The Book Blog: ***Blog Tour Stop and Giveaway*** Prince Charming by S. Celi

School. Tests. Scholarships. Goals.

Senior class overachiever Geoff Miller thought he had it all figured out. All he needed to do was make it through the next six months, graduate, and get on with his life. College at the University of Virginia beckoned him-- and he just wanted to put the last horrible four years at Heritage High School in the "done" folder. Geoff just didn't count on two things: Laine Phillips, and sex. At first, his passing crush on the school princess seemed to Geoff like a distraction from a boring life in a snobby Greater Cincinnati suburb. Then one day, it turned into something more... Six months. Not that long, right?

Sandy B's Review

Geoff is a nice guy. He’s smart, has good friends, gets good grades, stays out of trouble and loves his Mom. He also has a stepfather who is oblivious to him and his 2 stepbrothers hate his guts. Oh wait! One more thing – Geoff is in love with the most popular girl in school – who happens to be the school football hero’s girlfriend.

In life, very often things are not as they appear to be. Maybe the “perfect” girl is not so perfect. Maybe the football hero is a jerk. Maybe your stepbrothers don’t hate you – they are actually jealous of you. Geoff thinks these are the worst years of his life. He’s got the rest of it planned out and he can’t wait to leave this boring little cookie cutter town he calls home. Except that somehow, Laine Phillips, comes into his orbit and forces him to look at things in a whole new light. Laine is keeping secrets. Dirty little secrets, because like Geoff she feels trapped by the perception of people around them.

I’d been reading a lot of dark stuff lately, so, Prince Charming was just what I needed. Just like sorbet in between food courses or sniffing coffee beans while perfume shopping – it in a way “cleansed” me. It directly falls into the category of Young Adult. It was easy to read, cute and at times funny. Though it did explore some heavy issues, death of a parent, abusive teenage relationships and drunk driving – Sara Celi managed to do it without casting a dark cloud over the entire story. Prince Charming is not the great American novel but it was an enjoyable way to pass the afternoon.

I absolutely knew some of these characters while surviving high school. I found myself smiling at times and nodding my head in agreement in others. If only we knew then what we know now, we might have known that those years are a right of passage for all of us. That high school is not forever though it feels like it sometimes. That ultimately, at the end we come out better, stronger and more able to face whatever life throws at us. Whether Geoff and Laine are brave enough to defy convention, that my dear friends, I invite you to find out for yourselves.

New Orleans born Sara Celi has lived all over the United States. She calls the Greater Cincinnati area and the Queen City home.

She has spent more than a decade working in journalism and broadcasting, with jobs both on-air and off-air at TV stations in Louisiana, Ohio, and Oklahoma. Her work has appeared in numerous online publications, magazines and newspapers, and she is a contributing author to Chicken Soup For The Soul: The Power of Positive. Sara graduated cum laude from Western Kentucky University in 2004. In her spare time, she likes to read, shop, write, travel, run long distances, volunteer with the Junior League, and fund raise for Cooperative for Education, a non-profit providing educational opportunities for Guatemalan kids.

“Sure.” She bit her cherry-red lip, and watching her do it almost made me fall out of the chair. Still, she made no move to take a seat. “I wasn’t going to come over and talk to you—but, well, I just wanted to say that—well,” she broke off. “Never mind.”

“Seriously, do you want to sit down?” I asked again.

“Yeah.” She looked over her shoulder. “I just don’t want to be alone right now.”

As I hurried to move my school stuff out of the way, she slid into the metal chair and tossed her own book bag on the floor. Then I just stared at her, because I didn’t know what to say, and I couldn’t figure out why she’d sat down next to me. It just didn’t make much sense. The library had plenty of open tables, and even more computer desks. Hell, she could have had a whole section to herself if she wanted it.

So why me? Why me? WHY ME?

“Have you started the paper?” I asked when the awkwardness became too much for me to bear.

She nodded. “Yeah, last week. I’m about three quarters of the way done with the outline.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I like English literature a lot, especially that time period.”

I sat back, surprised. No one liked Langston’s class. No one. Right? And she didn’t seem like the English type, since she never talked much in that class. I had assumed she got in just because of who she was in school and the magic spell she seemed to have over everyone—even the teachers. “So, you’re telling me you like AP English?”

She gave me a blank look, as if I shouldn’t be surprised about this.

“Well, that’s awesome. I can’t get into it. At least, not that stuff we’re learning right now.”

“It’s not that bad, Geoff. Some of it is kinda romantic.” She disappeared underneath the table and came back a few seconds later with a thick green binder, a blue pen, and her own iPad. She opened up the binder and pulled the iPad out of the case as a small smirk danced on her face.

“Wait. Are you going to study here?” I paused. “With me?”

“Sure I am. This is a library.” Laine winked. “You do know how these work, right?”

“But I mean—”

“And you look so—I don’t know—lonely sitting here all alone.”

“So you just thought you’d plop down and study with me?”

“What? Don’t you want me to?” She tilted her head and frowned, as if she didn’t understand why I’d asked the question. “That’s what people do in a library. They study. Sometimes together. Of course, I could always go study with one of the freshmen.”

But even as she said this, she made no move to get up from the table we shared. Meanwhile, all the attention in the room had turned to her. Everyone in the library stared, transfixed. She was like that ring from The Lord of the Rings. My precious.

Good fucking grief. Of course I would make that kind of lame analogy.