The Harper Effect Blog Tour: Excerpt + Giveaway

THE HARPER EFFECT
Author: Taryn Bashford

Release Date: May 15, 2018
Publisher: Sky Pony Press
Formats: Hardcover, eBook
Pages: 408

Find it: Amazon, B&N, TBD, Goodreads 

Description:

Sixteen-year-old Harper was once a rising star on the tennis court--until her coach dropped her for being "mentally weak." Without tennis, who is she? Her confidence at an all-time low, she secretly turns to her childhood friend, next-door neighbor Jacob--who also happens to be her sister's very recent ex-boyfriend. If her sister finds out, it will mean a family war.

But when Harper is taken on by a new coach who wants her to train with Colt, a cold, defensive, brooding young tennis phenom, she hits the court all the harder, if only to prove Colt wrong. But as the two learn to become a team, Harper gets glimpses of the vulnerable boy beneath the surface, the boy who was deeply scarred by his family's dark and scandalous past. The boy she could easily find herself falling for.

As she walks a fine line between Colt's secrets, her forbidden love, and a game that demands nothing but the best, Harper must decide between her past and her future and between two boys who send her head spinning. Is the cost of winning the game worth losing everything?

A sizzling tennis romance perfect for the summer months, The Harper Effect, will be a grand slam for fans of Kasie West, Miranda Kinneally and Simone Ekeles. 

I chose this extract because I enjoyed writing it. It’s when Aria has found out how Harper has betrayed her, and Harper goes to find Aria in the Purple Woods, to explain herself. It’s the culmination of their ‘war’ – and it leads to Harper growing up thanks to the consequences of her choices. She then takes action to ensure she fixes the lives she’s affected.


I rise out of the sofa, legs like stringy elastic, hands fluttering,
mind collapsing. ‘She slammed the bathroom window.’
My body tears with the truth.
Jacob frowns. ‘So?’
‘She knows,’ I choke out. A sob bulges in my chest.
Jacob drops the ball, whooshes to his feet. Hands on his
head, he rotates on the spot. I dart to the door and he snatches
my elbow. ‘I’ll come too.’
A word balloons inside my throat until it explodes
right through me. ‘No!’ All the guilt and shame is rammed
into that one word; it echoes across Jacob’s bewildered,
mashed-up face.
I fling open the door and run.
My bare feet batter the last of the jacaranda petals, now
dark and shrivelled, like tiny fallen angels. I charge down the
path, trying to hold myself together. But there are too many
torn parts. I seem to fly wide open. Bits of me hurtle through
the air, never to be part of me again.
She’s not at the Mother Tree. I spin in circles, and then
race toward the Purple Cave.
Aria’s sitting on the cooler box, her bare feet kicking at the
mattress we’d once played with. When she sees me, her face
falls open. She leaps to her feet, bends to retrieve her sandals,
throws them at me. They miss. I step closer. Her short hair
makes her pink cheeks appear puffier, her bloodshot eyes
bigger, her lack of oversized earrings starker.
‘Go away! I never want to see you again.’ Her crimson face
is stamped with horror, as if I’m a monster about to attack.
I brace against her anger, but can’t stop sobbing.
‘I’m sorry. Aria, please listen to me.’ I step closer. ‘We didn’t –’
She slams a fist on either side of my shoulders and shoves
me. ‘I heard everything.’

Taryn lives the typical writer’s life alongside supportive husband, teen children, and characters from her latest book insisting they help make dinner. This can be disconcerting as Jacob is always sticking his fingers in the cheese sauce and Harper can’t cook.  

Taryn’s been an English Literature Honours student, an advertising sales rep and a CEO of an internet company, but writing is her first love. The Harper Effect is her debut novel. 

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(1) winner will win a finished copy of THE HARPER EFFECT & A Tote Bag - US Only!

 

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Tour Schedule: 

Week One: 

5/7/2018- Sophie Reads YA- Review 

5/7/2018- YA Books Central- Interview 

  

5/8/2018- To Be Read- Review 

5/8/2018- Margie's Must Reads- Guest Post 

  

5/9/2018- Portrait of a Book- Review 

5/9/2018- Book Sniffers Anonymous- Excerpt 

  

5/10/2018- Bri's Book Nook- Review 

5/10/2018- Twirling Book Princess- Excerpt 

  

5/11/2018- Firstbooklove- Review 

5/11/2018- A Dream Within A Dream- Excerpt 

Week Two: 

5/14/2018- taylortalksbooks- Review 

5/14/2018- BookHounds YA- Interview 

  

5/15/2018- Books of a Shy Girl- Review 

5/15/2018- Confessions of a YA Reader- Excerpt 

  

5/16/2018- Lattes & Paperbacks- Review 

5/16/2018- Wishful Endings- Excerpt 

  

5/17/2018- Two Chicks on Books- Interview 

5/17/2018- Paulette's Papers- Excerpt 

  

5/18/2018- Books A-Brewin'- Excerpt