Leo is one of my favorite parents that I’ve ever written. He’s not based on anyone in my life, but he’s a character I deeply love for many reasons.
Dad is bent over, his head between his legs. He hasn’t said anything, but he growls occasionally.
My dad is a strange combination of old school Italian and liberal hippie. He’s fifty percent businessman and fifty percent soccer hooligan. He has tattoos over at least half his body, but nowhere you’d ever see doing business with him. He’s got a hot temper but he’s extremely loving. He’d do anything for the people he cares about. He’s also extremely protective, especially of me, so I’m a little worried about how he’s going to handle this.
I hope you enjoyed this teaser. Check back next week for more. And don’t forget to follow me over on Instagram @bethanymonacosmith for more teasers and behind the scenes fun.
Freaking Love is launching on Kindle Vella in just a couple of weeks and the first three episodes are free!
Every week I’m going to be shouting out a book I love and telling you a little bit more about it. But the first Sunday of every month, I’m going to recommend an entire series. First up is one of my absolute favorite series ever: The Keatyn Chronicles by Jillian Dodd.
What it is:
Keatyn is a 12(!) book series about Keatyn Douglas. The first seven books are set over the course of a few months in the the time leading up to and after her 17th birthday. The last five books are set 10 years in the future and are a bit more mature, but feature all the characters you will come to love in the first seven books. The last five books are multiple POV where the first seven are primarily Keatyn’s POV. There’s also a short bonus book from the lead male, the swoon-worthy Aiden Arrington’s perspective.
What it’s about:
The first seven books follow Keatyn as a stalker takes over her life, leading her away from her perfect beach home and her gorgeous surfer best friend (turned boyfriend?). Away at boarding school and lying about who she really is, Keatyn meets the God of all Hotties, new pals Riley and Dallas, and Riley’s sexy older brother, Dawson. And then there’s the most popular girl who already hates her. Torn between wanting to get her old life back or follow her new one, Keatyn learns it’s time to stop scripting her life and start living it. All while she tries to keep her stalker from finding her or hurting anyone she loves. No problem, right?
The last five books pick up ten years later and explore the lives of Keatyn, Dallas, Riley, and Dawson and those closest to them as they run a production company together and face multiple challenges in their personal and professional lives.
You can read more about the series and each book individually here.
Why I fell in love with it:
Why didn’t I? I mean swoon-worthy boys? An emotionally fulfilling story? A flawed but relatable main character? It’s got all of those things, but I fell in love with it because of all the little moments.
Despite being 32 when I first read it, I connected with the teenage version of Keatyn who was trying to find her path and her way through her life. I was going through my own period of growth and part of the reason I fell so deeply in love with these books is because I connected with her emotional journey.
I also fell in love with the incredible love story (ies) that rolls throughout the series. It was a gorgeous fantasy to escape into.
In general, I always love worlds full of awesome characters, deep friendships, boys to fall for, loves to swoon over, and emotional journeys to go on. This series nails those things over and over again.
Favorite book in the series:
This is a tough one and it depends on my mood but either Love Me (book 4) or Hate Me (book 6). Those are the ones I’m most likely to return to on bad days when I need comfort.
Favorite character:
Gahhh! How do I choose? I love and relate to Keatyn but I always lean toward the boys for favorite characters. From the very beginning, Damian and Dallas were two of my absolute favorites.
Favorite quote:
I have so many quotes from this series saved in my screenshots. But this is the one I go back to. It makes my heart flutter every single time I read it. When I’ve had a bad day, I’ve been known to flip to the end of the third book to read it.
You’ll love these books if you love:
Swoon-worthy boys
Rich, emotional stories
Flawed but relatable main characters
YA stories with a bit of heat
Prep/boarding school or Hollywood stories
Epic love stories
Lots of fun side characters
Anything else Jillian has written
If you’ve never read this series, I highly encourage you to go check it out, because it is awesome and so much more than I could ever explain in one blog post. I’m even including a little note here for anyone who has started it and not been as interested in the first book: the first book sets up Keatyn’s story, but the magic happens the most in the following books, so keep going, it’s worth the ride and then some.
