Welcome to the second stop on the excerpt hop of Kelly Siskind’s CHASING CRAZY – Pahia!

Join Nina and Sam on their adventures through New Zealand by following along with the excerpt hop! The first day highlights Auckland. Check out the excerpt below and enter to win a signed copy and an advanced copy of Kelly Siskind’s upcoming book!

Follow along with the excerpt hop to follow Nina and Sam through New Zealand:

• Day One, February 29th: Grown Up Fangirl – Auckland
• Day Two, March 1st: Smexy Books – Pahia
• Day Three, March 2nd: Alexa Loves Books – Waipu
• Day Four, March 3rd: Lost in Literature – Rotorua
• Day Five, March 4th: New Adult Addiction – Mount Tongariro
• Day Six, March 5th: Harlequin Junkie – Nelson
• Day Seven, March 6th: The Book Bellas – Copland Track
• Day Eight, March 7th: Fangirlish – Christchurch

Stop #2 – Pahia:

A guy walks by my folded body, his eyebrows cocked in amusement as he laughs to himself. Perfect. I squish my tank between my legs and reach both hands behind my back to spread the remaining sunscreen. I twist and arch and contort, my shoulder nearing dislocation, until the bulk of it is rubbed in. Exhausted, I hunch forward to stretch out my back only to see familiar black boots. I guess things could get worse.

“Something interesting down there?” Sam asks.

This guy is the magnet to my awkwardness, always close enough to witness my humiliation. “No. No. Just, you know, checking out the sidewalk. I think they use different cement in New Zealand.” Could I be a bigger dork?

“Hmm. Didn’t notice.” He moves next to me and plants his elbows on his knees. He studies the concrete. “Yeah. Now that you mention it, it’s a little more blue-gray. I could get some chairs so we can watch it for the morning. See if it changes color with the sun?” Straight-faced, he shifts his gaze to my pink cheeks.

“Sorry, it’s just…” Why am I always apologizing? It’s like I have Polite Tourette’s. “It’s a long story. There was a clothing emergency, followed by a sunscreen emergency. It’s all under control now.” I give him unenthusiastic thumbs-up while still hunching forward.

He straightens, no doubt expecting me to do the same…in my non-existent swimsuit.

His long shadow casts over me. “Did you throw your back out?”

My head falls between my legs as I curse Reese’s mom. She probably refused to let her daughter play with dolls. If I stay here a second longer, my kind-of-dork status will reach full-blown-dork status, and Sam isn’t moving. Knees knocked together, I roll up. “Back’s just fine, thanks,” I say, keeping my focus on the pavement.

He clears his throat. “I thought you’d never be caught dead in something like that.” His voice is suddenly rough.

“Sorry, what?” Forever sorry. I roll my eyes at myself.

I tilt my head back to peek at his face. His gaze drags down my body, that jaw of his clenched tight. He has a full jaw—heavy, masculine—the scar on his chin deep, skin puckered along its length. I’d guess it needed stitches.

He lifts his gaze to meet mine and steps toward me. “Gilligan’s Island? At the baggage claim? You said you’d never wear one of Ginger’s bikinis, and this one’s Kardashian skimpy.” He blinks once, slowly, his long lashes fanning his cheeks.

Lost in his warm brown eyes, I practically forget what I’m wearing. I finger the tank top in my hand. “Kardashian? I didn’t peg you for the reality TV type.”

He laughs. I made Sam laugh. Wow. Look at me, having a normal conversation with Hot Guy while standing half-naked. I’m a small-talk ninja warrior.

“Me?” he says, shaking his head. “No. My little sister. She leaves those magazines all over the house, and that Kardashian chick wears bikinis bigger than this.”

He nods to my chest, and I bite my lip. I put my hand on my hip and shift my weight, for once enjoying what people call banter. With my family I’m witty and sarcastic, always quick on the draw, but stick me with my own peers, and I revert to the speech level of a first grader. Apparently, that’s not the case with Sam. “So you read those girly magazines?” I ask.

He draws his head back, shocked. “No. My sister. They’re my sister’s. Like I said.”

“Okay, but which Kardashian?”

“Kim, the one with Kanye.”

“So you do read the magazines.”

A grin splits his face, stretching his scar. He shakes his head. “No. No way. I do not read that trash.” He pushes his curls back from his forehead, the ones that always bounce forward.

“Liar.”

He smiles. I made Sam smile.

“I will not admit to reading that girl smut.” He folds his arms and widens his stance, a mock-frown on his face.

“Would you take a lie detector test?”

“Bring it on, Canada.”

This is banter, a friendly exchange, and possibly…flirting? I am flirting with One-Syllable Sam. Sam, whose chestnut eyes dip down my body, practically searing my flesh.

About CHASING CRAZY

“With an endearingly awkward female protagonist, a swoon-worthy male love interest, and Siskind’s superb storytelling, this is one of the best New Adult contemporary romances I’ve read to date.” – USA Today bestselling author K.A. Tucker

Dear Mom & Dad, I dropped out of school. I’m going backpacking. Sorry. Love you both.

At nineteen, Nina has endured two lifetime’s worth of humiliation. Tired of waiting for it to get better, she decides to get going – across the globe to New Zealand. There she soon faces what she most fears: a super sexy guy ready to be Nina’s next mistake.

Once Sam’s life was all about having fun. That was before the accident. Now his friends have bailed and his world is broken. But when a gorgeous girl on his flight looks at him with passion instead of pity, Sam feels his old self coming back to life.

Now traveling together, Nina and Sam know this isn’t just a fling. They’re falling fast, hard, and deep. More than anything, Sam wants Nina to forget her fears. But to help her do that he must reveal his own painful secret-and risk Nina never seeing him the same way again.

CHASING CRAZY is available now – add it to your Goodreads list here!

Get your hands on CHASING CRAZY now: Amazon | Barnes and Noble | iBooks | Kobo

Giveaway

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About Kelly Siskind

A small-town girl at heart, Kelly moved from the city to open a cheese shop with her husband in Northern Ontario. When she’s not neck deep in cheese or out hiking, you can find her, notepad in hand, scribbling down one of the many plot bunnies bouncing around in her head.

She laughs at her own jokes and has been known to eat her feelings—Gummy Bears heal all. She’s also an incurable romantic, devouring romance novels into the wee hours of the morning.

She is represented by Stacey Donaghy of the Donaghy Literary Group.

2015 Golden Heart® Finalist

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