Louder Than Words Tour & Giveaway

YA Bound Book Tours is organizing a Blog Tour for: Louder Than Words by Iris St. Clair. This tour will run from September 16th to September 26th.  Check out the full blog tour schedule below:

Louder Than Words

by Iris St. Clair 

Release Date: 09/16/14

Swoon Romance

Summary from Goodreads:

Disappointment has been on speed dial in Ellen Grayson's life lately. Her dad died, her mom numbs the grief with drugs and alcohol, and her so-called friends have slowly abandoned her. 

Trusting a popular teacher with her troubles should have been safe and should NOT have led to an unwelcome seduction attempt that made her desperate to escape the final moments of Junior year. Lesson learned. Best to keep all the sordid details to herself and trust no one.

Enter Rex Jacobi, a cocky boy, recently transplanted from New York City and fellow summer camp employee. Though his quick wit and confidence draws her in, she can't let him get too close. And summer is just long enough and hot enough to keep a boy like that at arm's length.

But by the time Rex's charm wears down her resistance, it's too late. He's put Ellen on the "just friends" shelf and has shifted his romantic attentions to the impossibly annoying and perky anti-Ellen. Even worse, the teacher who tried to get her to sleep with him is still at it, preying on other girls while Ellen struggles to come to terms with what happened.

With her ability to trust as shaky as a chastity vow on prom night, Ellen must decide if she has enough remaining courage to speak up about the well-liked teacher and risk retribution, tell Rex how she really feels about him and risk heartbreak, or hold all her secrets inside. After all, it's the only safe place she knows when the only thing louder than words is the fear of being rejected.

About the Author

Iris St. Clair is the pen name for a long-suffering cubicle worker by day, a Walter Mitty-like dreamer by night. (Her alter ego Tatiana Ivanadance also choreographs gravity-defying routines in those fantasies, but that's another bio.)

No matter what genre she writes, she prefers witty, insecure heroines and kind, persistent heroes able to break through to the gooey heart inside.

In high school she was voted most likely to win at Monopoly and Clue, but least likely to throw a ball anywhere near a target. Thank goodness writing requires less hand-eye coordination, punctuation errors notwithstanding.

Iris believes in the two-year "fish or cut bait" dating rule and has a 20+ year marriage and two teenaged sons as proof of concept. She lives, writes, dreams and dances in the rainy Portland, OR area.

Author Links:

    

Louder Than Words Excerpt "The Meet"

When I finally suck enough water from the stingy fountain to justify a swallow, I turn to rejoin the group. Dark-Haired Boy stands in my path.

"Looks like we're going to be partners for the summer." He extends his hand, all knobby boy knuckles and tanned skin. "I'm Rex."

This is Rex? And Rex wants to shake my hand? I look at it dully for a few beats before I wrinkle my face into one of intense seriousness and extend mine to meet his. "Ellen."

"I know."

Great. A smart-ass who thinks he can get away with it because he's good-looking. I nod, and unable to conjure up a witty comeback, I move past him to rejoin the group.

He catches up to me and says, "Uh, because I asked someone to point you out to me, seeing as how we're co-counselors and all."

"Oh." I keep walking. Brilliant conversation, Ellen.

"I just moved here … from New York City."

Shooting him a sideways glance, I say, "I know. I mean, I heard you tell Gracie."

Gracie has been swallowed up by the group. Rex and I hug the back of the pack, both of us silent. I think he sneaks a peek at me, but my peripheral vision isn't that hot, so I chase off the idea.

Curiosity. That's all it is. He'll get all the pertinent facts and show polite interest until something better twitches her hips in his path. Hell, even a hot car will probably do it. Guys like Rex are out of my league, and it's only a matter of time before he realizes it too. No point letting even the tiniest of seeds germinate into a full-blown hope.

"Where do you go to school?" he asks.

"Um, Lewis Meriwether High."

"Oh yeah? Me, too. I mean, I will. In the fall. I haven't enrolled yet, though. My ma's been trying to push me into the magnet school for math and science, but I think it's too late to get in. Plus that school's way up in the north part of Vancouver. I don't want to have to get up early to ride the city bus."

Ride the city bus? How old is he? I don't want to ask, but somehow I am asking anyway. "Don't you have a car?"

"Nah. Don't have a driver's license or a learner's permit neither. Nobody drives in New York."

I mumble something stupid about how I'd read that once, then curl my lips inside my mouth and bite down on them to keep them shut. My reason for not driving is significantly more mundane—we can't afford the car or the insurance.

"The subway takes me anywhere I need to go, as do these." He points to his feet.

I look down for the first time and notice he’s wearing Chucks, too, only his are full of holes and are covered in graffiti. Plus, they’re red. Yuck. I only wear black ones. I pretty much wear black everything, not because I'm emo, but because I like it. Everything matches. Nothing stands out. The stains don't show.

I force a smile, but I’m sure it’s coming off as fake as the greased-up toothy grin of a beauty pageant contestant who’s just been cut from the first round but still has to do the cheesy musical routine. It's as much for his benefit as my own that I shove him forward along the reality path. His kind doesn't hang with my kind. He's an alpha. I'm an omega.

GIVEAWAY:

$10 Amazon gift card + ebook of Louder Than Words (INT)

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