Have you read it? Did you love it? If you haven’t read it yet, go now! Because from July 3rd-9th 2021 they are all on sale for 99 cents in the Kindle store (except for Aiden’s story which is free until the 7th).
I hope you read these and love them as much as I do!
Here’s another snippet of my work in progress, Friends Like This. It’s all about the fear and uncertainty of maybe falling in love with your best friend.
This story revolves around Rae and Aaron and their four other best friends, growing up in a small town– Ida, New York. Fun fact: this story is set in the same town as Freaking Love and there’s some fun character crossovers.
Hope you enjoyed this little snippet!
Thanks for reading!
As always, like and subscribe for more teasers and behind the scenes. You can also follow me on Insta @bethanymonacosmith
Hey y’all! It’s teaser Tuesday and because I’m behind on my teasers, today you get two for the price of one!
Keep scrolling to meet two of the most important people in Maia’s life: her boyfriend and her best friend.
The first teaser for Freaking Love is about Maia’s boyfriend /first love, Braden Hale.
I walk out of the AB Construction offices to Braden’s beat-up, piece-of-shit, older-than-dirt pickup truck. I can’t believe the fucking thing still runs.
Braden is sitting on the hood.
If I wasn’t trying to stave off a panic attack I’d make a note of how damn sexy he looks. Okay, I guess I can still make a note. And that note is: mmmm.
He looks like a good old country boy. Beat-up, old-ass pickup truck? Check. Faded, worn blue jeans? Check. Tattered ball cap? Check. Cheeky grin? Check.
He slides his ball cap off and runs his fingers through his matted down, reddish brown hair.
His grin grows into a full smile when he sees me.
For a moment, I melt.
In the second teaser Tuesday for Freaking Love, we’re meeting Maia’s best friend, Vince Ardito.
He furrows his brow at me, launches himself off the door, plops into the other office chair and propels himself over to the desk I’m sitting at. He runs a hand through his thick, shaggy, dark blond hair that falls between the nape of his neck and his shoulders. He leans his elbow on the desk, puts his head on his fist, and stares at me with his piercing blue eyes.
Vince is effortlessly cool. And he doesn’t even realize it. But all the girls do. How could they not? He’s built like a linebacker or maybe a viking. He’s tall and broad shouldered with thick muscles all over his body. Every move he makes is suave. Everything he does, he does perfectly.
He puts one big hand on my forearm and says with concern, “what’s going on Mai?”
I hope you enjoyed these teasers, if so, don’t forget to like and follow for more teasers and behind the scenes fun.
Freaking Love is launching on Kindle Vella in just a few weeks and the first three episodes are free!
For the next few weeks I’ll be posting some fun quotes from my biggest work in progress, Friends Like This, the first book in a series about a group of best friends growing up in a small town.
Of course the central arc revolves around two of the best friends and their will-they-or-won’t-they friends to lovers romance.
This story is not inspired by my life but is heavily nostalgic and inspired by where I grew up and fun I had growing up in a small town.
Friends Like This is one of my favorite things I’ve ever written. It’s set in the same town as my new Kindle Vella project, Freaking Love, and there’s some character crossover.
I decided to share some quotes from this to let you know what I’m working on and hopefully get other people as excited about this project as I am. If all goes according to plan, I want to release the first two books in the series next summer!
Freaking Love is a project I’m launching on Kindle Vella when it goes live in late July. It’s a cozy YA story full of romance, friendship, family, heartbreak, and a whole lot of love.
I started writing this back in 2017. I can’t remember if it was a book or a screenplay first but it’s been back and forth. I really envisioned it as a TV show and had the first two full scripts written for it. But I knew that was beyond a long shot and I always knew I wanted to tell these stories for a long time, without worrying about a show being canceled.
Fast forward to the year from hell (2020 what’s up) and I finally found my narrative style and started transitioning this back into a book, yet it still felt very much like I was writing a TV show. Each small chapter was a scene. So when I heard about the episodic formula of Kindle Vella this project jumped to the front of my mind.
I’m so excited to put one of my favorite stories out there in the world (finally!).
