That One Summer (Summer #3) by C.J. Duggan

That One Summer (Summer #3)
by C.J. Duggan
Release Date: December 17th 2013

Synopsis:

Loving Chris Henderson would be wrong. Diabolically disastrous. I mean, what is there about him to love? He’s moody, bossy, brooding, a control freak, and that’s on a good day … but there was one achingly obvious fact that haunted my every thought, every minute of every day …

He sure could kiss.

As the countdown to the new millennium begins, there is one thing everyone agrees on: no one wants to be in Onslow for New Year’s Eve.

So that can only mean one thing: road trip!

No longer the mousey, invisible, shy girl from years ago, Tammy Maskala is finally making up for all those lost summers. A new year with new friends, which astoundingly includes the bossy boy behind the bar, Chris Henderson.

She likes her new friends (at least most of them), so why does she secretly feel so out of place?

After chickening out on the trip, a last-minute change of heart sees Tammy racing to the Onslow Hotel, fearing she’s missed her chance for a ride. The last thing she expected to meet was a less-than-happy Onslow Boy leaning against his black panel van.

Now the countdown begins to reach the others at Point Shank before the party is over and the new year has begun. Alone in a car with only the infuriating Chris Henderson, Tammy can’t help but feel this is a disastrous start to what could have been a great adventure. But when the awkward road trip takes an unexpected turn, Tammy soon discovers that the way her traitorous heart feels about Chris is the biggest disaster of all.

Fogged up windows, moonlight swimming, bad karaoke and unearthed secrets; after this one summer nothing will ever be the same again.

That One Summer

by C. J. Duggan

“Guess we better not muck around then.” Even in the night-time shadows I could tell that amusement lined his face; I could tell simply by the way the words had fallen off his tongue. They were tauntingly suggestive. If he thought it was funny to make me squirm under his penetrating stare, well, I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.

I lifted my chin. “Keep dreaming, Henderson. I’m not skinny dipping,” I said proudly. “I don’t care how secluded this place is.”

The light of the moon illuminated the brilliant flash of Chris’s toothy smile. “More’s the pity,” he said. “To be honest, I’ll be amazed if you even get in.” He walked right up to the edge of the pool.

“Why wouldn’t I?” I said quickly.

Chris stretched his arms to the sky. “You just don’t strike me as a girl who gets out of her comfort zone much.” 

Comfort zone?

My entire summer had been spent out of my comfort zone. This whole trip had been massively out of my comfort zone. But I had done it. Against all my better instincts, here I was. I had even been prepared to potentially do something last night with Chris that was completely out of character. I had wanted him to kiss me – everything in my body language had screamed as much at him. He would have to have been blind not to have understood that much last night, but he had known. Of course he had. Why else would he have spun around so fast other than to avoid me?

I felt not so much the burning of humiliation rising in me, but more the burning of anger.

He didn’t know anything about me. So what if I didn’t want to go skinny dipping? Just because I had some safety-related questions over the creepy, poorly lit, abandoned pool, I was a girl who never pushed the boundaries? That never went against the grain?

Fuck you, Chris Henderson.

My brows narrowed and all of a sudden I hoped that I was illuminated well enough that he’d see just how angry his statement had made me.

I pushed past Chris, my feet slapping angrily against the cool, wet concrete as I glanced out toward the massive pool.

“You don’t have to, you know,” Chris said, looking uncomfortable. “I just thought that it was kind of a cool place to bring you after a long trip.”

Oh, now he was trying to be nice and supportive?

Underneath the glow of the pool light, I stood close enough to count all the different shades of brown in his eyes, eyes that ticked across my face as if trying to solve the mysteries of the universe through me. Then they lit up, as if at that very moment he had realised what my determined, serious gaze meant.

“Tammy, wait …”

It was too late. In an act of defiance, as he reached out toward me, without a second thought I dived into the water.

What is your writing process like, what comes first, characters or story?

Definitely the characters, they are first and foremost in my thoughts, they’re the ones that dictate how the story is to be told. Just when I think I have it mapped out one way to write the story a character will usually throw me for a loop and take me in a completely different direction. Although I am very organised in my office in my surroundings in the dead of night I write mainly by the seat of my pants with only a vague outline in my head on where I want to the story to go, that’s the bit I love about writing, the discovery.

What sparked the idea for the series ?

It was something that has been churning in my mind since I was a little girl, even if it was something no more mapped out than a group of friends hanging lakeside over a summer. It was an idea that has manifested into an entire world and I felt that I owed it to that eleven-year-old little me to develop it into a story. I know I was eleven because I had found an old exercise book with the story plotted out in my child-like handwriting and I could seldom believe it was something that had been swimming

Are there any parallels that could be drawn from your life and the Summer Series?

I grew up in a small country town in Australia so I am well aware of what it’s like to have to make your own fun. Unfortunately our town wasn’t set on the banks of Lake Onslow but it was still a nice place to live. My first job was working as a barmaid at the local hotel and I remember the fear of my first shift and learning the ropes.

If you had to pick your favorite scene from ‘An Endless Summer ’?

There are so many scenes I love. Chris and Tammy are so dynamic together but without giving too much away there is a late night swimming session that was quite fun to write.

Which two things do you think readers might not know about you ?

I am addicted to Pepsi Max and buying handbags, lots and lots of handbags.

Music is hugely inspirational for my writing process, listed are some novel specific music and songs that drove my husband mad as I played them over and over again while penning ‘An Endless Summer.’

1. The Summer – Josh Pyke

2. I’m on fire – Bruce Springsteen

3. One Thousand Suns - Chicane

4. No Ordinary Morning - Chicane

5. Young Blood – We Come Running 

6. The Eurythmics – When Tomorrow Comes

7. Waiting for a Girl Like You – Foreigner 

8. True Colors – Cyndi Lauper 

10. You Make Lovin Fun – Fleetwood Mac

C.J Duggan is the number one bestselling Australian author of the Summer Series! C.J lives with her husband in a rural border town of New South Wales, Australia. When she isn’t writing books about swoony boys and 90’s pop culture you will find her renovating her hundred-year-old Victorian homestead or annoying her local travel agent for a quote to escape the chaos.

Novels in the Summer Series includes: The Boys of Summer (2012), An Endless Summer (2013) and the highly anticipated, soon to be released That One Summer (2013).

For more on C.J and ‘The Summer Series’, visit www.cjdugganbooks.com

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