Theresa Paolo

I don't know what's worse getting a rejection a day or getting nothing at all. It's all part of the game. I have put Forever Yours on the back burner for right now while I work on The Hallways of Hell. I have a really good feeling about this book and it's developing really nicely. However, I can't help but miss the characters from the Forever Series. I have been writing about them for close to a year now and I know I have to finish what I have started but I figured a little break can't hurt. Anywho I don't know if I mentioned I finished reading Kim Harrison's "Once Dead Twice Shy" and I have to admit in the beginning I was very confused. The story starts in the middle and then back tracks in a way in order to fill the reader in on the gaps. The last thirty pages finally pulled me in and her second book "Early to Death Early to Rise" continues right where the first book leaves off. I'm enjoying the second book much more since I can understand the story and the characters much better. Hopefully I can finish up by tomorrow only have a 100 pages left to read. After that my mom passed on to me "Evernight" vy Claudia Gray which I am very excited to start reading. My mom really enjoyed it and said it was my type of book. It's also part of a series though so hopefully she reads the second book quickly so I can read one right into the other.

Here's another (pretty long) excerpt from Forever Yours:

Mark stared after Steve at first trying to figure out why he blew off a girl who obviously was interested in him but when he saw Lisa there was nothing more he had to figure out.
Steve slowly approached Lisa. He enjoyed watching her while she was in her element. She had a way of lining up a picture just right that he found intriguing. A seagull trying it’s hardest to fly away with a half eaten apple had caught her attention. Steve watched as she crouched down and zoomed in on the seagull.
Lisa’s brown hair cascaded down her shoulders when she leaned forward to get a little closer. The seagull didn’t seem to care nor did it care when Steve made his way up towards it. Steve’s shadow stretched out over the seagull and into Lisa’s viewfinder. Lisa took the camera from her eye and glanced up to see who was coming up beside her. Their eyes met instantly and Steve could tell she was in complete shock.
Steve had to think quick. “Hey.” He needed to come up with more then that. “Um I finished mowing the lawn and Mark stopped by and asked if I wanted to go to the beach and I really had nothing else to do so I figured why not.” An explanation wasn’t needed but he felt he had to give one.
“So where’s Mark?” Lisa asked still a bit stunned.
“Over there talking to those two girls. I saw you and wanted to come over and say hi.”
“Those girls didn’t pique your interest enough?” Lisa said with a carefree tone and he knew she was joking.
“You’re much more interesting then some girl who’s too concerned with her nails then anything else.” Lisa looked down at her nails as Steve mentioned it. Her nails desperately needed to be painted since they only had remnants of hot pink nail polish in the center of each. Steve preferred that over some over manicured over tanned girl but she didn’t know that so she positioned her hands so her nails were out of his sight.
“So did you get any good shots?” Steve assumed if they talked about something she enjoyed it would be less awkward.
“Actually I did. Would you like to look at some?”
“Yeah sure.” He tried to keep from sounding to over zealous. Lisa moved closer to him holding her camera so the screen was facing up at them. She started to scroll through the pictures stopping on the ones she deemed her favorites. Each picture seemed to be perfectly orchestrated with the light falling in just the right place and the subject matter interestingly positioned. “These are great.
“Thanks.”
“No really they are. You’re really talented.”
“Sometimes I think it’s just the camera.”
“No it’s more then the camera. The camera doesn’t line up the shot you do and the camera doesn’t decide what it’s taken a picture of you do that too. The camera just stores what you create.”
“I never looked at it that way.”
“Have you thought about this as more then a hobby?”
“I’ve pushed around the idea of after high school going to NYU possibly majoring or minoring in photography.” Steve was surprised never did she mention NYU when they were together then again she really didn’t need to think about college.
“You should go for it.”
“You think so?”
“Absolutely.”
“Maybe I will.” She said then there was silence between the two of them. The only noise was of the people chattering around them and the waves of the ocean crashing down on the shore. “I should head back before Emma sends out the park police to find me.”
“I can walk back with you.”
“Um, I don’t.”
“Come on it’s just a walk.”
“Ok but I have to warn you we are along way from where the girls are.”
“I don’t mind. Let me just tell Mark and we’ll go.” Steve turned from Lisa ready to walk back to Mark when Mark spotted him. Steve pointed to Lisa and Mark waved him on. Mark might have been all about Steve leaving Lisa so they could have the college experience together but after Mark got what he wanted he realized it wasn’t what he wanted at all. His friend was even more miserable, granted he did his best to hide it but some things just can’t be hidden.
Steve turned back to Lisa his hand went towards hers when he suddenly realized friends, if that’s what they were, didn’t hold hands. He put his hands back at his side and started to walk. Lisa was right beside him as they made their way down the beach. They walked along the shoreline, where the sand was wet but flatter and easier to walk on.
“So how’s your summer going so far?” Lisa asked.
“It’s been good nothing compared to last summer but they can’t all be great.” Steve couldn’t help but reference their last summer together.
“Yeah they can’t, can they?” Steve continued to talk and eventually the talking led to joking around and it started to feel like it used to, just the two of them together, happy and laughing with each other. Steve wanted so bad to intertwine his hand with hers but he didn’t want to cross the line at least not yet.
“I’ve missed talking to you.” Steve said and Lisa’s eyes darted up to his. “It’s weird you know? You were always there and one day you weren’t.”
“Yeah and whose fault was that?” The carefree and loving Lisa was fading and he needed to get her back.
“I know. I didn’t realize how weird it actually was until a day after our last phone conversation. I was having an awful day you know the type of day where everything goes wrong? Well the first thing I thought to do was call you since you always managed to make me feel better, but I realized I didn’t have the luxury of talking to you anymore.” He looked at Lisa she had stopped walking. He wanted her to know that he was just as miserable as she was even if it didn’t do anything he still needed her to know. “And when it would snow I would think of how cute you looked all bundled up and how the tip of your nose always got red. The worst part was at night when I was lying in bed I would think of you and wonder if you were thinking of me too.” Steve wanted Lisa to respond, wanted her to admit to him what he already knew.
“I um…” Before Lisa could let the words roll off of her tongue she was swooped up in the air and spinning in a circle but it wasn’t Steve who was holding her. Steve looked on confused and slightly ticked that this guy, whoever he was, just ruined his moment.
“Cameron?” Lisa said with disbelief in her voice, Steve was relieved he wasn’t the only one feeling that way. Cameron placed Lisa on the ground and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
“I didn’t think I would see you again.” He said. “I know we left things off as being over but I kept hoping I’d see you again. It’s so good to see you.”
So this is Cameron. Steve thought to himself. Great. He had to be good looking didn’t he? Shouldn’t he be posing for an Abercrombie and Fitch catalog somewhere?