Over the next few weeks I’ll be posting some teasers each week with some favorite quotes from the first few “episodes” to get you excited for the story and introduce you to some of the characters! I hope you’ll love them as much as I do.
Happy Monday! Here’s a look at what’s happening this week!
What I’m working on:
Small edits on a holiday romance I’m finishing up.
Playing around with potential edits for the first two books in the Friends Like This series.
Working on a fun contemporary romance. It’s a boy next door with a sprinkle of best friend’s older brother, friends to lovers, and second chance romance. Plus some juicy friendship stuff too.
Updates to the website, building the beta reading team, and (finally) making a Facebook page.
What I’m listening to:
Currently obsessed with two songs: Leave Before You Love Me by Marshmello & Jonas Brothers and Chinatown by Bleachers & Bruce Springsteen. Also editing the Friends Like This stuff, specifically the love story in it, has me listening to Friends Don’t by Maddie and Tae nonstop.
What I’m reading:
Jillian Dodd’s That Promise comes out on Tuesday so I will be reading and rereading that all week. I cannot effing wait.
What I’m watching:
Finally watching the Friends Reunion special with my mom this week!
What else?:
Crazy children. Trying to figure out the minutia of self-publishing without losing my mind (it’s not going well lol).
What are you up to this week??
Let me know and don’t forget to like, subscribe, comment, and follow me over on Instagram!
We’ve established that I love love. And romance. Which means I’ve been crushing on fictional characters for as long as I can remember. Here are five that stand out in my memory…
Randy Taylor- Home Improvement
If you’ve read my about me page, you know that I was in love with Jonathan Taylor Thomas as a kid. He was my favorite ’90’s heartthrob, and because of this, I fell in love with Home Improvement and Randy Taylor, played by JTT was the first fictional character I ever remember crushing on. Now, I can’t lie, I had to go back and look up the name of this character, but at the time I was obsessed and most definitely found myself swooning over him plenty of times.
Nathan Scott- One Tree Hill
I could sing my love for One Tree Hill forever. I love this show so much. I grew up with those characters and I was a little bit in love with James Lafferty. But really I loved, loved, loved me some Nathan Scott. He was a little bit of an asshole/bad boy but had such a big heart and would do anything for the people he loved (like get caught up with a loan shark– okay I did not love every plot that happened in this show). He was sexy and sweet, he learned and grew with everything that happened to him, he was a loving husband and great dad. Needless to say, I stan Nathan Scott as the best Scott brother and I always will.
Logan Huntzberger- Gilmore Girls
Yes, I am proudly #teamLogan! I mean, don’t get me wrong I could see Rory ending up with Jess (not Dean, never Dean), but I always felt like, while Jess got her, Logan knew parts of her that no one else did. Plus as we’ve established, I have an affinity for the asshole with a good heart types and Logan definitely fits the bill. But also, he was protective of Rory, saw her brilliance but didn’t worship her, and could fit into both of her worlds easily. Plus he had that sexy, charming grin nailed.
Cooper Cartwright- Meg Cabot’s Heather Wells series
I think Cooper Cartwright may have been the first book boy I ever fell in love with (though he would not be the last). Tall, sexy body. Protective and charming. The good guy but also tough. He’s the perfect combination of sweet and caring and manly. He was the first book boy to make me swoon and his love story with the main character was the first to make me plow through a book, desperate to know when they would finally get together.
Danny fucking Diamond! – Jillian Dodd’s That Boy series
Danny is my favorite, favorite, favorite. I love him so damn much. If you aren’t familiar with Jillian Dodd’s That Boy series, go read it, please. While I love the other (very) swoonworthy boy in those books, Phillip, it’s Danny who wins my heart every single time. He checks all of my boxes. A little cocky and a touch of an asshole but with a big, big heart. He loves his friends and family and would do anything for them. Plus he’s a hot quarterback and an awesome dad. If I had to pick anyone off this list to date it would be Danny Diamond every time.
So that’s it, those are five of the fictional boys I’ve fallen for over the years and while Randy Taylor may have been my first, Danny Diamond owns my heart. Who was the first fictional character you fell in love with? Tell me in the comments and don’t forget to like and subscribe to follow along and follow my on Instagram if you want to see teasers and random thoughts from me on a regular basis!
