at the same time, Before & After You & Me does just that.”

Judging from this gorgeous cover and exclusive sneak peek, you’ll be eager to get your hands on Before & After You & Me in May!

For fans of Sarah Dessen and Jennifer Niven comes a breathtakingly original contemporary YA novel about love, grief, art, and the tiny choices that change our lives.

Emma blames herself when a freak accident at a pool party leaves Hunter, the town’s rising track star and her former boyfriend, paralyzed from the waist down. As she struggles with anxiety, loneliness and regret, she begins to obsessively paint portraits of legs and feet—Hunter’s legs and feet—and for the first time receives critical acclaim and notice for her artwork.

But what started as therapeutic for Emma ends up deepening her guilt. Does creating meaningful art require retreating inward toward self-expression, or striving outward toward recognition—or can it somehow be both?

Searching for one whole, authentic identity, Emma grapples with love, ambition, grief, homecoming, and—ultimately—redemption.

EXCERPT

It happens at a party.

The week before Christmas. Robbie Zwick’s house. A cloudy California night absent of stars.

In the months to come, I will examine and reexamine my memory of this night, trying to find the exact moment the party veered off course. Because at some point—some moment before The Moment—there must have been a fork in the road, like in that famous Robert Frost poem we read in freshman English class, and somehow this party took the wrong path. And that made all the difference.

I cling to this belief, because it means that somewhere out there, in some other universe, this party took the other path—the right path—the one leading to normal and expected outcomes. In some other universe, another version of me had cheap wine spilled on her shoes, woke up with a dull hangover, and met other-universe Céline for coffee the next morning to compare and dissect every ordinary detail.

But in this universe, the party routed itself toward nightmare. Again and again, the moment that sticks out in my memory is this: someone had the idea to go skinny-dipping. That moment changed everything. That moment ruptured my normal, average life.

And Hunter’s life too, of course. Hunter’s most of all.

Nobody except me will remember whose idea it was to go skinny-dipping in Robbie’s bright blue pool.

The reason I remember?

It was my idea.

Before & After You & Me will be released May 7, 2024. Don’t forget to add it to your Goodreads “want to read” shelf!  You can connect with the author on Instagram, Facebook and at her website.

The post Cover Reveal: Before & After You & Me by Dallas Woodburn appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Woodburn’s debut novel The Best Week That Never Happened won the Grand Prize in the Dante Rossetti Book Award for Young Adult Fiction, and now she’s back with a sweet, soulful story about two characters who feel pressured by the outside world try to change into “better versions” of themselves… but learn that the people who truly matter are the ones who see and love you for who you are deep down inside.

Thanks, Carissa, For Ruining My Life is a heartfelt YA friends-to-lovers romance described as “Brittany Runs a Marathon” meets Taylor Swift’s “You Belong With Me.” Gabi Justice, author of Dog Girl, calls it “a charming slow-burn romance that builds with each page.”

Judging from this fun cover and exclusive sneak peek, we already can’t wait for Thanks, Carissa, For Ruining My Life to hit bookshelves in 2022!

The person who ruined their lives just might bring them together…

Brad is ready for a perfect senior year: he has a seat at the popular lunch table, a gig co-hosting the school’s morning announcements, and a gorgeous girlfriend. But when Carissa breaks up with Brad, his carefully constructed life comes crashing down. Convinced everything would be perfect if only Carissa would take him back, Brad creates a “self-improvement plan” and vows to re-win her heart.

Rose wishes she were having a normal senior year like everyone else, but leave it to her twin sister Carissa to butt in and ruin her life. Carissa secretly nominated Rose for the reality TV show Help Me Lose Weight and Live Again—and now Rose is on her way to Texas for three months of calorie-counting, marathon-exercising hell. Rose already felt overshadowed by her “perfect” sister, and collapsing on a treadmill on national TV is not making things any better. Plus, Rose can’t squash feelings for her sister’s boyfriend Brad (even though she knows he would never see her as anything but a friend.)

For fans of friends-to-lovers romance comes a heartwarming novel about self-improvement, identity and acceptance in our image-obsessed culture.

