ABOUT THE BOOK
Title: Kissing Games
Author: Tara Eglington
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Hardcover, 320 Pages
Publication Date: June 5th, 2018
Summary: The course of true love never did run smooth. For a girl who shares her name with a princess (a.k.a Aurora from Sleeping Beauty) Aurora Skye’s life seem fathoms away from a fairytale. Sure, she’s landed Hayden Paris, Potential Prince extraordinaire. And she got her wish -- one first kiss with all the knee-trembling, butterfly-inducing gloriousness she’d hoped for. But Aurora’s learning that a kiss is just the beginning of a story. Instead of being the truly transcendent, utterly epic follow up it should be, her second attempt at kissing has literally landed Hayden Paris in the emergency room. If that’s not mortifying enough, the whole school is now referring to her as ‘Lethal Lips’. Meanwhile it’s all systems go for her best friend Cassie - she and Potential Prince Scott are totally loved up and can’t stop kissing. Jelena (Jefferson High’s answer to Helen of Troy) has moved on from the heinous betrayal by Bad Boy Alex West and has unleashed her plan to rule the world by running for School Captain. Problem is Alex is running too and Jelena’s pulling out all the stops to prevent him from stealing her rightful place as ruler of Jefferson High - including offering Aurora’s Find a Prince/Princess Program as one of her campaign initiatives. How is Aurora going to prove her program is foolproof and help Jelena win the election when her matchmaking manoeuvres seem to be throwing all the wrong people together - including the NAD and the hippy-dippy Ms Deforest -- and she can’t even convince Hayden to kiss her?
EXCERPT
For a girl who shares her name with a princess (Aurora from Sleeping Beauty), my present circumstances were fathoms away from a fairy tale. My kissing skills had left both parties maimed—one case worthy of the emergency room.
Our first kiss as a couple, and my first-ever kiss, had been a melding of everything I’d heard kisses could be, all the glorious clichés in action—weak knees, my heart a field of fluttering butter-
flies, life in Technicolor. Worth the wait. With a start like that, I’d expected the second kiss to be as good. Or at least not to end in calamity.
Four hours ago I’d had no idea I’d be spending half of my Thursday night in the local hospital’s emergency department, watching the on-call physician stitching Hayden Paris’s formerly perfect
lower lip.
four hours earlier . . .
I stood at my bathroom mirror, staring at my lips. I’d just applied red lipstick, taking a good five minutes to make sure that the edges were perfect. Now I was having second thoughts. Normally I wasn’t one to spend lengthy amounts of time pouting at my own reflection, but in the fifteen minutes before Hayden was due to arrive I was fixated on my own mouth.
It had started with the intention of making sure I had fresh breath. Three brushings and a lengthy flossing session later, I’d pinched the superstrong dental clinic–issued mouthwash used by my dad (otherwise known as the NAD—New Age dad), on the basis that it would work better than my Listerine. Figuring that if I used any more mouthwash I’d give myself acid reflux, I’d finally stashed a mini breath spray in the pocket of my skirt so I could do a last quick spritz after Hayden and I had finished dinner. Literally sharing breath with someone was nerve-racking. I was now in a conundrum over lipstick. I’d automatically reached for the red, as numerous studies have proved that red lips are considered the most sensual, due to the way that lipstick mimics the way our lips flush when attracted to another person. But just as I’d finished applying the lipstick, I started worrying that it wasn’t the best choice. It would inevitably kiss off, wouldn’t it? What if I pulled away from the (hopefully) amazing kiss and Hayden was left smeared with red lipstick? Gloss wasn’t an option, either—I’d overheard way too many guys complaining about how they hated goopy lips.
I blotted the lipstick, hoping to achieve a nice, subtle stain, like I’d been sitting in a field eating raspberries or something. Revlon had had that famous Cherries in the Snow ad campaign in 1953, so bring on Raspberries in a Field. I was obviously getting jittery if I was planning 1950s-esque cosmetic campaigns.
I hadn’t talked about my anxiety with my best friends, Cassie, Jelena, Lindsay, and Sara. They were looking to me to be their dating guru—and hopefully the whole of Jefferson High would be, too, once I implemented my Find a Prince/PrincessTM program. This is a program I designed to help guys and girls navigate the minefield that is the high school dating scene. As well as using the program to help Cassie find love with Scott (aka the ubercute new guy) and to help Lindsay win her ex-boyfriend Tyler back, I had also been using the program to weigh my own romantic prospects, with the
aim of identifying my “prince.”
A prince:
• has Principles. He stands up for what he knows to be right,
instead of going along with the crowd.
• Recognizes your worth. He understands how special you
are and treats you with respect and kindness.
• possesses Integrity. He’s genuine with his feelings and
won’t mislead you for underhanded or selfish purposes.
• Never doubts you’re the only one for him.
• is Constant. He stands by you through the sunshine and the
shadows, the good and the bad.
• possesses Endurance. He is willing to overcome considerable
obstacles to win your affection.
I know the “prince” thing sounds cringeworthy, like it’s something from another century. But the program isn’t about glass slippers or lying around until a prince shows up. It’s about valuing yourself and saying no to guys with dishonest intentions or lukewarm feelings. Guys who lie or are self-involved or only looking for an ego boost. Guys who play around with our feelings like it’s a form
of sport. What the program is really about is knowing what you are worthy of and accepting nothing less.
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We'd like to thank the lovely team over at St. Martin's Press for being awesome enough to allow us to share this excerpt! We hope you all enjoy and that you will all be checking out Kissing Games and adding it to your TBR!