Happy Monday! Thought I’d give you all a little glimpse into what’s happening with me this week!
What I’m working on:
I am reading and editing the first two books in my series Friends Like This. And also working on the third book in that series.
Starting a new contemporary romance standalone (that will be the first in a 3 book series of related standalones).
Prepping an announcement about a Kindle Vella project, so stay tuned for that!
What I’m listening to:
I’m writing a lot of break-up/angsty things this week. You can look at my Instagram to see what is on repeat for me today, but in general, lots of sad, break-up, broken-hearted music. There’s some Taylor Swift in there, some Yellowcard, Where I First Found You and Wish I Knew by Forest Blakk, Driver’s License by Olivia Rodrigo, No Right to Love You by Rhys Lewis and what’s currently stuck in my head, which is I Lied by Lord Huron.
What I’m reading:
This week I’m rereading books from one of my favorite series, That Boy from Jillian Dodd. I love this whole series and the next book comes out in two weeks so this week I’m rereading That Love and That Ring. They always make me feel so cozy. Plus Danny Diamond is my book boyfriend and I love him.
What I’m watching:
I really only watch TV when I’m folding laundry. Given that is getting summer-y here in the southern tier of NY, I’ll probably be watching Royal Pains, however, summer always puts me in a One Tree Hill mood, so I might be watching that. I almost never watch new shows, although I may be rewatching the series finale of Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist. That depends if I’m prepared to sob (again).
What else?
Being a momma as always and hopefully some chill time this weekend.
What are you up to this week??
Let me know and don’t forget to like, subscribe, comment, and follow me over on Instagram!
Hey everyone, today I wanted to give a shout out to an album that has been on constant rotation for me as I write my series, Friends Like This. It’s a story about six best friends who grow up together and the misadventures and romantic entanglements that come with it. It’s full of nostalgia and friendship and love and this album connects so strongly with those emotions.
Because of that, Magic by Ben Rector has a tight hold on my heart.
I’m not someone who easily falls in love with musical artists and especially albums. I might love a song or two but it takes a lot to make me really love an album or artist. But boy do I love this album and it made me a fan of Ben as well.
Read on to find out where that love came from and why it means so much to me.
Back at the end of 2018 (? I think), I kept seeing a recommendation on YouTube for the song Old Friends by Ben Rector. I finally clicked on it and immediately fell in love. I’d recently turned thirty and this song and video screamed nostalgia. I’m a ’90’s kid and by nature I think we’re a nostalgic bunch, but I am particularly so. Naturally this song hit me right in the feels.
It became part of my regular rotation, showing up on multiple playlists of mine. It made me think of my childhood, my senior year of high school, while connecting with where I’m at now.
I’m listening to the album as I write this and the song just came on. And it made me smile like the cheesy idiot that I am. Okay, moving on.
Skip ahead two years and I’d started writing Friends Like This about a group of six best friends who grow up together from age five on. Naturally, Old Friends was a song that really resonated with me when I started writing it, so I was playing it nonstop. YouTube then recommended the second song off this album I Will Always Be Yours. I listened. And I realized it totally represented a major arc for the central love story in the book. Then I heard Love Like This (which has become one of my favorite songs ever) and it felt like that couple’s song.
I think I heard Kids next, which was also resonates with that series. And then another song off the album popped up and finally I sat down and listened to the whole thing. Not only did much of it connect with the series, it also resonated with me.
This album makes me feel all the things. It hits all my soft spots:
Nostalgia.
Friendship.
Love. Love. Love.
Cozy feelings.
Awesome music to listen to in the car.
Heartache (Sometimes makes me cry every time).
If you love any of those things, go listen. Right now. Seriously. This album is great. These songs are Magic (yeah I had to do it). Even my kids jam out to it.
If you haven’t yet, go check out this album and don’t forget to like and subscribe here so you don’t miss any of my random thoughts and tangents and more behind the scenes on music that inspires me as I write.
I hope you listen to this album if you haven’t before. If you do, let me know what you think of it. If you already have, let me know if it makes you feel all the things too!
Bethany Monaco Smith 