EXCLUSIVE EXCERPT

BRAD

Exactly one week before school started, Carissa Hayward broke up with me over chocolate-dipped soft-serve cones at the Dairy Queen three blocks from my house. We were supposed to spend our senior year together. I tried explaining this to her, but she wouldn’t listen.

It’s been five days since she yanked my heart out of my chest and ground it through a pepper mill. I’ve been calling her and calling her, but nothing I say is enough to change her mind.

I call her and try again.

“Brad, please. We’ve been over this a million times.” She sighs. “Stop calling me, okay?” And then she hangs up.

Five days, and already she has sliced me out of her life, as cleanly as if she used a brand-new X-Acto knife. She seems surprised that I am having a harder time wrapping my head around things. I mean, we dated for eleven months. We went to Homecoming and Prom together. She was my first kiss, if you don’t count Bethany Morris in third grade (which I don’t, as it was during recess and Bethany was running away from me across the playground. I only caught her because the sandbox tripped her, and after I kissed her she ran away shrieking, “Eww, cooties!”).

What I’m trying to say is, Carissa and I have history. You’d think all that history would take some time to unravel. You’d think I would have gotten a little warning.

But no. One minute we were sitting at our favorite table at the Dairy Queen, the one by the window next to the drinking fountain (ice cream always makes me thirsty), talking about the summer reading assignment for our dinosaur English teacher Mrs. Ostertank. The next minute, ice cream was dripping all over my hand as I tried to comprehend the words “break up” coming from my girlfriend’s perfect lips.

Carissa had finished reading A Farewell to Arms by mid-June, and her report was already written, edited, rewritten, printed out, stapled, and waiting in her binder.

“How about you?” she asked. “How’s your report coming?”

“It’s coming.”

“Yeah? So, what’d you think of the ending?”

“Oh, I haven’t gotten there yet.” I bit into the chocolate shell. “Don’t ruin it for me.”

“You haven’t finished the book yet?”

“Not quite.”

“What page are you on?”

“Eh, like… a hundred, I think.”

That was a lie. I was on page forty-six.

“Brad, I can’t believe it,” Carissa said, looking wounded. “I thought you were going to take school seriously this year.”

“I am, I am,” I insisted, still calmly unaware of what was coming next.

“You say that, but really? Page one-hundred? There’s no way you’re going to finish the assignment in time!”

“Don’t worry, babe. I work best under pressure.” And for good measure, I flashed her my signature winning grin.

She didn’t smile back. Carissa was usually helpless to the charm of my signature winning grin, so when she didn’t smile back I should have known something bad was coming.

“Brad,” she said, looking down at the plastic tabletop. She wiped up a chocolate splotch left by a previous customer. “This isn’t working for me.”

Still, my internal alarm bells remained silent. I worked my tongue around the ice cream cone. “What do you mean?”

“I mean…” She sighed. “I think we should break up.”

ROSE

In my normal life, I would be going shopping with Holly for school supplies right now. We both like to start a new school year with brand new supplies. There’s something so hopeful about freshly sharpened pencils and crisp blank sheets of lined paper.

Holly didn’t come with my family to the airport. She said it would be too hard to watch me walk off through security and then have to drive all the way home with my family. “There’s no way I could drive myself, I’d be bawling too much,” she said. “And that would be so embarrassing to be crying like a baby in front of your family.”

The real reason is that Holly didn’t want to cry in front of Carissa. Holly and Carissa have never gotten along. Carissa thinks Holly is boring and whiny, and Holly thinks Carissa is a judgmental control freak.

Holly was right that she would have bawled too much to drive. She crumpled into tears when she came to my house to say goodbye the night before I left. When I saw how genuinely distraught Holly was that I was leaving, it was hard to stay mad at her for going along with the “intervention.”

“I’m really gonna miss you, Rose,” she choked out. “I don’t know what I’ll do at school without you.”

I can’t imagine being at school without Holly. On the few days she’s been sick and I had to get through the day alone, I was even more self-conscious than usual. During snack break I’d fiddle with my locker, pretending I’d forgotten something, open it, stare forlornly at my books, then close it again. There was no one to pass notes to in the hall; no one to laugh with about random inside jokes; no one to commiserate with about our dinosaur English teacher, Mrs. Ostertank. I ate lunch all by myself in my car.

