The Romeo Club
by Rebekah L Purdy
Release Date: 04/08/14
YA CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE
Summary from Goodreads:
THE ROMEO CLUB is Hitch meets The Secret of My Success.
What happens when you agree to help your brother “de-nerdify” so he can catch the attention of the popular Chloe Anders, and to everyone's surprise, he actually lands her?
And what if his equally geeky friends come running with girl wish lists of their own, offering money for your services?
Well, if you’re sixteen-year-old, Delyla Denson, then you start The Romeo Club. A secret club where she’ll teach these guys how talk, act, and be cool around girls. It’s a win-win situation.
She’ll get enough money for the awesome prom dress she’s had her eye on, and the guys, well, they’ll get dates and maybe learn how to do something other than beat the next level on their video games.
There are only two problems with this plan. One, her quarterback/track star boyfriend is getting jealous of how much time she’s spending away from him and decides to try and figure out what’s going on. And two, Delyla is kind of falling for her brother’s BFF, Trey who she’s been hanging out with a lot more. And who thanks to her help, has caught the attention of the beautiful, perfect, and popular, Portia Rickard. With Portia and Trey heating up, Delyla realizes that maybe the person she’s meant to be with has been in front of her all this time.
But falling for Trey means she’ll have to take drastic measures including sabotage, with a capital S.
And what if his equally geeky friends come running with girl wish lists of their own, offering money for your services?
Well, if you’re sixteen-year-old, Delyla Denson, then you start The Romeo Club. A secret club where she’ll teach these guys how talk, act, and be cool around girls. It’s a win-win situation.
She’ll get enough money for the awesome prom dress she’s had her eye on, and the guys, well, they’ll get dates and maybe learn how to do something other than beat the next level on their video games.
There are only two problems with this plan. One, her quarterback/track star boyfriend is getting jealous of how much time she’s spending away from him and decides to try and figure out what’s going on. And two, Delyla is kind of falling for her brother’s BFF, Trey who she’s been hanging out with a lot more. And who thanks to her help, has caught the attention of the beautiful, perfect, and popular, Portia Rickard. With Portia and Trey heating up, Delyla realizes that maybe the person she’s meant to be with has been in front of her all this time.
But falling for Trey means she’ll have to take drastic measures including sabotage, with a capital S.
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Read an Excerpt
********************
A few minutes later we arrived at Bogarty’s. We went inside and found Kevin working
the counter.
“Hey,” he said. “I thought you had a date tonight?”
“I do. But I wanted to treat Del out for helping me.” Trey took some cash from his
pocket. “Can we get two chocolate vanilla swirl ice creams?”
Warmth spread through my chest. He remembered my favorite flavor. How is it he knew
more about me than my boyfriend?
“Coming right up.” Kevin took his money then gave him the change. He waved me
closer to the counter then leaned forward. “Melanie’s working tonight.” He nodded to a petite
girl making milkshakes. She had black hair with a shock of electric blue highlights. Her ears had
numerous piercings, and she wore dark eyeliner. She had the whole rocker chick thing going on.
“She’s pretty,” I said. And to say I was surprised was an understatement. She didn’t seem
like his type, but then again, who was I to judge.
He grinned. “Yeah. She is.” He handed us our ice cream. “I’ll see you guys later.”
I licked the side of my cone to keep the chocolate from dripping. Trey and I sat down in a
corner booth and devoured our food. When I finished, I wiped my mouth with a napkin. My eyes
shifted to the window. No way. Did he have GPS attached to me or something?
I shot to my feet. “Crap.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Rex is here with his friends. I told him I was having a Science Club meeting today.”
Trey followed my gaze. “They’re coming in.”
We rushed toward the counter. Maybe there was a back way out. “Kevin. We need to
“What?”
“Rex.” I nodded over my shoulder. “Please, Kev. There’s gotta be a back way out.”
“I can’t let you go through the kitchen. I’ll get fired.” He glanced behind him.
“Ah, I’m so dead.”
“Wait, I have an idea. Hey, Melanie can you watch the register for a second?”
She looked up. “Sure. But hurry.”
“Thanks.” He came around the counter. “Quick, follow me.” He led us down a narrow
hall toward the bathrooms. But before we got there, he opened a door and pulled out two
costumes.
“Oh brother. I’m not gonna like this, am I?” Trey took a giant ice cream cone costume
from him.
“Nope. In fact, you’ll probably hate it. But it’s the only thing I got.” He handed me a
Poppy the Popsicle costume.
I groaned. “This day just keeps getting better and better.”
