Girl Unmoored - Jennifer Gooch Hummer - Excerpt AND Giveaway

 Girl Unmoored is Jennifer Gooch Hummer's debut novel. "This sharp, quick-witted novel follows Apron, a young woman who has come unmoored by a sea of family drama and break-ups. But when she meets Mike, she’s met her mooring. Although Mike and his cantankerous boyfriend, Chad, don’t know what to do with her at first—Apron just seems to keep showing up, usually with a fat lip—they eventually offer her a job in their flower store. And then it’s smooth sailing for Apron, until she uncovers Chad’s secret. Suddenly Apron is forced to leave behind the safe harbor of childhood and navigate the stormy seas of a young adult. She knows what her real job is now, and it has nothing to do with flowers."

Jennifer has picked an excerpt to share with readers today. From page 142...

"Grandma Bramhall’s brown car jiggled down our dirt road right on time.
“Hi, dearie,” she said screeching her car into the driveway and waving her hand
out the window. “Don’t you look pretty.”

You have to wear a dress to Handy’s so I was wearing the yellow one she gave me for Easter. Already it was so humid out that winter was starting to sound good again.

I waved back and ran into the garage to put my pogo stick away. When I came out, my dad was standing at the top of the stairs.

“Hi, Mom,” he said, one hand in his pocket and the other one lifted, palm out, in a wave. He looked tired, and tired of it, the way he always did now.

“Hi,” Grandma Bramhall said, poking her head out the window. “How’s the girl?”

“A little under the weather,” he shrugged. My lips made a U-turn. I kept my smile low when I walked to the passenger side of her brown square car.

“Well, dearie, if you’re going to make your own bed,” Grandma Bramhall sighed, throwing her hands off the steering wheel.

I knew the rest: if you’re going to make your own bed, you better be willing to lie in it, too. Grandma Bramhall said it a lot. But what it really meant was: who’s sorry now?

My dad started down the stairs, both hands in his khaki pants. “When do you think you’ll bring Apron home?”

“Oh, well, that depends,” Grandma Bramhall said, turning her head to shake it at me, sliding into the passenger seat. “On whether we decide to have dessert or not, doesn’t it, Apron? Did I tell you we are making three stops on the cruise, two in the Caribbean?”

I bugged my eyes out for her and rolled down my window. My dad said, “Sounds a lot more fun than fly-fishing.” Last summer she went to fly-fishing school and left notes all over the kitchen that said, Dear little people, I’ve gone fishing. Make yourselves at home.

Grandma Bramhall jerked the car into reverse before my dad could lean into the window. “Call me if she gets to be too much for you, Mom. I’ll come pick her up,” he said.

“Oh for God’s sake, Dennis. She’s more of an adult than you are.”

My dad tipped his head towards the stairs. “Yes. But it’d be a great way for me to get out of this shindig.”

“A man at a baby shower. Honestly,” Grandma Bramhall grumbled, turning around to see where she was backing out. Her head shook even cranked to the side like that, just a little slower, like it was up against something.

We couldn’t hear what my dad said next because of the dirt crunching under the tires. But when I looked up again, he was climbing the stairs, his hands still in his pockets.

After that, we were on our way. I punched around on her radio until I heard, “We Are the World” with Cyndi Lauper and her friends.

“Oh, I love this one,” Grandma Bramhall said, putting the petal to the metal and gunning it out onto Route 88, cutting off a #1 Maine Movers truck behind us. The driver let out a huge long beep, but Grandma Bramhall just threw her hands off the steering wheel and said, “Turn this up, dearie, will you?”

You can find Jennifer on Facebook and on Twitter. And I have a copy of Girl Unmoored to giveaway! Open to US and Canada. Simply leave a comment to be entered. A winner will be randomly drawn on April 1st. (no fooling!)

And Jennifer is running a great contest as well.

"We’re inviting readers to Come Sail Away with Girl Unmoored—A Totally Rad Giveaway! Here’s how it works:  Now through April 6th, when you comment about Girl Unmoored on Jennifer’s blog at www.jennifergoochhummer.com, you’ll be automatically entered into a drawing to win a tote bag stuffed with gifts that blend the hottest 2012 e-reader with totally rad ’80s memorabilia and more! And if you purchase the book (print or e-book) and forward your receipt confirmation to contests@sparkpointstudio.com, your name will be entered to win 10 TIMES! That’s 11 chances to win the following awesome prizes:

A Kindle Fire, just in time for spring break lounging!
DVDs of Best Of 80s movies to celebrate the year of Girl Unmoored, 1985
Copies of Jennifer’s Top 5 YA books: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie; She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb; Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson; The Center of Everything by Laura Moriarty; and The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
A gift card to 1-800 Flowers in honor of Apron’s summer job at Mike and Chad’s flower shop, Scent Appeal  . The winner will be notified and announced the week of April 23rd.'

Good luck everyone!