I told Holly that I ate lunch with Carissa, so she wouldn’t feel bad about me eating alone. But, as lonely as it is to eat alone in your car, eating lunch with Carissa and her group would have been even worse. To Carissa’s friends, I am the definition of “loser.” They smile fake smiles at me and then return to their conversations about parties and sports and gossip. The one time I did eat lunch with them, Carissa and her boyfriend Brad were having an intense argument, completely wrapped up in their own drama. The girls all gave me disgusted looks as I ate my PB & J. One guy, Leonard, offered me his Fritos, and when I said “No, thanks” they all laughed. If I had taken them, they would have laughed, too.

Carissa tries to hide it, but I can tell she’s embarrassed of me. As much as she might spout nominating me for this show out of the goodness and love in her heart, I know a big part of her motivation was wanting me to become less of a family embarrassment.

The only one of Carissa’s group I can actually stand is Brad. Carissa thinks he’s a slacker, but he isn’t, not really. He works hard at the things he is passionate about. Like comedy—he’s put up all these videos on YouTube of his stand-up comedy routines. And he’s really good! He has this one joke about different animals at the zoo that makes me laugh so hard I snort. I tried explaining it to Holly, but it’s only funny when Brad tells it.

Brad came with my family to the airport to see me off. He gave me a hug goodbye and told me not to forget about him, which was kind of a weird thing to say, but also kind of sweet. Or maybe he was just trying to be funny. With Brad it’s sometimes hard to tell.

Thanks, Carissa, For Ruining My Life by Dallas Woodburn will be available on February 8, 2022. Don’t forget to add it to your Goodreads “want to read” shelf!  You can connect with the author on Instagram, Facebook and at her website.

The post Exclusive Cover Reveal: Thanks, Carissa, For Ruining My Life by Dallas Woodburn appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Exclusive Excerpt:

MONDAY

When I open my eyes and sit up, everything is dark. My brain is cottony, and my eyes won’t focus. I can’t remember where I am or how I got here. I’m not afraid. I mostly feel … empty.

The warm air is humid and heavy. Beads of sweat trickle down my back, even though I’m wearing a thin tank top and jean shorts. I take a deep breath. Then another. I am sitting on the bare ground, hard and bumpy. There are rocks, sharp and pointy as blades. Impulsively, I slip one into the pocket of my shorts. Protection.

When I stand, I hit my head on something hard. A sloping roof? A shelf of rock? Has someone kidnapped me and taken me captive underground? I should be terrified, but I’m mostly confused and curious. Something about this place seems familiar … but whatever the memory is, it remains out of reach, like wisps of clouds passing through my brain, impossible to grasp.

Gradually, my eyes adjust to the dimness. Black walls of rock surround me. I begin crawling forward on my hands and knees, a strange anticipation fluttering in my chest. If I’m lost, why do I have this hopeful feeling? The rocks graze my bare knees and sting my palms. My eyes blink against the darkness. And then, I see it—a shaft of light, up ahead. I crawl faster.

The roof of rock slopes up and up until I find myself in a large dark chamber. A shaft of light streams down through an opening in the ceiling, like the Pantheon in Rome, which I think I’ve visited before, or maybe I’ve just seen pictures. Right now, my memory isn’t working all that well. It feels as if I’m half-asleep, waiting for the details of my life to come into focus.

Suddenly, a figure steps into the shaft of light. I freeze. His back is to me, but there’s a spotlight on him, like an actor onstage. There is something recognizable in the way he carries himself: the breadth of his shoulders and the slant of his hips. As I scoot a little closer, the rock falls out of my shallow pocket and plunks onto the ground. A soft thud is loud in this hushed chamber of stone. The boy turns, glancing around.

When I see his face, my breath catches in my throat.

Kai.

The sight of him brings a memory into focus: the last time I saw him in person, three years ago. He looks exactly the same as he did then.

He stares in my direction, but his expression is utterly blank. Does he recognize me? Can he even see me in this darkness? Or is he looking past me, lost in thought? I stand, ducking my head to keep clear of the ceiling. I am about to call his name when he steps out of the light, vanishing as quickly as he had appeared.