“Hurry up, he’s coming in.” Kevin shoved the giant popsicle over my head.
I put my arms in, while he tugged it down. He then put big rubber shoes on me. I
attempted to adjust the top so I could see out the eyeholes. Next to me I saw Trey and giggled.
His head looked like a giant vanilla swirl ice cream. The cone part came down to his ankles so he
had to waddle while he walked.
Kevin, shut the closet. “Just go out in the lobby area and dance around or something.
When he leaves, you can get out of here.”
“You owe me big,” Trey said from beside me.
Just then a group of elementary kids saw us. “Look it’s Poppy the Popsicle and Icy the
Ice Cream.”
In that moment, I wanted to die. Kids screeched at our legs. I hopped around in circles,
giving them high fives. I attempted a booty shake dance and nearly toppled over, right into Rex’s
“Hey, Rex. Looks like Poppy has a thing for track stars.” Bart laughed and slapped his
back. “If you want to dance with the popsicle, I won’t tell Delyla.”
Rex grinned, grabbed my giant rubber hands and twirled me around. “Hey, can I get my
picture taken with you?”
Holy balls. This wasn’t good. “Sure,” I said in a high-pitched Minnie Mouse type voice.
He held up his phone and leaned in close. Wow, this would be one for the memory books.
“I think the popsicle is melting at your touch,” Bart said. “Maybe you should go for the
ice cream cone instead.”
If he made one more popsicle comment, I was gonna shove my stick somewhere where
the sun didn’t shine. Behind me, I heard Trey mutter something about a jack ass.
At last, Kevin called them up to the counter for their order.
“See you, Poppy.” Rex patted my back.
“Yeah, see you,” I said in the same high-pitched voice from before.
When they left, Trey and I raced to take the costumes off.
“Remind me never to come to the ice cream shop with you again,” Trey said. “I swear, if
one more kid hit me in the crotch, I was gonna shove them in a trash can.”
“At least you didn’t have to deal with my boyfriend.” I laughed.
“Yeah, there’s that. But I think I’m ready to go now.”
He didn’t have to tell me twice. Goodbye ice cream, hello world.
********************
Rebekah Purdy grew up in Michigan, where she spent many late nights armed with a good book and a flashlight. When not hiding at her computer and getting lost in her stories, she enjoys reading, singing, soccer, swimming, football, camping, playing video games and hanging out with her kids. She loves the unexplainable like Bigfoot, the Dogman, and the Loch Ness Monster (lots of good story material)! She admits to still having all the books she bought throughout her childhood and teen years, and she may or may not have an obsession with anything chocolate…
Author Links:
As most authors can tell you, it helps to have a great playlist when writing a new book (or editing a one). It kind of sets the mood/tone for certain scenes. You have your upbeat “fun” music for your regular or funny scenes. The love songs for those moments when your characters might be sharing a first kiss, or sizzling look with their crush. We have the sad songs for when the character(s) are going through a rough time or broken heart or someone close to them has died. And we have angsty/hardcore music to help get those fight scenes just right.
Sometimes it’s the beat of the music that pushes our scenes, other times it’s the perfect lyrics that help us get into the head of our characters. Either way music inspires and enables me to really mold a story.
For The Romeo Club, because it was such a fun, light, fluffy kind of story, I had a lot of pop music. And I have to say, that #17 on the list, was totally for C.C.’s character (LOL). So here’s my list:
1. The Little Things by One Direction
2. Hello-Goodbye by The Beatles
3. Stranger by Secondhand Serenade
4. Rumour Has It by Adele
5. The Last Time by Gary Lightbody & Taylor Swift
6. Hold You in My Arms by Ray Lamontagne
7. Hung Up by Hot Chelle Rae
8. Echo by Jason Walker
9. My Sharona by The Knack
10. I Should Go by Levi Kreis
11. Between the Raindrops by Lifehouse
12. Live While We’re Young by One Direction
13. Kiss You by One Direction
14. Last First Kiss by One Direction
15. Say by One Republic
16. The Mess I Made by Parachute
17. Killer Queen by Queen
18. A Drop in the Ocean by Ron Pope
19. Your Call by Secondhand Serenade
20. Pretend by Secondhand Serenade
21. Goodbye by Secondhand Serenade
22. Check Yes Juliet by We the Kings
23. Romeo by Dolly Parton
24. Hey There Delilah by Plain White T’s
***GIVEAWAY***
1 ebook of The Romeo Club + $10 Amazon Gift Card (UNT)
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Super cute cover
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