Some people wait decades to meet their soul mate. Courtney Kaufman suspects she met hers in high school only to lose him at seventeen. Since then, Courtney's social life has been a series of meaningless encounters, though she's made a few close friends along the way. Especially her roommate Max Cooper, who oozes damaged bad-boy vibes from every pore.
Max knows about feeling lost and trying to move beyond the pain he's been on his own since he was sixteen. Now it's time to find out if he can ever go home again, and Courtney's the only one he trusts to go with him. But the trip to Providence could change everything because the more time he spends with Courtney, the harder it is to reconcile what he wants and what he thinks he deserves.
It started out so simple. One misfit helping another. Now Max will do anything to show Courtney that for every heart that's ever been broken, there's another that can make it complete
Excerpt:
Read more of Chapter one on Ann Aguirre's Blog
CHAPTER ONE
If my life was a romantic comedy, I wouldn’t be the star.
I’d be the witty, wise-cracking friend, telling the Reese Witherspoon character to follow her heart, and I’d be played by America Ferrera, Hollywood’s idea of an ugly duckling. But not conforming to societal beauty standards didn’t cause me any angst; I wasn’t harboring a secret desire to take off my glasses and flip my hair, so my secret love interest would realize I was beautiful all along. In my view, my looks supplied simplicity. Anyone who got with me wanted the real me, no question. Romance ranked dead last on my to-do list at the moment, however.
“You’re too picky,” Max said.
He was curled up on my bedroom floor, skimming emails on his tablet. With her boyfriend’s help, our soon-to-be-ex-roommate Nadia was currently carting the last of her early belongings downstairs, and the other half of my room was conspicuously empty. I scowled and threw a common cold plushie at his head. He batted it away with impressive reflexes, still scrolling. Since he’d posted flyers around campus, along with his email, Max was handling first contact on the apartment.
“Swap with me. You and Angus can share the master bedroom and then you can put whoever you want next door.”
As expected, he passed with an as-if gesture. “We’ll keep looking. How about this one? ‘Hey, my name is Kara. I’m a physical education major, I work part-time at Kelvin’s, and I’m a sophomore. I saw your flyer, and I’d love to meet you guys. My apartment fell through when the landlord sold the place out from under us and now I’m scrambling.’ She seems fine. All the words are even spelled correctly.”
I pretended to mull it over. “Basic language skills are important to me. Put her on the call-back list.”
“You make it sound like we’re casting a movie.”
“This is way more critical,” I reminded him. “This person will be living in my room, potentially watching me sleep.”
“I wish you’d let me help,” Nadia said, coming in to grab the last of her boxes.
Ty, her tall, ginger boyfriend, plucked a carton from her arms. His kid was running around the living room, bothering Angus, who didn’t seem to mind. I waved at both of them but didn’t get up. Truthfully, I was more than a little verklempt over her leaving, even if she was only going downstairs. In the six months since I’d moved in, we’d become good friends. When I moved in, I took over Lauren’s half of the room; she had been Nadia’s best friend from high school, so it wouldn’t have been surprising if Nadia had resented me. Instead she did her best to make me feel at home. And it wasn’t like she hadn’t given us notice. I just didn’t act on it because I secretly hoped their cohabitation wouldn’t pan out, like maybe she’d realize what a huge step it was to take on someone else’s kid.
“It’s fine,” I said. “I’m the one who procrastinated.”
Max nodded. “If I hadn’t made flyers, Kaufman here would still be waiting for the perfect roommate to drop out of the sky.”
“It could work. A skydiving roomie would be pretty sweet.”
Ty grinned. “I’d be worried about the rent.”
“The man makes a good point.” Max waved as they left, taking the rest of her worldly belongings. “Here’s another possible. ‘Saw your ad. About me: Carmen, drama major, junior. I have no annoying habits and an aversion to being homeless. Email me back!’”
“How am I supposed to choose—”
“She attached a picture.” Max handed me the tablet. “I’m inclined to say yes.”
When I saw it, I knew why. Carmen had long silky black hair, golden skin, big brown eyes, and an amazing body. While I’d definitely bang her, I didn’t want her living in my room. The possibility for problems boggled the mind.
Shaking my head, I passed the Ipad back. “No way.”
“Why not? She’s perfect!”
“She sent a wet T-shirt contest photo, dude. To random strangers. Does that speak highly of her common sense?”
He sighed. “Not really.”
“I don’t want to come home to someone shooting amateur porn in my room.”
“Are you sure? I’m positive that would look great on a resume.”
“You’re such a weirdo.”
“Guilty.” Max glanced toward the doorway, where Angus had propping himself like a fashion model.
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| Ann Aguirre |
Ann Aguirre is a New York Times & USA Today bestselling author with a degree in English Literature; before she began writing full time, she was a clown, a clerk, a voice actress, and a savior of stray kittens, not necessarily in that order. She grew up in a yellow house across from a cornfield, but now she lives in sunny Mexico with her husband, children, and various pets. She likes books, emo music, and action movies. She writes all kinds of genre fiction for adults and teens.
Jen's Review Myrating: 5 of 5 stars
I recieved this book from Netgalley for a review - I'll post my review closer to the release date :)
I really loved this story! I thought Courtney would be a bitch after she moved in - Nadia didn't seem well connected with her, and all that - but Courtney was really different than I thought she'd be.
Max was pretty predictable though - I really like him - he had a screwed up past but worked hard to make something of himself. He's an all around good guy - and the friendship he and Courtney have is one that will last forever, even without being together.
Courtney learns that life isn't always as easy as it seems - even though she's never had to work for anything, she knows how strong Max is for everything he's overcome - but when she finally finds herself having to sacrifice her pride, or getting her life in order in a not so easy way, she looks at all Max has accomplished and wants nothing more than to make him proud.
Really cute story - I am sad to see the end of this Trigology - I loved all 3 stories :)