I slip the rock back into my pocket, and then I follow him.

***

The last time Kai and I talked, it did not end well. I was angry with him about something. And he was upset with me too. He was so upset that he said he needed space and hung up the phone. Thinking about it now makes a rain cloud sit heavy in my chest. Why would I ever fight with Kai? He is so easygoing and gentle—he never argues with anyone. God, I must have done something terrible to actually make him angry. What did I do? How can I make it right?

I need to catch up to him so we can talk. Then I can explain, or maybe he can explain to me. And then I can apologize. And then things will be right between us again.

***

When I reach the shaft of light, I tilt my head back and gaze up. The light filters into the rock cavern through a round hole about the size of a dinner plate. Through the hole, I can glimpse clear blue sky. Wisps of cloud skitter past.

With a flash of recognition, I know exactly where I am.

The lava tubes.

Our place, mine and Kai’s.

***

Three years ago …

“Meet me tonight at the lava tubes,” Kai said. His brows were knitted together, his tone urgent. His fingers lightly touched my hip. “So we can, you know. Catch up.”

“I’m not sure,” I hedged, glancing up at my parents in the distance. They were distracted, gathering our snorkel gear and dumping our dirty towels into the laundry bin at the resort kiosk. Expecting me to be following right behind them. If I didn’t hurry, soon they would notice my absence and start bickering.

“I don’t even remember how to get there,” I said to Kai.

“Don’t worry, it’s simple—I bet you’ll remember as you go along. Follow the path along the edge of the golf course. You hit the parking lot, and the path turns to gravel and veers down to the lava tubes. You can’t miss it, really. I still go there all the time.”

All the time. His words made me flinch inside, which surprised me—I didn’t have a crush on Kai. But then why did I hate to imagine him bringing other girls there? Maybe because the lava tubes were special: the hideout we had discovered as kids, the place we had spent those magical summer hours dreaming, pretending we would run away together. Silly plans. Childish games. Still—it hurt to think of him there, without me. With someone else instead.

I turned away. “Look, it was great to run into you, but I should go … ”

“T, please.” He touched my shoulder, and I couldn’t help myself. I paused, turned back around to face him. “It’s our place,” he said. “Remember?”

Our place. The look in his eyes was so earnest.

“Fine,” I whispered. “I’ll see you there. Midnight.” Then I reluctantly pulled away, heading up the sandy hill to my waiting parents.

***

I’m not buried in some scary underground cave. I’m somewhere familiar and safe: the secret hideout of my childhood. As I gaze up at the bright-blue daytime sky through the round hole in the rock roof, memories come flooding back about a different sky I once glimpsed through that hole—night, star-studded.

Kai is here somewhere. I need to find him.

In the distance, a faint glimmer of sunlight marks the cave exit. I plunge toward it through the darkness, memories of that night swirling through my mind. Memories of the last time I was here, three years ago…

About the Book:

For fans of Everything Everything and The Love That Split the World comes a breathtaking new love story about living each day as if it were your last… 

After her parents’ bitter divorce, family vacations to the Big Island in Hawaii ceased. But across the miles, eighteen-year-old Tegan Rossi remains connected to local Kai Kapule, her best friend from childhood. Now, Tegan finds herself alone and confused about how she got to the Big Island. With no wallet, no cell phone, purse, or plane ticket, Tegan struggles to piece together what happened. She must have come to surprise-visit Kai. Right?

As the teens grow even closer, Tegan pushes aside her worries and gets swept away in the vacation of her dreams. But each morning, Tegan startles awake from nightmares that become more difficult to ignore. Something is eerily amiss. Why is there a strange gap in her memory? Why can’t she reach her parents or friends from home? And what’s with the mysterious hourglass tattoo over her heart?

Kai promises to help Tegan figure out what is going on. But the answers they find only lead to more questions. As the week unfolds, Tegan will experience the magic of first love, the hope of second chances, and the bittersweet joy and grief of being human.

Will you be picking up The Best Week That Never Happened? Tell us in the comments below!

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