Up 'Til Dawn Book Blog: Promo & Tour: Dating the It Guy by Krysten Lindsay Hager

Title: Dating the It Guy
Author: Krysten Lindsay Hager
Genre/Age: Contemporary Fiction/YA
Series: None
Publisher: Clean Reads
Links: Goodreads
Synopsis: Emme is a sophomore in high school who starts dating, Brendon Agretti, the popular senior who happens to be a senator's son and well-known for his good looks.

Emme feels out of her comfort zone in Brendon's world and it doesn't help that his picture perfect ex, Lauren seems determined to get back into his life along with every other girl who wants to be the future Mrs. Agretti. Emme is already conflicted due to the fact her last boyfriend cheated on her and her whole world is off kilter with her family issues.

Life suddenly seems easier keeping Brendon away and relying on her crystals and horoscopes to guide her. Emme soon starts to realize she needs to focus less on the stars and more on her senses.

Can Emme get over her insecurities and make her relationship work? Life sure is complicated when you're dating the it guy.

He put the magazine between us, and when I moved forward to see it, he put his arm across the back of my chair. Now lots of guys did put their arms on chair backs, even Kirk did that with Rory, and he definitely wasn’t interested in her, but I couldn’t help but hope it meant something. I got this shivery feeling, and he asked if I was cold. I shook my head. I always got a feeling before something major was about to happen, and it has nothing to do with being cold, but I didn’t know why I got the feeling. Grandma used to do the same thing and always said, “Somebody just walked across my grave.” Somehow I didn’t think Brendon would understand if I told him I needed to move my future burial plot to a less high-traffic area.

“Are we still on for the art fair?” he asked.

I had only been circling it with hearts on my calendar since he asked.

“Sure, I think I’m still free,” I said.

We finished up our work, and he walked me out to meet Kylie.

“Okay, I’ll pick you up at three tomorrow,” he said, walking off.

“Can I ask a stupid question?” Kylie asked as soon as Brendon was out of earshot. “What’s he like? Because he’s so well-known, and I can’t imagine what it’d be like to grow up with your whole life under a microscope. I mean, my mom remembers his first birthday party pictures being shown on the news. And he’s hot, but he’s not like I-know-I’m-a-hottie hot, but more like a confident, ‘Yes, I am hot. Any questions?’ I mean, he has to have noticed there aren’t any guys who look like him walking around.”

“I should tell him what you said.”

“Don’t you dare,” Kylie said.

“I get what you mean—he’s grown up with everybody knowing his dad and watching him, but he’s pretty down to earth.”

“So what’s up with you two? You guys didn’t do any work last Saturday, and now you’re going to an art fair.”

“I dunno. He just asked me to go with him.”

“Asked you to go with him as his study buddy or asked you to go with him because he’s desperately in love with you?” she asked.

I said we were just friends, but she wouldn’t let it go.

“Okay, duh, obviously I like him, but let’s be honest. He’s out of my league. He’s out of most people’s league. It’s weird because normally if I like a guy then one of two things happens—either he likes me and asks for my number…or I find out he’s not into me and I cry in my pillow and listen to man-hating music for at least three days,” I said. “But this time’s different because he’s, I dunno, not just ‘some guy.’ I mean, I’m not putting up a shrine to him in my room, and I haven’t rooted though his garbage can, but I have as much chance of going out with him as Kirk does of getting an ‘A’ in this class.”

“You listen to man-hating music?” she asked, and I narrowed my eyes at her. “Whatever. Anyway, Em, he’s asked you out once already, and you are seeing him tomorrow. Plus, he’s always staring at you.”

I said he was probably just bored in class today, but she wouldn’t let it go.

“I’m not just talking about today. When we watched the movie on Monday, he watched you instead, and whenever I see you guys, he acts like there’s no one else in the room,” she said.

I couldn’t hold back the big, stupid smile spreading across my face. “He does? For real?”

She nodded. “You know, it’s weird. Here you were all upset you didn’t have a partner at the beginning of the semester, and then you ended up with like, Mr. Perfection, as your partner.”

Book Trailer:

Five Favorite Movie Scenes of All Time

by Krysten Lindsay Hager

One of my favorite movie scenes of all time is from “Just friends” with Ryan Reynolds and Amy Smart. I love when they go out to lunch for the first time in years and he’s trying to impress her with his new lifestyle and then he’s reminded of his less than cool past and weight when the waitress brings him pancakes. Then there’s this awkward scene where he drops her off and he’s mad at himself for blowing the whole lunch by trying to act cool. He doesn’t realize she’s come back to the car as he’s role playing the whole embarrassing scene. He goes over the top with it and then sees she’s been standing there watching him the whole time. It never fails to crack me up. I’ve been in both their shoes like when you go out with someone who is trying too hard to impress you and it’s awkward. I’ve also been in situations where you go back to your hometown and realize you truly can’t go home again.

It might surprise some people that I love “Shaun of the Dead” because I hate zombies. They terrify me and I start wondering if the whole walking dead thing could happen. Yet I love this movie. It’s so funny and I love the way it’s set up and shot. I watch it every time it comes on. My favorite scene is when Shaun’s stepfather utters the line, “I'm quite all right, Barbara, I ran it under a cold tap.” That cracks me up every single time.

The entire Harry Potter series is wonderful to watch when I want to escape. Especially if it’s cold or unpleasant outside. I can get under a blanket, grab a cup of tea, and watch. My favorite scenes are any that involve them in the library or in their common area with the fireplace. There’s something so cozy about those scenes.

“The Holiday: is another favorite. I loved this movie! I love how Cameron is in England in the cute little cottage, but my favorite scene is with Kate and her neighbor (Eli Wallach) when they first meet and she drives him home after he gets a little lost. Every scene they have together is great, but when he brings her the corsage—that completely gets to me every time. I confess I haven’t watched it since Eli Wallach passed away. He made that movie for me and I cried when I heard he died. There was one day my husband and I were in the parking lot of a grocery store and we saw this older man walking with a walker taking his groceries home. He was moving very slowly and reminded me of Eli and I said to my husband, “Oh we should offer him a ride,” and started talking about how it’d be just like in the movie and my husband said, “And he’d probably think we were weirdo kidnappers.”

I also love the movie “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and love the scene where Holly goes into Paul’s apartment just to chat and you can tell she feels safe with him. I love how she’s asking him about his writing and he says he writes every day and she calls him out on the fact he has a typewriter, but with no ribbon in it. That always cracks me up.

These are five of my favorite movie scenes and the movies I turn to when I need a little escape. They are my comfort movies and never let me down.

Krysten Lindsay Hager is an obsessive reader and has never met a bookstore she didn’t like. She’s worked as a journalist and humor essayist, and writes for teens, tweens, and adults. She is also the author of the Landry’s True Colors Series (True Colors, Best Friends…Forever?, and the soon to be released, Landry in Like) and her work has been featured in USA Today and named as Amazon’s #1 Hot New Releases in Teen & Young Adult Values and Virtues Fiction and Amazon’s #1 Hot New Releases in Children’s Books on Values. She’s originally from Michigan and has lived in South Dakota, Portugal, and southwestern Ohio. She received her master’s degree from the University of Michigan-Flint.

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